12 Biggest Changes In Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

ten years after its original release nintendo is bringing the legend of zelda skyward sword to the nintendo switch and like wind waker hd and twilight princess hd before it it's safe to assume there will be some differences between the original and remastered versions of skyward sword what are those differences you might be asking yourself well you've come to the right place in this video i'll be sharing 12 of the biggest changes you can find in skyward sword hd and after that i'll list off some of the smaller changes that can be found too if you're interested in seeing more content like this then consider subscribing to gamespot we'd appreciate it number one button controls let's get through the biggest and most well-known change first skyward sword hd now has button controls on top of the motion controls from the original game i won't go through every single little change because there are a lot and i can make an entire video dedicated to that topic alone but here are the major ones the right stick is used to move the sword and mimic the functionality of the motion controls allowing you to move the sword in every direction however if you want to do a spin attack with the button controls you need to move the right stick left then right then left again super quickly and if you want to do a fatal blow you need to move the right stick up then down then up again super quickly on top of that clicking in on the left stick while walking or standing does a shield bash and clicking in on the right stick thrusts the sword forward and does a stab the a button which originally interacted with things made link dash and put away your sword has been split into the a and b buttons with a being interact and b being dash and putting away your sword it's also worth noting that if you're dashing and then click in the left stick you'll make link roll instead of doing a shield bash the a button is also now used to leap when climbing however you still need to shake the joy-con like the wii remote to do this if you're playing with motion controls instead of button controls and now when you're controlling the loft wing of button controls you only need to hit a to gain altitude instead of shaking the controller and the left stick controls the loft wing instead of the pointer also worth noting that when walking on a tightrope with button controls you only need to use the left stick to balance link and if you fall off you can click the left stick in to jostle the rope to knock off enemies or hazards and on top of that the right stick is used to swing on ropes there are also all the items in the game and as you might have guessed most of these are now controlled with the right stick and zr when playing with button controls the bow beetle bug net slingshot claw shots whip and gus bellows all work like this and most of them have gyro controls except for the whip and the beetle although to clarify you can aim the beetle with gyro but once you shoot it you can only control it with the left stick and no gyro then once you unlock the harp that gets assigned to the x button and you can strum it with the right stick the biggest item change though is the bombs with motion controls you can throw or roll the bombs with a throw or roll motion with the button controls you pull out a bomb with zr then hold the right stick up for throw or down for roll then click zr again to do that action it was a little hard to wrap my brain around that at first but i got the hang of it pretty quick but there is one huge change that is so significant i'm giving it its own numbered section number two camera controls the original skyward sword did not have camera controls because the wii didn't have a second control stick instead you can hit z on the wii nunchuck to recenter the camera and that functionality still exists if you hit zl on the switch however nintendo actually added full 360 camera controls to skyward sword hd how did they do it well if you're playing with motion controls all you need to do is move the right stick simple enough but how does it work with the button controls well if you hold the l button then move the right stick you can use the camera controls this actually works extremely well in my opinion and i'm very happy to see full camera controls in skyward sword it improved the experience a lot and i think the right stick for the sword and then holding l with the right stick to move the camera is pretty clever number three you can save to any slot in most zelda games including the original skyward sword once you picked a save file at the beginning that became your save file every time you saved it would go to that save file and that was the end of that however in skyward sword hd nintendo changed it so every time you go to a bird statue to save you can choose which of the three slots you want to save to granted if you really wanted to you could technically save then quit the game then copy your file to another save slot to preserve a specific spot in the game but now it's much easier and more streamlined for example i stream skyward sword hd here on gamespot i knew i wanted to stream the skyview temple so i saved over my main file then made a separate save over a different file that i'd used for the stream then continued the game easy this also helps for something else we'll talk about a bit later but for now you'll also notice there's a fourth save slot and what might that be number four autosave yes skyward sword hd has auto saves so you don't have to worry about losing save data or saving at a bird statue every time you come across one i'm not 100 sure just yet but after some testing the auto saves seem to trigger whenever