Update time!

Spirit Tracks - Not a whole lot.

Zelda 2 - Hidden Temple done. The boss wasn't even that bad and I didn't have to resort to a guide to find him. Unfortunately, I got creamed getting to him, even with the extra life I found, so my journey through the Valley of Death was pretty short lived. I'll do another attempt tomorrow.

Skyward Sword - Has it really been almost four years since I last played this? That was my first thought when I noticed my last file was December of 2012, the year the world didn't come to an end. I feel the biggest hurdle with this game, and one that is coming back to me all too painfully, is relearning how to play the game with the new motion controls. It is certainly a bit weird coming off of Majora's Mask to be playing this game, especially considering how much this game holds your hand compared to older entries. If its not the controls being readily available at all times, or when the game showing a line of sight for where your thrown items will land, then it is the fact the translucent Wii mote controller is permanently etched to the side of the screen, detailing what all the buttons do. No, this isn't the Zelda you played in middle school kids. I'm not even looking forward to dealing with low battery life in the Wii mote and Fi's incessant reminders to go along with it.

With that all said, the music is gorgeous and the color scheme is quite striking with the art style. Like Wind Waker, the game is just so vibrant. Anyway, Link has a bad dream that a black sandworm escaped from the surface, only to discover its actually Zelda's bird squawking at him to wake up so it can deliver a letter, which it sharply spits into his face before leaving. We've concluded that this Link will continue the time honored tradition established in Wind Waker, that Link will never gain respect until almost the end of the game. After a couple of tutorials to learn about the stamina gauge and how it now affects the new running mechanic as well as climbing, pushing, and carrying things, Link meets up with Zelda like he promised only for her to fret to her father about what would happen if Link fails the days ceremony for knighthood. Insisting he practives, Zelda pushed Link off the island despite his protests of not sensing his Loftwing. A few minutes later, Link's classic scream, and Zelda actually rescuing him for a change, Link now begins his journey to find his Loftwing in time for the ceremony. Link encounters Groose, the Biff Tannen of the Zelda Universe, and figures out quickly due to his not so subtlety, that Groose and his flunkies kidnapped the bird and hid it on the island. This required a sword, a quick tutorial for the new sword mechanic and then a quick romp through the most underwhelming mini-dungeon in the series. Zelda says some cryptic things about hearing voices, talks to Link about what the "world" beyond the island must be like and how she wants to see it (Marin from Link's Awakening may have a few words with her about not asking such questions). Afterwards we get a quick tutorial for the Loftwing controls and the game asked me to save before proceeding to the ceremony. I quit by this point, because I'm tired from a long day at work with poor sleep from the night before, and also because I'm dreading the sailcloth tutorial because it took me smurfING FOREVER to get that right the first playthrough in, and if it took me ten minutes to figure out that I have to shake the Nunchuk part of the controller instead of the wii-mote in order to roll, despite the game telling me over and over to do this with the nuchuck silhouette glowing on screen with words "roll" written over it, then I'm definitely too tired to deal with that nonsense.