Soapbox: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Straight Up Fails In Just One Respect: Accessibility

Nintendo is pretty far behind with accessibility features in general. It's pretty sad in this day and age.

Wow I'm really sorry it can be so brutal playing the game without those features. It's wild to me that Nintendo still isn't willing to make those changes. I hope for the author's sake and others that they remedy this soon.

That was a great read, thanks

I think it's fine that they want the majority of players to use the controls in a certain way, but it is myopic that they do not acknowledge players who would benefit from user-defined controls. You would hope that the button prompts are not hard-coded so that if remapping is implemented, then the prompts will easily reflect that.

In an age where every single game, system and developer have implemented accessibility options, it’s shameful nintendo refuses to.

It did surprise me that Nintendo is far behind on accessibility options.

Sony's GOW Ragnarok had the best accessibility options in a game that I have seen so far.

Nintendo need to take this more seriously!

I love that y’all are doing these. There’s always just a few simple things that would enable so many more people to play…if Nintendo bothered to prioritize them even a little.

That Aonuma quote feels very Nintendo (in a bad way). They want to dictate a one-size-fits-all approach whenever they can, and make a bunch of ableist assumptions in the process.

Like all bad design, it goes beyond disability inclusion and negatively impacts a lot of other people. So many typically-baked people would’ve remapped BotW if they could have, just like they would’ve turned off motion controls in that Starfox Wii U game.

I agree! I'm not limited by it myself, but I imagine people running into issues due to the lack of accessibility. As others have said; Nintendo is really behind in this aspect. We should demand better for everyone's sake.

Come to the think of it...just HOW many of Nintendo's recent games have any accessibility options/features? Probably just a smidge...

This is something they REALLY need to tackle. Adding it thru updates is one way to do it.

Are there not third party controllers that work as options for someone who is disabled? Genuinely curious.

Your article really does highlight that absurd logic Nintendo has here. They’ve made a sandbox game where you can break the rules in so many creative ways, but they view the control scheme as something that must be protected.

It feels like it would be absurdly simple to implement such things, and it’s also woefully behind the times to not do it.

Digital accessibility seems a slow-growing topic, especially if you consider how we’d lambast a large chain for not having adequate provisions in their physical stores, but then don’t take a company to task that has the digital footfall of millions playing their games.

You wonder at what point a stronger stance gets taken: wouldn’t it be great if gaming media reached a consensus of a base level of essential features in games, and actively notched down review scores when they weren’t present. A spate of 9/10s instead of 10/10s would (sadly) galvanise Nintendo into action.

I don't have any disabilities and I struggle with the controls, falling from death, no weapon in my hand, not locking on to enemies, are just some of the things I fail at.

The controls and options are so vast, I am impressed you've managed to find a way to play, there clearly are ways to improve the accessibility.

@Il_Nintenditore Could you not? Can you keep it to any of the dozens of other articles on the game? Let this conversation be about accessibility and controls, not your little whine about content.

@UltraZelda64 You are being absolutely ridiculous. You have to hear a few extra voice lines ONCE when you start a new game and it makes you wish there were no accessibility options in any game? I hope you can realize how much of a giant infant you're being.

Sure… just one 😒

Every developer should copy Naughty Dog’s approach to accessibility features.

The accessibility options in TLOU Part I will boggle your mind. Full color blind customization. Fully remappable controls. All toggle variations supported for each game function.

I don’t need to use any of it but my jaw still drops at how well Naughty Dog caters to disabled gamers. It’s the gold standard. And every other developer should copy it.

@Tempestryke You're missing the entire point of everything you just read. It's about being physically unable to play the game due to its rigid control scheme, not about "difficulty".

Doesn't Japanese society still struggle to be accommodating to the handicapped? I feel that this might have some relation with the fact that Nintendo has always been kind of traditionalist.

@UltraZelda64 Those games do that so people with low (or no) vision can navigate the menu. Or someone with a neurological difference that makes reading difficult. If it didn’t happen automatically, they might not be able to find the option to turn it on.

A good rule of thumb is to think “I wonder how this helps somebody else?” when you encounter an accessibility feature like this. Features like this make game playable for people who couldn’t play otherwise - surely that’s worth you being slightly annoyed for 10 seconds once?

I thought the button "special controls" was for accessibility features and I was like yeah nintendo good on you but then i pressed it and was like nevermind

It's amazing that Nintendo still approaches things like this, and it's evidence that they're getting cocky again. They very much think they are above changing or doing, really, anything to be accessible or to make the player experience better or customizable. These recommendations would be relatively easy to patch in, but we all know they won't. Aonuma's total dismissal—"Yeah, whatever, we'll look into it"—is proof of this.

Thank you for creating this article. I never put much thought into it! Keep up the good work!

@steely_pete There are, but wouldn't it be better if the game simply included options to make the controller you have usable?

@WeirdAlUHF334 It's not absolute perfection for everyone. See the article you just read/skimmed through/skipped entirely for more information!

@Il_Nintenditore That's why games like GTA V should score a 0/10 - because they are open-world, but have no dungeons...not

Okay, I've made my point enough times. Accessibility options are extremely important, going as far as to make a game possible to play or not. If you have a problem with them existing then you need to look down at your fully functional hands and appreciate that you have them. These options aren't for you and me (though even with no disabilities I do often remap controls to be more comfortable!) but you should not be getting mad that they're even there, and doubly so should not be getting down on people for needing them.

https://twitter.com/ProBirdRights/status/368542088897372161

… You seem to think that everything I ever did was wrong
I should've known it all along
Oh darlin', there’s no pleasing you

😜

Well, it's hard to argue this article. Accessability should be standard these days.

These are some great pointers!

Let's look at it not as disappointing, but as an opportunity for the developers to improve. I mean, not many games have any options like that, and the ones that are present are mostly colourblind filters. Or maybe I just overlooked something

@WeirdAlUHF334

did you read the article? this is not a nitpick.

@ComfyAko

If you are able take a chance to play The Last of Us Part 1.

The accessibility options list is longer than the main options list.

They allow you to customize pretty everything to accommodate for vision issues, physical impairments, and auditory problems.

It’s the gold standard for disabled friendly games.

"Tears Of The Kingdom Straight Up Fails In Just One Respect: Accessibility"

... and weapons that break every 20 seconds

Back in the 90s, they let you fully remap Super Metroid's controls. Then they stopped giving you that option, for some reason. Even newer Metroid games don't always let you do that.

Nintendo, simultaneously being the best and the worst of the games industry for over 30 years...

A really well written article covering a real problem in Nintendo’s first party games.

+1 from me, though, for those that have already mentioned visual impairments. I’m colourblind and long sighted and often have difficulty with small text on the Switch screen, and anything that’s colour coded. Other developers, again as already mentioned, go to amazing lengths nowadays to cater for people who aren’t perfectly able. Nintendo just carries doing its own thing, like it always does

@ComfyAko I would say that nearly all modern games with any sort of budget allow for button remapping/key rebinding. Nintendo is really out of step on this. Even things like the 'toggle vs. hold' setting are in a lot of games now.

@Nanaki

I think every developer should strive to match Naughty Dog’s approach. And even then ND openly states that they feel they still have more to do to improve accessibility in their games.

So I think TLOUP1 should be the bare minimum for accessibility options in games.

I completely agree with this article. While I understand creating a control scheme to enhance the feel of gameplay, you should never take away a person's ability to customize.

@OrtadragoonX oh, thanks for the info, they really did a great job on that. Unfortunately, the plot and gameplay put me to sleep the last time I tried it, but I did have a chance indeed

@turntSNACO ah yes, that's certainly true. I mean on PC there is no problem because you can literally change the input from the OC settings, I haven't tried that with Switch or any console, I just assumed it's possible

I like your new hair cut better than your old one. Good look.

I've tried to explain this before, but it's a cultural issue with Nintendo and Japanize developers in general. That doesn't make it okay or excuse their lack of accessibility, but it's the reason none-the-less.

The most powerful force in Japan is crippling social responsibility. You are expect to be an upstanding member of society and do right by the people around you. It's how you get the highest lockdown compliance of any country for COVID 19 without actually mandating a lockdown. People know what is the "right" thing to do, and no one would dare do anything else.

It's got a ton of downsides, but to the point ... if you have a disability in Japan and want to play video games, you will have an able bodied person beside you the whole time making sure you can do that. A family member, a friend, a neighbor ... this role is going to fall to SOMEONE, and literally all of society will shun them and makes their life unbearable if they don't do it. Doesn't apply to your disability? Just means that person isn't trying hard enough to find a solution for you. No one like that in your area? I guess move?

As such ... there isn't a lot of vocal demand for accessibility, and no one has made it a priority. In fact if you want any accessibility accessory for the switch, you're going to be buying it from Microsoft (the unquestioned world leader in game accessibility.).

I had hoped as this two companies started to work closer together Nintendo might change their ways, but that hasn't happened yet.

@Clyde_Radcliffe

Ya know I always see this complaint but I don’t get it.

I see it as a positive. It forces me to get creative to kill enemies efficiently.

Plus with weapon fusing it’s kind of a moot point anyway. It increases both damage and weapon durability.

Plus the game gives you a million options to kill stuff without even using a weapon? Wanna know a great strategy? Shoot something in the head. Then use ultra hand to pick up a Boulder and drop it from max height on top of them.

Super efficient kill using only one arrow for low to mid level enemies.

I feel like the way the button inputs branch it would be a nightmare to make all of the buttons be remapped. (Hold R to throw a weapon, hold up on the dpad to open menu, use left stick to select and a to confirm. I would hate to be the UI designer that would have to make that freely customizable).

I’m not dismissing accessibility concerns but at the same time I think it’s a fine line between making devs bend into pretzels to accommodate everyone on the planet or to accommodate the average able bodied person. “Able bodied” has a wider mean of deviation than some people give credit for. It may force the devs to change the design philosophy of the game and that is a ton of work normally.

I physically can’t use VR for instance(and I am fine with that) and it’s part of the reason I have issues with first person games. I simply play the games I can comfortably and leave it at that. I have issues with the game because I have depth perception problems and I wish that when using ultra hand a highlighted shadow would show to help me line things up. But it isn’t game breaking nor could I see Nintendo making changes (as I feel there is more behind the scenes to make that happen and I respect that). Just a little more difficult.

A very well written article laying out what works and what doesn’t. The ones being idiots need to just read the article.

Yeah, it sucks to see my friend with reduced coordination in his right hand try again and again with games and be disappointed every single time when he's forced to realize, that gaming just doesn't really work for him for the most part. He loves BOTW. He sold his Switch though because it was saddening him that he could never play it properly. He even bought a Switch again now just for TOTK. I'm trying to always keep an eye out for games that might work for him. Strategy games are fine for the most part but he would love to just be able to play Zelda too.

"Oh we're putting the responsibility on the player for button mapping if we give them the option, we wanna get it right ourselves" - yeah why not get it right and then >also< add the option for button remapping. It almost feels like there's a certain pride standing in their way. A feeling of wanting to perfect an experience to a point where that perfection can only be perfect to a certain audience, leaving any deviances from the norm out of the equation.

Just one? The return of glass weapons makes it, at least, two failures.

okay im 50 and my eyesight was bloody awfull before i hit 50. Now 90% of games are bloody terrible for text options on all platforms. i also am swiss german and when i do have subtitles they arent in swiss german

@HeadPirate That's very cruel and unrealistic. I knew Japanese society has huge issues, but I always shiver when I read/hear about the specifics. This "social responsibility" always sounds very threatening, especially when you consider the consequences being denying accessibility

As long as it lacks any form of Skultullas as enemies, I’m good honestly

(This is a bloody joke)

Ya know I always thought accessibility options were something the entire gaming community could rally around and promote.

It’s disappointing that people still don’t care that much.

@HeadPirate "if you have a disability in Japan and want to play video games, you will have an able bodied person beside you the whole time making sure you can do that."

