The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword’s Control Problem

It should be no surprise that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is one of my most highly desired Wii titles.  Upon it being unveiled at Nintendo’s E3 2010 Press Conference I immediately fell in love with the new art style.  The new sword controls looked fantastic and the new items seemed very fun.

I then waited on line for over an hour at E3 just to get a chance to play the game.  I did enjoy the new sword mechanics.  As reported previously, Link is now right handed, as he was in Twilight Princess for the Nintendo Wii, so all the sword controls took advantage of the player swinging the Wii Remote with the Motion Plus accessory.  Having to kill enemies by attacking the correct way with the sword was great and added a new combat element that just hasn’t been in the series before.  This still has me very excited since I’m sure there are a number of things players have yet to see regarding how this sword element works.

It was then that I decided to try out how the Bow works in Skyward Sword.  This is where I came across a major control issue.  Upon switching to the Bow or Slingshot item I then learned that Link is not right handed at all.  Link is actually ambidextrous.  You see when using the Bow Link holds it as if he were left handed.

This wouldn’t be much of an issue if Link just appeared to be using the bow left handed, but it was then for the first time ever that I felt the pain of every left handed person in the world.  That is the player must use the bow and arrow controls as though they are a lefty no matter what.  I found the controls to be completely awkward and clumsy to use in this manner.

If anyone wants to know exactly how it feels then all they would have to do is boot up Wii Sports Resort and to play Archery left handed.  You see the when playing Archery in Wii Sports Resort the player has to hold the Wii Remote in their offhand.  The Nunchuck controller goes in the players dominate hand.

In the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword the player has to be holding the Wii Remote in their right hand forcing a left handed Bow control scheme.  I know Shigeru Miyamoto is ambidextrous but myself and others are not.  Skyward Sword is still one of my most wanted Wii titles, but I really hope there is another option to these left-handed controls because I found them unbearable.

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  • Andrew

    So what exactly do you want? Nunchuck Motion Plus? Who wants to pay for that? Not Nintendo, and not me.

    • Justin Berube

      I’d rather have plain old aiming like in Twilight Princess over the backwards bow. I know the idea is to make it more immersive but it just doesn’t feel right when it’s backwards.

      • Jon

        everything on Wii took awhile to get used to at first.

        and if it’s that big of a deal, why not switch hands? obviously the bow&arrow in this game is meant to be used only as a very long distance, sniper-like weapon. thats why the slingshot is there as well.

        • Justin Berube

          Or maybe you get one first, and the other later like in OoT? Just a thought. The demo was just showing off various weapons for the sake of a demo.

  • BoBo the Clown

    since most gamers that will be playing this game are not at all well versed in the art of archery, and such have no previous experience to compare this to, i really dont see this as an issue. we will all be learning the controls the first time on nearly equal footing.

    its like complaining that left-handed people are forced to aim with their weak hand in dual analogue controlled FPS’s – sure its a correct assessment, but does it really make that big of a difference? No.

  • hcig

    this complaint seems ridiculous, do you want us the switch hands every time we use the bow?
    you know why archers pull with their dominant hand? because that arm is stronger.
    this is an ounce of plastic, how are you having any trouble with it? i dont have WSR, but just miming the action is not giving me any trouble, and im right handed.

    • Justin Berube

      I don’t want to switch hands either. I just want a more suitable solution.

  • Tikicobra

    That’s how bow controls always are in games like this… Remember Wii Sports Resort? It’s not awkward or uncomfortable at all for me, and I’m right-handed.

    • Justin Berube

      In Wii Sports Resort the game asks you to hold the Remote in your LEFT hand and the NUNCHUCK in your right if you are a RIGHT handed person. This is the total opposite of what you need to do in Skyward Sword and I felt it was awkward.

  • Natsu

    If you’d ever tried archery you’d know that it doesn’t matter what is your better hand. When I first tried archery I had to do a test to see which of my eyes was better. If your right eye is your better eye you pull the bow back with your right hand; if your left eye is better then you pull the bow back with your left hand. Reason being that it makes it more accurate.
    I’m right handed but have to pull the bow back with my left hand because my left eye is better and, therefore, makes the arrow more accurate.
    Regardless of that fact I had no problem using a real bow left handed. I’m sure a small plastic controller would be considerably easier to use.

    • Justin Berube

      I have tried archery. I clearly am better with my right eye and therefore want to pull back with my right hand as you have described. Skyward Sword can’t do this and that’s my problem with the controls.

      I played the game at E3, as the article describes, and I didn’t like having to use it by pulling back with my left hand. That is my issue with the controls and why I wrote this article.

