#373 - Longest Development

Skyward Sword's development began in 2007, as director Eiji Aonuma stated in an interview before E3 2007. It was revealed in 2009, set to be released in 2010 and delayed until 2011, so the game took almost 5 years to develop, the longest for a Zelda game. This would beat Breath of the Wild's development time since it was first mentioned, which happened in February 2013, and the game was released in March 2017, making a total of just a bit more than 4 years. For Skyward Sword, it took more months.

SOURCE: https://web.archive.org/web/20070714125529/http://www.gamernode.com/news/3289-e3-07-the-director-phantom-hourglass-and-zeldas-future/index.html