Skyward Sword team couldn’t tame Wii MotionPlus, originally scrapped it for buttons
The Zelda: Skyward Sword team went through an incredibly difficult process of incorporating Wii MotionPlus into their game. It caused so many issues that producer Eiji Aonuma asked the developers not to use the attachment.
The team then started working on an interface in which players would use the original Wiimote along with the nunchuck, like in Twilight Princess. Also, buttons were used for fighting controls. Satoru Iwata said in a new Iwata Asks interview, “So the detour started right at the beginning of development!”
Eventually, though, Aonuma asked the team to consider MotionPlus once again.
Iwata: Wii MotionPlus is an incredibly sharp device, but a little distinctive. It’s like an unruly horse.
Aonuma: Yes, exactly. No matter what we did, we couldn’t tame it. Then Wii Sports Resort came out as the first game for Wii MotionPlus.
Iwata: That’s right.
Aonuma: We played that and realized all you could do with it. Wii Sports Resort has all kinds of games like Swordplay and Archery and you can play each one as its own separate game, but in The Legend of Zelda, you play everything on the same field.
Fujibayashi: That’s right. You may be fighting with your sword and the next instant use the Clawshot or shoot an arrow or throw a bomb, so it was really difficult to make the game so you could use Wii MotionPlus to do those things smoothly all on the same field.
Aonuma: So I proposed to the staff to not use Wii MotionPlus afterall.
Iwata: You gave up once.
Aonuma: Yes. Then we started making a Legend of Zelda game that you would play using the original Wii Remote and Nunchuk. But then I fell under intense pressure from some other producers, who said, “Aonuma-san, why aren’t you using Wii MotionPlus?!” (laughs)
Iwata: They were like, “Don’t run away from it!” (laughs)
Aonuma: Exactly. (laughs) So I was like, “We got to do it!” I gathered the staff and we puzzled over how we could make it work. As a result, Kobayashi-san and those guys had a hard time. (laughs)
Kobayashi: Yes. (laughs)
Iwata: In what way?
Kobayashi: As Aonuma-san just mentioned, we had proceeded with a plan that didn’t involve using Wii MotionPlus. We had already made something basic using button controls to fight, and we had taken development to where we were going to start cranking out a bunch of variations. But then Aonuma-san suddenly called us in.
Aonuma: I’m SO sorry about that. (laughs)
Kobayashi: We were like, “Aw, here it comes…” (laughs) We didn’t have any existing knowledge of how it worked, so we weren’t even at the starting point because we had to learn how it worked!
Iwata: So the detour started right at the beginning of development! (laughs)
Aonuma: Yes. And it was a huge one!
