Nintendo had plans to produce its own version of the Xbox Adaptive Controller that would work on any system.
Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé stated that during the early days of the Nintendo Switch, the company was inspired by the Xbox Adaptive Controller. in an interview with inverse (opens in new tab)he stated that Nintendo looked to the Xbox device “as a starting point” to create a platform-independent accessibility controller.
That means the controller would likely be compatible with other consoles, possibly including current-gen machines like PS5 and Xbox Series X | S. But since Fils-Aimé’s departure from Nintendo, the controller’s fate has been in the air.
“My hope is that the effort has continued. I’m not sure if that happened or not,” he said of the device. all the various systems – is released and shared with consumers as quickly as possible.”
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We don’t have any design details for Nintendo’s possible adaptive controller. So we really don’t know how much inspiration the company took from Microsoft to design a pad that could be used by gamers with disabilities.
A first-party controller that works on a variety of platforms certainly looks useful. But it’s hard to say how far Nintendo would take the controller’s accessibility features.
Since then, Nintendo has started to produce controllers compatible with non-Nintendo systems. A recent Steam client update added support for the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers, as well as several of its exclusive Nintendo Switch Online controllers, such as the wireless N64 controller.
Accessibility, in general, is something Nintendo is long overdue for. Sony and Ubisoft in particular have made strides in providing comprehensive accessibility options for their games. And Microsoft’s own Xbox Adaptive Controller tries to make the best Xbox games accessible to gamers from all walks of life.
However, while innovative, the Xbox Adaptive Controller is not without its flaws. It is more expensive than the Xbox Wireless Controller and has flaws regarding button mapping and is quite difficult to configure in the first place.
Had Nintendo seen its own adaptive controller come to fruition, it could very well have addressed the shortcomings of its Xbox inspiration. We agree with Reggie here, though; We’d love to see this controller eventually hit the market, especially if it can be used on consoles.