Early in Skyward Sword HD, one learns to use the Goddess Sword to slash horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. There’s also the spin attack and the thrust and jab, not to be confused with the bend and snap. Lastly, there’s the Skyward Strike. It’s an impressive maneuver that appears to call down lightning from the sky as Link holds the sword aloft, imbuing the blade with tremendous power that allegedly can deal twice the damage to an enemy.
In point of sad fact, the odds of our being able to charge up the sword to deal a Skyward Strike before even the slowest of enemies depletes our hearts are similar to the odds of winning the lottery. Shoot, we’d take the lottery ticket over a successful Skyward Strike any day. Unfortunately, a Skyward Strike is needed to activate Goddess Cubes and symbols on altars and who knows what else. We certainly hope it won’t be needed to drive evil from the land, or the land, in our case, will be most assuredly on its own.
The issue came to a head during a recent day spent in the Lanayru Desert. Now, this isn’t to say that we had never managed a Skyward Strike theretofore; it just that the act always came as a surprise, you see. Itzal would wave the right Joy-Con this way and that, and after some time…perhaps a minute or two of spastic flailing…the onscreen Link would suddenly show energy building in the Goddess Sword overhead. At this point Itzal would turn to Demelza, almost accusingly, and say, “Did I do anything different? Did you see anything different?” And there would be under-the-breath mumblings about the programmers at Nintendo and the despicable Joy-Cons and “back in my day we used a hand controller.”
But on this day in Lanayru, there was a tantalizing Goddess Cube in plain view as one rode by in a mine cart. Who knew what treasures this Goddess Cube would reveal in the skies above? Perhaps a piece of heart, a helpful adventure item, or 300 rupees. According to the trusty guidebook, one had only to smack the cube with a Skyward Strike at “just the right moment.” True, the right moment must be discerned while in the mine cart. While it is moving. With zero time for the requisite flailing that eventually results in Itzal achieving a Skyward Strike. This was all pointed out to Itzal by the ever-helpful Demelza. “Pointed out” is the ancient Latin phrase for shouting “Why are you doing it wrong?” and “We need that Goddess Cube!” all rolled into one.
To be sure, Itzal tried. Gamely, our hero climbed into the mine cart once, twice, thrice. Unfortunately, just the right moment came and went each time with nary a Skyward Strike in the making. The Goddess Cube remained tauntingly un-activated. In a snit, if not a mine cart, Itzal forged ahead, Demelza’s muttering ringing in his ears like rupees ringing up in Link’s wallet.
Eventually, Itzal challenged Demelza, if she thought it so easy, to have a go at the Skyward Strike while-in-a-moving vehicle exercise. Never one to let a gauntlet linger on the ground, Demelza took Joy-Con in hand and, lo, she pulled off no less than five consecutive Skyward Strikes while Itzal had retreated in a huff to another room.
Query: If Demelza does a Skyward Strike and there’s no Itzal to see it, did it really happen?
Response (by Itzal): Not if she’s not in a moving mine cart.
We have a couple of takeaways from our experience, which we hope may help others.
Zelder Tip #1: One must hold the Joy-Con, aka blade, still for the Skyward Strike to take hold. Constant flailing equals constant failing.
Zelder Tip# 2: Don’t be deceived by the onscreen image of Link with the Goddess Sword held perfectly vertical overhead; that doesn’t mean that perfectly vertical is how you should be holding the Joy-Con. In fact, one begins by dipping the right Joy-Con down to the left, then slowly rotating one’s hand and the Joy-Con back up to the right until Link’s hand, not one’s own, is vertical. In our case, that means holding the Joy-Con still at more like two o’clock than high noon. (Results possibly not typical; your results may vary.)
We arrived at this pair of takeaways after several hours of play (and a couple of cocktails). Accordingly, we have yet to test the limits of Itzal’s patience with another attempt at the Goddess Cube by the rail tracks. His wrist, you might recall, is suffering from carpal tunnel. Odds are good that Itzal, like the mighty Casey, will still strike out. Stay tuned…