Zelda: Skyward Sword HD's fast-travel amiibo hit by shipping delay

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Zelda & Loftwing are taking the scenic route

Zelda & Loftwing amiibo
(Image credit: Nintendo)

If that Zelda & Loftwing amiibo you ordered still isn't here even though you're otherwise ready to play The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, you aren't alone. 

Nintendo confirmed in a statement given to IGN that "only a small portion" of the Zelda & Loftwing amiibo are available today due to "unforeseen shipping delays" - so if you did get one, count yourself lucky. More shipments of the NFC-enabled figure have been delayed until August, and Nintendo says it will ship more out to retailers as soon as they arrive, but this shouldn't affect other amiibo figures that are already available.

This is a bigger deal than a commemorative figure not meeting its shipping timetable, because the Zelda & Loftwing amiibo is more than just a collectible: it also unlocks a very handy fast travel feature when used with a copy of Skyward Sword HD, allowing players to return to the sky whether they're exploring areas on foot or deep in the dungeon, then return to the same point on the surface they departed from by tapping the amiibo again. This is a new feature for the game, and since one of the criticisms of the original version back on Wii was how much back-and-forth travel it made you do, it's a significant addition.

Skyward Sword HD makes plenty of other quality-of-life improvements which you don't need an amiibo to use, including an improved camera and significantly streamlined tutorials too. But it's got to be frustrating for folks who were looking forward to zipping back and forth from the surface to Skyloft to have to either wait until August (at the earliest) or play without the feature they paid extra for. Unless they were just planning to leave the amiibo in the box as a collector's item, in which case it's probably not a huge deal.

Amiibo aside, our Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD review does find it to be a worthy overhaul for "one of the most misunderstood games in the series," with great new controls and still some of the best dungeons ever created for Zelda.

We'll have to do some Impa-style meditation before we're ready to say if Skyward Sword HD deserves a spot on our list of the best Switch games.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.