Everyone should be familiar with the general idea of every Legend of Zelda game - about a hero who has to go in search of a princess (who was kidnapped by an evil-doer or is missing). Pretty standard adventuring fare. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be taking a different approach to the game's story this time around, where Zelda is NOT royalty for once. Have you started hyperventilating yet?

A lot of the information comes from the most recent issue of Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu. First off, the plot of Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword still revolves around the hero, Link, having to rescue his lady Zelda, but the setup has been changed around a little bit. Link and Zelda will actually be childhood friends during the game's outset and will both be attending school and getting into normal shenanigans. That is, until Zelda disappears and it's up to Link to search for her.

During E3 2011, we have managed to get hands-on with Skyward Sword - as well as a new trailer for fans of the franchise to sink their teeth into.  Much of the new gameplay has been created to compliment the fresh environments the game will be presenting to the player, including the luxury of racing giant birds. Who doesn't like doing that?

Some fans of Zelda might find the formulaic fashion of the past few games to be a bit tiring, an issue director Eiji Aonuma wants to start addressing with Skyward Sword. First off, creating new items for the player to combat evil and rescue the princess.

Aonuma explains:

"With previous Zeldas, the common pattern was that the really neat items wouldn't show up until later on in the game. You need to have the basic item set or it wouldn't be Zelda, so the new items tended to get shunted to the latter part of the game. [Shigeru] Miyamoto said that had to change, like 'This is neat, let's bring it out from the start.' So a lot of neat new items will show up pretty early on."

World exploration akin to Wind Waker will be coming back in a way, as well. Link will also have access to his own giant bird, which happens to be a very rare breed - which he can use to fly all around. Aonuma also confirmed that Skyward Sword takes place on the main world of Skyloft (high in the sky) - later in the game, Link will have occasion to also go below the clouds and see what the world has in store for him there.

For players who enjoy the mythos of the world of Zelda, they will be pleased to know Skyward Sword will also be portraying the birth of the Master Sword and Ganondorf's connection to the powerful weapon. Aonuma says that Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time will have a fair number of connecting parts and going from one game to the next will let players pick up details they may have missed.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword wants to re-invent the idea of a Zelda game and it seems to be doing a good job of it so far. With the entire game done and undergoing fine-tuning, fans might not be able to contain themselves until release.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword releases Holiday 2011 for Nintendo Wii.

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Source: Famitsu [via 1up]