In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, there are many new mechanics and returning mechanics from Breath of the Wild, including some of its quality-of-life options. The game doesn't allow much customization of its graphics or the majority of its control scheme, save for the option to swap the jump button from X to B. Some of its quality-of-life options aren't beloved by every Tears of the Kingdom fan, though, especially its motion controls.
Breath of the Wildmade great use of motion controls for aiming the bow, throwing weapons, and activating abilities. These controls are on by default in Tears of the Kingdom, though, and some players don't find the Switch's motion controls all that helpful. Thankfully, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom makes it easy to turn this off and control the camera with the analog sticks only.
How To Turn Off Motion Controls in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Turning off motion controls can be accomplished very quickly after starting Tears of the Kingdom. After the player is given control of Link just a few minutes into a new game, they can open the game menu with the + button to see the main menu.
Select "Options" to open a menu that contains a bunch of customizable settings, like camera control, the minimap, and which HUD mode is active. This menu is also available before starting the game, but it's worth testing the motion controls before deciding to turn it off from the get-go.
The setting we are looking for is at the bottom of the first section and should be labeled "Aim with motion controls." The orange slider to the right of this setting should be set to "Enabled" automatically. To turn off motion controls in Tears of the Kingdom, simply scroll down to this setting, and press the A button to swap it to "Disabled."
Players who aren't familiar with the typical Nintendo Switch button layout may need some time to get re-adjusted. The A button is located on the right side while the B button is on the bottom, and X is on top while Y is on the left, practically the opposite of, say, the Xbox Series X controller.
After disabling motion controls, when one is ready to leave the options menu and return to the game, just be sure to actually press the B button to exit – that is, unless you have re-mapped the button layout on the Pro Controller.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
