The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.1 Update

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. A high-definition remaster of the game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, was co-developed by Tantalus Media and released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2021. Also, Embark on a thrilling adventure through the earliest story in the Legend of Zelda series by taking to the skies and wielding your sword. Follow Link as he journeys through the air to rescue his childhood friend, Zelda, who must face her destiny.

GAMEPLAY

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an action-adventure video game in which players assume the role of Link, the main character of the series. Link travels through a series of overworlds populated by monsters and dungeons with further enemies, including puzzles and intriguing bosses. Link is controlled with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk and requires the Wii MotionPlus expansion device to play. The majority of the game’s mechanics revolve around the use of motion controls. These include camera control with the nunchuk, and common hotkey actions and movements linked to the remote control. Jumping over gaps and climbing ledges will happen automatically depending on the situation. The nunchaku is also used to force Link to perform a forward throw. In addition to his standard speed, Link can also sprint over short distances.

Sprints and other actions such as climbing or carrying heavy objects are limited by your stamina meter. The stamina meter will recharge after a few seconds if you do not do anything that would drain it. When fully depleted, Link’s movement speed decreases and he becomes vulnerable until the gauge is replenished. Standard navigation is from a third-person perspective, but the dowsing search feature switches to a first-person perspective. Dowsing searches the area for the selected object and new dowsing targets appear depending on the game context. Battles against enemies that appear in both the overworld and dungeons depend on how Link uses his sword and shield. Link’s sword movements are mapped to the direction the player moves his Wiimote. Other techniques include forward thrusts and thrusts. Enemy movements are designed to predict and block Link’s combat movements. When you pick up the Wii remote, the sword collects energy and releases that energy with his Skyward Strike.

Skyward Strike is also used to trigger environmental elements such as magic switches. The shield is controlled by nunchaku: When the shield is raised, it can be used to defend against attacks. Spin attacks and finishing blows are activated by shaking the Wii remote and nunchuck. Link’s health is represented by hearts, and for each hit Link takes damage. The game ends when you lose all hearts. The game is set in three terrestrial overworlds: the floating island of Skyloft, the surrounding sky islands, and where most of the main adventure takes place. As the game progresses, side quests for the city’s residents are unlocked. Access to various areas of the Earth’s surface is through portals in the clouds or pillars of light. There are also side quests for surface characters, which in some cases are required to complete the main quest. They move in the air using a shoebill-like bird called a leftwing, and on the ground, they move on foot.

Beacons can be placed around the map Link follows, and creating save points in the form of statues will save Link’s progress up to that point. During the quest, Link is assisted by the sword spirit Fi, who can give the player hints about both environmental elements and enemies: For example, if an enemy is targeted and Fi is summoned, she will Give characteristics and weaknesses. Traditional items from the series such as explosive bombs and bows and arrows for long-range attacks become available as Link progresses through the game, as well as a mechanical beetle that allows him to move into out-of-reach areas for various actions. New additions will also be added, such as Link flying, such as activating switches, and using the whip to grab unreachable objects and levers. Some items and equipment deteriorate with use and eventually break, such as a shield being damaged without being able to block a blow. Items and equipment can be optionally upgraded using materials.

PLOT

Skyward Sword takes place at the beginning of the Zelda continuity: according to legend, three ancient Goddesses bestowed a great wish-granting power: the Triforce. The Demon King Demise laid waste to much of the land seeking to take the Triforce. The Goddess Hylia gathered the survivors and sent them into the sky, allowing her to launch a full-scale offensive against Demise. She was victorious, but the land was severely damaged. Uncounted years later, the outcrop is known as Skyloft, and its people believe the surface below is a myth.

In the present, knight-in-training Link passes his final exam despite attempted interference by his class rival Groose, who considers himself a romantic rival for Link’s childhood friend Zelda. After passing the exam and on a celebratory flight together, Zelda is whisked away below the clouds by a dark tornado. After recovering back on Skyloft, Link is led into the island’s statue of Hylia to the Goddess Sword by Fi, the spirit of the sword who resides within it. Link draws the sword, showing himself to be the prophesied hero who will finally destroy Demise.

Opening a way through the clouds to the surface, Link is guided by Fi to the Sealed Temple, where he meets an old woman who tells him to track Zelda: this leads Link across the regions of Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and the Lanayru Desert. While he catches up with Zelda, he is prevented from returning her to Skyloft by Impa, a young woman guarding and guiding Zelda. Link also encounters Ghirahim, a self-proclaimed Demon Lord working towards freeing Demise. At the Temple of Time in the Lanayru Desert, Link defends Zelda and Impa from Ghirahim, buying the two enough time to depart through a Gate of Time into the past, which Impa destroys as they pass through.

Returning to the Sealed Temple, Link is followed by Groose and the two end up on the surface together. Link then has to defeat the Imprisoned, a monstrous form of Demise attempting to reach the Sealed Temple, after the old woman shows him a second, albeit dormant, Gate of Time. With the Imprisoned defeated, Link sets out to strengthen the Goddess Sword by passing trials set by the ancient Goddesses and using their gifts to find Sacred Flames to purify and strengthen the blade so the Time Gate can be awakened.

Returning to find the Imprisoned attempting to break free, Link reseals it with help from Groose. Activating the Gate of Time and traveling to the past, he finds Zelda and learns that she is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia; Hylia could not kill Demise and was too weakened from their battle to fend him off again, so she created the Goddess Sword and reincarnated as a mortal to find someone who would fulfill her duty by using the Triforce to wish Demise’s destruction, as only mortals can use the artifact. Zelda then seals herself inside a crystal to strengthen Demise’s seal, granting her power to the Goddess Sword and upgrading it into the Master Sword.

Link locates the Triforce on Skyloft and uses it to destroy Demise. With Demise dead, Zelda is freed, but Ghirahim arrives and kidnaps Zelda: though Demise is dead in the present, Ghirahim intends to use Zelda as a sacrifice to resurrect him in the past. Link pursues Ghirahim into the past and fights through his army. He then defeats Ghirahim, who turns out to be the spirit of Demise’s sword but is unable to prevent Zelda from being used to reincarnate Demise’s humanoid form.

Groose guards Zelda’s body while Link challenges Demise: Link triumphs and absorbs Demise’s essence into the sword, but not before Demise curses Link and Zelda’s bloodlines to be haunted by his reincarnated rage. To complete the sword’s seal, Link drives it into a pedestal in the Sealed Temple, with Fi accepting eternal slumber as a result. Groose, Link, and Zelda return to their time while Impa remains behind and destroys the Gate of Time, as she is a person of that time and must watch over the Master Sword. In the present, the old woman greets them one last time before she dies and vanishes, revealing that she is Impa. The game ends with the surface now freely accessible to the residents of Skyloft, while Zelda decides to remain there to watch over the Triforce; she and Link together establish the kingdom of Hyrule.