Renowned series The Legend of Zelda celebrates its 35 year anniversary in 2021 with the release of an HD remaster of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The series has 15 main games playable on various Nintendo consoles, and numerous spinoffs, and is incredibly popular, having sold over 127 million copies worldwide as of 2020. In 2019, Nintendo released its first remake of a Legend of Zelda game for the Switch with Link’s Awakening (originally released in 1993 for the Game Boy), which was incredibly successful with over 5.49 million copies sold worldwide. Skyward Sword was originally released in 2011 for the Wii, and is one of the lowest selling main Legend of Zelda games. The remaster will feature the same story, but will be overhauled to make the game more enjoyable for players.

Excited to soar through the skies of Skyloft in The Legend of Zelda: #SkywardSwordHD on 7/16?#NintendoSwitchOnline members — try out some of Link’s classic #NES and #SNES adventures and experience some fantastic firsts while you wait!https://t.co/bBD16yhbtW pic.twitter.com/CrIMYAxDge

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 8, 2021

On June 8, 8 days before the launch, Nintendo released the trailer A Hero Rises- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD– Nintendo Switch. It features the storyline and updated graphics rather than the gameplay. Skyward Sword takes place at the very beginning of the Legend of Zelda timeline, following the story of Link and the Master Sword, who make appearances throughout the rest of the series. This occurs before any of the rest of the games, so the plot will remain the same, but the gameplay and cinematics will be updated. These changes were shown by a different “Quality of Life” trailer released on July 1st.

The Skyward Sword remaster, which sets the stage for the rest of the games, is available now for preorder and will become playable on July 16, 2021, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.