
Many people, ourselves included, thought that Skyward Sword would never come to a non-Wii console because it would mess up the controls. We were wrong, but also, we were a little bit right, too.
The new Switch version of Skyward Sword came out last week (we quite liked it) with some updated controls for players who don't fancy swinging their arms around their living rooms. You can now use the sticks to swing your sword, thank goodness, and that comes with a few minor gameplay changes, the most important of which is 'Clean Cut', the bamboo minigame.
The minigame is located on one of the small islands around Skyloft, and it's an absolute bastard. The idea is that you have to slice this big stalk of bamboo at least 28 times, and if the bamboo hits the ground, it's over — so your slices have to be very perfectly horizontal, which was quite difficult with the Wiimote.

Cutting the bamboo at least 28 times will net you rare materials: a Blue Bird Feather, a Goddess Plume, or a Golden Skull, each of which can be used to upgrade items. It's not super difficult to get 28, but it may or may not have involved accidentally knocking things off shelves and punching your little brother in the face with the controller.
Now that players can use the sticks, though, the bamboo minigame has been declawed. One player on Reddit achieved 46 strokes by flicking the stick back and forth, while being careful not to accidentally trigger a spin attack. With each of the rare materials selling for 100 rupees, it's a neat way to amass a tidy sum in a relatively short time.
Oh, and if you want to know how to beat every dang minigame in Skyward Sword, we've got a guide for that!
But tell us: what's your Personal Best at Clean Cut? Let us know in the comments!
[source reddit.com]
Comments 72
It was never hard to begin with…?
I did find this an absolute monster but I guess I was like 12. Probably wouldn’t find it as hard these days.
My best so far is 49 cuts, that's with the starting sword before you get a full length one.
https://streamable.com/zcez7y
It was a fluke and I'm not sure how it worked when I examine the clip. Most of the time I get around 30-37 cuts.
That said, I need to see if the game still gets confused if you succeed in making 65 cuts and this rolls back over to 1 cut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6_Ty50Kais
The original Wii version only stored your score in 6 bits, so the maximum score it could track was 63 or 64?
This game is so much better this time around
It was easy "then."
Once you get on a roll with the sword via the analog input, it’s good. But there’s a delay to it I wish wasn’t there, also after switching from camera control
The game debuted number one in the uk and is selling great. But some people said no body would buy it because it was an old port. And wait until the Japanese and the rest of the charts come in. I guess there are a lot of nobodies that want a great game. So happy for skyward sword.
That minigame never gave that much trouble. The music one at the Lumpy Pumpkin on the other hand was frustratingly difficult. I'll make sure to change to buttons only when I get to it.
@michellelynn0976
I saw a review on Walmart’s website along the lines of lazy 60 dollar Wii game. 1 found it helpful and 20 found it not helpful. Think it shows most people don’t give a crap if it is a port.
@michellelynn0976 I think people were just mad at Nintendo for making a low effort project. I think everyone knew it will sell well due to Nintendo having the most loyal fans despite never showing the same loyalty back 😂
Motion controls are also easy on switch?
I never played this game on Wii (and played relatively few motion controlled games period), but I've settled into playing SSHD with motion controls (after playing with both modes) and I hit 30 strokes on my second try. I don't know if the game has been tuned in some way or the motion controls improved, but I found it pretty simple
@blindsquarel To be fair, Skyward Sword actually is a lazy $60 Wii port. Doesn't mean it's not still a good game, but let's not deny the obvious.
My record on OG was 37, but I played SS for the entire December of 2011. What I think was infuriated on OG was the minigame that you play the instrumental on the pumpkin bar for a piece of heart.
@SwankyKong64 @Mountain_Man
To be fair, it's actually not lazy in the slightest. Low effort jabs before all the info was out was what was actually lazy. They did a spectacular job with this game- easily the most non lazy Zelda remaster we've ever gotten.
Full 1080p docked, 720p handheld, 60 fps, improved Gyro controls, full button support, free camera added, Fi advice modified, many tutorials no longer mandatory, fast forward dialog, faster text boxes, skippable cutscenes, streamlined item description reminders, reworked higher res and higher detail assets, UI redesigned, color dithering eliminated, shimmering removed, auto saves and 3 save slots and full surround sound.
Compare that to, say... Ni No Kuni on Switch. It added... let's see... absolutely nothing. Not even a res increase (and even that was well worth it imo).
It's an extremely high quality release. If people don't feel it's worth it for them that's totally fine, but lazy this is not. If anything, this is the gold standard by which all other Wii remasters should be judged.
@Mountain_Man
Imo, there is a difference between worth 60 and I will buy it for 60.
