Meet Lord Ghirahim, the guy wearing the red robe and called David Bowie by someone watching me play The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. In this cutscene, Link just met him too.
Lord Ghirahim bragged about capturing a girl in front of Link. Was it Zelda, who looks like a regular girl in Skyward Sword? I asked the Nintendo rep by the booth. He said he couldn’t share that information. Ghirahim made a big deal about the kidnapping and taunted Link, even walked behind him sticking out his snake-like tongue at the screen. Ghirahim said he wouldn’t kill Link, but "beat him to an inch of his life."
It’s on, Ghirahim.
The battle took place in a small arena. Ghirahim arrogantly strutted around the room while I ran towards him slashing away with the Wii remote. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, for those that aren’t aware, utilizes motion control for sword control. The WiiMotion Plus gyroscope detects the orientation of the remote and translates that into the game. Hold the remote upwards and move it down to make Link do a vertical slash. Ghirahim didn’t do much to stop my assault, but he would catch Link’s blade with his bare hand every now and then.
Ghirahim changed patterns mid-fight. He fought back with a charge attack where he drew back for a second before sprinting forward with a wide slash. Another move made Ghirahim throw five purple projectiles at Link. If you lock on you can evade both of these attacks by sidestepping with the A button and moving the analog stick left or right. Ghirahim was particularly vulnerable firing those magic purple bullets. Stunned for a moment, it was easy to hit Ghirahim with a flurry of sword slashes.
I checked Link’s inventory to see if he had any other tools to play with. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword shows the inventory menu as a wheel on screen. Link didn’t have his bow or any other tools. I was stocked with life refilling red potions, a fairy, and multiple shields. Why would Link need a wood, iron, and the Hylian Shield?
The gauge underneath Link’s hearts is a shield meter, it decreases each time you absorb a blow. When it’s empty the shield breaks. The wood shield and iron shield Link carried around in his backpack have less durability, roughly half compared to the Hylian Shield. A switched shields and tried blocking rather than dodging. Shaking nunchuck makes Link raise his shield, but you don’t need to keep your hand up in the air as if you were holding it. While guarding, Link was able to deflect Ghirahim’s purple bullets and block a charge attack. After that the wood shield didn’t have much left in it.
I decided to finish Ghirahim off then and tried using a spin attack for variation. Moving the nunchuck and remote at the same time triggers this classic move. A few more sword rushes later and Ghirahim fell, leaving a cracked heart container in his place.
