Skyward Sword relies heavily on the Wii Motion Plus attachment for the Wii Remote. The remote is your sword while the nunchuck is your shield. So you must position yourself as if you are actually holding a sword and shield. You shake the remote to draw your sword and shake the nunchuck to draw your shield. Whichever way you hold the remote, Link will hold his sword. Fighting Deku Babas is a little different than how you fight them in the previous games. In this game, you must cut their mouths in two. Some must be cut horizontally, while other need to be slashed vertically.

The reason the game is called Skyward Sword is because you can gain power by holding the sword towards the sky, which in turn allows you to shoot a beam of light by swinging it.  Spin attacks are achieved by swinging both the remote and nunchuck in the same directing – not by spinning your whole body in a complete circle, luckily. At one point in the demo, there is a door with an eyeball on it. If you try to slash at it, the eye closes, reflecting your attack. But the eye is usually following the tip of your sword. So what you must do is spin your sword (remote) around in complete circles until the eye gets dizzy causing it to loose focus, allowing you to slash it, which unlocks the door.

Another returning enemy to this game are Deku Scrubs. Much like the past games, you need to use your shield to reflect their projectiles. But this time, just blocking them won’t reflect them back. You must thrust the shield(nunchuck) just as it hits to bounce it back into the enemy. The another returning enemy are Bokoblins who use their swords to block your attacks. So what you have to do is swing your sword in a way that goes around theirs.If their sword are guarding their face, you need to slash at their waist. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the Dark Nuts in Zelda II.

You don’t use many buttons for this game. The A button allows you to run, and while you are holding it, you can roll by shaking the remote. And of course, the Z button is for targeting. The Minus button is used for bottles while the Plus button is your map. The B button is for your other weapons. For instance, if you press B, the item menu will come up. Point to the item you want, and let go of B to equip it. If you have the Bow, you just need to point to where you want to shoot, then hold down C while pulling back on the nunchuck to pull back on the bow. Letting go of the C button fires the arrow. One of the new items in the game is called the Beetle. This is an item you shoot and then guide using the Wii remote. The Beetle flies around and allows you to pick up otherwise unreachable items. Another new item to the game is the Whip. With this, you can go Simon Belmont on your enemies and attack them from a distance. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work on all of them, such as Bokoblins, but it seems to work great on those annoying Keese.

One thing that caught many fans off guard was the fact that the game is once again cel-shaded. But it’s not bad at all. Link looks like the hero we know from Twilight Princess but with a brighter tone. The world around him is a lot like the world in Wind Waker, but he fits right in. The best way to describe the look of Skyward Sword is to say it’s a mash-up of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. And personally, I think Nintendo has found the perfect style for the franchise. It really is a beautiful game.