Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is worth a second chance — if you disable motion controls

Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is worth a second run a risk — if you lot disable motion controls

(Image credit: Nintendo)

When Nintendo first appear The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, I wrote about how it was the perfect entry in the series to remaster. The original Skyward Sword was an aggressive and creative game, hobbled by an obnoxious motion control scheme that wasn't equally accurate equally it needed to be. If Skyward Sword Hard disk drive could blast button-based controls, I argued, and then the game would really be something special.

Having completed my Skyward Sword Hard disk drive review, I am pleased to inform yous that I was mostly right. While the game's controller-based setup isn't perfect — particularly when it comes to swordfighting — it's a huge improvement from the finicky, demanding motion controls in the original game.

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More than importantly, it turns Skyward Sword from an expansive tech demo into a total-fledged traditional Zelda game. And in an era dominated past the very different Breath of the Wild, that's something we need at present more than than ever.

A history of motion controls

Zelda Joy Cons where to buy — (Image credit: Nintendo)

To briefly recap some arguments I made about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword a few months back:

It's arguably 1 of the best games in the series
The Wii Motion Plus controls made the game unnecessarily frustrating to play
A normal controller would make the game a lot more enjoyable/attainable

The just trouble was that I wasn't quite ready to put my money where my mouth was.

Nintendo sent Tom's Guide a review copy of Skyward Sword HD a week agone, and I installed the game as soon as the workday ended. I knew that I'd have to play the game with all three control schemes — motion controls, standard controller and handheld — in order to review it fairly. The only question was, how would I spend the majority of my fourth dimension with the game? As I knew from playing the game dorsum in 2011, how a game controls tin can color your perception of the title for years to come.

At beginning, I decided that since Nintendo initially designed the game with motion controls in heed, that was probably the "right" way to play. Besides, I reasoned, it had been 10 years since the Wii Motion Plus. Surely, the Switch's motion controls were much better than what Nintendo offered a decade ago.

I fired upward the game, and promptly remembered why I'd lamented the control scheme back in 2011. For those who haven't played Skyward Sword, you utilise an analog stick to movement Link around, merely most everything else relies on move controls. You use motion controls to swing a sword, pilot your riding-bird, swim underwater, burn projectiles, and even aim yourself when you bound off of alpine structures. And because the Switch doesn't take a dedicated sensor bar higher up your TV, like the Wii did, this control scheme is even less accurate now than it was dorsum in 2011.

To say that the motion controls in Skyward Sword are "infuriating" is putting it mildly. Every single fourth dimension I rested my Joy-Cons in my lap, they lost their position onscreen, meaning I'd take to reset the gyro every time I wanted to toss a bomb or ride my Loftwing. My controllable beetle tool flew around in circles; I couldn't go my Loftwing to plow left; I fell directly past collectable treasure chests and slammed into the ground. At times, I gave up on optional objectives altogether, because it only wasn't worth the frustration.

How I learned to terminate worrying and dear the Pro Controller

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on Nintendo Switch — (Image credit: Nintendo)

It wasn't until just after the second dungeon that I realized there was a better manner to play the game. Around this time, my Joy-Cons ran out of battery, and I figured it would be a good opportunity to see how Skyward Sword Hard disk ran in handheld mode. The kickoff affair I had to do was adapt to the new control scheme, which used the left analog stick for aiming and flying, and the right analog stick to control the direction of your sword.

At first, I was sure I'd hate using the right analog stick for directional swordplay, since it meant I couldn't freely rotate the camera. But equally I played through Skyward Sword Hd''southward third dungeon, I realized that having express control over the photographic camera wasn't so bad; in fact, information technology was no worse than the N64 Zelda entries, or their 3DS remasters.

Besides, playing in handheld mode solved all of my traversal woes in i brutal swoop. My Loftwing and protrude went exactly where I told them to; my cursor no longer flew in circles every time I tried to aim a bomb or a slingshot. Not only was I having a better time; I was actually playing more effectively, losing less health and consuming fewer items.

While I'd played with motion controls, Skyward Sword Hard disk was a tense, stressful feel, where I was fighting the game every step of the way.

Afterward my Joy-Cons finished recharging, I picked up my Pro Controller, and take been playing the game that way ever since. While swordfighting is a fiddling tougher, every other office of the game is immeasurably amend. In fact, a few hours later on I started playing with the Pro Controller, I had a startling realization: I was leaning back on the couch.

While I'd played with move controls, Skyward Sword Hard disk drive was a tense, stressful experience, where I was fighting the game every step of the way rather than enjoying information technology. With the push button-based control scheme, I institute myself thinking carefully virtually the puzzles and exploring each new area thoroughly, rather than wondering how I was going to survive the next encounter that required absolute precision from an imprecise peripheral.

While I'm certain that some players will still prefer Skyward Sword Hard disk drive with motion controls (they are admittedly more than fun for combat), this is the way I wanted to play the game ten years ago. Beingness able to use a regular controller makes Skyward Sword Hd feel like a regular Zelda game, rather than "that weird Zelda game where the motion controls really got in the way."

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the Switch's star attraction, also it should exist. Only what Breath of the Wild gained in scope, it lost in tradition. If y'all accept away the intricate dungeons, interconnected puzzles, clever accessories, sprawling towns and deliberate difficulty bend, what's left of the love 3D Zelda formula?

With Skyward Sword HD on Switch, players no longer take to choose. There's room plenty on Nintendo's innovative console to both intermission and embrace Zelda's conventions. And, now that Skyward Sword feels comfortable to play, information technology can finally accept its place among the best entries in the franchise.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, yous tin can discover him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.