As the title already implies, this is a high definition remake of the previous titel. This means it has many graphical upgrades and runs at a higher resolution, creating a clearer, sharper picture and more detailed textures. Lighting effects also look much better as a result, and the sound is in full 5.1 channel instead of Dolby Pro Logic II.
The HD remake uses the world orientation of the GameCube version, i.e. Link is left-handed, the Gerudo Desert is to the west, and Death Mountain is to the east. In the Wii version, this had been reversed in order to make Link right-handed (which worked better with the Wii-mote which is traditionally operated by the right hand).
Due to higher resolution, the HUD (heads-up display) is much smaller and less intrusive (especially the mini-map). Just as in The Wind Waker, it is possible to allocate up to three items to buttons on the Wii U Gamepad instead of just one in the original. The Pause menu screens (maps and items) are now permanently displayed on the Gamepad screen, so items can be allocated to buttons in-game without pausing. The world map, however, can still be viewed on the main screen.
The game supports Off TV Play, meaning the game can be played on just the Game Pad screen. In that case, the map and items screens can only be accessed via the Pause Menu. The game also supports the use of the Wii U Pro controller, but in that case, map and items screens also have to be accessed in the Pause Menu.
The player can now operate the camera with the Right Stick, something which, unfortunately, was not possible in the Wii version due to lack of a second stick (except for positioning the camera directly behind Link with the Z button). This omission was also carried over to the GameCube version, even though that controller did have two separate sticks. The gyroscope feature of the Gamepad is used to control the Hero's Bow, the Clawshot and the Gale Boomerang in first person mode, which replaces the Wiimote pointer that was used in the Wii version. Since there is no Nunchuk controller, a Shield Thrust is now done with the ZR button.
As soon as the ability to change between Hylian and Wolf form has been unlocked, a button appears on the Gamepad that can instantly activate the transformation, instead of Link having to ask Midna to do it every time (please note that this option does not work in Off TV play mode).
Some (side)quests have been slightly altered. Link only has to catch one fish for Sera's cat in Ordon Village instead of two. During the searches for the Tears of Light, only 12 need to be found instead of 16. There is a whole new item called the Ghost Light that is received from Jovani after finding the first 20 Poe Souls; it lights up at night whenever a Poe is near, making the collection of all 60 Souls a bit easier.
A completely new sidequest involves the search for 50 Miiverse stamps, which includes letters of the Hylian alphabet as well as several pictograms. These stamps can be used while sending messages over the Miiverse.
Midna's laughter is not heard through the Gamepad's speaker when she calls out, only a prompt on the screen is seen. Midna now has a reflection, as opposed to the original game.
Some areas have a few changes. Link can no longer swim to the isolated rock past the watermill in his Ordon Village, as the area has been shut off. There are no more heat ripples in the Goron Mines, and some screenshots from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can be found in the Castle Town store.
The world map now shows additional items apart from warp points, waypoints and the Golden Wolf: locations of horsegrass plants (which can be used to call Epona) are indicated with a horsegrass pictogram; locations of minigames and sidequests are indicated with a small clock, and the last location where the game was saved is indicated with a white dot. The map also has a counter which indicates how many Poes there are in a given area, and how many have been defeated already.
Link's successive wallets used to hold 300, 600 and 1000 Rupees; this has been changed to 500, 1000 and 2000. There is also a Colossal Wallet in the game that can hold up to 9999. Rupees are no longer returned to their chests when they do not fit in Link's wallet, and a text box describing a Rupee's value is only shown the first time when a game is played.
Link's sword now leaves a trail when swung, and no longer hits walls (going right through instead). Swimming and climbing animations have been sped up, and the controls for swimming and handling Epona have been altered. Falling into lava only costs one heart instead of two now.
A Hero Mode is available from the start, which makes the game considerably more challenging: all hits deal double damage, and defeated enemies do not drop hearts, making potions and fairies the conventional way to replenish health. One difference with The Wind Waker HD is that this mode can not be toggled off later in the game.
