Last verified: 2026-11-10

Skyward Sword on the timeline

Skyward Sword is the first game in Nintendo's chronology. It is not the first game sold, and the 2021 HD version is the same node.

Key art © Nintendo, used with a link to the product page. Chart art on this site is original.

I place Skyward Sword at the start because Nintendo's era list opens the games in the Sky era, after the goddess Hylia and before the sealing of the Sacred Realm. Link here is a knight of Skyloft. Zelda is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia. Demise is the antagonist the story is built to explain. The Master Sword's origin is the point of the game, which is why later titles can mention the blade without retelling this plot.

The original release is Wii: Europe 18 Nov 2011, North America 20 Nov 2011, Japan 23 Nov 2011. Those three days are close and they are not the same day, so I keep all three. Skyward Sword HD for Switch is 16 Jul 2021, with button controls added. It is a remaster in the record, not a second Skyward Sword on the chart.

The next story game is The Minish Cap, then Four Swords, then Ocarina of Time. People ask whether Four Swords is after Skyward Sword and before Ocarina. On this chart, yes. Both Four Swords titles are easy to swap: the Game Boy Advance game is here, before the split, and Four Swords Adventures is on the child path after Twilight Princess.

The first founding of Hyrule, the line Nintendo prints in the Era of Prosperity, comes after this game and before The Minish Cap. Skyward Sword explains the sky and the sword. It does not depict Rauru and Sonia. That second founding is in the wild-era section, centuries of story later. Nothing in the 2026 page moves Skyward Sword out of the Sky era.

If you only play one early game, this is the one the chart calls the beginning. The 1986 cartridge is a different answer, and it lives near the end of the downfall path. I link both so the word first stops meaning two things at once.

• Next: The Minish Cap
• First game, two meanings
• Era list