‘The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD’ Wii U Release date and New Zelda Wii U Game

Feb 05, 2016 06:49 PM EST

Fans of The Legend of Zelda series of games, one of Nintendo's biggest franchises, have been disappointed by the lack of Zelda title released on the Wii U last year.  Nintendo is giving them The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD, which will update the game for the Wii U, but fans are still begging for the new Zelda Wii U game.  This is what is known about both games. 

According to Engadget, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD will have a new item known as a Ghost Lantern that lights up whenever an evil spirit known as a Poe's ghost is nearby.  In the original Wii game, these Poe's ghosts were hard to find, and many of them didn't come out until nightfall.  Having a lantern to find them should make finding all 60 of them a little easier. 

Twilight Princess HD also features Hero Mode, which is similar to a setting found in Skyward Sword, but only after the player had beaten the game.  This new difficulty setting makes Link take double the damage, removes all heart drops and changes the way the Rupees (the system of money within the world of The Legend of Zelda) work in the game. In the Wii version, if Link had a wallet that was full of Rupees, and then opened a treasure chest that contained more Rupees than his wallet could hold, Link would put the money back to get it later. That won't happen in Hero Mode, as any open chest will not cause the gems to return. 

Another feature that will be added to Twilight Princess HD is that the Wii U Gamepad can be used to display the map and inventory.  This is similar to the port of Windwaker HD, and it helps out the player immensely. 

The release date for Twilight Princess HD will be March 4th, and there will also be a Wolf Link Amiibo that we previously reported about that will open up a Cave of Shadows challenge arena, something that was never in the original Wii game.  There has been a report that some of the data stored in the Amiibo figurine will transfer over to the new Legend of Zelda Wii U game. 

Of course, it is the release date of the new Zelda game that has fans most interested.  The Legend of Zelda hasn't had a good canonical game since the previously mentioned Skyward Sword, and it is overdue for an exclusively Wii U Zelda title. When the Wii U was first released, fans knew they would have to wait years for it until 2015, but it was delayed that year. 

Nintendo Life reveals a recent report of Nintendo's finances that show an odd change in the "TBC" release date for The Legend of Zelda Wii U.  Now it reads "2016", which means that this new game could be released this year, hopefully around the holiday time at the latest. 

Of course, rumors are pointing to no new Zelda game on the Wii U as the entire system could be replaced with the Nintendo NX, but if Nintendo were going to release or even just announce a next gen system, then it would be done at E3 2016.  The Electronic Entertainment Expo is an annual event held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in the summertime, so fans will have to wait until then.