The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are two of the most skillfully crafted games of all time. These Zelda titles are clearly a cut above the rest and have Game of the Year awards under their belts. While five long years set these games apart, both offer up various dungeons, bewildering puzzles, bosses to conquer and environments for the player to explore. Even though they are both Wii titles, Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess are vastly different. While TP plays it safe by giving Link a beautified version of Ocarina of Time to play around in, SS heads the franchise off in a new direction.
Twilight Princess
In the exposition, Link is a mere farm boy confronted with the challenge of rescuing his childhood friends from strange dangers. Such perils pale in comparison to what he’s in for next. Our humble hero eventually meets up with Midna, an imp-like creature with an unforgettable attitude. Her snappy demeanor is both adorable and alluring at the same time - a nice change in pace from fairies being Link’s companion. He will also gain the ability to transform into a wolf, but will only be able to do so at will until well into the game. The most endearing aspect of Twilight Princess is definitely the amount of nostalgia that it packs for those who were fond of Ocarina of Time, and that the game fine tunes Zelda’s visuals, music, gameplay and controls.
Despite the Wii’s innovative new controls, the GameCube version of Twilight Princess was more warmly received by critics. The Wii version, in comparison, stumbled into a lukewarm reception for the inability to clearly distinguish itself from the original GC version. The completion of the Wii during the last leg of TP’s development journey gave Nintendo a very slim opportunity to create a Wii port of the game, and they pulled it off with little to no time left to spare. It is truly a technical marvel, but leaves Twilight Princess on Wii a literal carbon copy of the original.
This deficiency in technological advancement shows clearly in the unclean graphics. Although vistas are easily appreciate from afar, Twilight Princess arguably falls short when seem from up close. Not to say that the game isn’t pretty - it definitely set a new standard for graphics in Zelda games, appealing to a large number of people, but also repulsing others. In the end, it isn’t the graphics that make or break a Zelda game, as the core of the experience lies in the gameplay and level design.
Twilight Princess’ gameplay is where it shines brightest, showing off a near-perfect set of controls that feel fluid and very easy to use. There’s no doubt that the Wii controls make aiming easier, though it left the player wishing for more in terms of sword combat. Skyward Sword addresses this problem, which it should, since the game was built specifically for the Wii. Gunning down enemies never felt so satisfying, and this new method of control gives the player more flexibility and accuracy when it comes to aiming and shooting carefully. Some gamers may remember the slippery and highly sensitive controls of previous Zelda titles when it came to shooting arrows. At times, it could be immensely frustrating to the point where the real battle was with the controls, not with challenges in-game. Twilight Princess rids players of this haunting memory and replaces it with something truly innovative and accessible.
Many tend to complain about the game’s not-so-daunting difficulty. Seasoned veterans were disappointed that Twilight Princess didn’t turn out to be as challenging as they had hoped. Nintendo’s intentions were clearly to appeal to a broader audience and draw in less experienced gamers. This attempt was relatively successful, as TP sold an unprecedented 6.5 million copies, second only to Ocarina of Time. Puzzles weren’t particularly mind-bending, though they were devious enough to take a good five-to-ten minutes or so out of the player’s time. Dungeons oftentimes have multiple floors and are of massive scale. Progressing through these dungeons is not terribly difficult, but they are very lengthy and will sometimes takes upwards of an hour to complete for veterans.
Bosses, while large in stature, were painfully short and undemanding. The strategies to defeat them were made obvious by large weak spots imprinted on their foreheads or a blatantly defenseless eyeball. In true Zelda fashion, many of these bosses could be defeated by striking them repeatedly and weakening them three times in the same attack pattern until they fall. I have to give credits to the game for having some of the most powerful-looking and intimidating bosses in the franchise, but when these titans’ hardened exteriors are stripped away, all that’s left are pitiful, frail, easily decipherable bosses.
What Twilight Princess lacks in difficulty, it makes up for in length and sidequests. There are extras aplenty, and you can either choose to ignore them or pursue these goodies: Heart Pieces, Poe Souls, Golden Bugs, etc. TP is an undeniably long game, perhaps the longest in the series alongside Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time. There are nine dungeons in total, and some of them are cleverly located. When Link has battled his way through numerous enemies and dungeons, he will find himself face-to-face with the big boss - Ganondorf. The final boss is the epitome of epic, the king of intimidation and the ruler of darkness, making for one of the lengthiest and heart-pounding battles ever. The icing on the cake is Link’s swordfight with Ganondorf (which is mimicked to some extent in Skyward Sword), and topped off with a surprisingly somber and tear-jerking ending.