I'm not arguing with your larger point, but the part I've quoted is way off-base (if I'm understanding it correctly). Completely blind? Sure, you'd need a second person to help you play most games. Colorblind? Limited motor ability? Dyslexic? Nah. I mean, look at the author of the article - he doesn't need a caregiver, he just can't rapidly switch between different buttons on a controller. There's a huge spectrum of disability.

Love this article for bringing accessibility to peoples attention. It's sadly an even wider challenge with all of the inherently inaccessible society 'norms'.

It is sometimes just simples additions that make everything so much more inclusive and accessible.

I'm playing exclusively on my TV so the tiny text hasn't been an issue, but I'm visually impaired and struggle frequently with the glowing text shown during cutscenes and at the start and end of Zonai quests and shrines.

The glow makes it all blend together and sometimes the background against which it's displayed makes it pretty much impossible for me to read. It's made worse by auto-advancing, which is somewhat understandable when it's accompanied by a voiceover, but problematic.

It's especially annoying because there's been some consideration of this elsewhere: the general conversation text is manually advanced, has a log and can have an opaque background.

Transparency is the worst. Let me put an opaque black box behind all the text even if it ruins the aesthetic.

Let’s be honest, the joycons themselves are inaccessible in their own right for some. They are tiny and rigid etc. Motion control isn’t for everyone either…even if they are updated to not require that (I am looking at you Skyward Sword).

Aside button mapping, Nintendo (and really the whole industy) should partner or contribute to accessible inputs companies to provide some form of standard for linking their games to any accessible devices.

@Bret I know, that's why I deleted my comment. I jumped to conclusions without reading it.

@ComfyAko

Yeah but they rarely die as children to a hail of gunfire while trying to go to school, so that's a plus. Part of the crippling social responsibility is for the rich to give back to poor and for CEOs to put workers before themselves, which is also pretty neat. Politicians put people first and can't get away with lying, but if the single greater female doctor who ever lived got married to a bricklayer, she would be expect to quit her job, so a negative again. Religious fanatics aren't trying to control what people can and can't do with their genitals, but all the porn is censored thanks to religious fanatics!

It's almost like every country in the world, and even within counties different states, prefectures and provinces, have their own unique set of problems and benefits

But to be honest, as someone who's lived in over a dozen countries and visited close to 50 ... Japan is very likely the best country in the world. And this comes from a foreigner, saying that about a country that HATES foreigners

That and the swordsman is weirdly terrible at swordplay.

Very happy to see most of the comments are well-intentioned and kind. I find that when matters of accessibility and equity in the gaming space are brought up, privilege and gross ignorance bubble to the surface.

Oh, and Nintendo has an obligation to do better.

@Bret No, i will talk about it

@HeadPirate I chuckled when you said politicians put people first and can't get away with lying, lol.

But all stop, at this point in history button remapping should be a must. I understand how devs create specific controls to make you feel a certain way but allowing people customization doesn't hurt the 99% of people who play it default. And props to the author and not letting your disability stand in your way! God bless you and let's all keep enjoying this marvelous game!

@turntSNACO

There sure are, and I have to ask ... as the friend or caretaker of someone with one of the disabilities you mentioned, why are YOU not doing more to ensure they can play the game? They don't have a controller that works for them because they can't rapidly switch buttons? Sounds like YOU haven't been looking hard enough to find them one. I'm thinking someone might need a shunning ...

Is what Japanese society would "say" to you. The point isn't that what I'm describing actually happens or is always effective, it's just that it's not Nintendo's problem, it's the immediate social circle of that person not doing a good enough job. So an article in a Japanese paper by someone complaining about the lack of remapping doesn't get to Nintendo, it's viewed as a social issue.

Again, I'm saying the system is bad, broken, and extremely unfavorable to people with disabilities. I'm just trying to explain the reality of it all.

@Brue I disagree. I hate DEI with a passion. Movies, games, etc have been created for years with inclusion, etc. I'm so sick of seeing forced inclusion that is shoe horned in and sticks out. Take for instance Saints Row OG, very inclusive all around and makes fun of everyone. New Saints Row, horrible forcing of inclusion that sucks. I'm so tired of seeing you have to have 5% this and 10% this unless you have 15% of this. That's why movies have no creativity because they're too worried about who's banging who behind closed doors. And believe me, people are fed up with this stuff.

Nintendo has been lagging in this for far too long. For a company that claims to be for everyone, it’s beyond disappointing to see their games still don’t have even super basic systems like colour blind settings which were around before accessibility really became a thing in games. And they’ve been called out on it numerous times now.

An Aonuma’s response? It’s the exact opposite of what it should be. Yes 100% make the default game with all that in mind like you currently do, that’s great! But don’t take away the ability to adjust the game for those who need to, to enjoy the game. Because frankly when you’re doing that, it’s just ego. The default will still be what most use, but no everyone can use that and you’re stopping them experiencing and enjoying any of it as a result.

When games like The Last Of Us and Celeste go above and beyond and retain their hardcore status, there really is no excuse.

Every disability is different, and as a result there should be TONS of options to cater for that, so that the player can decide on what control scheme works best for them. But trying to second guess those disabilities, and trying to presume say that a limited movement means "the player couldn't ever do X/Y/Z", means you aren't really thinking in the mindset of someone who's had to already do that for the past couple of decades, and already knows a way around it. It's a really tough mindset to get into.
I think more options should be given, and maybe in the future of A.I. and such, We'll be in a position that gamedevs CAN allow some sort of automation for certain things.
It's a shame we're not quite there yet.

I make a lot of games that require direction and A or B, often simultaneously, and even I occasionally get myself stuck in the mindset of "What if you can't..?" It's really tricky to think about, and I think perhaps only something that having a disabled person on the team might help to resolve. .. But then, you're only catering for their particular issues, and solutions.

@HeadPirate do you remember the dad who made that insane controller so his disabled daughter (?) could play BotW? Now why can't Microsoft or Nintendo (or all three) get together and build a universal controller like this, that can be used on all the consoles and PCs? Something sold online to those who need it? The dads already done the hard part, just reproduce it and make it for all consoles. And just the companies coming together would be a real come to Jesus moment!

@Il_Nintenditore And you'll stamp all over whatever disadvantaged people you need to to do it, got it.

@HeadPirate I always loved Japan, but couldn't care less about people there, or anywhere else. It's mainly because of quirks like the ones you said, I just find most people very disappointing in terms of morality. [EDIT] Oh my, that wasn't very positive of me, so let's just say I firmly believe people will strive to be better to themselves and to others.

I really think that some of those are not really universal. I've never seen rich there giving to the poor or CEOs putting their workers first. The anachronical corporate hierarchy in Japan is a very hostile environment which puts an enormous strain on workers' minds. Also, politicians there are very dirty, believe me. If you heard about the Fukushima disaster, you probably came across the various ways the government blantantly lied to the people abour radiation levels.

"but if the single greater female doctor who ever lived got married to a bricklayer, she would be expect to quit her job, so a negative again" I can't help but wonder what would happen if she didn't

@Tempestryke Thank you for that.

wow the comments section here has just become absolute trash. im so sorry that your legit article about accessibility has compelled these horrible people to comment.

@5th313ment

Dude it's not even funny. You should SEE the witch hunts when a local politician gets caught in a lie, or when people think the good of the many isn't the top priority. Re-election? Ha, you need to worry about not being run out of town. Obviously corruption is still there, you just REALLY need to hide it better! With 10 national parties, there is always someone else to vote for.

As for button mapping ... hell ya. I've actually written in the past, on this site, about how the lack of remapping in BOTW and TOTK is just not something we should accept from this type of game ... and got downvoted to high hell. Guess I should have mentioned disabilities.

But in fairness, you can buy controllers that map buttons for you, and if you don't have one ... the people around you failed you, not Nintendo. That's the mentality I'm trying to explain that is resulting in this issue not getting the attention it should. I'm not AGREEING with it, I'm just explaining it.

@-wc- agreed, comments like "I hate DEI with a passion" honestly make me wonder why I even come here

@-wc- I think the comment system on this post is great. Everyone sharing ideas and thoughts courteously.

Well... I still hate camera controls in Super Mario Odyssey. I can't understand why nobody said something negative about camera controls in the game. You even can't fully customize it. You only able to change Y axis or Z axis, not both of them. That's really stupid. And Aonuma's opinion about it (remapping controls) is stupid as well.
Edit: For me, the most annoying enemy in Super Mario Odyssey is camera controls.
Also, Super Mario Galaxy on Switch sucks. Why? Well... Controls. It is practically unplayable in handheld mode. Nintendo haven't made it accessible in handheld mode, 'cause they haven't mapped motion controls to analogue sticks. But, somehow, Aonuma did it with Skyward Sword HD. He mapped motion controls(sword's swings, for example?) to analogue sticks. Aonuma did what Nintendon't.
And, partial controls remapping option sucks as well(I'm lookin' at you, CAPCOM, Arc System Works...).

@5th313ment My point is that accessibility itself that allows for people who are not as able bodied as others to enjoy gaming is important, especially important to continue growing the medium. Closing doors is kind of an odd business decision. As for a person’s personal sexual exploits, I did not mention that topic in my original comment so… that’s a bit uncomfortable, not sure where that came from. Not sure if we’re discussing the same thing? On that note I guess, people who are different than you have the right to see themselves in media. I agree that shoehorning in diversity for the sake of diversity is in itself disrespectful to the concept of diversity, but there are loud voices that throw tantrums even when a piece of media IS designed specifically for those audiences.

@5th313ment

" I think the comment system on this post is great. Everyone sharing ideas and thoughts courteously."

some thoughts and ideas arent worth sharing.
telling a disabled person to "deal with it" is worth keeping to your damn self. not at all courteous.

EDIT - i added your quote, for clarity. 👍

@Brue no I agree 100%. We're not asking the companies to ship hardware that allows a specific person to ply said game but why is choosing left hand right hand, remapping, etc such oddity with some companies?

@-wc- where did I say that at all? I've been pro disability this entire thread?

Love the avatar BTw!

I’ve put in around 10 hours

I’ve also become a dad again so been playing intermittently whilst baby sleeps

Never appreciated the switch as a handheld until now.

Totk will always remind me now of late nights with my daughter !

It’s a lovely feeling wandering hyrule with the peaceful sound track holding my little one with the joycons split !

@HeadPirate

why should people have to invest in a whole specialty controller if simply remapping the controller would work for their needs? what does nintendo have to lose by allowing this?

not everyone can afford a special controller, and life is hard enough already. especially if youre disabled.

Nintendo, (and by extension, a lot of traditional Japanese devs) seem to go by the rules of "this is how it is designed, so this is how you should experience it". There's not a ton of flexibility there. And if that perspective is changing...it's not happening fast.

While it's probably harsh, if you have a disability...surely you realise that some things just won't be for you? Or if you pursue it, it will be more difficult than the average person? I wouldn't say that's limited to gaming.
All the respect to those that go for it and the people making accessible controllers...but it can't be a rewarding experience. Especially when something is supposed to be recreational.

@5th313ment

when did i say you said that? ✌️

@Bret I feel like this conversation is not needed. However, i made a comment about what i think the game lacks. This website offers a lot of good content (like this one) and a ton of content about Zelda. I think is important to tell them that they did an error in their review, lying about an aspect that many considered important

@rockerduck This doesn't make any sense

@RubyCarbuncle u know, I've spent like 30 hours in the game and I haven't even gone underground yet. I keep walking around and then getting into something completely different. This game has an insane amount of things to do. I do wish they brought back fishing though, lol

@HeadPirate I specifically said I wasn't arguing with your larger point, so I'm not sure why you're still trying to convince me. Just pointing out that the text I quoted makes an incorrect generalization about people with disabilities.

@Kimyonaakuma I'm sorry but I cannot agree with such take. If someone is already unfortunate to suffer from their circumstances, shouldn't people at least try to make such person's life a bit easier by providing them some easily obtainable solutions?

