What's New

The Wind Waker HD is the 2013 Wii U remaster of the GameCube's The Wind Waker. The story, islands and dungeons are the same, but Nintendo used the remaster to fix the parts of the original that players complained about most: the slow sailing, the long hunt for the Triforce Charts and Tingle's expensive fees. This page lists everything that changed. Sections marked New are not in the GameCube version, Changed means it works differently, and Gone means it was removed.

Sailing

• New Swift Sail: an upgrade to your Sail, sold at the Windfall Auction once you have the Wind Waker. Press A while sailing to switch between the normal Sail and the Swift Sail. The Swift Sail is much faster, and it turns the wind to blow behind you wherever you steer, so you no longer need to play the Wind's Requiem every time you change course.
• Changed Salvaging and grappling are quicker. The crane cutscenes when you haul up sunken treasure, and the Grappling Hook animations, are shorter.
• Changed You stay in the boat. Taking damage at sea no longer knocks Link out of the King of Red Lions, except for big hits like exploding barrels.
• Changed Easier cannon: the cannon shows the path your shot will take, and items dropped by enemies you defeat at sea fly toward you.
• Changed Fishman tips are saved. Once a Fishman has told you something, you can read it again from the Sea Chart, and the Fishmen no longer move after you feed them bait.

The Triforce Quest

• Changed Only three Triforce Charts. In the original you had to find eight charts, pay Tingle to decipher each one and then fish each shard up from the sea floor. In HD, five of the eight shards are lying in the chests where those charts used to be, and only three charts remain. See our Triforce Shards guide.
• New Five new Treasure Charts (numbers 42 to 46) lead to the sea-floor chests where those five shards used to be. They hold Rupees and, in one case, a Piece of Heart, so there are still 54 unique sunken treasures.
• Changed Bigger starting wallet: Link's first wallet holds 500 Rupees instead of 200, so you can pay Tingle's 398-Rupee deciphering fee without a wallet upgrade.

Items and Side Quests

• Changed Picto Box: holds 12 pictographs instead of 3, and Link can take selfies with nine different expressions. Lenzo upgrades it to the Deluxe Picto Box after his three photo tasks; you no longer need to bring him a Forest Firefly (he gives you a Joy Pendant for one instead).
• Changed Nintendo Gallery: pictographs you can turn into figurines are marked in the corner, and Carlov now sculpts up to 12 figurines a day instead of one. You also need the Knuckle figurine to complete the gallery.
• Changed Hero's Charm moved. It is in a chest at the bottom of the Savage Labyrinth on Outset Island. Mrs. Marie gives you Treasure Chart 45 for her 40 Joy Pendants instead.
• Changed One Piece of Heart moved. The piece that was at the bottom of the Savage Labyrinth is now found with the new Treasure Chart 46. See our Heart Pieces guide.
• New Tingle Bottle: replaces the Tingle Tuner. You could write a message or attach a picture and throw it into the sea, and it would wash up in another player's game through Miiverse. Miiverse closed on November 7th, 2017, so the bottle no longer does anything.
• Changed Tingle Statues: without the Tingle Tuner's Tingle Bombs, you uncover the five statues with ordinary Bombs. Knuckle appears on Tingle Island once you have found all five.
• Changed Forest Water lasts 30 minutes instead of 20, which makes watering the withered Korok trees much less stressful.
• Changed Prices: Lenzo's Legendary Pictographs cost 150 Rupees instead of 50, and All-Purpose Bait from Beedle costs 30 Rupees instead of 10. Pots that used to hold three of an item now hold two.

Hero Mode

New Hero Mode is available from the start; you can switch it on when you begin a new game or each time you load a save. Enemies deal double damage and no hearts appear anywhere, so the only ways to heal are potions, fairies, soup, Heart Containers and Pieces of Heart. Keep your bottles full.

Controls

• New GamePad screen: the map and item screen are on the Wii U GamePad, and you can drag an item onto one of your three buttons without pausing. You can also play on the GamePad alone, or with a Wii U Pro Controller (then the GamePad can still show the map).
• Changed Wind Waker always ready: the baton has its own button on the D-pad, and while sailing the Grappling Hook and cannon do too, so you don't have to equip them.
• New Gyro aiming: you can aim the bow, Hookshot, Boomerang and Grappling Hook by moving the GamePad (it can be turned off), and Link can walk while aiming in first person.
• Changed Conducting: the Wind Waker's beat starts only when you press the first direction, and after the first time each song is only acted out in full once per session.
• Changed Blocks: grabbing and climbing a block are both on the action button now, instead of grabbing with the shield button.
• Changed Small helpers: while gliding with the Deku Leaf, a marker shows where you will land, and Link can change direction while swinging on a rope.

Bosses and Enemies

• Changed Enemies stay invincible for a shorter time after a hit, so some sword moves can hit twice.
• Changed Kalle Demos: the Boomerang no longer hits the boss's core on its way back to you.
• Changed Molgera: you can no longer Hookshot its tongue while it flies at you.
• Changed Big Octos: an eye you destroy now glows blue instead of turning black, so it is easier to see which eyes are left. See Big Octos.
• Changed Medli and Makar now follow you through doors in the Earth and Wind Temples instead of having to be carried.

Graphics and Sound

The game runs at 1080p instead of 480p, with new lighting and soft shadows, bloom and sharper textures, while the character models and animations are the originals. The music uses higher-quality instrument samples, and surround sound now goes out digitally over HDMI. The opening cutscene that plays when you start a new file can now be skipped.

What's Not Included

• Gone Tingle Tuner: the Game Boy Advance link-up that let a second player control Tingle is gone, along with Tingle Bombs and the Tuner's hints.
• Gone Miiverse features: sending Tingle Bottles and posting pictographs to Miiverse stopped working when Miiverse closed in 2017.