Bowser's Fury is Super Mario Wind Waker. Remove the dungeons and puzzles from the islands and replace them with mini 3D World levels. Remove the sense of adventure and scale from sailing and replace them with even more engaging movement. Add in Fury Bowser, and now it's Pac-Man. Grab that giant power pellet, buddy.

3D World is still a masterpiece, but they increased the characters' movement speeds. It completely trashed by muscle memory from the Wii U version. That said, they made the right decision, for the sake of those who didn't buy a Wii U. I hope they enjoy this game.

Judging it from a remake standpoint quickly, it flows way better than the original from what I remember. There's a bunch of feature that save a lot of time but there's a few odd things here and there. Like not being able to turn the camera while running, running is something that the player ends up doing a lot.

Skyward's gameplay is fundamentally great, the combat is appealing and fun but it's riddled with holes. On the combat side of things, the bulk of enemies approach you with their guard up, leading the combat to be basically the same fight every encounter. I think the only thing opposing that is the satisfaction of finally defeating said enemy. The only boss that's misses hard is scaldera, you roll bombs at it, they're sucked up, they blow up, and then you strike it's eye. Opposingly, Skyward also has some of the best bosses in the franchise like Demise, Ghriahim, Koloktos. All of them unique, creative, and remarkable in their own ways.

Dugenons/setting ramblings: Skyward will have you dwelling on the idea of "believable and immersive world Vs. Video game level". Skyward's overworld is disconnected, none of it feels like one cohesive world. The area's themselves are really just an obstacle with nothing exactly to keep you interested before you get to the real dungeon. The area's themselves are great, maybe a little too linear also, but I just think it's a shame that they all feel like a standalone levels. The Sky itself is open for exploration but it's disappointingly empty considering how wonderful and interesting it is. Skyloft has actual rewarding and enjoyable side quests, as well as a way to upgrade your equipment. That in itself give the player an incentive to actually search for collectables. Onto arguably skyward's biggest strength, the dungeons. The ancient cistern for example, I wouldn't bat eye if someone said that it is their favorite dungeon in all of Zelda. The heavenly/enlighten look to the dungeon is something to soak in and gawk at. And in direct contrast to it, is the hell like underground cavern that has undead Bokoblins. The way you escape the cavern is through a blinding light in the ceiling that has rope hanging down from it. It all makes for a memorable build up to the koloktos boss battle. Even the less inspired dungeons like skyview temple, fire santurary, and the earth temple, still have their own distinct flare and atmosphere.

This is most likely 3D Zelda's weakest narrative, it's a plot you've seen a thousand times in a thousand life times. It plays it safe, the tone always light hearted, and it seems to come from a point in time where Nintendo was trying to figure out how to innovate Zelda. But what it did do is take time to establish skyloft and make you care for the goofy cast. The most substantial content comes at the end of the game, where Demise finally appears after learning about him through various means during the journey and is characterized as a barbaric monster who's lived for eons and is intrigued by a human that is capable of ending him. All the talk payoffs in a kino battle, in a area that's reminiscent of a anime opening/ending. Demise loses the duel, and curses Link and Zelda by fating them to be reincarnated- hence the other Zelda games. And in that sense, a greater appreciation for Skyward is fostered.

Skyward HD is very much a worthwhile experience as flawed as it is.

random stuff:
-There's item collecting related padding near the end of the game. Ex: collectign your own items, collecting pieces of the song of hero, collecting notes, it's all stuff that didn't really need to be there.
-The music is pretty forgettable, it sucks considering this is Zelda.
-Fi still states crap the player already knows.
-Hero Mode is only available after you beat it the game

In today's era of overly long open world games, I find it hard not to appreciate how tight and well designed Skyward Sword is. Even when compared to it's predecessor in Twilight Princess, this game feels so much more concise, you get almost just as many gadgets, and tools, but there's never one that feels useless the second you're out of the dungeon that requires it. Instead of a massive overworld, Skyward Sword goes for 3 smaller worlds, with their own puzzles and winding paths, and it completely eliminates that feeling from all the previous games when you went on your fiftieth travel through an empty field, the magic completely gone after doing it so many times. The art style too, it's great, it feels like Twilight Princess if Twilight Princess had more direction than just "dark," the characters match, and it holds up so well that all they needed to do for the remaster was just up the resolution, and framerate. Even though they take most of the heat for this game, the motion controls are the first true innovation in the 3D Zelda controls, and they introduce so many more creative puzzles that I can't imagine this game without them. The thing that stops Skyward Sword from being my favorite classic 3D Zelda is just the atrocious pacing, especially between the 6th and 7th dungeon. Your goal is always clear, but what you're doing feels like it isn't a step towards it, and it creates a frustrating experience, which is why I imagine so many people ended up putting this one down in the middle, including myself. I played halfway through, and even though I was so far in, it felt like I had made no progress at all, and didn't return to it until 4 years later for the new HD version on the Switch. Despite the pacing however, I still think this game is great, but I wouldn't recommend it as your first or even second 3D Zelda, but for experienced players, I can't recommend it enough. It may be the black sheep of the series, in it's world, in controls, even in story, but black sheep can still produce good mutton.

Played on the Switch HD Remaster (but I've also played on Wii/Wii U)