The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Yeah, this was the game that I was playing in the back-end of 2021. I missed Skyward Sword when it came out for the first time because I didn't own a Wii-U! While I'm aware of the story and basically spoiled myself reading the synopsis about how it's essentially the Zelda game that ties all Zelda games, past and future, together, it's different reading about a game's story and actually playing it, yeah? And in 2021, Skyward Sword HD was released for the Nintendo Switch. Never having played this game before, I eschewed buying the remakes of two other older games like Link's Awakening and Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. And I enjoyed myself playing through it!
I also... took my time playing through it, because, well, sometimes you just have to enjoy a game a bit slowly. Which is why this review popped up way later since I started playing the game.
I'll try not to spoil any of the plot for any of you who haven't played the game, but some locations and dungeons are definitely going to get a bit spoiled. This monster review will be talking about the monsters up to the end of the Eldin region.
Keese: New 3D games always means new incarnations of familiar faces, and the very first enemies that you encounter in this game are the Keese. Basically ubiquitous in the hub area of Skyloft wherever it's dark, the Keese are way more bat-like. And a lot more cartoony compared to their immediate predecessors from Twilight Princess. I like it! I like how manic the Keese's expression looks, especially those concentric eyes. As with all other incarnations of the Keese, Skyward Sword's Keese is basically just an enemy you can quickly beat up and kill.
There are a fair amount of enemy variants in this game, and some of them appear in the volcano-based Eldin region, which has Fire Keese. They behave identically to regular Keese, except they're literally on fire, setting Link and any wooden shields he has on fire.
Green Chuchu / Red Chuchu: Oh, okay, interesting! Chuchus are probably one of the enemies in the Zelda franchise to keep changing what it means to be a 'slime blob' monster, going from the sad, gross slug-like ones in Majora's Mask to the adorable bobbleheads in Wind Waker to being shapeless, eyeless rods in Twilight Princess into... this guy! It's a goop with a gross, 90's cartoon slime mouth, with two adorable little eyeballs. There's almost a Breath of the Wild Chuchu going on here if you remove the mouth, too.
Interestingly, the Chuchu in Skyward Sword have more of a resemblance to Gels and Zols from previous games, with their primary gimmick being that a single Chuchu splits into two smaller Chuchus, and you need to quickly slash and kill one of the smalls in order to stop the two from merging back together. According to our sword-spirit buddy Fi (she provides data about all the monsters) this is actually the Chuchu's method of reproduction.
The Red Chuchu is a variant we meet in the volcano-based Eldin region, and basically behaves the same as the green Chuchu except it's on fire.
Remlit: A new enemy, and... a bit of an interesting one? On the day, remlits are cute weird lemur-cats that make adorable mewing sounds and follow you around. But when night falls, they transform, their teeth and claws grow longer, their ears and tail become sharp, and they basically go full werewolf. Or, well, rabid, I guess? It's an interesting little twist, and adds a bit of an oomph to the fact that Skyloft only has monsters roaming its streets at night. Becuase the Remlits are people's pets, though, you don't actually get to kill them -- after beating them twice with your sword they just run away mewling like a sad kitty.
Sky Octorok: The main 'hub world' also has its own equivalent of Hyrule Field, a large expanse that you can roam around before you enter the different zones with their own terrain, puzzles, themes and dungeons. I have a lot to say about how much less interesting 'the Sky' is compared to any version of Hyrule Field, but we're here to talk monsters and not the game itself. Anyway, the enemies in the sky are mostly these guys -- Sky Octoroks! They resemble regular Octoroks, but look much more adorable, have little Peahat-esque plant-helicopters and shoot rocks at you. It's not obvious when you play the game, but try to get close to them and you realize how big they are. They kinda have to be, for you to spot them from a distance, but still!
Deku Baba: Another absolute classic, the Deku Baba return in the first 'surface' area we get to explore, the Faron Woods. The main gimmick of this game is motion controls and how our controller's movements will influence the direction that Link swings his sword. So the Deku Baba show up in two variations -- one has its mouth split horizontally and the other has its mouth split vertically. A very simple yet very fun variation! And, of course, when the Deku Baba has its mouth closed, you can't tell which way the Baba's mouth is going to open. Very cool!
Quadro Baba: Of course, there's also the yellow Quadro Baba, a variant that only makes sense thanks to this gimmick. The Quadro Baba's jaw is split into four halves, and it can open its four-part mouth either vertically or horizontally, making it a fair bit tougher to deal with. It's not quite as epic as the Deku Baba variants in Twilight Princess, but I do really like it. There's really not a whole ton for me to say otherwise, but the Babas still remain one of my all-time favourite enemies .
