“Descend from the sky to the dangerous world below in this high-flying quest”

The Legend of the Zelda: Skyward Sword is an interesting game. Originally debuting in 2011, the game never took off due to it being the end of the Wii era and people were over motion controls at that point. I remember getting it for my birthday and the same day, I had another friend over who was also a huge Zelda fan like me. The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are two of my favorite games of all time, with the former quite possibly being at #1. I was super excited to play this.

The game is set up in the world of Skyloft, with you eventually reaching the lands of Hyrule down below. It has a mixed art style between the two games mentioned above – cartoon, cel-shading and more realistic graphics (A majority of the fan base back then HATED the Wind Waker’s style – I always loved it). Obviously being a Wii exclusive, the game was played using Wii Motion Plus.

So how did the game feel? Well frankly, neither of us were really into it. The intro took forever to start moving, the text speed was really slow, and while the ability to swing the Wii remote around like a sword was cool – it got old pretty fast. It also was not always accurate. I kept playing the game for about a month or so until about halfway, reached a point that involved some unnecessary backtracking and called it quits.

When Skyward Sword HD was announced in 2021, I wanted to give the game another shot for two reasons: 1) At that point, this and Majora’s Mask were the only 3D Zelda games I had never beaten. 2) THEY OFFERED BUTTON CONTROLS. This was the one thing I and so many others wish we had before. It takes a little bit to get used to not pressing a button to attack, yet it’s only a minor hurdle for better accessibility in my opinion. The graphics didn’t receive a major overall, but the game is now at 1080p and looks great, the art style aged well.

After completing the remaster 100%, I had some key take aways with my biggest point being that this game failed where Breath of the Wild succeeded, and vice versa. The exploration is very limited and the level structure is mostly linear. Flying around in the sky on a Loftwing is cool, but when you realize most of the islands don’t have much to offer aside from opening a goddess chest it’s not really exciting. And yes, the stupid backtracking around the midway point is still in the game. Negative points aside, the story in Skyward Sword is great. You care about the characters and don’t have to search the world for cutscenes (BotW failed in the story telling aspect; luckily Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity helps in that regard).

Link doesn’t feel like an avatar character here. The game’s soundtrack isn’t as high on my list compared to other 3D Zelda’s, but “Ballad of the Goddess” is a classic and Skyward Sword has the best main menu / Fairy Fountain theme by far.

I’m glad I bought Skyward Sword HD. I had a way to play the game without getting frustrated swinging controllers around, I pushed through the negative parts mentioned above, and in my 30+ hours played I enjoyed the game. I wouldn’t put it above the other 3D Zeldas, however I can definitely see myself returning to play this again. Majora’s Mask: you’re next.