Nintendo is finally being explicitly clear about the roundabout, kind of totally weird way it will finally solve the game-breaking glitch currently hiding within The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Andriasang reports Nintendo of Japan has come clean, revealing players can download an entirely new channel called the “Zelda Data Restoration Channel” that should allow you to progress.

In the past, Nintendo has solved glitches by swapping copies of the game or players mailing SD cards with saved games, then altering them manually. That’s an option for Skyward Sword players, too, but something tells me downloading a channel, however strange, is the preferred option.

Skyward Sword’s glitch occurs “Song of the Hero,” quest, in which players are given three options how to proceed. If they choose to head towards the Lanayru Desert and complete that area first, the cutscene to trigger the subsequent legs of the journey may not pop up, rendering the game unplayable.

Nintendo of America has not announced this yet, but has confirmed there will be a downloadable fix.

Nintendo is finally being explicitly clear about the roundabout, kind of totally weird way it will finally solve the game-breaking glitch currently hiding within The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Andriasang reports Nintendo of Japan has come clean, revealing players can download an entirely new channel called the “Zelda Data Restoration Channel” that should allow you to progress.

In the past, Nintendo has solved glitches by swapping copies of the game or players mailing SD cards with saved games, then altering them manually. That’s an option for Skyward Sword players, too, but something tells me downloading a channel, however strange, is the preferred option.

Skyward Sword’s glitch occurs “Song of the Hero,” quest, in which players are given three options how to proceed. If they choose to head towards the Lanayru Desert and complete that area first, the cutscene to trigger the subsequent legs of the journey may not pop up, rendering the game unplayable.

Nintendo of America has not announced this yet, but has confirmed there will be a downloadable fix.

What's with the giant ballsack? Looks like crotchy from postal 2.

@Buzzkill said:

Looks like crotchy from postal 2.

I will never unsee this. Thanks, asshole.

@Buzzkill: Good thing I have the Postal 2 Fudge Pack installed, and my save just happens to be on Krotchy's day.

Don't step to the Kikwi Chieftain, son.

Does the 3DS have the ability to receive patches? I've had mine for about a week and haven't been able to tell.

Such a weird, late 90's type thing.

Hasn't Nintendo had a pretty good track record with it's first party licenses? Surprised to see them make such a big mistake, especially for a Zelda game.

I kinda love how insane a solution this is.

Hopefully the Wii U will have title updates.

Do y'all know anyone saying this game should be out of GOTY competition because of this glitch like they are with Skyrim?A lot of people think Skyrim shouldn't be considered because of the PS3 version having so many problems, but from the people I've talked to, none of those problems have rendered the game unplayable. Sure, horrible framerate is crappy, but you can still play through it.

Can they make a channel that removes Fi from the game while they're at it?

Hasn't Nintendo had a pretty good track record with it's first party licenses? Surprised to see them make such a big mistake, especially for a Zelda game.

@cwdawg1224: Dude, you seem a little confused. SS is out of the GOTY running because it is shit, glitch or no glitch.

The glitch is the best part about SS.

Oh, Nintendo.

@Buzzkill said:

What's with the giant ballsack? Looks like crotchy from postal 2.

My very first thought when seeing the thumbnail. Krotchy don't need cojones, Krotchy IS cojones! High brow humor at its best.

The Wii shows how behind the times Nintendo really is with this one.

Well at least the fixed it. I'll download it just in case and I'm sure it will look cool on the Wii menu.

Nintendo: "Pff--playtesting? It's a Zelda game, it'll be fiiiine.

@JohnPaulVann: Is this IGN?

To everyone bitching about this...

... how's Skyrim treatin' ya?

@Enigma_2099 said:

To everyone bitching about this...

... how's Skyrim treatin' ya?

At least I can hard save so I don't have to restart if a game breaking glitch happens in Skyrim. But yea its a buggy time of year :)

Nintendo taking a step in the right direction...right?

Well, considering they can't do real patches on the Wii, this is a decent compromise. Hopefully this is a sign they'll include title updates on the Wii U firmware.

I take it the channel modifies your save data for skyward sword. It's a strange fix, but a fix nonetheless.

People may give Nintendo a little grief over this, but it's still leaps and bounds better than sending in an SD card.

@msavo said:

Does the 3DS have the ability to receive patches? I've had mine for about a week and haven't been able to tell.

I don't believe so, but unlike the Wii, I know for a fact the 3DS has the ability in it's firmware to have that ability if Nintendo decides that's what it wants. Just like the DLC possibility for the 3DS.

...it's a la, not ala.