The credits and the music that accompanies the slideshow is quietly beautiful, leaving a lasting impression on myself and millions of gamers around the world. If there’s something I can say about Twilight Princess, it’s that its final moments put the entire adventure into perspective, inspiring me to truly appreciate video games as art.
Skyward Sword
Skyward Sword takes everything that Twilight Princess did right and improves on them. Moreover, SS eliminates some of the franchise’s greatest flaws. Imperfections that used to cripple Zelda games become nothing more than scabs, and the game is sure to set a precedent for Zelda games in the future. Nintendo has already stated that future Zeldas will utilize motion gaming, and SS is the golden standard of motion gaming that will likely be the blueprint that Nintendo will work with when developing new Zeldas.
This title is hailed by some as the greatest Zelda game ever made, and others despise it. It all depends on how gamers viewed the drastic change in direction for the series. I have no doubt that in time Skyward Sword will be viewed as an unsung masterpiece in the franchise. The game is still new and being barraged with criticisms because of its motion controls, fragmented overworld and compacted level design, but people will eventually come to terms with Skyward Sword and see it as a game to celebrate.
SS combines the Wind Waker’s graphics with Twilight Princess’, creating a timeless fusion of realism and cel-shading that is best described as impressionistic. The visuals make environments look like watercolor paintings come to life, as the coloring of objects is always uneven (simulating watercolor). It’s quite hard to explain, but TP’s visuals will not be palatable to all, and SS has a much more aesthetically pleasing quality to it that won’t tarnish over time.
Areas are very compact, but enormous amounts of content are crammed into them. SS doesn’t waste time, and sometimes the segments between dungeons can feel like dungeons themselves - there are puzzles riddled all over the land, and traversing the terrain proves a worthy challenge in itself. This can either be viewed as Skyward Sword’s greatest strength or fault, depending on whether or not you like the switch from the traditional dungeon-overworld-dungeon-overworld pattern. Much unlike Zelda games before it, the Lanayru area, instead of being filled to the brim with water, is instead filled with sand. There is still an underlying water theme, though it’s somewhat unnoticeable since most players will associate the Lanayru Desert with designated sand areas from other games.
Ghirahim, who was originally thought to be the final boss of Skyward Sword before the unveiling of Demise, makes appearances throughout the game like Zant did. We do not fear Ghirahim, as his demeanor or less-than-intimidating and he seems to like to bother Link too much. To make up for Ghirahim’s flamboyant and silly attitude, Nintendo decided to squeeze Demise into the equation. What Skyward Sword does better than Twilight Princess is that Demise’s existence is not a complete shock. Cutscenes well before the final hours of the game suggest that Demise is the final boss and that Ghirahim is the equivalent of Agahnim or Zant, and Demise is much like Ganon in that sense.
We expect to fight Demise, which is already a step above Twilight Princess’ curveball with Ganondorf. Speaking of Demise, Link’s faceoff with him is beyond comprehension. The fight is short if you know what to do, but otherwise, it can be quite a bit to handle the first few times. The music for the battle is fully orchestrated and captures the moment perfectly. A booming chorus amplifies the weight of the situation - the fate of Hyrule rests on Link’s shoulders, and this battle determines it. The final battle is the ideal send-off for one of the most dazzling adventures in gaming history.
What’s most surprising about Skyward Sword is that despite the weak impression it left at E3 2010, Nintendo was able to crank out a kick-*** game that completely exceeded my expectations. Level design is beyond brilliant, and I would like to think that it is unparalleled by any video game to date. It’s very difficult not to fall in love with SS, though some may not appreciate the light tone and how much the game veers off the beaten path. SS wasn’t what I was expecting as Nintendo’s first Wii-specific Zelda adventure - in a good way.
My Verdict
Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess don’t appeal to everybody, and that certainly shows in how both have been bombarded with criticisms. SS does everything that TP did better, while some mechanics and concepts that the game introduces to the franchise have been thought by some to hinder the game. No matter how you look at it, though, Skyward Sword is a daredevil of a game. If that doesn’t count for anything, then nothing does. My vote goes for Skyward Sword, as it’s basically perfected motion gaming and isn’t afraid to make a name for itself.