A narrative has developed online questioning how much endeavour Nintendo has put into The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, with a 'quality of life trailer' subsequently helping a little to show various changes that should theoretically make the game better than it was in its original guise on Wii. Yet you could argue that some of Nintendo's messaging has been a little strange and slow in coming, with tweets being relied upon to promote tweaks like much improved game save options, for example.
Now the company has officially confirmed and outlined something that eagle-eyed viewers had noticed already, including Jon Cartwright from our video team - camera control. Missing from the original due to the mandatory Wii Remote Plus + Nunchuk controls and the resultant lack of a second stick, in the new version we'll be able to control the camera directly, which will help the game feel a lot more modern.
Its implementation will be a little different depending on your control options - when using detached Joy-Cons for motion controls you simply use the right stick as normal, but when using button controls (in which the right stick will control your sword and other weapons) you'll need to press and hold L before moving the right stick.
It's nice to see it formally confirmed, and to learn how it'll work for those of us eager to play in handheld or use physical controls.
Let us know what you think of these camera options in the comments.
Comments 74
It seems John was very correct with the holding of the L button for camera controls
Ok sorry if I'm bringing some type of hate here bc i'm really not, buut, You guys are telling me, that 2d games aren't worth 60$ but your willing to pay 60$ for a ten your old port? Just in what world does that make sense?
(Just so you know I don't mean all of you who don't think 2d games aren't worth it, bc some of you could not want this game ether) I also want to see how this game goes, If I will try it or not, remain's to be seen.
@Snatcher Personally I’m willing to let both slide because one’s one of the greatest Zelda games of all time remastered on Switch and the other’s the first 2D Metroid in 19 years. Are you gonna get Skyward Sword or Metroid Dread?
@Snatcher if this is about Metroid Dread, I have preordered the collector’s edition!
Conversely, I will not be buying SS HD. I’m not seeing enough improvements to justify buying a copy. I enjoyed it on Wii, but not enough to buy it a second time
Great, I already feared they wouldn't include it (even when playing with motion controls) since the sword is bound to the right stick but I'm glad they did incude it
@TheJGG correction: the first “all-new” 2D Metroid in 19 years.
@Snatcher
A lot of 2D games are worth $60 and this REMASTER is also worth $60. Easy.
Ok. NOW I'm actually tempted to buy the game. This will change the gameplay a lot for the better.
So far it was a no buy for me.
Still not sure though. I tend to hold off on remasters most of the time.
People, this article isn't about the "Are ports and 2d games $60" question, its about how camera controls have improved, a welcome upgrade.
Still looking forward to playing and still keeping my preorder, but these controls sound a bit clunky
@quigtendo Yeah, I'm waiting for reviews so I can see how well the button controls work as I don't do joycon motion control play... Can't stand playing games like that.
A new 2D metroid game is worth $60 a 3D remaster is worth $60 but a GBA Remake definitely isn't
@PietStokman OR no game is worth €60, which is the case for me, equally valid, even if I consider money by itself totally worthless and I wouldn't do anything for money. But as long as other people put value on it, and lock everything behind paywalls, even basic (human) birth rights, well, €60 keeps my pack of dogs fed for a couple of weeks, and if I have enough by not spending it on games, I can free us a larger plot of nature to live in. Value is what you believe / decide it is, unless you decide to NOT value the basic rights of other living beings equal to yours, therein not valuing their own value to themselves like your own to you.
But as they say (and don't live by), you can't put a price on life. You can put one on a fiction, an object, a commodity,... And that's for each to decide for themselves, what offer you agree with in a sales deal, or don't.
Fun fact: this actually, rightfully, also applies to any tax and fee and fine, if you have the guts to stand up against their extortion and enforcement.
Cool, with all the extras they threw in 10 years ago for its original 60 dollar release I'm glad to see the 60 dollar re-release isn't bothering with all of those goodies and is instead giving us something that was standard 20 years ago
Nintendo are so weird, that’s why we love them I guess 😅
Very nice addition to the game, if you ask me.
Amazing they can make all these changes….yet still leave the awful motion controls. I can’t suffer the pain of playing this again.
They're basically fixing all the main gripes people had with Skyward Sword.
