Skyward Sword is the Turning Point in the Zelda Series

With 2010 over for almost a month now we can now comfortably say that it is 2011. Most of our New Year Resolutions have failed and we have gone back to our everyday life. 2011 is now underway and when this year ends 2012 and the Doomsday will begin. With the Mayan’s apocalyptic ending to our lives fast approaching Nintendo has finally decided it is time to give us Legend of Zelda fans what we have all been waiting for.

In 2011, we have 3 different Zelda titles to look forward to playing. The first two are a remake and re-release with Ocarina of Time 3DS coming sometime this summer and Link’s Awakening being released on the virtual console to be available on the 3DS’ launch date.For years we have long been clamoring for a real remake to the highly acclaimed classic that is The Ocarina of Time, and more than a decade later Nintendo has followed through and granted our wish. Ocarina of Time 3DS will feature vastly improved graphics, a better user interface, and improvements on overall gameplay which will further improve on what was a nearly perfect game to begin with.

The mere re-release and re-creation of such a game would be enough to satisfy the fans of most other series. However this is not the case for Legend of Zelda fans. We are a picky bunch. Impossible to satisfy and always longing for more. A couple of years ago Nintendo teased us Zelda fans with the release of a single piece of art for a Zelda game that was in development. That piece of art led us fans into a furor of speculation and theorizing. Who was that girl in the picture? Why does Link have no sword? Does the girl look like the Master Sword?

All of these questions and more were spreading throughout the Zelda fan-base as we wanted, nay needed, more information about this upcoming Legend of Zelda title. Yet to our dismay it would be another full year before anymore news was announced. Now many of us assumed that the next Zelda game would look similar to that of Twilight Princess. After all, the concept art did seem to resemble the style of Link’s last outing on a home console. However this was not the case as we all found out at last years E3 conference.

Nintendo kicked things off right for us Zelda fans. Their conference started with a trailer for what we now know as Skyward Sword. This short couple minute presentation changed everything that we thought about Nintendo’s direction towards the Legend of Zelda series. Some fans were quick to dismiss Nintendo’s decision to return to a form of cartoon like cel-shading claiming Nintendo was again targeting younger kids and ignoring the desires of the hardcore fans. However nothing could be further from the truth. Skyward Sword is exactly what we as Zelda fans have long been asking for. Everything that we have seen about Skyward Sword so far conveys the message that Nintendo has been listening to our desires. We all love the Legend of Zelda series but many of us have also recognized that the formula has grown old and tiring. Link and Zelda needed a little kick-start and that is exactly what Nintendo has provided.

From first glances one can tell that this is not going to be your ordinary Legend of Zelda adventure. The art style is like nothing we have ever seen before in the series. The best way to describe the style is like a blend of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Nintendo has of course gone in just about every direction for graphics when it comes to the Zelda series, but this unique blending is something totally new. So why was this style chosen upon? Wouldn’t it just be easier to re-use Twilight Princess’ graphics? Yes it would be, but we have all been asking for something new. No more of this repetitive bland same old same old formula. That is something we have heard for ages. So the best way to get out of a rut is to just start fresh and from the beginning.

So Nintendo is working with a brand new canvas. That’s great but what are they going to do with this canvas? The answer to that is to re-invent the entire way the Zelda series plays. In past games enemies were simply disposed of by swinging your sword any which way with very little strategy involved. However, Nintendo has gone on the record and stated that this new art style was chosen in part to help enhance the gameplay traits associated with engaging enemies. As we saw in the E3 demo, certain monsters must be slashed with your sword in a specific motion. This graphical style allows for enemies traits to be exaggerated to express the methods to their vanquishing. This feature allows Nintendo to get creative with monster development to create an experience that will be like nothing we have ever experienced before. That alone makes the toon-like art style justifiable in itself.

Fire Temple? Who saw that coming?

