When Amiibo first were coming out, I would buy them in bunches on release date. Any Amiibo, no matter whether I thought it would be common or not, I would get it, because who knew when I would see it again. More recently, I’ve been buying Amiibo as I review them and not worrying too much about scarcity. Well it would appear that these new Breath of the Wild Amiibo are selling quite well and several stores I’ve checked near me have sold most or all of their stock. Nintendo will absolutely be making more but for the short term, it may hard to track these Amiibo down.
Based on my experience, the one Amiibo you are likely to see on shelves right now is Rider Link. I picked him up a week after release and the stores I have been to seem to have Rider Link and nothing else. Setting temporary rarity aside, the big question is: should you get this Amiibo? What if you already have Archer Link? Read on to find out the verdict!
Box – One thing I like on every Amiibo thus far is the box art. All of the Breath of the Wild Amiibo have great designs but this one really pops out at you and makes you want to get it.
Size Comparison – One of the big things I noticed about this Amiibo when I first saw it is that the horse looks impressive but Link does not. If you compare the two new Link Amiibo size wise, they are similar if you count the horse but Rider Link without the horse is very small in comparison. What does this mean in practical terms? Link is less detailed and does not feel like the focal point of this Amiibo for better or worse depending on your opinion.
Details – I praised Archer Link in my recent review for having some of the best looking decals on an Amiibo and when you compare Rider Link to that, chances are good that you will be a little disappointed. The decals are only displayed on the back and while they look nice, there aren’t nearly as many. As you may have noticed in the comparison shot, there are also just less details too. Link’s clothes are missing much of the white trim that Archer Link has. If you look up into the hood to see Link’s face, there are no painted details including no eyes! This is really disappointing and something that would have made this figure better. I know that Link is basically the size of miniature like those in board games or war games but to not do anything with his face, which is easily visible is not ideal and a bad choice on Nintendo’s part.
What does look good on this figure is the horse. The horse has a subtly applied and realistic paint job which looks really nice. I can’t find any faults with it at all and Nintendo deserves a lot of credit for nailing that part of the Amiibo.
Closing Thoughts – Rider Link is an average quality Amiibo. It excels in a few areas and has a couple of significant drawbacks. So the question anybody thinking of buying this Amiibo should ask themselves is this: do you want a cool looking horse with Link being a minor part of the Amiibo or would you rather have a detailed figure of Link? If you’d rather have Link, definitely get Archer Link. He is impressive in nearly every regard. Rider Link is not bad at all, it just has some surprising quirks and downsides that you might not expect. If you are on a budget, this is an Amiibo that could be skipped as well to focus on higher quality and more visually interesting Amiibo. It is awesome that Nintendo has given us a mounted Link but I think they might want to make the figure bigger (and yes, more expensive) to maintain the high quality they have set with Amiibo and fully satisfy Nintendo fans.
For those of you who own Rider Link, what do you think of this new Amiibo? Do you like it better than Archer Link? If so, why? Let us know in the comments below. I look forward to hearing both sides of the debate!
NintendoFigures.com 
Reblogged this on Miketendo64! The Place To Go For Anything Nintendo and commented:
The Breath of the Wild Amiibo reviews keep coming! Find out if Rider Link is worth your money or not!
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These new Amiibo are gorgeous! Since starting into Breath of the Wild and reading up on some Amiibo functionality in that game, I’ve been thinking of diving in and getting my first one. I obviously won’t spoil their functions here, but despite the artistic drawbacks of Rider Link, I think I’d be swayed that way. I really don’t like how they left him without a face though. In Ocarina of time, Link’s bond with Epona is aww-worthy, so to see him faceless and emotionless while riding this nice horse is mildly blasphemous in my humble opinion. Great review! I think I missed your Archer Link one. Heading over there soon!