@Lord You can play it without motion controls, the option is now there. Just use the right stick to move your sword instead of motion controls. Didn't you even read the article before commenting?
Slap 'Deluxe' on the title and call it a day, this is the New Nintendo way.
😁
Now this is a welcome addition, not auto-save...
@Nin10dood They slapped "HD" on the title. Which is exactly what this game is, an HD version of the Wii game with some improvements.
@Cia Except the most important gripe: the world XD
Is "Hold L" the left stick?
Really?!
'cos I'm not sure that clicking down the L stick and holding it down for prolonged periods is exactly great for that whole JoyCon Drift situation..
Is it me or does this not really look HD
Would it not have been a better idea to do a dedicated 10 min Zelda SSHD Direct, explaining all the QoL updates etc maybe a week or two ago, instead of people speculating and Nintendo drip feeding it out? They kinda went around this all wrong for some reason in my eyes.
Seems like they have put in a good bit of effort into this port so, now, I'm looking forward to it, a couple days before release.
I've been on the fence since February about this game, even though I enjoyed it on the Wii originally, even with all its flaws.
@Shambo So it's true that the awakening I keep hearing about is happening. I've felt like this for a longtime too.
Plot twist, you'll need an amiibo to use this feature.
@Lord You can play without motion controls in handheld mode. Possibly with pro controller as well in docked mode.
@Jayenkai im pretty sure its just the L button.
Why is it that the British put the latter video/pic on the left and the before/older video on the right? It's so freaking annoying. Before should ALWAYS go on the left, signifying the past. The right should always house the later/newer image/video, signifying the present/future.
Excellent news. Looking forward to playing this for the very first time this weekend!
@AnnoyingFrenzy Gudgud.. Wasn't sure, on account of it just saying "L", not "L1" or "L2"..
Jon, how the heck did you predict that so correctly???
@Jayenkai
In Nintendo terminology, "L button" is always L1, "ZL button" is always L2, and "L control stick" is always L3.
I'm a huge fan of camera control, it does bother me that ACNH doesn't have it in the museum, only your house which proves they can do it, w/ such simplistic graphics. Same for Link's Awakening and that Pokémon remaster.
So if I hadn't played it already I'd be really excited for this. Holding down L wouldn't bother me, was holding down triangle in a couple of PS1 games, it kind of grew on me.
Ha another fine day in comment country, complaining about prices that will never change, and they'll buy it at said price anyways...
@Snatcher Dread is def worth 60$. This? Not so much... I'll be skipping unless it hits 40, and no promises even then.
The game always felt very corridor-esque. This freedom of camera will alleviate that a lot.
I have to say that mapping the motion controls to the right stick may be even worse that using the motion controls.
Y'all are broke guys, we get it, how about finding a less expensive hobby?
My concern with the controls is if you can still use the aiming motion controls for bow and sling shot if you've opted for right stick sword controls.
"Yet you could argue that some of Nintendo's messaging has been a little strange and slow in coming, with tweets being relied upon to promote tweaks..."
Is it strange that they're relying on tweets? As opposed to what, telegraphy?
Most of Nintendo's market is on twitter and the best time to promote to them is probably the 2 weeks leading up to release.
@Snatcher The point is people think other people's preferences are absurd. Every preference is absurd but their own, so it's hard to have a reasonable discussion
I was not that interested in this Zelda but I'll end up getting both on launch day
I never thought I'd say this about such a seemingly basic thing, but that looks awesome! It's going to be fun to dive into this Zelda game again, but with a smooth splash of quality of life adjustments.
@Snatcher I'm willing to pay $60 for this game and $60 for Metroid Dread. It's the Nintendo quality, what you're paying for.
the button controls sound so awkward and unwieldy. I'll have to see if its playable for me or not
With this and the other improvements, and thankfully the flexibility in controls that keeps the motion controls which I enjoy, I will not need to keep the Wii version around.
Wii U still needs to be around for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD, Nintendo Land, and all the Metroid games (still can only play Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii side of Wii U).
@swoose most companies don't rely on tweets. Sony uses its blog and trailers; same for Xbox
I thought the game played fine originally, so I'd still probably play with buttons and rarely ever adjust the camera if I didn't like motion controls but I don't have a problem with them. So big improvement, to me.
