Why Do So Many People Hate Skyward Sword?

With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD coming to Switch, why is it often looked at as the worst 3D Zelda game?

[iplay1up2]

I played the first 2 hours or so. I couldn't get into it. I quit playing after the bird part. Never even made it to a dungeon.

[CrimsonIdol]

Yeah I didn't make it much further. Those motion controls were awful. It felt really clunky to play.

[Eamon]

Seems like the motion controls were like marmite. You loved it or hated it. I pesonally had no trouble with the controls so my experience was fine.

My 2 biggest gripes with Skyward Sword were the lack of regions - only 3-4 dungeons that transformed or changed over the course of the game to provide new areas. Took away from any sense of exploration and wonder the previous games had.
Second gripe is the length. It was too long in a bad way. A lot of artificial padding. Didn't help that the story forced it that way too. Link needs to get X number of this, so he can unlock a door where he need 5 crystals to unlock another door that needs 3 keys etc. Felt like a chore. This is why I loved Breath of the Wild, as it rarely required you to go through so much padding.

[Acecalibur]

Is that the one where the weapons break? Yeah no thanks.

[Magic_Spatula]

You're thinking of Breath of the Wild. Didn't really get into that one at first. Played it for a few hours. Stopped playing for almost a month. Recently picked it back up again and am enjoying it. Weapon durability isn't that bad. You get enough to replace the ones you lose anyway.

[Pyrofire95]

Shields do break in SS if I remember right, except for the Hylian shield.

[Magic_Spatula]

@Pyrofire95 Did not know that. Didn't really play Skyward Sword all that much. I fell off after Minish Cap. Played Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, and A Link between Worlds but never finished them. BotW is my first Zelda game in a long while. Taking my time with it like with Ghost of Tsushima.

[TheLigX]

Nope, that was breath of the wild and that game was terrible too.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Now sorry Breath of the Wild was incredible. Best 3d Zelda game I've played since OOT.

[neutralgamer1992]

Motion controls to be one of the biggest reason

[franwex]

Hand holding.

[CobraKai]

I felt it was boring and lifeless. The same areas revisited over and over.
And $60 for a 10 year old game that will unlikely ever drop in price? Jeeze.

[PectoralFlex]

I thought it was okay. Some parts were tedious. I liked the impressionist art direction and I thought the motion controls were neat. Not one of my favorites but I enjoyed my time with it.

I’ll take ALttP with me to the grave, though.

[Droppedez]

I played it on the Wii U and found the motion controls to be super annoying especially when flying. The moment I quit was because of some underwater portion of the game that I found frustrating.

[Pyrofire95]

The game wasn't on the Wii U.
You might have been told by your older brother you were playing but you were just holding a Wii U tablet that wasn't doing anything. And you were just frustrated because your older brother sucks at videos games but thought I was yourself, I mean the controls.

[starsi360]

You’re confused, Wii U played Wii games so he could well have played it on Wii U

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

The game can be played on the Wii U
https://www.nintendo.com/ga...
https://www.polygon.com/201...

[Vx_]

I played it on the WiiU, it was annoying and boring. I couldn't finish the first part. Sound to me like you have been lied to by your older brother, as he never bought this crappy game but he was playing ocarina of time instead! and you fell in love with it thinking it was Skyward Sword. but now you know.

[Eamon]

Lol, Wii games can be played on Wii U.

Sounds like you didn't have a pleasant childhood... We're sorry man

[CrimsonWing69]

Um, Wii U was backwards compatible, bruh. Your post is pretty ridiculous.

[SullysCigar]

I hope you were drunk when you wrote that comment..

[Pyrofire95]

I obvs. know the WiiU could play Wii games. But there's was no reason to say that he played it on the WiiU so he makes it sound like he played some mythical WiiU version. Having played it on the WiiU changes absolutely nothing about the experience with the same motion controllers.
tldr: OP just wanted to brag that he bought a WiiU and I called him out.
ps @SullysCigar I don't drink EVER #soberboys #820

[2moda5gamer]

Some of the bosses were quite fun, and the music and character design worked well, too.
The motion controls worked well in the bigger fight scenes, I thought.
The issue of the game is the game design. It's boring. Traversing is boring, some of the levels are kinda boring, and worst of all is the HANDHOLDING.
The spirit of the master sword is the most horrible thing about this game for anyone over 8 years old - and if theres not an option to reduce the constant intrusion of unneeded "advice" in the switch port, then everyone's going to be even more vocal about how poor this game is.

[lonewolf10]

Like many said, motion controls were also the issue for me.

[ScootaKuH]

Maybe because it's just not very good?

[bujasem_89]

If they knew what they were doing it would've been ocarina of time remake. Would at least justify the price. Maybe on the pro or whatever they call it.

[gold_drake]

mootion controols.
god i hated them so freaking much

[Knightofelemia]

Never played it so I am on the fence about it it's Zelda and it's a version of the franchise I have not played and can't wait to play.

[stupidusername]

Too much hand holding and the backtracking part close to the end is two big minuses from me. Though I loved the rest of it. Very unpopular opinion, but I actually enjoyed the motion controls.

[ibrake4naps]

motion controls only feel right in VR

[Pyrofire95]

Kinda spoiler.
To this day I LOVE the ending where Fi says...
"Good luck."
She tells you exact percentile odds the whole game but before the last encounter, that's how she sends you off.

[Pyrofire95]

I never really had a problem with the motion controls and Zelda was a total babe.

[OMNlPOTENT]

It was one of my favorite Zelda games. I never knew the motion controls were so despised. I actually liked them. It wasn’t a perfect game, but the dungeons were so much better then BOTW.

[Lighter9]

I didn't feel buying the extra bs for the controller just to play the game. And ya, it wasn't a regular open worldish game like the rest, so I said, the hell with it.

[Adnanilyas21]

It was a brilliant game. The motions were done well, annoying at some points though. Really enjoyed it and look forward to playing it without motions.

[CrimsonWing69]

Motion controls

[TheLigX]

Because it’s garbage.

[Lexreborn2]

I haven't been able to get into a 3D Zelda game fully since Ocarina of Time, I've played everything else since and just never finished any of them. But, I can go back and play a link to the past and Ocarina of time for ever. Really not sure where this franchise lost it's magic to me but I really am not inclined to play these anymore personally.

[JBlaze226]

I enjoyed skyward sword and enjoyed the puzzles, dungeons, and environment. I can agree the motion control was a bit awkward but it's worth a go especially with the switch controls.

[metalgod88]

Nobody wanted to play an entire zelda game with clunky motion controls. Really cool idea, but man.. Zelda games are long which is cool, but if the controls aren't great, it gets frustrating pretty quick.

[dragon_rocks]

Forced motion controls, lot of backtracking and revisiting areas, forced timed sections, musical tadpoles, horrible boss fights, handholding throughout the game, irritating companion, flight not contributing much to gameplay/combat but just a means to go from A to B etc. etc. all contribute to it being the worst 3d zelda game.

[nommers]

There's a lot of reasons: forced motion controls, forced handholding, every time you pick up an item in the current game session the item is over explained and this happens in any restarted session, switching items is a pain, the back tracking, the dungeons. Basically all of the game.