The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Zelda Wii is an upcoming video game in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series for the Wii. No specific information has yet been revealed about this game, other than it will be the continuation of The Legend of Zelda series on Nintendo's next-gen platform.

When asked if Twilight Princess would be the Wii's only Zelda, Eiji Aonuma said, "I can't say, but I guess for now, maybe, yeah (laughs). Not to say that it's going to be the final game. There's still a lot of potential with the Wii so there's still a possibility that there could be another Zelda for it. We do have some ideas in the works, but I can't say for sure because none of them have been approved and we're still very much in the planning process, so I hope you look forward to whatever comes out." Shigeru Miyamoto elaborated on Zelda Wii, saying that it is "definitely possible that there would be another Zelda on Wii."

In December 2006, Game Informer reported that Zelda Wii has been "deep in development for around a year." At E3 2008, Shigeru Miyamoto officially confirmed that a new Zelda title is being developed, though no other details or release date were mentioned.

A different Zelda?
Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that Twilight Princess will be "without a doubt, the last Zelda game as you know it in its present form." This indicates that the Zelda series may receive a major user interface overhaul in order to take proper advantage of Wii, similar to those carried out in Ocarina of Time and Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo 64 and DS, respectively. No other information has been given to the development.

April Fools joke
On March 31, 2007, Wii.tv created a video of a future Zelda game called The Legend of Zelda: Wii. The video was taken seriously by some of the Zelda fan base and caused much internet controversy. It depicted a Zelda game based in an equally or more advanced time than the normal Zelda setting, causing fans to dub it The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Future and Future Zelda. Later, Wii.tv revealed the video to be a hoax, but this did not end the debate of whether such a game would emerge.

Game style ideas
During a private meeting at E3 2007, Eiji Aonuma spoke about Phantom Hourglass. He then suddenly shifted gears and began speaking about the upcoming game, Wii Zelda. He was very excited, but was withheld from revealing too much information by Shigeru Miyamoto. He revealed that he would like to have a whole new control base for the game, and that it was possible that one-to-one swordplay be implemented. He also said that he would like to make the game to appeal both to the casual and the hardcore gamer.

During the Games Developer Conference 2007, Eiji Aonuma gave a presentation on Twilight Princess and he showed a brief video of the game running in the first-person view. However, he stated that he does not "necessarily think it will change that drastically" but that the Zelda franchise needs "some big new unique ideas" and that the developers are "very focused on trying to find those ideas."

2008
On July 15, 2008, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that the next Zelda game is "in the works" at E3 2008. In addition, he also stated "The Zelda team in particular always works on The Legend of Zelda series titles. The core members of the Zelda team have for a very long time now been focused on Zelda games, and continue to focus on Zelda games, so they are hard at work and working away. And then, of course, we have the DS Zelda team as well, so even there we're having some switching of people in and out where the DS team is mixing in with the Wii team and working on the Wii version."

In Issue 37 of the British Official Nintendo Magazine, released November 21, 2008, it is stated that "the teams [are] still in the planning stages" and that "we wouldn't expect to see or hear anything more until the E3 event next summer at the earliest", though "[e]ven that may be optimistic". However, the magazine says that "we WILL know something in 2009 [about the title]".

In late December 2008, Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian listed 22 games that could potentially help drive a 5 percent growth in game sales for 2009, with an unreleased Zelda game included on the list. However, Sebastian later clarified that the inclusion of the Zelda game on his list was speculation on his part.

Rumors
During 2008, some rumors surfaced about the game. The most popular one was that the game may chronicle the Great Flood, stars a new character who is not Link, and will be set in a Hyrule with trains and muskets. The only evidence was a supposedly genuine IGN interview with Eiji Aonuma that was posted on several forums. There is no reliable verification for this game, so chances are it does not exist. The concept has been met with a mixed reaction and a great deal of skepticism. Other rumors involve re-releases of past Zelda games, such as Ocarina of Time. Many fans speculate the characters will possess voice-overs, but fear the change after the failure of the CD-i games.