At one point in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Link would find an item called the Picto Box (which could later be upgraded to the Deluxe Picto Box). With this item, players could embark on a series of quests where villagers would ask for pictures of very specific things. You could also use this to capture pictures of characters, which you could exchange for virtual figurines in the Nintendo Gallery.
It was a great feature in the original version of the game, but in The Wind Waker HD, it got some improvements, such as the ability to store 12 pictures at a time, as well as some quality-of-life upgrades to the Picto Box quests and figurine requirements. The option to take selfies was also added.
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — fairly early in the story if you stick to the main quest line — Link will upgrade his Sheikah Slate to add a photo taking feature that will definitely remind Wind Waker fans of the Picto Box. But this feature was reimagined and fleshed out, creating a unique facet to Breath of the Wild that’s practically a whole new game on its own.
Instead of having to photograph characters and exchange their images for figurines, Breath of the Wild gives you the Hyrule Compendium to fill out. To complete it, you’ll have to take a picture of every type of creature, monster, food item (raw ingredients, not cooked meals), item, and treasure in the game’s world.
Once you capture a picture of something, you can then use the Sheikah Slate’s scanner to track that item. You’ll hear a ding sound as you get nearer to a thing you’ve scanned for. (Personally, I disabled this feature because it started to get a little annoying, but it can be useful if you’re struggling to find something and are unsure if that thing exists in the area of the world you’re currently exploring.)
Of course, you’ll also be asked by various villagers to take pictures of things for rewards, similar to The Wind Waker‘s Picto Box quest.
And yes, in Breath of the Wild, the option to take selfies has returned.
In The Wind Waker, the Picto Box was a really cool feature that felt unique to that world. With the Sheikah Slate’s photo mode, Nintendo took things several steps further. While I’d always sort of assumed the Picto Box was a one-and-done feature, I’m really glad to see it expanded upon for Breath of the Wild.
