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Twilight Princess Mirrored on Wii
conigs writes "As some of you may or may not know, Link will appear right-handed in the Wii version of Twilight Princess (as opposed to the left-handed Link seen since Ocarina of Time). In order to accomplish this, Nintendo has mirrored the entire game. This includes maps, since they were apparently designed with a left-handed Link in mind." Kotaku says that this will even be true in the GameCube version of Princess, to avoid confusion.
Where in the second link does it say that the Gamecube version is also going to be mirrored? I don't see any evidence of that.
Twilight Princess to have a right handed Link? That's so sinister.
I still don't understand why the game would be mirrored. Also, what happens if you have a lefty playing the game? I know from the fishing videos that it's backwards; I'm going to want to hold the fishing rod with my left hand and reel with the nunchuck in my right hand. I hope that this is allowed.
I'm amazed at the major changes they have to make to make the game work (the entire world gets flipped) but the biggest problems comes up simply "what about those who are left handed."
Actually that isn't much work, or at least doesn't have to be. Just add in a y-axis flip into your view transformation matrix and viola, the world is now a mirror-image. All that'd be left then is to make sure the rendering of mini- or full-screen maps are correct.
As far as "what about those who are left handed", I don't know. It seems odd to me that they would consider the handed-ness of people using the Wii to control the sword, but not make it an option. The blurb (RTFA? What's that mean?) suggests that the actual design of the gameplay depends on handed-ness, which is why to make Link right-handed they had to flip everything else as well. That doesn't make much sense to me.
The enemies of Democracy are
The in game dialog, among other things would have to be matched to both versions. You can't very well have someone tell you to go west when you should be going east. I'm sure it's technicaly possible, but not very feasable to correct for all the problems the two versions would cause. Particularly not to have 85% of your audience never touch the setting.
If forums teach us anything, it is that logic and critical thinking should be required courses in the public schools.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed
You might be surprised to realize that almost everything is designed with the right hand bias. Most right handed people either don't realize that their design is nigh unwieldable for lefties, or don't want to spend the time and money redesigning for potential use in the left hand.
Nearly every gaming mouse and keyboard rig on the market assumes that you will have the mouse in your right hand, and the left will run the keyboard. This didn't become an irresolvable problem until the rise of ergonomics. Now, mice and keyboards are form molded to fit into the hand that they were designed for.
Try holding that nice Logitech bluetooth mouse in your left hand. You'll find that it's uncomfortable just sitting there. Never mind moving it around on your desk.
But that just the small stuff. Dangerous tools that could maim or even kill if mishandled are only available in right handed form. I've never seen a ambidextrous circular saw.
Ever try to find a left handed firearm?
Easily 90% of the auto loading sidearm designs have all of the controls positioned to be accessed by the thumb of the right hand. Almost every hunting rifle made by man has the bolt actuator on the right side. Revolvers are almost impossible to reload left handed.
So it is frustrating when Nintendo designs a controller that is so obviously ambidextrous, and the software developers ignore it and build everything right handed anyway.
You are forgeting an important part of the Wii-mote: the Nunchuku attachment. Many of the games are designed with this as a necessary part to play the game, and the Nunchuck is shaped in the way that you must hold it with your left hand. Since Zelda utilizes the nunchuck, the user is forced to use the "sword" in their right hand.
Assuming Link is the only major character who is left handed, then all the NPCs are right handed. "Fixing" the game by merely mirror imaging makes *all* the characters switch. Now all of the NPCs are left handed. Most sword fighting, etc. is right on right handed (look at spiral stair case design in mideval castles), and an advantage is usually to the lefty who is used to fighting against a right handed opponent, while the right handed opponent rarely fights a left handed opponent.
This actually changes *a lot* and is disapointing as a fix. It does not balance the world, or make it correct. Making Link right handed fighting right handed opponents would be a more accurate fix, though it defeats the purpose of having Link being left handed in the first place.
Not having an option to play a left handed Link also disapoints me because I am a lefty. I would like the option to use the sword in whatever hand I choose to. This is one game I was excited about, but am now indifferent to. This is a deal breaker for the Wiimote to lefties. Left handed batting? Left handed catching? If these are not possible, I'm not buying.
I'm sure, given time, this will be adressed in other games if they don't want to cut out 10% of the population
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
...unless you've never played with a console controller before, it will feel more natural to use the Wiimote in the right hand, since it has the main buttons, which have ALWAYS been featured on the right side of paddle controllers. The nunchuk, held in the left, will have the control stick, just like in traditional controllers.
If you think about it, controllers have always been strangely left-handed. It's our left thumbs that do the precision controlling that is usually associated with the dominant hand, while the right hand does the button mashing more commonly associated with the subordinant hand. Joysticks and keyboards feature directional control with the right hand. Seeing that Nintendo both designed the first paddle controller and featured a left-handed Link, one wonders whether the lead design team was made up of mostly lefties at the time... not that it really made much of a difference in the long run.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Because the large exterior set for the ship was constructed one-sided. Shots involving the other side of the ship that used this exterior set were mirrored.
If it's true (unlike the blurb says) that the GameCube version will be un-mirrored, then this will make for an insane replay of the game if done a second time on the other system. Spacially, it will mean re-charting everything in reverse, which the human brain isn't really all that good at doing. You will be much more likely to not immediately remember the solution to each puzzle just by reconizing the room, since a reversed layout will many times look just "different". If this is true, I'm going to wait a few months, and then go back and play the other version... this could make for a REALLY interesting case study in spacial memory.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
I assume that the sword combat isn't so intense taht you would have to be a Wii-mote master of Beatrix Kiddo proportions just to win the game. Therefore, I don't see why it would be difficult to wield the sword left-handed. That, and I think having a mirrored charecter model would be a lot more difficult than most people think. Animations would be easy, but what about hit-detection and the like?
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...