Zelda needs no introduction. If you don’t know who Zelda is, do yourself a favor: buy (or borrow) a Nintendo 64 and play a game called the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As much as a shooter like Goldeneye or platformers like Super Mario 64, LZ:OT made the console worth owning.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Shigeru Miyamoto’s latest piece of art, will probably be the game that gets me to finally shell out a few bucks for a used Wii. From lashes with the whip to slashes with the sword, the fighting controls in Skyward Sword are fluid and instinctive. The game makes good use of a Wii Motion Plus equipped Wiimote and nunchuck combo to deliver the best sword experience I’ve ever had in a game.

Second, a new addition to Link’s skill set: Dash. Hold down A while running and the tunic-clad warrior will sprint forward, enabling Link to run up sandy slopes and climb up tall ledges.

That’s where the hyperbole ends. I’d expand on the storyline, but I wasn’t shown any. Instead, I simply was thrown into a small garden level and directed by reps to kill plants and hog-like creatures with my sword. All of Link’s tools work as you would expect. The whip, a fun tool, is ineffective at fighting any real bad guys aside from bats and is more a utility item meant to pick up rupees and heart containers.

Even though Nintendo floor reps said the graphics are still being tweaked, the game already looks dated and it’s hard to imagine it looking much better on the Wii’s dated hardware. According to one rep, the artistic style is meant to resemble a painting. We’ll see if Skyward Sword is Miyamoto’s Mona Lisa in 2011.

Zelda gameplay during E3 2010 Part 1:

Zelda gameplay Part 2: