UPDATE: The original Amazon listing for a Skyward Sword port on Switch has been removed, unsurprisingly, after the leak was widely publicized and peered over by Zelda fans and gaming press. We don't know for sure whether the port listing was legitimate, but there's plenty of reason to think that it's happening – and in the next year, too. Read on for why we think that's the case.
A new Amazon listing for an upcoming Nintendo Switch game has us thanking the heavens – which is fitting, given that game is none other than The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
The 2011 instalment in the beloved Nintendo franchise launched originally on the Nintendo Wii, with a release on the Wii U eShop in 2016. It was the last mainline Zelda game before Breath of the Wild (2017) on the Nintendo Switch, and is well due a port for the expanded audience of Nintendo's bestselling hybrid console.
While there's been no official announcement of the port from Nintendo – and the listing itself has now been pulled from Amazon – the listing was clearly for Nintendo Switch and carried a slightly eyebrow-raising £69.99 RRP, while specifying that the title "has not yet been released".
What lends this further credence is the upcoming 35-year anniversary of the Legend of Zelda series, coming in 2021 – coincidentally also the 10-year anniversary of Skyward Sword's release.
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Don't hold your breath
While we suspect the listing was legitimate, there's no telling how early the information has leaked. As mentioned, 2021 is likely as the franchise's 35-year anniversary – and it may be that Nintendo is using Skyward Sword to tide over fans until Breath of the Wild 2 finally comes to the console.
The Breath of the Wild sequel was teased at E3 2019 with a mystifying trailer, one that possibly hinted at the return of Demise – the big bad in Skyward Sword, and the true evil force behind regular series villain Ganondorf.
It would be smart, then, to remind players of Demise in the series mythology – or, for those who didn't play Skyward Sword on Wii or Wii U, introduced them to Demise for the first time. It would be exciting to see elements from so many different past games appear in BOTW 2, with the trailer seeming to show off iconography from the Twili in Twilight Princess, while also presumably keeping a lot of BOTW's open word elements and characters – being a direct sequel and all.
BOTW 2 hasn't got any further reveals from Nintendo over the E3 2020 period, though, and it's likely the publisher is looking to E3 2021 to show the game off in more detail – possibly when press and fans can attend the event in person again.
Given how integral the Wii's motion controls were to Skyward Sword's combat, too, there's plenty of potential for the Joy-Con's capabilities to be shown off – you know, if they ever stop drifting. Either way, we wouldn't hold out on any announcement before 2020 is out.
Didn't play Skyward Sword on Wii or Wii U? Check out the HD trailer below:
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