@ComfyAko

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-25941070

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/in-2001-the-president-of-sony-did-something-completly-unimaginable-to-save-the-company-from-bankruptcy/

Have you lived in Japan? For how long?

I totally feel you, and while people have the right to an option, it should be informed. The type of behavior you see above is COMMON. Most people get it wrong, the same way you just did ... the incredible pressure to do right by the company you work for, to work long hours, often unpaid, and general sararīman mentality is the RESULT of knowing that the guy you work for would literally fall on his own sword before firing you. If's from knowing you've entered into a lifetime contract where they have agreed to take care of you. If you look at corporates crime in Japan is almost always a COE stealing or lying to keep his company running and not have to fire people rather then personal enrichment.

What would happen to her? Well think of someone in the deep south of the US coming out as gay. Think of someone in Utah speaking out against the Mormon Church. That type of thing. A large portion of her social circle would cut ties with her, or do their best to shun her. This is ... NOT unique to japan. Japan has more rules, but the punishment for breaking them isn't any higher.

@-wc- you said @5th313ment

some thoughts and ideas arent worth sharing.
telling a disabled person to "deal with it" is worth keeping to your damn self. not at all courteous.

The would imply that I said deal with it.

I watched a documentary about a guy who lost his limbs, and I imagined how I would feel in a scenario like that and how it would effect every aspect in my life, even for the love I have for gaming. Ive known about accessibility in gaming for sometime now especially after my dad had his stroke and lost the side of his right hand, that frightened me a great deal
I want disabled people to be able to enjoy the games I love the same way. It’s not as magical when people can’t join in the fun

Nintendo are traditionalist in all the best and worst senses of the term, unfortunately. They won't change unless there's a significant financial or reputational motive to do so, and even in today's world there probably isn't enough noise made about accessibility to reach their ivory battlements.

@turntSNACO

I know man. But the text you quoted is from a generalization as well. It's me, generalizing the opinion of Japanese society. I'm just trying to explain why they, in general, make an incorrect generalization about people with disabilities because ALL barriers caused by disabilities are generally seen as social problems that can be solved by individuals doing better.

In the 2000s a politician argued they shouldn't mandate ramps because he, and any other good citizen, would gladly carry a mobility impaired person up stairs. So yeah ... it's a really, REALLY bad generalization. From my experience, the most important thing you can offer someone with a disability is independence. In Japan, that's not even on the menu.

@Edu23XWiiU whew, this is surely one of the worst takes up in here. imagine being this unable or unwilling to step outside yourself for even a moment. It's not whining: in-game button remapping with updated prompts should be standard issue at this point.

@HeadPirate Ive never been to Japan but Ive read numerous publications, including scientific ones, regarding the country. I really liked youkaigaku "monsterology" as portrayed by Michael Dylan Foster, and I am currently reading the Tokyo, the biography of the city, so I am really well versed in these matters.

And while corporations would love to paint this image, I can tell you that people all over the world have one thing in common - they will throw you under the bus the second they can avoid facing responsibility themselves. No swordplay required.

I do not wish to undermine your worldview, I am still working on mine, but cutting your profits for company is a bare minimum the Ceos have to do and Sega article mentioned it was an unprecedented case "unthinkable". Im sorry to say that I think people are worse and worse the more you learn about them. And thats coming from someone who really loves Japan as everything minus people. I just hope I will one day be able to say that people changed for the better.

If cutting ties is the worst they can do then I say good riddance! At least we could find something positive

@Kimyonaakuma For what it's worth, I recently heard a talk from a blind man who beat God of War (2018) using audio cues and some help from a sighted friend when he got stuck. He said he loved playing it.

If I started to lose some vision or developed a condition that limited my motor function, I very much doubt I'd give up gaming. I'd play what I could, and be pretty bummed out when I couldn't play a game like this because the developer didn't think I was worth the work of adding straightforward accessibility features.

Sorry, 50th iteration? More like 5th for console games and 10th if we add handheld games. Seems like a lot but nobody complains about Mario games and there are a lot more of those! Plus, Skyward Sword was the last new Zelda game on consoles that was normal, and Link Between Worlds was the last handheld. It's been over a decade since those. And yes, people like me miss those types of Zelda games. Don't be all huffy over that :/

@-wc-

I'm not sure why you are agreeing with me personally about my generalization of the mentality of a different country, but the typical Japanese response would be:

Why didn't YOU buy them the controller if they can't afford it? And if life is hard already, why are YOU not doing more to make that persons life better? Sounds like you should be pitching in to buy them food and pay rent. In fact, I'm sure you could find a spire room for them if you really tried. They have a DISABILITY, take care of them. You awful, selfish person.

That's not how I think. I also don't pass judgment on thinking like that. Different cultures have vastly different ways of looking at things, and most are pretty similar in outcome when you weigh the positives and negatives.

@-wc-

Not everyone that does not agree with all this is a terrible or horrible person.

This is always going to be a tough one, as there will be gamers with varying degrees of disability, Nintendo have made a game which will not be going out of it's way to not be assessable, yes some games will do a better job, but for some gamers a bit of invention, or indeed a different controller will be the only option.

This article is good, and it does bring these issues to light, but you can't help the feeling it enjoys doing so, and therefore will get people that call this out, but to say weather or not they are good or bad is just not helpful, feel free to disagree of course, but arguing will get us nowhere.

Have you tried the Hori Flex controller?

I had never thought about this issue. I still frequently find myself hitting the wrong button too… there’s so many different control options from all of the shoulder buttons and shoulder button d-pad combos and control stick d-pad combos.

There should be third party customisable controllers and a universal button mapping system really. People with disabilities deserve this, developers should get off their ass and get together on compassionate grounds if nothing else.

@Il_Nintenditore I know you feel like this conversation isn't needed. You've already made it very clear that you lack any empathy whatsoever when you ignored the very real complaint about accessibility to whine about the temples not being cool enough or whatever the hell you're on about. I'm just wishing you'd take it to any of the other dozens of articles where that complaint would be on topic and not stomping all over the voice of someone with an actual problem.

@zgillet That controller looks awesome, but sells for a pretty steep $250/£179. I love that you can plug additional buttons into the front of it!

Check out forza horizon 5 for accessibility support.

It fails in only one category for me: Dungeons. They're basically divine beasts without rotation and I'm extremely disappointed. The only one I kind of enjoyed was the Zora one (I havent done Gerudo yet), but it was way too short. I miss the intricately designed dungeons of old. Even A Link Between Worlds proved it could work without finding an item in a dungeon. I can't believe they couldnt fix this after 6 years.

Other than that, the game is near perfect and I'm enjoying it immensely. But it's this kind of thing that takes it down from a 10 to a 9 for me.

@5th313ment

ok i see. i was responding specifically to

" I think the comment system on this post is great. Everyone sharing ideas and thoughts courteously."

i hope that makes sense.✌️ i added that quote to my reply, for clarity.

@johnvboy

you are right, but some of these people ARE terrible for HOW they are disagreeing and WHAT they are disagreeing to. ✌️

@ComfyAko

With respect, I've lived in 14 counties (where "live" is been a resident for over a year) and visited around 50, and I can tell you don't and can't learn ANYTHING about what it's like to live in a country unless you live there for over 6 months, and even then, you are only starting to get a picture. Reading is basically worthless in truly understanding what a country is actually like.

Think of your own life. How many books would it take to explain not only everything you do, but the upbringing, education, and social conditioning behind every decision you made for even a single day? You went to a coffee shop. Why? Is coffee made at a store considered better then coffee made at home? That's not a constant in all counties. Is this considered a good place to meet people in your culture? That's also not constant. Is paying $5 for something you don't need socially acceptable, something you need to hide because it shows excess, or is it a desirable status symbol? Expensive coffee shops in the West proudly display their logo, but in SEA they come in the same generic cups budget coffee comes in.

I will also tell you there is noting people all over the world have in common. That is a view point that comes from getting all of your information second hand from people who speak the same language you do, (even if they are translating, they make choices) have the same cultural upbringing you do, and live in the same paradigm as you do. This isn't a fault on your part; not everyone has the time, money, or ability to spend years abroad, nor should everyone desire that. Just understand the world is very big, and people are very different.

But I'll confidently say that NO, being willing to toss you under the bus for money is not universal, and it's not even common. I've been to a "riot" in Denmark where a bunch of insanely rich people were demanding the government raise their taxes to combat homelessness. I watched a congregation in Peru sell their church and relocate to a barn to rebuild a school. I've been to SEVERAL towns in several countries where I asked people directions to a hotel to have them laugh, asked why the would need one, and invited me to stay with them free of charge for as long as I needed.

I think this is probably the best example of the paradigm shift I'm talking about that it's hard to get without experiencing it. In some cases, it's not like these were "nice" people acting solely out of kindness. It's just that travel is a necessity and the idea of having to have a building to charge people to stay overnight when everyone has plenty of space for someone to sleep wasn't part of their mentality. It never occurred to them. It seemed SILLY when I tried to explain how I thought it was "normal". Why would anyone build something like that? Why would anyone pay to stay there when people would tke them in for free?

The world is a wonderful place. It's also awful and horrible. But if you move around enough, you'll find the pockets of wonderful are far more common, even though the pockets of awful get all the attention.

@HeadPirate

"But in fairness, you can buy controllers that map buttons for you, and if you don't have one ... the people around you failed you, not Nintendo."

this is what i was responding to. if you are saying that in "nintendo's voice" or "japan's voice," i apologize for the misunderstanding ✌️

@-wc-

Voice is hard in the written word. The fault is never solely on the reader.

@5th313ment

"Love the avatar BTw!"

thanks! ive been tempted to change it ...but couldn't!

I generally don’t tinker with key remapping because all I can do is make the game feel more complicated. However, with how many times I’ve thrown away a perfectly good sword trying to run because I’m used to the Souls control scheme I could probably go with remapping this time around.

@Il_Nintenditore exactly!

@-wc-,

The article and people say Nintendo are way behind in all this, so why the surprise, yes they could do a lot better, but at the moment the situation is what it is.

So they either boycott the game, get inventive, or but a third party controller, and as some say just get on with it, not a lot of other options, and are people really that bad or terrible for pointing that out.

I do not see anyone on here stating Nintendo should not do better with this, some are just suggesting you have to play with the hand you are delt, as it were.....Nintendo need and must do better, but at the moment we are where we are.

Here's the thing this problem isn't only Nintendo achilleas heel but from reading the article it would seems like it's just Nintendo. We all know Sony, Xbox has this same issue but yet if you just read the acritical you think it was just Nintendo. So let's be honest here this is a rant not real substance issues that can be put across the board console makers. So if one wants to talk accessibility you need to include everyone or the story just falls apart. I myself want anyone able to regardless of physical ability to enjoy it myself but we should be open and honest and not think this is only Nintendo issue. Society is the cause of this so we need to put the blame where it is the rest of US is why this is. You can't make Nintendo nor the other two because all of US in society made it the way it is.

@SwitchForce

i have no clue or interest in what xbox/psx are doing, so for me it actually is "just nintendo." ✌️

@johnvboy

you are being very kind to some truly heinous commentors.

Thank you Nintendo Life for letting me write this article! Comment section is actually better than what I thought it would be. I'm supposed to be working right now but if anyone wants to try contacting me, feel free to tag me or finding me on the twitter Hellscape @HilliardHendrix.

@SwitchForce

This article is about Nintendo the publisher, not The Switch as a console. With that in mind, while Xbox might have 3rd party games that have poor accessibility, the Xbox itself and Microsoft 1st party games are without question not just the world leaders in accessibly, but so far ahead of anyone else it's not even a content. Forza 5 and Gears 5 are considered two of the most accessible games ever made, with Forza in particular getting praise for accessibly options extending to online play

Most accessibility hardware is made by Microsoft, and the hardware works on PC, Switch and PS. They are simply trying to bring gaming to everyone, not use accessibly to sell their own console. Gaming accessibility is also a non-profit division, with controller often sold much lower then cost. The "Xbox Adaptive Controller" is considered the gold standard, with it's modular design allowing nearly infinite customization, and if you e-mail Microsoft about a limitation you have that the Adaptive controller doesn't help with, they will try and develop a solution for you. You will not be charged any fees for the development, just the MSRP of the device they eventually come up with.

