Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will hit shelves Nov. 20

By Jeffrey Van Camp August 17, 2011

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Zelda fans, mark your calendars. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword finally has a North American release date. Nintendo has announced that the game will be released on the Wii Nov. 20, 2011, just in time for the holidays. The game will mark a fitting end to the 25th Anniversary celebration of the series, which has been going on all year.

Skyward Sword will be the first Zelda game to make good use of the Wii’s motion tracking abilities. The game will utilize Wii Motion Plus and a Nunchuk controller to precisely mimic real sword angles and slices on screen. In the demo we played at E3, sword fighting was different than in previous games. Instead of simply sneaking up on an enemy, you must now find ways to precisely slice and hit them where their defenses are weak. Each enemy seems to have its own pattern and can be quite challenging. The game also features flying sections where you adorn the back of a giant bird and use the Wii Remote to fly around. According to the press release, it may also be the biggest Zelda adventure yet, though no additional details are given.

“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the biggest game in the series yet,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We’ve just scratched the surface of this massive experience, and we look forward to sharing additional details with fans as we approach the Nov. 20 launch.”

To learn more, check out the Skyward Sword Comic-Con trailer Nintendo released about a month ago.

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Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

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