The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an upcoming game for the Wii U and NX slated to release in 2017.

Story
Link awakens from a deep sleep, and a mysterious voice guides him to discover what has become of the ruined Kingdom of Hyrule. Link meets an old man and learns from him that 100 years prior, a great evil known as the Calamity Ganon rose up and laid waste to Hyrule. Unable to be defeated, he was sealed within Hyrule Castle while the ruins of the land were ravaged by nature over time. Although trapped, the Calamity Ganon has continued to grow in power, and Link must defeat him before he is set free and destroys the world.

Development
The Zelda HD Experience, a The Legend of Zelda tech demo of the Wii U, was shown at. On June 20, 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that Nintendo is planning on creating an HD The Legend of Zelda title.

The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U was officially announced in the Wii U Direct presentation on January 23, 2013. Eiji Aonuma stated that the game intended to challenge what was expected of The Legend of Zelda games, such as the player having to complete dungeons in a specific order or that it is a single player experience. The game is expected to have a long development time, so Nintendo released for the Wii U to decrease the gap between releases. During, the first video of the game was shown, revealing Link riding Epona, in addition to a new enemy, and Hyrule Field. Link can be seen wearing an outfit similar to the one used in. Eiji Aonuma responded to fan reactions to the character's design stating that the character was not explicitly stated to be Link, but later stated that he was joking.

During the Game Awards 2014, Miyamoto and Aonuma showed a new gameplay video. It demonstrated the scale of Hyrule, which was designed with the open world concept of the original Zelda games in mind. It also shown the return of the Sailcloth and the use of beacons for pointing out important landmarks in the huge overworld. Different from previous games, riding Epona is done automatically, with Link only needing to steer. This was made in order to focus on the surroundings with the fully controllable camera and on combat with the Sword or Bow while riding. Link is also able to jump off Epona, slowing the game in order to shoot Arrows at enemies more precisely. If an enemy is hit by an Arrow, a metallic sound will play. Enemies also show a life meter above them, similar to when the Hero's Charm is worn in The Wind Waker.

The game was originally planned to be released in 2015, but due to new ideas added during the game's development, the release date was pushed forward past 2015. During E3 2015, Shigeru Miyamoto reassured in an IGN interview that the game is still planned for a Wii U release and has some "great footage", but is not ready to be shown yet. During the Nintendo Direct in November 2015, it was announced that the game is still slated for a 2016 release. In financial documents released in March 2016, the game was shown to have been delayed to a 2017 release. This was also confirmed in Nintendo's Twitter. Breath of the Wild was also confirmed to be released simultaneously on both the Wii U and NX. A demo will be playable at E3 2016 and will be the only demo available on the show floor.

amiibo Support
Along with, The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U will be compatible with the Wolf Link amiibo. and will summon Wolf Link as an NPC ally to aid Link. Wolf Link will have the same number of hearts as what is saved to the Amiibo. Three new Amiibo have been announced for the game, Archer Link, Horseback Link and a Guardian. Their use is currently unknown. It is unknown if any of the Zelda Series Amiibo From the Smash Line are compatible.