Preorders for a remastered version of 2011’s Skyward Sword would be arriving on Nintendo Switch on July 16. Aside from graphical updates, the Switch version of Skyward Sword will include a better framerate and improved controls, giving players the option to choose between traditional motion controllers with the Joy-Cons or a purely button-based control scheme.
There was a lot of excitement and speculation online going into the Nintendo Direct, especially for Zelda fans. 2021 marks the 35th anniversary of the very first Zelda game, so there was hope for Nintendo to treat Zelda’s 35th with the same fanfare that Mario’s 35th anniversary got last year. Fans were really holding out for a collection of older titles like the Super Mario 3D All Stars bundle that released for the Switch last September. There also hasn’t been any news about the Breath of the Wild sequel since it was announced during Nintendo’s E3 2019 Direct, so there’s been a lot of anticipation for more news on that front. During last week’s Nintendo Direct, before announcing Skyward Sword HD, Aounuma acknowledged the excitement around the Breath of the Wild sequel and said that there would be more news about it later this year.
A report from Nintendo Life found that preorders for Skyward Sword HD were temporarily out of stock on Amazon in the United States and the United Kingdom. Since then, the game has been brought back on Amazon in the US, but Amazon UK has the game delisted at the time of this writing. Although there was a lot of disappointment online that a collection of Zelda games wasn’t announced during the Direct, it seems that there are still a lot of people excited to play the Wii’s swan song in July.
This is a sign that it might also be difficult to obtain the difficult to find Nintendo Switch consoles in-store and online during the COVID-19 pandemic which probably isn’t helping Nintendo’s production line.
It isn’t surprising that Skyward Sword HD preorders sold out. Zelda is Nintendo’s second-biggest franchise behind the world-renowned haven’t played Skyward Sword yet either because they missed its original release on Wii or because the Switch is their first gaming system. Skyward Sword HD will most likely have a successful launch, and those who want a physical copy of the game had better keep their eyes out, because supplies might not last.
Source: Nintendo Life