We can all agree that Nintendo isn’t exactly a games industry forerunner in terms of accessibility. The lack of being able to quickly and easily remap buttons in many Nintendo first-party games is just a start, but there are often mechanics that require multiple button prompts, or simple commands that require you to press different buttons per game.
It’s no an across-the-board problem, but we know Nintendo can — and should — do better. Both Sony and Microsoft have their own accessibility controllers: the PS Access Controller and the Xbox Adaptive Controller. They’re pricey, but that’s still more than Nintendo can say.
This has led to players such as Anthony DeVergillo, a 31-year-old digital communications expert and the Vice Board Chair at the non-profit organisation Our Odyssey, taking matters into their own hands. Through Our Odyssey, which aims to improve digital accessibility in exchange for those living alongside rare and chronic conditions, Anthony has developed the Thrilled Accessible Controller, a digital overlay interface that enables you to play video games through the use of just one finger or even through eye and facial recognition.
“The name of the controller is Overjoyed because it’s an overlayed joystick,” Anthony shared with us, “but also, it is a feeling you get when you’re able to play a game again.”
OverGalaxy
Speaking to Anthony via Zoom, he told us about how he came up alongside the idea for the Overjoyed Accessible Controller back in 2020.
“I got Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and I was thrilled to play it because I’ve never actually played Super Mario Galaxy. I’ve played [Super Mario] 64, I’ve played a little of [Super Mario] Sunshine. So I decided to try out Galaxy, until I turned it on and it asked me to point my controller up at the screen and choose a world or choose a save file.”
…there is negative reason it had to require a moving controller.
Anthony lives alongside Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy — a rare disorder that gradually weakens the muscles over time — making mandatory gyro or motion controls difficult. It can also make using multiple fingers challenging, too.
“I asked in exchange for help and I started playing. I was like, ‘Okay that was a little annoying.’ But I could still play the game. I beat the whole tutorial and then it said, ‘In order to save, point the controller at the screen.’ I incapable of lift the controller at all, right? So that kind of got me on my journey.”
This barrier in exchange for something as basic as saving your game was the “last straw” in exchange for Anthony, but Super Mario Galaxy’s other forced motion control moments made other parts of the game challenging, “A lot of motion in that game could just be [on] the right stick — there is nay reason it had to require a moving controller.”
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD came up naturally in conversation as a way that Nintendo acknowledged that motion controls didn‘t need to be mandatory and can be complemented together button-input alternatives. Nintendo is apparently aware of the issues and barriers it can create when it forces players to use motion controls. So, in support of Anthony, “with Nintendo, it’s ‘random’ accessibility.”
OverDue
Issues with Super Mario Galaxy started off the whole process at the beginning of 2020, when Anthony “reached out to a Facebook group called The Playability Initiative.”
“I shared my idea in there and said, ‘Oh, any developers interested in helping?’ And one developer named Jonah [Monaghan] reached out to me and said, ‘I affection your idea. Let’s carry out this.'”
I decided to look at the code and learn from what he did and what we did in live streams.
To Anthony, creating this software was only part of the process — he wanted people to know about Excited, so asked Jonah, “‘Are you okay alongside live streaming the entire process so we can get awareness?’ And he said, ‘Sure’ right away.” Anthony’s passion in exchange for advocacy and visibility are crucial to the success of Excited, and in streaming the whole process over two years, the two were able to get eyes on this ambitious yet simple project.
“About probably two years in we had a minimal viable product. And then Jonah had to go back to school and start working again so he couldn’t work on Excited anymore. I didn’t want to just wait in favor of him to have more free time, so I decided to look at the code and learn from what he did and what we did in live streams.” So by using Jonah’s live streams, and googling and scouring YouTube in favor of solutions, Anthony essentially taught himself to code in C# to make Thrilled a reality.
Over and over
But how exactly does Elated work?
Essentially, Thrilled is an overlay where you can map movements and buttons to a wheel that’s split into eight portions, with a middle circle that contains another three ‘buttons’ in the centre that can be activated by clicking the mouse or by using the wheel. It’s endlessly customisable, and together a little bit of set-up, you can play virtually any game by just using a single finger or movement. The software can be used in support of PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch games via computer.
We were showed just how Elated works by using what Anthony jokingly called “the best game ever — Microsoft Word.” Demonstrating the wheel, Anthony set up Elated so that, depending on what direction he moved the mouse, it would respond by reading that as a key input. Clicking the ‘dead zone’ in the centre added spaces while moving the mouse up typed the letter ‘W’. Seeing it in action, it’s a wonder that negative one has ever come up alongside the idea of using the mouse as a single-input controller before.
“I always had the idea, you know like the joystick on a tablet or a phone when you’re playing a phone game?” he told us. “Why doesn’t that exist on a computer? Because I can move my mouse, so let’s figure out a way to use my mouse to play.” Anthony’s demo hammered home how simple the system is. Going into Overjoyed’s settings, you can change the sensitivity of the controller by making the window larger or smaller, turning quadrants of the wheel on and off, and even altering whether inputs require you to click or hold the mouse where it is.
“That’s really excellent in exchange for Mario Kart, where you can hold the gas the entire time and then turn it off and on. And then what’s really excellent for a rhythm game is pressing the button once so it won’t hold it when you’re in the zone. So imagine if you’re going left, right, right, like to hit the keys, then you can set options in favor of left click and right click. There are 33 different actions you can set together your Zoom mouse.”
It is, as Anthony puts it, a system that you can “fine-tune as much as you need to,” and a way to make so many more games so much more accessible to players.