As with most Zelda games, the Quadro Baba would later be trivialized by an item you get -- the bomb. The Quadro Baba will happily gobble up bomb flowers and get blown to smithereens.
Red Bokoblin / Green Bokoblin: The world of the surface is filled with other races that aren't human (or hylian), but the most hostile one is the Bokoblin, who look like... ogre-goblin bulldog pig-men? I find it kind of interesting just how different the Bokoblins are from game to game -- these are probably going to be one of the more memorable ones, though. They behave like any humanoid enemy would, except thanks to, again, the motion-control gimmick, it's a bit harder to fight them since they can and will block sword strikes from different directions.
The default version of the Bokoblin holds giant cleavers, but the ones in the Eldin region wield clubs with thorny vines wrapped around them, which fits the terrain. The ones with bandanas are the leaders, and they have a horn with which they can infinitely call reinforcements. According to Fi, the Bokoblins have a 'mysterious obsession with fashionable undergarments'. Okay. The Green Bokoblin are a variant whose skin has changed because they've lived in dark caves, which affected their skin pigmentation. It has a Flintstone caveman hammer!
Grass Octorok: Yet another Zelda classic, the Grass Octorok actually resemble another 3D Zelda classic enemy -- the Deku Scrub! It hides underground with a giant shrub above its head, and spits rocks at Link. It's kind of a combination of the 'pop in and out' Ocarina of Time Octoroks and the terrestrial 2D Octoroks. Interestingly, Fi notes that these Octoroks "descended from oceanic molluscs", so realistically, there's a common ancestor behind these land-dwelling Octoroks we see in 2D Zelda games, Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild; and the aquatic Octoroks in Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker.
As you'd expect, Octoroks are annoying when you have to bounce back the rocks they shoot at them, but become kind of trivial after you get ranged weaponry.
Deku Hornet: More of a hazard than an enemy, we've got these mean-looking hornets that hang around their nests! Link can drop the hornet nests onto Bokoblins once he gets ahold of the Slingshot item. Not much else to say about them, I think you can catch them for the bug-catching minigame as well.
Guay: Another "just an animal" enemy, the Guays are crows with particularly large beaks that fly around the Faron Woods. They're not explicitly harmful, but they will literally shit on Link and their droppings will drain Link's stamina. Quoting Fi's entry on them: "It is unclear if this is due to a carefree attitude or pure malice. Should its droppings land on you, I calculate the probability of your intense aggravation at 100%." I like Zelda partners that give us flavour text
Walltula: The first dungeon, Skyview Temple, is kinda-sorta a spider dungeon? It's not quite a dedicated spider dungeon, but most of the enemies are spiders. We've got good ol' Walltulas, and I like what's going on here. The way that skull motif is stretched over the abdomen, the glowing yellow eyes, the lavender eyes arranged like a fan, and those massively threatening pedipalps... as per their previous incarnations, the Walltulas stick on walls and vines and attack Link when he's climbing the vines.
Skulltula: A very cool take on a classic Zelda enemy! I love just how jagged and dangerous-looking those legs are, and the spider's head look as menacing as ever. But what really gets me is how oddly different Skyward Sword's Skulltula's skull-abdomen is. Instead of a giant bony skull growth or just patterns that resemble a skull, this one kind of takes the middle ground? Those eyeballs look like ridges, and I love how the eyes look kind of... googly-eyed, while the 'mouth' of the skull looks like it's melting. Coupled with the more realistic-scary spider head and the spiky protrusions on the joints of the legs, this might be one of the coolest Skulltulas.
The Skulltulas' abdomens are still invulnerable, and Link needs to hit their underbellies which have a glowing purple orb. This gets extra-problematic if they actually fall off their spinneret-threads and scuttle around on the ground, since you need to flick it over. I don't remember if any previous Skulltulas are able to do this, but Skyward Sword's Skulltula is able to essentially use the Pokemon move String Shot, shooting a mass of string from its mouth to bind Link in place.
Stalfos: The miniboss of Skyview Temple is a good ol' Stalfos. They're pretty large in this incarnation, and look extra-threatening with those massive fangs on their jaws! The Stalfos dual-wields two large murder-swords, and... and this might probably be my favourite version of the Stalfos, non-stop. Due to the Stalfos constantly and easily blocking Link's attacks with his large blades and their longer reach, you need to sometimes shield-bash them which cause their arms to comically fall off, and that leaves that ribcage to be vulnerable to some good old-fashioned smashing.
