The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the latest entry in Nintendo’s long-running franchise, that gives players an all-new storyline to follow, new weapons to play with, a new world to explore and new enemies and bosses to tackle.
But the biggest change seen in Skyward Sword comes in the form of the titular sword itself and the corresponding controls. The game only works with the Wii MotionPlus accessory (or Wii Remote Plus that has it built in) which allows for more accurate 1:1 ratio movement. This means that Link moves his sword exactly as you move the Wii Remote in real life.
Because of this new control method, most of the puzzles and enemies in the game are based around having to match their movements with a correct slice from your sword. In the video below, you’ll see a Deku Baba that orients itself either horizontally or vertically, you must move your own and then swing in that direction to have Link slice the enemy correctly. This is a huge change form past Zelda’s, where the animation was a canned one.
You can see what I’m talking about in this debut trailer from E3 2010.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword storyline revolves around Link and Zelda (who are now best friends, Zelda ain’t a princess no mo!) living in a land above the clouds known as Skyloft, where people ride giant birds. Zelda and Link each have one, however after winning a game at a festival, Zelda is taken captive by an evil ruler from the “Surface” world below. It is now up to Link to pursue Zelda and her captor, the Demon Lord Ghirahim, and explore the world below. The Skyward Sword is inhabited by a spirit named Phi, who offers sage advice to Link and allows him to travel between the two worlds.
This E3 2011 trailer gives you an in-depth look at the sky world and the art style featured in the game.
More unique ways to take out enemies, solve puzzles, and play minigames are shown in this GDC 2011 trailer. Not only do enemies need to be taken down using the power of Wii MotionPlus, but puzzles will need to be solved by moving and swinging your sword in the proper direction. This video shows Link having to swing vertically or horizontally to open a door, and previously we’ve seen how link needs to “confuse” the eye of a door before it’ll open. This video even shows a minigame where Link is cutting objects.
Now we come to the big kahuna, at Gamescom 2011 Nintendo had the game playable to the public, and tons of footage was shown. Including this video which gives you a look at ten solid minutes of Zelda: Skyward Sword goodness!
Even more new and recent footage was shown at PAX Prime 2011, where the American public got their hands on the game. You can see even more footage of Skyward Sword in this video.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword release date is on November 20th, 2011 exclusively for Wii. November 18th in Europe.
Looks exciting don’t it! Will you be buying Zelda: Skyward Sword? Have you already pre-ordered?