The Legend of Zelda is currently waiting for a new installment for the Nintendo Switch 2, but its years spent with the first Switch have proven fruitful. From Breath of the Wild to Echoes of Wisdom, and all the games in between, like Tears of the Kingdom and Skyward Sword HD, it's been an era to remember in the already-accomplished Nintendo franchise. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in particular pioneered an entirely new open-world style of Zelda, while Skyward Sword and Echoes of Wisdom brought back some traits that defined the series’ glory days.
Regardless of a particular player's preference, there is something to like about the Nintendo Switch’s Legend of Zelda offering, and that's not just because these games' mechanics are different. Thanks to the aforementioned Skyward Sword remaster and the story running through Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the alleged earliest and latest points in the Zelda timeline are both playable on the Nintendo Switch. It's a funny coincidence that this encapsulation of the Zelda timeline appeared organically, but examining the games involved exposes one trait that makes their shared bookend status rather strange.
Futuristic Precursor Tech Unites Tears of the Kingdom and Skyward Sword
Both Zelda Games Place The Future In The Past, Despite Their Own Settings
One of the most notable selling points of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is that it is a prequel to every Zelda game, forming a core mythology that establishes how the series’ traditional Link-Zelda-Ganondorf story got its start. Breath of the Wild parallels that by setting itself at the distant end of every Zelda timeline, with the rest of the franchise occupying a nebulous “Era of Myth.” Tears of the Kingdom inherited this status, and although some fans hold its canonicity within any timeline in contention, it's fair to say that Tears of the Kingdom currently represents Zelda's furthest point in the timeline.
Embodying the distant past and future makes a shared story beat in both games rather confusing. Skyward Sword and Tears of the Kingdom both have an emphasis on ancient technology, despite also claiming to lie at opposing ends of the Zelda timeline. On top of the machinery in its various dungeons, Skyward Sword devotes its Lanayru Desert dungeons to a time-shifting mechanic that incorporates an ancient past that's more advanced than any other point in the series. Meanwhile, Tears of the Kingdom introduces Zonai technology that may even predate its own distant past seen in flashbacks.
How Out-Of-Place Technology Factors Into Zelda’s Chronological Extremes
Ancient technology in otherwise medieval fantasy is a trope that arguably dates back thousands of years, courtesy of mythological figures like Hephaestus, and seeing it in multiple Zelda games is no surprise. What is surprising is that Skyward Sword and Tears of the Kingdom are both preoccupied with staking their claim on the furthest points of the Zelda timeline, yet they still bring up cultures and technology that predate even them. It isn't self-defeating behavior, but it does make diving into chronological details a little humorous.
TotK and Skyward Sword Make Their Ancient Tech Interesting
Skyward Sword is already skating on thin ice due to not even being the first cycle involving a Hylian hero, the Goddess Hylia, and the Demon King Demise, so throwing a further wrinkle in with ancient technology was probably just a consequence of Nintendo designers wanting to keep things interesting. Fortunately, the Lanayru region, especially its Sandship dungeon, was well-received, and the same may soon be said about Tears of the Kingdom’s Imprisoning War era thanks to its upcoming Hyrule Warriors spin-off. Tears of the Kingdom and Skyward Sword unearthing ancient history while flushing out the series' past and future is odd, but at least it's also entertaining.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 95 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- May 12, 2023
- ESRB
- Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Havok
- Cross-Platform Play
- N/A
- Cross Save
- N/A
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Action, Open-World