Twilight Princess HD is compatible with the use of several amiibo figurines. The Wolf Link amiibo can unlock the Cave of Shadows, a Cave of Ordeals-type dungeon that comes with 40 floors. These are divided over three phases, each phase becoming unlocked after reaching a certain point in the main game. The Link or Toon Link amiibo restores arrows, whereas the Zelda or Sheik amiibo restores hearts. Ganondorf's amiibo will cause hits to do double damage (quadruple in Hero Mode).
The HD remake uses the world orientation of the GameCube version, i.e. Link is left-handed, the Gerudo Desert is to the west, and Death Mountain is to the east. In the Wii version, this had been reversed in order to make Link right-handed (which worked better with the Wii-mote which is traditionally operated by the right hand).
Due to higher resolution, the HUD (heads-up display) is much smaller and less intrusive (especially the mini-map). Just as in The Wind Waker, it is possible to allocate up to three items to buttons on the Wii U Gamepad instead of just one in the original. The Pause menu screens (maps and items) are now permanently displayed on the Gamepad screen, so items can be allocated to buttons in-game without pausing. The world map, however, can still be viewed on the main screen.
The game supports Off TV Play, meaning the game can be played on just the Game Pad screen. In that case, the map and items screens can only be accessed via the Pause Menu. The game also supports the use of the Wii U Pro controller, but in that case, map and items screens also have to be accessed in the Pause Menu.
The player can now operate the camera with the Right Stick, something which, unfortunately, was not possible in the Wii version due to lack of a second stick (except for positioning the camera directly behind Link with the Z button). This omission was also carried over to the GameCube version, even though that controller did have two separate sticks. The gyroscope feature of the Gamepad is used to control the Hero's Bow, the Clawshot and the Gale Boomerang in first person mode, which replaces the Wiimote pointer that was used in the Wii version. Since there is no Nunchuk controller, a Shield Thrust is now done with the ZR button.
As soon as the ability to change between Hylian and Wolf form has been unlocked, a button appears on the Gamepad that can instantly activate the transformation, instead of Link having to ask Midna to do it every time (please note that this option does not work in Off TV play mode).
Some (side)quests have been slightly altered. Link only has to catch one fish for Sera's cat in Ordon Village instead of two. During the searches for the Tears of Light, only 12 need to be found instead of 16. There is a whole new item called the Ghost Light that is received from Jovani after finding the first 20 Poe Souls; it lights up at night whenever a Poe is near, making the collection of all 60 Souls a bit easier.
A completely new sidequest involves the search for 50 Miiverse stamps, which includes letters of the Hylian alphabet as well as several pictograms. These stamps can be used while sending messages over the Miiverse.
Midna's laughter is not heard through the Gamepad's speaker when she calls out, only a prompt on the screen is seen. Midna now has a reflection, as opposed to the original game.
Some areas have a few changes. Link can no longer swim to the isolated rock past the watermill in his Ordon Village, as the area has been shut off. There are no more heat ripples in the Goron Mines, and some screenshots from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can be found in the Castle Town store.
The world map now shows additional items apart from warp points, waypoints and the Golden Wolf: locations of horsegrass plants (which can be used to call Epona) are indicated with a horsegrass pictogram; locations of minigames and sidequests are indicated with a small clock, and the last location where the game was saved is indicated with a white dot. The map also has a counter which indicates how many Poes there are in a given area, and how many have been defeated already.
Link's successive wallets used to hold 300, 600 and 1000 Rupees; this has been changed to 500, 1000 and 2000. There is also a Colossal Wallet in the game that can hold up to 9999. Rupees are no longer returned to their chests when they do not fit in Link's wallet, and a text box describing a Rupee's value is only shown the first time when a game is played.
Link's sword now leaves a trail when swung, and no longer hits walls (going right through instead). Swimming and climbing animations have been sped up, and the controls for swimming and handling Epona have been altered. Falling into lava only costs one heart instead of two now.
A Hero Mode is available from the start, which makes the game considerably more challenging: all hits deal double damage, and defeated enemies do not drop hearts, making potions and fairies the conventional way to replenish health. One difference with The Wind Waker HD is that this mode can not be toggled off later in the game.
Twilight Princess HD is compatible with the use of several amiibo figurines. The Wolf Link amiibo can unlock the Cave of Shadows, a Cave of Ordeals-type dungeon that comes with 40 floors. These are divided over three phases, each phase becoming unlocked after reaching a certain point in the main game. The Link or Toon Link amiibo restores arrows, whereas the Zelda or Sheik amiibo restores hearts. Ganondorf's amiibo will cause hits to do double damage (quadruple in Hero Mode).
