Be careful

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a fantastic game, but if you're not lucky you could encounter a serious bug that completely halts your progress. Now Nintendo has released instructions for how to avoid it — but no word of a fix.

The following email comes from Sharon Matheny (via Zelda Informer:

We have been made aware of the issue that results in being unable to progress in the Song of the Hero quest. If the game has been saved after completing the sequence of events, it will no longer be possible to proceed through the game on that save file. The only options at that point are to either start the game over or to use an earlier save file to continue.

The situation is caused by performing the following sequence of events during the Song of the Hero quest:

1. At the beginning of the quest, go to Lanayru Desert to retrieve the song of the Thunder Dragon.
2. In the Lanayru Mine, speak with Golo the Goron.
3. Complete the Thunder Dragon's event, and receive his song.
4. Before heading to the forest or volcano regions, speak with Golo in the mine again.
5. At this point, the forest and volcano events will no longer occur, making it impossible to continue.

Solutions:

  • This issue WILL NOT OCCUR if the Fire and Water Dragon songs have already been collected before collecting the Thunder Dragon's song. Talking to Golo in the Lanayru Caves will also NOT trigger this issue.
  • If the game has been saved after completing the sequence of events, it will no longer be possible to proceed through the game on that save file. The only options at that point are to either start the game over or to use an earlier save file to continue.

I wish I had a better answer, but I'm afraid there currently is no other fix available. I can assure, however, that we are documenting all feedback we receive on this issue. Thank you for your patience and support.

Of course the big lesson is to back-up your save file regularly, and definitely before you take on the final boss.

Last year Nintendo of Japan attended to a Metroid: Other M bug fix by inviting users to send in their save file on an SD card for an update.

[source zeldainformer.com]