8 Video Game Mechanics That Were Too Complicated
6. Motion Controls - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
It's the least surprising news in the world that Nintendo very nearly ditched the mandatory motion controls from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, because they remain by far the game's most controversial feature.
In its original Wii release, the game could only be played with the MotionPlus peripheral, and there was no option to play it with a more conventional control scheme.
As impressive as the Wii's motion controls were for their time, they also weren't terribly well-suited for a game as mechanically involved as Zelda, and as fun as the idea of slashing your sword around with a Wiimote sounded in theory, the reality was quite different.
The motion tracking was awkward and finicky during combat, and even basic movement and menu navigation felt clunky, enough that it often seemed like players were fighting the controls more than the game's actual enemies.
The attempt to innovate is laudable, but not giving players a more straight-forward, traditional control scheme as an alternate option was a massive own goal by Nintendo. The learning curve was just too damn steep for its own good.
Thankfully 2021's Nintendo Switch remaster finally allowed players the opportunity to play Skyward Sword with a button-only control scheme.