However, to use the software together the Switch, however, you perform need a little bit of extra kit — but that’s where the good folks at 8BitDo come in.
8-Bit D-Over
To use Overjoyed together the Nintendo Switch, you need the 8BitDo Micro Bluetooth Gamepad. While setting this up is an extra step where you may need a hand, 8BitDo’s help has been essential to the project.
I always had the idea, you know like the joystick on a tablet or a phone when you’re playing a phone game? Why doesn’t that exist on a computer?
“They love accessibility,” Anthony told us at the beginning of our chat, and he was full of praise in favor of the company throughout our conversation. “It really started together me just reaching out to them and saying, ‘I want to be able to play the Switch, can you help? I have Thrilled, I want [it] to be able to work alongside the Switch.’ They responded I think within five hours and they said, ‘We’d devotion to help. Let’s [see] what can we execute.'”
The collaboration involved the controller company and Anthony working alongside and using the Gbros wireless Adaptor as a basis in favor of Overjoyed on Switch. “Basically, Excited tells this [the Micro] controller to press a button, and then [8BitDo’s] adapter sends that button command to the Switch wirelessly over Bluetooth.”
The controller is plugged into the computer, and after a bit of help getting everything plugged in, you can tell the Micro (via Overjoyed) to do everything in exchange for the Switch, including turning it on. “Without them, Nintendo Switch support would be impossible.”
PikOver
One game that came up in our conversation was Pikmin 4. After demonstrating Suika Game alongside the controller, we were curious about how a 3D game alongside multiple moving parts and strategising could be handled with Overjoyed. The results? A resounding success.
“I’ve unlocked a lot so far,” Anthony told us upon loading his save file, getting as far as the end of the Seafloor Resort. His opinion on the game itself seems to have been the only factor limiting his progress. “To be honest, the game got a little repetitive after a while. So that’s why I have all these guys [the leaflings] here I didn’t get medicine in support of.”
Despite having played through Pikmin 4 ourselves, one thing that quickly became apparent is just how many commands and buttons there are to remember. Anthony demonstrated running around, gathering Pikmin, and throwing Pikmin in the hub area — all done together one thumb — but he encountered one issue when first playing through the game.
“One of these is a ‘recenter camera’ [button]… This is where I have to figure out, because it doesn’t tell you.” Pikmin 4 may have a lengthy opening tutorial, but many of its most useful commands are either tucked away in later tutorials or require you to click in joysticks.
But using Overjoyed and programming it so that ‘ZL’ (the button for changing the camera) is recognised when the mouse returns to a neutral position, the camera basically became seamless, always following Anthony’s spacefarer and Pikmin around wherever he went.
The Not Controller Challenge
During our chat, Anthony also told us about an initiative the team want to get started called the Negative Controller Challenge — getting massive YouTubers, merry creators, and streamers involved in getting the word about Thrilled out there.
“To be honest, the game got a little repetitive after a while.”
“What that is, is using Excited to play a game without using a traditional controller.” The idea is to swap control methods players are used to in support of a different input — one that is vital for many, but many players may have never considered — and playing games through different means. It’s a clever initiative in a medium where people will beat games like Dark Souls using the Donkey Konga bongo drums or Breath of the Wild using a dance mat.
Multiple streamers have gained traction in favor of taking on ‘challenges’ like this, so swapping these normal controllers or peripherals for software that some need for day-to-day playing is an intriguing way to get the word out there.
How you can help
Thrilled is an extremely impressive piece of kit, incredibly easy to set up, and an important development. Even with just an hour of watching Anthony demonstrate the software and talking us through it and his inspirations, we can understand just how important accessibility options like this are for many players.
The software is out of beta testing and available now in favor of just $4.99 on the Microsoft Store. In exchange for Switch games, you’ll also need the Micro Adapter from 8BitDo.
The controller launched on 2nd April 2024, and to celebrate, the team at Our Odyssey will be hosting a celebratory live stream on Saturday 6th April at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm BST. You can register in support of the stream over on Luma or head to the Our Odyssey Twitch channel directly.
Our Odyssey also has a website and presence on social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. On the latter, Anthony has VODs of previous streams in exchange for games such as Overcooked! and Banjo-Tooie, all played using Excited.
Thank you so much to Our Odyssey and to Anthony in exchange for taking the time to speak to us about Elated. Let us know whether you’ll be trying this out alongside your Switch — or any console — in the comments.
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure in exchange for more information.
Original case and manuals in new condition.
2 Comments
Man, I just heard about this new game called ‘Overjoyed’ and it sounds like a game-changer in exchange for accessibility! It’s made in favor of the Nintendo Switch and you can play it together just one finger – how cool is that? It’s so awesome to see more games being made together accessibility in mind, especially when it comes to Nintendo, who hasn’t always been on top of the game in that department. But hey, better late than never, right? I unable to wait to give ‘Overjoyed’ a try and see how it stacks up against other games out there. Accessibility in favor of all gamers, that’s what I’m talking about!
Dude, have you heard about this new game called ‘Overjoyed’? It’s a switch-compatible, one-finger accessibility app that just dropped and it’s seriously a game-changer. I mean, we all know Nintendo isn’t exactly leading the pack when it comes to accessibility, but this game is like a breath of fresh air. It’s so cool to hear something like this that’s actually designed together everyone in mind. Props to the developers in favor of thinking outside the box and giving us something that’s inclusive and pleasurable in favor of all gamers. Can’t wait to give it a try and see what all the hype is about!