As polished as Nintendo releases typically are, sometimes glitches still sneak through, and one that completely breaks The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a particularly damaging one.

The glitch prevents users from even finishing the game.

When the “Song of the Hero” quest becomes available, players are allowed to splinter off into one of three places. If players choose complete the Lanayru Desert section ahead of Faron Woods or Eldin Volcano, certain cutscenes will never trigger.

Nintendo has been unclear about how it would solve the issue, either. In the past, Nintendo has fixed major glitches by having players send in their copy of the game or an SD card with the botched save.

That’s still going to be an option, according to a support update from Nintendo, but it’s also being a bit more progressive, and will be releasing some kind of downloadable software that will fix saved games.

“We are also planning on releasing a program that will repair save data for those who have their Wii connected to the Internet,” reads a statement on the support site. “We are currently working on preparations for the release of this program. Information on how to download and use it will be made available through support.nintendo.com once the program is ready for release.”

Details on this update are till being determined, but it’s nice to see you won’t have to ship off a saved game. If you’d like to go that route, however, Nintendo says it will happily fix saved games for you.

As polished as Nintendo releases typically are, sometimes glitches still sneak through, and one that completely breaks The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a particularly damaging one.

The glitch prevents users from even finishing the game.

When the “Song of the Hero” quest becomes available, players are allowed to splinter off into one of three places. If players choose complete the Lanayru Desert section ahead of Faron Woods or Eldin Volcano, certain cutscenes will never trigger.

Nintendo has been unclear about how it would solve the issue, either. In the past, Nintendo has fixed major glitches by having players send in their copy of the game or an SD card with the botched save.

That’s still going to be an option, according to a support update from Nintendo, but it’s also being a bit more progressive, and will be releasing some kind of downloadable software that will fix saved games.

“We are also planning on releasing a program that will repair save data for those who have their Wii connected to the Internet,” reads a statement on the support site. “We are currently working on preparations for the release of this program. Information on how to download and use it will be made available through support.nintendo.com once the program is ready for release.”

Details on this update are till being determined, but it’s nice to see you won’t have to ship off a saved game. If you’d like to go that route, however, Nintendo says it will happily fix saved games for you.

well finally!

I'm just glad the glitch didn't happen to me when I was playing the game.

Nintendo confirmed to be better than Bethesda.

Hard to give nintendo any shit after some of the stuff the ps3 and 360 pumped out this generation. Bummer for the people affected though.

Cool. Whenever I get around to my second playthrough, I'd like to be able to tackle that section in whatever weird order I want without fear of hitting this glitch.

@IamAwesome said:

Nintendo confirmed to be better than Bethesda.

....how so?

I use to work at Nintendo, and im surprised that got through. I wonder who got yelled at.

Yeah there was some major save game bugs, one of which I got hit by, that could have been fixed in Fallout 3 but Bethesda only fixed it for brand new saves, not existing ones.

It is a shame that two home console Zelda games in a row now, a pretty major bug has been present in both. Hopefully Wii U will have a more elegant solution for patching, although ideally of course it shouldn't be required in the first place.

I plan on playing this as soon as I'm done with Skyrim. Hopefully the fix will be completed by then.

@IamAwesome said:

Nintendo confirmed to be better than Bethesda.

Except the part where you had to send shit in or "use software to repair damaged save" stuff. Nintendo needs a better way to fix this shit.

"and will be releasing some kind of downloadable software that will fix saved games."

Hmmm, maybe we could call this thing a 'patch'! What a wonderful new use of that word!

this is why i make back ups, but this never happened to a Nintendo game i had before tbh

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Except the part where you had to send shit in or "use software to repair damaged save" stuff. Nintendo needs a better way to fix this shit.

What do you think a patch is other than "software"? Magic?

Until Skyrim came out, I never really gave much thought to how bug-free Nintendo games generally are. Those guys must test their games pretty thoroughly. That being said, it's still sort of funny to read statements like this from Nintendo and see how behind they are in the online part of gaming. If I haven't played a game on my 360 in a few months, I'm surprised if there isn't some sort of minor patch. I wonder if developers are significantly more careful about testing Wii games for bugs, knowing that they can't patch them.

Wow, is this a sign that online patches could be the future?

Can they patch out the first 6 hours of the game, and all the useless dialogue too?

So as long as I don't go to the desert first, I'll be fine?

"some sort of downloadable software" like.... a patch? *gasp

@Mumrik said:

"and will be releasing some kind of downloadable software that will fix saved games."

Hmmm, maybe we could call this thing a 'patch'! What a wonderful new use of that word!

Your reading comprehension needs some work. The downloadable software will apply a fix/patch to the save, but it isn't a patch itself.

You might want to clarify that doing the desert first in no way will stop the cutscenes from triggering. The bug only occurs in a very specific situation that requires you to complete that entire section, then do a bit of backtracking (instead of progressing) in order to speak to a character in a different area of that level.

NIntendo releasing an update for their game? That is news! Ha! They are so pathetically far behind!

Does anyone have the story on the game that required you to mail something in? Which game was it?

