Accessibility Review: Rhythm Heaven Groove – Nintendo’s first fully Blind Accessible game is here
Grooving to the rhythm!
Hello, dear readers and fellow blind gamers! All my life I have been visually impaired, but around 2013 my eyesight deteriorated to the point where I became totally blind. Since then, gaming has never been the same. Although accessibility has improved tremendously over the years, Nintendo has always been the company that left me wanting more.
I’ve been waiting a long time to say this.
Nintendo has finally released its first game that I can play from beginning to end without needing to ask Alina for help.
Just a few weeks ago, I wrote that after almost a year with the Nintendo Switch 2, I still didn’t have a game that was accessible to me. Thankfully, that has now changed!
Depending on your region, you may know this game as Rhythm Heaven Groove or Rhythm Paradise Groove. The name changes, but the game itself is exactly the same. Rhythm Heaven Groove is fun, colourful, endearing, charming, joyful, funny, addictive and unputdownable. Try your hand at more than 80 rhythm-based mini-games featuring catchy songs, some of them from award-winning and renowned artists.
Every challenge is completely different and incredibly entertaining. One minute you’re catching flying vegetables, the next you’re bouncing fruit off your muscles, swinging giant hammers or taking part in all kinds of wonderfully strange situations that only Nintendo could come up with.
There are also more than 30 co-op and competitive rhythm games for up to four players, making this a fantastic game to enjoy with family or friends. On top of that, you’ll find Beatspell, a rhythm RPG where your sense of rhythm helps you cast spells and unlock new chapters of the story. There’s also Drum Lessons to teach you the basics, Free Jam if you just want to experiment with different beats, the Rhythm Toy Box, the Café and plenty of extra content to discover.
But let’s talk about accessibility, because that’s why you’re reading this review.
The Nintendo Switch 2 already includes a built-in screen reader, and that’s a fantastic accessibility feature that’s sadly is not available yet in any of the games available on the system. I would have been happy to have the screen reader implemented in the game, but Nintendo went a step further with Rhythm Heaven Groove. Whether you’re playing on the original Nintendo Switch or the Nintendo Switch 2, the game includes its own narrator, or the in-game assistant as Nintendo calls it, Li’l Miss Reeds, who reads menus, on-screen text and even gives seen descriptions aloud. Rather than feeling like a feature that was added at the last minute, Li’l Miss Reeds feels like a natural part of the game’s world and I absolutely love this approach.
I really hope we see Li’l Miss Reeds return in future Nintendo games because this is exactly the kind of accessibility that should become standard and it is so Nintendo like to create a whole character to guide us around the game instead of just enabling text to speech via the on device TTS engine.
Another accessibility feature that I absolutely love is the way Nintendo uses HD Rumble throughout the game.
Every mini game includes a practice mode. By holding the Y button, the game plays a demonstration of how the rhythm works. When it’s our turn to join in, the controller uses haptic feedback to tell us exactly when we should press the buttons. Instead of relying only on sound, we can both hear and feel the rhythm, making it much easier to understand the timing before we start playing.
Those vibrations continue during gameplay as well. Every time we successfully hit the correct beat, the controller confirms it with the same haptic feedback. It may sound like a small detail to sighted players, but it makes a huge difference when we’re relying on audio and touch instead of vision.
This is universal design at its best and absolutely every developer out there should do this in their games!
Accessibility here isn’t limited to menus. It’s built directly into the gameplay, and that’s what makes Rhythm Heaven Groove so special and so accessible.
As someone who hasn’t spent much time with rhythm games since the Guitar Hero days, I had forgotten just how much fun this genre can be. Once the music starts, you stop thinking about everything else. You simply relax, listen to the beat and let the rhythm take over.
A word of caution, though, the game has serious lag if you played on a TV, and although we have a TV calibration function, we found that the best way to play it is directly on the console with some good wired headphones connected, preferably.
The soundtrack is fantastic and both Alina and I realized that we were humming some of the songs from the game when we were outside walking or doing things around the house.
The mini games are creative, funny and surprisingly addictive. I love the little stories that connect everything together, and I constantly found myself saying, “Just one more try.”
Whether I was playing by myself or sitting down with Alina, we had an absolute blast. She has enjoyed the game just as much as I have, and we’re already planning to buy a physical copy so we can take it with us to work. I honestly can’t wait to let our blind and disabled students try Rhythm Heaven Groove for themselves. I have a feeling it’s going to put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces.
Sadly, I have a feeling that the game will not be perfect for everyone.
Although Rhythm Heaven Groove is fully accessible for blind players, some gamers with physical disabilities may face challenges. Several mini games require pressing buttons on opposite sides of the controller, while others ask you to press multiple buttons at the same time. Players who use one hand or have limited mobility may find these mechanics difficult or even impossible to perform. I need to dive a little deeper into the system settings on the Nintendo Switch 2 in order to see if there is any way to customize a Pro controller to get most of the actions on the same side, but I really doubt that.
I’d also love to see Nintendo follow the example set by PlayStation and Xbox by releasing a dedicated accessibility controller that can be fully customized for players with limited mobility. Rhythm Heaven Groove proves that Nintendo is taking accessibility seriously, and accessible hardware feels like the next, natural, step.
If you’re still wondering whether this game is for you, Nintendo has made it easy for us. A free demo is available now on the Nintendo eShop, allowing you to play the first five rhythm games before buying the full version. Even better, your progress carries over if you decide to purchase the game later. I highly recommend downloading the demo first and giving it a try.
Rhythm Heaven Groove is an absolutely wonderful rhythm game whether we play by ourselves or together with friends and family.
Thank you to Nintendo for the opportunity to review Rhythm Heaven Groove and, even more importantly, for making accessibility a priority. I hope this is the first of many Nintendo games that blind players will be able to enjoy from beginning to end without asking someone else for help.
Review copy provided by Nintendo of Europe via CDMedia.
Victor Dima