Next on Nintendo’s palate was the need to change the mindless over-world to dungeon to over-world to dungeon formula that we have all grown tired towards. The formula is so predictable that its borderline offensive towards us Zelda gamers. We all love getting to the next dungeon and completing the challenge but why can’t things be mixed up a little? Now we all know that there is going to be a Forest, Fire, and Water Temple coming up but can’t Nintendo put forth some effort to change things just a little? Well with Skyward Sword they are. According to interviews, the entire temple and dungeon scheme is being redone for us. There will be times when we are in a dungeon and not be aware of this. We may end up losing our sword and having to complete a dungeon and we may be fully outside the entire time and be in what feels like your typical Zelda temple. All of these things would be very refreshing towards the Zelda series. These changes, while overall pretty minor, shows that Nintendo is at least listening and is willing to experiment with the formula to give us a new gaming experience.

And speaking of gaming experiences, Link now has the ability to run (no Bunny Hood required) and has several other abilities that are linked to a power meter. I find this to be a great new addition that will add some depth to the series. Link will also be able to access his items on the go without the need to pause the game and swap things out. This addition is an excellent move by Nintendo to once again provide us with something that seems pretty petty but has the capability to vastly improve gameplay. For a comparison we can look at Resident Evil 4 and 5. In 4 we had to pause the game to equip a new gun or to heal ourselves. In Resident Evil 5 there was no pausing of the game to change anything. This improved the gameplay in several ways. First of all everything was streamlined. Nobody likes having to pause in the middle of action to equip an item. It just throws off the flow of the game, but the best part is that it can add to the challenge a bit. Say you are in the middle of an intense boss fight and you are running low on health. You have that potion in your inventory and in the past you could simply pause, drink it up, and be good to go. However with this new method you cannot take the easy way out. You will have to man up and equip it while avoiding attacks and then find the time to take a drink. The Zelda series after all has been gradually getting easier and easier for years now. The last Zelda title that provided any degree of real difficulty was Majora’s Mask so I welcome this change with open arms. Now if only Nintendo can guarantee that the bosses will provide that challenge. I know that in Twilight Princess the hardest part of the bosses was finding a way to actually die.

Now speaking of dying, we have all been dying for orchestrated music to works its way into a Zelda game for years now. Yes we have had compositions here and there but we have never had the full pleasure of a completely 100% orchestrated soundtrack. According to a round table discussion with Shigeru Miyamoto, Skyward Sword will be fully orchestrated. A sigh of relief was heard around the world when this was announced as a simple thing like music quality can go a long way in improving a gaming experience.

Lastly, the plot of Skyward Sword needs to be addressed. Us old Nintendo fans like me (being 20 years of age here) remember the good old days of Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World. These games were a hug part of my childhood and still stick out as some of the best games I have ever played. So while Nintendo needs to advance the games they also need to bring things back to their roots. As we all know, Nintendo has done just that with New Super Mario Bros Wii (a game I was not expecting much of) and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Both of these games took their respective series back to their roots while expanding on things. As a result both scored very highly in reviews and were best sellers. Nintendo needs to mimic this concept with Skyward Sword. and go back to the roots of the Zelda series. The game has already been confirmed to be the first in the series being before Ocarina of Time. This plot placement brings a lot of promise to the notion of bringing Zelda back to its roots. Maybe we can see the return of some of our favorite Zelda races like the Kokiri or Sheikah. Since the plot focuses on the creation of the Master Sword we already know that we can expect some twists in the game that will most likely cause us to look back and remember the past Zelda games and look back saying “so that’s why this happened.” Returning to the roots is not only hugely profitable for Nintendo at the moment, but us fans love being able to connect the dots and return to our glory days.

So no matter how one looks at things, Skyward Sword is shaping up to be the turning point in the Zelda series. Nintendo has shown us that they finally care and respect our desires, so as long as they stick on course then we will have 2011’s game of the year on our very own Nintendo Wii. As long as they stick on course we then we will have a brand new Zelda experience with an exciting new formula. And as long as they stick on course, us Zelda fans will have something entire fresh and new to nitpick about. More for us to ask for and more above expectations for Nintendo to try to meet.

Sadly however we still have several more months of waiting. Recent rumors have the game pushed back to a late 2011 release date but that’s fine with me. That just leaves Nintendo more time to put more of our dreams into Skyward Sword.

Article Written by Noah Glaser