In this series of articles, we’ll be ranking the best Zelda games ever made. That means Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are automatically disqualified.
Introduction
Yes, despite Rolling Stone crowning Breath of the Wild the best video game ever made, I don’t even think it’s in the Top 5 Best Zelda games, let alone the best video game ever.
Don’t get me wrong: when I first played Breath of the Wild, I thought it was a…”breath” of fresh air (sorry). The large open world where you could go literally anywhere was exciting for a Nintendo game, but I soon found out that open worlds with little to do in them except collect literal sh*t wasn’t my thing.
In fact, I’ve only played a couple of open world games that truly impressed me, and those were games with enormous budgets like Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V (and to a lesser extent, Skyrim). Game developers need to spend a fortune to make open world games compelling, and while Nintendo did spend a lot of time and money on Breath of the Wild and its sequel, I guess it still wasn’t enough to impress me much in the long run.
As the years went on, I found myself not wanting to replay the two most recent 3D Zelda games. In fact, I’ve not even finished Tears of the Kingdom, which makes it the first Zelda game in history I quit playing. Instead, I prefer literally all other 3D Zelda games.
Notice how I said “3D” Zelda games, because in my opinion the 3D Zelda games are better than the 2D iterations. I have nothing against 2D games, and I even grew up with the Super Nintendo where there was almost nothing but 2D games. But, I only started playing Zelda with the Nintendo 64 generation, so I may be a little biased in preferring the 3D games.
…Or, maybe they’re just better—period.
Keep in mind, for this series, I’ll be using port or remake versions of games if I think they’re better than the originals. With all that background info out of the way, let’s get started with the first of the five BEST Zelda games.
Skyward Sword (2011, 2021)
The Motion Controls
Originally released on the Wii in 2011 and later remastered for the Switch in 2021, Skyward Sword for the Wii innovated motion control in video games. To this date, it is sadly the best motion control video game ever made, with only Wii Sports Resort and Red Steel 2 coming close on consoles. I say “sadly” because motion controls are awesome.
(By the way, I’m aware VR games such as on the Meta Quest 3 carry the torch of Wii era games, but that’s a different article).
Skyward Sword is heavily reliant on motion controls, with the Wii MotionPlus accessory allowing for precise swordplay with its added gyroscope which complemented the accelerometer in the original Wii Remote. Unlike traditional button-based combat, gamers had to swing the sword realistically using their own arms to attack in a specific direction to counter enemies that actively blocked or reacted to attacks. This added a layer of strategy to combat, making even basic fights feel more important. To date, there’s no other Zelda game like it.
Switch Version Differences
The HD version on Switch introduced button-based controls as an alternative to the motion controls, but I will make fun of you if you use buttons in Skyward Sword. Unless you have a great accessibility reason, the game should be played with motion controls.
Don’t get me wrong: the Switch Joy-Con’s motion controls aren’t as good as the Wii Remote motion controls. That’s why I’m ranking the Wii version of Skyward Sword slightly higher than the HD version. While the HD version had some welcome improvements—namely the graphics and frame rate—along with less annoying dialogue interruptions and other quality of life improvements, the Wii Remote Plus motion controls are more important to me.
However, I can understand if some gamers prefer the Switch version for the 60 frames per second frame rate, save improvements, and other enhancements.
Story
The story for Skyward Sword served as an origin story for the entire series, detailing the beginnings of the Master Sword and the eternal struggle between Link, Zelda, and Shrek (kidding). I’ll be honest, this isn’t my favorite story in the series, but it gets the job done and is far above the recent Zelda games.
Fi is a pretty good companion…although she can be annoying—not nearly on the level of Navi, mind you, but annoying enough that the Switch version had to tone her down a bit. By the end of the game, I did care about her, but not to the extent of other companions like Midna. I won’t get into spoilers, but the ending does reveal something interesting about her character.
The Game World
The game’s unique, semi-open world consisted of floating islands above and handcrafted dungeon-like areas below, each featuring creative puzzles and mechanics. The game world was divided into three primary surface regions—Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and Lanayru Desert—each evolving over time with new mechanics and obstacles.
I remember, after the release of the Wii game, the developers stated in interviews that they’d wanted Skyward Sword to be more of an open world—but this is a case where limitations actually saved the game.
At first glance, the sky seems like it could be a rich and dynamic setting, with Link triumphantly soaring on his Loftwing between islands. However, most of these islands offer little beyond minor side activities, small treasure chests, or basic NPC interactions. Unlike The Wind Waker’s Great Sea, which had various islands with unique secrets, dungeons, and settlements, Skyloft is the only major hub in Skyward Sword, leaving much of the sky empty.