Alright, good; I didn't run into it.

Good on Nintendo for figuring out a better way to fix this than requiring people to mail something in. It's still far from perfect but considering the severe limitations of their hardware, it sounds like a good solution.

Wait this is incorrect information Patrick.... The glitch is not if you go to the desert first (that would be a huge glitch indeed) it is if for some reason after you complete the quest you go back to talk to the Goron at the beginning (which is something noone would actually do for any good reason). Why you trying to make Nintendo look worse ehre?

Typo, Patrick.

Details on this update are till being determined, but it’s nice to see you won’t have to ship off a saved game.

@billyhoush said:

Does anyone have the story on the game that required you to mail something in? Which game was it?

I believe it was Other M?

I think we've reached a dangerous point in gaming history. When Nintendo is releasing a patch for a first-party game, games have become too complex.

@ChrisInCali said:

Can they patch out the first 6 hours of the game, and all the useless dialogue too?

cheers to that...

They should've done this to fix the Metroid: Other M glitch too.

@krabboss said:

@Mumrik said:

"and will be releasing some kind of downloadable software that will fix saved games."

Hmmm, maybe we could call this thing a 'patch'! What a wonderful new use of that word!

Your reading comprehension needs some work. The downloadable software will apply a fix/patch to the save, but it isn't a patch itself.

You mean like... a patcher/update tool?

Wooo!

@billyhoush said:

Does anyone have the story on the game that required you to mail something in? Which game was it?

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/nintendo-offering-to-fix-broken-metroid-other-m-saves/2588/

Never thought I'd live to see the day Nintendo would use patches. I'm torn; sad to see Nintendo shipped a glitched game, and also happy to see them using patches. Of course, it's also nice to know they're still being crazy and purposefully different, refusing to call it a patch and "go with the crowd".

Can't wait to see this...ahem... "program that will repair save data" (because that sounds so much better than 'patch'. Now you can say you're the guys who innovated it, Nintendo! )

Somewhere, someone experienced intense shame over this. Still, I love the old mentality of making an awesome game and selling it, and that's it. It's a total uproar when a nintendo game has a bug, because the expectations are so high. DLC is one of the worst things that has happened to our collective hobby in the last six years. Patches for PC existed before that, but it was kind of nice when games had to be awesome when they were released, or they would always suck and your development studio would be a topic of eternal shame for putting out a broken product, and the publisher would have to do some massive recall.

I mean, people bought FFXIV years ago, and it still isn't a real game. What the fuck is that about?

They should also fix that glitch of having the dialog pop up when you get a forging item. Also that glitch when you cannot skip dialog and only skip cutscenes if you have died at a boss.

Phew, I just did that part myself, glad the bug didn't hit my game. Did Faron Woods first. I do wish they would fix the "act like you never picked up any bugs or treasure every time you start a new session, thus showing you what it is" thing as well. It is really annoying, especially when I am not able to play huge chunks at a time.

Nintendo Software Update Channel? Aight.

@laserbolts: It's hard to have a history of glitches in your games when the number of good games for that platform can be counted with the fingers of a single hand.

I'll eagerly await the left handed mode update, too, now that it's raining frogs.

@Mumrik said:

@krabboss said:

@Mumrik said:

"and will be releasing some kind of downloadable software that will fix saved games."

Hmmm, maybe we could call this thing a 'patch'! What a wonderful new use of that word!

Your reading comprehension needs some work. The downloadable software will apply a fix/patch to the save, but it isn't a patch itself.

You mean like... a patcher/update tool?

Wooo!

Yeah, that thing which is not a patch.

@Shakezula84 said:

I use to work at Nintendo, and im surprised that got through. I wonder who got yelled at.

I started reading that sentence and thought: "Not another knee joke"... I spend too much time on the the Internet.

I wonder, will they repress discs with new code? Also, is this 100% confirmed to ruin your save, or does it happen randomly to some people?

Prediction: patching software will only be compatible with windows 95 and will arrive on a floppy disk

This is a huge reason Nintendo needs to make a console that is MUCH better at online connectivity like the 360 and PS3. Having to mail in hardware to fix a glitch?! That is just completely unnecessary and should not even be a thought at this point in console technology. Its not like this is 2000. I realize they are releasing a patch, but having to go a to website just to figure out how to download the file is ridiculous. Fix your shit for the next console Nintendo.

@Demoskinos: Sure. Tell that to the PS3 users who all got a broken game.

Nintendo Software Update Channel? Aight.

Now, if only they could fix the stupid re-spawn glitch at Maka Wuhu in Mario Kart 7! That'll show those cheaters. Mario Kart 7 needs it more than Skyward Sword in my opinion... though the Skyward Sword glitch is rather serious... of course.

Nintendo have struggled with this sort of thing all generation, Their inability to patch games easily through their online system shows they are still light years behind their competitors in this aspect.

I worry that it will take Nintendo far too long to develop HD games that are fully voiced and I worry about their ability to make a quality online service that can rival the next xbox/PS, I worry that the Wii U will be the death of Nintendo.