Enemies of Skyward Sword

Amongst all this jazz we’ve been hearing about the game – things like graphics, story and Wii Motion Plus – I managed to hear some talk about the Skyward Sword enemies. Enemies are an important aspect to the game, especially if you consider the new combat with the Motion Plus controls, and the focus on it. Furthermore, besides the gigantic scorpion, we have also not heard much talk about the game’s bosses. Then there’s the main villain. So this article is dedicated to my thoughts and opinions about the game’s enemies, with some speculation, and side-notes for the bosses and main antagonist.

Let’s start with what we know: the enemies who have already appeared in trailers and screenshots. So far we’ve seen a lot of familiar faces, so let’s go over them shall we?

First off, we have Deku Babas. Basic guys that we see all the time of course. They look almost identical to the Babas from Twilight Princess, the only difference is now they’re BEAUTIFULLY colorful! They have a new Wii Motion Plus based weakness, too.

But really. These guys look EXACTLY how they did in Twilight Princess, just like Link looks almost identical to his appearance in that game. I wonder how much more we’re going to see of this, particularly amongst the enemies? I’m intrigued. Oh, and there are also more difficult Golden Deku Babas. I wonder if we’re seeing a return of The Minish Cap’s Golden Enemies? Or maybe I’m reading too much into it and it’s just a tougher Baba.

Another familiar face that’s reared it’s ugly head are our favorite pig foes. They look like Moblins, but in the demonstration they were referred to as Bokoblins. Perhaps this was a mistake, or perhaps they’re using a new approach in the design of the weaker Blins. Their design is pretty good, actually. Resembling both bulldogs and pigs, like classic Moblins always did. Additionally, they have traits that make them resemble Oni of Japanese myth. Oni were ogres. Often they have very small horns, red skin, etc. All things that these Bokoblins have. I wonder if we’ll see more mythological references? Zelda has played off a lot of mythologies in the past, particularly Greek myth. Again, these foes utilize a Wii Motion Plus based combat method, blocking slashes from certain angles. Whether these are truly Bokoblins or not remains to be seen, but I tend to think it’s true. If so, what are the Moblins going to be like this time around? Will they be giant?

Keese are shown, behaving exactly how we’d expect. They look a lot like Twilight Princess Keese, but the resemblance is not as striking as with the Deku Babas. They are much more stylized in appearance and remind me a lot of The Wind Waker. I might be going off on a limb here, but I fully expect the return of Fire and Ice Keese. Haha, that’s such a crazy theory, right?

An odd little red blob we see is almost certainly a ChuChu. Despite having a more traditional blob appearance like in Twilight Princess, it has the distinct Wind Waker ChuChu eye. From what I can assume based on the design, this ChuChu will not jump quite like its Wind Waker kin, but probably behave a lot like the ChuChus from Twilight Princess. I’m fine with that even though I thought TP’s ChuChus sucked, because it’s design still looks like TWW’s!

Stalfos of course appear, looking more like traditional skeletons than the heavily stylized versions from Twilight Princess. Still, they have a unique design and carry wicked dual swords.

Walltulas appear as well, seeming to function EXACTLY like they did in Twilight Princess. They look pretty similar too, but now have a stylized appearance with a skull pattern on their little spider butts that reminds me of the Skulltula design in the DS titles.

Now there are two other foes that are a bit more ambiguous. We see what look like either Deku Scrubs or classic Octoroks, and a strange lava slug. The slug, when compared side-by-side, looks identical to the Fire Toadpoli from Twilight Princess. I expect it is and that it behaves the same; spitting fire and ducking into lava. As for the other one, due to suckers that can briefly be seen on the bottom, it is definitely an Octorok, clearly indicating a return of the classic land Octoroks from the old games and the DS titles.

But this is interesting, isn’t it? A return of a very old interpretation of an enemy that’s stayed with us and evolved. I guess this makes sense since Skyward Sword will be a prequel, but I wonder if it means we’ll be seeing a lot of old faces and classic designs? I certainly hope so! We could see some great enemies in 3D for the first time! Lynels, Pols Voice, Pengators, Vires, and countless others. As for enemies we HAVE seen in recent titles, we might see more classic versions of them, such as the Gibdos and obviously the Octoroks.

