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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

by Karlie Yeung - June 20, 2010, 12:23 pm EDT
Total comments: 15

Detailed impressions of the Zelda demo.

The E3 demo showed the new Motion Plus controls to add value and challenge to the gameplay, and having one to one control with the sword on-screen brings new possibilities.

Sword Controls

Skyward Sword uses the Wii controls in a new way, with the sword and shield controlled by holding up the nunchuck and remote. This is shown immediately as Link starts in the level and encounters biting Deku Baba plants. A fairly wide area is needed to be able to swing the sword far enough and at the right angle.

Some of them have jaws opening horizontally, and some vertically so to do damage to them you have to slice in the same direction that they are open. A golden plant later on in the demo changes from horizontal to vertical. Slicing grass. Mushrooms were placed all over the level, some larger some smaller. What was nice is that they could be used to demonstrate the sword action, slashes appeared when you sliced into them that disappeared again. It's very precise due to the one to one mapping.

The sword also charges up over a few seconds to release a beam when you swing. This may have been only when all heart containers were full.

The shield is only armed when you raise and push forward with the nunchuck. This was required to deflect attacks from Deku Scrubs. Holding the shield up doesn't deflect the attack back at the Deku Scrub, it only blocks it from damaging Link. You need to time the shield with the attack to deflect and kill this enemy.

Link's Movement

Walking around is controlled with the analogue stick as usual, with A used as the context button to dash and climb. When leaping up a wall, there is a limit to how much energy he has, shown by the sections fading on a green circle. It automatically refills after time.

Holding the remote and nunchuck together and swinging them to the side executes a spin attack. Upwards and downwards does a somersault while attacking with the sword, allowing Link to flip towards enemies to attack.

Items

Holding minus brings up the potion menu, with four slots. To take a potion you need to point the Wii Remote in that direction, directly left, right, up or down. The items menu works in the same way, brought up by B.

Five weapons were visible from the total. The bombs could be dropped or rolled along the ground when selected. The bow and arrow uses the remote to aim and nunchuck to draw back and shoot. Aiming controls worked smoothly.

The flying beetle was also selectable, demonstrated in the video with picking up bomb flower and drop it elsewhere. To control the beetle, you tilt the Wii Remote to the left or right to turn, and up or down to go higher or lower. If you hit an enemy/obstacle the beetle returns. The control here I thought was more difficult to manage, but this style of "driving" has been seen in other games before.

The whip has the same one to one control and swings to wherever you swing the Wii Remote. If you swing wide you get a wide arc, and if you just throw it forward it goes straight ahead. This was best demonstrated by sweeping away sections of the grass. Swinging the whip to a rupee and then drawing it back can pick it up.

The slingshot can be used to aim and point to shoot or Z-target to shoot. The target stays locked even if you point elsewhere, so you can shoot while aiming at a different part of the screen. The aiming cursor turns red when target is locked. In general, Z-targeting works the same way as previous Zelda games.

Combat

I got to the boss, a large scorpion with eyes in the claws. The eyes were the targets, and the claws turned and closed so you had to aim the remote to cut at the right angle while you had an opening. If one of the eyes turned red, the claw would try to grab Link and you would have to break free by shaking the remote and nunchuck. After the two claws had been defeated, the eye in the body would open up and needed to be attacked with a forward stabbing motion. Each part needed to be hit four or five times.

A giant Stallfoss wielding two swords inhabited another cave. Here the aim was to dodge the attacks and find an opening to slice in with the sword at a clear angle.

Conclusion

These impressions are from playing the demo over two sessions. The first time I had difficulty with the controls as there was not enough space to swing the remote around as much as you need to. You do need to use large enough movements for the sword strikes to register. I can see where the Motion Plus controls adds new possibilities and how the puzzles will take shape that require the use of the sword and shield in this way.

The shaded art style looked beautiful, and scaled well for larger displays. This is set to be an incredible Zelda game.

Talkback

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)June 20, 2010

Quote:

Combat   
I got to the boss, a large scorpion with eyes in the claws. The eyes were the targets, and the claws turned and closed so you had to aim the remote to cut at the right angle while you had an opening. If one of the eyes turned red, the claw would try to grab Link and you would have to break free by shaking the remote and nunchuck. After the two claws had been defeated, the eye in the body would open up and needed to be attacked with a forward stabbing motion. Each part needed to be hit four or five times.   