They also provide a program called "The Microsoft Game Accessibility Testing Service" that will test any Xbox and PC game and most Switch games (Sony will not play nice and allow them to offer it for PS games) against standards set by disability experts. The cost is based on game complexity, but it's free for most [email protected] developers and not cost prohibitive for larger games. The turn around time is also an INSANE 7 business days, allowing you to test and re-test multiple builds with ease. For contrast, it takes 5 business days to simply open an account with the ESRB, and a rating can take 3 months.

So when you look at Microsoft, they are doing basically everything possible to ensure that as a publisher they are best in class with accessibly while also providing a wealth of tools to ensure the Xbox console is as accessible as possible. They can't force every publisher on the platform to make accessible games, but they are doing what the can.

This is a real contrast to Nintendo, who's games are likely the worst in the industry when it comes to budget vs. accessibility and they provide NO first party tools or accessibly controllers for their console.

So yes, this is a real problem for Nintendo and the Switch. They are not doing enough, period. They are lagging behind both other console makers and almost every publisher.

@Hilliard Great article, it's been a while since I read something this interesting here!

How much you want to bet there is a distinct age line drawn in the middle of these arguments? I refuse to believe anyone over the age of 25 is so callous as to try to knock a disabled person off a figurative soapbox.

This is the kind of accesibility options that developers should start pushing more and more as we get more information about all different types of player experiences. Accesibility options in things like button remapping, font sizes, subtitles and things that only add to the gameplay are welcome additions. The only exceptions which I don't quite agree is when they call lowering difficulties or allowing cheat modes as features that should be in all games to make them more accessible (since they heavily affect the gameplay core by themselves), but what the person wrote here? All my support.

If anyone finds issues with this articles messaging they are a sad and cruel person. It’s a way for everyone to enjoy art regardless of personal limitations. If you are one of these people block me now because your opinions have no value and everything you say is a waste of time to read

@UltraZelda64 that is for people who are blind or can't read/see well enough for the menu text to work for them. It is a legal requirement for any game that has communication functionality for the path to the communications functionality to be accessible to people who are blind (and yes, blind people play plenty of mainstream games). But what you're describing isn't how it generally works, generally you're given a voiced prompt to turn it on, if you don't press the button it isn't turned on.

@Lake999 Xbox and PlayStation have system level remapping too, how do you explain so many first party games on both platforms having remapping? And how do you explain there being switch games that have remapping too? Game level remapping is superior for a whole bunch of reasons, I don't think you should be trying to second-guess what the designers' thinking was.

@graviton accessibility doesn't really work like that. The joycons are less accessible for some people but incredibly accessible to others, due to their weight, configuration, and ability to hold one in each hand.

I understand and appreciate using TOTK to draw more attention to this issue, but it's clearly not just TOTK that have accessibility issues, it's many many games. Still, this was the exact approach needed to bring awareness for those who aren't actually impacted, and if we're lucky, actual stakeholders.

@Hilliard I really appreciate your sense of humor and you bearing your personal experience with this blatant problem in the industry. This was one of the best NL articles I've read and I hope it contributes to more awareness for all games, not just Zelda games.

I think it would also help if every NL review included a special call out with tags for accessibility features like the ones you mentioned so folks can know which games already have these features and which games do not. If we haven't already, I'd love to read an article listing several games with these features so we can prop them up and make it clear they are doing what every game should be doing.

I look forward to living in the world you're helping to create.

@FishyS
I feel like the switch itself is at least somewhat of an improvement in that regard in that most games are designed to work with a variety of controllers which makes adaptive controllers at least more viable compared to wii and wiiu, but it does still feel like a lot of first party games can be restrictive when it comes to options.

as you mentioned for many its at the very least a way for players to play in the most comfortable way but for some it can be the difference between being able to physically play the game or not.

after all there has been stories of players with physically disabilities pulling off amazing feats when given the tools and means to do so (including playing on a competitive level)

@Ianhamilton_
Yeah i do agree that there are a lot of advantages to game level button remapping since controls generally arent a one-size-fits-all deal and being able to do a one time configuration for a game is better than having to keep going back to the system menu each time to reconfigure and i imagine this goes double for something like adaptive controllers.

That's something that could be fixed, if not by Nintendo, then the community. If a speed runner can use a stick and an apple to beat the game, I'm sure we could work something out.

The author makes some salient points about the lack of customization. Obviously he has valid reasons for needing this customization as do others. I need remapping as well but this inability to do so is in stark contrast to PC gaming where changing the inputs is really a core part of it.

A previous comment mentioned the Japanese culture and that is certainly part of the approach in game development. It colors the control programming and gameplay. I read an article many years during the NES era and the interviewer asked the same questions about accessibility and the response was they felt it would be impossible to plan for every possible need so they offered button mapping only and then pointed out the aftermarket controllers that could address the issue. I think they are empathetic towards the needs of accessibility but culturally they have not been conditioned to see it as a problem with a singular solution. They see it as the village steps in to assist and this works in Japanese society but not everywhere in the world.

@Anguspuss Really? You want Swiss German subtitles?

@Lake999 Clearly you didn't even read the article you're complaining about, since it actually explains why system level remapping isn't as good as the game having a remapping option in itself.

It’s a shame that, while Nintendo continues to deliver some of the best games, they stubbornly refuse to get with the times in other areas.

Accessibility improvements should be at the top of their priority list. C’mon Nintendo, get it together!

Also, I’m rolling my eyes at the comments that say this is nitpicking. To those people I say: How convenient for you that you can enjoy these games without any constraints & cast judgement on others who haven’t been afforded the same convenience.

@Il_Nintenditore Not the place, quit whining.

While I do believe large companies can do more to support options for disabled people I can't help wondering why someone who struggles to hold things in their hands chooses to buy a "handheld"

@zgillet This controller was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the article, it's expensive but is a universal "solution". Even with full remaping, I think traditional controllers are not suited for this kind of physical condition.

@HerMajestysmyPronoun It's not about some people's accessibility needs being more legitimate than others, it's about bringing to light all accessibility needs and trying to change the gaming industry in a positive way, even if we don't understand them at first. I don't know what it's like to have C5/C6 tetraplegia, so I have to give the benefit of the doubt for someone that has that condition that their struggles are legitimate. The same goes for people with poor eyesight or those who would love to play a popular video game but have trouble because it isn't in their native language.

If we discriminate against legitimate accessibility needs because we ourselves don't understand them or haven't experience them, we all lose.

I understand the humor in someone wishing there was subtitles for what appears to be a very specific dialect of German that is actually quite different from standard German, but it's actually a valid request for accessibility if it makes it difficult to play a game for that person. It's not just preference, it's a hindrance.

That wasn't even their main point. Most of their comment was about text being too small and it being an accessibility issue for them, which I would have to say impacts a much larger group of people, even those with unimpaired vision. I suppose the main portion of their comment wasn't such a low hanging fruit as the Swiss German subs part, perhaps that's why you didn't even mention it.

Today I Learned: Swiss German is a totally legit dialect of standard German spoken by at least 5 million people today.

The more you know ...

@RubyCarbuncle I'm just addressing something in the article.

Thats fascinating about the cultural element in Japanese culture that promotes assisting those with disabilities. I’m fiercely independent and if I had a disability (and I apologise in advance if this is offensive - certainly not my intention) I suspect I would be uncomfortable about relying on others. Any little thing I could find a way to do for myself would be so much better for my self esteem etc.

Support for gamers with disabilities needs to be a big discussion and an industry standard whatever the cultural climate of the developer. How do we push for this?

PS That you so much for this article!

Personally, I'm not a fan of the game as a whole. It's too much of the same.

Speaking as a creative person myself, I can understand a developer's desire to have the controls a certain way. Not saying I agree with them, but I can sympathize.

@HeftyLaces

So a particular issue cannot be discussed, if an example of a worse issue can be cited?

@Uncle_Franklin what I'm saying is when you put it into perspective, even just with other annoyances and problems in the games industry, it isn't that significant. Complaining about it isn't really going to change anything, people who are disabled to where they can't use the proper button mapping make up a tiny, tiny minority of the actual sales of the game, therefore making investment geared towards catering to them not worth the profit to a company like Nintendo. They are a multi billion dollar corporation.

@-wc-,

You are letting yourself down by calling people heinous, this really does not apply here, as I stated nobody is suggesting that Nintendo should not be helping gamers with disabilities, they are merely suggesting that in the absence on Nintendo solving matters, they will have to find their own solutions for the time being.

They are just being pretty abrupt in their posts.

@rockerduck did previous GTAs had dungeons? No? Were they part of their core as a game? No?
Then your argument is moot.

Also, big releases should always have accessibility options.

@HeftyLaces

I will stop short of embarking on other societal issues, but are you aware of how many times people have said "Complaining about it isn't really going to change anything" and have been proven utterly wrong historically? It is similar to the refrain 'That's just the way it is'.

@HeftyLaces I can't help but notice you seem to be advocating that no one is allowed to complain about their suffering because everyone suffers.

But if no one is allowed to mention that they are suffering, how can anyone hope for change, and ultimately, a better future?

That's a rather bleak outlook, if you don't mind me saying so.

Articles like this are always useful because we can see who among the present are the true hard-ass fanboys among the fanbase. While pretty much everyone agrees with the criticisim presented here, either because they truly care about accessibility or because it is the expected and nice thing to do...but the ones that don't? there we have the purest of the purest nfanatics that we can find.

@johnvboy

I personally do view dismissing this issue as merely a "nit pick" or advising those affected by it to "just deal with it" as rather heinous.

Unfortunately, it feels like western developers are much further ahead in this department. I'm not surprised since I have heard that many countries in Asia such as Japan in this case, have fewer laws to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the resources they need.

This is extremely well-written and thought provoking. Never had to question if before, but... yeah, almost every game on Xbox and pc I play nowadays has these options. Does Sony? I don't have a PS, so idk.

And Nintendo wonders why they have a piracy problem.

@HeftyLaces Throw that around in any serious economics class, see how it goes. Getting the edge with miniscule numbers on competition, especially in ***** entertainment of all things, IS the game. These corporations spend millions in deciding what color their marketing campaigns will use.

Also. Who is complaining? The author here? Because a complaint is just a statement of personal dislike. This is a critique, with a proposed realistic solution. You're not being some devil's advocate, dude. You just sound flippant.

It's hard to understand why this can't be implemented by Nintendo in this day and age. Even indies do it, it's the only reason I've actually been able to play Cuphead.

There's the need to look at the accesibility efforts of other Japanese developers before only judging Nintendo. But I understand the feeling of a console holder to value the importance of these options.

By the way, maybe it's time to differentiate "accessible" with "introductory".
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/03/editorial_zelda_breath_of_the_wild_is_the_most_accessible_of_nintendo_switch_games

I don’t mind if Zelda has more options that will help players, but anybody that wants an easy mode in a game like Dark Souls is a moron. Not every game needs to cater to somebody.

@Astral-Grain that isn't what I'm advocating at all. It really sucks that this guy had this inconvenience while playing totk. I would love it for the few disabled gamers if more studios took the custom button mapping approach to their games. And plenty do. What I'm saying is that just because Nintendo doesn't include custom button mapping in a lot of their games, they aren't a horrible company that should be crapped all over by a bunch of people in comments sections. They have their reasons.

Wow actually insane the sheer amount of people that completely missed the point of this article. People see someone talking about how hard it is to play the game while paralyzed and start complaining about dungeons and weapon durability? Or just straight up dismissing all their EXTREMELY VALID concerns? What the hell is going on..

