Nintendo Says No to Skyward Sword Southpaw Mode

[Mana Fiend]

As a lefty, I stand outraged by the fact that Link is no longer left-handed. He was one of the few gaming icons who was a southpaw, and loosing that for the Wii generation makes me sad. Regardless, I'll still be buying this game. I have been known to play what little sport I can right-handed (though in things like Tennis I tend to switch hands depending on where the ball's coming from).

Besides, everybody knows all the best sword-fighters are lefties, especially with a sword and shield. It's why spiral staircases are built as they are.

 

[BabySinclair]

Yes it would have been nice for their players to include southpaw, but that means... flipping the character model and maybe changing a few cut scenes... really Nintendo? I was going to back you up on this one.

 

[Thundero13]

Ich...
You know, I may be right-handed but I would really juust prefer it if they kept Link as a leftie, that's just how he's supposed to be and it can't be that hard to get used to
...
Am I still getting it? DUUUUH!

 

[Kuchinawa212]

WHAT EVER SHALL WE DO?!?!

I don't see why they can't make it left handed but I don't this is really something to rage about. If they don't want to make left hand mode and just loose a chunk of gamer's money then what ever. I guess nintendo is afraid of making money

 

[chadachada123]

Ugh. Stupid Nintendo.

How do you think the gaming community would react if we swapped the gender or race of a character just to fit the "majority"? Similarly feelings are felt for swapping the handedness of Link without a valid reason.

Why isn't there an option to switch? Considering that would consist of a flipped character model and a little bit of testing, this should be a complete non-issue.

On top of that, if playing left-handed doesn't change the gameplay, why not just keep Link as a lefty?

With keeping Link lefty, you keep your dignity and the respect of some 14% of gamers. With switching and NOT including the option to go lefty, you look like you don't care about your fans in the slightest.

 

[Hazy992]

I'm left-handed but it doesn't really bother me. I played Twilight Princess just fine and tbh controlling Link's movement with my right thumb would just feel weird anyway. That being said, I won't be buying it regardless of whether there's a southpaw mode as I don't own a Wii.

 

[Trishbot]

I'm a purist, so Link will always be left-handed to me.

Not making Link left-handed is like shaving Mario's mustache, kicking Star Fox out of his Arwing, or turning the great Samus Aran into whimpering cry baby. It's just WRONG.

 

[lord.jeff]

I don't see the problem. Every Link is a different incarnation (well, some have more than one game but generallly, since Zelda III for the SNES it's been a new Link for almost every new game). Just because most of them were left-handed, this one doesn't have to be. He's a different person.

You saved me the trouble of typing.

 

[CrystalShadow]

This would be a big problem in terms of gameplay except for one thing: you can play with this in your left hand. The system won't be able to tell the difference.

In terms of the whole "oooh, but Link is always left-handed!" things: this is a pointless detail. It's not like it's a violation of his character because this Link was born right handed.

Actually no, you can't play a game like this left-handed. You can with many, but as Red steel (and red steel 2) taught me, the closer you get to 1:1 control, the more of a problem it becomes that the onscreen movements don't match what you're doing.

Trust me, you won't be able to play Skyward sword with your left hand. Just Like Red steel 2 is impossible to play that way (while for twilight princess and mario galaxy for instance, it makes no difference whatsoever.)

Anyway, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to make link right-handed to appease the majority, but I digress.

Think about it... Since all incarnations of link have been left-handed right up until twilight princess - and even then only on the Wii version, they are explicitly stating that right-handed players can't cope with having to control a left-handed character.

Then, having just said it's too difficult for the right-handed majority to have to control a left-handed character, they've turned around and said: "Oh, and if you're left-handed, well, screw you, you'll just have to deal with it."

As it happens, I certainly can. But can you see the insult here?
YOU DON'T MATTER BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE MAJORITY. (Also, we changed it because the majority apparently can't cope, yet we expect you deal with it as if it's nothing.)


There's really only 2 choices here, and it's insulting either way.

1. It doesn't matter, and it shouldn't be a problem to control a character whose dominant hand is opposite to yours. (In which case link could have remained left-handed, so why did they ever change it to begin with?)

