In a game full of stunning moments, Link’s airborne pursuits are easily one ofTears of the Kingdom’smost irresistible thrills. Seamlessly plummeting from the lofty heights of Hyrule’s sky islands back to earth and beyond into the Depths is an intoxicating display of sheer aerial panache. It’s an enthralling recreation of heading to ground at a blistering 300mph.
It’s an experience as terrifying as it is awe-inspiring. After finding a Skyview Tower and enjoying another spectacular descent from the clouds, I wanted to ask some experienced skydivers how Nintendo’s latest compares to the real thing.
Naz, a skydiver based in Ireland, has real concerns about Link’s safety measures. The way the game lets you safely dive from any height into a body of water, while essential to ever making it off that damn Great Sky Island tutorial, is not one to try at home.
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“At that speed, landing on water would be as bad as landing on concrete. You really, really don’t want to do that if you want to stay alive; gliding for a progressive slowdown would be closer to how we skydive.” I fully agree. Going that long without Link’s glider wasn’t just boring, it felt criminally negligent.
Apparently Link’s technique when he’s mid-air needs work too. Naz assures me his current method to change direction is bound to force Link into a dangerous uncontrollable spiral.
But Link’s gear is the bigger problem. “I once jumped with the excess strap from my helmet loose,” Naz tells me. “As you fall at 250km/h, that slaps you at high speed continuously. It’s painful.” Skydiving with a sword and shield means Link’s being hit by something much worse - and sharper - than any strap.
Matt Blondin has skydived for three years and played Zelda games for thirty. He used to sneak into a neighbour’s house to play their copy of Ocarina of Time, just like Link snuck into Zelda’s castle in-game. Like Naz, he thinks Link’s skydiving efforts are good, but Link needs to watch his unconventional technique “Link’s natural arch is probably not something you see every day, with his hands straight out to the sides, but it’s supposed to mimic him trying to fall as slow as possible”.
John Schlatter’s family are skydiving pioneers. He’s been skydiving since he was 15 - considering his family’s dedication to the sport, I’m surprised he made it to high school before his first jump. Nearly 20 years later, he’s incredibly impressed by Tears of the Kingdom’s recreation of that familiar freefall.
“When at altitude, the ground movement seems minimal. This is exactly what it’s like in real life. Even when doing major lateral movement in freefall at altitude, you can’t really tell that you are moving by looking at the ground.”
While it may be visually spot on, the peaceful, delicate atmosphere of a Tears of the Kingdom drop couldn’t be further from the truth. “In real life, freefall is loud AF. Do 120mph down the highway and stick your head out the window - that’s what it sounds like.”
The inaccuracy isn’t a bad thing. The Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves 1991 action filmPoint Breakshowed skydiving in a similar, tranquil way to Tears of the Kingdom, causing an explosion of interest at the sky-diving tuition business run by Schlatter’s parents, who saw their dropzone’s number of budding skydivers increase tenfold.
“It didn’t show skydiving as super intense. It showed it as fun and playful. Characters are wearing flippers, laughing, maneuvering around each other, and talking in freefall. […] It’s completely unrealistic, but it made skydiving seem so much more human. In Tears of the Kingdom, the freefall is like it is in Point Break. It’s quiet, relaxing, and peaceful.”
Someone once tried to build real-life Skyview Towers, according to a story from skydiving’s ‘Wild West days’ that Schlatter’s mother likes to tell. There was just one problem, fortunately discovered before launching anyone: if the propulsion mechanism worked, a human reaching 3,000 feet (the bare minimum for a safe skydive) would experience lethal amounts of G-load.
“Link is truly heroic to withstand the G-load of the Lookout Towers. They’d break the bones of the rest of us. Our skin couldn’t contain the pressure of our blood and all our fluids would come pouring out through our pores.” Ouch.
Link’s humble paraglider faces the same dangers. Every time he cushions his freefall by snapping out his makeshift parachute he’s performing a superhuman feat. The force involved with such an abrupt stop should easily snap his arms.
Schlatter illustrates the dangers of breaking a descent too sharply from a position other than the safer, slower belly-down style. “It snapped my neck down so hard that I lost consciousness and I still have neck pain from that here 20ish years later. ” He recalls a skydiving saying that holds true: “Skydiving has never killed anyone. It’s the sudden stop that gets ‘em.”
Has anyone bettered Nintendo’s take on skydiving? Blondin tells me he’s had good times freefalling with friends in GTA 5, “but don’t go into first person mode or other people will look like they’re glitching around.”
And of course, you’re able to’t talk about virtual skydiving without mentioning the Just Cause series. For Blondin, the games’ take on skydiving misses the mark. “Those are definitely surpassing ridiculousness when you can basically just fly around and tow yourself behind a plane”.
For Naz, Just Cause’s detailed approach to canopy flights and wingsuits combines with its photorealism to pull him out of the experience. “The problem is that, as it intends to be pretty realistic, the small details they get wrong are a lot more uncanny for skydivers.”
None of the skydivers can find much room for improvement in Tears of the Kingdom’s descents. After all, Nintendo’s vibrant, cartoony art direction makes it easy to suspend any comparisons with reality. Although, in a rare error from Nintendo, the wingsuit should really glide further than the game allows. And Blondin wouldn’t mind the opportunity to show off some aerial tricks and flips.
Skydiving may always be a gaming micro-niche, but It’s come a long way since PS1’sSkydiving Extremepaired blocky cityscapes with clunky rhythm QTEs. These skydivers have been delighted to see Link show millions of players all the joy and excitement they find every time they take to the sky.
I’m sure at least some of those players will join them in the air very soon.
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