Since the very beginning, Nintendo has been all about creating innovative experiences with their video game controllers. Like, here’s a fun fact: The NES controller was the one that popularized the D-pad that has been on virtually every game controller since. Since then, whether it’s the unconventional N64 and GameCube controllers, the Wii remote, the Wii U game pad, or the current Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, Nintendo has always thought differently when it comes to input.
The Joy-Con is particularly interesting because of how versatile it is, as the cardboard Labo kits prove. There are so many things you can do with a Joy-Con or two, like go fishing, play “All Star” by Smash Mouth, and now, operate a wheelchair (via Kotaku).https://twitter.com/Takeru_FTX/status/991267031520460800
One of the Toy-Con Labo kits you can get is a motorbike, which turns your Joy-Cons into handlebars you use to play a first-person racing game. Meanwhile, Japanese researcher and inventor Kentaro Yoshifuji has been developing new technology to improve wheelchairs since he was in high school, and for a 13-year-old boy who is bound to a wheelchair due to a heart condition, he somehow rigged up the motorbike Labo kit to the kid’s wheelchair, so he can operate it the same way he would control the in-game bike.
車椅子は身体が不自由な人専用の乗り物ではなく、どんな人が使ってもいい楽ししく便利な乗り物となればいいな。「みんな頑張って歩いているのに自分だけごめんなさい」と思うことが多かったという息子。颯爽と運転する姿にこみ上げた。身体の不足はネガティブなことばかりではない！ @origamicat pic.twitter.com/amBduVvfGN
— ?TKタケヒロ/YUU(TKマガジンついに発刊！ありがとうございます！ (@Takeru_FTX) May 2, 2018
Yoshifuji captioned one of the videos (via Google Translate), “The wheelchair is not a vehicle exclusively for people with physical disabilities, but it should be a convenient ride that anyone can use. My son who often thought that, “I am sorry just to have fun while everyone is walking.” It rushed up to the driving style. The shortage of the body is not only negative.”
心臓の病で車椅子ユーザーの13歳インターンの為に、皆でNintendo labのバイクキットで操作できる車椅子を作った。
バイク感覚で操作できて楽しい。 pic.twitter.com/MGvN2H3qH9
— 吉藤オリィ＠6/21分身ロボットカフェ常設実験店 (@origamicat) May 1, 2018
What other unexpected ways do you think the Joy-Cons and Nintendo Labo could be used? Let us know what you think in the comments below?
Featured image: Nintendo
More chariots await:
- The coolest wheelchair-customizing dad.
- Mad Max war wheelchair.
- A hedgehog gets a LEGO wheelchair.