A Link Between Worlds Missing Energy Meter Glitch

It appears that there's a glitch in A Link Between Worlds, where the energy gauge will never be displayed throughout the game (see here). I'm hoping that Nintendo might consider to release a patch for the game to fix this.

Because if they do, they can also change the Cucco endless mode to unlock the Giant Cucco after 100 seconds, the way it should be. So, in case Miiverse launches on 3DS soon, make sure to complain about the ridiculous Cucco challenge to let Nintendo know. :-D The giant Cucco actually appears during the credits, throwing hearts at you, so if you want to have the best ending for your game, you'll need the Cucco. I'm usually not someone to complain about a challenge in a Zelda game, quite the opposite (Hero's Trial ftw), but Nintendo has never done such an extreme requirement for an unlockable in a Zelda game and the minigame is near impossible to beat. Hitboxes are huge, you don't have any chances/lives and it gets worse with every round. I've seen hardcore completionists, who even did the 100 super jumps in Super Mario RPG, struggling with Cucco Run's endless mode.

I used pause buffering (constantly pausing the game to create a slow motion effect) to get around the 350 seconds mark, however, at this point the Cuccos become so fast that even pause buffering isn't helping that much. Also, I fear that I will wreck the Start button of my 3DS, if I keep doing this. The 3DS is not exactly the sturdiest Nintendo system...

It's very unlikely that Nintendo listens to the complaints and fixes the game, but now that there is at least one glitch to fix, there's little hope.

A Link Between Worlds and DLC? Boss Challenge and Online Battle Modes!

This June Aonuma suggested in an interview with NintendoLife that they are looking into ways how to add content to a Zelda game in the form of DLC. Naturally DLC isn't an easy feat with Zelda, because you can't just add some new levels/areas to the game, unless you hide them under a tombstone like the Color Dungeon in Link's Awakening DX. But additional quests and dungeons also should yield a nice reward, which shouldn't be a bad afterthought.

However, A Link Between Worlds leaves certain interfaces for add on content, which could easily work and might even sell well. First thing is the absent Boss Battle/Gauntlet mode. After Spirit Tracks offered the possibility to battle all bosses again, Nintendo turned this into its own mode in Ocarina of Time 3D, which then made a return with the Lightning Round in Skyward Sword. And fans loved it! Battling bosses against the clock, going for highscores, battling all bosses in a row... Or alone the option to replay a boss whenever you want. It's great and every new Zelda should have it.

But... A Link Between Worlds didn't have one. In fact this is one of the very few complaints I have about this near perfect Zelda game that you can't replay the fun boss battles. I thought the bosses were great and the option to replay them is dearly missed. Also, battling all bosses in a row is always a nice challenge, definitely a lot more fun than some 17 minutes dodging minigame. So, where is it?

However, I can't help but feel that this was entirely intentional from Nintendo's side. A boss battle mode would make great extra content. I would easily pay 5€ for this. And maybe this is Nintendo's big plan here. Make the fans wish for a boss challenge mode and then release one as paid DLC.

The other obvious thing are online battles... the StreetPass feature is nice and all, I had a lot of fun with it, but overall it feels like another step back. The first game to have a battle mode was Four Swords Adventures, which had probably the most fun battle mode with "Shadow Battles", but it could only be played locally. Phantom Hourglass then offered online battles, which was great. But the gameplay of the battle mode wasn't as fun, nor the most Zelda'ish gameplay. However, it was online and connected many Zelda fans world wide. Spirit Tracks returned to a more fun concept with its battle mode (even though it wasn't nearly as great as Shadow Battles), but they cut the online. Again it was only local...

And now A Link Between Worlds finally returns to the great fun that Shadow Battles offered, but you can't even play against other people. It's only StreetPass and you fight bots. While the bots are really good (probably some of the most impressive AI from Nintendo) and the battles can be A LOT of fun, once you learned how to outsmart the AI, it's getting boring fast. I enjoyed the StreetPass battles for many, many hours, but after a while you just want a real opponent. Who does mistakes, but who also adepts. You want to play with friends and you also want to play online with people from Zelda message boards.

To integrate it, you would just talk to Gramps that you want to battle Shadow Links online. Maybe the bounties might be a problem, in case people are losing willingy to give you endless Rupees, but you could just leave the bounty rewards out. And have no penalties (like a counter how many games you've lost). If there's nothing to lose, less people will skip a match just because they're about to lose.

Also, they could add new arenas to the package. The five normal arenas are great and add to the replayability, but after a while you want some fresh places. New maps usually breath new life into an online game.