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Amiibo addiction starts with “just one”. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you find yourself overrun with a shelf of MANY cute Amiibo figures. 🙂
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Haha! I just said the same thing because I hadn’t read your comment yet 🙂 Maybe you planted the seed that is leading Ms. Goriya to buy her first Amiibo 😀
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But we don’t have shelf space! We are getting a new shelf on Friday, and it’s really just to replace an older, significantly more terrible shelf. I’ll have to start hanging things from the ceiling pretty soon!
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I don’t want to speak for Ellen but something tells me that she is like me and is more or less like space be damned, I’m going to collect whatever I want and I’ll figure the rest out later haha
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That is awesome that you’re thinking about getting a Link and I would recommend checking out Archer Link to see if you like that figure better (especially if you’re only getting one). Functionality is a big reason to get one over the other and since I don’t have BotW yet, I don’t know as much about that as I usually do. I can totally understand getting the one that is most useful for you in-game. Whichever Amiibo you choose, I think you’ll really like it, though be warned, one Amiibo purchase can quickly become many more! 🙂
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I will proceed with caution if I can find them! I’ve heard that they’re selling out like crazy, and knowing Canada, they’re long gone.
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I imagine we will see some restocks in the relatively near future but if you look around enough, hopefully you’ll find what want!
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Great review and great points about the differences between both Amiibos. I will be getting the two of them probably.
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Thank you Matt! I am the same way, I love Zelda and Amiibo too much not to just go ahead and get both 🙂
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That’s exactly how I was during the dark Amiibo shortage days, haha. Now I just want them all because I’m an addict.
Archer Link is definitely the superior figure of Link. I think Rider is mostly about the horse.
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If there is anyone I know who was most likely to share similar Amiibo buying habits, it is definitely you haha I’m glad we agree on which Amiibo is best too 🙂 Great minds think alike!
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These are amazing figures!
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I have all the BOTW amiibo. And they are all pretty amazing. It is true that they should have put more detail on the face because it does lack expression. Just adding eyes would have helped. That said its worth noting that the face is covered by the hood for that very reason so you can’t see the face. At least they gave him a mouth and nose though 😉 As regards to your thoughts on the game itself, what would you rate it out of 10?
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Haha! Yes, it could definitely be worse and Nintendo didn’t cut any major corners here. If nothing else, the fact that I can complain about the face is a sign of just how good of figures Amiibo are!
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Also worth mentioning would be a functionality comparison of all the Zelda amiibo in Breath of the wild. The BOTW amiibo are better detailed yet their functionality in the game is second rate in comparison to the other amiibo which can unlock special items you can’t find in the game. I’d like to hear your thoughts on that.
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I actually do not have a Switch yet. I just bought a Playstation 3 to play some games that I missed out on and then in a couple of months I will probably get a Switch. I decided that I would wait until a few games I want to play are out (not that Zelda is short by any means) and take a short break from Nintendo as I could feel I was not appreciating some games/franchises as much as normal (Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi games are a good example of this). It makes it a little harder to cover things like Amiibo functionality but for now, it is what it is. I am looking forward to getting a Switch and feeling like I’m in the know on functionality again soon 🙂
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Excellent review, as always Kuribo! I completely agree that Link Archer succeeds where Link Rider does not. I like the horse and all, but that’s not even how Epona looks, so we essentially have a random horse amiibo. And I’m very disappointed that Link’s faceless. Don’t get me wrong though. The horse amiibo looks great otherwise. It’s just I expected better for a Link amiibo. I’d still rather own this than the Bokoblin at least, even though I did eventually cave in and buy that too, haha. I look forward to more BotW amiibo reviews!
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Yeah, I was wondering if this horse is Epona or not and I forgot to research it before writing the article. Even if the horse was Epona, I feel that the detail on the horse is enough to satisfy Zelda fans all on its own. I just got Bokoblin yesterday and am reviewing it next. It is going to be an entertaining review for some of the wrong reasons! I’m looking forward to writing it though! That and I have yet to see the Zelda Amiibo. I hope to come across her soon and be able to review the last of these Amiibo!
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