Left-Handed Controls Isn't an Option in Skyward Sword

By 18.10.2011 16

Left-Handed Controls Isn

A few weeks back IGN reported that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword would feature a left-handed control option. The information was revealed in a video preview for the game, but was never actually shown. IGN claimed that an option appeared at the beginning of the game, asking the player which hand they would prefer to use. Turns out that information was false and it has now been confirmed by Nintendo that no such feature exists in the game. This was revealed when Kotaku got in contact with Nintendo's public relations, even sending the video to Nintendo.

Perhaps a kick in the teeth for some.

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Mr. Leftie. (guest) 18.10.2011#1

outrageous.

TAG is offline. TAG 18.10.2011#2

That's a little irritating. Nintendo is compromising the game for left handed people. They almost certainly made him right handed for the sake of righties. Since they changed Link's dominant hand from the canon (typically he's left handed), then the game must not play quite as well if your dominant hand controls Link's off hand (your right hand controlling Link's left hand).
Maybe he fights and interacts with enemies in a way that it couldn't be helped. Maybe it had to be one or the other. Hopefully it won't be a big deal for lefties.

Didn't they do this for the Wii version of Twilight Princess? How did left handed people feel about that?

I hope that makes sense. I was having trouble explaining this clearly. Maybe because it's late.

TAG: That American Guy

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:18
 
Theodork (guest) 18.10.2011#3

typical big websites thinking they can assume things... And typical Nintendo neglecting us lefties!

Mush is offline. Mush 18.10.2011#4

TAG said:
That's a little irritating. Nintendo is compromising the game for left handed people. They almost certainly made him right handed for the sake of righties. Since they changed Link's dominant hand from the canon (typically he's left handed), then the game must not play quite as well if your dominant hand controls Link's off hand (your right hand controlling Link's left hand).
Maybe he fights and interacts with enemies in a way that it couldn't be helped. Maybe it had to be one or the other. Hopefully it won't be a big deal for lefties.

Didn't they do this for the Wii version of Twilight Princess? How did left handed people feel about that?

I hope that makes sense. I was having trouble explaining this clearly. Maybe because it's late.

I'm left handed and I'd honestly rather them keep the game as it is, without any "left handed mode". I don't know how other lefties feel, but I find it pretty darn uncomfortable to hold the nunchuck in my right hand and control my character with it.

For me, it's like taking a controller and flipping it so that all the buttons are on the left-hand side.. it just wouldn't feel right. It might've been nice of them to include a left-handed mode, but I really don't think it's needed personally.

Oh and Link was actually right-handed in the original Zelda game, if you look at the NES manual it actually shows images of Link holding the sword in his right hand (Well, unless I was imagining this). There are also multiple Links, so it doesn't mean they're all left-handed. Hope I cleared things up for you a little. Smilie

 
meeto_0 is offline. meeto_0 18.10.2011#5

Mush123 said:
TAG said:
That's a little irritating. Nintendo is compromising the game for left handed people. They almost certainly made him right handed for the sake of righties. Since they changed Link's dominant hand from the canon (typically he's left handed), then the game must not play quite as well if your dominant hand controls Link's off hand (your right hand controlling Link's left hand).
Maybe he fights and interacts with enemies in a way that it couldn't be helped. Maybe it had to be one or the other. Hopefully it won't be a big deal for lefties.

Didn't they do this for the Wii version of Twilight Princess? How did left handed people feel about that?

I hope that makes sense. I was having trouble explaining this clearly. Maybe because it's late.

I'm left handed and I'd honestly rather them keep the game as it is, without any "left handed mode". I don't know how other lefties feel, but I find it pretty darn uncomfortable to hold the nunchuck in my right hand and control my character with it.

For me, it's like taking a controller and flipping it so that all the buttons are on the left-hand side.. it just wouldn't feel right. It might've been nice of them to include a left-handed mode, but I really don't think it's needed personally.

Oh and Link was actually right-handed in the original Zelda game, if you look at the NES manual it actually shows images of Link holding the sword in his right hand (Well, unless I was imagining this). There are also multiple Links, so it doesn't mean they're all left-handed. Hope I cleared things up for you a little. Smilie

I have to agree with Mush. Ever since I got my wii I played every game with the nun chuk in my left hand. I can not control characters with my right hand. I have tried but it feels bizaare and uncomfortable. I dont have the same precise dexteriety in my right thumb. I blame the 64 pad for this.

However if I play resort I place the remote in my left to swing. Playing Grand slam tennis I use my right hand to swing the remote. I think lefties have more flexibility overal to righties. I will have no problem what so ever when zelda comes out.

 
Marzeee is offline. Marzeee 18.10.2011#6

I'm left-handed myself and I find it impossible to use the Nunchuck in my right hand. So the controls won't be a problem for me.

 
Ryan (guest) 18.10.2011#7

Twilight princess was right handed because it's a mirrored world of gamecube tp. Oot/masterquest is the same.

Jim (guest) 18.10.2011#8

What would the left handed control option change? I'm left handed and play with the Wii-Mote in that hand. I played through Twilight Princess that way no problem. Excuse me if this sounds stupid.

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RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 18.10.2011#9

Jim (guest) said:
What would the left handed control option change? I'm left handed and play with the Wii-Mote in that hand. I played through Twilight Princess that way no problem. Excuse me if this sounds stupid.

I guess with the 1:1 movement detection that the Wiimotion Plus/Wiimote Plus introduces, since the on-screen Link will be right handed, it'll make a difference in the reproduction of your movements in-game if you don't hold the wiimote in the right hand ?

