Nintendo’s Amiibo system has always been extremely mixed in its utility. The figures are nice, and lovingly presented – but exactly how useful they are has always varied wildly. In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, however, they might be the most useful they’ve ever been.
For the most part, the series of figures that sites on my amiibo shelf has primarily acted as a decoration for my office. Generally speaking, it isn’t really worth getting them down for most games. Or, when it is, it’s a one-time tap to unlock some thingamajig or another and then back on the shelf it goes. It looks pretty and collects dust.
Breath of the Wild was always, I felt, one of the more fair implementations of the figures. Each time you tapped an amiibo, you’d get a selection of relatively random resources as found around Hyrule, plus a chest with either a fairly standard weapon or something a little more special. Through amiibo you could unlock things like a version of the shield from Wind Waker, or the classic Green Tunics of Links past. It felt fair – though honestly, it never felt like it gave you a significant leg up.