With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword launching on Switch today, many players will likely be excited to either return to one of the earliest versions of Hyrule, or visit the previous Wii exclusive for the first time. However, while the game might be arriving today, an issue with the shipping of some additional Zelda amiibo means that some players will be starting the game without every possible feature.
This feature that players will be missing out on includes a major quality of life implementation that allows for much faster travel, specifically from the ground areas back up to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's HUB area Skyloft. As a result, many fans will have to wait until after launch to use their purchased amiibo in order to have better access to immediate travel between the two main sections of the game.
The specific amiibo that has been caught in this shipping delay is one that depicts Zelda and her loftwing, the giant birds that Link and other characters travel across the world completing quests on in Skyward Sword. This was meant to give the players the ability to instantly travel from any point on the ground maps, such as the Faron Woods or the Lanayru Desert, up to Skyloft and back. Players can use this ability anywhere in the game, including inside of dungeons, and the amiibo will remember their locations and send them back when used again.
Normally, players would have to head back to any of the Bird Statues scattered around these maps in order to ascend back to Skyloft on their lofwings. It's a seemingly small quality of life adjustment, but it can be useful for keeping the playtime of Skyward Sword from inflating by repeated visits back and forth between Bird Statues. This can be especially useful for side quests, as these have a tendency to send Link back and forth from the ground map to Skyloft in order to fetch items or face specific challenges for villagers.
Of course, on top of the inconvenience of not having access to the feature that many players might have bought the amiibo for, these are popular, collectable figures on their own. Waiting for unforeseen delays of any kind can be frustrating, especially when the products had been originally promised to arrive. Additionally, this delay only proves to worsen the feature's controversy among Skyward Sword fans, who believed that the fast travel either shouldn't be tied to an additional purchase.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is available now for Switch.
Source: IGN