Skyward sword fits in the second catagory. It is no lazier than the Wii U ports and the Wii U Zelda games.
it was already an easy game. So l'm confused
I purchased the original digital version of Skyward Sword on the Wii U eShop a couple of years ago since I skipped out on it when it first came out. my problem is that I’ve yet to play the game. and now that the HD version is on the Switch, I’m almost tempted to buy it impulsively without having played the original.
my question now is if I should purchase the HD remake on the Switch or should I play the standard original on my Wii U?
@blindsquarel Bingo.
@Mountain_Man to be fair, your opinion, doesn't make it a fact.
@SwankyKong64 That is why it has tons of QoL Improvements. None of you all talk about the anti-consumer stuff Sony and Microsoft do. Oh yeah, blind loyalty, that is why the Wii U did so great.....
@idork99
I would say go with the remake. JaxonH already pointed out the Improvements better than I could so look for his comment. In th us it is only 50 dollars at Walmart
Does playing the harp work in the remake though, or is it still a case of just waggling and hope for the best?
@michellelynn0976 I never mentioned sony or Microsoft being good either! Lmao keep projecting
@JaxonH best Zelda effort? Wind Waker HD added quality of life features, better graphics and ost and plenty of other features! This is a lazy port that’s over charged
@blindsquarel "It is no lazier than the Wii U ports and the Wii U Zelda games."
Alternatively, it's just as lazy. Look, I'm not bagging on Nintendo since I've bought several of their lazy ports myself, but let's at least tell it like it is.
@JaxonH "To be fair, it's actually not lazy in the slightest."
Look at it this way: Touching up the graphics and implementing new controls is certainly lazier relative to creating a new game from scratch, and it's done for purely economical reasons, because it gets a "new" game on the shelf at minimum expense. And I say that as someone who happily bought Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Bros U. Deluxe, Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D All Stars, Super Mario 3D World, and will jump at the Metroid Prime collection (assuming the damn thing is ever released). I may get Skyward Sword at some point. I haven't decided yet.
@SwankyKong64
Yes the best effort. I'm aware Windwaker HD had some improvements, but it wasn't that many.
I played this Minigame so many times just to see how many cuts I could get, when this game originally came out I loved goofing around with the motion controls.
@Mountain_Man
All games are for economic reasons. Not just remasters. Games exist to sell. All of them. They built the game from scratch the first time and have every right to continue selling it like every other game for as many years as consumers are interested. There's no expiration date on that. Disney still sells The Little Mermaid- they created it and thus can sell it as long as people still want it.
They didn't have to do anything but port it. And yet, they did so much more. There's really nothing else they could have done without getting nitpicky.
Again, you wanna say the price isn't worth it to you, that's fair. But this is easily a top tier remaster. In a world where 90% of remasters are literally just higher res and framerate, Skyward Sword stands tall.
@JaxonH thank you for all the info
and thank you @blindsquarel
@idork99 get the new version. It’s much better and loading times are massively reduced . The motion controls work better. Pressing the Y button to recalibrate saves a lot of time placing the motion controller on a flat surface to recalibrate. It’s the best way to play a brilliant game.
Always bizarre to me when people try to flex on the news scribe/ messenger - I didn't find it difficult - it's like, who gives two shoves of a fresh fruit. If it was hard for one person it likely gave some sweats to others as well. The competitive mindset should be able to yield to the public domain of experience without kvetching over who cuts bamboos more easily.
phew
@SwankyKong64 Good way to avoid that I debunked you. SSHD has a lot of improvements.
@JaxonH BOOM!
I didn't play the original so I can't say how easy it is compared to that, but... I'll say this. I was struggling doing it with the buttons. I tried it three times and couldn't get above 14. My thumb doesn't waggle side to side very well, apparently. But then I put the Switch in tabletop mode and tried it with the motion controls and scored a 38 on the first try. With a number of subsequent goes, I got up to 43 with the motion controls with no problem. I went back to the button controls to try it again and I guess I had a better rhythm then because I got 31 pretty easily. Still, it seems like it's very doable either way.
My main road block in this game was the 3rd appearance of the Imprisoned. Is that fight any easier in the Switch version?
@OptometristLime Flexing on other gamers is probably the only thing these people have, to be fair.
I guess the price of remasters will be a discussion that‘s going to persist for decades. I mean, there‘s definately two sides to it: on the one hand you have remasters like the N Sane Trilogy which basically redid three games from the ground up and charge you 40 bucks and then there‘s Skyward Sword which definately has a lot of welcome improvements but charges you 60.
For me, most Nintendo games are worth their price. I can‘t count how many hours me and my friends put into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and that one was essentially a port as well. You will find very good games on other platforms but it’s hard to deny that there is always a little bit more polish and attention to detail in Nintendo games, so yeah. If you want premium, you pay premium, I guess.
