HYRULE WARRIORS: AGE OF CALAMITY
Today, let's cover the second Hyrule Warriors game, which generally follows the same concept as the first, except while the first was a big general Legend of Zelda crossover, this games acts as a direct prequel/sequel/thing to Breath of the Wild. We were initially sold on it being a prequel that showed the great calamity and ended on a downer note with the deaths of the four champions, but lo and behold, it turned out to be more of an alternate timeline, where a time-traveling robot created by Zelda ended up saving the champions and changing the past. So now we have two points where the Zelda timeline splits.
As such, this game pulls characters from Breath of the Wild, and Breath of the Wild only. Obviously, we'll start with Link, who got four distinct movesets: a one-handed weapon, a spear, a two-handed weapon, and a guardian flail (basically using the arms of an Ancient Guardian like a whip). With his one-handed set, he can slash, thrust, stab down, and spin attack, while also shield surfing, and using a bow and arrows. With his spear, he can sweep, stab, flip himself into the air, charge, pull off a bullet stab, and blow a gust of wind. With his two-handed weapons, he can slash, flip, slam hard, spin attack, thrust, shoot up a geyser, and heal himself with food. And finally with the guardian flail, he can throw them, use them as a tether, use them like a helicopter, steal others' weapons, blast fire, and create a barrier. It should also be noted that all movesets for every character can make use of the Bomb, Magnesis, Cryonis, and Stasis runes in different ways (generally mixing and matching their weapon capabilities with them).
Princess Zelda had three movesets of her own, one using the Sheikah Slate (basically all about the previously mentioned runes), one with the Bow of Light, and one with the Master Cycle. Honestly, I want to go heavy into the slate for her, so I'll mostly cover her usage of it. With the slate, she can pull around a metal block, create ice blocks, drop icicles, summon a big jumble of metal, create a walking bomb, pull a minecart, and mess around with her stasis. With the bow of light, she can create spheres, beams, and rings out of light, fire light arrows, and fire off a triforce blast. Finally, with the Master Cycle, she can spin around, do a flip, ride a wave of ice, sweep her wheels, blast a laser, summon a shield, go up a ramp, pull off a loop-de-loop, and travel through portals.
Once again, these developers love Impa, and they created my favorite version of Impa. This one is basically a Naruto-style ninja (e.g. with a lot of magical elements mixed in). She can throw her hat, disappear, use a bunch of exploding seals, perform a bunch of quick cuts, summon clones of herself, set off fireworks, teleport, fly with a glider, summon a giant Sheikah eye, and ride a giant toad. (When I'm done here, this version is very much going to be the character to get Kamek's place as my icon. I love this so much, how has she not been playable in Smash yet?)
As you might have guessed, our four champions and their four descendants are all playable here as well. We'll start with the Zoras. Mipha can slash, splash water, spin around and flip with her trident, surf, swim underground, create a water fountain, summon a water spout, an orb of water, and rain bombs from above. Her brother Sidon will slash, perform a midair flip, stun people with his grin, create a dolphin or shark of water around himself, stab and slash with his trident, go fishing, perform an x-slash, create a vortex, and send a pulse of energy through the water.
Now, for the Gorons. Daruk will smash and swing around his big club thing, bash with his shoulder, call down meteors, roll, punch a rock into pieces, summon a magma pillar, cast a shield around himself, roll along a magma ramp, and cause an eruption. Yunobo is a bit more clumsy and will rely on his cannon more, throwing rocks, slapping, belly flopping, summoning a rocket fist, bouncing, leaving a crater, eating a rock roast, summoning the same barrier, and spilling lava.
For the Ritos, Revali will, of course, use Revali's gale, fire arrows and bomb arrows, summon up gale winds and whirlwinds, grab with his talons, divebomb, and perform an aerial kick. Teba, on the other hand, will fire off full volleys of arrows, have a targeting reticle, fire arrows into the sky to rain from above, while also summoning whirlwinds and performing aerial maneuvers.
Finally, we get to see our Gerudo ladies in action. Urbosa will slash, spin, and shield bash, perform a flipping kick, throw her shield, use lightning to strike, as a wave, as a wall, or to boost her speed, all controlled with a thunder gauge mechanic. Riju is much more paired up with her sand seal Patricia, that she will guide while surfing on her shield behind it. Patricia can leap and go into a rage mode, while Riju can also summon lightning to strike and call in her Gerudo guards to help her.
