Sky Zelda

We've already seen land Zelda, and Sea Zelda. Sky Zelda surely must come at some point, no? It would be an excellent way to use the capabilities of the Wii, the third dimension, and the extra axes of movement presented by the Wiimote, especially coupled with WiiMotionplus.

Imagine, if you will, a Hyrule of normal looking composure, albeit much smaller than Hyrules in other 3D games, and taking place way earlier than even OOT/TMC. This Hyrule is surrounded by mountains so high you can't see what's on the other side. One day, some cataclysm or personal disruption sends Link, a humble Hylian, on a quest through some missions and 3 or so dungeons. I don't know, maybe something like a dragon or a huge chunk of rock crashes down from above and disrupts Link's day-to-day life, sending him on some wild goose chase quest not unlike in TWW where you simply want to save your sister but it snowballs into something way bigger.

And eventually, three dungeons later, you're given access to some form of Aerial travel. Maybe it's a TP-esque Sky Cannon that skyrockets you to a higher plane. Maybe it's a flying carpet. Either way, you can leave your Hyrule. And as you leave, you get a good glimpse of all those areas you traversed, from birds-eye. You also find that this Hyrule was not really solid land at all, but a sky island of sorts with a mountain barrier around the side so that the people on the island are left in the dark about what else there is outside of the island.

As such, with your new form of sky travel, you continue your quest to vanquish some sort of evil, but in the skies. There would be a vast Oocca colony, similar aesthetically to the City In The Sky, and taking even more reference from M.C. Escher art pieces, but bigger, more colourful, and more populated, being a colony as opposed to a dungeon. The Oocca would retain their slightly off-kilter theme music that was introduced with Ooccoo in TP. There would also be other races among the skies - the Wind Tribe, living on a thick blanket of fog, in buildings that defy logic by being built atop clouds, as well as the Wind Ruins, being one big flat sky island of ancient Wind Tribe culture that in years time would connect with the sky island of Hyrule, among other islands, to create the Hyrule we saw in TMC.

There could be the Rito too living on some sky island, which, whilst not making sense canonically, would be very fitting in a world that is entirely skybound, although that didn't stop them from excluding the Zora in an entirely waterlogged world. But either way, there could be some ancestors of the Rito people, finally disproving the mistranslated assumption that the Zora's evolved into the Rito's. There should probably be another race too, so that there'd be the Hylians, the Oocca, the Wind Tribe, the Rito or some ancestral version of them (so they wouldn't have to earn their wings for example) and a brand new race that would be fresh and have a prominent role in the game.

I think it would be pretty great if there were differing, advancing methods of sky travel. So you'd start off completely earthbound, then you'd gain access to a sky cannon to the skyworld around you, then some form of limited gliding (Roc's Feather/Cape?), leading onto a flying carpet, then eventually maybe a dragon, and even a skyship. I'm just throwing ideas out here.

Speaking of dragons, they could have some sort of role in this old Sky Hyrule. They could bring back Aquamentus, the single-horned dragon, and even Gleeok, the multiheaded dragon. Whilst they're at it, they could bring back the Gyorgs, which started out as fish creatures in Majora's Mask and found themselves being some form of flying dragon creatures in TMC that serves as a boss that is stood on by Link. It'd be nice to fight an Aquamentus or a Gleeok as an overworld sub-boss. You could maybe fight it whilst riding on your own dragon, which would grant you access to draconian abilities, such as being able to make your dragon breathe fire. It would be like a mini Valoo you can ride on. Oh, and they could introduce Roc too, the giant tyrannous bird that attacks villages but leaves feathers in it's wake that grant people almost athlete-like jumping skills.

And since the game would take place in the sky, they could finally put the concepts of wind, cold and weather to good use, like they've been trying to since the removed ice and wind dungeons of OOT. I certainly would not object to a system of real-time weather that is dictated by the Weather Channel.

Hopefully the world we'd see would be less empty than TWW or TP. Although the concept of air travel is like sea travel with an extra axis, I think it would have lots of potential with some sky islands, some Colonies, not to mention swarms of enemies travelling in patterns, sky pirates who take no prisoners, and various chunks of rock and sky caves that hold treasures. Maybe their could be wormholes into little dungeon areas, that serve as minidungeons? Either way I certainly wouldn't want the sky to be as empty as the waters of TWW.

Since the game would take place in the thousands of years between Hyrule's creation and TMC/OOT (whichever game you percieve to be the earliest in the timeline), it could also shed light on the Armos (I don't personally believe all varieties of Armos were created by the Minish) and explain some other elements of the Zelda series that are percieved as being remnants of "ancient" Hyrule. I really do think they should move back even further than OOT/TMC, because the further they move into the timeline, more things are being lost along the way.