An online mode is probably not as likely, because Nintendo doesn't have the greatest affinity for online gaming, so this might remain a wet dream of mine. However, I could see a boss challenge mode happening via DLC in the next weeks.

So Many The Wind Waker HD Wii U Bundles...

This must probably be the most unlimited limited edition of something Nintendo ever since the Limited Edition of The Wind Waker (though it was nice to get a new version together with Master Quest three years after the release for 25€... :-D). I went to an electronics retailer and they are absolutely everywhere. Piles of them! It's so sad, either Nintendo overestimated the demand or noone's buying them. Probably both.

At least this gives me the hope that buying this bundle wasn't a mistake that gets punished by some golden Wii U bundle later, when the new Zelda game gets released. Because whenever that might be, they'll probably still have to get rid off the Wind Waker bundles...

The 3DS Zelda Anniversary bundle with Ocarina of Time 3D on the other hand was sold out quickly and quite some Zelda fans didn't manage to get one, so there was actual demand for golden 3DS XL, which seems to be selling out as well. When they first announced the second 3DS bundle, I wasn't happy about it, because I felt betrayed as an "early adopter", but I grew to like it. It's nowhere as good as the first bundle with Ocarina, but it's nice to be able to play my 3DS games on a bigger screen and it allows me to fake StreetPass hits, which was very useful with A Link Between Worlds. So, the golden 3DS XL prove to be useful after all and not just a mere collectible, so I can somewhat justify the purchase.

However, it would be hard to justify buying a second Wii U, unless you live in a big house and want a second one for your bedroom. Also, I'm rarely using the first one. After The Wind Waker HD I stopped using the system alltogether. Mainly because of A Link Between Worlds, but overall there aren't any must-play games for me. The Mario games are certainly nice and I will probably play them some day, but after the mediocre Marios on the 3DS I'm really sick of Mario games right now. I tried Nintendo Land, but I don't like it at all. I'm anticipating Mario Kart 8 and Retro's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but I'm not even done with the predecessors. I'm still missing some golden kart parts in Mario Kart 7 and in Donkey Kongy Country Returns I stopped at 160% or so. The completionist in me wants to finish those, before starting the new ones.

I think the first big must-play title for me will probably be Smash Bros. And I'm eager to learn, how the Zelda game will look like, of course.

Got my A Link Between Words Treasure Chest with Sounds

I just got this send from the UK yesterday:

The first 1000 registries of the game in the German Club Nintendo after 12AM on the launch date were rewarded with one. I've heard, the 1000 chests were gone after about 5 minutes, so you had to be really quick to get one.

This was the only way to get this chest in Germany without importing it. No retailer had it as a preorder bonus, which is a shame, because it was a lot easier to get this chest in other countries of Europe. But I'm happy that I got one. I love the sound effect, when you open the chest.

I will now use this to store my 3DS Zelda games. I have two copies of Ocarina of Time 3D due to the late bundle and one copy of A Link Between Worlds... that leaves space for two more 3DS Zelda games, Nintendo! *hint, hint* But I'm confident that the chest will be filled eventually. Majora's Mask 3D simply needs to happen now after all these Majora teasers and A Link Between Worlds is predestined to receive a great follow-up in the next two years.

The chest also stores DS games, so I could fill it with Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, but I honestly feel like those games don't deserve the chest. :D

A Link Between Worlds StreetPass Guide Version 1.1

Check it out!

I've teamed up with avengah and Petter1789 from the GameFAQs board (as well as some other people) to bring the StreetPass guide for A Link Between Worlds to the next level! It now includes an exact bounty calculation table, a list of all 20 pre-generated Shadow Links and their data, as well a list of all possible Shadow Link locations and the corresponding arenas. The arena gets chosen based on the Shadow Link's location and it's usually good to know what's coming.

I think the guide now covers absolutely everything about the StreetPass feature and was quite a piece of work. But similar to my Oracle of Ages & Seasons Ring Guide this is a much more complex side activity that is basically its own "Zelda science". Everyone can compile a Piece of Heart list, but these guides are full of extensive research. I'm proud of them and I hope that they will help you in the future.

Someone beat the 999.99 seconds in Cucco Run Endless Mode in A Link Between Worlds, Giant Cucco unlocked

This is from an anonymous poster in the comments, not my achievement:

Wow...! A part of me was still hoping that the giant Cucco unlockable wouldn't exist. :-D Thanks to the guy, who gave me the pictures. Here are his or her holy words:

Well...
after countless days of trial and error, endless frustration, anger and patience, I'd like to present to the Hyrule Blog with this:
proof that the Giant Cucco exists.

Yes this is real, and I did it all on my own along with my own research I did on how to beat it. I've achieved what everyone is saying here is the impossible, and I'm posting this to at least show the Zelda Community that this is possible and can be done with lots of patience.