Make no mistake—Wind Waker also could’ve made use of more content in its world, but Skyward Sword is worse.
A Sky Full of Nothin’
The floating islands in the sky were more barren than the islands in Wind Waker, so making the game more open world would’ve done nothing except waste the player’s time even more.
While flying on Link’s Loftwing is visually appealing and thematically fitting, it doesn’t add much to gameplay beyond simply traveling from point A to point B—and that can get a little boring. Still, motion control flight can be fun, especially after taking a long break from playing the game.
Ultimately, though, the sky in Skyward Sword is somewhat of a missed opportunity.
The developers should have focused on adding more things to do in the existing sky islands, because that’s one of the major flaws of the game. Expanding the game’s open world while maintaining the same ratio of empty land would’ve significantly hurt the game.
And…that’s kind of what happened with the 2017 sequel, Breath of the Wild. I firmly believe Nintendo learned the wrong lessons with Skyward Sword. The problem with Skyward Sword was not its limited open world—it was a lack of compelling content in that world, and Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom didn’t fix the issue.
Music
Skyward Sword was the first Zelda game to feature orchestrated music, similar to Super Mario Galaxy. And here’s an area that completely trumps Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, which had atmospheric music but very little memorable melodies. I’d even argue that Skyward Sword is the last Zelda game with truly memorable music. It’s the end of an era.
Again, don’t get me wrong: there’s no Zelda game with truly awful music. Every Zelda game has decent to good music. And even the most recent game, Echoes of Wisdom, has great tunes. But Skyward Sword marks the end of Zelda games with legitimately outstanding music that go above and beyond the call of duty.
I hope the next Zelda game proves me wrong.
Graphics
Skyward Sword features a distinctive art style that blends elements of impressionism with cel-shaded visuals. The graphics strike a decent balance between the more realistic style of Twilight Princess and the cartoon-like aesthetic of The Wind Waker.
The game’s painterly effect gives environments a soft, watercolor-like appearance. This was especially beneficial for the Wii due to its outdated hardware. Distant objects and backgrounds appeared as if they’d been painted with broad brushstrokes rather than rendered in high detail. The result is an arguably timeless, dreamlike quality that adds to the game’s atmosphere.
Character models are very expressive and stylized. Link, for example, has large, expressive eyes and fluid animations that bring his movements to life. Enemy and NPC designs are similarly vibrant and creative, fitting the game’s whimsical tone.
While the Wii’s standard definition resolution limited the sharpness of textures, the game’s strong art direction ensured that it still looked visually appealing. The HD remaster for the Switch further refined the graphics, improving clarity while largely maintaining the Wii version’s artistic vision.
Dungeons
I remember a time when the Zelda series was known for its dungeons, rather than an empty open world. I like those times more than now, that’s for sure.
Dungeons were a high point of Skyward Sword—unlike Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The motion controls allowed for some one-of-a-kind puzzles that haven’t been replicated in future titles. For example, the beetle item is a remote-controlled flying tool for scouting and puzzle-solving, and it just couldn’t feel as fun without the motion controls.
Each dungeon feels tightly integrated with the outside land, as if they were natural extensions of the overworld rather than separate, unrelated zones.
One of my favorite dungeons is Ancient Cistern, which looks and sounds amazing. This temple is inspired by Buddhism, with a split between a bright, upper area representing heaven (I assume) and a darker underworld which seems to represent hell. Escaping from the underworld is cool and exciting—and the boss fight is really fun.
I also really liked the Sand Ship which utilized the time shift stone mechanic, basically allowing you to alternate between past and future versions of defined areas. And I loved the pirate theming and battles, which suited the sword motion controls very well.
There’s 7 dungeons in total, with some being better than others. Still, if you’re tired of the lackluster dungeons in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, these are a clear step up.
Conclusion
Skyward Sword is my fifth favorite Zelda game of all time. While clearly it has problems, the highs tend to outweigh the lows, and the result is one of the most unique Zelda games ever. It’ll continue to be worthy of a play far into the future thanks to its one-of-a-kind control scheme that you simply must experience at least once.
I recommend picking up the Wii version for the Wii Remote Plus controls, but if you’d rather play on an HDTV, then the Joy-Con motion controls aren’t a dealbreaker. However, I insist you don’t play this game using buttons—they just feel wrong. The game isn’t as fun without motion controls.
There are better Zelda games out there, but for the start of our series, Skyward Sword will do just fine. If this were a review, I’d give it an 8.5/10.
What do you guys think? Where does Skyward Sword fit in your list? Let me know in the comments below!
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