you walk near a bird statue or whenever you enter or leave a room or area that requires a loading screen you'll notice it in the bottom right corner and it flashes so fast if you blink you'll miss it also a neat little detail is that it cycles between the three sacred flames from the game if you're new to the game you probably won't even notice that at first the autosave does not overwrite your manual saves as it exists as its own save slot so you can't manipulate it it's not revolutionary by any means but it's a nice touch something else that's interesting is that in the original game there were moments where after a lot of cutscenes or after a dungeon the game would ask you if you'd like to save before moving on this has been removed in skyward sword hd since the auto saves exist so i imagine speedrunners will be happy about this and it just overall helps the pacing of the game number five names have been added to the text boxes in the original skyward sword the text boxes just had the text it never said which character was saying that particular dialogue well now in skyward sword hd the developers have added the names of the characters to the text boxes which is a nice and welcome touch how is it handled for characters that haven't had their names revealed yet well thankfully that isn't spoiled if you're going in with no prior knowledge take for example when you first meet ghirahim in the skyview temple the text boxes just say no name until he reveals himself as lord girohim and then every text box from then on says girohim when he's talking now you might be saying to yourself well who cares i was able to follow the text just fine well without this functionality how would you know the guy sitting on the benches at the bazaar are named crew and dovos you wouldn't unless you looked it up on the internet and i firmly believe your life is better now that you know that number six the sheikah stone has been removed oh how the times have changed in the original skyward sword you'll encounter shika stone after obtaining the practice sword at the sparring hall it tells you to come to it if you're ever stuck in the game so what you can do is go back to this shika stone throughout the game and it will give you hints of what to do basically just little videos that showed you what to do to progress if you're stuck this was definitely a nintendo 2011 move with this functionality also being an ocarina of time 3d it did make a comeback in majora's mask 3d in 2015 but was never used again in another zelda game and with that said in skyward sword hd that sheikah stone is gone along with all those video hints after exiting the sparring hall you could just continue your quest no sheikah stone comes out to talk but just to clarify skyward sword also had gossip stones and those are still in the game once you receive the harp after completing the third dungeon in the game you'll be able to play it near flocks of blessed butterflies and upon doing that a gossip stone will pop out say boingoing and drop a treasure on the ground if you talk to the gossip stone they'll give some advice in words but not video examples like the sheikah stone that got removed from this game the patch of flowers where the shika stone once resided is still there and playing the harp unfortunately does nothing rest well little guy number 7 phi has been toned down a little if you've read anything about skyward sword on the internet then you're probably aware that people are not fond of the character phi link's partner in skyward sword it probably didn't help that phi came after midna and twilight princess one of the most beloved partners in the series but that's not the point phi would usually tell you very obvious info and regurgitate things you may have already seen in a cutscene or figured out yourself now of course phi was written as a character whose sole purpose is to guide the goddess's chosen hero and if i were phi i'd also make sure everything was blatantly obvious to make sure link didn't screw up but this is a video game and not a real life situation and yes phi has been toned down a little bit in this game you can't exactly remove phi entirely since their personality is shaped in a very specific way and they talk in a very specific way but the developers did fix it a bit to let you as the player figure things out more a little more frequently so now in some situations where fi would pop out automatically in the original game the sword will glow prompting you to summon phi by hitting down on the d-pad but you don't have to the power is in your hands i won't list off every situation for spoiler reasons but here are a few instances where i noticed fi didn't pop out automatically like the original the first situation is after you get your shiny green outfit and head into town phi still tells you about how the column of light that appeared created an opening in the cloud barrier and phi still recommends getting a shield and potions before heading to the surface but in the original game phi also mentions that you can change the on-screen interface to remove stuff like the giant wii remote in the hd remaster fi doesn't mention this and you can change the setting to simple from the very beginning the next situation that was removed is before you dive into that green column of light five pops out to tell you that the green pillar is a column of light that marks the point where you can descend to the surface didn't phy just say that next up in the original game when you first encounter kiwi phi mentions that your dowsing ability is picking up the kikui as zelda despite the kikui not being zelda and you should follow the creature and investigate guess it was kind of obvious that you should follow the kikui running