How The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s Tri Rod Is an Evolution of Ultrahand

Highlights

• Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom features Princess Zelda as the protagonist wielding the Tri Rod for creative gameplay.
• The Tri Rod lets players create and summon copies of items and monsters, allowing for new ways to progress.
• The game offers unprecedented creativity like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Ultrahand, evolving gameplay mechanics.

The latest installment in the Legend of Zelda franchise was just announced at the latest Nintendo Direct showcase, and it’s already checking off a major item on fans’ wish lists. While The Legend of Zelda has always put players in control of the beloved hero Link, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom sees players embark on a brand-new adventure as the titular princess herself, Zelda. Based on what was revealed during the showcase, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom adopts the art style and visuals of 2019’s Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake and gives Zelda a distinct approach to gameplay that sets her apart from the series’ conventions. At the helm of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom‘s gameplay is the Tri Rod, which appears to be an evolution of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s acclaimed Ultrahand ability.

With it being confirmed that Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s Ultrahand ability will not be featured in future Zelda titles, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom‘s Tri Rod comes at the perfect time. Ultrahand is one of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s best features, as it provides players with an unprecedented amount of creativity by allowing them to create custom vehicles and structures, so long as they observe the laws of physics. Now, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom‘s Tri Rod seems to be continuing that trend by once again allowing players to use their creative imagination to progress through the game’s world.

How Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s Tri Rod Evolves Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Ultrahand

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Ultrahand Lets Players Build From Scratch

The primary appeal of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s Ultrahand ability is the unbridled creativity it grants players to build just about anything from scratch. Once players find the materials necessary to build a custom vehicle or structure, they can simply use Ultrahand to bring the pieces together until they snap into place. From there, as long as physics allows, players can use their vehicles and structures to help them get from one point to the next. The only downside to Ultrahand in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is that all the required materials need to be in the immediate vicinity. Otherwise, players have no choice but to slowly carry items across long distances to put them together. This is ultimately where Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom‘s Tri Rod ability comes as not only an evolution of Ultrahand, but also as an improvement in some ways.

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s Tri Rod Lets Players Create Copies of Items and Monsters They’ve Discovered

Unlike Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s Ultrahand ability, which requires players to have all the materials present in order to build something, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom‘s Tri Rod lets players save items like crates and tables that they can then create copies called “echoes” of later on at any time. These items can still be used in the same way that Ultrahand’s creations can — for getting to higher ground or crossing a gap, for example — but players need only to summon them here, rather than bringing materials together to build something. Players can also create echoes of monsters they’ve discovered with the Tri Rod, which is something Ultrahand is incapable of doing. When players create an echo of a monster, they can then summon that monster at any time to help them in battle.

According to The Legend of Zelda‘s producer, Eiji Aonuma, there are so many echoes in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom that even he has yet to count them all. This means that the next Zelda game will once again allow players to experiment in ways that only Ultrahand would allow them to before, so it’s likely they will be discovering some rather bizarre methods for progressing through the game. The Legend of Zelda may be leaving Ultrahand behind, but its spirit still lives on.