@Snatcher Well this is why I hate people defending bare minimum ports, collections, and cheaper genres as being worth full price.
Apparently everything is worth the same as a brand new Zelda or Mario, so long as you want it bad enough.
The pricing should be in line with the size of the project. Otherwise, in trying to make everything have value, you're just devaluing the larger projects.
@Snatcher
1. Many haven’t bought or played the first one.
2. Many never finished the first one and will like the improved controls.
3. Many want to upgrade to have on the recent console. It is convenient.
4. In the US, it will be $50 on the shelf at Walmart.
5. Many will wait for a sale or a used copy (I’ll probably get it within the year).
At least Dread is a new game in the series. Ports of games are a tougher sell. Link’s Awakening got a very cute art style, but it is still a GB port at the end of the day.
It will be interesting to see Skyward Sword sales vs Link’s Awakening sales.
Maybe because Nintendo created the 3D camera they don't see why that's still a "feature" in games...but yes, playing Twilight Princess HD with actual camera control was amazing
"A mere lazy port" people said. "Just an HD conversion" many said. "Ninten is doing so well that they'll be lazy" folks said. I guess that was all nothing but empty talk. I'm sorry but anyone calling adding another control scheme while working on the old one for different people, upping the speed and look to 60fps and 1080p from the Wiis 30 and 480p, adding camera control and adjusting the forced hand holding segments and other UI problems all at once lazy and bare. It tells me something about them not this game or Ninten.
When using button controls wouldn’t it make more sense for the right stick to control the camera as standard (like most other games), then you hold the L button + use right for combat/sword movements? Feels like I’m just going to be wildly swinging the sword every time I want to adjust the camera...
@Tucker777 I was wondering about this, too. Not having played it, maybe more time is spent with the sword than running around? It also seems like it would be better to click down R for camera, just hold it down to look around, quick release to strike. I always accidentally press the L button down in games when things get heated and I end up crouching or running or doing something silly instead of moving correctly, but maybe that’s just me.
@TheJGG I'm going to get dread for sure, but even tho I never played this game, I'm going to wait and see what people say about it bc From what I heard, this game sounds like a slogg.
And thanks to all that reply'd respectfully.
@Snatcher I’ll say this, if you didn’t like Breath of the Wild’s dungeons, you’ll love this game. As a Zelda game, and as a game that makes you think, it’s one of the best.
@Snatcher You're paying for the experience of replaying one of your favourite games, and Skyward Sword is that for me. The price of admission is a little steep, I understand why people are annoyed at that, but I also can't deny the hard work that's gone into all the improvements; even doing a hotfix for a handful of bugs is time consuming and stressful, not to mention resurrecting what many consider the worst main series Zelda game and making it functional for a new audience.
For me, it's the same as my local cinema telling me they've got Alien or Blade Runner showing for the next week, with an admission of £30 per ticket. That price is ***** ridiculous, but the experience is worth it to me as an individual. I'm happy to spend extra to have a really fantastic time, and I know I'll have that with Skyward Sword. It's not an analogy that clicks with everyone, certainly you come across as more sensible than me in that regard, but that's the mentality... if Nintendo released N64 games on Switch at £10 a pop with absolutely zero improvements, I'd still buy quite a few titles because the experience is greater than the impact to my wallet. Hope that makes sense.
Are button controls available in TV/tabletop mode as well?
@Shiiva That makes sense.
That's awesome! Very much looking forward to playing this updated version of my second favorite Zelda game. (Yes, controversial, I know.)
It's depressing that the new economy seems to revolve around people justifying any price for anything if it's a thing they want, which in turn drives all prices on all things, higher and higher for everyone. As long as someone can afford it, any price is fine. What happens as more and more people get priced out of more and more things because price no longer reflects the actual value of an item, but the maximum a sufficient portion of the market has the disposable cash and willingness to part with it will sustain? As that becomes more and more sustainable as a business function, we more and more rapidly split into a genuine dystopia of two diametrically opposed civilizations living completely different ways of life.
That always ends very well, historically.
