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Hyrule Warriors: Legends received a mixed-to-positive critical reception. Metacritic’s Nintendo 3DS page displays a 70/100 Metascore from 58 critic reviews, with reviewers weighing its added content and portable action against technical compromises and its similarity to the Wii U game.
What is the critics’ score for Hyrule Warriors: Legends?
Metacritic displays a 70/100 Metascore based on 58 critic reviews for the Nintendo 3DS version. Its displayed breakdown is 29 positive reviews (50%), 25 mixed (43%) and 4 negative (7%). These are the figures shown when the page was accessed in 2026; an aggregate can change if Metacritic updates its record. See Metacritic’s Nintendo 3DS critic reviews.
What did critics like?
Reviewers who responded positively valued the way Legends brings Zelda characters and settings to a portable Warriors-style action game, with additional characters and story material. Metacritic’s review excerpts also praise changes to battle flow and player freedom. One outlet described it as “the best version of the game aside from the visual downgrade,” while another called it a “fantastic and deep handheld experience.” Those are outlet-attributed review excerpts, not a consensus that every part of the conversion improved.
Nintendo Life describes battles built around defeating enemy commanders and capturing strongholds. Switching between characters lets players influence different parts of the battlefield, while Adventure Mode adds missions with varied objectives. The review also notes new story material and characters. Read Nintendo Life’s Hyrule Warriors Legends review.
#1 Best Overall
- Fight through Hyrule’s great calamity—now enhanced for the Nintendo Switch 2 system
- Take on the ultimate challenge with Calamity Mode difficulty
- The Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Definitive Edition game takes the story of how Ganon nearly destroyed the world and renders it all with enhanced resolution and frame rate.
- Also includes the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Expansion Pass DLC, which increases the number of fighters from 18 to 21.
What were the main criticisms?
The central reservation was the trade-off involved in bringing the game to handheld hardware: reviewers cited visual downgrades and technical flaws. Some also saw Legends as substantially the same experience as the Wii U original, making the new content less compelling for players who already knew that game. A Destructoid excerpt on Metacritic argues that the handheld version may be a difficult sell for anyone who is not already a superfan and that the series suits a big screen.
The split is less about whether the game contains more to do and more about whether those additions and portability compensate for the reduced presentation and familiar core experience. Nintendo Life also notes that the handheld version does not include cooperative play.
Rank #2
- Battle some of the fiercest Legend of Zelda enemies across Hyrule’s famous locales
- Link and Zelda can wear costumes from the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game
- My Fairy mode—now with detailed three-dimensional graphics—lets you befriend, customize, raise, and level up fairies you can take into battle
- Fight alongside a friend in two-player mode on one system
- Contains all downloadable content from prior versions of the game
How does it perform on original 3DS versus New Nintendo 3DS?
Nintendo Life’s reviewer reports a considerable performance drop on original Nintendo 3DS hardware compared with New Nintendo 3DS. The review says the game remains playable on the older system, but its frame rate can feel “quite jerky,” and recommends New Nintendo 3DS for the best experience. This is the reviewer’s assessment, not an independently reported laboratory test.
Nintendo’s product page lists the game as playable across the Nintendo 3DS family, but identifies two feature differences: the C Stick on New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL can control the camera, and stereoscopic 3D is displayed only on New Nintendo 3DS models. These official feature notes are separate from the reviewer’s performance comparison. Check Nintendo UK’s product information.
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![Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ynmsen7rL._SL160_.jpg)
- Battle some of the fiercest Legend of Zelda enemies across Hyrule’s famous locales
- Link and Zelda can wear costumes from the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game
- My Fairy mode—now with detailed three-dimensional graphics—lets you befriend, customize, raise, and level up fairies you can take into battle
- Fight alongside a friend in two-player mode on one system
- Contains all downloadable content from prior versions of the game
What is different in the 3DS version?
Nintendo describes Legends as adding story content and playable characters, including Linkle and characters from The Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask. Nintendo lists the European release date as 24 March 2016 and identifies both a download edition and a game-card edition. The 3DS version’s defining appeal in reviews is therefore its portable format and extra material; the corresponding cost is a less technically polished presentation than the Wii U version, according to critics.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can you still buy Hyrule Warriors: Legends digitally?
Nintendo says purchases through the Nintendo eShop for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS family systems ended on 27 March 2023. Its notice does not establish whether physical game cards are currently available, so check separately for any second-hand or remaining retail stock rather than assuming availability or a current price.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Tetra, Toon Link and King Daphnes from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker join the Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on the battlefield
- In addition, new character Linkle, a girl who lives in a small village filled with Cuccos and wields two crossbows, joins the large cast of playable characters.
- Players will be able to switch between multiple characters on the battlefield to form new strategies and take down the forces of evil.
- Game is only playable in 3D with a New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 3DS XL system
- “T”; with Fantasy Violence and Suggestive Themes
Rank #4
- Tetra, Toon Link and King Daphnes from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker join the Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on the battlefield
- In addition, new character Linkle, a girl who lives in a small village filled with Cuccos and wields two crossbows, joins the large cast of playable characters.
- Players will be able to switch between multiple characters on the battlefield to form new strategies and take down the forces of evil.
- Game is only playable in 3D with a New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 3DS XL system
- “T”; with Fantasy Violence and Suggestive Themes
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