Nintendo’s needs to fix its accessibility options

Between Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo, it is the latter that presents itself first and foremost about fun. Its primary franchises are almost universally appealing to all ages and feel scientifically designed to put a smile on your face. That doesn’t mean they or have deeper narratives, only that the philosophy behind every design choice appears to be “will this make the game more fun?”

Nintendo has seen great success making games this way, but is neglecting a huge playerbase that I would expect it of all companies to be catering toward.

The slogan for the Wii was “Wii would like to play” yet Nintendo refuses to budge on providing any form of accessibility options for people who cannot play in a traditional way. Aside from a few alternate controllers, you can only play a Nintendo game exactly in the way it wants you to play it. We’re lucky to even get an alternate control scheme, let alone more essential options for differently-abled players. This is the one area where PlayStation and Xbox have completely lapped Nintendo and it isn’t excusable anymore. Accessibility has become the standard and Nintendo needs to get with the times.

Nintendo is stuck in the past

In more ways than one

Nintendo has always been slow to adopt the more modern advancements in gaming. After the Game Cube, it stayed behind in SD while the competition upgraded to HD, and to this day has a clunky and unintuitive online system thanks to friend codes and requiring a mobile app to use voice chat. Most of Nintendo’s choices like this come down to a combination of, again, focusing on fun over tech as well as trying to protect itself and players from potential harm. While annoying and a problem that should have been solved long ago, it is at least understandable.

What isn’t something that can be overlooked or forgiven anymore is its refusal to provide accessibility options. I’m not even talking about features made for specific disabilities, but even basic quality-of-life options that all players come to expect. The fact that Tears of the Kingdom, perhaps Nintendo’s biggest project ever, only allows you to swap two actions on the controller is unacceptable. Remapping controls is one of the most basic options a game can have, but Nintendo, at best, only gives you slightly altered control schemes that it has deemed appropriate. For many players, that’s more of an annoyance than a deal-breaker, but there are plenty of people for whom that kind of thing makes a game too uncomfortable or painful to play.

The real problems are the deeper options that have become more standard over the past half-decade or so. Things like colorblind options, customizable subtitles, aim assist, FOV sliders, ways to alter or disable quick time events (QTEs), and dozens more have started popping up in more and more games of all sizes. Implementing even one of these features isn’t easy. Games need to be made from the beginning with accessibility in mind to do it properly. Nintendo may not have in-house experts to consult on these things, but it has no excuse not to either bring in consultants or build up its own internal team. It should feel embarrassed when indie games made by a single developer provide more accessibility options than one of the biggest gaming companies in the world.

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Nintendo won’t change until it has to

If we want improvements we need to show it

For all the things we complain about regarding Nintendo, it doesn’t make a difference when the company is selling more hardware and software than ever before. This isn’t just a Nintendo thing, but something that applies to the entire industry. We can all say we hate a game, microtransactions, battle pass, or whatever, but if the company is making record profits, then why would it change? The only feedback that means anything to a company is your dollars.

I’m not calling for a boycott on Nintendo games or anything of the sort, but a more intentional mindset when choosing what you are supporting. Maybe don’t buy a brand-new game if it doesn’t have basic accessibility features. You can still get it, but even waiting a week or two can upset any sales projections and inspire a deeper look at why this game didn’t immediately sell millions of copies.

Knowing Nintendo, this will be a slow and painful process. It has never been one to make massive leaps in areas like this. However, I believe it is better to reward every small step in the right direction we get rather than condemn all the areas yet to be addressed. Positive reinforcement is more powerful than negative. But this is the internet, so I won’t fool myself into thinking that’s what the outcome will be.

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