But I've mostly just been talking about how a game about a skyworld and air travel could utilize, explain and adapt old features. It could also bring forward countless new features, new bosses/enemies, new items and so forth. For example, I think it would be cool to have a sky island with a lake on it, that runs off the side of the island into another lake on another island, which has a waterfall on the side of it that pours into a wormhole that leads to the top of the higher island. It would also be cool to have one sky island, or maybe just a room in the Oocca colonies, that is based entirely on M.C. escher-esque optical illusion, since Escher appears to have been the inspiration for the Oocca in the first place. Or why stop there? Maybe one of the themes of the game could be of optical illusion and of surreality. There could be fixed camera/limited camera sections of dungeons that play like Echochrome on steroids.

But now I'm just going off on a tangent and listing random ideas. Tl;dr Zelda, but in the sky, with lots of sky islands ala Sonic's Angel Island, the Oocca are in full swing, as are some other sky/wind/bird races, there's lots of new mythology, and Hyrule is in an incarnation earlier than even OOT/TMC, so early (a few thousand years before OOT) that the land Din created has not even merged together to create a solid planet yet. There's lots of different types of sky travel, lots of ancient Hylian culture explained, and lots of focus on wind, weather, and surreality/illusion.

Well? Would you want to see a "Sky Zelda" so to speak? It doesn't have to be like this one - you might prefer something more like the Tales games, with emphasis on sky pirates and all that jazz - but nonetheless would it not be an interesting idea to try at least once?

Personally I think it would be a great idea, a way to mix things up without giving in and just handing out the generic futuristic Zelda that many people are starting to want, or the same Zelda we've seen since ALTTP.

Oh and in no way was this idea inspired by the Majora's Mask sequel some other guy posted. The idea of a sky-based Zelda has been floating about since as soon as a sea-based one was made.

...Hmmm...a Sky Zelda? I do like the idea, but I don't see a flying carpet going in Zelda. How about a second Roc's feather?

Originally Posted by Fulcon

...Hmmm...a Sky Zelda? I do like the idea, but I don't see a flying carpet going in Zelda. How about a second Roc's feather?

I was basically just listing all of the potential forms of aerial transport, and flying carpet came to mind. It could happen I think, as an earlier form of limited flight, that gets replaced by higher forms of aerial transport like a dragon you can ride on, and a Bowser-esque airship you can eventually purchase.

Although I suppose a flying carpet would bring about many sour memories of CD-I Zelda.

Well, my first post on ZU was about this. But many disagreed with the idea.
I think it would be awesome. Link could probably use a dragon or some kind of bird creature to fly from place to place. But i hope Nintendo isn't stupid enough to add an airplane....... A train in the series was a hard idea for Zelda fans to accept.

I imagine multiple types of overworld:

Hyrule Field, Some sort of underwater area and the Sky.

The latter two would require special items to traverse. The Sky would be the smallest due to the least possible things you could explore.

Originally Posted by silver-hero

Well, my first post on ZU was about this. But many disagreed with the idea.
I think it would be awesome. Link could probably use a dragon or some kind of bird creature to fly from place to place. But i hope Nintendo isn't stupid enough to add an airplane....... A train in the series was a hard idea for Zelda fans to accept.

I can understand your not liking the airplane idea but you have to admit it's a lot less cheesy than a flying steed.

I could actually see an airplane if it's like one of those homemade bamboo and cloth things. Still, sticking to some sort of creature help would make the most sense and be the safest bet. I can say that I enjoyed flying through zora river in TP enough to say that I'd be open for some more of the same, or something similar.

I sure as heck would like a sky based Zelda.

The problem with giving Link aerial transportation is that it might make exploration too easy. After all, you're effectively allowing him to access any area of the overworld from the moment he obtains the ability to fly.

Originally Posted by Meeps

The problem with giving Link aerial transportation is that it might make exploration too easy. After all, you're effectively allowing him to access any area of the overworld from the moment he obtains the ability to fly.

I liked the idea of the sky being a completely different area, like the desert or lake. That way it limits exploration trough the sky to just the sky, and doesn't use it as a mode of transportation.

Originally Posted by Meeps

The problem with giving Link aerial transportation is that it might make exploration too easy. After all, you're effectively allowing him to access any area of the overworld from the moment he obtains the ability to fly.

Agreed.

I've thought about a Sky based Zelda for many times now, but it always concludes to the idea that it just won't work as well as sea based or land based Zelda.

As Meeps has already suggested, flying does make exploration too easy. They will need to create one hell of a massive world if Nintendo was to make this possible. And I seriously mean a big one.

Originally Posted by silver-hero

....... A train in the series was a hard idea for Zelda fans to accept.

Was not! I embraced and loved it and I hope there IS an airplane in the future.

