Introducing the Accessible Games Initiative – News – Nintendo Official Site
Introducing the Accessible Games Initiative – News – Nintendo Official Site
by Reddit_Sucks_1401
24 Comments
Reddit_Sucks_1401
>#**Introducing the Accessible Games Initiative**
>Tens of millions of Americans have a disability, but without a common language to describe the accessibility features within different video games, making informed purchases can be challenging. That is why Nintendo of America is pleased to announce that we are a member of the new Accessible Games Initiative.
>The Accessible Games Initiative strives to provide players with clear information about the accessibility features in video games through a set of “tags” that players can use to identify the accessibility features available in a specific game before they purchase that game.
>Players can find the descriptions for each tag on the [Accessible Games Initiative](https://accessiblegames.com/) website. Participating companies will all be using the same tags and tag definitions. In short, you no longer need to worry about guessing what a tag means for individual games across participating gaming storefronts, and you can better know what to expect before you buy a game.
This is fantastic but it’s weird considering Nintendo is like the least friendly when it comes to custom accessibility options.
OrinthianFlame
Not gunna lie, from the title, I thought it was a backwards compatibility thing, that they were going to make more of their older games available on the switch/switch 2 lol.
But this is good too.
juggleaddict
So no actual effort being exerted here to support accessibility, just properly labeling games so people who likely already knew they couldn’t play your games still can’t play them. Nintendo can’t even be bothered to allow remapping in most of their games, and the half-hearted system-wide option doesn’t have any context, so it’s basically useless for most games because controls change based on the context (in menu, on horse, swimming, etc). Insomniac and Naughty Dog are leading the way, and microsoft and playstation both have systems that allow for unique solutions for gamers. Nintendo can’t even be bothered to use all the buttons on the controller you can’t remap, and some games have relatively annoying control schemes for all players. Forgive me for sounding unimpressed, but I have seen very little effort for this sort of thing outside of optional super-easy modes for kids in yoshi games/mario wonder/mariokart and things like that.
Meta13_Drain_Punch
Bro I thought this had to do with preserving older games at first, but still a huge W😅
RChickenMan
This is awesome. I’ve been fascinated by game accessibility ever since I listened to an interview about the work that Naughty Dog did to make The Last of Us accessible to the fully blind.
Rude-Revolution-8687
Perhaps this is part of the reason for the mouse mode. The Switch 2 will have lots of different ways of interacting with games – touch, mouse, joycons, gamepad, movement based. Should allow for more accessibility options – *if developers embrace them*.
ProgramTheWorld
Adding tags is a great first step! Hopefully games from Nintendo can get more accessible over time.
repocin
Sounds great, but…maybe I’m missing something here or are there no examples of what these store tags look like anywhere in this notice or on the website they link to?
Triggerhappy938
Games on the N64 app would be WAY MORE ACCESSIBLE if they would just allow in app control mapping.
xmi2025
“Finally, my excuse for spending hours gaming: it’s for accessibility research!
TerribleTerabytes
I prefer if they’d just focus on making games fun. Restricting games because of accessibility forces them to hold back on creativity, especially hardware wise.
a-cloud-castle
Definitely a step in the right direction. One thing Nintendo could do is make a policy where every control can easily be re-mapped on a per game basis. Yes, it can kinda-sorta be done now, but it sucks and is annoying.
Also, listen to people with disabilities about the types of controls they would like for certain games.
Angel7O2
That’s cool but I’d like to seem to take crack at a accessible controller and have more options within their games.
Cheezebell
This is awesome!!! Glad to see Nintendo move this direction.
a_phantom_limb
I actually expected Nintendo to launch an accessibility initiative prior to the Paralympics in Tokyo, but I’m still quite glad to see this.
frrrni
Man, as Spanish is my native language I thought they were getting cheaper. Keep dreaming!
SnacksGPT
This is great — games should be accessible to everyone.
Garo263
Something like this has to come from NoJ, not NoA. Nintendo’s own titles really lack options to customize your experience, including accessibility options, while big Sony and Microsoft releases do this for ages.
FernMayosCardigan
I’d prefer if Nintendo actually implemented more accessibility in their games.