No, I don't want Nintendo to jump into the accessibility bandwagon vs. Xbox/Sony. Their recent games have been brain-dead annoying when everything is spelled out; even seconds after puzzles are shown, they've already talked about the solution - pleasing a small minority of players vs. inconveniencing the largest of them.

If you want everything being shoved down to you on your plate every single time then go for it with other games, especially those cinematic adventure ones. Not Nintendo.

Some good suggestions, but there's a gripe.

"A toggle option like this existed for targeting enemies in all of the 3D Zeldas pre-dating Skyward Sword but it was removed for absolutely no reason."
Just because you don't know the reason does not mean there isn't one. There might be one. There might even be a good one.

Accessibility is great, but it absolutely can and often does come at significant detriment to the game. That's not to say they shouldn't make these efforts, but they do come at a cost, financial, gameplay experience or both.

@DanijoEX None in my experience. I thought I read somewhere Ring Fit Adventure has something but I haven't looked into it.

@steely_pete I bought the 8bitdo lite SE which was designed in mind for disable folks. It is by far the hardest controller for me to use due its tiny size. Plus, I mentioned why 3rd party controllers aren't great in the article.

@eltomo Finding out how to do things that you shouldn't be able to do always feels great! But in this case, it shouldn't have been this difficult.

@ComfyAko I wrote this article because games on this level, like God of War, do include features like I described.

@Cashews I appreciate that! That was over a year’s worth of growth I lopped off.

@HeadPirate I considered bringing this up but this article convinced me not to: https://www.wired.com/story/japan-game-studios-accessibility/ Also, I have more than enough help and have too much pride to have someone play a game for me.

@Ryu_Niiyama Developers don’t need to worry about how a user remaps controls and all they need to do is consult disabled folks so they can pitch ideas.

@graviton What you said about the joycons is true but having individual buttons for the D-pad is actually an unintentional accessibility feature.

@Edu23XWiiU Just because I can play it doesn’t mean Nintendo shouldn’t try to do better. Plus shooters are far harder to make accessible than action adventure games so your point is objectively wrong.

@RubyCarbuncle I’m enjoying it alright. It’s just the combat and Ultrahand giving me actual problems.

@Kimyonaakuma This is going to sound harsh but you obviously don’t know any disabled people. I’m well aware of the challenges that come with it. That doesn’t change the fact the Nintendo should match the effort of its peers.

@Whyita I was exaggerating to make a point. I loved the template of A Link to the Past but it had grown stale.

@zgillet Nope as I usually have more success repurposing regular products than using something designed for disabled people.

@SwitchForce Nintendo is behind Sony and Microsoft. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. They all have work to do though.

@Lake999 You might want to read an entire article before commenting.

@Astral-Grain There might be more pieces like this but since no Nintendo games have accessibility features, they’d all be pretty much the same.

@Moistnado Because I love Nintendo video games and I can use the Switch and 2DS while it’s on my lap.

@HeftyLaces Microsoft and Sony wouldn’t be making their products more accessible if it did not benefit their bottomline.

@CashMadness If Fire Emblem isn’t ruined by casual mode than Dark Souls would survive with any easy mode. And no, I wouldn’t use if it was there.

@MagnesG No one is arguing for dumbing down regular gameplay. The only people that think that have terrible reading comprehension.

The run and jump being opposite each other rather than beside is so idiotic.

Sidenote: yes I wished this was an original Zelda template style game, not BOTW disc 2

@Spider-Kev oh please with the whole inclusivity is destroying everything. Really look at yourself when you get upset that now someone who couldn't enjoy something finally can

@Hilliard Good points man (And thanks to the effort in replying to so many people! please dont do it too much haha.. unless you really enjoy it).

Having said that, please for the love of Solaire... don't add an easy mode to Dark Souls... is one of the few bastions of unique challenging experiences that we still have (This will eventually happen anyways but I hope I can at least delay the inevitable haha).

@Wisps You do realise that an “easy” mode in any game is an option, right? An option that wouldn’t have to affect the standard difficulty at all. The only reason to not want that is because you wish to be part of some elite community that can beat a brutally hard game and will gatekeep others from completing/enjoying it.

It’s disappointing that Nintendo isn’t more committed to providing accessibility options. They used to make a controller that would allow hands-free NES control back in the early 90s, so the least they could do now is provide simple button remap options for those who need it. Regardless of software options, it seems like a controller designed for those with limited ability to grasp a standard controller would be helpful. Does any third party manufacture a larger controller that would be easier to use?

@Jprhino84 I respectfully disagree. I think it depends a lot on the game design and philosophy. Some games are great the more difficulty options they have but others are similarly good when they restrict these same options. No general rule applies for all games is my personal take on it.

But I really do not want to make this about difficulties and dark souls since I think the major point of this article is the need for accesibility as the things the author of the article mentioned, which I strongly believe is important and I completely agree that they should be part of all games by now.

@Spider-Kev this is just ridiculous. give me one example of accessibility features ruining an otherwise great game.

The accessibility problem is not limited to button mapping.

One of the most common disabilities is red-green color blindness, when people have cannot distinguish between some red and green tones, especially when mixed with brownish colors.

Most of the sky is a golden-brown color scheme often mixed with green. Caves are brownish green. For fog or dust, Nintendo then adds a grey layer on top, which reduces saturation and contrast…

For me the game often is a blurry mess, where it hard to see any structure at all.

It makes me sad that Nintendo is so much less interested in accessibility now than it was back in the NES days. That old controller was so ahead of its time.

@Wisps With all due respect, you brought up the difficulty discussion, so it’s a bit disingenuous to act above it now.

Okay, let’s say Dark Souls 4 is created. The game is made exactly as intended by the developers. They then create an easy mode where they, say, increase damage for the player, reduce damage received and lengthen dodge windows. This is a separate mode. If you never touch it, you’ll never notice a difference. Where’s the harm? You can play exactly as you prefer and it’s accessible (there’s the magic word!) to more players. In every way that matters, it’s a win-win scenario.

@Jprhino84 I only replied to the original post which did mention darks souls and difficulty (and I think he also replied to someone else... so in fact there was another guy who started that discussion ).

Good points but as I mentioned I wont go into detail in this discussion thread since its not about that. I would be happy to debate on this whenever Nlife makes a different topic but lets not throw more wood into the bonfire (I wanted to make a souls joke but I failed).

Oh btw what @Piyo was mentioning about color blindness... so true. My cousin suffers from Deuteranomaly and he did in fact mention that the combination of the green grass with the red miasma in TOTK is extremely hard for him to see. I think when it rains it is even worse since it all becomes a similar tone of color.

@Hilliard I disagree. A developer absolutely has to be concerned with how the UI is manipulated because that is an intricate system with dependancies in the code they write. Depending on how the code was written changing how the interface reads inputs can cause issues, introduce bugs or even mean they have to redesign the UI. That can have a cost in delaying the game or even scrapping features to accommodate everyone. Not a knock but it isn’t as simple as just make everything accessible. And for some they can’t overcome whatever changes would be required to make a game work.

Take VR for instance, I literally don’t have the required body parts for VR to register properly to my brain (causes severe eye pain instead) and there is nothing any dev can do to make that work because VR requires some ability to have depth perception which I haven’t had for most of my life now. And I can’t describe it accurately to others but I remember the difference in how the world looked before and after but it would be difficult for a person without my condition to conceptualize the perception changes. It is unreasonable imo to expect devs to practically reinvent VR to accommodate me and others with the same or similar condition.

All I am saying is again there is a line to tightrope walk before it gets to the point that devs can’t make the game they want to ensure everyone is happy… which means in the end no one is happy. Should there be more accessibility options? Yes but without knowing the design process it is easier to tell someone that they should do something or they are in the wrong rather than perhaps they looked at it and found it to be too much to revamp or change or that it broke something else and they didn’t want to go down the rabbit hole when the game is functional for a large part of their consumer base otherwise. It’s not good to assume malicious or negligent intent from the start. And we don’t know if Nintendo contacted disabled people (not to mention there are so many types of disabilities that could impact gameplay in varied ways) or not so saying what they should do without actually knowing what they have done is not a helpful statement. I don’t know. For me I am ok that my physicality has limits (that are getting worse as I age) and I know what they are so that causes me to not want to assume negligence. I also while not a software dev I do assist the devs at my job with infrastructure and some code testing and what may seem logical or minor to add to the outside observer may have front load work that makes the dev’s job more frustrating. So perhaps that is why my view is more moderate. Many things in life are like a venn diagram and sometimes you fall outside the sweet spot. Not your fault but not the dev’s fault either.

@Wisps By “started the conversation”, I was specifically referring to you saying not to include an easy mode for Dark Souls.

For the record, I’m fairly severely physically disabled (cerebral palsy, renowned for greatly reduced reaction times and joint mobility) and I will die on the hill that difficulty options are another form of accessibility. Assist Mode helped me play and complete Super Mario Odyssey while still providing a fun challenge. I would have given up on the game far sooner if it didn’t exist.

So no, I don’t agree that difficulty modes aren’t a part of the accessibility discussion, they’re actually a key part of it too.

@Ryu_Niiyama While I respect your opinion, I think it’s key to remember that we are talking about a form of entertainment here and I think we can agree that entertainment should be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

With that in mind, using TotK as a fair example, if Nintendo ARE discussing accessibility with disabled gamers, they’re doing a terrible job of implementing said feedback. I’m not going to accuse them of malicious negligence but I would say that they’re demonstrating a distinct lack of interest in improving that weakness.

We talkin' 'bout the same company who sold Super Mario World with direct button mapping of the SNES controller to the GameCube.

It didn't work Nintendo, I never bought the stupid classic controller. But I did get good at SMW with my index finger over the Y button.

This is the result of Nintendo trying their hardest for a so-called streamlined approach. That adamant behaviour has caused them to continue ignoring the bigger problems beyond game modding and cheating.

@Hilliard

I think your article is way better for leaving comments about Japanize game development culture for the comments section. While it's an interesting discussion, I think it's would have been a distraction from the important points you are making.

As someone who also suffers from a disability, and as an old dude who has actually seen advancement in computer technology in my lifetime take me from someone who needed assistance regularly to almost complete independence, I get it. A solution contingent on others isn't a solution.

Thank you for writing articles like this, and double thanks for taking the time to engage the community. Keep it up!

@Ryu_Niiyama
Ultra Hand actually has the highlighted shadow you are asking for though.
There is a kind of green shadow on the ground beneath an object you are controling.
I use it to precisely allign things all the time.

About the buttons and UI:
I think it would be an ok solution to have this system wide. If the UI doesn't work perfectly with what you are setting then that is a minor problem in comparison.

That is something you can do in Steam, for example.
You can use Steam to switch controller buttons on a per game basis and the game devs could not prevent you from doing that even if they wanted.
If the game implements Steam properly, even the ingame icons will change accordingly. The UI might still have some issues here and there, but for people who are using this kind of feature, that is usually a trade they are willing to make.
I think this is a good solution over all, with the game devs barely having to think about it.

@Hilliard Because it’s far too easy to get lost in the woods of debate in the comment section, I wanted to directly say that this is a brilliant article and I’d love to see these become a semi-regular feature for major game releases.

@Uncle_Franklin,

You must have a vastly different definition of the word heinous then, not to worry many on here catastrophize comment sections, by calling people names that are not appropriate to the debate at hand.

As I said I am not defending Nintendo here, I feel they could and should do better with their controls, but calling people names for simply having a more abrupt, less caring take on things is wrong. Calling people horrible, terrible and heinous are all dunghills, everybody finds it easy to speak out and judge others.

One quick point to all this, and I am asking a question here, is it not possible to map the buttons of the Switch pro controller on the system menu, then save this as a memory position.