Because they both show a different event.
Ocarina of Time ended with the Seven Sages trapping Ganondorf in the Dark Realm. The Sages were friends of Link, who he helped reawaken to assume their role as sage. Twilight Princess takes place a century later, but in the flashback, the Sages are ghostly apparitions who try to execute Ganondorf, and after failing so, subsequently imprison him in the Twilight Realm. However, these are technically two seperate Ganondorfs in two different timelines.
The reason is that Ocarina of Time splits the entire chronology into three timelines: the Child Era, the Adult Era and the Defeat Era. In the Adult Era, Ganondorf was defeated by Link, and locked away into the Sacred Realm with the aid of Link's Sage friends. This timeline is followed by The Wind Waker (where Ganondorf escapes from the Realm).
In the Child Era, the story happened in a different way. Link returned to his childhood era, and warned both Zelda and her father, the King, of Ganondorf's plan to invade Hyrule. After many years of war, Ganon was defeated, and the King appointed a different group of Sages to execute Ganondorf at the Arbiter's Grounds (which failed, they could merely seal him away in the Twilight Realm). These events were not shown in Ocarina of Time as they happened after the events of that game, and Link did not take part in this since he was only a child then (he had left Hyrule as seen in Majora's Mask).
It should also be noted that the Link from Twilight Princess is another reincarnation of the Hero, and thereby a different person than the Link from Ocarina of Time, since there is a century between them. However, the Ganondorfs from both games are (more or less) the same, as Ganondorf's trapped spirit from Ocarina of Time is released in Twilight Princess.
Ocarina of Time ended with the Seven Sages trapping Ganondorf in the Dark Realm. The Sages were friends of Link, who he helped reawaken to assume their role as sage. Twilight Princess takes place a century later, but in the flashback, the Sages are ghostly apparitions who try to execute Ganondorf, and after failing so, subsequently imprison him in the Twilight Realm. However, these are technically two seperate Ganondorfs in two different timelines.
The reason is that Ocarina of Time splits the entire chronology into three timelines: the Child Era, the Adult Era and the Defeat Era. In the Adult Era, Ganondorf was defeated by Link, and locked away into the Sacred Realm with the aid of Link's Sage friends. This timeline is followed by The Wind Waker (where Ganondorf escapes from the Realm).
In the Child Era, the story happened in a different way. Link returned to his childhood era, and warned both Zelda and her father, the King, of Ganondorf's plan to invade Hyrule. After many years of war, Ganon was defeated, and the King appointed a different group of Sages to execute Ganondorf at the Arbiter's Grounds (which failed, they could merely seal him away in the Twilight Realm). These events were not shown in Ocarina of Time as they happened after the events of that game, and Link did not take part in this since he was only a child then (he had left Hyrule as seen in Majora's Mask).
It should also be noted that the Link from Twilight Princess is another reincarnation of the Hero, and thereby a different person than the Link from Ocarina of Time, since there is a century between them. However, the Ganondorfs from both games are (more or less) the same, as Ganondorf's trapped spirit from Ocarina of Time is released in Twilight Princess.
In Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf managed to obtain the Triforce by following Link into the Sacred Realm where it was awaiting its first claimer. Since Link was only a child, he could not yet claim the Triforce, but Ganon could. However, since Ganon's heart was unstable and he sought only power, the Triforce split in its three parts, with Ganon holding onto the Triforce of Power, and the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage going to Zelda and Link respectively.
However, as described above, this chain of events never occurred in the Child era, of which Twilight Princess is a continuation. Link never opened the Sacred Realm, so Ganondorf couldn't claim the Triforce. He was instead defeated by the King's army and sentenced to exile into the Twilight Realm. So that begs the question: how then did Ganondorf obtain his Triforce of Power?
Although the game addresses the question (one of the Sages mentions that "yet...by some divine prank, [Ganon], too, had been blessed with the chosen power of the gods"), it never explicitly comes with an answer. So it is up to the gamer to consider this either a plot hole. However, with the release of Hyrule Historia, an in-depth Zelda Encyclopedia that elaborates on the subject beyond the scope of the games, some fans have come up with theories.