@OptometristLime thank you! I was beginning to feel like I was the only one in the world who found it hard 😅
I never played the original game and I'm having so much fun playing it with my girlfriend. Bought it for about 47 euros the day after release, and when I'm finished with it I might get 40 for it by selling it second hand. So around 7 euros for a great game.
@michellelynn0976 improvements that are no brainers. Still no new graphics, content, and features.
@JaxonH It definitely was. Improved graphics, swift sail, improved triforce quest, improved animation speeds, improved ost. Now that was an effort. But keep defending Nintendos bad practices. They don't care about you.
I find it hilarious that fans get so angry when anyone complains about genuine problems and bad practices Nintendo does. So much blind faith in this thread.
@JaxonH it still has frame rate drops lol
@JaxonH Crash N Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Wind Waker HD, Kingdom Hearts Remixes, Uncharted Trilogy, Demon Souls Remake, and Masterchief Collection EASILY stand taller than this cash grab. Other than Demon Souls, all of these collections were not 60 bucks at launch. Enjoy playing a 10-year-old Wii game that will never drop in price.
@SwankyKong64
My motivation isn't to "defend a company I think cares about me", it's to clarify the facts. I'm not defending anything, I'm telling you that your analysis is wrong.
Furthermore, there's a difference between a Remake and a remaster. Of course remakes "do more". That's why they're called remakes.
Price is a completely separate issue and has absolutely no bearing on the quality of a remaster. Your thinking is flawed.
Saying "it still has framerate drops" when the entire game is locked 60 fps on handheld and docked, aside from a momentary 2 second period in one specific section of the game, is utterly ridiculous. If I spend 40 hrs playing a game and 39 hrs, 59 minutes, 58 seconds of it is at a locked 60 fps, any attempt to characterize the game as less than near flawless is futile and frankly, downright silly.
And yes, I am enjoying it. Very much in fact. Excellent game. I don't care whether it "never drops in price".
@JaxonH My analysis is not wrong it's called an opinion! Also I still named remasters that were better haha
@SwankyKong64
It's an opinion based on objectively faulty logic.
@JaxonH As the saying goes, "There are economic decisions, and then there are economic decisions," and this port of Skyward Sword says, "Breath of the Wild 2 won't be out for at least a year, so we need a 'new' Zelda game to maintain consumer interest in the franchise. What can we do that's fast and cheap?" and, well, here's your answer. I have no opinion about whether this was a good decision or a bad one, I'm just telling it like it is.
It's okay to admit it. Nobody will ask you ti turn in your Nintendo fan club card. Trust me, I still have mine.
@Mountain_Man
Has nothing to do with an unwillingness to admit something.
Has everything to do with the fact it's objectively not lazy by any reasonable comparison to most other remasters, addresses almost every issue that needed it, and goes above and beyond to improve visuals, performance, audio and quality of experience.
There is a clear distinction between games that change nothing, improve nothing and fix nothing... and games that make changes, add improvements, and fix issues. To lump one in with the other is reckless at best... deliberate at worst.
@JaxonH "Has everything to do with the fact it's objectively not lazy by any reasonable comparison..."
That's your opinion.
@Mountain_Man
It is. And it's based on comparisons with the vast majority of other remasters.
Its also based on the needs of this particular game and the specific aspects which required improvements. When you go down the laundry list of complaints with the original game, and virtually everything is addressed or improved, it's obvious they went above and beyond to make it the best remaster possible.
So we all agree, it's a lazy port, but we don't care. Ha ha!
My highest ever on the Wii version was 132. It took me lots of practice and very very thin slices, I doubt I could do it again. I loved doing it though
Removed - trolling/baiting; user is banned
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Removed - harassment; user is banned
@Mountain_Man No, we don't agree
You can't debate well.
@michellelynn0976 You're wrong. Q.E.D.
@Mountain_Man No. You are just a troll.
@michellelynn0976 That's the kind of response I expect from someone who can't admit they're wrong.
@Mountain_Man I know, you can't admit you are wrong. Grow up. Tons of QoL improvements is doing a lot.
@michellelynn0976 You can believe that if you wish.
@Mountain_Man No, it is a fact. They improved tons of stuff. If you want me to link you to articles showing what they improved. I will be glad to.
@michellelynn0976 If it will make you feel better.
@Mountain_Man Oh stop. You just need to get over yourself. OK?
@michellelynn0976 It appears I struck a nerve.
@Mountain_Man If that is what you want to do, that shows your problems.
@michellelynn0976 Please, stop trolling.
@Mountain_Man pot, meet kettle.
@michellelynn0976 Since you have ignored my polite request, my only recourse is to place you on ignore. Bye, now.
@Mountain_Man I wasn't trolling.
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