With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD out on the Nintendo Switch, I can’t help
but wonder why Nintendo decided to give this game an HD remaster now, of all times.
It could just be because the game turns ten this year, and Wind Waker and Twilight Princess
got remasters on their 10th anniversaries.
However, after watching that new Breath of the Wild Sequel trailer a few thousand times,
something tells me that there might be a bigger reason for Skyward Sword HD’s existence.
What if there's a direct connection between Skyward Sword and the Breath of the Wild sequel?
After all, Breath of the Wild already featured its own "links" to Skyward Sword as well,
so could they be leaning into that even more with the sequel?
Chances are, Nintendo does not want us to forget about Skyward Sword.
Which makes sense because it’s an important game in the Zelda series for many reasons,
the big one being that it’s set at the beginning of the timeline.
However, I think it’s important because it represents the end of an era.
This was the last 3D Zelda game to follow the traditional 3D formula that started with
Ocarina of Time.
You follow a linear story path, go through a set of dungeons, collect helpful items along
the way, and even revisit some areas with those new tools.
Six years later, Breath of the Wild came in and shattered those conventions completely,
with a robust open-world, and non-linear story, dungeons you could tackle in any order, and
you get all the tools you’ll need at the beginning in the Great Plateau.
When you fly off the Plateau, the world is at your fingertips.
Given how convention-breaking this game is, it’s interesting that Nintendo decided to
release an HD remaster of Skyward Sword in a post-Breath of the Wild world.
I’m sure a lot of new Zelda fans are going to be thrown off by how different Skyward
Sword is.
Yes, Zelda was never as open as it was in Breath of the Wild.
It could be that Nintendo released Skyward Sword HD to keep Zelda fans occupied until
the Breath of the Wild Sequel comes out next year, or it’s just tradition for 3D Zeldas
to get HD remasters ten years after their release.
However, I’m willing to bet that there’s another reason for the HD remaster of Skyward
Sword.
Nintendo is using this to prepare us for the Breath of the Wild sequel somehow.
Don’t believe me?
Look no further than the Breath of the Wild Sequel Gameplay Trailer.
If you told me this was a sequel to Skyward Sword, I would believe you.
Not only because there are islands in the sky, but also because Link is literally diving
the same way he does in Skyward Sword.
Although I wouldn’t call that a dive, maybe a belly flop?
That’s gonna hurt.
And to think we saw this trailer just a month before Skyward Sword HD’s release.
What if this is Nintendo’s way of hinting that something from Skyward Sword is going
to make its way into the plot of Breath of the Wild 2?
The Sky Islands (or skylands) are already enough of a hint, but we can’t forget that
Fi was actually in the first Breath of the Wild.
Granted, we never heard her speak (which is probably for the best), but she is referenced
in the memory where Link is on the verge of death, with Zelda holding him in her arms.
She then hears the Master Sword speak to her, and if you didn’t know, Fi is literally
the Master Sword.
Matter of fact, the sword in BOTW makes the sound we hear in Skyward Sword when Fi leaves
and enters her sword form.
She tells Zelda that Link can be saved if he goes to the Shrine of Resurrection.
We don’t hear Fi, or really her sound effect, for the rest of the game, but Zelda says at
the end that she can’t hear the voice coming from the sword anymore because her power has
dwindled for the past 100 years.
And now there is a new threat in the sequel, which I don’t know for sure if this is Ganondorf
or not.
None of us know, but clearly, evil hasn’t been exterminated from Hyrule.
And if that wasn’t enough, there are now islands floating in the sky.
Guess you’ll need a sword for that.
A skyward sw-.
Okay, I’m not saying that the Breath of the Wild sequel is going to double as a sequel
to Skyward Sword, but maybe there will be references to Skyward Sword in this game like
there already was in Breath of the Wild.
Whether they’ll significantly impact the story or not remains to be seen, but I think
it’s rather suspicious that we got a remaster to Skyward Sword before the next mainline
Zelda game, which has an entire section in the sky...which also seems to take place in
the past, which could help bridge the timeline gap with both games seemingly being at opposite
ends.
It’s also important to note that Skyward Sword takes place at the beginning of the
timeline, whereas Breath of the Wild takes place at the end.
It’s still up in the air which section of the timeline BOTW is on, (and it’s been
theorized that it’s a timeline convergence somehow), but it makes me wonder if the events
occurring in BOTW 2 are signs of a “timeline reset” of sorts?
Where evil takes over the surface and people are sent back to the sky?
After all, time is a flat circle.
Okay, that may be a little far-fetched, but would you rather I talk about the Zonai for
30 minutes?
Don’t answer that.
Though I do consider the possibility that maybe there is no story connection to Skyward
Sword at all.
Nintendo could’ve just thought “Hey, our next Zelda game is set in the sky, maybe we
can remind people of our OTHER Zelda game that’s set in the sky.”
It could be THAT simple, but I have a hunch that Eiji Aonuma and his development team
are thinking a bit harder than that.
Even though it’s been 10 years since its release, Skyward Sword HD is still the second-to-last
3D Zelda released, so it’s still fresh in the minds of the developers at Nintendo.
We know the devs haven’t forgotten about Fi since she technically appeared in Breath
of the Wild, so that could mean we’ll see even more references to Skyward Sword in the
sequel.
Imagine finding an island that turns out to be the ruins of Skyloft.
That would be a huge event.
Even if there are no story connections to Skyward Sword in Breath of the Wild 2, perhaps
there will be more gameplay elements from it.
The first Breath of the Wild already had features that were introduced in Skyward Sword, such
as the stamina meter, which was greatly expanded upon with climbing and gliding.
Speaking of gliding, the Glider was originally meant to be a sailcloth similar to the one
in Skyward Sword.
Maybe Breath of the Wild 2 will include more features from Skyward Sword?
Namely flight?
Skyward Sword introduced Loftwings which helped Link travel in the sky.
We already know the glider will help with traversal in the sequel, but it would be much
more useful to have a flying creature like a Loftwing to move between skylands.
We also saw in the trailer a new Rune power that lets you rewind time with certain objects.
If time is going to play a key part in Breath of the Wild 2, this would be a perfect time
to bring back the Timeshift Stones from Skyward Sword.
They’ll make for some unique puzzles and can significantly change the environments
around them.
This was one of, if not THE coolest mechanic in Skyward Sword, so hopefully, something
similar comes back in the Breath of the Wild Sequel.
But hey, you know how these Zelda theories go.
We can come up with all kinds of ideas until the game comes out, proving our theories wrong,
and then Aonuma laughs in our faces.
On the bright side, we won’t have to wait much longer for that to happen!
So what do you think?
Will we see any connections to Skyward Sword in the Breath of the Wild sequel?
Let us know in the comments section below and check out the videos on the right for
more topics you might be interested in!
Until next time, bye!