The Skyward Sword E3 Demo Map!

Hey everbody, I’m back with another article that I think you will really like, and after all the excitement of E3 I just had to write something about an image I captured from watching the gameplay. It’s the real map from the E3 demo and I believe I was the first to put the image together. I hope you enjoy the map as much as I do, I’m going to watch some more videos of gameplay and see if I can really figure this thing out, becuase some of what I say in this article could be wrong. There is always that chance, but I’m pretty sure I got most of my statements right. The image is being leaked here at ZE and a few other sites I visit daily, still under the names of Raven or as Dash857. If you want a larger view of the picture just click it or follow the link at the bottem of the article and click that picture. Anyway don’t forget to leave your thoughts, I appreciate them more than you know.

E3 2010 has got to be one of the greatest days ever, since learning about Skyward Sword a treasure trove of new information has been flooding onto the internet about this epic and unique looking Zelda game. Finally we can satisfy our curiosity with tons of videos of the demo and confirmed information about the game. For a whole year we had hardly anything to go on, and most of the debate over the previously unknown title was just speculation, but now we have some facts. As hardcore Zelda fans we have to do our part and try to analyze every little detail, or at least try to, let’s face it the idea of Zelda is complicated so some of us feel compelled to understand it as best as we possibly can. In response to the videos of actual gameplay, I realized that the map of the area was indeed present on the demo.

This lead me to try and recreate the map using a few different snapshots from the videos that are circulating the net, The picture above is the result of that curiosity (sorry for the bad quality). Months ago it was confirmed that the core areas of the game had already been realised, that means that this map has a good chance of being in the game (or at least something like it), and gives us that much more of a glimps into the world of Zelda Skyward Sword. If we knew all the features of map we might get even more insights into the game, and so I will do my best to decipher the map for you now.

First off I’ll point out the two bright green spots, they look like areas you enter to me, I know there was that temple structure… could that be the bright green spot on the lower part of the map? or maybe it is the smaller bright green spot…! yep, actually I’m going to state that the larger spot must be the giant tree that is featured in the area! and I have no clue what the other spot is, it could just be another tree.

Update: The smaller bright green spot is indeed another tree which is significantly larger than the normal trees in the area. Also the temple like structure is located just southwest of the larger (bright green spot) tree, on the other side of a small circular patch of soil that you can see on the map. The links below are my evidence, I came to this conclusion after realizing that all three locations (the two trees and the temple like building) are proportioned correctly in comparison to the map and the images in the links provided. 

http://img35.imageshack.us/f/zeldass27.png/

http://img227.imageshack.us/f/zeldass28.png/

Looking near the south part of what I think is the huge tree there appears to be a red X, this, in my opinion marks an entranceway into the tree itself. Beyond the map I remember seeing waterfalls in the trailers, since there is no blue on the map I consider those water features to be scenery outside of the map. Also that eye door comes to mind but I can’t seem to place it on the map. It was right up against the face of a small cliff so it might not be shown clrealy on the map because of it’s top down view. But I’m willing to bet it is very close to the topmost part of the map… or maybe on the east side? I just know that it was beside a zig zag path. Also off to the left side there is an area that looks like a figure 8, Miyamoto killed a monster or two over there for sure (smiles).

Update: Recently it has come to my attention that the start of the demo is located near the top of the map, in the center. It is the largest dirt pathway on the map. To the right of this you may have spotted a symbol that resembles the eyes of MM, it turns out this marks the location of the eye door that Link confuses with his sword, but only by coincidence. The marks are actually the plus and minus buttons on the Wii remote that was present on the screen during the demo…

http://img706.imageshack.us/f/zeldass26.png/

Moving on, you might also notice the purple arrow in the bottem left corner, if you look hard enough it is a slightly transparent compass that resides on your map screen. could this compass play a bigger role in the game than we think? Is it an actual item that you have to find? or is the compass just and added feature to all the game maps? Then we have another interesting feature, this time in the bottem right corner, at first I thought it looked like ancient hylian but then I tried looking at it upside down and realised it says “Sky”, this is in my opinion one of the most interesting features of the map, although it tells us next to nothing, it gives us the tiniest of clues about the games. 

Update: I have just discovered that the full text on the map is “Skyward Sword”, but now I’m wondering why the title of the game appears on the map screen..

Beyond that I have trouble recognizing the places on the map, I had the impression that the demo begins at the north end of the area since the videos show Link starting near a winding path leading towards the rest of the level. The more I try to figure it all out the more confused and unsure I become so I’ll stop there. In addition I’d like to add that I think Nintendo should release a higher  quality picture of this map to the public, it’s only fair since since they release the concept art after that was leaked. As new info gets out I’m sure this map won’t be that big of a deal but for now it is pretty awesome. The map is large and takes you from ground level up into the foliage, from caves to combat and then to the highest treetop, for me this area is quite a treat after the vast emptyness of TP.

Update: It has been rumored that the demo area will not appear in the game. Which is kind of a let down for me, but we could still see a similar area, or they could expand and edit the existing demo area into a full blown stage. Doubtful but not impossible. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this article, for what it’s worth the demo was interesting, but it was exactly that, a demo in every sense of the word. Look for my next article soon! I’m not sure what it is yet but It’s a toss up between the timeline and handheld Zelda games. 

Final Update (for real this time): I found a way better picture of the map than the one above. You can zoom in and out on areas of the map in the game, and I think when you zoom out it turns the map rightside up, not many people knew this or didn’t bother to try zooming out when they got to play Skyward Sword on the demo floor so it was hard to get a full picture. But nevermind that! One person was smart enough to show the camera this image. It’s exactly the same but it’s rotated so that it says Skyward Sword at the top and not at the bottem and upside down in the old picture i got. Check it out.