One of the most special and unique installments of the legendary Nintendo saga returns with an interesting remastering that improves the original experience in several key points.
One of the most special and unique installments of the legendary Nintendo saga returns with an interesting remastering that improves the original experience in several key points.
Much has been debated in the last decade about the quality of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and its position within the saga, a very special and unique installment that dared to break some of the classic conventions of the series, to narrate the origins of the legend and to make its original movement control one of its great hallmarks.
Video analysis
Although it was far from being a perfect game due to small problems here and there, if we are completely convinced of something, it is that it is a great game of volume and spine that knew how to immerse us in an unforgettable adventure full of moments, great winks to fans, dungeons deliciously designed and exciting fencing matches that made us feel like true swordsmen. And all this wrapped in one of the best stories that the saga has left us.
Unfortunately, the game hit stores in 2011 with a Wii more dead than alive and in full HD, which resulted in very discreet sales and graphics that did not do justice to its beautiful art direction because of its very low resolution and its grotesque saw teeth. So much so that today it looks especially bad on almost any minimally current television.
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It is a delivery that was crying out for a remastering that, incidentally, would give it a second chance in the market, so no one should be surprised in the least about Nintendo’s decision to now bring us The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD , the definitive version and in high definition of an epic adventure that we have returned to enjoy like the first time.
The forge of the hero
As for practical purposes it is the same title that we enjoyed ten years ago, we invite you to take a look at the analysis that we dedicated to it in its day to deepen its positive and negative points, since in this text we are going to focus on all, in the novelties that have been introduced in this remastering , which go beyond a simple graphic improvement.
This installment features some of the best dungeons in the entire series.
To summarize quickly, we are faced with a 3D Zelda in which we will have to explore a relatively large world while we enter dangerous dungeons, we get objects that allow us to access new places, we solve lots of intelligent puzzles, we open chests, we find all kinds of secrets, we participate in minigames and, of course, we face any monster that dares to get in our way.
Of course, unlike other deliveries, its development is somewhat more linear and the different regions that we will visit are built almost as if they were dungeons themselves., so we will have to overcome a good number of challenges until we can reach the real temples. The best part is that all the maps in the game have a masterful design, so progressing through their different locations and dungeons is a most stimulating and satisfying challenge, as well as varied. We are talking about a capital adventure that knows how to surprise us at every step and in which each element of the stage is placed for a reason, so that there is nothing left to chance. Maybe we could ask him for a greater number of regions and less recycling than existing ones and a certain boss, but he always knows how to manage to contribute something new and different that prevents us from getting bored or accommodating.
Adapting the controls to Switch
As we have already mentioned, Skyward Sword was designed from start to finish with movement controls in mind , offering us a combat system in which we must move the command as if it were a sword so that Link performs different types of cuts, lunges and Special techniques, something very important during confrontations, since most enemies will require us to strike in a very specific way to take advantage of the gaps they leave and exploit their weak points.
Each type of enemy requires that we use our sword in the appropriate way, cutting in very specific directions.
Despite some inaccuracies in its handling, this left us some very unique and fun battles that were able to take full advantage of the Wii Motion Plus, although these controls went beyond fencing and were also used when using objects, in certain minigames and even to create new mechanics.
Thanks to the Joy-Con this has been transferred to Switch with a lot of fidelity and even with some improvements , such as better detection of our movements or the possibility of moving the camera freely with the right control stick, something that in the original was not possible and which makes the exploration far more satisfactory now. As you can see, we can put little complaint beyond the fact that these controls are still not 100% accurate and the need to constantly recalibrate the neutral position of the control, something that is done very intuitively with the press of a button and whatever you get used to it quickly.
We have the other side of the coin in a new traditional control system that has been included so that we can play in the portable mode of the console, which has not convinced us in the least as it is a mere patch that is loaded with one stroke of the pen much of what makes this adventure so special.