Entire-Assistance842
A left handed option for Skyward Sword would be nice Nintendo.
ravolo
There is “Full Input Remapping” as one of the tag. Can we expect that for new Mario Kart? Can we finally remap y in Mario game to shoulder button? 😉
24 Comments
>#**Introducing the Accessible Games Initiative**
>Tens of millions of Americans have a disability, but without a common language to describe the accessibility features within different video games, making informed purchases can be challenging. That is why Nintendo of America is pleased to announce that we are a member of the new Accessible Games Initiative.
>The Accessible Games Initiative strives to provide players with clear information about the accessibility features in video games through a set of “tags” that players can use to identify the accessibility features available in a specific game before they purchase that game.
>**How Does It Work?**
>Nintendo of America will be introducing these tags in the future. As publishers opt into adding support for the Accessible Games Initiative tags, players will be able to find them in the [My Nintendo Store](https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/introducing-the-accessible-games-initiative/).
>Players can find the descriptions for each tag on the [Accessible Games Initiative](https://accessiblegames.com/) website. Participating companies will all be using the same tags and tag definitions. In short, you no longer need to worry about guessing what a tag means for individual games across participating gaming storefronts, and you can better know what to expect before you buy a game.
>Visit [www.accessiblegames.com](https://accessiblegames.com/) to explore the tags and learn more.
[deleted]
Good for them. Accessibility is important.
This is fantastic but it’s weird considering Nintendo is like the least friendly when it comes to custom accessibility options.
Not gunna lie, from the title, I thought it was a backwards compatibility thing, that they were going to make more of their older games available on the switch/switch 2 lol.
But this is good too.
So no actual effort being exerted here to support accessibility, just properly labeling games so people who likely already knew they couldn’t play your games still can’t play them. Nintendo can’t even be bothered to allow remapping in most of their games, and the half-hearted system-wide option doesn’t have any context, so it’s basically useless for most games because controls change based on the context (in menu, on horse, swimming, etc). Insomniac and Naughty Dog are leading the way, and microsoft and playstation both have systems that allow for unique solutions for gamers. Nintendo can’t even be bothered to use all the buttons on the controller you can’t remap, and some games have relatively annoying control schemes for all players. Forgive me for sounding unimpressed, but I have seen very little effort for this sort of thing outside of optional super-easy modes for kids in yoshi games/mario wonder/mariokart and things like that.
Bro I thought this had to do with preserving older games at first, but still a huge W😅
This is awesome. I’ve been fascinated by game accessibility ever since I listened to an interview about the work that Naughty Dog did to make The Last of Us accessible to the fully blind.
Perhaps this is part of the reason for the mouse mode. The Switch 2 will have lots of different ways of interacting with games – touch, mouse, joycons, gamepad, movement based. Should allow for more accessibility options – *if developers embrace them*.
Adding tags is a great first step! Hopefully games from Nintendo can get more accessible over time.
Sounds great, but…maybe I’m missing something here or are there no examples of what these store tags look like anywhere in this notice or on the website they link to?
Games on the N64 app would be WAY MORE ACCESSIBLE if they would just allow in app control mapping.
“Finally, my excuse for spending hours gaming: it’s for accessibility research!
I prefer if they’d just focus on making games fun. Restricting games because of accessibility forces them to hold back on creativity, especially hardware wise.
Definitely a step in the right direction. One thing Nintendo could do is make a policy where every control can easily be re-mapped on a per game basis. Yes, it can kinda-sorta be done now, but it sucks and is annoying.
Also, listen to people with disabilities about the types of controls they would like for certain games.
That’s cool but I’d like to seem to take crack at a accessible controller and have more options within their games.
This is awesome!!! Glad to see Nintendo move this direction.
I actually expected Nintendo to launch an accessibility initiative prior to the Paralympics in Tokyo, but I’m still quite glad to see this.
Man, as Spanish is my native language I thought they were getting cheaper. Keep dreaming!
This is great — games should be accessible to everyone.
Something like this has to come from NoJ, not NoA. Nintendo’s own titles really lack options to customize your experience, including accessibility options, while big Sony and Microsoft releases do this for ages.
I’d prefer if Nintendo actually implemented more accessibility in their games.
A left handed option for Skyward Sword would be nice Nintendo.
There is “Full Input Remapping” as one of the tag. Can we expect that for new Mario Kart? Can we finally remap y in Mario game to shoulder button? 😉