One solution would be the fact that the three pieces of the Triforce remained with the three holders in the Adult Timeline after Link defeated Ganon. So while Ganon kept his Triforce piece while he was sealed away, Link still retained a Triforce of Courage as he was returned to his childhood for the final time by Zelda at the end; when he is back in the Child timeline, it can be seen glowing on his hand in the epilogue. For the sake of argument, we assume that every Triforce part stays in its own timeline and cannot travel through time. So when Link returned to his childhood through the Sacred Realm, he left his Triforce part in the Adult timeline, and immediately received the Triforce part from the Child Era when he arrived there. That also means that the Triforce of the Child timeline immediately split up in three, with the other two pieces going to Zelda and Ganondorf respectively. This theory would explain several things: i.e. why Ganondorf already possesses the Triforce of Power in the flashback of Twilight Princess without him having to claim it; and why the Sages are unable to execute him. It also explains why the Link in Twilight Princess changes into a wolf while he is in the Twilight, and does not become a Twilight ghost like other creatures: the Triforce of Courage was presumably handed down to him from the old Link, and protected him. And finally, it explains why Zelda seems immune to the power of the Twilight, and has the power to safe Midna: she ended up with the Triforce of Wisdom from her forebearer. As for the Triforce of Courage from the Adult timeline: in The Wind Waker, it is indeed confirmed that it was left behind when the Hero of Time returned to his era; it was subsequently divided into 8 pieces, placed in seperate chests and buried on the bottom of the Great Sea.
An less likely theory would be that Ganondorf found another way to claim the Triforce of Power. The lock that protected the Triforce (with three Sacred Stones, the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword as its keys) was thought up by Hylian sages, so Ganondorf may have been able to find a way around them. From what we know, it took Hyrule several years to capture Ganondorf, so in the meanwhile, he may have been able to collect the pendants and Ocarina. Maybe he was able to use a Dark Link to lift the sword, or he used some spell to trick the sword into thinking it was being held by the Chosen Hero. With Ganondorf's penchant for magic, it is not too much of a stretch to belief that he was able to circumvent all the magical protections around the Triforce, and being a mighty warrior, he was able to claim the Triforce of Power. Although now retconned, the original backstory of A Link to the Past (which takes place in yet another timeline) also mentions that Ganondorf stumbled upon a secret entrance to the Sacred Realm, which implies that the protections around the Triforce are by no means absolute.
However, as described above, this chain of events never occurred in the Child era, of which Twilight Princess is a continuation. Link never opened the Sacred Realm, so Ganondorf couldn't claim the Triforce. He was instead defeated by the King's army and sentenced to exile into the Twilight Realm. So that begs the question: how then did Ganondorf obtain his Triforce of Power?
Although the game addresses the question (one of the Sages mentions that "yet...by some divine prank, [Ganon], too, had been blessed with the chosen power of the gods"), it never explicitly comes with an answer. So it is up to the gamer to consider this either a plot hole. However, with the release of Hyrule Historia, an in-depth Zelda Encyclopedia that elaborates on the subject beyond the scope of the games, some fans have come up with theories.
One solution would be the fact that the three pieces of the Triforce remained with the three holders in the Adult Timeline after Link defeated Ganon. So while Ganon kept his Triforce piece while he was sealed away, Link still retained a Triforce of Courage as he was returned to his childhood for the final time by Zelda at the end; when he is back in the Child timeline, it can be seen glowing on his hand in the epilogue. For the sake of argument, we assume that every Triforce part stays in its own timeline and cannot travel through time. So when Link returned to his childhood through the Sacred Realm, he left his Triforce part in the Adult timeline, and immediately received the Triforce part from the Child Era when he arrived there. That also means that the Triforce of the Child timeline immediately split up in three, with the other two pieces going to Zelda and Ganondorf respectively. This theory would explain several things: i.e. why Ganondorf already possesses the Triforce of Power in the flashback of Twilight Princess without him having to claim it; and why the Sages are unable to execute him. It also explains why the Link in Twilight Princess changes into a wolf while he is in the Twilight, and does not become a Twilight ghost like other creatures: the Triforce of Courage was presumably handed down to him from the old Link, and protected him. And finally, it explains why Zelda seems immune to the power of the Twilight, and has the power to safe Midna: she ended up with the Triforce of Wisdom from her forebearer. As for the Triforce of Courage from the Adult timeline: in The Wind Waker, it is indeed confirmed that it was left behind when the Hero of Time returned to his era; it was subsequently divided into 8 pieces, placed in seperate chests and buried on the bottom of the Great Sea.
