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The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds' Hero Mode Exclusives

by Kyle Hilliard on Jan 07, 2014 at 05:05 AM

I've played a lot of Link Between Worlds. Probably too much. I played through the game once, and quickly restarted it on the Hero Mode difficulty and didn't stop until I had everything. The main difference between the two modes is that in Hero Mode, you take significantly more damage, making the game harder. There are a few other differences though, and I grabbed a few example images if you were curious what else changes. Please be aware that this blog does contain spoilers.

Above you will see an image of Link standing inside of his home as it exists in Lorule. There is a journal on the table that doesn't exist in game's normal mode (see below).

The journal is an account of Ravio's decision to come to Hyrule over the course of three days, which many have pointed out could be a reference to the three day loop that exist in Majora's Mask. I'd like to think it is. I apologize for the cell phone quality pictures. I took most of these before the Nintendo 3DS Miiverse was live, which makes it easier to post images directly from the game.

The other difference between Hero Mode and a normal playthrough is the ending. Nothing major changes – there are no narrative discrepancies, but the final image of the game is a little bit different.

Here's the normal ending's final image.

If you beat the game on Hero Mode, the camera pans down after Link returns the Master Sword to its pedestal, and reveals the image below.

There you go! There may be other differences, but these are the most notable. Head here for our Link Between Worlds review.