New Zelda: Breath of the Wild amiibo Functions Confirmed
UPDATE: Nintendo UK’s website has provided some English details on each of these amiibo. It would appear that the more practical items like shields and weapons only have a random chance of appearing each time you scan the amiibo. Some clarification is also provided on the Guardian amiibo – it “will reward you with metal boxes containing useful items or maybe even ‘ancient parts'”. Furthermore, it turns out that the 30th Anniversary have a chance of giving you items related to the character whose amiibo you scan – my guess would be clothing designed to look like each one, such as the classic green tunic.
Original Story:
The functions of the upcoming Breath of the Wild amiibo figures releasing alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild have been a mystery for quite some time. But now at long last Nintendo have confirmed on their Japanese site what these amiibo do. They’re similar in function to the 30th Anniversary amiibo’s functions, but with some added bonuses. Each amiibo will summon a chest and some items, but what those items are depends on the amiibo. Keep in mind that this was Google Translated from Japanese, so there might be some slight discrepancies.
The Link (Archer) amiibo will let you feast on meat and fish, and will also give you bows and arrows that you can use in combat.
The Link (Rider) amiibo will help you prepare for riding horses by giving you equipment like saddles. Alongside horse-related tools you will also be given some weapons and mushrooms.
The Zelda amiibo (Zelda the character, that is) will provide you with plants that you can combine with other items, and shields you can use to protect yourself.
The Bokoblin amiibo will give you meat, which you can use as recovery items, as well as weapons wielded by the many bokoblin you’ll encounter while roaming the game world.
The Guardian amiibo (which features bendable legs that you can fit into a pose of your choice) is one I’m a little confused about. It will summon what’s referred to as “ancient material”. Whether that refers to those big metal blocks or the items within the chest I’m not sure. The metal blocks might be there for use with Link’s Magnesis ability that allows him to move objects through the air for puzzle-solving and fun interactions with the game’s physics engine.
GameXplain have also posted a video in which they inspect the boxes of the Breath of the Wild amiibo. The boxes show off some of the items that you can earn with each amiibo – of particular note is the Guardian amiibo which unlocks that cool tech-y arrow we saw Link fire in the original reveal trailer of the game. It’s possible that “ancient material” refers to the rather mystical items shown on its box.
Nintendo’s site also confirms compatibility with the Smash Bros. series amiibo of Zelda characters, but does not provide many details. It says that they will summon a chest just like the 30th Anniversary and Breath of the Wild amiibo do, with “special contents”. It also implies that non-Zelda amiibo will be compatible with the game, but will just give you meat and plants. And don’t forget, the Wolf Link amiibo also has a special function in the game – it’ll call Wolf Link into the game world as an ally. Each amiibo can only be used once per day.
Most Zelda amiibo are available now – that is the Wolf Link amiibo, the 30th Anniversary series of Zelda amiibo and the Smash Bros. series of Zelda amiibo. The five Breath of the Wild series of Zelda amiibo will launch on March 3rd alongside the Wii U and Switch versions of Breath of the Wild. We’ve asked Nintendo if they have any English-language info on the usage of these amiibo.
