The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an action-adventure game released in 2011 for the Wii. It was created and published by Nintendo and is part of the main series of The Legend of Zelda games. Skyward Sword is the first game in the Zelda timeline and explains how the Master Sword, a key weapon in the series, was created. The game’s main character, Link, lives in a floating town named Skyloft. He goes on a journey to save his friend Zelda after she is captured and taken to the lands below the clouds. Players control Link as he explores Skyloft and the areas below, completes quests to move the story forward, and solves puzzles in the environment and dungeons. The game’s combat and movement rely on the Wii MotionPlus peripheral, which allows players to use the Wii Remote to swing a sword and block with a shield.
Skyward Sword took about five years to develop, starting after the 2006 release of Twilight Princess. Earlier Zelda games, including Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask, influenced its design. Many parts of the game’s world and gameplay were created to make the experience more enjoyable for players. The art style was inspired by the work of impressionist and post-impressionist painters, such as Paul Cézanne. Using the Wii MotionPlus was challenging for the developers and almost led to its removal from the game. Skyward Sword was the first Zelda game to use a live orchestra for most of its music, composed by a team led by Hajime Wakai and supervised by Koji Kondo.
Skyward Sword was announced in 2009 and originally planned for a 2010 release. However, it was delayed until November 2011 to improve and expand the game. It was well-received by critics and players, earning perfect scores from several review sites, winning and being nominated for many awards, and selling over three million copies worldwide. Some critics and fans said the game had too much backtracking, limited creativity in gameplay, and mixed opinions about its story choices. Feedback from the game later helped shape the development of later Zelda titles, including A Link Between Worlds and Breath of the Wild.
A high-definition version of the game, called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, was co-developed by Tantalus Media and released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2021. By March 2022, the remastered version had sold nearly four million copies worldwide.
Gameplay
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an action-adventure video game where players control Link, the main character, as he explores overworlds filled with monsters and solves puzzles in dungeons. Link is played using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and the Wii MotionPlus device is needed to play. Most actions in the game use motion controls, such as moving the camera with the Nunchuk and performing actions with the Remote. Jumping over gaps and climbing ledges happen automatically. The Nunchuk also lets Link roll forward. Link can run short distances, but running and other actions like climbing or carrying heavy items use a stamina meter. This meter refills after a few seconds when not in use. If the meter is empty, Link moves slower and is vulnerable until it refills. Most of the game is viewed from a third-person perspective, but the Dowsing feature switches to first-person view to search for objects. New Dowsing goals appear based on the game’s progress.
Fighting enemies, found in overworlds and dungeons, uses Link’s sword and shield. Sword movements match the direction the Wii Remote is moved, and other moves include thrusting forward or stabbing. Enemies move to block Link’s attacks. Raising the Wii Remote builds energy for a Skyward Strike, which can also trigger switches or other objects. The shield is controlled with the Nunchuk and can block attacks. Spin attacks and Finishing Blows are done by moving both the Remote and Nunchuk together. Link’s health is shown with Hearts, and losing all Hearts ends the game.
The game takes place on the floating island of Skyloft and nearby airborne islands, as well as three Surface overworlds where most of the story happens. Side quests for townspeople appear as the game progresses. Surface areas are entered through light columns in the clouds. Some Surface quests are required to finish the main story. Link travels the sky on a bird called a Loftwing and moves on foot on the Surface. Beacons on the map guide Link, and statues save his progress. Fi, a sword spirit, helps by giving hints about enemies and objects.
Traditional items like Bombs and a Bow and Arrow are available as Link progresses, along with new tools like a mechanical Beetle that flies to reach distant areas and a Whip to grab objects. Some items break after heavy use, like the shield when it fails to block an attack. Items can be upgraded using materials from defeated enemies and environments, but upgrades also require Rupees, the game’s currency, found throughout the world.
Plot
Skyward Sword begins at the start of the Zelda story timeline. According to legend, three ancient Goddesses gave a powerful wish-granting item called the Triforce. The Demon King Demise attacked much of the land to take the Triforce. The Goddess Hylia helped the survivors and sent them into the sky, allowing her to fight Demise directly. She won the battle, but the land was badly damaged. Many years later, the land became known as Skyloft, and its people believed the surface below was a myth.
In the present, Link, a knight-in-training, passes his final exam despite attempts by his class rival, Groose, who sees himself as a romantic rival for Link’s childhood friend, Zelda. After passing the exam, Link and Zelda celebrate with a flight, but Zelda is suddenly taken below the clouds by a dark tornado. When Link returns to Skyloft, he is led to the island’s statue of Hylia, where he finds the Goddess Sword, guided by Fi, the spirit inside the sword. Link draws the sword, proving he is the foretold hero who will destroy Demise. Fi helps Link open a path through the clouds to the surface, where he travels to the Sealed Temple. There, an old woman tells Link to find Zelda, leading him through Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and the Lanayru Desert. Impa, a young woman guarding Zelda, prevents Link from returning Zelda to Skyloft. Link also meets Ghirahim, a self-proclaimed Demon Lord working to free Demise. At the Temple of Time in the Lanayru Desert, Link protects Zelda and Impa from Ghirahim, allowing them to escape through a Gate of Time, which Impa destroys as they pass through.