An less likely theory would be that Ganondorf found another way to claim the Triforce of Power. The lock that protected the Triforce (with three Sacred Stones, the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword as its keys) was thought up by Hylian sages, so Ganondorf may have been able to find a way around them. From what we know, it took Hyrule several years to capture Ganondorf, so in the meanwhile, he may have been able to collect the pendants and Ocarina. Maybe he was able to use a Dark Link to lift the sword, or he used some spell to trick the sword into thinking it was being held by the Chosen Hero. With Ganondorf's penchant for magic, it is not too much of a stretch to belief that he was able to circumvent all the magical protections around the Triforce, and being a mighty warrior, he was able to claim the Triforce of Power. Although now retconned, the original backstory of A Link to the Past (which takes place in yet another timeline) also mentions that Ganondorf stumbled upon a secret entrance to the Sacred Realm, which implies that the protections around the Triforce are by no means absolute.
According to Renado, the shaman of Kakariko Village, the Gorons suddenly became hostile after years of peaceful cooperation. Link later finds out that the Death Mountain volcano had recently become active again. When the Goron patriarch Darbus went into the Death Mountain mines to investigate the cause, he touched the Fused Shadow fragment that had once been entrusted to the Gorons. He immediately turned into an unspeakable monster, forcing the other elders to lock him into the mine.
The Gorons are a proud tribe, and have a strong sense of brotherhood. In Ocarina of Time, the Goron elder Darunia also initially states that Gorons do not need help from outsiders. They are especially sensitive to the sacred nature of their mines, where they normally do not allow outsiders. Their worries about their patriarch and the fate of their tribe caused them to become afraid and reclusive. Too proud to ask for help from the outside, they kept to themselves more than usual, and denied other races access to their lands. The resulting isolation from other species could easily be interpreted as hostility. As soon as Link frees the patriarch from the dark influence of the Fused Shadow fragment, the Gorons express a feeling of shame for being so concerned with themselves that they did not come to the aid of others.
The Gorons are a proud tribe, and have a strong sense of brotherhood. In Ocarina of Time, the Goron elder Darunia also initially states that Gorons do not need help from outsiders. They are especially sensitive to the sacred nature of their mines, where they normally do not allow outsiders. Their worries about their patriarch and the fate of their tribe caused them to become afraid and reclusive. Too proud to ask for help from the outside, they kept to themselves more than usual, and denied other races access to their lands. The resulting isolation from other species could easily be interpreted as hostility. As soon as Link frees the patriarch from the dark influence of the Fused Shadow fragment, the Gorons express a feeling of shame for being so concerned with themselves that they did not come to the aid of others.
The background information on the Twili is learned in fragments in the game as the player goes along, so that makes it a bit difficult to obtain the big picture while playing.
It was established in Ocarina of Time that the Triforce was once residing in the Sacred Realm, which is a sort of parallel world to Hyrule. The nature of the Sacred Realm reflects the character of the one who enters it; if this is someone pure of heart, the Sacred Realm will be a Golden Land; if it is a malevolent being, the Sacred Realm transforms into a dark and grim world.
According to the official timeline, after the land of Hyrule was established following the events of Skyward Sword, a long period called the Era of Chaos started. Many people heard of the almighty power of the Triforce, and many conflicts ensued over the centuries in which groups tried to aggressively enter the Sacred Realm to claim the Triforce for their own. It is implied in the series that the first major conflict was the Interloper War. A tribe called the Dark Interlopers had become skilled in dark magic, and had created a dark relic called the Fused Shadow, which they wanted to use to establish their dominion over the Sacred Realm.
