Alright, so yeah, I have Wind Waker HD. I love it, it's my favorite Zelda game ever. Anyway, I realized after playing it... The other Zelda games have really clunky controls and menus. Now, before anyone tries to say otherwise, I LOVE the Zelda franchise. However, Wind Waker did so many things to improve the games, that honestly, the rest just feel really awkward when it comes to the controls and menu navigation. Let's take a look, comparing Wind Waker to, say, Ocarina of Time:
Controls
Nintendo controllers used to be really limited when it came to buttons. They rarely even had two analog sticks. The Gamecube controller had the c-stick, but that thing was too tiny to use for the same features that, say, the Dualshock used for its second analog stick. This made camera controls in games like OoT really awkward. You'd have to hit a button to center the camera on Link, and you didn't have free reign of it at all times.
Wind Waker HD fixed this. Because of the Gamepad, there was now a second analog stick that could be designated to the camera. This made things a LOT easier. We could now look around wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was a simple feature, but it helped the Zelda series SO MUCH. Also, adding to the controls, the extra shoulder buttons on the Gamepad allowed them to use something other than the analog stick for item storage, unlike the Gamecube controller, where the c-stick was set to items (Not that it'd work for the camera anyway, but still). Speaking of the items...
Menus
In older Zelda games like OoT, you would have to pause the game, put the cursor over the item you wanted to use, select it, then close the menu just to use an item that wasn't in your shortcuts. It took forever, and broke the pacing of the game. Skyward Sword made it slightly easier by having you just have to hit a button, move the Wii remote in that direction, and then let go of the button, but it was still opening a menu that broke the pacing.
In WWHD, if you play off of the TV, the Gamepad can be used for easy item management. Instead of having to open a menu and select an item off of that, you can just tap on the item you want on the Gamepad, then drag it over to the corresponding slot that you want to use for it. Simple as that. You can play while changing your equipment (Which is easier for right handed people, but whatever), which is really convienient. The Gamepad also allows for easier map usage, which was also set to menus in past Zelda games.
Anyway, I know this is a really weird and random rant. However, I really appreciate the Gamepad, and what it's done for the Zelda games. Now, we just have to hope that Zelda U will use it for the same purposes...
Alright, so yeah, I have Wind Waker HD. I love it, it's my favorite Zelda game ever. Anyway, I realized after playing it... The other Zelda games have really clunky controls and menus. Now, before anyone tries to say otherwise, I LOVE the Zelda franchise. However, Wind Waker did so many things to improve the games, that honestly, the rest just feel really awkward when it comes to the controls and menu navigation. Let's take a look, comparing Wind Waker to, say, Ocarina of Time:
Controls
Nintendo controllers used to be really limited when it came to buttons. They rarely even had two analog sticks. The Gamecube controller had the c-stick, but that thing was too tiny to use for the same features that, say, the Dualshock used for its second analog stick. This made camera controls in games like OoT really awkward. You'd have to hit a button to center the camera on Link, and you didn't have free reign of it at all times.
Wind Waker HD fixed this. Because of the Gamepad, there was now a second analog stick that could be designated to the camera. This made things a LOT easier. We could now look around wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was a simple feature, but it helped the Zelda series SO MUCH. Also, adding to the controls, the extra shoulder buttons on the Gamepad allowed them to use something other than the analog stick for item storage, unlike the Gamecube controller, where the c-stick was set to items (Not that it'd work for the camera anyway, but still). Speaking of the items...
Menus
In older Zelda games like OoT, you would have to pause the game, put the cursor over the item you wanted to use, select it, then close the menu just to use an item that wasn't in your shortcuts. It took forever, and broke the pacing of the game. Skyward Sword made it slightly easier by having you just have to hit a button, move the Wii remote in that direction, and then let go of the button, but it was still opening a menu that broke the pacing.
In WWHD, if you play off of the TV, the Gamepad can be used for easy item management. Instead of having to open a menu and select an item off of that, you can just tap on the item you want on the Gamepad, then drag it over to the corresponding slot that you want to use for it. Simple as that. You can play while changing your equipment (Which is easier for right handed people, but whatever), which is really convienient. The Gamepad also allows for easier map usage, which was also set to menus in past Zelda games.
Anyway, I know this is a really weird and random rant. However, I really appreciate the Gamepad, and what it's done for the Zelda games. Now, we just have to hope that Zelda U will use it for the same purposes...