Staldra: An interesting creature! It's a hydra, sort-of. It's got three heads, and Link needs to slice all three heads off in a single blow otherwise they keep regenerating. A great twist on the 'cut off one head, two more will take its place' gimmick that hydras have. Interestingly, as its name and appearance suggests, the Staldra is actually an undead version of its original being, and a closer look shows that its main serpentine body is actually wrapped in mummy bandages. Really like the detail going on with those skulls -- the single glowing eye and the split lower jaw, and the extra eyeholes.
Interestingly, Fi describes the creature as a 'snake monster from before the dawn of time', and that it has survived beyond death because of its thirst to cause pain. Wonder what it looks like in life?
Demon Lord Ghirahim: The first boss in Skyview Temple is, tragically, neither a giant Stal-monster or a giant Skulltula, but this guy, Ghirahim. I already know of Ghirahim from Hyrule Warriors and I like him and his hammy antics. His animations -- teleporting with those fun diamond-shaped light effects, or his very boss 'block a sword with two fingers, then steal the sword' attack, are pretty well done! Huge fan of Ghirahim as a character, and he actually serves as a pretty great 'overwhelming first encounter with the main villain' encounter here. Not too much to say about the monster design.
Pyrup: We're off to the Eldin region, and we've seen some of the enemies above -- the Fire Keese, the Red Chuchu, and some Red Bokoblins with differing weapons. And now we've got a newcomer to the Zelda franchise, this odd dude called a Pyrup! A... seal? A seal with the head of a fish? A goby fish, from the looks of it, complete with the fish's tail jutting out from the back of the skull. And a giant anglerfish lure. The Pyrup will look for a place to hide -- be it crevasses on the sides of the caves, or underneath the indestructible skulls that they utilize similar to hermit crabs. And they breathe fire. It's just an amalgamation of a bunch of animals that live in the ocean, except it lives in a lava environment. ..I mean, okay, sure.
The only way to defeat the Pyrup is to properly toss or roll a bomb into where they're hiding. It mostly involves rolling the bombs into their hideouts, but some of the animal skulls have an opening only at the top.
Magma Spume: Taking the place of the Toadpolis and the OoT Octoroks are the Spumes, which are this fun cross between a giant pufferfish and a toad. The Magma Spumes live in magma, and I love their design! They've got cute frog limbs, a huge set of lips, and weird slug-eyes. They poke their eyes out of magma and spit lava towards you -- after 'storing and processing the gas produced by magma'. The Magma Spumes are near-impossible to kill until you get bombs, or until you access a part of the Eldin region's Earth Temple's puzzle where you can squish them with a giant boulder.
Lizalfos: Technically the miniboss of the Earth Temple, the Lizalfos show up a lot as a common enemy there too. I'll always have a soft spot for how the Lizalfos looked in the 'classic' Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, and I love how dorky the chameleon-based Lizalfosi looked in Breath of the Wild... but Skyward Sword's Lizalfos is pretty damn great! That angry almost snake-like head, the suckers on the tips of their fingers, the giant mace on the tip of their tail... and best of all, that giant rock gauntlet. Like the Deku Babas, the Lizalfos can spawn with either their right or left arm with this giant indestructible shield-arm.
Absolutely fun to fight as they will keep trying to block your attacks while they spin around and try to sweep you off with their club-legs.
Pyroclastic Fiend - Scaldera: The boss of the Earth Temple, Scaldera, isn't particularly memorable visually, if I'm being honest. A giant Pac-man rock monster with a single eyeball and a bunch of spidery magma legs? Eh. Its boss fight is even kind of a rehash of the iconic Dodongo boss fight from Ocarina of Time. It's neat to have another 'elemental' monster, so to speak, but I've seen more creative versions of the trope even in Zelda.
But the buildup to Scaldera was great! So much of the puzzles in the Earth Temple revolves on giant rocks, and in the last leg you have to outrun a giant Indiana Jones rolling boulder. So when you slowly walk up towards the grand final battle chamber, with a steep incline, Ghirahim shows up and starts ranting about his 'scalding anger', and he transforms the boulder into Scaldera. And it's such a fun fight! Scaldera keeps trying to climb up the giant slide that you meet him in, and you have to keep tossing bombs to cause him to roll back down. Only at the bottom of the slide that he'll do an inhaling attack that causes the bombs to blow up his rocky armour. As you strip him of his rock armour and damage his eye, though, he gets increasingly faster and faster. I like him more than I thought I would!
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Overall, pretty fun bestiary (and game) so far. I'm around halfway through the Lanayru dungeon at the moment, and I think part 2 will involve the massive Lanayru region.
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