While not exactly "champions," we had two more in our roster who basically existed to represent their respective races, so let's cover them here. Hestu is the big Korok that rewards you for completing the Korok sidequest in the original game. Here, he will shake his maracas, let off fireworks, drop rocks, shoot arrows at targets, ride on a Korok leaf, and call in other Koroks to charge, throw junk, and help him fly. Master Kohga is the leader of the Yiga Clan, originally allied with the forces of Calamity, but joins the heroes after he and his people are betrayed. He can hover, summon a barrier, throw boulders, body slam, throw a tantrum, fire a laser from his face, roll around on a giant metal ball, teleport, call in his minions, and eat lots of bananas.
King Rhoam is the last of our base roster and core cast, and he has (sort of) two forms, his noble kingly self and his Old Man persona. As the king, he carries around a broadsword and can spin, slash, slam, spin attack, stab into the ground, perform a wind cut, and leap and spin with it, while the Old Man carries an axe and uses a bit more of the rustic elements he uses as a hermit (which mostly already filled his current moveset, meaning we might split things up).
Terrako is an original character to the game, a robot built by Zelda and her mother when she was a child that was put away by Rhoam. When the Calamity occurred, Zelda's plea awakened Terrako, leading it to travel back in time and prevent the Calamity from happening and creating a new timeline. Terrako can create a time portal, wield an axe, perform a spin attack, use helicopter blades, aim lasers, fire orbs and energy pulses, and carry a shield. (Very similar to the Guardians, but distinct enough).
Most of the secret unlockables were made up of random odd figures who would have been around at the time. This included the four Great Fairies, who acted as a tag team, moving around in their weird flower pods and switching out, slapping fighters, blasting hearts, spreading pink mist, hiding in their pods, blowing kisses, sucking opponents in, and sprouting plants everywhere. Monk Maz Koshia, the DLC boss where you get to actually fight one of the desiccated monks from the shrines, will create clones of himself, throw spears, punch the ground, turn into an orb, throw a giant boulder, grow bigger, swing a hammer, spin attack, and summon an entire shrine.
In the DLC, we get three more fun characters, a Battle-Tested Guardian (which is just an Ancient Guardian but on our side), the scientists Purah & Robbie as a tag team, and Sooga, Master Kohga's right hand man. The Guardian could slash, spin, pound, and body slam with its body, and fire a laser blast, with targeting or homing capacity, summon a barrier, and fire from the air. Purah & Robbie used a whole saw contraption, with a shield, jetpack, hammer, and energy weapons equipped, that could also use beams, explosions, bombardment, and lightning from the four Divine Beasts, and they could also use a Sheikah Tower warp to get around. Sooga had twin blades that he could do a cross slash, double thrust, spin, and quick flurry with. He could also go into a rage, attack with giant metal swords, throw exploding kunai, cut through a tornado, counter, and erect a statue of his master.
Finally, let's cover the villains. First, we have a dark sorcerer named Astor, a sort of Agahnim-figure who masterminded the whole calamity in order to resurrect Ganon. He was never playable, sadly, though he seemed to have a full programmed-in moveset. Anyway, he could summon malice, use constellations as a shield, teleport, let off waves of shadow, summon dark balls all over the place, and set off an explosion. After him, we actually got to play as Calamity Ganon, who could slash, punch the ground, summon and absorb malice, fire a blast from his mouth, wield a mace, fire a cannon, summon thorn pillars and lightning spikes, and take on a ghastly form.
We could also play as all four Divine Beasts for stretches, but those were mostly, "barrel through and fire lasers." They work better as stage possibilities anyway. Hylian Soldiers act as your allies, with Ancient Guardians, Bokoblins, Moblins, Chuchus, Lizalfos, Stalfos, Wizzrobes, Octoroks, Yiga, Lynels, Taluses, and Hinoxes acting as our enemy classes.
As for stages, we have scenarios taking place at Hyrule Castle, Castle Town, Fort Hateno, Zora's Domain, Eldin Volcano, Tabantha, Gerudo Desert, Hyrule Outpost, Korok Forest, Crenel Peak, Akkala Citadel, the Yiga Clan Hideout, the Spring of Courage, and the Great Plateau, all familiar locales for Breath of the Wild players.
