The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a game currently in development for the Wii. It is the first Legend of Zelda game created specifically with the Wii in mind, and requires Wii Motion Plus. It is scheduled to be released during the 2011 Holiday season in Japan and Australia, on November 18, 2011 in Europe, and on November 20, 2011 in North America.

Upon its North American release, a special edition Skyward Sword bundle will be available at the price of $69.99. The bundle will include a copy of Skyward Sword, as well as a gold Wii Remote Plus. Additionally, a limited edition CD, featuring music from The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert, will also be packaged alongside all early purchases of the standard and special edition copies of Skyward Sword.

Story
Link has lived his entire life on a floating island above the clouds known as Skyloft; however, his everyday life is interrupted by an event involving the Goddess Sword that reveals that there is a land below Skyloft, which is actually Hyrule. It is then discovered that Hyrule is being overrun by evil forces, forcing Link to go there. As the story progresses, it was revealed in a Gamespot interview with Eiji Aonuma that Link will be searching for a "lost or valuable friend" in the process. Throughout the game, Link must spend his journey traveling back and forth between Hyrule and Skyloft with the use of the Goddess Sword.

The Goddess Sword, which is the figure shown on the poster on E3 2009, possesses intelligence and will assume the semi-human form in the teaser poster. Eventually, the Goddess Sword will become the Master Sword. The Goddess Sword is also the driving force behind Link's traveling between the two lands and the sword will focus "heavily on the reason why there are two lands divided by a bank of clouds."

The E3 2011 Skyward Sword trailer shows a blonde-haired girl, heavily implied to be Zelda, flying alongside Link. However, a nearby blast causes her to fall down into the world below, with Link reaching towards her. This coincides with what Aonuma had said in a 2010 interview about Link searching for a "valuable friend" throughout his journey, as it was apparent in the trailer that Link and Zelda are good friends.

Eiji Aonuma confirmed on July 25, 2011, that Ganondorf is not planned to be in the game.

The Triforce was confirmed to have a role in the game, but Eiji Aonuma stated it would not be central to the plot.

Controls
At the E3 2010, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was revealed during the Nintendo Press Conference, introduced by Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto discussed that the use of the sword and shield will incorporate the motion capabilities of the Wii Motion Plus and use of the Nunchuk accessory. The sword can also be charged up by holding the Wii remote straight up in the air, and, once it's charged up, the remote must be swung downwards to release the beam as a projectile attack.

Since the Wii Remote serves as the sword, the Nunchuk becomes the shield: quickly shaking the Nunchuk will cause Link to raise his shield. The way to control it is to hold it up in front as if it were a real shield. Miyamoto demonstrated this by blocking attacks from Octoroks and even using the shield to send the projectile back at the enemy. Weapons such as Bombs, Slingshot, and Bow, the return of Sword Beams, and new items such as the Beetle and Whip were all showcased, all using the natural aiming and directional applications of the Wii Motion Plus.

The way to access the inventory is by pressing the B button, which will bring up a "radial menu" on the screen (similar to the one in Twilight Princess). To choose the item that Link will equip, the Wii remote must simply be used to select said item. The HUD can also be easily turned off if players find that it takes up too much space. One of the major changes in choosing items from the item screen or while drinking potions is that there is no pause in the action, so items are chosen in real time.

Previous rumors of a flying element were pushed further in an interview with Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto preceding the Nintendo E3 press conference on the Nintendo E3 Network with Aonuma saying that "the sky plays a key element." He also mentioned that the new Zelda isn't as big as Twilight Princess (as far as physical places go), but rather more dense and in-depth.

Aonuma also mentioned that Wii Motion Plus was not originally intended for Skyward Sword, because the controls weren't working well. But when Wii Sports Resort came out, it worked perfectly for that game, so they re-implemented it. Miyamoto has furthermore stated that the Wii Motion Plus will not be used for every item in the game, saying that item and weapon controls "will be carefully weighed to see how Motion Plus/sensor bar [...] can make for the optimal control scheme."

