Ronnie

That whole battle with Ganon's various forms had such a grand scale to it even though you were indoors. The spider one especially was beautifully implemented. Hope you enjoy SS! Personally I loved it, but still think it had a hell of a lot of flaws. But far more fun and enjoyable than TP IMO.

I loved puppet Ganon. In fact that whole final battle was far more fun/impressive/epic than the Demise one in SS. The music for the snake form is fantastic

Fair enough about the sales figures but the Wii U console is supposed to be targetting core gamers isn't it? This actually sounds like yet another case of Nintendo not being able to release a proper Mario/Zelda title at launch so they release a quick and easy placeholder game like Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario 64 DS and Twilight Princess (Wii)

They release two masterpieces in Galaxy 1 and 2 and are about to launch a brand new HD console, and their top first party launch title is... another NSMB. Snore.

How depressing

Something completely new would be fantastic, although so would Galaxy 3. New Super Mario Bros Mii. Dear god I hope not.

As vaguely epic as the final battle with Demise was, it was pretty straightforward and not a patch on the duels with Ganondorf in Wind Waker and TP. I actually found the two-part final battle with Ghirahim a lot more involved and interesting.

No they don't? They're totally separate. Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks were 'easy to pick', the player was hand-held, and the games was fairly self-explanatory, and in the case of the DS games, dumbed down.

Wind Waker was pure genius in every aspect and a series highlight IMO, since then Nintendo have paid too much attention to the fanboys and making the game 'accessible', they need to take a risk for Zelda Wii and not just give us another generic Twilight Princess with HD graphics.

The Zelda series has done forging of swords far better in Minish Cap and I think Phantom Hourglass, the Master Sword (especially given it's importance in the Zelda universe) was pretty lazily done as you say. RE: the triforce, I see your point about it not adding anything gameplay wise, but that shouldn't matter really. It's the Triforce, proper cutscenes were needed. Wind Waker would have had one. But they seemed hesitant to make many storytelling/descriptive cutscenes in Skyward Sword bizarrely enough, which was quite jarring after TP had a huge amount. Another nitpick about fanfares etc, I'm fairly sure collecting those 3 tablet pieces in the first half the game didn't give us any new jingle to listen to, and placing them in the wall in the Goddess tower, you'd expect a nice little cutscene? Nope, just silence. Seemed a bit meh. You compare to Wind Waker's putting the crystals in those little statue things and having them shoot beams of light between each one. That was brilliant. Skyward Sword just seemed a bit forgettable by comparison.

I thought the bits where you collect the Triforce pieces were so lazily designed (after you warp into the room(s). Not to mention the fact that when you touch it, the standard 'item get' animation and sound effect played! They could have dialed up the drama a tad, considering your just achieved 1 third of the triforce!

Great post. Was there a boss kill music at all in this game? Thinking back I'm not sure there was! Have to also admit the boss battles were quite underwhemling this time around compared to TP and Wind Waker. I thought the music was terrible. Well, it was 'nice', but it had no distinct feel and totally forgettable. Compare it to Wind Waker or Twilight Princess or obviously Ocarina. A real low for the series IMO.

Super Mario 4 sounds very plausible, especially with reports of it being a 2D game. I just hope they ditch the fugly 'New SMB' art style, which I assume they are/will.

Wind Waker is easily my favourite Zelda game, but I think you're being a bit too kind to it when comparing its overworld to Skyward Sword's. It was amazing and full of character but quite barren compared to SS's. Windfall though was fantastic I'll admit, and far better than Skyloft.

I liked Dire Dire Docks. Nice feel to it

I can't say I personally notice a massive difference between those and the actual game but regardless I just don't think the above is anything special. It's just OOT with lower saturation and better textures. In terms of an art style, there's very little unique or interesting. Unlike say, Wind Waker or Skyward Sword. All IMO obviously. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, TP did have some lovely visuals every so often but it's the sort of art style that's forgotten quickly and won't age well. The Wii U tech demo was an identical art style, just with HD graphics and advanced lighting effects. It looked amazing because of the detail, but I would hope Nintendo go a bit more creative for the actual game and take a fresh perspective like with Wind Waker.

Hardware shoudn't be able to limit an art style, look at Wind Waker, that art style is timeless and all done with Twilight Princess just looked lifeless and muddy IMO. It was basically Ocarina of Time's art style, minus the vibrant colours, with better textures and more polygons.

The Wii U demo doesn't really have an art style though. It's technically amazing of course, but it looks just like Twilight Princess with HD visuals. No character. Zelda II with modern day visuals would look like the graphics in that article I reckon. Love the gothic style, it fit the Zelda franchise perfectly, in contrast to the cutesy colourful visuals we're used to these days (which are also great when done right WW/SS)

This is the style I wish Zelda would go back to for a game, gorgeous artwork: http://kotaku.com/5899323/ It basically illustrates what LOZ and Adventure of Link were like, ALTTP and LA a little less so. That's why I like the idea of the former two games taking place at the end of the timeline, when the world is just a little more dark and bleak after all the smiley happiness of SS or Minish Cap

I apologise

If only everyone could be as bitter and joyless as you. Must be doing something right if you're still watching a show you seem to hate

You think that locker-room scene is forgettable?? (the one from last week) Can't see how the storyline felt drawn out. Season 2 played it very well and it developed nicely. Ok the developments in the last couple of episodes came out of the blue a bit, but the groundwork had been done last season so it didn't feel so jarring.

In season 2 he was in pretty much half the episodes so it's not like his storyline hasn't been developed properly, it has. One thing's for sure, not only is he 10x the actor, but his storyline also has 10x the interest of the silly Finn/Rachel wedding saga. Anyway you missed a crucial plot development between points 2 and 4

I watched a mid season 1 episode the other day, and not even a particularly standout one (Mattress). Still, it's amazing how the quality has nose-dived :-( Now all we get is convoluted, confused preposterous storylines, continuity issues everywhere, preachyness, 8 songs an episode and tacky guest stars aplenty (I could swear they said no more in season 3). If you're going to bring in a guest star, get April Rhodes back, someone that's actually a great character rather than just a ratings booster to centre an episode around somehow.

I'm possibly being a little unfair. The Rachel/Finn wedding storyline is so totally uninteresting and Regionals couldn't have been more lazily played out. The rest was very good though and Dave's locker room/attempted suicide bit was very very well done. The hospital scene likewise may have brought a tear or two to my eyes