is a 2011 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. A mainline entry in The Legend of Zelda series, Skyward Sword is the first game in the Zelda timeline, and details the origins of the Master Sword, a recurring weapon within the series. Series protagonist Link, a resident of a floating town called Skyloft, sets out to rescue his childhood friend Zelda after she is kidnapped and brought to the abandoned lands below the clouds. As Link, players navigate Skyloft and the lands below it, completing quests that advance the story and solving environmental and dungeon-based puzzles. The mechanics and combat, the latter focusing on attacking and blocking with sword and shield, are reliant on the Wii MotionPlus peripheral.
Development took around five years, beginning after the release of Twilight Princess in 2006. Multiple earlier Zelda games influenced the developers, including Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Many aspects of the game's overworld and gameplay were designed to streamline and populate the experience for players. The art style was influenced by the work of impressionist and post-impressionist painters, including Paul Cézanne. The implementation of Wii MotionPlus proved problematic for the developers, to the point where it was nearly discarded. It was the first Zelda game to use a live orchestra for the majority of its tracks, with music composed by a team led by Hajime Wakai and supervised by Koji Kondo.
Announced in 2009, Skyward Sword was planned for release in 2010 but was delayed to November 2011 to further refine and expand it. It was a critical and commercial success, receiving perfect scores from multiple journalistic sites, winning and receiving nominations for numerous industry and journalist awards, and selling over three million copies worldwide. However, critics and series fans expressed criticism over its excessive linearity and backtracking, its motion controls, a general lack of innovation in the gameplay and were divided on its narrative choices. Feedback on the game later influenced the development of future Zelda games, including A Link Between Worlds and the next entry for home consoles Breath of the Wild.
A high-definition remaster of the game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, was co-developed by Tantalus Media and released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2021. As of March 2022, the remaster had sold nearly 4 million units worldwide.
Gameplay
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an action-adventure video game in which players take on the role of series protagonist Link through a series of overworlds populated by monsters and navigating dungeons featuring puzzles and further enemies including dedicated bosses. Link is controlled using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and the Wii MotionPlus expansion device is required to play. The greater majority of gameplay mechanics revolve around use of motion controls: these include camera control with the Nunchuck and general hotkey actions and movement linked to the Remote. Jumping across gaps and scaling ledges happen automatically within context. The Nunchuck is also used to make Link perform a forward roll. In addition to his standard pace, Link can sprint for short distances. Sprinting and other actions such as climbing and carrying heavy objects are limited by a stamina meter, which recharges after a few seconds when not performing actions that drain it. When depleted entirely, Link's movement speed is reduced and he is left vulnerable until the meter refills. Standard navigation takes place from a third-person perspective, while the Dowsing search function switches to a first-person view: Dowsing scans an area for a selected object, with new Dowsing objectives appearing depending on game context.
Fighting enemies, which appear in both the overworld and dungeons, relies on Link's use of his sword and shield. Link's sword movements are mapped to the direction the Wii Remote is swung by the player, and other moves include a forward thrust and a stab. Enemy movements are designed to anticipate and block Link's combat movements. By raising the Wii Remote, the sword gathers energy which can be unleashed in a Skyward Strike. Skyward Strikes can be used to trigger certain switches, damage enemies, and activate goddess cubes, which unlock chests in Skyloft and nearby sky islands. The shield is controlled with the Nunchuck: when the shield is raised, it can be used to block attacks. Spin attacks and Finishing Blows are performed by swinging the Wii Remote and Nunchuck at the same time. Link's health is represented with hearts, with Link taking damage whenever he is hit: if he loses all hearts, the game ends.
