(Update) Here’s some of the quality of life upgrades coming to Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on Switch

Straight from the source

[Update: Nintendo has given us a little more information on how Fi’s optional help works via the new Skyward Sword HD quality of life features in a tweet. In the original game, Link couldn’t walk into the area in the below tweet without Fi warning him that he’d burn up. In the new version, players can actually experiment and have fun playing the game by exploring and learning on their own: like a real Zelda title. I’m beyond stoked for this fix.]

In The Legend of #Zelda: #SkywardSwordHD, Fi offers optional tips. Look for a symbol in the lower left corner and a pulsating glow from your sword. Some instances from the original game’s release where Fi provided mandatory help are now optional. pic.twitter.com/6O7fQRz1fH

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 7, 2021

After a bit of beating around the bush, Nintendo has finally come out and just told us what some of the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD quality of life features are going to be.

So one of the big ones, if it actually pans out as promised, is optional help from Fi. In the original game Fi, your companion, would butt in constantly and even spoil entire puzzle solutions late game. According to Nintendo: “Fi only appears in cut-scenes or when necessary and can otherwise be summoned manually to provide advice or guidance.”

As for more Skyward Sword HD quality of life features, you can also fast-forward dialogue, skip cutscenes, autosave is in, tutorial dialogue can be skipped, item help text only appears one time after you acquire an item, and the game runs at 60 FPS, confirmed. I wouldn’t mind if Nintendo patched a few of these into their current games!

Honestly, cutting down a lot of the fluff/annoyances is really what Skyward Sword needed. It can feel like a feature-length tutorial, and is unfortunately one of Nintendo’s biggest examples of over-tutorialization to the point where you’re not even playing the game at times. So to see so much of this become optional is a huge boon for newcomers who won’t care for it, or returning players alike.