Ingenious Video Game Controllers Made For People With Disabilities

When his friend lost the ability to use his right hand, mechatronics engineer Julio Vazquez decided to create a custom-built adapter so his friend could enjoy Nintendo’s new Switch console. Ordinarily, the Switch Joy-Con controllers require the player to attach them to a center screen to create one large pad or hold the two pieces individually in either hand. Though clever inventions, both configurations fail to support those with only one useable hand. So Vazquez prototyped several solutions, eventually coming up with this simple adapter joining the two Joy-Con pieces together. He 3D-printed the design, which works perfectly with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, allowing his friend to use all the buttons with just his left hand. The engineer even uploaded the design online so others with similar disabilities may take advantage of it.

Valve engineer Ben Krasnow revealed in 2013 how he worked on several inventive controller ideas. One of these creations is a device one operates by sitting on it and moving their bum. Designed to give players a more immersive experience in virtual reality worlds, the bum controller allows a gamer to control their movement by shifting their weight in certain directions. Krasnow constructed it using an Xbox 360 pad and a set of bathroom scales. Despite the fact that it wasn’t built with accessible gaming in mind, the engineer acknowledged it could prove useful for disabled gamers who have limited use of their arms or legs.

As part of a contest to design an accessible game pad to make the Xbox 360 accessible for Steve Spohn, who lives with muscular dystrophy, Evil Controllers created this highly customizable controller. This solution uses a bag of rice, Velcro, and duct tape to create a makeshift device the user may customize as they see fit – something perfect for Spohn. Using this design, anyone can move the buttons around, remove the joysticks, and even assign all of the controls to particular sections. The charity also put together a t-shirt with sensors in the shoulders that acted as buttons when the user shrugged.

The GEAR is a foot-based controller system developed by Johns Hopkins University graduate Gyorgy Levay. After losing both of his hands due to a meningitis infection, Levay became determined to devise a solution allowing disabled gamers to play using just their feet. The device uses three separate sensors to detect movement in a user’s feet. Simply tilting the foot up or down provides enough motion to simulate eight different button combinations and the controller successfully transitioned to use in games such as Fallout 4.

When tasked with devising a solution for a Guitar Hero controller useable by those who only had the use of one hand, Ben Heck came up with an elegant design. Using an ordinary guitar controller that comes with the music rhythm game, he added a custom foot pedal which allows a user to strum and use the whammy bar with their feet. This leaves the hand free to work the chords as normal as the toes control the strumming. Heck sounds like a heck of a hero, with or without a guitar.

The Jouse3, an all-encompassing controller solution, provides a solution to those with limited or no movement in their bodies. Mountable to almost any surface, including wheelchairs and beds, the Jouse3 is operated entirely by a person’s head. A player uses their cheek, mouth, tongue, or even their nose to operate it as the controller only requires very minimal movement. Extra accessories such as webcams and microphones also add further accessibility options, making it the perfect device for many gamers with severe disabilities.

The Hands Free controller was manufactured by Nintendo for the NES. Only available via direct order from the company, it was built specifically for those with special needs or physical disabilities. The controller straps to the body of the user who operates it using their mouth. A stick-like structure could be moved using the tongue to control direction while sucking and blowing on a straw simulated the use of the A and B buttons on a standard controller. Today, they go for a whopping $600.

After Peter Byrne contacted Sony to complain about a problem with their controller, one employee reached out personally and created the above pad just for him. Peter's Cerebral Palsy means his left hand constantly interacts with the touchpad in the middle of the standard DualShock 4 controller. Depending on the game, this brings up menus or pauses the actions, causing plenty of frustration. After reading Peter’s email, Alex Nawabi of the Retail Marketing Department set about creating a custom controller. He spent 10 hours on the project and went through three separate controllers before he came up with a solution that involved disabling the touchpad and remapping its functions to a small button on the back of the DualShock 4.

Although the Xbox One Elite controller was not designed to be an accessible controller for those with disabilities, it became one of the best solutions for many gamers thanks to its affordable price and ease of use. Unlike many personalized controllers that have to be custom built and can cost hundreds of dollars, the Elite controller prices out at just $150. Its buttons and triggers can all be remapped to different locations, it boasts extra inputs on the back and side, and parts can even be removed and replaced with 3D printed models. This means players with a wide variety of disabilities can use the controller to keep playing games on the Xbox One.

Although the Rock Band series became incredibly popular, it proved to be an inaccessible franchise for those with disabilities. One of the biggest problems arose for those with paralysis or amputations in their lower bodies: they could not use the drum controller's base pedal properly. Kinetic Communications came up with an idea to solve the problem. Using a simple doorbell receiver, they managed to transfer the ability to use the pedal directly onto a drumstick. This meant a player only needed to use their hands to access all of the controls at one time.

The 3dRudder is a device that was designed specifically to make virtual reality games more immersive. However, its inventive design makes it the ideal accessibility device for those with disabilities. Because it emulates mouse, keyboard, and joypad functions from the movement of a user’s feet on the device, the 3dRudder allows those without hands or limited use of those limbs to still play a wide variety of games.

The QuadStick is the brainchild of Fred Davison, an engineer who wanted to create a way for quadriplegics to play video games. The controller comes in three different forms and is completely mouth-operated. It utilizes four sip and puff sensors and several lip sensors to allow users to convert these movements into in-game actions using special software, with a custom-built mounting arm keeping the device in place. The QuadStick works with any modern PC or video game console with the addition of a third-party adapter.

Caleb Kraft created a modular controller that emulates a keyboard and mouse for a boy named Thomas with muscular dystrophy. Angered by the fact that the only hardware available for Thomas to play a game as simple as Minecraft cost upwards of $70, Kraft aimed to create a device which required minimum effort to use and while also being highly customizable, allowing those in different stages to get the best setup possible for their condition. While a relatively simple construct, it ensures those who lack movement in their fingers and hands still can play games to some extent, thanks to the flexibility in how the various parts of the controller can be configured.