Update:
The Cucco will be also shown during the credits, throwing hearts at you. So, this is basically required for the "best" ending.


I kept practicing the game the entire last week, but I'm just terrible at it... never made it past the 300 seconds so far, even though I played hundreds of games. But I never played games like R-Type in my childhood, so I still have to develop the required synapses, lol. But then again even R-Type isn't probably as unforgiving as this game.

By now I can beat the first phase for the majority of the time, so at least I'm getting my money back. The second phase is just a giant blur for me, but I'm getting better at it. There's usually an open area in the field and I just keep aiming at it. However, it's very easy to miss one of the small slowly moving Cuccos. Maybe I need to play this on the 3DS XL to have a better view on the playing field, but my otherwise completed savegames are stuck with a download copy on my normal 3DS and I don't want to do a system transfer. The third phase therefore isn't as bad for me, because it's hard to miss a giant Cucco, however, there it's very easy to get cornered with no way out.

I was about to give up after reading the latest Iwata Asks, where they state that noone in the development team or the Club Mario was able to do it. And we're talking about crazy Japanese here... So, for the sake of my sanity and the condition of my slide pad, I decided to stop this for a while. But after seeing the reward now, I fear that I won't be able to enjoy A Link Between Worlds ever again until I got that stupid chicken. :D So, I will keep practicing every now and then, you can only get better at it.

But some strategies and videos would be helpful, especially a list of what every phase does. It seems like the final phase has a mix of small and giant Cuccos, oh joy. Sadly the anonymous poster didn't leave any of his insights, but maybe he decides to change that! Or ideally someone finds a nice glitch that let's you survive the 999.99 seconds without any efforts, like they did with the 999 hits in Spirit Tracks, that would be the best case scenario for me. :D

But I'm still very unhappy about this. And I'm probably not the only one. Many people play Zelda for completion and this counts, so Nintendo's decision to include the most atrocious minigame accomplishment ever wasn't the best one... and on the other hand collecting all 100 Maiamais is probably the easiest collectible task ever in Zelda... what's with those extremes?

Dear Nintendo, if you ever decide to provide a challenge in Zelda, please try a boss rush/gauntlet mode or something like the Hero's Trial, but not some insane minigame reward... and not every counter in your games needs to be filled with 9s, thank you very much. ^^

Cleared all 50 StreetPass Challenges in A Link Between Worlds' Hero Mode

Cleared all StreetPass challenges a second time, this time in Hero Mode. It took me a lot longer, because I wanted to test for my StreetPass Guide, if using the Sand Rod on sand counts for the challenge. However, the sand arena wouldn't show up... it's only availabe in the desert, probably because the game wants to make sure that you bring your Sand Rod.

But having a second 3DS really came in handy with clearing all challenges, which makes me feel not as bad about buying the second Zelda bundle. It does have its use. :D

The fights in Hero Mode cause quadruple damage on you as well. So, the fights against Gramps are four times as difficult. It's a good challenge, but you have to handle them differently. The time limit is the best example. In normal mode it usually comes to your favor, but it here it does not. He does four times the damage and that counts, so he will win at the time limit. He also LOVES to use the Purple Potion, which gives him eight hearts of a head start. And you have to be very careful with Great Spins, since they can cause eight hearts of damage as well.

Of course you only cause normal damage. One strike from him costs you two hearts, one strike from you costs him half a heart. So, you have to hit him four times as often to win the match!

Usually I love to use the Hookshot in the fights to counter him, but this technique turned out to be too slow and inaccurate. Also, if he simply blocks and doesn't do anything, you can't hookshot. It's very difficult to defeat him in Hero Mode and it took me a couple of tries. You might also want to bring a blue potion, which further limits your possibilities in battle... Your best chance is probably in the ice arena, because this is the place, where the AI constantly hurts itself.

My new weapon of choice here is probably the Nice Sand Rod. The Nice Hookshot is better at stunning, because you will be drawn to your opponent and it also damages him per stun, which is nice. However, the Nice Sand Rod is easier to use. Also, you can counter Great Spins by releasing your own Great Spin about a split second later, which is a good opportunity to damage him.

It's a really good challenge, which I enjoyed (unlike some other Cucco game....), but also a very cheap one.

But because of that I like that I cleared all challenges in both normal and Hero Mode. I like the challenge in Hero Mode, but the fights are more fun in normal mode, because they are fair and balanced. They have the better replay value and offer the feeling of playing against another player. So, I can only advise everyone to clear all challenges first in a normal game and then later do the same in Hero Mode. Even if it takes a long time to do so.