away from you and then when you use the slingshot to bring down the vine to get into the deep woods phi would originally pop out to basically explain to you what you just did and how to use the weapon you literally just used the last one i'll mention is right before the skyview temple phi warns you that they detect zelda's aura in the giant temple in front of you and that there are numerous monsters inside and asks if you want to proceed and you actually have to say yes or no if you say yes which i did of course phi says not to be overconfident and if you feel unprepared you can return to the sky and get a shield and potions you know the same thing phi said earlier before we even left the sky in total i counted 17 situations where phi's dialogue was changed or removed entirely if you want to know the others let me know in the comments and i'd be happy to write them out or if you found some yourself then leave those in the comments as well it's possible that i missed some number eight amiibo functionality alongside the release of skyward sword hd nintendo is releasing a zelda and loftwing amiibo figure the way the amiibo figure works is you tap it when you're on the surface and then you will immediately be transported to the sky instead of having to look for a bird statue to do it then when you use the amiibo again in the sky it'll return you to the exact location where you tap the amiibo on the surface it even works in buildings and dungeons unfortunately we did not have access to the zelda and loftwing amiibo figure before launch so i was not able to test this functionality myself you actually won't be able to use this amiibo figure until after you've saved gorko from the bokoblins and head to farron woods for the first time phi will pop out and let you know that you can return to the sky and use the amiibo to do it amiibo are off by default in the settings so you'll have to enable it once phi mentions this to use the amiibo hit down on the d-pad to summon phi and if you have amiibo enabled the bottom left option will be to use amiibo also yes i tried using a bunch of other amiibo i own including the skyward sword link amiibo and none of them work fide just says the amiibo accessory is one they can't recognize oh well number nine increased frame rate the legend of zelda skyward sword hd runs at 60 frames per second making it a much smoother experience overall the original skyward sword on the other hand only ran at 30 frames per second skyward sword hd is also the second zelda game to ever run at 60 frames per second with the first being a link between worlds on 3ds i realize this section is kind of short but the jump from 60fps to 30fps is a big deal and i hope future zelda games are also 60fps number 10 fast forward dialogue in skyward sword hd you can now hit the b button to fast forward the dialogue which was not an option in the original game this is great for replays or speed runs as well as situations where you accidentally engage with the character again and are forced to read the same dialogue if you're playing this game for the first time it might not be the biggest deal in the world but it's a very nice quality of life update that i'm glad exists number 11 streamlined item information in the original skyward sword every time you quit the game and then came back all the same collectibles you'd gotten before would re-explain themselves and force you to not only read the text you already read but wait as it would show you the item count go up in your inventory so either you left the system on and never saved and quit or you dealt with it hope you like reading about how monster claws are extremely sharp and look painful to even touch for the millionth time thankfully in skyward sword hd this was removed just like how it was removed in twilight princess hd the first time you read the text is the only time you read the text even if you save and quit a bunch of times and i'd argue we're all more thankful for it however for the individual gratitude crystals you can collect this has not changed with the dialogue popup and item count animation happening all 15 times thankfully you can at least fast forward the text this time i also want to note that when you get an item from a chest it will still explain itself again but it won't show the item count going up in your inventory so that's a little better i guess either way this is one of the better changes for sure number 12 hero mode doesn't overwrite your save files this last big change may not seem significant for those unaware but it actually makes a major difference let me explain in the original skyward sword once you beat the game you'd unlock hero mode hero mode is a harder version of the game where enemies do double damage and there are no recovery hearts among other things so after watching the final cut scenes the game would say you can play again in hero mode using the save data do you want to continue and if you select yes it would hit you with your progress up to this point will be deleted are you sure you want to play hero mode uh maybe not if you were unaware this was about to happen you'd either have to bite the bullet and delete your save so this could overwrite it or you'd have to copy your save file on the title screen before the final boss and then defeat the final boss on the new file and overwrite said file so you can keep your original and the new hero mode save since skyward sword hd allows you to save on any save slot at any time this situation has thankfully been fixed and it'll allow you to pick the save slot you want to put the new hero mode save on it'll still warn you that the progress will be deleted but if you pick a new save slot or overwrite an old one it'll only delete that data