Equipping Items

Learn how to equip items to your X and Y buttons and use the Quick Equip feature in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Alright, let's talk about getting your gear ready! In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, you've got two main ways items work: some are just automatically equipped and ready to go, while others you'll need to assign to your X or Y buttons before you can use them.

To see what Link's automatically equipped with, you'll want to head over to the 'Gear' tab on the bottom screen. Just tap that, and you'll see all the important stuff Link's already got on him. For the gadgets you actually need to use, you'll go to the 'Item' tab. This is where all your adventuring tools live, and you'll need to equip them manually.

Once you're in the Item menu, it's super easy to set things up. You can just use your stylus to drag and drop the items. Want something on your Y button? Drag the item you want to the little box in the corner that has 'Y' in it. You can also highlight an item with the circle pad and then press Y to assign it. Now, whenever you press Y, Link will whip out that item. Later on, you'll unlock the ability to equip items to the X button too, and it works the exact same way – just drag it to the 'X' box or highlight and press X.

There's also a handy 'Quick Equip' feature. When your bottom screen is showing the map, you can tap the items on the right side to bring up a scroll bar. A list of your items will pop up on the top screen. Use the arrows on the scroll bar to cycle through your items. Found the one you need? Just tap the 'Select' button next to the scroll bar to confirm it. If you want to limit which items show up during Quick Equip, go back to the Item menu, tap the arrow in the bottom-left corner, and drag it to set your preferences.