This is the first (and currently only) Zelda adventure where it's indicated by a damage meter that Link's shield is taking damage under enemy attacks. Because of this, Link will have to use more strategic ways of defending against enemies and, if the shield gets damaged in battle, he will have to buy a new one or get it mended.

Overworld and Dungeons
Skyward Sword will feature a new map that is "a lot easier to follow than previous attempts." According to Aonuma and Miyamoto, this should "cut down on the amount of time you spend lost." Moreover, since recent Zelda games have been focusing on things like story and dungeons, this title will focus more on "fun."

In the September 2010 issue of Nintendo Power, Eiji Aonuma once again spoke of trying to alter the "traditional flow" of Zelda games. He mentions that the development team is trying to take some elements of a dungeon and "actually move it out of those small connected rooms" into an area that is usually considered a field, with there not always being a boss at the end of that area.

Flying
Revealed during E3 2011, Skyward Sword will include flight. Link will be able to go to different regions in Skyloft by riding a Loftwing but will only be able to once he completes his flying training at the beginning of the game. In this minigame, which will be used to teach the young hero how to fly properly, Link must catch a specific bird that is carrying a Bird Statue to prove his worth as a bird pilot.

While flying, Link can jump off the bird he's riding at any time to drop on the smaller islands scattered throughout, allowing him to explore each individual island as in The Wind Waker. At any point, Link can drop below the clouds to find bird-like Save Statues found around Hyrule that will allow him to return to the clouds and be back to the central town of Skyloft.

Controlling the bird will be done similar to the Wii Sports Resort Flying minigame, as the gliding is achieved through the Wii Remote. Pressing A allows Link to go faster, while the B Button slows the bird down, and flicking the controller will make the bird flap its wings.

Early Development
When Eiji Aonuma was asked in a 2007 interview if Twilight Princess would be the Nintendo Wii's only Zelda title, he replied, "I can't say, but I guess for now, maybe, yeah [laughs]. Not to say that it's going to be the final game. There's still a lot of potential with the Wii so there's still a possibility that there could be another Zelda for it. We do have some ideas in the works, but I can't say for sure because none of them have been approved and we're still very much in the planning process, so I hope you look forward to whatever comes out."

In a private meeting at E3 2007, Eiji Aonuma began to give details about the then-soon-to-be-released Zelda title, Phantom Hourglass. He then began speaking about Skyward Sword. In his excitement, he began to reveal more details about the game, but was withheld from divulging too much information by Shigeru Miyamoto. He indicated that he would like to have a whole new control system for the game, and that it was possible that one-to-one swordplay could be implemented. He also said that he would like to make the game to appeal both to the casual and the hardcore gamer, a sentiment echoed by Miyamoto in a later interview.

It was stated by Shigeru Miyamoto that Twilight Princess is "without a doubt, the last Zelda game as you know it in its present form." However, the meaning of this quote leaves quite a bit to interpretation. In that same vein, Eiji Aonuma more recently revealed that he is looking to alter the "traditional flow" of Zelda games, which usually consists of exploring a field, entering a dungeon, conquering the dungeon, and then returning to the field.

At E3 2008, Miyamoto confirmed that Skyward Sword was not the only new Zelda game in development at the time, and that separate teams had gotten together to create both DS and Wii Zelda games. Spirit Tracks was produced alongside Skyward Sword by a separate team and released before the end of the following year.

At a round-table at the E3 2009 Convention, Shigeru Miyamoto disclosed that Skyward Sword would be announced at E3 in 2010. Artwork shown at the roundtable was leaked shortly after, depicting a swordless, adult, right-handed Link, as well as a mysterious female figure, bearing resemblance to both the Fairy Queen and the Master Sword. Miyamoto admitted that Skyward Sword ' s version of Link is older than those of past titles, and placed an emphasis on Link's lack of a sword in the leaked artwork, particularly when questioned about the girl. The actual title of Skyward Sword was not revealed until E3 2010, before which it was known only as "Zelda Wii".