and you can keep your main save remember earlier when i talked about how being able to save to any slot is helpful this is the perfect example of that in action so yes there was a workaround in the original version as i mentioned but only if you knew to do it ahead of time so in my mind this was a very meaningful change that won't catch people off guard once they finish the game alright so those are all the bigger changes now i'll quickly list off some of the smaller ones i noticed there's now an options button on the title screen and on the gear screen that lets you enable amiibo change the screen display to simple change the camera speed and invert the vertical or horizontal camera controls among other things the quest logs on the title screen have a new look with a photo added to each otherwise it has all the same info as the original game's quest logs they're just in different places the title cards at the beginning of the game have been changed in the original game it was just the zelda 25th anniversary logo since this game was released in november 2011 for the 25th anniversary of zelda in skyward sword hd it's white text on a black background that says nintendo presents the legend of zelda skyward sword hd it reminded me a lot of how breath of the wild did a similar simplistic approach with white text and a black background it's unfortunate we didn't get a new 35th anniversary logo to replace the 25th one from the original some of the tutorial stuff in the beginning has been toned down but it's not entirely gone one example is if you help fledge lift the barrels in the original he'd explain to you how you lift the barrels with a and then set them down with a and how if you held the wii remote up or down you can throw or roll objects another example is after horwell tells you that you can dash up the boxes he would then say not to dash too much or you tire yourself out and run out of stamina and he'd also tell you that you can auto jump by just moving towards a ledge like the one seen here the dash up boxes part is still in hd but all the other dialogue has been removed the last example i'll give is that you can basically skip the entire sword tutorial in the beginning originally egas the sparring hall instructor would scold you for just sneaking out with the sword and after learning about your loft wing going missing would agree to let you take it after you go through some sword practice now you don't have to actually do the sword practice after the dash tutorial with instructor horwell he'll ask you if you can retrieve the headmaster's pet mia from the roof in the original game once you do that horwell will just thank you but in the hd version horwell gives you a reward of 20 rupees in the original game when you're looking for your loft wing pippit will mark the location of the waterfall on your map because fledge overheard gruse and his buddies say that they were planning to hide link's loft wing near a waterfall after pippit does this he asks link if he knows how to use his map and hit the plus button to access it however in skyward sword hd the map tutorial actually happens sooner with the headmaster putting an x on your map to show where the plaza is and telling you that you can use the minus button to access your map in the original game you just had to find the plaza yourself after the headmaster mentions it the design of the hearts in the upper left corner has changed and shrunk and the ruby display has been moved from the top left to the bottom left of the screen the shield icon underneath the hearts will glow every now and again when it was just a static image in the original game the face icons on the map have changed and in my opinion they look a lot creepier when flying your loft wing the giant b button with the words slow down underneath has been removed from the on-screen display the lighting inside the thunderhead has changed and it's easier to see that it's raining the spirit vessel graphic has moved up the screen ever so slightly you can now skip cutscenes in the base game by hitting minus this functionality did exist in the original game but only in hero mode now it's available from the start and lastly and this one is super minor but the camera angles and camera movements in the credits are mostly different despite all the shots being in the same locations this is odd since every other cutscene has the exact same camera angles and on top of that the credits themselves have been altered because the hd version staff need to be added on top of the original skyward sword staff and that's it all the big and small changes i noticed in the legend of zelda skyward sword hd anything i missed let me know down in the comments below if you're interested in more skyward sword hd videos we have a bunch including a graphics comparison between the wii and switch versions our video review written by kevin kenizevek 10 minutes of gameplay on our second channel and a live stream i did with kurt innovena links to all of those can be found in the description and for all things zelda stay tuned to gamespot [Music] you

Channel: GameSpot

Views: 323,872

Keywords: zelda, skyward sword, skyward sword hd, nintendo switch, wii, the legend of zelda, nintendo, amiibo, Fi, Zelda amiibo, Loftwing amiibo, Autosave, Hero Mode, button contols

Id: P3E8zT0eAwI

Length: 18min 17sec (1097 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 16 2021

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[u/Wilwheatonfan87]

Okay now gimme the list so I don't have to watch the vid

[u/mememaster12341]

I'M ANGRY BECAUSE THEY REMOVED THE ANIMATION WHERE IF YOU HIT A BOKOBLIN ON A TIGHTROPE WITH A SLINGSHOT, IT DOESNT FALL TO ITS DEATH ANYMORE. IT JUST GOES POOF WHEN YOU HIT IT :(