The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is not only one of the best reviewed games on the Wii of all time. It’s also one of the best on Metacritic overall with a 93. It was an ambitious game at the time which was rewarded with praise as were a lot of Wii games at the time. Motion based gaming was still so new and foreign to gamers.

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Do these games still hold up after motion based gaming has all but died outside of VR? The Switch version of Skyward Sword has an 81 which may go up or down with time as more people play it. The answer then seems to be yes but with a few caveats. It still has a lot of problems Nintendo didn’t address in the remaster but the quality of life improvements that are here make it a better game to actually play. 

10 Best: Zelda

This might be the best version of Zelda Nintendo has ever created in the series. She is so vibrant and youthful as compared to some of her more proper iterations.

It’s not great that she gets kidnapped a lot but at least in Skyward Sword HD she is having fun. The only one that comes close is Terra from The Wind Waker which is also a good Zelda iteration.

9 Worst: Ghirahim

In contrast to Zelda, the main villain, Ghirahim, might be one of the least liked villains the series has seen. He is equal parts creepy and equal parts annoying thanks to his dialogue and that tongue of his.

It still doesn’t make him scary or intimidating, unlike Ganon when he serves as the main villain. Link also has a weird design in Skyward Sword HD. He’s not as bad as Ghirahim, but he is also not the best designed Link around. 

8 Best: Skyward Sword Theme

The Zelda series is known for its music. The original theme is just as classic as any of Nintendo’s other big franchises. It’s been remade countless times but that original will already be a fan favorite.

Each new entry adds an original theme as well. They're good, but Skyward Sword HD has a truly remarkable one. It sounds great in the game in all of its revised versions. Getting to hear an uncompressed audio version outside of the game makes it even more epic like in a concert. 

7 Worst: The Stamina Gauge 

Breath of the Wild took a few elements from Skyward Sword. One of them was the stamina gauge which they improved upon a lot. One such improvement was not using stamina while in battle and focusing it as more of an exploratory function like when climbing. 

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This game uses the stamina gauge for everything from running to swinging the sword around. It depletes quickly in the early hours of Skyward Sword HD. This makes combat feel like a chore when having to wait for it to refill again. 

6 Best: Loftwings

Most 3D entries in the series have a horse for Link to ride around on. Twilight Princess had one and a wolf as well which was more for Midna’s riding enjoyment. They were absent in The Wind Waker, but the boat might have been a cooler transportation vessel anyway.

Skyward Sword HD takes to the sky and introduces Loftwings. These giant birds not only look cool but they display more personality than any of the horses in the series. 

5 Worst: The Amiib0 Issue

Players can go into the sky from the ground at certain save statues. When players wish to return to land, they can then select which statue they drop next to. The new Loftwing and Zelda Amiibo allows players to take to the sky at most points in Skyward Sword HD. The Amiibo also takes that player back to the exact spot. 

This is great in theory but it comes with a catch. The controversy is that this feature is locked away behind a product that Nintendo didn’t produce enough of. On top of that, they are charging $25 for it alongside the $60 for the main game. 

4 Best: The Quality Of Life Improvements 

Nintendo didn’t fix or add everything players wanted in this remaster, but they did an admiral enough job updating it. Players can now use all three save slots for one game if they so choose.

Fi is less obnoxious and doesn’t pop up as often. Item confirmation has also been reduced. And perhaps best of all players don’t need to use motion controls, though that comes with a catch.

3 Worst: The Control Setup

It is nice that motion controls are technically no longer needed. Motion-based movements, like using the sword, have instead been switched to the right stick. Players can now also control the camera at will. This works well in the motion control setup, but it doesn’t for the button configuration. 

Players have to hold down L as they use the right stick to steer the camera. As this is also the sword, it can be easy to forget to use L. It's clunky to say the least, leaving motion controls as the preferred way to play which is not convenient for the handheld mode. 

2 Best: Watercolor Visuals

Nintendo has experimented a lot with various graphical settings for the series. The Wind Waker turned the series into a cartoon which allows it to still look good, even on the original hardware. This didn’t make a lot of fans happy though so Twilight Princess switched back to a more realistic aesthetic.

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It used a lot of dark colors and browns which sort of muddied the visuals. Skyward Sword HD then tried to create an in-between with a realistic, watercolor approach and it still looks good. 

1 Worst: Slow Opening

Twilight Princess has one of the most infamously slow openings in the series. Skyward Sword HD also has a slow start although it’s not as bad as the activities Link has to complete in Twilight Princess.

Link gets his sword faster in Skyward Sword HD at least, but there isn’t a real dungeon until a couple of hours in. It’s hard not to compare it to Breath of the Wild since that is the latest main entry and gets players out the gate with the snap of a finger. 

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