Game Developers Conference 2011 Preview
During the Game Developers Conference in March 2011, a new demo was exhibited, showing several new actions Link can perform during the adventure, not to mention new locales and environments. Link faces a redesigned Skulltula and two Lizalfos, manipulates a puzzle-like key in order to open a door, and comes face-to-face with a potential new boss. The first significant NPC is revealed to be a mysterious, white-haired man, who can vanish into thin air similar to the way Midna and Zant teleport in Twilight Princess.

Graphics
Graphically, the title incorporates a mixture between The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess: cel-shading and realistic elements, the former in relation to the overworld, and the latter in respect to Link's appearance and weaponry. However, in the September 2010 issue of Nintendo Power, Aonuma mentioned that neither style contributed to the choice of art styles, and that they simply chose it since the developers are focusing on "swordplay", meaning that they wanted to make the swordplay accessible and clear to the user.

Cel-shaded versions of enemies such as Octoroks, Deku Babas, and Bokoblins were apparent during the gameplay at the Conference in order to further explain the motion capabilities of the sword with Wii Motion Plus and the weapons during combat. In terms of the overworld, an open forest-like area was shown, that housed a large, central tree and a multitude of colorful attributes such as mushrooms, foliage, and even temple-like entrances along the area's walls.

Skyward Sword's unique visual style was inspired by Miyamoto's love of impressionism, and the skies in the game are a tribute to Cézanne. Plenty of visual cues to identify enemy attacks and weaknesses will be given, and since "full realism" wouldn't work for these kinds of cues, the game developers decided that the best way to do so was to overexaggerate the character designs.

Audio
Skyward Sword has been confirmed to be fully orchestrated, with Miyamoto saying that "Nintendo couldn't do what it did with Galaxy 2 and not do the same with the next Zelda." However, an IGN interview with Aonuma states that the question whether to use orchestrated music had still not been answered by the time E3 came up. Moreover, Aonuma said that he was actually surprised at Miyamoto's response during the roundtable, saying that he hasn't had a chance to talk to Miyamoto for his approval and that he might tell Aonuma that "he was just joking around."

In an Iwata Asks interview with Super Mario Galaxy composer Mahito Yokota, it was confirmed again that the game's music would be orchestrated. According to Yokota, Shigeru Miyamoto said that adding orchestrated music for Skyward Sword 's E3 2010 showing was not necessary at the time, but at the end of the summer, they decided to add in orchestral music and Mahito Yokota joined the development team.

Timeline Placement
In terms of the Zelda timeline, it has been confirmed by Aonuma himself that Skyward Sword comes before Ocarina of Time, but it's not necessarily the first entry in the chronology, giving the possibility for future games to occur earlier.

Trivia

 * Skyward Sword is said to take the longest development period in the history of the franchise.
 * This is the second game in the series that will require an external accessory (the Wii Motion Plus) to be played, the first being Majora's Mask in the Nintendo 64 version (which required the Expansion Pak).
 * Skyward Sword has been confirmed to be the last game by Nintendo to be made for the Wii, as the development of Pikmin 3 has been moved to the Wii's new successor, the Wii U.
 * The main theme of Skyward Sword, known as the Goddess's Song, is an orchestration of Zelda's Lullaby played in reverse.
 * In the GDC 2011 trailer Link is seen with a harp equipped as an item, similar in appearance to the one Sheik used in Ocarina of Time. In the cutscenes following the Wing Ceremony demo at E3 2011, Zelda was seen holding the same harp, confirming that it is, in fact, identical to Sheik's. However, its history in the game is currently unknown.
 * Skyward Sword is the second game in the franchise that shares its Japanese subtitle with the rest of the world, being a direct romanization of the English title (スカイウォードソード). The first in the franchise being Twilight Princess (トワイライトプリンセス). The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link, Four Swords, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask all use the same title in English and Japanese, only not directly romanized.