Just 20 years ago it wasn't like this.
I am still probably not getting this. The only Zelda games I rebought were ones I sold. So I got the 3ds Ocarina of time and wind waker on Wii U. Will be getting breath of the wild 2 though.
I get that needing to often reposition the camera in the original version can be annoying, but using a second stick to do it is even worse. Once again, dual analog controls suck, especially when the right stick gets used for two different things!
Somehow, Nintendo still has yet to figure out the obvious camera fix in their 3D Mario and Zelda games: use a camera that automatically keeps itself behind the character's back! The right stick can still be used for slight manual adjustments, but you should only rarely need to do so. People claim that the camera in the "Sonic Adventure" duology is weak, but even those games pulled it off much better than Nintendo has! Even their second party developer Monolith Soft does it right with the Xenoblade games, so why can't Nintendo's own internal developers figure it out?!
It's Majora's Mask 3D again (except it's not an New 3DS C-stick feature lol)
@Crono1973 Of course they're worse, since the motion controls in this game have always been great, while dual analog controls always suck.
@Tucker777 Not that they should be using the right stick for camera controls in the first place instead of an automatic camera, but swinging the sword is something you'll be needing to do at a moment's notice and often several times in a row, while you can take your time adjusting the camera which doesn't normally requiring consecutive use, so the simpler controls should naturally be for the sword.
@BulbasaurusRex thanks for explaining, that makes sense. I’d not played the original so looking forward to giving this version a go at some point
@NEStalgia
You've literally just described supply and demand which is pretty much how all companies price their products.
And 20 years ago Nintendo was busy releasing NES ports on the GBA for full price.
If their games stand the test of time (which they do) then why not?
Pink Floyd don't sell copies of Dark Side of the Moon for £1.99 just because it's old.
@jaglufc No, it's quite literally the exact opposite of supply and demand. This is digital content. Supply is literally infinite. Under supply and demand economics, price would have been driven to rock bottom, never free, but cost to produce and distribute divided by market size (huge.) Which was the original promise of digital content. Similarly with physical goods the advent of automation continuously accelerating mass production was always promised to continuously reduce the cost of goods by continuously increasing supply. Instead the mantra of "charge the maximum the market will sustain" replaced supply & demand, coupled with artificial supply limitation, and artificial exclusivity to increase perceived value.
The departure from supply and demand is precisely what I'm describing.
I'm not sure it's the exact opposite of supply and demand when we're talking about boxed AAA Nintendo games.
There isn't infinite supply and Nintendo are not allowed to determine what price third party stores sell their games for. But obviously they can choose not to sell their products to retail for below what they perceive them to be worth.
The fact that BOTW is still £50 in stores whereas Horizon Zero Dawn is £10 is down to the fact that Nintendo products retain their value because Nintendo refuses to devalue them and the quality often justifies the price.
With Skyward Sword, I've no idea why you are worried about whether Nintendo 'deserve' £40 for the level of effort they've put in. It's a weird way of looking at the world, surely the only concern is whether you will get enough out of it to justify the price.
For enough people the answer is yes so why should Nintendo reduce the price?
And like I say this is not new. Adjusting for inflation, Super Mario All Stars launched in 1991 at over £100. For some NES ports.
@jaglufc While you've said a lot to justify why you believe the pricing is acceptable, you have once again victoriously argued against your own claim of the laws of supply and demand economics applying. You are arguing for charging the maximum the market will sustain, an extension of the 80's "greed is good" concept, which is the inverse of supply & demand. That was my very point.
It's weird i own this game on wii & never played much of it. It looks horrible once i got a 1080p tv, & didn't try in my 4k tv because my wii mote plus had batteries in it while it sat (was brand new, i had no idea. Came with a certain wii game, a black wii mote plus, can't recall the name). Sadly, it corroded the wii mote, so instead of buying a new one & being disappointed, i bought the switch version. I have a nice steelbook for that version also. Had the collectors edition but sold everything except the game,, sadly (when i lost my job & needed money). Therefore i always wanted a remaster. I still need a controller of some type eventually so i can play the paper Mario rpg & i think the 64 version also (if it was available on eShop, then definitely, but can't recall what all versions were available).
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