One of the ‘indirect’ improvements of this remastering we have in the fact that this time the controls are not linked with a cable, so we can make wider and more precise gestures without fear of causing jerks.
Its operation is quite simple, since the solution that has been opted for is to make us control the direction of the cuts with the right stick, although in practice it does not work as well as it should, forcing us to press and hold L to being able to use the free camera and making it difficult to perform certain basic actions such as dodging by having to move your finger on the lever to the corresponding button.
Reaching the end of the story will take us between 20 and 25 hours if we are very to the point, although if we want to do it all the figure can go up to 35 and 40 hours.
Obviously, the game is perfectly playable like this and in the end it is a matter of getting used to it, but no matter how hard we have tried to play in this way, it has never finished with us, making all the actions that in the original required us to move the controller into something cumbersome, nothing satisfactory and without any grace whatsoever, which ends up taking a toll on the confrontations. If your intention is to play it like this on a laptop, be very clear that it is far from being the ideal way to enjoy this work .
A good handful of quality of life improvements
Changing a bit of third, it should be noted that Nintendo has taken the opportunity to include a few quality of life improvements that make the title more enjoyable and fun to play than on Wii. Of all of them, the one we have been most grateful for has been, without a doubt, how greatly the aid from Fay, our adventure companion, has been reduced. In the original version, he constantly interrupted us to tell us unnecessary things that we already knew or to give us the solution of a puzzle before we even had time to examine it, but in the remastering all this has been relegated to the background and something completely optional. That is, Fay will only help you if you ask, something that is greatly appreciated and considerably reduces the feeling of being led by the hand.
The controversy of the amiibo of Zelda and her pelican
The same day that the game is put on sale we can get a beautiful amiibo figure of Zelda with its pelican that has generated some controversy, since its use in this remastering will allow us to travel from the lower regions to the sky (the area from which we can access the different main areas of the world) from any point, even when we are inside a dungeon, a function that was not in the original and that, honestly, we have not missed during our games, since Scenarios are usually full of save statues that will allow us to return to Celéstea whenever we need it.
In the same way, the initial hours have been considerably lightened so that they do not give us the turra with incessant and tiresome tutorials, and the descriptions of the items that we get will only appear the first time we collect them or when we obtain them from a chest or as a reward. of a secondary activity, which helps everything flow better. The option to speed up the dialogues has also been added (it may seem silly, but the default speed of the texts is very slow) and the video sequences can be omitted in case we want to do it.
Finally in high definition
At a graphic level, the remastering has been limited to increasing the resolution of the game so that we can finally enjoy this adventure in high definitionand in all its splendor. Yes, the work that has been done here is somewhat vague and we could have asked for improvements in the modeling, in the textures and in certain effects, but if we compare the final result with the original version of Wii, the difference is gigantic, since What used to be little more than jagged smudges that prevented us from fully appreciating the wonderful artistic direction behind it, now looks enviable sharpness on both laptop and desktop. Could more work have been done? Of course. Does it look gorgeous despite it? Undoubtedly. In addition, it now performs with full stability at 60 images per second, twice that of the Wii.
The simple fact of having raised the resolution to look in high definition has made the title look beautiful as it is by itself, which shows the great work that was done with it in its day both technically and artistically.
At the sound level we have not found improvements or changes of any kind, which is a real shame. The soundtrack is still a show and the effects are quite good, but it would not have hurt if a dubbing had been included taking advantage of the opportunity, since there are no voices beyond some screams and expressions.
Conclusions
Maybe The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword still not be the best installment of this legendary saga, but the remastering for Nintendo Switch now makes it much more enjoyable than ever. The high definition finally manages to do justice to its beautiful artistic direction, the 60 fps feels scandalous, the camera can be freely repositioned, the motion controls detect our gestures with greater precision and a few have been introduced Much-needed quality-of-life improvements that speed up the pace of adventure much more than it might seem at first. In short, the best version of a great game with which to discover one of the most important and exciting stories of one of the most revolutionary and magical series in the industry.
