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Ever since Fi was shown in the teaser art from E3 2009, she has been, for one reason or another, referred to as "Steve" in the GameFAQs community. She is also known as "Zordiana" on Zelda Informer to make fun of the people who believed that rumour.
Before Ghirahim's name was revealed, the GameFAQs community settled with Tracy, Zelda Universe with Debbie. They still insist that these are the actual names.
Over on Tumblr, Ghirahim's fans refer to him as "Pete".
And there has been an increased usage of "Peppermint Kisses".
He Also Did: Many developers who assisted in the game's production may sound familiar, such as MonolithSoft. Even better, the latter game was revealed for NA release not long after Skyward Sword was released.
Years ago, on some obscure Zelda fansite, there was a timeline theory which spoke of the origins of the Master Sword, and claimed it was once a woman who became the sword. At that time, it seemed a little weird. Now, with Fi's role as the Sword...
Impa is the name of the Shiekah.
Though she's not one of the main trio, there is indeed a fourth major goddess as was long speculated.
Reality Is Unrealistic: Most gamers don't know that the goofy-looking Loftwings Zelda and the citizens of Skyloft ride on are based on real (though smaller but still quite large) birds called Shoebills that are native to Sudan, instead chalking it up to them being purely fantastical animals.
The ball segment in the Earth Temple plays out almost exactly like those from Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, while the collection of the fragments of the star-shaped key that opens said dungeon is portrayed in a similar way the Star Fragments are in the aforementioned Galaxy games. In fact, reviewers have noted that the game has many stylistic similarities with those games in terms of level design and music, though the ball is the most explicit tie.
The game is loaded with references and similar mechanics to Nintendo's other franchises, from Mario (The Gust Bellow is pretty much a wind-based version of FLUDD, a full orchestra behind the music, badge like items that alter the player character) to Metroid (The dial-turning puzzles resemble similar ones in Metroid Prime 3, the use of a similar checkpoint system, existing areas become more open as you gain new items, the Dark World having a surreal remix of the area's theme) to even Wii Sports Resort (The controls for many of the items, including the sword, were taken from that game, with modifications to suit the gameplay).
The fourth dungeon, Ancient Cistern, is based on a Japanese story, "The Spider's Thread". Read the plot summary here Familiar?
Koji Kitagawa, one of the developers of Skyward Sword, said in an Iwata Asks interview that the Ancient Robots were modeled after the Dogu clay figurines, a commonplace treasure from the Jomon period of Japan.
The way that Link swings his sword around the eye in Skyview Temple to make it dizzy is similar to how you defeat Mr. I in Super Mario 64.
In the lead up to the fight with Tentalus, Link has to get to the top of the ship, up a series of ramps, with barrels coming down the other way. It's a nice callback to Nintendo's early history.
Original artwork for the game, shown at E3 2009, implied that this game would follow the same, dark graphical style of Twilight Princess, if not even darker. This is part of what caused the shock/backlash at the cel-shaded style that appeared at E3 2010. Miyamoto has stated that the change was made because, when the graphics were dark, it was difficult to tell how enemies were holding their weapons, which detracted from the integral swordplay.
As late as Summer/Fall 2010, the team did not have any plans to include orchestrated music. This changed when Miyamoto told E3 journalists that orchestrated music was a must.
The Beetle was originally a rocket-propelled hand, but it was quickly found to not fit in with the setting (considering how much Anachronism Stew the series has already, that's saying a lot).
When the Crimson Loftwing was first introduced, they said that the reason it was so special was that it was the only kind of Loftwing that could travel between the sky and the surface. In the final version, it is a beacon of light that enables access to the surface, and the Crimson Loftwing doesn't even go to the surface, he just drops Link to skydive into it.
Though it does once, during the ending. But so can Zelda and Groose's trios' Loftwings, none of which are a Crimson kind.
The artbook Hyrule Historia revealed that the sub-sections of the Surface were, in fact, supposed to be connected with each other, but technical limitations made this a no-go, as they were pushing the single-layer disc limit already. A similar thing happened with Skyloft, which was much larger and multilayered in concept art. A good portion of the problems the game has could be chalked up to technical limitations, which is why people want the Wii U installment to correct said problems due to a greater memory.
Shigeru Miyamoto says that the prototype of the game that he played was originally more challenging than the retail version of the game. As he puts it, the developers were so used to the flow of the game that they made it harder for themselves, to the point that it would have been much harder for the average player. Thankfully for more experienced players, while the finished product was made to be easier, it was still more challenging than most Zelda games.
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