And there we go! Here's what we've got so far:
Characters:
Link: Sword, slash, swipe, spin attack, thrust, spike, sword beams, Master Sword, Fire Rod, magic spells, fiery blasts, flamethrower, pillars of flame, dragon, Gauntlets, ball and chain, burrow, boulder, ground pound, pillar, Spinner, more spinners, spikes, lightning, tornado, tower
Great Fairy: bottle, fly, stomp, splash, magic circle, bombs, energy balls, whirlpools, Levias, moon
Epona: swing her head, leap, charge, kick, stomp
Young Link: sword, slash, sword beams, spin attack, Pegasus boots, Fierce Deity, giant slash, Triforce blast
Toon Link: sword, slash, stab, spin attack, hurricane, Deku Leaf, Sand Wand, ride sand block, spirit train, cannon
Zelda: rapier, slash, stab, light magic, balls of light, light arrows, float, triforce blast, Wind Waker, vortex, cyclone, lightning, musical notes, Dominion Rod, large statue with a hammer, large cylinder
Sheik: harp, whirlwind, shield of water, meteor, fire circle, wave of lightning, shadow vortex, blast of light, teleport, kunai
Tetra: cutlass, blunderbuss, slash, boiling water, triforce blast
Toon Zelda: spirit, Phantom armor, slash, thrust, stomp, punch, swing her arms around, roll up into a ball, explosions of light
Impa: giant blade, slash, dash, spin jump, stab into the ground, big ball of water, rain kunai, naginata, throw it, explosions, wall of flames, circle of giant naginatas
Ganondorf: great sword, slash, slam, fiery blast, ball of dark magic, Beast Ganon, lightning, trident, strike, thrust, slam, throw it, spin
Beast Ganon: claw, pound the ground, lunge, shockwaves, red lightning
Darunia: giant hammer, smash, swing around, spin, stomp, lava spout, roll into a ball, butt bash, flaming boulder, fire hand
Ruto: slash with her fins, whirlpools, water orbs, dive into pools to teleport, sphere of water, tidal waves, ride small waves
Agitha: parasol, float, giant butterfly, spray of butterflies, giant rhinoceros beetle, tornado, grow butterfly wings
Zant: spin, stomp, slash with scimitars, Zant heads, berserker rage, grow gigantic, giant hand, energy ball
Midna: hair, slam, punch, grab, wolf, portals, dark whirlwind, spidery form
Twili Midna: Mirror of Twilight, light beam, energy balls, hand, cannon, bridge, twilight sphere, wolves, shattering tear, summon twilight
Fi: become a sword, spin kick, pirouette, flying spin, flower pattern, Din, Nayru, and Farore, triforce blast
Ghirahim: Demon Blade, slash, shoot beam, floating knives, teleport, levitate, force field ceiling, summon demons, connecting line
Tingle: map, bag of rupees, balloon, bounce, roll, balloon bombs, trophy
Skull Kid: Tatl and Tael, spinning rush, puppet, laser beam from his face, cyclones, meteors, call down the moon.
King Daphnes: boat's sail, making it spin, boat form, tidal wave, splash, mast, whirlwind
Medli: sacred harp, beams of light, Mark of Din, fly, gusts of wind, tornados.
Marin: bell, bubble, water spout, shockwave of sound, Wind Fish
Ravio: hammer, giant bomb, Ice Rod, Gale Boomerang, bomb arrows, bag
Yuga: brush, portraits, frames, travel between portraits, explode, magic circles, Ganon's trident, lightning
Lana: spellbook, protective walls, ride on a cube, hop between walls, whirlwinds, lightning, flurry of pages, spear, sprout trees, Great Deku Tree, baby Deku Tree, Deku Leaf, Deku Seeds, water, ice, wind, summoning gate
Cia: scepter, whip, tornadoes, waves of dark energy, energy balls, Dark Links, summoning gate, grid of explosions
Volga: human form, dragon form, sword, fire, fly, dragon arm, eruption of flame, splash flames
Wizzro: ghostly orbs, horizontal beam, move through pools of shadow, Wallmaster hands, demonic shadow beasts, dark explosions
Linkle: crossbows, regular bolts, bomb arrows, rising kicks, fiery kicks, dive kicks, Pegasus Boots, roundhouse kick, somersault, diving kicks, running knee hits, backflips, forward kicks, lightning kicks, spin kicks, Cucco
Cucco: peck, flutter
Wild Link: one-handed sword, slash, thrust, stab down, spin attack, shield surfing, bow and arrows, spear, sweep, stab, flip into the air, charge, bullet stab, gust of wind. two-handed weapon, slash, flip, slam, spin attack, thrust, geyser, food, guardian flail, throw, tether, helicopter, steal weapons, blast fire, barrier
Wild Zelda: Sheikah Slate, metal block, ice blocks, icicles, jumble of metal, walking bomb, minecart, stasis, bow of light, spheres, beams, rings, light arrows, triforce blast., Master Cycle, spin, do a flip, wave of ice, sweep her wheels, laser, shield, ramp, loop-de-loop, portals
Wild Impa: throw her hat, disappear, exploding seals, quick cuts, clones, fireworks, teleport, glider, Sheikah eye, giant toad.