Returning to the Sealed Temple, Link is joined by Groose. Together, they face the Imprisoned, a monstrous form of Demise, after the old woman shows Link a dormant Gate of Time. After defeating the Imprisoned, Link strengthens the Goddess Sword by completing trials set by the ancient Goddesses and collecting Sacred Flames to purify and empower the blade, awakening the Time Gate. Returning to the Sealed Temple, Link and Groose reseal the Imprisoned. Using the Gate of Time, Link travels to the past and learns that Zelda is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia. Hylia could not kill Demise and was too weak to stop him again, so she created the Goddess Sword and reincarnated as a mortal to find someone who would use the Triforce to destroy Demise. Zelda then seals herself in a crystal to strengthen Demise’s seal, giving her power to the Goddess Sword, which becomes the Master Sword.
Link finds the Triforce on Skyloft and uses it to destroy Demise. After Demise’s death, Zelda is freed, but Ghirahim kidnaps her, planning to use her to resurrect Demise in the past. Link pursues Ghirahim into the past and defeats him, though Ghirahim’s spirit is tied to Demise’s sword and cannot stop Zelda from being used to reincarnate Demise’s human form. Groose guards Zelda’s body while Link battles Demise, defeating him and absorbing his essence into the sword. Before dying, Demise curses Link and Zelda’s bloodlines. To complete the sword’s seal, Link drives it into a pedestal in the Sealed Temple, causing Fi to fall into eternal sleep. Groose, Link, and Zelda return to their time, while Impa remains behind to protect the Master Sword. In the present, the old woman reveals she is Impa before vanishing. The game ends with the surface now accessible to Skyloft’s residents, and Zelda choosing to stay to watch over the Triforce. Together with Link, Zelda and the people of Skyloft establish the kingdom of Hyrule.
Development
The development of Skyward Sword began in 2006, after the release of Twilight Princess for GameCube and Wii. Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development, a team within Nintendo, created the game. They received help from Monolith Soft's Kyoto team. Eiji Aonuma, a key figure in the Legend of Zelda series, led the project. He focused on whether the team could continue making Zelda games using the same creative approach as before. Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who had previously worked as an assistant director on Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS, directed Skyward Sword. He started working on the game after finishing Phantom Hourglass and continued alongside his work on Spirit Tracks. When Spirit Tracks was completed, Fujibayashi and his team returned to Skyward Sword.
According to Aonuma, the team used Twilight Princess as a starting point, aiming to build on its ideas to create a more detailed and realistic world. They also wanted to make an experience as memorable as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, considered the series' most iconic game. Development took about five years. Shigeru Miyamoto, the series' producer, noted the game had a high budget. Initially, the team expected the project to take three years, but delays and changes extended the timeline by two years. Miyamoto believed this extra time was valuable because the first two years were spent experimenting. By June 2011, the game was nearly complete, with only minor adjustments needed.
Naoki Mori wrote the script for cinematic scenes, working on the project for one year and three months. Shigeki Yoshida, the cinematic director, collaborated with Mori on storyboards. Fujibayashi created the initial script based on his vision for the game's structure. Since the game's theme revolved around the Master Sword, the team decided to make it an origin story for the weapon. Early planning was difficult because the team wanted to explain the creation of Hyrule and Skyloft, but their ideas conflicted with existing Zelda lore. These issues worsened during the third year of development, when the team had to finalize gameplay and environments. Fujibayashi isolated himself in a hotel room and wrote the game's synopsis in one day. Mori then wrote the dialogue based on Fujibayashi's outline. A key scene, where Zelda jumps from Skyloft and Link catches her, was added after Link's exam. The early story was different from previous Zelda games, resembling a school drama. Once the script was finished, Yoshida's team created the 79 cinematic scenes, totaling over 120 minutes.
The relationship between Link and Zelda was unique. Zelda was not a royal character, which helped avoid the problem of Link needing to rescue her in a forced way. The team made them childhood friends to make the story more engaging. Link narrowly missed Zelda during her early travels, adding tension. Zelda's playful personality, such as pushing Link over a ledge, was included. This was originally a joke but was shortened during development. The character Hylia was introduced as a new element, linked to Zelda as the same character under different names in later ages. Groose, Link's rival, was added to make the school setting more interesting. His growth in the story mirrored Link's development.