However, in the war that followed, the three Golden Goddesses who had created Hyrule (Din, Farore, and Nayru) intervened. They sent four Light Spirits to Hyrule: Ordona, Faron, Eldin and Lanayru. They split the Fused Shadow in pieces and hid them away in temples accross the land. The Goddesses themselves defeated the Interlopers by chasing them away, and banishing them to the Twilight Realm; the Mirror of Twilight was left as the only link between the Light World and the Twilight Realm. The Light Spirits were tasked with protecting the four regions of Hyrule they were named after. At the end of the Era of Chaos, the Temple of Time was built to seal the Sacred Realm once and for all.
As time passed on, the descendants of the Dark Interlopers adapted to the Twilight Realm and became known as the peaceful Twili. After the events of Ocarina of Time (the Child Era specifically) and Majora's Mask, the Gerudo chief Ganondorf, who had attempted to invade Hyrule, was captured and executed at the Arbiter's Ground prison. Because he could not be killed, the Sages used the Mirror of Twilight to banish him to the Twilight Realm. There he languished for several centuries, meeting with the Twili Zant who wanted to become the Twili leader, but was surpassed by Midna, the Twilight King's daughter. Shortly before the start of Twilight Princess, Zant deposed Midna with the power of Ganondorf. As part of the deal, Zant launched an invasion into Hyrule, in order to merge both the Light World and the Twilight Realm. Zant transformed the Twili into Shadow Beasts, and reduced Midna into an imp-like form. During his invasion of Hyrule, he also tried to destroy the Mirror of Twilight to prevent people following him into the Twilight Realm, but as he was not the true ruler of the Twili, he could merely fragment it into pieces. Together with Link, Midna collected the hidden pieces of the Fused Shadow, which they used to defeat both Zant and Ganon.
It was established in Ocarina of Time that the Triforce was once residing in the Sacred Realm, which is a sort of parallel world to Hyrule. The nature of the Sacred Realm reflects the character of the one who enters it; if this is someone pure of heart, the Sacred Realm will be a Golden Land; if it is a malevolent being, the Sacred Realm transforms into a dark and grim world.
According to the official timeline, after the land of Hyrule was established following the events of Skyward Sword, a long period called the Era of Chaos started. Many people heard of the almighty power of the Triforce, and many conflicts ensued over the centuries in which groups tried to aggressively enter the Sacred Realm to claim the Triforce for their own. It is implied in the series that the first major conflict was the Interloper War. A tribe called the Dark Interlopers had become skilled in dark magic, and had created a dark relic called the Fused Shadow, which they wanted to use to establish their dominion over the Sacred Realm.
However, in the war that followed, the three Golden Goddesses who had created Hyrule (Din, Farore, and Nayru) intervened. They sent four Light Spirits to Hyrule: Ordona, Faron, Eldin and Lanayru. They split the Fused Shadow in pieces and hid them away in temples accross the land. The Goddesses themselves defeated the Interlopers by chasing them away, and banishing them to the Twilight Realm; the Mirror of Twilight was left as the only link between the Light World and the Twilight Realm. The Light Spirits were tasked with protecting the four regions of Hyrule they were named after. At the end of the Era of Chaos, the Temple of Time was built to seal the Sacred Realm once and for all.
As time passed on, the descendants of the Dark Interlopers adapted to the Twilight Realm and became known as the peaceful Twili. After the events of Ocarina of Time (the Child Era specifically) and Majora's Mask, the Gerudo chief Ganondorf, who had attempted to invade Hyrule, was captured and executed at the Arbiter's Ground prison. Because he could not be killed, the Sages used the Mirror of Twilight to banish him to the Twilight Realm. There he languished for several centuries, meeting with the Twili Zant who wanted to become the Twili leader, but was surpassed by Midna, the Twilight King's daughter. Shortly before the start of Twilight Princess, Zant deposed Midna with the power of Ganondorf. As part of the deal, Zant launched an invasion into Hyrule, in order to merge both the Light World and the Twilight Realm. Zant transformed the Twili into Shadow Beasts, and reduced Midna into an imp-like form. During his invasion of Hyrule, he also tried to destroy the Mirror of Twilight to prevent people following him into the Twilight Realm, but as he was not the true ruler of the Twili, he could merely fragment it into pieces. Together with Link, Midna collected the hidden pieces of the Fused Shadow, which they used to defeat both Zant and Ganon.
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