The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a Wii video game by Nintendo. A cel-shaded adventure, Skyward Sword is heavily centered around the Wii MotionPlus. Nintendo claims that Link's movements with the sword will be 1:1 with how the player uses the Wii Remote. The shield will also play a prominent role in the game as well, with the Nunchuk being used in that regard.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was officially unveiled at E3 2010 in its entirety. Concept art was revealed a year before and the game was announced to be in development in 2008.

Gameplay
The use of Wii Motion Plus allows Link to slice in all directions instead of just one or two. Items will now respond better to motion controls, such as the Nunchuk controlling the shield. When the player holds the Wii Remote up right, Link will be able to recharge his sword for a beam attack which can be executed by quickly swinging the Wii Remote downwards. The motions of the Wii Remote are replicated almost flawlessly on the screen. This allows fights with enemies to be more engrossing. Attacking enemies in Skyward Sword requires more skill than in previous games. Most enemies can only be defeated by swinging the Wii Remote in a certain direction. For example, the Deku Baba will open its mouth differently, and in order to defeat it the player must swing the Wii Remote in the same direction that the enemy opens its mouth.

There are various weapons in the game aside from the sword. Weapons can be accessed easily in this game by pressing the B trigger button on the Wii Remote which brings up a menu on the screen where the player can select the weapon of their choosing by pointing at it. This removes the need to assign a button to each weapon (which could prove tiresome considering that the player was required to constantly switch weapons in previous games. This time players are able to choose the weapon very quickly). Returning weapons and items have new functions. The bomb, for example, can now be rolled in addition to tossing and laying down. When tossing, an arch appears that shows where the bomb will land (similar to the grenades in the Xbox 360 game Gears of War and its sequels). The bow and arrow controls differently than in Twilight Princess yet similarly to the archery game in Wii Sports Resort. Pulling back the Nunchuk and pointing with the Wii Remote, players can shoot arrows rapidly at enemies and targets. The slingshot also returns though its controls are fairly basic.

Visuals
In contrast to Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword uses visuals that harken back to Ocarina of Time. The game also makes use of the cel-shading originally utilized in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It was states that the developers did not use the selected visuals because of the visuals in another game, nor did they get visual ideas from another Zelda game.

Development
Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the director of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, as well as the sub director of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and head of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords game, is the director of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, his first console video game. After Phantom Hourglass was released in 2007, the team started work on Skyward Sword.

Skyward Sword has been described as a combination of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Shigeru Miyamoto said that the moment that he saw the visuals, he instantly loved the look and agreed to keep them. He stated that it didn't have to go through any drastic alterations.

Link
Link will be the protagonist of the game. In the illustration released by Miyamoto, he doesn't seem to wield a sword, but rather just a shield in his left hand. In an interview with IGN, Miyamoto made sure to let people know that there is a reason for this, though wouldn't go into much detail. Apparently Link will be much older in this game than any other game released before it, though his exact age is unknown.

Mystery girl
The mystery girl was revealed in the illustration. She looks similar to a fairy from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, though it has been hinted at that she is a representation of the Skyward Sword, explaining the absence of the fabled sword in the illustration. There are various indicators that prove this theory, such as the color scheme, the designs, and the omission of a sword altogether. Nothing has been proved as of yet, however.

Some people are assuming that her name will be the Fairy of the Master Sword, or something similar. This is thought because of the Gale Boomerang from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. In this game, there's an emblem in the middle of the boomerang that looks exactly like the emblem featured on the mystery girl. The Gale Boomerang was possessed by a "Fairy of Winds", so it may be safe to assume a similar title for this character.