Fi was created before the use of Wii MotionPlus, as part of unrelated gameplay ideas. Her design was inspired by the Master Sword, as she was its spirit. She also explained the story since Link was a silent character. Fujibayashi revised Fi's dialogue to ensure consistency. Ghirahim, a character similar to Dark Link from Ocarina of Time, required players to think strategically, as he could predict Link's movements. Character designs were more detailed than in previous Zelda games, with clothing matching backgrounds, like Zelda's pink and red dress in the opening scene. The game's art style used warm colors and brushstroke-like designs inspired by impressionist painters such as Claude Monet. Miyamoto noted the sky was a tribute to Paul Cézanne. The art style balanced the cartoonish look of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, keeping Link's mature appearance while allowing exaggerated character movements.
During development, the team aimed to make the game familiar to fans but new to players. They experimented with gameplay, creating a more original experience than earlier games. Fujibayashi proposed using Wii MotionPlus for swordplay, which required restarting development. Though challenging, the team studied Wii Sports Resort to improve motion controls.
Release
A new Legend of Zelda game was first mentioned in April 2008, when Miyamoto said the Zelda team was changing to create new games. At the 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Miyamoto confirmed that a new Zelda game was being made for the Wii. The game was shown at E3 the next year, but its name was not known. Because the game was still being worked on, Miyamoto could not show gameplay. Instead, he showed promotional art of Link and Fi. He also said the game would use Wii MotionPlus and planned to release it in 2010. Later, Aonuma’s comments about the game’s playability made people unsure if it would be released in 2010. He also said that focusing on the new game caused the release of Spirit Tracks to be moved to the end of 2009 instead of early 2010. The game’s name was announced at an event, along with a revised release date in 2011 and a playable version. Miyamoto said the game was delayed from 2010 because the team wanted to avoid releasing an unfinished product. They used the extra year to complete the game and improve its quality.
Promotional materials included a five-part online comic created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik under their Penny Arcade Presents series. Television commercials featuring actor Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda were also made, using his love for the series as inspiration. Skyward Sword was released in November 2011 for all regions. It came in a standard edition and a limited deluxe edition with a gold Wii Remote Plus. Both editions included an anniversary CD with music from the series. After release, a glitch was found that could damage save files if three late-game events were completed in a certain order. Nintendo provided instructions to avoid the glitch and set up a special channel in Japan to help fix corrupted files. The game was later re-released for the Wii U on September 1, 2016, as part of the series’ 30th anniversary.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, a high-definition version for the Nintendo Switch, was released on July 16, 2021. A Joy-Con pair themed after the Master Sword and Hylian Shield was also released on the same date. In June 2016, Aonuma said it might be possible to make an HD version of Skyward Sword for current hardware. Earlier, during the development of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo tested an HD version of Skyward Sword on Wii U development kits to decide on a graphical style. This led to the creation of The Wind Waker HD, which inspired the Zelda team to make other HD remasters. Aonuma noted interest in a Skyward Sword remaster, but a Nintendo spokesperson later said there were no plans to bring the game to the Switch at that time. In August 2020, Amazon UK briefly listed a Switch version of Skyward Sword, but it was removed soon after.
The HD version includes high-definition graphics and runs at 60 frames per second. It offers two control options: one uses the Joy-Con’s motion controls to mimic the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck, and the other uses the right analog stick for traditional controls. This allows the game to be played in handheld mode, on a Pro Controller, or on the Nintendo Switch Lite. Other new features include autosave, the ability to save to any of three save files (including a slot for Hero Mode in New Game Plus), optional hints from Fi, the ability to skip dialogue and cutscenes, and item descriptions that no longer appear after the first encounter (except for Gratitude Crystals). One Amiibo figure is supported: a figure of Zelda and a Loftwing, which enables fast travel between the sky and the surface.
Reception
Skyward Sword received praise from critics. It has a score of 93 out of 100 on Metacritic, a website that collects reviews. This score made it the 10th highest-rated game of 2011 and the 6th best-reviewed Wii game. Skyward Sword was the third Zelda game and the sixteenth video game to receive a perfect score from Famitsu. It also received perfect scores from IGN, Eurogamer, Game Informer, Edge, and VideoGamer.com.
Famitsu praised the game’s world and gameplay, saying it could set a new standard for the Zelda series and video games. Edge liked most aspects of the game, except for the player-driven upgrade system, which did not ruin the experience. Nintendo Power called it "truly worthy of being called 'epic'." Ray Carsillo of Electronic Gaming Monthly appreciated the game’s nostalgic value but found the motion controls difficult to use. Jose Otero of 1UP.com praised the developers for moving away from Zelda traditions but noted that some elements, like side quests, made the game a "weird middle ground filled with genuine surprises, inessential carry-overs, and copy/paste quest structures."