I know this would not be an ideal solution, if even possible in the first place, and an individual in-game option would be better, but I do remember somebody doing something similar to make Goldeneye more playable.

It’s good to see some solid easy to implement suggestions for improvement in an article like this.

Interesting that you noted a colourblind mode here. I am colourblind but not had any issues with this game. Metroid Prime Remastered on the other hand had a colourblind mode but I still struggled even with the colour assist on.

@YoshiF2 so whether a game is top notch or just crap that no one should ever buy depends on the content of it's predecessor...that's just bull

@Jprhino84 correct hence why that form of entertainment is designed to cater to the largest consumer base already and again a form of entertainment should not and can not be responsible for everyone on the planet. When I go blind in a number of years I will no longer be able to play video games. And I don’t expect devs to reinvent their design philosophy especially given that I will be unable to do to one thing that visual media requires. There is a difference between being as broad as possible and being unable to accommodate an audience that the medium isn’t designed for. There is nothing wrong with accommodating others but there is a point where either the product can’t be manipulated any further or there is an ROI cost. You seem to be taking my stance as anti accessibility when it isn’t. I simply think that people should balance demands with an acknowledgment of reality. And to not assume they are being deliberately shut out when the devs are simply trying to make a game.

Accessibility should be built in the system, one way for all games. No special options in each game. Hopefully the next Nintendo console can take that into account. And luckily in the meantime there are other accessible games available.
Now, one thing I do appreciate in games is when they are properly set up for me. I don't want to have to go into settings menu and try out different options. Arranging this the best way for the user for sure makes the game more enjoyable.

@Astral-Grain I was just surprised, is all. As it happens, I've spent last weekend in Switzerland and even though I'm a native German speaker, I had a bit of a tough time understanding the locals. Reading stuff written in Swiss German is even more of a disaster for my brain.
How realistic and feasible is it, though, to provide subtitles in dozens of languages and dialects?

@Kirgo actually it doesn’t. Or rather not when a shadow is not cast normally. If it functioned the way I needed it to be most comfortable I wouldn’t have said anything. I’m not sure why you thought you could explain to me that I am not impacted by what I said I was. You are talking about the highlighted object. I am not. I am talking about the shadow beneath the highlighted object. Which unfortunately for me functions as a normal realistic shadow so for instance if half the item is over a chasm you only see half a shadow. I use shadows heavily to help determine depth and distance. So not having one exist at all times beneath the object makes it harder to line things up accurately. Not game breaking of course and likely something the devs understandably would not have considered. Glad the devs thought of auto build though. I only have to get it right once and I am good for the game.

@HeadPirate How come you've been to many countries, if you allow me the question?
Also, have you been to Canada and/or Romania?

@BrazillianCara Officially, they do a lot to accommodate it. Culturally - it's still a great shame to the person and their family that needs to be hidden away, just like homelessness / poverty.

@Ryu_Niiyama I think you’re being a little presumptuous here, no? Just because I and other people in this comment section want accessibility in games to keep improving, doesn’t mean that games are expected to be playable for every last person in the world. Trust me, my social circles include people who have far more pressing physical concerns than playing video games.

However, whatever a developer can reasonably do to make video games accessible to more people should never be a question for debate and seen as a prerequisite for development. As someone who’s had to “deal with” not being able to do plenty of things as I get older and my disability deteriorates my health, I do not want developer laziness to be an arbitrary roadblock for myself and video games.

@Jprhino84 how am I being presumptuous? You literally started your comment stating that a form of entertainment should be accessible to as many people as possible. I’ve simply and repeatedly pointed out that there is a line that producers of a product have to walk that many consumers ignore. And used my own physical limitations as an example for when an accommodation can’t be made and cited reasons when it is likely not feasible from a project perspective. I’m merely advocating realistic requests without projection of malicious (or lazy) intent. If you feel that is presumptuous then you can feel that way. That’s your choice. But if so then it’s obvious you aren’t reading what I have said and I suggest you move on. And especially if you are going to the developer laziness route which implies you don’t actually care about the process or design philosophy to produce said product as long as you are catered to. I simply don’t function that way. I’m am not going to assume that the devs that put in all their work especially on this game are being lazy because the final product doesn’t line up with any physical limitations that I or anybody else has. Sometimes you just aren’t able to do something disabled or “able bodied”. That is life. I never asked about your social circles. I merely responded to your comment directed at me. So you are validating something that a) I never asked about b) has no bearing on anything I said. You seem to be either misunderstanding me or conflating what I said with others in an attempt to provoke. So I’m going to move on. Have a nice day.

@Ryu_Niiyama
You mean you want basically a shadow like a hologram in the air? That would solve the issue if you can't see the ground, true. But does that actually help?
It sounds to me like this could make it harder instead, even for me.

@OrtadragoonX Fusing still means faffing around with weapons mid battle which I find really tedious.

I just think Nintendo should've included unbreakable weapons too, then people could play it whichever way they liked (as I appreciate some people like them) That's the true ethos of an open world game after all.

That actually is a little disappointing. While I am not disabled to where it would be difficult for me to play games, it does irk me when game companies don't even bother to try and make things accessible for gamers who do have disabilities.

Nintendo could either solve this by including button mapping, or by creating a special controller like Microsoft did (the Xbox Adaptive Controller). Now, Hori does make a similar controller for use on the Switch, but I don't know if it's compatible with every game, much less TOTK.

@HerMajestysmyPronoun

I was born in Canada, spent most of my time there. University in Canada, the US and Japan. Work took me all over NA, the EU and SEA. I guess I just got a feel for it after that. Once I was experienced enough that I could make choices about where to work and live, I was just overcome with wanderlust and couldn't stay anywhere for too long.

I've been to Romania, but only twice and for only a few days each time. Eastern / South Eastern Europe are some of the places I've traveled the least.

@Kirgo so it is not easy to explain and I somewhat wish that I didn’t have to as it won’t change anything about the game but I am assuming you want to understand. For me, if the shadow beneath the highlighted object were visible even over a chasm/place where no shadow is cast normally (would likely have to have an outline) I can use how it casts over another object to determine exact position. I essentially make a grid in my mind and then draw diagonal lines to a focal point to determine distance and depth. But if I don’t have enough or a full shadow to work with it is harder to mentally extrapolate that distance since I can’t perceive it accurately. Which means either stuff falls in game because I can’t balance it by sight or it’s just lopsided. Basically I do a parallax calculation at all times to approximate distance or depth (as I also have to do this in real life in order to drive and not literally walk into everything). The less reference points I have the more off the calculation is and I miss things. Ever miss a step when taking the stairs? Imagine having the danger of doing that in everything. I’m not sure how it would effect you likely have intact depth perception. Technically your brain (and optic nerves) would do this for you in the background. Because my perception is skewed (and likely because I was not born this way) I have to mathematically help my brain out. So yes seeing the shadow at all times would make the game easier for me. Not the end of the world though.

This is likely why I love SRPGs and chess so much. They are played on a grid.

@HeadPirate A fellow Canadian! Don't tell me you're from the Greater Toronto Area as well.

@Ryu_Niiyama Okay, let me start fresh with a concerted effort to remove any accidental confrontational tone. That’s on me. It takes me a while to type and it sometimes leads to inconsistency in my longer thoughts.

I am actually surprisingly accepting of many video games simply not being viable for me. I avoided the Wii (bar a stint in physical rehabilitation) because it was difficult for me to use and not practical for adaptation. I accepted this and moved on.

Why I disagree with your stance on video game accessibility (though I completely understand the viewpoint) is that it unintentionally advocates for apathy towards continuing accessibility. It’s really not for us to decide whether developers “tried their best” in this or not. It’s up to disabled gamers to keep pushing for more. You’re right, we’ll never reach 100% accessibility for all games. But we’re not even close to that right now. And while I absolutely don’t agree with aggressively insulting Nintendo, I can completely understand the frustration when a game like TotK releases with 0 visible effort to improve accessibility.

Once again, I apologise that my previous comments came across as personal attacks. They weren’t supposed to be. I was frustrated by a fellow disabled gamer wandering into “deal with it” territory when there was already enough far more blatant examples of such an attitude in the comments section.

@Jprhino84 ok I’ll accept the olive branch. And also acknowledge that this can be a emotional subject for some. That being said it isn’t for me. In fact part of my argument is to strip the emotional response that many will jump to because how TotK was designed will impact them. I try to only argue from a logical and ethical perspective. Not always successful but I’m fairly literal minded so it is likely easier than for some others. I say all that to say that there is no unintentional advocacy for developer apathy in my posts. Or a “deal with it” beyond be realistic which we both have established means not everyone can be accommodated. However I am always going to argue for a balanced perspective which admittedly requires a little trust in devs as I don’t know their behind the scenes but I do see parallels in my own work and the devs I work with enough that I feel for a quality and large product like TotK I can offer a little goodwill in the form of trust. TotK uses every button and a number of combinations to make its interface function. That requires extensive testing and design to make it work correctly. So I simply refuse to believe that just because the final product is rigid and thus prompting this article that in the process of designing it they didn’t try different inputs or customization. That’s just not how UIs are designed (even crappy ones). As such I personally balk a little at as you say pushing for more because I don’t know the greater impact. Most consumers don’t care and I get that. However despite not being a dev I do care. Not in a dev first sort of way but in a each side arrives at their view point for a reason. The devs because they put in the years of effort designing and testing the game the gamer because they live with their body no matter its functionality. However I will always promote a realistically balanced or informed reaction rather than a forceful advocate stance. Because that’s how I function as a person. Because my thought is going to be if I was a project manager heading up the UI creation how would that go? And I am asking myself based on the complexity of the linked menus how would adding or removing features such as button mapping impact it? And then I will assume (perhaps in error but if the devs at Nintendo are doing their job then someone went over this line of thought) that someone at Nintendo asked some similar questions but at the end of the day found the current setup worked best for the project they were trying to make. So the difference is how you and I are approaching/analyzing this. To you zero visible effort means the devs didn’t do anything. To me it means they already looked at various options and discarded them to distill down to the current product. Which again reaches the largest demographic of consumers but does inadvertently leave some others without. And that happens. With any project really. So to me that doesn’t mean apathy on the devs part, just an unfortunate outcome currently. And hey for all we know now the game is out the door they may patch something in that will aid more gamers in playing but that isn’t always the project priority.

@Ryu_Niiyama Just a quick clarification: I’m not meaning this from an emotional stance (though I admit it’s hard to strongly advocate for something without it coming across that way), I simply think striving for anything to improve in society - even something as relatively trivial as video game accessibility - requires actively pushing for progress. Logically, while it’s self-soothing to assume everyone tried their best and considered every option, it’s not great for getting the results many disabled gamers hope for. I think Nintendo dropped the ball in this instance and letting a complete lack of options slide is self-defeating. Even if they can’t do everything for fear of compromising their creative vision, they can do far more than they did. Even sticky button combos would help some, for example.

@johnvboy

i regret getting involved here, frankly. im offended by some people's opinions, and one times out of ten, i decide to say something and argue on the internet. youre probably somewhat right, and i agree that theres plenty of healthy discourse happening here. but theres also some heinous BS, and ive seen it for myself, and it is beyond a frankly stated reasoned opinion.

@-wc- ,

Without a doubt there are people that troll on certain threads, but in my opinion nobody has been all that bad one this one, nobody has stated that Nintendo are correct not to offer better controls, or that the people in question are not deserving of them.

Some have simply stated the situation is what it is, and some are going to have to find a solution, because Nintendo at the current time are not offering one.

Some are just being a bit blunt in their advice about this, I mean yes you can be as caring as you want, shout from the highest point at how unfair this all is, but in the end of the day the situation will still exist.

If we always boil these things down to, post comments saying how bad or unfair it is equates to a good person, post something that is a little more along the lines of tough love, and you are automatically a bad person, is a little unfair imho, as their is far more to it than that.