2. It does matter, which is why they made link right-handed, because the majority of players are right-handed. (But, if it actually matters, not including a left-handed mode is akin to saying "if you're left-handed, you won't be able to play this, and we don't care at all."

 

[Versuvius]

Having played and loved ocarina of time, majoras mask, wind waker and various other zelda titles and loved them. I have never once ever cared to notice what hand the sword was in other than he owns a sword and it it cuts bitchas. Moot point is moot.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I guess you need new characters animations and slightly reworked control for a left handed mode but... would it really be that hard? Link is one of the few left handed game characters... how sad.

 

[Allwing]

Am... am I the only one that remembers that Link has always officially been not Left Handed, but ambidextrous?
Or that even the official manual for the first game had him depicted as right handed?

 

[Lionsfan]

WHAT EVER SHALL WE DO?!?!

I don't see why they can't make it left handed but I don't this is really something to rage about. If they don't want to make left hand mode and just loose a chunk of gamer's money then what ever. I guess nintendo is afraid of making money

It's the Internet. Raging about random stuff is kind of our thing

That being said, yeah as a fellow lefty I'm disappointed about this, but I'll probably still end up buying it anyways. I doubt even if you hold it in your left hand it'll make that much of a difference anyways

 

[Strain42]

I'm left handed, but I've never really had any problems using the Wiimote with my right hand.

The only game I've ever played that pulled the left handed/right handed mode on me where I HAD to play Leftie mode was Hotel Dusk for the DS

WarioWare throws me for a loop now and then, because even though I'm left handed, I set myself to right handed controls.

 

[bjj hero]

Being left handed Im used to everything conspiring against me, scissors, tin openers, joysticks, firearms. You get used to it. This won't be the end of the world.

It reminds me of the time I went to a martial arts seminar with lots of different disciplines there to try. I tried Iaido (Japanese sword) for a change of pace. The instructor started saying:

"Take the boken (wooden sword) in your right hand like so..."

I raised my hand and said I was left handed. His response?

"There were no left handed swords men in Japan so take the boken in your right hand..."

That is the last time I did Iaido. Why study an art where you start at a disadvantage to everyone else around you? He was a real prick.

 

[DarthSka]

My mates left handed and still played Twilight Princess fine with the wiimote in his left hand.

On a selfish note, I'm right handed, so just want the game to be released and as good as its predecessor.

To be honest, I feel the same way. I'm sorry some of you guys feel ostracized by this, but I've been waiting 5 years and I don't want another delay on this game.............sorry. Needs of the many and whatnot.

 

[Kahnmir]

I don't think this is a big deal, most people who are left handed (like me) have had to learn to use their right hand anyway (or are pseudo ambi-dextrous to begin with... like me).

No big deal.

 

[minuialear]

Ugh. Stupid Nintendo.

How do you think the gaming community would react if we swapped the gender or race of a character just to fit the "majority"? Similarly feelings are felt for swapping the handedness of Link without a valid reason.

Uh, actually that happens all the time (albeit from the start, rather than further down the road), and the majority of people on these forums tend to be in the "deal with it" category, rather than the "we ought to care more about how people identify with a character" camp. So it's more than a bit ironic how the two play out. (Not to mention that race/sex are arguably more a part of a person's identity than the hand they use, considering the latter can be changed through habit and doesn't significantly affect things such as social perception by others, etc, so that comparison is silly.)

Secondly, it's not technically "swapping the handedness of Link," story-wise, considering this isn't any of the Links that were left-handed in the first place. The role model thing doesn't fly when this isn't the character people had as a role model decades ago.

On top of that are the points that it's not impossible to play as a lefty with those controls (I actually tried it with the Skyward Sword demo; it's not as fluid as it may be for a righty, but it's not end-of-the-world-bad, and certainly becomes pretty easy to get used to if you play for awhile/play other like games), and that lefties have had to use righty controls for decades. So I don't think it's reasonable for people to be outraged that the company that the complain about whenever they choose to delay the game in the first place, would choose to skip the lefty controls for the sake of speeding up production. Disappointed, certainly. But rage/threatening not to buy the game for this reason makes no real sense to me.