Zelda Dungeon Talks: How Should Amiibo Be Incorporated Into The New Zelda Game?
Posted on May 25 2016 by Kira Koneko
By now, I am sure most of you have heard that Nintendo has announced their E3 presentation kicks off on Tuesday, June 14th at 9am PT. The Nintendo Treehouse will be showing off the world’s first detailed glimpse of the upcoming Zelda title, with a live streamed and “unscripted behind-the-scenes” showing of gameplay and never heard before information. Many of us are literally counting the days…20 to be exact, until we can learn more about the next addition to this 30 year franchise. With all that being said, this leaves us with a lot tot think about over the coming weeks! Of course this led the team here at Zelda Dungeon to start pondering this week’s Zelda Dungeon Talks!
This week, the team discusses; How should Amiibo be incorporated into the new Zelda game? I am sure many of you have a lot of ideas and opinions as to whether or not Nintendo should add amiibo functionality to the game, and so does our staff! Jump in past the break to check out their thoughts, and feel free to share some of your own in the comments below.
Alexis Anderson – View Profile
I think Amiibo could function in a number of ways in Zelda Wii U. It could work similar to the way it did with Hyrule Warriors, and provide rupees or item restocks. That would be great actually, you run out of arrows in a boss battle and know you’ll die if you wait for the boss to drop some so you just scan your Amiibo and voila, a full quiver! Could also be for hearts, bombs, etc. But I’d also be happy with it giving extra challenges like the Wolf Link Amiibo or the Ganon Amiibo did in Twilight Princess HD. I’d rather it not unlock too much extra content though, as Zelda Wii U better be prepacked with an excess of that. Other than those functions, I’m not sure. Unlock new armour or costumes? Function as Gossip Stones and give trivia or hints when scanned? I like all of those ideas, so however they’re incorporated I think they’ll be a fun supplement to the game.
Jon Lett – View Profile
After Twilight Princess HD’s use of the Wolf Link Amiibo impressed me with it’s interesting and fun uses, I feel as though Nintendo could make another brand new Amiibo figure for Zelda Wii U with very similar functions, and it could really feel worth buying, if it did not come with the game itself already. People do not always like the idea of DLC, but if Nintendo is going to take on the concept of optional downloadable material in Zelda, Amiibo is a good sort of compromise; using the new collectable figure, and even the smash ones, to open optional challenges and cool new dungeons. Again, people will likely be salty about not having every conceivable challenge available up front, but the whole purpose of the Amiibo is to open new stuff in the games, so I don’t have any issue with it. Maybe new weapons and characters could be made available, should the game have those kinds of mechanics. There are a lot of possibilities, but first and foremost, I think it should follow Twilight Princess HD’s lead, and have at least one optional dungeon.
Brandon Schmitz – View Profile
The best instances of amiibo functionality have struck a happy medium. I mean, for me, most of the appeal comes from the figure itself rather than its in-game function. That said, amiibo should generally add content that’s meaningful, yet not so meaningful that the it feels like a necessary part of the core experience. A couple of other games have delivered on this ideal, but Twilight Princess HD’s Cave of Shadows is definitely the gold standard. The mini-dungeon provides a rewarding challenge, but it doesn’t feel essential to the game as a whole. With Zelda U, I’d love to see something similar. Although aesthetic additions such as amiibo-exclusive costumes are appreciated, I’d prefer to play through an optional dungeon or side quest.
Thomas Jacobs – View Profile
Preferable not at all. By restricting certain content of a game to something like an Amiibo, those who don’t own Amiibo’s or who get the game later down the line without the figurines will be missing out on this content. If the content is instead scaled down by making it stuff like extra available resources it is unnecessary at best and a micro transaction in disguise at worst. While I don’t mind Amiibo’s being a thing, severely restricting a game’s functionality based on whether or not you have them is something I am very much opposed to.
Kira Koneko – View Profile
I kind of see this from both sides of the aisle, on one side I see that there is a measure of; when are there too many amiibo and does the game get diluted by the addition of excluding content or adding functionality attached to the use of an amiibo? Don’t get me wrong, this comes from the girl that has EVERY single Smash amiibo released as well as the Wolf Link as well as the Splatoon amiibo, so I really don’t have too much wiggle room here! But on the other side, I really enjoyed the way that Nintendo incorporated the amiibo in Twilight Princess HD, it added extra content without altering any gameplay and they even released an exclusive amiibo that looks spectacular, and was also very easy to secure! I was one of those poor souls standing in lines for hours to get my hands on some of the amiibo that had been previously released. I also liked how they included amiibo from the Smash series and gave them some useful gameplay functionality. I guess in the end, as long as it doesn’t cheese up the gameplay or not make any sense in the new world I think it wouldn’t be that bad. I am such a sucker for a cool looking statue too!
