Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition a Love Letter to Zelda Console Titles

When playing through Hyrule Warriors over the weekend, I quickly realized something that I’ve probably known for a long time: Hyrule Warriors is a love letter to all the previous Zelda console titles, and really brings all those nostalgic feels back when playing in specific areas, using specific characters, and hearing specfici tunes. Although the game isn’t what you might expect from a Zelda experience – don’t let that deter you Zelda fans! – there is something really great here that long time console franchise fans will love!

For myself, playing as specific characters didn’t really give me that nostalgic feel until loading into a game as toon versions of Link and Zelda – from the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. What caught be right away is hearing those classic Zelda tunes that instantly brought me back to great memories of playing The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time! The way the music from past titles is woven into this new experience – new in terms of gameplay, not release – is brilliant, and the developers deserve a lot of praise for what was obviously a carefully planned experience.

A lot of people have brushed off Hyrule Warriors because it utilizes the Dynasty Warriors formula, but for long time fans of The Legend of Zelda franchise, this couldn’t be a worse thing to do. Many of the console Zelda experiences are not easily available for those who don’t hold on to older systems. To play them all, you’d need a Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, and a Nintendo Switch. While I have all these consoles – and al the associated Zelda titles – not everyone will.

One of my long time friends is a huge fan of Nintendo products, but as one generation goes and another comes, for financial reason, he often has to sell off some of his previous generation systems and games to fund the new generation. In this case, he did not have access to all of the past Zelda experiences, and having the opportunity to play as these characters, visit the environments, and hear the music was huge for him. He loved it!

There is still a lot of things within the gameplay that will make you remember you are playing a Zelda title as opposed to a Dynasty Warriors title, but I think that is secondary. Even if this was a completely new experience using the Zelda name, and hardcode fan should enjoy playing through the campaign, and loads of optional side experiences!