A giant Stallfoss wielding two swords inhabited another cave. Here the aim was to dodge the attacks and find an opening to slice in with the sword at a clear angle.




I watched off-screen footage of these battles yesterday and I really like how both of them were designed to make the player use the sword intelligently. This sets a good precedent for the combat across the full game; if every enemy requires some thought to kill, the swordplay may become the most interesting part of the game, which has certainly not happened in the franchise before this.
One query: how do you perform a spin attack with the new controls?

greybrickNathan Mustafa, Staff AlumnusJune 20, 2010

Karlie did it feel like you could play this sitting down? I  saw people making some grand gestures, especially when rolling bombs.

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

One query: how do you perform a spin attack with the new controls?

It's under the Link's Movement subheading.

Quote from: NWR_Karlie

Holding the remote and nunchuck together and swinging them to the side executes a spin attack.

I think they also showed that in the Miyamoto demonstration.  I never tried it, because I forgot you could so I don't know how well it works.  In theory it should be fine, it's less complicated then mapping the sword to the remote.

Quote from: greybrick

Karlie did it feel like you could play this sitting down? I  saw people making some grand gestures, especially when rolling bombs.

Not in a chair with high arms.  Certainly if you had a wide range of movement you'd be able to do the job.  When you think about the control changes to Skyward Sword just think about them in terms of Wii Sports Resort.  Many of them are direct or refined copies of control schemes from WSR.  If you were able to do bowling, air sports, and sword fight sitting down then you can probably play Skyward Sword sitting down.

You do need a fair amount of space to be able to swing the sword and roll bombs. I expect I'd be able to manage fine sitting down, as I play all Wii games sitting down, the main thing is you have enough space in front of and around you when necessary.

greybrickNathan Mustafa, Staff AlumnusJune 21, 2010

@Crimm

I haven't played Wii Sports Resort so I wouldn't know- does that make me a monster?

Bowling seems like the only one that would cause problems.

Yes, you are a monster.

greybrickNathan Mustafa, Staff AlumnusJune 21, 2010

Quote from: Crimm

Yes, you are a monster.

I eat children for breakfast. I am also commenting on NWR at 5 in the morning... I AM a monster.

I should have called you a deviant.

greybrickNathan Mustafa, Staff AlumnusJune 21, 2010

Kids for breakfast isn't real, the posting on NWR at 5 in the morning is tragically true. That is what happens when you get up for work early for an unpaid internship. Maybe that just makes me a fool  ;)

SundoulosJune 22, 2010

Depends upon what you're getting out of the internship. :)

hextupleyoodotJuly 07, 2010

How does the Bow work while Z targeting? Does it work the same way as it has in past games? Or are you confined exclusively to 1st-person aiming now?

ControlerFleXJuly 09, 2010

................ I don't wanna be that guy but are they about to sell me Wii Skyward Resort: on Hyrule Island + Link? I LOVE WiiSR and Zelda, but instead of one of those " You got Chocolate in my Peanut Butter" moment. It might be more like "You got Mustard in my Lemonade".

Both perfect for a picnic, but not quite at the same time.

I understand that the team that did WiiSR was used to directly transpose these controls but couldn't they just have used that team to create similar ideas instead? You know....NOT be LAZY.... :P:

StogiJuly 09, 2010

Don't fix what's not broken...

The bow isn't as complex as the bow in WiiSR. I assume it will work similar to how it always has when Z-Targeted.

SarailJuly 09, 2010

Come to think of it, I kinda would like the ability to make the motion of pulling back on a bow even when using Z-targeting. Would be cool to fire off three arrows in rapid succession using my own ability motion instead of pressing a button. :P

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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Box Art

Genre Adventure
Developer Nintendo
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Release Nov 20, 2011
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone 10+
jpn: Zelda no Densetsu: Skyward Sword
Release Nov 23, 2011
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
eu: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Release Nov 18, 2011
PublisherNintendo
Rating12+
aus: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Release Nov 24, 2011
PublisherNintendo
RatingMature
kor: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Release Nov 24, 2011
PublisherNintendo
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