Skyward Sword Just Made An Unexpected Return

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword may be one of the more unpopular titles in the series, but it still has its place in the annals of gaming history and has its place among dedicated fans. It is no surprise that Nintendo opted to port it over to the Nintendo Switch back in 2021, nor that said port proceeded to perform well both commercially and critically, as, while certainly not without flaws, it’s a classic Zelda experience, the likes of which we simply haven’t gotten in a mainline entry in quite some time.

It would have been fair to assume that, upon dumping Skyward Sword on the Nintendo Switch and charging $60 for it, that’d be the last we’d hear about the game. Save for an unlikely remake and the Switch 2 upgrade for Skyward Sword, it very much seemed like the title had outlived its usefulness. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case, at least not yet, as it is making one last unexpected return. Fans can certainly rejoice, and those unsure of what all the fuss is about can finally give it a go in an all-new way.

Back in 2021, fans managed to get Skyward Sword running on PC, with the emulation achieving 4K resolution and 60FPS. It was a rather impressive accomplishment, but limited in scope. Fast-forward five years, and now decompiling any game onto PC seems effortless with the intangible power of AI. We’ve seen dozens of Nintendo games be ported to PC with the click of a button, and even numerous titles mashed together seamlessly in what feels like black magic yet is merely just an evolution of technology.

Well, it has led to Skyward Sword being playable on PC again, only this time it’s running natively. This new port, aptly titled SkyRecomp, is playable on NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPUs, and targets 4K resolution and 60 FPS. You can play it with a controller, or entirely with mouse and keyboard for the first time in the game’s history. It’s a great addition that is only really possible thanks to it being based on the HD port that offered a way to play that wasn’t reliant on motion controls.

Nintendo

You can download the port from its official GitHub page, but you’ll first need a legally obtained copy of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD for the Nintendo Switch and then transfer your own game files and keys to your PC. This port doesn’t contain any official in-game assets, so it won’t work otherwise. However, once you’ve got it running, you can play the entirety of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on your PC with zero complications.

This PC port is probably the closest we’ll get to an updated version of Skyward Sword for a very long time. Outside of new Skyward Sword merchandise for Zelda’s 40th anniversary, the game has largely been left abandoned on the sidelines; so, it is nice to see it get a little more attention, even if it isn’t everyone’s favorite game in the series. Regardless, if you’ve got an itch to play The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on PC, now is absolutely the time to do so.