Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword save files repaired by Wii channel

@JakeAuditore

At least they're trying. Gotta give that to them. They've come a long way since the beginning of the console cycle, I just hope they can at least catch up (infrastructure-wise) by the time the Wii U launches.

@baby sea tuna

I wouldn't bet on that, actually. Nintendo takes a dim view of patches to games post-release, because it's seen (and maybe rightfully so) as rushing the release to meet some arbitrary deadline as opposed to getting the quality right the first time. Now, granted, the Zelda games have a very poor track record in this regard, considering every single 3D Zelda has had some major bug in it, but the point still stands: Nintendo is very worried about its image and won't want to expose themselves to that sort of criticism, either in its platform or its own titles.

It's entirely possible, of course, that they may not have a choice-- third parties may be breathing down their necks for this sort of thing to be in the next system-- but, if I had to lay money down either way, I'd say that there won't be patches for the WiiU.

@John Z

I know about this one and the cannon room patch, but I have played through every Zelda game multiple times and have never encountered a single bug. The ones I have heard about seem to be triggered by doing things that it wouldn't occur to most people to try. Why would you ever save inside the cannon room? Anyway, point is that I don't think the Zelda games can be held up as an example of poor QA.

@John Z

They've promised to patch things on the 3DS (save states for Ambassador games,) which leads me to believe that they will have some sort of pipeline approach to patching the Wii U. If not, it would be incredibly short-sighted of them.

I respect that they have a mission to try and make every game work 100% before shipping, but it would be stupid at this point to not build in a failsafe, especially since their competition has been doing it for years now (sometimes to a fault *coughBethesdacough*)

@John Z
It's silly to think that the Wii U won't have a patching system. An avenue for developers to fix their games post-release doesn't inherently encourage those developers to cut corners to meet deadlines. With game development getting more complicated every year, it becomes more necessary to have a fallback in case there's something that fell through the cracks, and the software people at Nintendo aren't going to overlook that.

@A Sandwich I've encountered minor bugs here and there, my favorite being one that let my seagull fly through the home island in Wind Waker, but none of them have been "major", game-breaking bugs, although I played through Skyward Sword the first time without hearing about this bug and I didn't encounter it.

Complicated systems have bugs and always will. Ever catch a cold? Sneeze? Get a headache? Well I bet amoebas don't get headaches or sneeze or catch colds.

It's great that Nintendo can make games for their own platform with only one or two game-breaking bugs here and there, but in the world of multi-platform games and RPGs Nintendo's elitist attitude fails.

If they don't step it up with their technology they'll be stuck relying on first-party games forever.

@John Z You've got to understand every single game through any console owner (Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo) must be submitted to an internal testing team run by the manufacturer.

If game breaking bugs are found the title is rejected and must wait a certain duration to be submitted. If you fail this certification multiple times (due to "show stoppers") your game is refused a release, which incentivizes developers to get it right the first time.

Nintendo is in the stone age with this stuff. Patches rarely are issued to address game stopping bugs when it comes to third or first party titles as most of this stuff is caught before release. The true reason Nintendo doesn't allow patches is because they did not want to invest in the infrastructure to support it. It costs money, man power and time to do it right (e.g. Microsoft & Sony) and Nintendo has very little incentive. Considering their core audience is people who don't care about patches/DLC to begin with it's probably a wise move on their part.

@scrumtrelescent7
Yeah actually, it does. Why do today what you can do tomorrow? I have friends who don't have wireless internet, patches mean nothing to them. I shouldn't have to explain what this generation has been like for them, not even knowing if a game you buy will work.

@baby sea tuna The savestates for Ambassador games just mean they're going to release brand new versions of the NES games for sale, and when they do, Ambassadors get them for free. That's not quite the same as patching.

@mrmobius

I'm thinking the percentage of Wii owners is going to be MUUUUUCH bigger than the percentage of Zelda owners. Like 90/10.

@baby sea tuna

Yea, I know. It was a bit of hyperbole.

@John Z
Yeah I forgot that one, that bug did suck. It took awhile before I could get that fixed.

@TheManEl

No the channel doesn't allow you to avoid the glitch. Tho simply completing the desert section of the song of heros fetch quest will allow you to avoid it.

This is more of an "In the event that you run into it" it will fix your save file so you don't have to slog back through 10+hours of gameplay.

@TheManEl

Doubtful, I think this is an "after the fact" fix as opposed to a preventive measure.

@Scuffles

Oh, ok. Thanks!

Important Clarification: Completing the desert section of the song of hero's fetch quest **LAST**,

will allow you to avoid it. Since that is where the potential game stopping, error can occur. So hit the Forrest and volcano before the desert and you should be fine.

@TheManEl You'll probably never run into this bug, but you'll only need to download the channel if you do.

@Scuffles

I wish I could have mailed in my system after the OtherM being an awful piece of garbage fiasco.

@baby sea tuna

Aw c'mon now Other M was the shizz

@baby sea tuna I thought it was good, but Metroid was another game everyone was saying needed a refresh after the Metroid Prime trilogy. Well, you got your refresh. Wanna see the same thing happen to Zelda?

@Co

The only thing Other M did right is reinforce Nintendo's stance on silent protagonists.

@baby sea tuna
AGREED. Here's to Samus never speaking again.

@Co

Dude, baby sea tuna is correct. Other M was pretty much garbage. The Wiimote only controls made the last boss a complete clusterf*ck, and I won't even get started on the story.