      • Natsu

        Well I guess thats fair enough. Is there not a crosshair on the screen to make the aiming easier? Otherwise perhaps it is something nintendo should consider. Maybe something at the start of the game asking your preferred way to aim?
        I’m sure it’ll probably be something that will get easier and more natural the more you do it.
        I can remember how wierd it was to use the remote when I first got my wii. Now there is no issue.
        Apologies for assuming that you had never tried archery.
        Anyways its nearly half 3 in the morning where I am and I’m pretty darn tired.

  • crystal Tiffany

    “This wouldn’t be much of an issue if Link just appeared to be using the bow left handed, but it was then for the first time ever that I felt the pain of every left handed person in the world.”

    Now you know why we’re so upset over the sword controls only being right handed. If all of the weapon controls we’re able to be switched back and forth, I feel it would really improve the playability of the game. Right handed people wouldn’t have to complain about the bow and sling-shot and us left handed people wouldn’t be forced to play the ENTIRE GAME swinging a wii-mote from our weaker, less dominate hand.

  • Bindayen

    DEAL WITH IT.

    If lefties don’t get a choice for left handed controls, then you don’t get a choice for right handed controls.

    Butthurt moar.

  • Bindayen

    DEAL WITH IT.

    If lefties don’t get a choice to use the sword left handed, then you don’t get a choice to use the bow right handed.

    QQ MOAR

    • sims

      Hell yeah. I have to play the entire god damn game awkwardly. Now I should care because this section of the world doesn’t revolve around you? Boo hoo.

      • Tamugetsu

        I know, it would be less upsetting if this was a game series in which the main character hadn’t ALWAYS been left-handed.
        (To all the people who will point out TP link being a righty, I remind you that the Wii version was just a flipped port of the GC version in which he was left-handed, and it was obviously done only to help righties play, because all of Hyrule was flipped as well, including the Hylian text on the signs.)

        It’s just upsetting for me, as a left-handed Zelda fan, because as a kid, one of the reasons I loved Link was that he was a lefty like me, and now I’m being punished by the series for being left-handed.

        It makes no sense to me that this game series would make a game that Link himself would have trouble playing. It just seems counter-intuitive to me, when a game designed to closely simulate the player’s hand motions does not provide support for both hands, especially in a franchise with such an iconically left-handed character.

        (I was really shocked when I found out that they had originally planned to make the game left-handed ONLY, but gave up when right-handed playtesters complained about how impossible the controls were. So what do they do? Instead of improving the controls or providing options for both righties and lefties, they switch it completely, giving the same bad controls the right-handed playtesters complained about to the lefties instead. And then when we ask they tell us to just hold it in the other hand, like we can just deal with the stuff that made playtesters complain so much, they had to change Link’s traditional handedness.)

  • Tamugetsu

    Now imagine if all those sword techniques were forced into your non-dominant hand. You know, the ones necessary to play the game, a major feature needed to defeat certain enemies? Wouldn’t that suck? I’m not saying that you don’t have a right to complain about the uncomfortable controls, but think about how much worse it is when it’s the SWORD that’s in the wrong hand.

    *sigh* I guess I’ll be awesome with the bow and arrow, though.

    Wait, one more thing: everyone keeps saying that while there’s no left-handed option, lefties can just hold the wiimote the other way. Why can’t you just switch it for three seconds while you shoot the bow?! Or is holding the controller in the left hand not quite as possible as I’ve been told?

  • Tamugetsu

    Now imagine if all those sword techniques were forced into your non-dominant hand. You know, the ones necessary to play the game, a major feature needed to defeat certain enemies? Wouldn’t that suck? I’m not saying that you don’t have a right to complain about the uncomfortable controls, but think about how much worse it is when it’s the SWORD that’s in the wrong hand.

    *sigh* I guess I’ll be awesome with the bow and arrow, though.

    Wait, one more thing: everyone keeps saying that while there’s no left-handed option, lefties can just hold the wiimote the other way. Why can’t you just switch it for three seconds while you shoot the bow?! Or is holding the controller in the left hand not quite as possible as I’ve been told?

  • Tamugetsu

    Now imagine if all those sword techniques were forced into your non-dominant hand. You know, the ones necessary to play the game, a major feature needed to defeat certain enemies? Wouldn’t that suck? I’m not saying that you don’t have a right to complain about the uncomfortable controls, but think about how much worse it is when it’s the SWORD that’s in the wrong hand.

    *sigh* I guess I’ll be awesome with the bow and arrow, though.

    Wait, one more thing: everyone keeps saying that while there’s no left-handed option, lefties can just hold the wiimote the other way. Why can’t you just switch it for three seconds while you shoot the bow?! Or is holding the controller in the left hand not quite as possible as I’ve been told?