@MagnesG You have no idea what you're talking about. This is about accessibility for differently abled people, not about tutorials being hand-holdy. You know that when we talk about "accessibility options" we're talking about OPTIONS, right? Nobody's forcing anything down your throat. It's all stuff that would be toggled on/off in menus, nothing you have to worry or even think about.

@johnvboy Multiple people on this thread have stated Nintendo is correct for not introducing more accessibility options. A good chunk of them have had their comments deleted, but still.

@Bret,

There have been only 8 posts deleted on this comment section, and some of these were from the same people, so not really many negatives.

And hardly a lot of people, and I did see most of these comments, and they never stated what you said, they were simply not as bothered about all this as most on the comment section are.

I do agree with your point on any implementation of accessibility features, would not affect anyone else, so come on Nintendo get a controller patch sorted out asap.

@Bret That isn't much more than getting an Elite controller, if you think about it. Plus, I believe it works with more than just the Switch - if so, that eliminates buying multiple controllers.

@johnvboy

i cant point out the ones i was referring to, because they have been removed largely (and good riddance, good job moderators. at least ine of mine in response was also removed, for being "argumentative." fair enough.) even if i could, it seems unwise to stir the pot in such a way, just to make my point.

you can take my word, that these comments went beyond what you describe, or not. Telling someone with a disability to "deal with it" to their face is beyond trolling. i consider you a level, balanced person from what i can tell here. OTOH, it makes no difference to me, but personally, i wouldnt want to defend people saying things as heinous as what i saw on here. 👍

@johnvboy There was one comment (it may have been deleted now) that literally said that they don’t want Nintendo “jumping on the accessibility bandwagon” because it actively makes games worse. They had a decent chunk of likes too.

I appreciate that you’re being the centrist in this discussion and I do actually agree that it’s important not to sensationalise the overall tone of this comment section but you’re bordering on being a bit too much of an apologist for what were some outright irritated comments on the anti/indifferent side.

I mean, don’t forget that this article is just one disabled gamer suggesting optional improvements, so seeing enough people for it to be noticeable dismissing or outright resisting the concept was understandably disconcerting for some, myself included if I’m honest.

@Jprhino84

yes thank you, this is what im trying to say but you put it better 👍

@-wc-,

We will have to disagree about the intention of these comments, that we both read, and it's very tough to read into how they were meant to be taken.

I think this has a lot more to how we each personally react to those comments, rather than the comments themselves.

Impossible to know either way for sure.

@Jprhino84,

I would agree with you on that one comment, it's a silly thing to say, but like you said one comment, there are comment sections where every over comment seems to be trolling, this is far from that situation.

And I am not just trying to be antagonistic here, I feel on many comment sections we demonize people for saying things, that we ourselves personally disagree with.

And as I say I am all for better controls from Nintendo, as nobody in their right mind would be against this, more equal opportunities are always a good thing, but matter what Nintendo do, the outcomes for everybody will never be the same.

Overall this is a very sensible comment section, only my own opinion however.

Everyone has there own opinions on this subject and that's fine but for the love of all that is holy can we keep politics out of it? Every post like this ends up being a political flame war or SJW crusade. What people need to realize is that in our current society, profit is the bottom line. It's a sad truth but truth nonetheless. If they sell millions of copies without accessibility added then why would they bother in the first place? Mind you I'm not defending their decisions but rather pointing out the flaws with the corporate world that we live in.

@-wc- You’re welcome. I know it was hard to back up the more hostile side of this discussion as comments disappeared.

Personally, it’s surprising to me how many people are oddly against accessibility options. I’m old enough where my brother would tease me for playing NES games “wrong” because Game Genie was the only accessibility option I had that allowed my reflexes to keep up. Now developers are theoretically capable of so much more and I wish more people would see accessibility options as the potential boon to the industry that they could be.

@drewber2635

Exactly, Nintendo are merely catering for the vast majority of people who will buy/play this game.

I do think it's a crime they are not implementing things that would be very easy to do, and would make life easier for many disabled gamers, but we are where we are.... at this moment in time.

@johnvboy

sure, ill disagree. it's not tough at all, i can see malice for what it is. ✌️

@drewber2635 If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know that the accessibility options for the Last of Us series didn’t significantly increase sales?

For the record, estimates indicate that disabled people make up 15% of the global population. Even if you want to argue that some can’t afford video games, that’s a sizeable percentage to ignore.

@-wc-,

Are we sometimes too quick to jump the gun though, I have been there many times before, replied to a comment, to later regret it.

We are all very passionate about these things, which can be a good thing, but also can cloud ones judgement from time to time.

I have received two bans recently one for seven days. one for three. Both times I did not consider it as very bad, but it made me reflect on all this.

Now I think, would I type something, that I was not willing to say to somebody, face to face, it the answer is no.... I just do not type it.

@Jprhino84,

There is a potential for increased sales, perhaps this will drive a more positive change from developers.

@johnvboy

"Now I think, would I type something, that I was not willing to say to somebody, face to face, it the answer is no.... I just do not type it."

i would call the people that i called out, face to face, every single time. these people are bullies. what they said was heinous. i quoted it. i remember what they said. indefensible.

ive never gotten banned from here, and i speak my heart, and i get passionate. i can see that your centrism is an intentional approach to not get banned again, but it seems to be leading you to defending some heinous (there i said it again) comments, and gaslighting myself and others that those comments were actually just fine.

i regret getting involved because between me and the ignorant bullies are always some "moderates" making excuses for their behavior. I DO NOT EVER regret calling out some obvious BS and I'll continue to do so as long as i still can. 👍

@Hilliard Thank you for the article. Very interesting, and it shines a light on some important topics that need to be addressed in the gaming world.

@-wc- ,

Not true I have always called people on their responses to others on here, my opinion is we should not weaponize debates. Never gaslighted you, just suggested your comments are not helpful.

If you and others want to continue to continue your crusade against these people, then it's up to you, not sure what you gain from these exchanges, as they will not change their view. I guess some sort of moral superiority I suppose.

@johnvboy I don't know what is making you pretend people aren't saying things they have said.

• UltraZelda64 in a now-moderated comment wished that no games would have accessibility options because he hates having a menu read to him before turning the option off.
• Il_Nintenditore said they "don't think this is a conversation worth having".
• MagnesG said they "don't want Nintendo to jump on the accessibility bandwagon".
• Spider-Kev said in another moderated comment, plain and simple, that accessibility and inclusivity ruins games.

Please stop pretending these kinds of things haven't been said.

@johnvboy

your centrism is your sense of moral superiority. i have done nothing that you havent done, here.

except, i called out bullies, and you defended them. i said what they said was heinous, and you told me i shouldnt have said it. you said they were being reasonable, when they were being hateful. you tried to convince me that these are just people with ideas, when i read with my own eyes some very hateful, dismissive, ablist comments.

i have no moral highground, but when there are people bullying others, punching down, i feel a moral obligation to punch back. so i did. 👍 hopefully, the people i was defending find what i said helpful, even though you clearly don't.

@drewber2635 "keeping politics out of it" inherently favors the status quo, so no thanks

@Bret,

Never said that, but stop suggesting this is more people than it really is, and most comments only get moderated or deleted, because people complain about them.

@Bret

THANK YOU. there were a few others you didnt mention as well. the gaslight will continue, but i am very glad youve stepped in with some facts. 👍👍

This was an exceptional read, thank you for putting a lot of thought into this.

Nintendo has historically taken very little interest in what their competitors do. Normally I'd say this has worked to their benefit, but not in this instance. They need to acknowledge the need for accessibility.

In my opinion Nintendo is the best developer when it comes to making games accessible from a difficult standpoint –I've seen both casual players and hard-core gamers enjoy the heck out of this game - so I think it's great that they consider their younger audience while not dumbing things down (take notes FromSoft!!). I sincerely hope they start considering disabled players - it would be amazing to one day see them make accessibility one of the tent poles of their company. But it might be a while and might require a lot of backlash and criticism in order for them to start taking those steps.

@-wc- ,

Why are they bullies, they commented, you did not agree, than called them horrible, terrible and heinous people.

Not sure where the bulling is coming into all this.

@johnvboy I only said "multiple people" in a direct rebuttal to you saying "nobody has stated that Nintendo are correct not to offer better controls". You were wrong about that, nothing more. You're changing my words, not the other way around.

@-wc- ,

So what now?, you have both successfully identified the wrong doers, and patted each other on the back, for doing so.

Not still sure of what you think you have both somehow achieved.

@Bret,

Not true, my comment was that on the whole this comment section had been a decent place.

As I said there are always going to be trolls, but that is the minority.

Even in an article like this you manage to spoil an outfit for TotK... Much appreciated! -_-

@-wc-

What facts?, you have both highlighted individuals who have different opinions on this.

Still no objective proof these are horrible people etc etc, they are only this in your own opinion.

@johnvboy Okay, I am going to make three statements of fact.

1. You said "nobody has stated that Nintendo are correct not to offer better controls"
2. I disagreed with that and presented examples of people saying what you said they did not say.
3. I was not responding to other parts of your post.

Please absorb this information before continuing our conversation.

@Bret,

Agree with you.

But still am not willing to demonize anybody for having a different point of view. your examples are more extreme I grant you. And I have stated that there will always be trolls.

But other examples were not, and in effect tarred with the same brush.

@Jamies Do you even realize that the person you're accusing of "whining and sitting on his butt" is FRIGGIN' PARALYZED? And you're pissing your pants about "virtue signaling". Absolutely pathetic.

Oh, you mean this kind of accesibility. I was thinking of accesibility for new gamers: that isn't available either. Just like Botw its a spagetti of different buttons, even I get often confused. Maybe they couldn't make it more simple because of all the options, its even more confusing then Botw. It still has the weird habit of explaining things AFTER you have discovered it yourself, wich makes the explanation obsolete.

And personally jumping with X felt weird, and I can't run and jump after each other. Reversing X and B probably doesn't make it much better.

Good article. You should take the next step and consider these issues in the main review and the review score.

Nintendo will notice if their terrible accessibility features drag down the Metacritic rating.

@Jamies I’m not going to call you names but I will say this: telling a paralysed person to “keep sitting on their butt and whining” isn’t the best of looks. Especially when the very article you’re responding to shows the author trying to “do something about it”, as you so demanded.

@Jprhino84,

Now that is a perfect example how to respond to a troll, don't give them the attention they crave, by calling them names.

Perfect response to a unenlightened comment.

@Moistnado Maybe because it's also a "home console" with the lightest and only split stock controllers available on the market, not to mention all the exclusives? Just a hint.

@johnvboy

i know what i accomplished by calling out bullies. what have you accomplished by wagging your finger at me for doing so?

this is clearly the hill you are ready to die on. i never said everyone who disagrees with this article is a horrible heinous terrible person, i was very specific about who i said that about, and i said it "to their face," so to speak. i stand by what i said, and it accomplishes only what it appears to accomplish at face value. 👍 i hope you can be satisfied with this answer to your question.

@Moistnado Aren’t you missing the obvious? It’s not just a handheld. For example, for the first 5 years of owning mine, I used mine 100% docked, with said dock mounted within arm’s reach on the wall nearest my bed. I used a pro controller to make it easier on my very limited left hand.

@-wc-,

I wondered how long it would be before somebody posted, " Hill to die on ".

Come on you are surely better than that, all I have said is not every comment you do not agree with is by a bad person. And yes there are some more extreme comments looking back, but they are still in the minority.

Not trying to fall out with you, as you have always been one of the more reasonable people on here.

@johnvboy Eh, you may have started with a genuine wish to be unbiased but as your comments have progressed you’ve also wandered into nudging territory. With multiple wink emojis and “requests” for proof of bullying and mean-spirited behaviour that you know has been moderated. You’re starting to play games, when I took you at your word as someone who knows better.

You’re just as guilty for egging the conversation on at this point.

@RockstarSuicide
Except all the author did was complain about it.
It is never good enough for some and always demand more, which is why I made my original comment.