@cwdawg1224 said:

Do y'all know anyone saying this game should be out of GOTY competition because of this glitch like they are with Skyrim?A lot of people think Skyrim shouldn't be considered because of the PS3 version having so many problems, but from the people I've talked to, none of those problems have rendered the game unplayable. Sure, horrible framerate is crappy, but you can still play through it.

this game was never in GOTY consideration in the first place. it's on the fuckin wii. are we supposed to consider iPhone games for GOTY too?

@benspyda said:

@Enigma_2099 said:

To everyone bitching about this...

... how's Skyrim treatin' ya?

At least I can hard save so I don't have to restart if a game breaking glitch happens in Skyrim. But yea its a buggy time of year :)

Those aren't glitches, they're "features". And damn fun features at that.

God dammit they are so Japanese, why not just issue a patch.

To be fair, this is a good way of fixing broken saves. I played Skyward Sword only yesterday and it had a patch I HAD to install. Basically if you play it today with a Wii connected to the internet it'll patch the game and you'll never need this channel, but if you've been screwed by this glitch this channel will fix your save file. New players will never see this really. They'll probably do the updated version on all future discs like the multiple version of Ocarina of Time. Anyway, it's Nintendo and they're doing the best they can with the tech they've got haha (ps this is the first Wii game I've bought in YEARS and I'd say it's a serious GOTY contender)

@phrali said:

this game was never in GOTY consideration in the first place. it's on the fuckin wii. are we supposed to consider iPhone games for GOTY too?

So even if a game is amazing (not saying Skyward Sword is, I'm speaking hypothetically), because it's on a platform you don't like means it can't be GOTY? Stellar logic, right there.

This at least proves that Nintendo is made up of actual humans capable of mistakes.

@StriderNo9 said:

God dammit they are so Japanese, why not just issue a patch.

The channel IS the patch. :)

Huh. This was not the game-breaking glitch I assumed the article would be talking about. I guess the glitch where my pelican tard-bird dives down to the deck and stays clipped under the clouds forever the first time you fly it -- EVERY time you fly it -- was working as intended.

At least I only sank about an hour into this one. I feel bad for anyone who grit their teeth through 5+ hours of those controls only to lose all their progress.

@shodan2020 said:

@StriderNo9 said:

God dammit they are so Japanese, why not just issue a patch.

The channel IS the patch. :)

Either troll or doesn't understand how the Wii works. I'll give a benefit of the doubt on this one.

@benspyda said:

@Enigma_2099 said:

To everyone bitching about this...

... how's Skyrim treatin' ya?

At least I can hard save so I don't have to restart if a game breaking glitch happens in Skyrim. But yea its a buggy time of year :)

I've got a glitch that makes the main questline literally impossible to complete and it's stuck in my saves. I have tried reinstalling the game and updates and I still got the problem. Though I haven't played for a week so I don't know if it's been fixed yet. Some glitches somehow can be saved, and it could be what I had where your game stuffs up while you are doing other quests and you are none-the-wiser. Time to get the bug hammer :)

@cwdawg1224 said:

A lot of people think Skyrim shouldn't be considered because of the PS3 version having so many problems [...]

Yes, but people who think that are stupid. It's not that hard; the 360/PC versions of Skyrim are eligible for GotY, the PS3 version isn't. There, done.

@Kyle said:

@Buzzkill said:

Looks like crotchy from postal 2.

I will never unsee this. Thanks, asshole.

Thanks asshat.

Hey Nintendo, you know what could have avoided all this mess? QA testing done by people who are not asleep.

Wow...did this really need an entire channel? I mean, wouldn't an update have been better? Doesn't the Wii have enough storage issues without adding a whole new channel to the menu, just to fix one game...and even if its there to fix future issues, what other problems are so bad that they had to release such a waste of memory?

@patrick: LOL, never a troll, I hug all my consoles before bed. So maybe I am misunderstanding. What does this channel do? And why couldn't Nintendo just update the game like with other consoles?

@StriderNo9 said:

@patrick: LOL, never a troll, I hug all my consoles before bed. So maybe I am misunderstanding. What does this channel do? And why couldn't Nintendo just update the game like with other consoles?

The channel modifies affected save files to fix the problem. This is in lieu of the console's actual inability for disc games to have updates, which they don't (and people seem to not realize). When existing Nintendo games ever get updated, they're completely newly pressed with new game ids and everything (there've been multiple versions of super smash bros. melee, ocarina of time, etc).

That's really weird, I guess I'll just try and NOT get the bug instead.

@Roger_Klotz: I guess it's second party, sort of, but Other M has a similar game breaking bug I ran into.

I'd prefer a patch that removes "motion control", and ideally at least makes it as good as Wind Waker...

@Wolf3 said:

I'd prefer a patch that removes "motion control", and ideally at least makes it as good as Wind Waker...

This.

(Haven't played the retail version of this yet, though)