Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

Every 3D Zelda game so far has seen a remake of some description or scope on more advanced hardware with the sole exception of the last and most recent: Skyward Sword.

Now I've got mixed feelings about Skyward Sword - I really enjoyed it and thought it had some outstanding aspects but overall the linear structure and empty world left me a bit disappointed with the back end of the game. Nevertheless I don't think anyone doubts that it was the poster child for advanced motion control - one of the only really ambitious games built to be controlled in that way.

With Switch having motion control options built in as standard it clearly a question of "when" not "if".

So I'm asking the question here of the Nintendolife community: when do you think it's coming?

...

I'm going to put my own pin in the board: March 2018.

My thinking is as follows: Nintendo's franchise care means they usually release or re-release something from their major franchises every year (even if it's often something like Metroid Federation Force or a virtual console release of a second tier game in the franchise). So they'll want to release something for Zelda fans in 2018.

I think March because it's not something that they'll want to interfere with the marketing of their Christmas line-up (whatever that may be) but it's something that will give the impression of an ongoing release schedule for Switch in place of the type of drought that the Wii U faced. It also makes sense to release it a few months after Christmas. There will be plenty of people who buy Switch with BoTW at Christmas and by March 2018 they might be ready to tackle another Zelda that they're unlikely to have played before.

Would love that, seeing that I absolutely hated the controllers in SS.

I really don't want a Skyward Sword HD, for a couple of reasons:

1. We have had far too many remakes of Zelda's recently- give it a rest and give us new material.
2. It's not even that much of an old game.
3. It's not very good- if they were willing to redo the game for the ground up then I'd be intrigued (but the amount of time it'd take, you may as well make a brand new one) , but just giving it a new lick of paint isn't going to stop the game from its flaws.

Personally I think they should either go for a MM style situation where they can re-use a ton of assets from BotW to make a new game in half the time it took BotW. Or they should go for another 2D style Zelda which are quicker to develop.

Personally I agree it's a flawed game and it wouldn't make it into my top 5 favourite Zelda games (although I loved some elements like the controls, art style and characters in Skyloft).

I don't see Nintendo not remaking it at some point though for a number of reasons:

1. Some people rate it very highly.
2. It's relatively easy for them to do.
3. There's always an audience for any Zelda release (people even pay crazy money for the CDi games...)
4. Once the Wii U is no longer available they won't have a version of Skyward Sword available to sell or play on any format unless they port it.
5. It can be easily outsourced to a company like Tantalus (like Twilight Princess HD was) so Nintendo doesn't actually have to use development time making it.
6. Nintendo needs to fill their release schedule because they won't have much 3rd party support. Skyward Sword HD would do that.

I wouldn't buy it. I may be in the minority, but I never found SS's controls as responsive and advanced as everyone made it to be. The system had problems reading the Wiimote's signal in my case, which made playing annoying.

Plus, including motion controls for a game for Zelda is a problem if you want to play in handheld mode. You're restricted to playing in docked or tabletop modes.

Finally, I agree with @dtjive in all of his point. Let's hope for new stuff, built with the Switch in mind and taking full advantage of it guys, not for more and more ports.

I'd pass on that if they did end up remaking it.

I'd probably buy it, but would also settle for a Virtual Console version of the original on Switch. It is the only Zelda game I haven't played through, so I should get around to it at some point. I also wonder if they will port their existing Twilight Princess HD across.

I'm expecting it, but not soon. We'll probably see another game connected with Breath of the Wild (if not nearly as big) in some way before we see it.

I can see a Skyward Sword HD remake happening, but not anytime soon. There really is no need for it yet (it was just released in 2011), plus I'd rather have new Zelda games at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed having access to a lot of the remakes since I missed out on many of them the first time (barring TP). I just don't feel like the time is quite right for a SS remake.

I wouldn't buy it honestly, heck I never even finished it on the Wii.

OoT -> OoT 3D: 13 years
MM -> MM 3D: 15 years
WW -> WW HD: 10 years
TP -> TP HD: 10 years

We're getting Breath of the Wild this year maybe its a good idea to leave it at that for a bit. I wouldn't be bothered if the next few years looked something like this:

2017: Breath of the Wild
2018: No Zelda game
2019: "Portable style" Zelda
2020: No Zelda game
2021: Skyward Sword HD
2022: Next big Zelda release

That way there's a decent enough gap between the remaster and the original. 10 years is a decent enough length of time. And we don't get flooded by Zelda games but we do get regular releases.

I think March 2018 seems a reasonable guess. Ports and remasters are how Nintendo's going to prevent game droughts, not more new games. I mean look at the launch window so far, it's looking extremely bare however I think Nintendo's hiding more ports that they'll announce soon like Smash.

I like Zelda Skyward Sword a lot, but I think that there is no need for a remake yet. As "dtjive" has mentioned, there are already too many Zelda remakes in the market, and SS is not old enough at this time to be worthwhile of getting a remake.

If a next generation Nintendo console will offer 4K resolution, I would definitely embrace a remake. It would also be nice if a Zelda remake would offer a true master quest with rearranged dungeon puzzles, as it was the case with Ocarina of Time. Until then, Nintendo should focus on making new Zeldas.

I would be down. I've never played SS. I would rather have an Ocarina remaster with the Unreal Engine. THAT would be epic.

I'd buy it. Never played it before. I think there's a high chance it'll be released next year.
I see it having improved motion controls thanks to the joycons and traditional controls for portability. Maybe they'll add a dungeon or something. Tantalus Interactive would probably handle the port.

I'd love it. My SS is still sealed. I'd buy the HD remake and play that instead for certain (Which is EXACTLY what happened with Twilight Princess). Hopefully they'll port Starfox (from the Wii U) too.

Honestly, I think Nintendo could make quite a bit of money remaking games into HD. It shouldn't stop them from new game development as they farm out the remakes anyhow.

Imagine a SNES Mario HD pack or NES Mario HD pack where they actually remake the NES or SNES titles in HD...similar to Mario Maker...or a HD version of All-Stars. How about an HD version of Sunshine, (Galaxy even). The list goes on and on.

Nintendo should HD Remake every title that they can. They sell just as well as their new titles and it takes very minimal resources on Nintendo's part.

Also, where's my freaking F-Zero?!

Nintendo needs games to sell consoles. HD remakes is a great way to really beef up their output and back-fill calendar gaps.

...Kept thinking this was talking about Breath of the Wild for some reason. >.<

@jump

MM sold less than SS, but still managed to get a remake. The 10 year gap is not for nostalgic fans. It's for the generation of gamers who never had the opportunity to experience the game the first time around.

Day one honestly. If the joycons work better for motion controls especially. I... absolutely cherish my experience with skyward sword. I really enjoyed it.. so much

Yeah i liked it too, it is hands down one of my personal top 3 Zelda. But i hope they don't make it soon and that's why: we are going to get the most epic, great and large Zelda ever and i feel like if they release an HD version of SS in 2018 it can sort of put BOTW down. Let's experience BOTW and hope for another big one, we have a lot of time for remakes. There's no need to "rush it" just a year after BOTW