Some of the greatest, most famous, and most successful figures in history have been left handed. We have left-handed presidents including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Gerald Ford. We have ancient leaders and revolutionaries including Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caeser. We have inventors and great minds like Henry Ford, and there are about a billion more great left-handed people of history and the present.
But Kotaku have made a grim observation: Gamers may be losing one of their foremost left-handed role models. Since the beginnings of the Legend of Zelda series, Link, our hero, has been left-handed. And there aren’t too many left. Two of the few remaining are from all the way back in Final Fantasy VII: Barrett and Sephiroth. And Barrett was only left-handed because his right hand was a gatling gun.
On every system but the Wii, Link was left-handed and loving it. But now that players directly control him, and the majority of gamers are right-handed, Link on the screen is right-handed, too. On Kotaku, you can see video proof that Link has always been left-handed before.
This doesn’t mean left-handed players will have a harder time controlling Link, though. The controls with the Wiimote and the nunchuck should be equally simple regardless of which element is held in which hand (and be sure to use the wrist-strap!). It might just be disorienting to swing with one hand, then have it correspond to the other on-screen. But this happened to a lesser degree on Twilight Princess, the first Zelda Wii title, and gamers apparently got used to it.
If Skyward Sword turns out as good as I think it will, gamers will forgive this game, too.
(Via Kotaku)
Published: Jun 23, 2010 12:29 pm