The game is set on the floating island of Skyloft and surrounding airborne islands, and the three surface regions where the majority of the main adventure takes place. Side quests for the town's citizens are unlocked as the game progresses. The different areas of the surface are accessed through portals, or columns of light, in the clouds. Side quests for characters of the surface are also available and are sometimes mandatory for completing the main quest. The sky is navigated with a giant Shoebill-like bird called a Loftwing, while the Surface is navigated on foot and sometimes by other means, such as swimming. Beacons can be placed on the map for Link to follow, and save points in the form of bird statues preserve Link's progress up to that point both in the sky and on the surface. During his quest, Link is aided by the sword spirit Fi, who can give hints to the player for both environmental elements and enemies: for example, when an enemy is targeted and Fi is summoned, she will give the enemy's characteristics and weaknesses.
Traditional series items such as bombs used for demolition and the bow and arrow for ranged attacks are available as Link progresses through the game, along with new additions such as a mechanical beetle that flies to areas beyond Link's reach for a variety of actions including activating switches, and a whip for grabbing otherwise-unreachable objects and levers. In a series first, shields – aside from the Hylian shield – take damage when the player does not perform a shield parry appropriately; while players are able to repair damaged shields, after a certain amount of damage the shield will break permanently. Items and equipment can be optionally upgraded using materials gathered from defeated monsters, scavenged from different overworld regions, or found in chests in the sky and on the surface. In addition to consuming resources, Link must also pay for the upgrade with Rupees, the game's currency which is scattered throughout the world.
Plot
Skyward Sword takes place at the beginning of the Zelda continuity: according to legend, three ancient Goddesses bestowed a great wish-granting power: the Triforce. The Demon King Demise laid waste to much of the land seeking to take the Triforce. The Goddess Hylia gathered the survivors and sent them into the sky, allowing her to launch a full-scale offensive against Demise. She was victorious, but the land was severely damaged. Uncounted years later, the outcrop is known as Skyloft, and its people believe the surface below is a myth.Fi: This is a tale you humans have passed down through uncounted generations... It tells of a war of unmatched scale and ferocity, the likes of which would never be seen again. One dark, fateful day, the earth cracked wide and malevolent forces rushed forth from the fissure. They mounted a brutal assault upon the surface people, driving the land into deep despair... They burnt forest to ash, choked the land’s sweet springs, and murdered without hesitation. They did all this in their lust to take the ultimate power protected by Her Grace, the goddess. The power she guarded was without equal. Handed down by gods of old, this power gave its holder the means to make any desire a reality. Such was the might of the ultimate power that the old ones placed in the care of the goddess. To prevent this great power from falling into the hands of the evil swarming the lands... The goddess gathered the surviving humans on an outcropping of earth. She sent it skyward, beyond the reach of the demonic hordes. Beyond even the clouds. With the humans safe, the goddess joined forces with the land dwellers and fought the evil forces, sealing them away. At last, peace was restored to the surface. This is a tale that you humans have told for many ages, generation to generation... But there are other legends, long hidden away from memory, that are intertwined with this tale. Now, a new legend bound to this great story stands ready to be revealed. A legend that will be forged by your own hand.
In the present, knight-in-training Link passes his final exam despite attempted interference by his class rival Groose, who considers himself a romantic rival for Link's childhood friend Zelda. After passing the exam and on a celebratory flight together, Zelda is whisked away below the clouds by a dark tornado. After recovering back on Skyloft, Link is led into the island's statue of Hylia to the Goddess Sword by Fi, the spirit of the sword who resides within it. Link draws the sword, showing himself to be the prophesied hero who will finally destroy Demise. Opening a way through the clouds to the surface, Link is guided by Fi to the Sealed Temple, where he meets an old woman who tells him to track Zelda: this leads Link across the regions of Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and the Lanayru Desert. While he catches up with Zelda, he is prevented from returning her to Skyloft by Impa, a young woman guarding and guiding Zelda. Link also encounters Ghirahim, a self-proclaimed Demon Lord working towards freeing Demise. At the Temple of Time in the Lanayru Desert, Link defends Zelda and Impa from Ghirahim, buying the two enough time to depart through a Gate of Time into the past, which Impa destroys as they pass through.