GameSpot’s Tom McShea praised the storyline, dungeons, enemies, and visuals but criticized the unreliable controls and said the experience felt unnecessary and familiar. Destructoid’s Jonathan Holmes called it his favorite 3D Zelda game but said the exclusive use of motion controls might discourage players. Oli Welsh of Eurogamer praised the controls, gameplay, and upgrades, especially the impressive visuals despite hardware limits. Game Informer’s Phil Kollar praised the gameplay and presentation but noted minor issues with motion controls, concluding that Nintendo met its promises for the Wii. GamesRadar’s Carolyn Gudmundson called it a "perfectly balanced mix of innovation and classic Zelda gameplay" despite minor control issues.
GameTrailers noted that Skyward Sword had strengths, like the relationship between Link and Zelda, but called it the series’ "first gray hairs" because some mechanics felt outdated. IGN’s Richard George said the game revived Zelda as a revolutionary series, praising most aspects except the soundtrack. Joystiq’s Griffin McElroy called much of the content unnecessary but said the game was "the best Zelda game of all time." Steve Hogarty of Official Nintendo Magazine praised it as the greatest game in the series. VideoGamer.com’s Chris Schilling called it one of the best Zelda games, praising its motion controls, story, and treatment of series traditions.
Fi, a character in the game, received mostly negative reviews. Critics and players found her frequent interruptions annoying, comparing her unfavorably to Navi from Ocarina of Time. She was criticized for slowing the game’s pace and making it more frustrating. Her repeated interruptions led to many internet memes. Venture Beat’s Sebastian Haley found her less annoying and considered her the best part of the game.
Skyward Sword was ranked among the best games made for the Wii. Its HD version received an 81 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
After its release, Skyward Sword won many awards. At IGN’s "Best of 2011" awards, it won "Best Game," "Best Graphics," "Best Sound," and "Best Story" in the Wii category. It also received the "Reader’s Choice" award for "Best Overall Game" and was nominated for "Game of the Year." In Digital Trends’ awards, it was named "Best Action-Adventure" and "Best Wii Exclusive" and was nominated for "Game of the Year." RPGamer’s "Best of 2011" awards named it "Best Console and PC Game" and awarded it for "Best Music." It also received "Game of the Year" awards from Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameSpot, Edge, and Nintendo Power. Famitsu gave it "Excellence" and "Most Valuable Character" awards, the latter for the protagonist, Link. At the Spike Video Game Awards in 2011, it won "Best Wii Game" and "Best Motion Game."
In 2012, it was nominated for awards at the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ("Game of the Year," "Adventure Game of the Year," and "Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering"), the Game Developers Choice Awards ("Best Game Design"), and the 8th British Academy Games Awards ("Best Game," "Game Innovation," and fan-voted "GAME Award of 2011").
When it first released in Japan, Skyward Sword sold nearly 195,000 units, reaching the top of sales charts. Sales dropped quickly, leaving the Top 20 within weeks. By December, it had sold fewer than 320,000 units, below sales of other recent Zelda games. Sales were strong in North America, with about 600,000 units sold in its first month there. In the UK, it was the seventh best-selling game in November and the top-selling Wii game during its release week, surpassing Just Dance 3. It did not reach the top five best-selling Wii games for the year. Its total worldwide first-week sales were 919,119 units. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé said it was the fastest-selling Zelda game at the time. As of March 2012, it had sold 3.52 million units worldwide, with 360,000 sold in Japan and 3.15 million overseas. As of December 2020, it had sold 3.67 million units worldwide.
Pre-orders for Skyward Sword HD sold out on Amazon.com, making it the best-selling game on the US site. It sold 159,089 physical copies in its first week in Japan, becoming the bestselling retail game of the week there. As of December 2022, Skyward Sword HD had sold 4.15 million units worldwide.
Legacy
The game received mostly positive reviews from critics, but fans and later opinions were more divided because of its traditional, set-path design. When work began on the next home console Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, the developers aimed to improve on their previous work with Skyward Sword, using feedback from both fans and critics. They also wanted to create a world where players could explore freely, addressing complaints about Skyward Sword's limited, linear structure. Aonuma and Fujibayashi returned as producer and director, respectively. Aonuma stated his goal with Breath of the Wild was "to expand and make a better Skyward Sword." Some publications noted that the sequel to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, includes elements similar to Skyward Sword. For example, the game's floating islands above the Hyrule kingdom were compared to Skyloft. The developers explained that the Switch's technology allowed players to move seamlessly between the sky and the land, something the Wii's earlier graphics could not support.
Tentalus spencensis, a fossil from the Cambrian Spence Shale in Utah, is named after the boss character Tentalus from Skyward Sword.