Well I suppose all-encompassing air travel is not exactly viable from the get-go, but I was thinking that there could be progressive levels of air travel. You'd start off for the beginning of the game (first three dungeons or whatever) on straight up land. You'd eventually get access to some TP-esque sky cannons that allow you to travel between three or four of the main continents of the sky. You'd then start getting other things like a Roc's Cape, which allows gliding and, with the help of the wind, you could catch some updraft and have access to further sky Islands/civilisations. Then of course there could be sky ships, which can travel fast and are heavily armed, but you can only exit and enter airships (basically flying pirate ships) at designated docking areas. And finally, near the end of the game, you'd get a dragon which could be a character of it's own, allow full sky travel, and you could use it's fire breath as an airbourne equivalent of the Fire Rod.

There could also be islands that are encapsulated in atmospheric "domes" meaning you can't bring air travel to that island and must traverse it on foot from a designated entrance point.

Overall a sky Zelda would totally work, it just has to be done right.

While the Skyworld premise isn't new in fantasy (as if an ocean-dominated world is a rare setting) I do think such a base could provide untold ideas both in terms of visual and mechanics-related gaming.

My ideal Zelda would feature subterranean, aquatic, aerial and ocean-surface settings, with a good variation of land terrain (jungle, forest, desert, agrarian, temperate, tundra etc.) as well.

Maybe a brief, gorgeous foray into space as well.

i don't no how i feel about a sky-hyrule, but I'm all for a Zelda game with the sky in it. A far off sky world would be cool ala MM or LA, but its a tough sell to have a completely different Hyrule again. Now that i think about it though, this could almost be a pre-Oot game, maybe not having islands per-say, but it could explain alot of things. valoo, wind tribe the WIND WAKER, and all of the wind gods, greatly expanding on the whole city in the sky concept would be awesome, even explaining the Tot and MS with sword connection. maybe even the minish after all they came from the sky didn't they?

I think most of the game could/should take place on the earth, but the wind tribe could provide a wind esque dungeon ( more like the wind temple in WW than the City in the Sky) while the occa have a tower of the gods like dungeon. Dominion rod and all. just an idea, bit assuming the wind tribe and gerudo are related, you could even have different cannons to the different places in the sky.
At the same time though, if we are going to have a sky world, and a ground world,i feel there should be an underground world too, the shieka might be a good choice, they have always been few in numbers. Maybe there could be a goron way way way way way way way way way under death mountain or something. then you have kokiri, zoras, hylians/humans, minish? on the ground, occa, wind tribe, minish? in the sky, and gorons, shieka, minish? undergrould. what do you think?

Originally Posted by Twilit Mask of Time

i don't no how i feel about a sky-hyrule, but I'm all for a Zelda game with the sky in it. A far off sky world would be cool ala MM or LA, but its a tough sell to have a completely different Hyrule again. Now that i think about it though, this could almost be a pre-Oot game, maybe not having islands per-say, but it could explain alot of things. valoo, wind tribe the WIND WAKER, and all of the wind gods, greatly expanding on the whole city in the sky concept would be awesome, even explaining the Tot and MS with sword connection. maybe even the minish after all they came from the sky didn't they?

I think most of the game could/should take place on the earth, but the wind tribe could provide a wind esque dungeon ( more like the wind temple in WW than the City in the Sky) while the occa have a tower of the gods like dungeon. Dominion rod and all. just an idea, bit assuming the wind tribe and gerudo are related, you could even have different cannons to the different places in the sky.
At the same time though, if we are going to have a sky world, and a ground world,i feel there should be an underground world too, the shieka might be a good choice, they have always been few in numbers. Maybe there could be a goron way way way way way way way way way under death mountain or something. then you have kokiri, zoras, hylians/humans, minish? on the ground, occa, wind tribe, minish? in the sky, and gorons, shieka, minish? undergrould. what do you think?

Whilst I think a sky game should focus primarily on the sky, I do agree with many things you said. There should be a single game that explains the Wind Gods, the Wind Tribe, the Oocca and the various dragons of the series, as well as how they connect together. There's alot of mythology that is begging to be explored by the series but can only be explained by moving further back. And obviously, they could explain the Master Swords creation once and for all (as the girl in the ZWii art suggests).

Originally Posted by Kastanj

While the Skyworld premise isn't new in fantasy (as if an ocean-dominated world is a rare setting) I do think such a base could provide untold ideas both in terms of visual and mechanics-related gaming.

My ideal Zelda would feature subterranean, aquatic, aerial and ocean-surface settings, with a good variation of land terrain (jungle, forest, desert, agrarian, temperate, tundra etc.) as well.

Maybe a brief, gorgeous foray into space as well.

Not so sure about the brief foray into space. Not that it wouldn't be fun, but I'm paranoid about the concept of a Zelda Galaxy game. The rest would be awesome however.

Originally Posted by Fulcon

Was not! I embraced and loved it and I hope there IS an airplane in the future.

Well at least most or some people do. I personally don't have a problem with the new train idea. A plane, probably works out............ But the overworld would have to be completely different.

This is actually an interesting idea. Although rather than a magic carpet how about having an airship?

sounds like a good idea fun i would buy it if it became a game