The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Playthrough - Part 1

[Note: This video and description were originally posted on Youtube on November 1, 2020.]

This is part 1 of my capture of me playing through The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii. This was recorded directly from my Wii (not the Wii U).

It’s almost hard for me to believe, but it has been nine years since I beat this game. I purchased Skyward Sword on its release date in 2011 and managed to complete the game a few weeks before Christmas, as shown by my first save file in the beginning of this video.

I was really excited about Skyward Sword’s release because when Nintendo first showed off the Wii, a lot of people, including me, pictured using the Wii Remote to swing Link’s sword. Although Nintendo sort of included that with Twilight Princess, it wasn’t exactly what most of us were expecting since that game merely determined whether you were swinging the Wii Remote, but not how you were swinging it.

Five full years later, Nintendo finally delivered on the initial promise of a true Wii Remote-based, sword-swinging Link by incorporating Motion Plus support. But by that time, this functionality was far from novel because it had already been established two years earlier with Wii Sports Resort. In fact, Nintendo used one of the developers from Wii Sports Resort to show Eiji Aonuma how to incorporate Motion Plus since he evidently couldn’t figure it out. That’s probably why this game’s controls are lifted directly from Wii Sports Resort.

When I finally got the chance to play Skyward Sword, I was of course impressed with the predictable motion controls, but I also felt they weren’t utilized to their full potential. The biggest problem with this game’s combat system is that enemies generally alternate between blocking horizontally and vertically, which reduces sword combat to a binary swinging system. The game should have instead utilized a more dynamic combat system, similar to Wii Sports Resort, where enemies swing their weapons in all different directions and you have to react on the fly to their less predictable patterns.

Overall, I did enjoy this game quite a bit, including the boss fights and the interesting dungeon settings such as the pirate ship, but I have some notable complaints. For one thing, exploration has been hampered by reducing much of the overworld to a variety of puzzles. It gets tedious at items, especially when you just want to explore.

For another thing, this game constantly interrupts you with the same unnecessary description when you pick up repeat items, and Fi herself is easily the most obnoxious sidekick to have ever graced a Zelda game – more so than even Navi. I wanted to strangle her each time she interrupted me to say my batteries were running low.

Lastly, many of the enemy designs are lame and even Skyloft itself is a bit dumb with its high school drama. Ghirahim is another androgynous character who looks like he’s been pulled straight out of the glam rock band the Sweet, Bokoblins appear as if they’re wearing diapers, and the Kikwi leader looks like a giant, saggy ballsack, among other issues. Nintendo must have been on drugs while making this game. But I suppose these are minor complaints.

For this playthrough I’ll be collecting all of the heart pieces and keeping track of them in each video. I will also be upgrading a bunch of gear and obtaining the Hylian Shield.

In this first part I started a new save file and began searching for my lost Loftwing.

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR and the Wii's component cables. I'm using a Wii Remote and nunchuck with Motion Plus.