Link’s famous pointy hat didn’t look ‘cool’ in ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’

By Gabe Gurwin March 10, 2017

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 Trailer

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild features tons of different clothing and armor combinations, but if you want Link to rock his famous green tunic, you can still do so by using Amiibo figures or, if you’re insane, completing all 120 of the game’s “Shrines.” These are also the only ways you’ll see the hero’s classic pointy hat — according to art director Satoru Takizawa, it just didn’t look “cool” enough in the game’s new engine.

Speaking in an interview at the Game Developers Conference, Takizawa explained that he has had to consistently iterate on Link’s hat in recent games like Twilight Princess — in which Link sported a longer hat that was affected by the wind — and in Skyward Sword, which included a smaller hat. Link’s hat falls somewhere in between the two in the 3DS game A Link Between Worlds, which aimed to emulate the look and feel of the Super Nintendo’s masterpiece A Link to the Past.

“As the graphical fidelity has increased, it becomes more difficult to make that hat look cool,” Takizawa told Polygon. “As the game becomes more realistic, it’s difficult to present it in a way that’s appealing.”

We’re not entirely sure what’s so realistic about Breath of the Wild‘s watercolor-like visual style, but the game includes a number of hats and helmets for Link that are decidedly uncool. If you want to beat the heat at Death Mountain, Link can wear a helmet that looks like it was created by a toddler pretending to be a knight, or you could make the Hylian hero prepared to write an encyclopedic novel covering topics like competitive tennis and Quebec’s secession from Canada — the latter might not give you much of an advantage in the game, but it will make all your friends think you’re really smart.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now for Nintendo Switch and Wii U.

Updated on 3-10-2017 by Gabe Gurwin: Specified that the hat is still possible to acquire through Amiibo.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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