Twilight Princess involved just waggling, and not truly reproducing your movements accurately, so you can't really compare the two.

( Edited 18.10.2011 11:45 by Kafei2006 )

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer
 
Darkflame is offline. Darkflame 18.10.2011#10

Its 1:1 for angle though, not positoning...it wouldnt be able to tell the difference unless it used IR for something.
--
I'm right handed but ,weirdly, Ive never had a problem controlling characters in either hand. I use the nunchuck in my left/right hand nearly at random.
(only finding that using IR targeting requires me to use my right hand)
Not sure what sword play would be like, but for most Wii games thus far It never mattered. (Im certainly not ambidextrous in other things.


( Edited 18.10.2011 17:22 by Darkflame )

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
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Our member of the week
RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 18.10.2011#11

Darkflame said:
Its 1:1 for angle though, not positoning...it wouldnt be able to tell the difference unless it used IR for something.

I dunno for you, but personally, when holding the wii remote in hand, if it's the right hand, I'll usually hold it slightly titled to the left.

If it's the left one, the wiimote will be slightly tilted to the right. That does make a difference in terms of angles, whether you hold it in your right or left hand.

Also, when slashing a sword horizontally, the most natural movement would be to slash from the interior to the exterior (for a lefty, for right to left, for a righty, from left to right). That makes a difference as well if the character on screen slashes from right to left if it's righty while the player is lefty.

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer
 
EdEN is offline. EdEN 18.10.2011#12

What's really bad here is IGN outright lying about this "feature". If they hadn't "reported" on it then no one would be the wiser and we'd just be counting the days until the Skyward Sword release date.

 
Darkflame is offline. Darkflame 18.10.2011#13

IGN is terrible these days - most articals are there for nothing more then to create hits and comments rather then inform.

Heres a preview of next weeks articals:

"Nintendo should become more like Bioware: Discus!"
"Reasons Nintendo 3DS needs to be more like the iPhone"
"15 things Nintendo should borrow from other games to reinvent Mario"
"Why Mario Kart would be better with pay-per-kart DLC"


Kafei2006 said:
Darkflame said:
Its 1:1 for angle though, not positoning...it wouldnt be able to tell the difference unless it used IR for something.

I dunno for you, but personally, when holding the wii remote in hand, if it's the right hand, I'll usually hold it slightly titled to the left.

If it's the left one, the wiimote will be slightly tilted to the right. That does make a difference in terms of angles, whether you hold it in your right or left hand.

Also, when slashing a sword horizontally, the most natural movement would be to slash from the interior to the exterior (for a lefty, for right to left, for a righty, from left to right). That makes a difference as well if the character on screen slashes from right to left if it's righty while the player is lefty.

Good points.
Guess there hasnt really been a game like this for me to notice thus far.

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+. 
 
Squidboy is offline. Squidboy 18.10.2011#14

IGN and Gamespot, Gamespot for claiming an old much loved item was returning.

3DS Code 2578-3122-0744
 
crackedthesky is offline. crackedthesky 18.10.2011#15

IGN's preview was based on an early build of the game. They should've made sure it was final before reporting it, but I don't think they outright lied. Rather, it's probably something that was present in developmental stages but Nintendo didn't work out in time for the final product.

As for Link being left-handed by canon, go see my post in the last Zelda news update. Link was an 8-bit image who reversed depending on which way you faced him, so he was both left and right handed. Concept art shows him left handed most times but right handed sometimes.

Also, the fact that they did this for righties is a given, considering some 80% of people are right-handed. You really want them to focus the game on a minority, the majority of which are actually already used to controlling with their right hands? Miyamoto is left-handed but has pretty much said he can't control games with his left hand because he's been playing right handed for so long. The only people who would benefit from a left-hand mode are people who are left-handed and have never played a video game before. I doubt Skyward Sword will find many of those picking it up.

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Tamugetsu (guest) 07.11.2011#16

justonesp00lturn said:
IGN's preview was based on an early build of the game. They should've made sure it was final before reporting it, but I don't think they outright lied. Rather, it's probably something that was present in developmental stages but Nintendo didn't work out in time for the final product.

As for Link being left-handed by canon, go see my post in the last Zelda news update. Link was an 8-bit image who reversed depending on which way you faced him, so he was both left and right handed. Concept art shows him left handed most times but right handed sometimes.

Also, the fact that they did this for righties is a given, considering some 80% of people are right-handed. You really want them to focus the game on a minority, the majority of which are actually already used to controlling with their right hands? Miyamoto is left-handed but has pretty much said he can't control games with his left hand because he's been playing right handed for so long. The only people who would benefit from a left-hand mode are people who are left-handed and have never played a video game before. I doubt Skyward Sword will find many of those picking it up.


I'm a lefty and personally, I can play most wii games with either hand as far as the movement controls are concerned, though I play better with the wiimote in my left and the nunchuck in my right. The problem here, in my opinion, is not that they made Link righty-only instead of lefty-only. I take offense at the idea that a huge gaming company like Nintendo making the next major installment of a huge franchise like Zelda could not have designed this game with both lefties and righties in mind. I could understand TP, where it was essentially a port. This game is designed to be all about 1:1 movements. Why did they not think to make it playable in either hand? When designing a game like this from the ground up, it should have been simple enough to design for an ambidextrous Link!
That's my two cents, which is more than I'll be paying for this game unless I play someone's copy and decide the controls don't suck.

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