Ambidextrous Link?

[Nate the Great]

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/content/view/615/2/

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, there IS a difference between the Gamecube and Revolution versions of Twilight Princess (please please PLEASE don't bring up the Wii debacle again). I mean besides the obvious control changes.

I fondly remember Link as being left-handed. Turns out that people find it easier to use the Wii-mote right-handed, so guess what? TP Revolution Link is right-handed, and TP Gamecube Link is left-handed! Absolutely moronic.

I would've preferred to have all Links be left-handed and actually face the challenge of using the Wiimote left-handed. Opinions?

Here's a poll to stir you guys up.

[GreenFire1]

I think you should be able to set it to your preference...

[JVTruman]

I think it should be an option, like the left-handed mouse option in Windows. That way, it can be set to whatever is easier to use for you, whether you're left- or right-handed.

[MaverickZer0]

Left-handed.

No, I don't say that for any reason. Just that I wouldn't see using a left-handed remote as much of a challenge.

[Nate the Great]

I'm not sure if I read that one version is just a mirror image of the other to accomplish the effect, or if they actually altered the game engine, but...

Personally I should think that the Revolution and the Revolution Wiimote should be advanced enough to allow you to choose right or left-handed at the start, and only mirror Link's sprite if necessary, not mirror the whole world. I can't imagine it being more difficult than modding a different tunic color or introducing four mask-transformed versions of Link in Majora's Mask.

Heck, do it the first time right-handed, then "un-lock" the left-handed option by beating the game, or just insert ZELDA as your username! Easier way to create a harder "second quest," huh?

[Zeke]

I have no objections. Link is the player character, and as such, he ought to have the player's handedness if that's helpful. It probably proved too difficult to provide both options, so they made the choice that worked best for 8/9ths of their customers rather than 1/9th.

There's another obvious point here -- even if all past Links have been left-handed, that has no bearing on this one. The Link of Twilight Princess is all-new. Zelda's not like most series, where the main character is the same guy (or gal) every time.

Anyway, the last word in videogame character handedness is this Bob and George strip from when George had just got an eyepatch.

[Nate the Great]

The sprite effect reared its ugly head in the original Legend of Zelda, but shouldn't we be past this by now? Hey, I'm no computer programming wizard, but as I understand it, sprite physics work on a few basic principles:

1. Every character has a basic imaginary "skeleton." This just means that the action is designed for the character's eyes, hands, knees, etc. to exist a certain distance from the ground and each other.
2. The "skin" (clothing, sheathed sword, etc) of a character creates a shell around the skeleton. The skeleton dictates which part of the skin is on the outside. For example, Link's legs are essentially hollow tubes that extend above the bottom of his tunic "skirt." The tunic is designed to be on the outside, so his upper thighs are generally tucked away inside his skirt until a larger jump requires more of his leg to show. It would be too complicated to actually have his leg end at the skirt and "lengthen" it as required. For a similar effect, get the camera stuck in Link's head. You see that his bangs just hover there, and that the only surfaces are the two that form the peak away from his forehead. The inner surface where it touches his "skin" isn't there because we're not supposed to need to see it.
3. When Link unsheathes his sword, he's essentially extending the sprites' skeleton. The interaction of sprite skeleton's is what causes damage effects to be applied. Note how he can walk through the outer fringes of some enemies as well as the floor of Jabu-Jabu's Belly because complete surface interaction would be very intensive in terms of processor speed and so on.

All this is to set up the following hypothesis.

Link being left- or right-handed is just a matter of which arm of his skeleton is designed to allow the possibility of sword extension. I imagine that his "skin" is symettrical enough to allow most of it to be flipped along with the skeleton. The only asymmetrical components are the shoulder his sheath strap goes over, the side of his belt that is tucked in, the side that his hair is parted on, etc. Now, his hair and belt can be considerred static for this example, but this sheath strap is a very important concept. He needs the sheath on his left shoulder if he's right-handed and vice-versa. A simple mirror reflection of the coordinates of the critical points of the sheath, his sword, etc as well as a reflection of the relative vectors of his sword and shield movement should be all that's needed. Compared to the processor capability necessary to render a dozen monkeys on the screen at once, this handed-ness should not be that difficult to set up.

[Chancellor Valium]

^That's one model design, yes.

@topic: Um...matters?

[Nate the Great]

Is there another model design? For 3-D sprites, I'm not sure if there is, short of having actual composites of solid spheres, cylinders, etc that would have pixel-for-pixel accurate collision programming.

[Chancellor Valium]

^You build a rough body out of attached bits of trimesh. Then cover it with a skin/editable mesh. Attach the two together, and add animations.

Obviously it's a bit more complicated than that, and I know *nothing* about consoleified stuff...

[Hejira]

Totally not a Zelda player here, but I voted for keeping Link a lefty because IMO, the reason for him changing hand preference is silly.

For example, Metroid Prime 3 has Samus opening certain doors with her left hand, and this was controlled with the Wiimote in the right hand. It confused the guy I saw playing it momentarily. (As far as I could tell, the framerate of the video sucked. Nice hi-res, though.)

Sooooooooo, lefty Link and righty Wii player...some period of readjustment time, I'd say, but after that they should get along like...like...

...very much unlike the various parts of my brain at the moment. Which is good. For TP players, not so much for my brain.

I'll probably get Twilight Princess anyway.

[Nate the Great]

Get along like twinkies, hot dogs and Cheez Whiz? Go Weird Al!

[ijdgaf]

I find it unusual that you still call the system "Revolution", Nate. The official name has been "Wii" for about six months now. It'll remain that way for years. And honestly, it will probably sell a bit better as a result. Revolution may sound cooler. But it's time to get with the program, dude. Calling it by its code name won't change the way the games play, or the graphics, or its price. It'll just get you sighs from those in the know and confused looks from those in the dark.

Wii.

Hardly apocalyptic.

[Nate the Great]

"It'll remain that way for years." Try FOREVER. Have you ever known a console name to change? Besides that whole Playstation/PS1 thing which still confuses me...

I'd rather get sighs from other people than wince every time I say "Wii." Every single time. A childish name indicates a childish system and a childish target market.

If you knew me personally, my stubborness would not surprise you at ALL.

[Hejira]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

If you knew me personally, my stubborness would not surprise you at ALL.

I find it interesting that you're stubborn on what to call Nintendo's fifth home console, yet the first line of your sig is, "What's in a name?"

[mudshark]

Par for the course, then.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

If you knew me personally, my stubborness would not surprise you at ALL.

I don't know you personally and it sure doesn't surprise me.

[ijdgaf]

It is no more a childish name than "iPod", and it is no more a childish market than "iPod".

Take a look at the game library. The idea is to appeal to kids, adults, old people, hardcore gamers, first-timers... everyone.

Wii is simply a name. It may sound retarded to somebody used to names like "Playstation" and "Super Nintendo", but it's just the sort of name to attract the wide marketshare Nintendo is looking for.

I wasn't too surprised to see an initial outrage when the name was announced. I am surprised to see somebody still on a nomenclature boycott. The rest of the internet got over it months ago.

[Nate the Great]

If you don't know me personally, Z, who online does?

Oh yeah, I believe in playing on par, especially in minigolf.

The name "Wii" attracts a wide marketshare? I thought it was the system, and furthermore, Twilight Princess and Smash Brothers Brawl.

[ijdgaf]

Go out and conduct a survey and see how many non-gamers have any idea what the hell "Legend of Zelda" or "Super Smash Brothers" refer to.

WIDER marketshare. Not just people who are already geeks.