Mipha: slash, splash water, spin around, flip, trident, surf, swim underground, water fountain, water spout, orb of water, rain bombs
Sidon: slash, midair flip, stun grin, dolphin, shark, stab, slash, trident, go fishing, x-slash, vortex, pulse of energy
Daruk: smash, swing his club, shoulder bash, meteors, roll, punch a rock, magma pillar, shield, magma ramp, eruption
Yunobo: cannon, throw rocks, slap, belly flop, rocket fist, bounce, crater, rock roast, barrier, lava
Revali: Revali's gale, arrows, bomb arrows, gale winds, whirlwinds, grab with talons, divebomb, aerial kick
Teba: volley of arrows, targeting reticle, arrows into the sky, whirlwinds, aerial maneuvers
Urbosa: slash, spin, shield bash, flipping kick, throw shield, lightning strike, wave, wall, speed boost, thunder gauge
Riju: Patricia, surfing shield, leap, rage mode, lightning strike, Gerudo guards
Hestu: maracas, fireworks, drop rocks, arrows at targets, Korok leaf, Korok charge, throw junk, help him fly
Master Kohga: hover, barrier, throw boulders, body slam, tantrum, face laser, giant metal ball, teleport, minions, bananas.
King Rhoam: broadsword, spin, slash, slam, spin attack, stab the ground, wind cut, leap and spin
Old Man Rhoam: axe, boomerang axe
Terrako: time portal, axe, spin attack, helicopter blades, aim lasers, orbs, energy pulses, shield
Wild Fairies: tag team, flower pod, switch, slap, heart blast, pink mist, hide in pods, blow kiss, suck in, sprout plants
Monk Maz Koshia: clones, spears, punch the ground, orb, giant boulder, grow bigger, hammer, spin attack, shrine
Battle-Tested Guardian: slash, spin, pound, body slam, laser blast, barrier, aerial blast
Purah & Robbie: saw contraption, shield, jetpack, hammer, energy weapons, beams, explosions, bombardment, lightning, Sheikah Tower warp
Sooga: twin blades, cross slash, double thrust, spin, quick flurry, rage, giant metal swords, exploding kunai, cut through a tornado, counter, Kohga statue
Astor: malice, constellation shield, teleport, waves of shadow, dark balls, explosion
Calamity Ganon: slash, punch the ground, malice, mouth blast, mace, cannon, thorn pillars, lightning spikes, ghastly form
Hylian Soldier
Goron
Bokoblin
Moblin
Lizalfos
Stalfos
Poe
Bulblin
Deku Baba
Gibdo
Aeralfos
Darknut
ReDead
Dinolfos
King Dodongo
Gohma
Manhandla
Argorok
Ancient Guardians
Wizzrobes
Octoroks
Yiga
Lynels
Taluses
Hinoxes
Bosses:
King Dodongo
Gohma
Manhandla
Argorok
The Imprisoned
Giant Cucco
Beast Ganon
Stages:
Hyrule Castle
Hyrule Field
Eldin Caves
Faron Woods
Valley of Seers
Skyloft
Sealed Grounds
Death Mountain
Water Temple
Twilight Field
Palace of Twilight
Temple of the Sacred Sword
Temple of Souls
Gerudo Desert
Ganon's Tower
Forsaken Fortress
Wind and Earth Temples
Hyrule Castle
Castle Town
Fort Hateno
Zora's Domain
Eldin Volcano
Tabantha
Gerudo Desert
Hyrule Outpost
Korok Forest
Crenel Peak
Akkala Citadel
Yiga Clan Hideout
Spring of Courage
Great Plateau
Divine Beasts
Thanks for reading! Tomorrow, we hopefully calm down some with Cadence of Hyrule.