We see a lot of examples here of what the new artstyle might mean for the enemies of this game. Skyward Sword seems to combine the styles of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker, and we see foes that look strictly catered to one style or the other, as well as ones who seem to mesh the two. Deku Babas look like they’re straight out of Twilight Princess, whereas Octoroks look like they belong in The Wind Waker. I can’t help but wonder how much we’ll see of it, this contrast of styles. Perhaps we’ll continue to see enemies designed in one extreme or the other. Still, the Keese and Stalfos look more like combinations of the two, so perhaps it will be more balanced than it seems.

Also, I wonder if we’ll see the enemy roster pool mostly from these two games. We see enemies that seem either strictly based on the version from a particular game, like the Walltula, or that have ONLY appeared in one of them, like the Fire Toadpoli. Perhaps we won’t see foes return from the older games at all? Somehow I doubt that’s true. I think we’ll see more variety. Still, our current knowledge of the game’s enemies isn’t very sufficient; anything could happen at this point.

I can’t help but wonder if this game will focus on familiar faces or try to make a host of new creatures. This is only conjecture, but from what I can see and also considering that the game is a prequel, I expect a lot of old foes will return.

In the trailers and some later gameplay videos, we see a large scorpion foe. Due to it’s size and the series’ history, I think it’s safe to assume it is not a normal enemy, but rather a boss or mini-boss. Which of the two I’m not entirely sure.

I personally believe this is Gohma. Even though it’s a scorpion, it bears resemblance to a spider. Not to mention Gohma has had claws before, and the Gohma of The Wind Waker was a cross between a scorpion and a centipede anyway. It also has a focus on eyes, with it having two in either claw. A trademark of Gohma, even if Gohma usually only has one single eye. Gohma has always been a full boss, so if it really is Gohma it is probably a boss.

On the other hand, it is smaller than Zelda bosses traditionally are these days, and seems to have a weakness based entirely on the sword (you have to slash the eyes in the claws at the right angle when they open). Bosses traditionally play off a dungeon item, but that might be changing with the new gameplay formula or you might simply use it in a later or earlier phase of the fight not seen in the videos.

I kind of hope it is a full boss. Since it’s smaller and has these traits that seemingly imply it’s not a boss, if it actually was one it would probably mean more variety and uniqueness in the bosses of this game. That would be exciting, don’t you think?!

Perhaps it’s not so much an enemy as it is an obstacle, but we also see a sort of door or barrier with an eye. You must rotate your sword in such a way as to make the eye dizzy before you can defeat it. But I wonder. I might be reading too much into it, but could this mean a design style preferring eyes? We notice this on the scorpion as well. This is only two examples and it’s a common theme anyway, but what if?

Could this mean the return of Vaati? Since this game in all probability will not feature Ganon, we will have to have some other enemy, either new or familiar. Or perhaps they will ditch a specific enemy in favor of an army of beasts? Doubtful. It’s not in keeping with tradition. Also, there are statements indicating the land is ruled by an evil force. This MIGHT imply something other than an actual villain, something more intangible, but that’s unlikely. This isn’t H.P. Lovecraft’s work after all.

So, who is it that we’ll be up against then? I think it’s either Vaati or a new face. It probably won’t be Ganon, and I don’t think any other villains are that likely either. Vaati could make sense since this is a prequel and some people (not usually me, but whatever) place The Minish Cap at the beginning of the timeline. Also, in The Minish Cap’s opening it talks about how in the past the world was beset by evil. Sounds a little similar to the premise of Skyward Sword, eh? How the world below Skyloft is overrun by evil. Hmmm…

Still, I think it’s just as possible it’ll be someone new entirely. We’ll just have to see.

Finally, and perhaps this seems like an odd point for me to cover, I wonder what the emotion of the battles will be? What I mean is the tone, which would be created by the style of enemies, their sounds and behavior, and not least of all music. Will the battle music be intense and dark? Light and cheery? Between? We’ve had a variety of battle themes in the series’ history, so I can’t help but wonder if we’ll have amazing battle music this time around. What will be the backdrop to our fights, and what emotion will surround them?

Perhaps this was a bit lengthy, but I wanted to make as in-depth an analysis of the enemies and other foes of Skyward Sword as I could. This was of course very speculative, but it’s at least partially based in logical thinking. We’ll have to see though. Our battles and obstacles could be very familiar or something entirely new. They’re at least going to be fresh because of Wii Motion Plus, but only time will tell if they’re truly unique or not.