It’s not just combat that feels better with the right analog stick. Now that I use the analog stick, combat feels a lot sharper That’s really my fault, but I think I’d rather have the game approximate my analog motions than accurately track me flailing my hands. Playing with Joy-Cons, I realized I had a habit of doing diagonal slashes when I had intended to do right-to-left ones. And even if the Joy-Con’s motion controls are better than the original Wiimote, I don’t think I actually want The Legend of Zelda to map all of my movements to the screen. Now that I use the analog stick, combat feels a lot sharper, and I like the directional variation more than just mashing a single attack button during every encounter.ĭirecting attacks with the right analog stick also feels more precise than swiping my controller. But you know what? It’s fun having to watch a Deku Baba to see whether it’s going to open its mouth sideways or vertically, then line up the correct attack in response.

The eight-way slash system made combat in Skyward Sword feel a little dopey at times enemies like to tuck their weapons close to their face defensively all the time, so you have to slash at them in specific directions. And the analog stick handles it all really, really well. It also handles camera control, aiming with weapons like the Slingshot and Gust Bellows, throwing bombs (both over and underhand, which is relevant in some puzzles), playing the Goddess’ Harp, and pulling off the spin move that gives you a speed boost while swimming. The right analog stick takes care of that now.

Originally, the player had to swipe their Wii remote in the corresponding direction. One of the biggest features of Skyward Sword, both the original and this version, is an eight-way slash system that lets Link attack enemies from different angles. You can still see the remnants of that design philosophy in the game’s move to Switch, but after playing with both the motion-controlled Joy-Cons and the Pro Controller, it’s shocking how well Skyward Sword holds up - and how superfluous the motion controls feel, when they were the thing that defined the game back in 2011.īack to that right analog stick.

For its original 2011 release, the Zelda game was billed as having been built from the ground up for the Wii, using a special upgraded version of the console’s motion-controlled remote as the basis for its combat, exploration, and just about everything else. That’s my biggest takeaway after playing 20 hours of the Nintendo Switch remaster of The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword. It’s impressive how versatile a single analog stick can be.

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