@Spider-Kev What are you talking about?

He’s critiquing a game where they literally did nothing to improve accessibility. How can you reasonably think it’s valid to say:

“See? We give them an inch and they demand a mile! They don’t deserve that inch!”

He’s very eloquently explaining how he struggles to play a game he loves and you’re suggesting he doesn’t deserve the game.

@johnvboy

wondered how long it would be before somebody posted, " Hill to die on ".

Come on you are surely better than that,

(nope, i chose those words, and they are apt. i dont need critique, I'm aware that its a cliche.)

all I have said is not every comment you do not agree with is by a bad person.

(when did i ever say otherwise? once again, i specifically called out people and quoted the parts i disagreed with.)

And yes there are some more extreme comments looking back, but they are still in the minority.

(i never said or implied that the negative comments were in the majority. in fact i made no generalizations at all, except to say "wow the comments section here has just become absolute trash," which looking back is a bit of hyperbole i was using to express my feelings on the many horrible/terrible/heinous comments i had seen up to that point. would it help if i take that bit back? i take it back. ✌️)

Not trying to fall out with you, as you have always been one of the more reasonable people on here.

(I feel the same about you, I hope we can table this here whenever that time comes. until then i love a debate ✌️☺️)

@Jprhino84 I'm not saying it wouldn't increase sales, I agree that it would, I'm just saying they probably wouldn't take the time to implement it when it's not needed from a financial standpoint

@Bret
I said forced inclusion and diversity.

so if you have young kids etc. you will know they are plenty of games that are easy play. and accesible to everyone. Some games arent. My retired father playes elden ring he loves it tells me play it. im Like i have time when kids are all in bed ive worked out with my wife what kids needs to be where the next day. and when i do sit down to play i want to just chill not be beaten over the head (like time i bought new tv without asking wife). agree devs should do more to make games more accesisble but some games you just cant. and being 50 just look how many games were accesible then compared to now.

@Jprhino84
Games nowadays are inherently harder to play.
I agree that it sucks, but people that have limitations should understand their limitations.
I myself can't walk.
I don't complain I can't ride a bike or a skateboard.

Controllers have a bazillion buttons now compared to back in the day.
It was easier to play back then.

I'm probably not being very clear on this.
I'm not trying to insult or upset people, just trying to explain my stance.

why can't we customize controls? Why?

Why does Nintendo feel the need to force a specific play style?

@Spider-Kev I fully accept that you’re not trying to be offensive. Your short-sightedness on the subject is doing that for you. I can’t walk either. I’m not demanding to go marathon running. You know what else I couldn’t do but really wanted as a kid? To ride a bike. Do you know what my parents did? They sourced and got built a custom trike for me.

This may be a novel idea to you but when the right people think of solutions, disabled people can do far more than you’d think. Nintendo could devise some solutions.

@Spider-Kev Sorry for having you down as the wrong type of bigot.

@Jprhino84,

Only replying to my replies, not a crime I am sure.

@-wc- ,

No problems with you at all, lets move on.

@Bret,

Not being helpful there Bret, he said he can't walk, how can he be a bigot.

@johnvboy I'm also half-Asian.

@johnvboy lmao WHAT? are you seriously asking how someone who can't walk can be bigoted??? they're completely mutually exclusive things! one example of millions possible: if they post about inclusion and diversity as being a negative????? this is more baffling than half the comments we were talking about earlier.

@johnvboy White @Spider-Kev may not be bigoted in the literal sense of the word, it’s unfortunately common enough for some disabled people to exhibit an odd seeming bitterness against other disabled people. You’d be surprised how often I’ve heard “stop making a fuss/accept you can’t do it and move on” and other variations from disabled people like myself. I don’t know why and it’s not fair to psychoanalyse others but it doesn’t shock me.

@Bret,

It was a joke, sorry I should have made it clearer.

@Jprhino84,

Hold on a second, I have never stated that Nintendo should not use more accessible control methods.

I merely stated than not every poster on here, that does not care as much as others, is automatically a bad person. Yes there are trolls, but not in the majority.

Not a bigot of any kind...

@johnvboy Woah there, calm down, cowboy. You’ve completely misread my comment. I never said you were a bigot, nor that you were against accessibility. I was addressing Spider-Kev’s odd behaviour. I tagged you because you said he wasn’t a bigot. And while he may not be in the dictionary sense, he’s definitely shown some strange bitterness towards his fellow disabled gamers.

@johnvboy thank god lmao

This is the same franchise that put out Twilight Princess on the Wii with no left-handed mode for left-handed players… despite the player character being canonically left-handed. They don’t care and never will.

That was an extremely insightful read, thank you so much for the piece! I often think about how I'd play games were I to lose a limb and man that wouldn't even come close to what you have to play around. I learned a lot, thanks a bunch!

@Spider-Kev,

Which half?

People will think this is harsh but I don’t think every game has to cater to every person. There’s some games I just don’t have the physical skill to play but I don’t demand the developers cater to me.

I think accessibility should be done at the system level, not up to individual dev teams.

@johnvboy
The awesome half
The other half was a badass military half until I got hurt

Video games are luxury products and will cater to people who can pay for them, if it is profitable to accommodate people companies will do it.

With that said button mapping feel like very minimal effort and Nintendo is backwards on various fronts.

@Bret Sure, your opinion matters, but the market still dictates. The truth is, having accessibility can interrupt the game experience when a game structure or loop has been decided. At some point, when too many options are offered, it wouldn't become the game it was originally envisioned. And I simply don't want that, which the market agrees.

Let Skyward Sword or BOTW come out organically; at least Nintendo did this on their own without others interfering. They are game makers with standards, you know. They've playtested the game and this is what they come out with.

@Spider-Kev,

Sorry to hear that, I believe you are into you home theater, it's a pretty big hobby of mine too.

https://www.blu-ray.com/community/gallery.php?member=jonmoz

@MagnesG Why is it so hard for you to get past the fact that everything being discussed here is - stick with me now - O P T I O N A L . It can't possibly ruin your precious ~game experience~ if you just don't friggin' turn on the damn options.

Your "market" argument also falls flat on its face because Nintendo occupies the same market as games that do have these options. Believe it or not, companies want to improve their products to make more sales. It's pretty gross that you view accessibility options, a standard in much of the gaming space, as "others interfering" too. If a product comes out that has potential improvements, the market doesn't just shrug and say "well, guess this is the way it is", it gives feedback. Nintendo isn't inherently correct for having made a product a certain way, that's just ridiculous. Imagine if you said the same thing about Scarlet and Violet. Game Freak is a game maker with standards, you know. They playtested the game and this is what they come out with.

@johnvboy

obviously that is a really nice setup! my only complaint about many of these purpose built setups is the general lack of seating, but everyone's needs and life are different 👍

i was a budding home theater enthusiast as a young teen, but by the time id grown id evolved into a "2ch hifi" kind of guy. my tv system is a standard modern ONKYO home theater receiver, driving a pair of 1985 klipsch fortes. i set them up on 45 degree angles the way paul w klipsch preferred, and i get lots and lots of immersion and impact from this setup without feeling like i need sats. 👍

biggest thing is that this arrangement maximizes the "sweet spot," and even with 2 sofas and a rocker in the room, theres not a bad seat in the house ☺️

@Bret

some people hate the idea of anyone else getting anything they need or even (GASP) want. its a mind virus. they are unhappy and they need everyone else to be made even unhappier to maintain their misbegotten feelings of superiority.

also, i dont know about you, but im a grown-assed man. i hope we arent on here wasting our breath with 13yo edge lord contrarians, but i fear that we are. 😆 its the only thing that explains some of these comments.

@-wc- Yup, I'm in my 30s. I've definitely embarrassed myself here from time to time with the arguments I get in with people probably half that age or less.

@-wc-,

My set up is a far more intimate affair, and to be honest only really me and my daughter use it.

I have had two Onkyo's and they are really good, you are correct getting the speaker positions and seating in the right place are very important, as is sitting the right distance from the screen, so much to take into consideration.

I love my music also, but have gone for a good quality DAP and some decent in ear monitors, the introduction of FLAC and Hi-Res music downloads has been a real game changer.

@johnvboy

i feel lucky that im more musicophile than audiophile. i want to "feel" the music, and i definitely want 20-20k full spectrum, reasonably flat response, but tbh once its over about 192kbps im happy 😊

even in games and movies, my setup is for hearing the music/score, not the sound fx, so 2 ch works great for me.

i think something a little more purpose built, like a 2ch integrated or even a tube amp would suit my speakers and tastes a little better, and sound better at low volumes (which is like half the time,) but i have become very fond of the QOL features of a real AV receiver, namely the HDMI switching, CEC, and "casting."

but it gets LOUD when i want it to, and sounds good at higher volume. 😎👍

@Hilliard Yes, other users corrected me as well. I stopped playing western AAA a long time ago so I didn't know how many options there are.

@-wc-,

Without a doubt, I used to have mini disc and used 246kbps, then MP3 at 320kbps... now of course with the high res albums at 24 bit, it's come a long way from lossy music, and the dream of having all your music in one place, without the loss of any real quality, is now no longer a dream.

Being able to play things loud is a massive bonus, I switch the Onkyo to pure audio mode, and kick back in stereo with the sub, pure heaven I tell you.

@-wc-,

I started with a stereo VHS and 2 channel HI-FI system, this still sounded awesome.

@HeadPirate First of all, sorry for the late reply, just tell me if you consider the coversation finished. I just had a long day yesterday and didn't have time nor energy to do anything requiring a brain.

Sure, I get what you mean. I am in no way a globetrotter like you, but I've been to many places (France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria and I probably forgot some) and from my observations, there are many differences, but there are also many similarities. I also worked with people all over the world.

As for living vs learning about a country, I gotta agree to a point, you get a lot of valuable experiences. But consider this - Your experience is very unique. It is also very limited. If you went to a country and got your wallet stolen in the first week, you'd think that it's a country ridden with crime. You can also find someone who has lived there for decades and got nothing stolen. Your experiences vary greatly. This is why I think personal experience can be a bit treacherous, especially when analyzing people.

The coffee cups example is a really valid one, I agree wholeheardedly. But doesn't it take an extremely sheltered individual to think that it's the same in every country? I mean I've never been to Japan but I know a great deal of their customs, even when it comes to small details like giving each other gifts of money on the new year (I forgot the exact amount, but it is generally accepted as the standard) or measuring rooms in tatami mattresses rather than square meters. I guess it depends more on the imagination of an individual and how much they are interested in a subject. So yes, I DO understand the world is very big, and people are very different.

As for the examples of altruism, I agree, they certainly do exist, but I meant something else. More like, you'd think that in Japan people would have good working conditions and work ethics, but it's actually horrible and the mid/high management is to blame. It is scientifically proven that working for 5/6 hours per day is more productive than working 8. That means you get more out of a worker if you allow him to rest and recover. So why would Japanese employers do exactly the opposite? The only option different than pure malice would be boomer personality where they think that their imagination is more important than reality and that reality should change to match their expectations. Also - and here is the throwing under a bus part - they might just do that to brag that people in their department worked X more hours, just to look good.

The world is a wonderful place indeed. There are some bad people, too (which is why I perfer hotels over strangers), but I really hope humanity will change for the better

@Jprhino84 it was not obvious to me that you have not used your handheld device undocked. I know there are 3rd party accessibility controllers and ones that can be remapped. I hope you manage to find a way to play that works for you.

@BeefSanta I see that my comment was removed. Anyways, I'll go and watch the video of that father with his daughter, that's more inspiring than this crap article.

@Hilliard with shooters ,you can just add a mode where the game moves in rails, and you only have to aim. So, no, my point is not objectively wrong, adventure games are harder to tweak on that direction.

@Edu23XWiiU I mean, I suppose you have the right to choose to live your life with a self-limited point of view and a closed mind to the fact that many people face different life challenges from you... but it's weird.