Zelda: Skyward Sword HD will sport autosave, and non-motion camera manipulation

New quality of life features confirmed

Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is nearly here, but before it arrives, Nintendo has been slowly teasing out all of its features. While there was a recap recently that gave us a broad look at the enhancements the Switch edition would bring, Nintendo has been delving into each mechanic with individual trailers, which have been both enlightening and annoying to follow. Here’s a look at a few more recent ones.

First up, let’s check out this tweet on saving:

The Legend of #Zelda: #SkywardSwordHD features an autosave system that saves your progress at regular intervals. If you save at a Bird Statue, you can now choose from one of the three available slots to save to. pic.twitter.com/j23GgYZPla

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 12, 2021

As you’ll note, there’s three save slots available for each file, but Zelda: Skyward Sword HD also sports an autosave feature. Previously, the “quality of life trailer” showcased the three slots plus the autosave slot, so technically there’s four slots. I remember the joys of having multiple slots for action-adventure/RPG games decades ago, so I’m glad to see the practice alive and well. Skyward Sword as a whole is fairly forgiving in terms of game overs and warping in and out of dungeons/areas, but it’s nice all the same.

Next up is this tweet from the official Japanese Zelda account today:

【カメラのみまわし】#スカイウォードソードHD では、カメラを自由に回せるようになりました。いろいろな角度から世界を見渡してみてはいかがでしょうか？
（Joy-Con 2本持ちならRスティックを回す。ボタン操作ならLボタン＋Rスティックを回す。） pic.twitter.com/I4g94H2SNi

— ゼルダの伝説 (@ZeldaOfficialJP) July 13, 2021

As stated in the tweet, you can rotate the camera freely in Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. With two Joy-Con using the old school motion system, you can use the right stick to move the camera around like most 3D platformers. But if you’re using a tactile controls (like a Pro controller), you now have the ability to hold L to make the right stick alter the camera. This is seemingly because the right stick is manipulating the sword controls, as previously stated: so the L button modifies the stick into camera controls.

I think at this point we have a pretty clear picture of what the game is bringing to the table. Given that it’s out on July 16, that’s probably a good thing!