The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was originally released for the Wii back in 2011, debuting to positive reviews and fan reverence. It went on to win multiple game of the year awards and was generally regarded as an instant classic. In the run-up to its ten-year anniversary, Nintendo announced the Skyward Sword HD remaster, which was released in the summer of last year.
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Today’s flash sale ties the lowest price tag Best Buy ever attached to its Skyward Sword HD stock. While the game was treated to half a dozen $20 discounts over the course of the last year, the only other time it dropped to $30 was back in April, which also lasted for only a day, according to the retailer’s listing history. This sale is even more significant in light of the fact that Nintendo itself rarely discounts its game catalog, with half-off deals on first-party titles being nearly unheard of in the context of the Switch eShop. Even seasonal promotions like this year’s huge summer Switch eShop sale tend to be led by third parties, whereas Nintendo’s own offerings are rarely available at less than 30% off, so buying them from authorized retailers has historically been the most affordable option.
Apart from high-definition textures, Skyward Sword HD features some massive quality-of-life changes, including auto-saving, skippable tutorials, and modernized controls. Two console generations’ worth of hardware improvements also helped the remaster perform significantly better than the 2011 original, which is best underlined by the fact that Skyward Sword HD consistently runs in 60 frames per second, whereas the Wii game was capped at 30fps and would sometimes dip in the low 20s.
Loading times have also been improved compared to the base game on account of technological advancements; the physical version of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD—the one that Best Buy just discounted—comes on an Ultra High Speed Phase I (UHS-I) cartridge whose peak read-write speeds are approximately ten times faster compared to the Wii’s DVD drive.
Skyward Sword proved to be a seminal game for the franchise, as many of its features made their way to future installments. Some, like the stamina wheel, are still a prominent part of the series’ gameplay formula and are already confirmed to be making a return in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is scheduled to release next spring.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is available now on Nintendo Switch.
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Source: Best Buy
