Nintendo is Worst Gaming Platform for Accessibility

Despite being blind, I’ve always loved video games. My family would help me play “Super Mario Brothers” and “Mario Kart” on the Nintendo Wii system. Sometimes I would get bored quickly because I couldn’t play by myself. In 2013, I was introduced to a Nintendo game called “Rhythm Heaven,” and it was right up my alley. I had it on my Nintendo DSi, a handheld system, and the Wii, which was a home console. It was the only game I could play 100% on my own. Every once in a while, someone had to read me instructions, but I was able to figure it out because it’s a music-based game.

In Rhythm Heaven, there are ten columns of five games once you unlock them all. The first four games in each column are mini rhythm games with a practice session before the real thing. The fifth game in each column is a remix of those four games that does not have practice. Sometimes elements from previous columns will be thrown into the harder remixes. The tenth and final remix is a combination of every single mini game. I was able to figure them out because during the practice game, it makes an error tone if you don’t do something right or just sit there. I would listen to the error tones and figure it out from there. I’ve even had to help my sighted brother with a few of them. I think that was the most rewarding part because in the past, he would always be the one to help me with games. The Wii version can go up to two players, so we would play together, and I usually won. I even got to the point where I could play two-player by myself with a Wii remote in each hand, and that really stunned my family!

Another game I played with my family was Wii Fit. I had to have help with the menus, but there was a voice saying to step on or step off the Wii Fit board, which was a balance board peripheral that came with the game. My favorite game on there was kick boxing. A voice on the actual game spoke what movements to do, and it was rhythm based. I already loved boxing on Wii Sports, and the kick boxing was more of a challenge, and I loved it.

Another game I’m good at is called Mario Super Sluggers, which is a Mario Baseball game. Someone has to set it up for me like picking my team captain, field, and teammates, but after that I can play! The announcer will say things like, “Out! Change! Safe! Foul! That’s the game!” and I can hear when the other team pitches the ball. Once I got the hang of it, my brother taught me how to do bigger pitches and harder hits, so I had a better chance of winning. It came back to bite him when I started using them on him! When the other team is about to get a home run, the game plays a really slow siren noise. He taught me when the siren starts to go back down to quickly push a twice, and my team captain will run forward and catch the ball, giving my team the point.

It would annoy him at first when I kept doing the things he taught me, but after a while we had more fun actually being competitive. I never cared if I won or lost, but our cousins didn’t share the same enthusiasm. That’s when I had to learn how to deal with people who hated losing. My mom, dad, and brother would tease me, but they never actually got mad when I would win. I always felt bad making our cousins get mad or cry, but my parents had to keep reminding me I was doing nothing wrong. I did tone down the extra stuff a little bit because I will admit I probably was doing them too much, but it wasn’t even because I wanted to win. It’s because I loved the sounds the game made, and I would know I was actually playing correctly. Unfortunately, our Wii is about 15 years old, and we’ve gotten new TVs since then, so they don’t have the three AV holes to plug the cables in it anymore. I still kept the Wii though because I don’t want to give it up.

If I wasn’t playing Rhythm Heaven, I was attempting to play “Mario Kart” and “Super Mario Bros” with my family. I also really loved the “Wii Sports” games. As the name implies, Wii Sports is a video game that includes various sports-based games. I was good at Boxing and Tennis on Wii Sports and Cycling, Basketball, Sword Play, and Table Tennis on Wii Sports Resort, which was a sequel to Wii Sports.

I have a DSi, but the only game I actually succeeded at is Rhythm Heaven. I have Mario Kart, but my brother basically played it for me so I could “play” any track I wanted. I based my favorite tracks on the music that goes with them. I know where the tracks are in the menus, but I can’t play them successfully. Same with Super Mario Bros. I love the music to a lot of the levels, but I can’t play them, and I really want to. Ever since the Wii, Nintendo has really dropped the ball on accessibility. The Nintendo Switch, Nintendo’s newest console, is basically just like a DSi, but it has virtually no accessibility. I’m sad they can’t at least remaster Rhythm Heaven and put it on the Switch. I would give anything to play the Mario games I grew up with without help. I hope Nintendo learns from other game companies and starts making their games and systems accessible for everyone.

To check out the Blind and Low Vision Experience, click HERE