The BLind Masters of Fighting Games

June 25, 2018 8:53 AM

These gamers are able to kick ass despite lacking vision, a sense most modern video games take for granted.
posted by Alensin (10 comments total)

My own experience with fighting games is a bit more limited, I never really pushed myself to learn the combos for Mortal Kombat, and my single demo of Killer Instinct on the Xbox was underwhelming, despite audible menus. Nevertheless, this is a great achievement in gaming circles, and I wish other genres were as possible to excel at.
posted by Alensin at 8:54 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I never would have expected fighting games to be an accessible genre, but I suppose that the 2D plane combined with the stereo audio effects (and fighting game characters really are pretty noisy, when you think about it!) would simplify the problem of building a mental map of the action based on sound alone.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:07 AM on June 25, 2018

I forgot to mention, I DID play a lot of the original Super Smash Bros on the N64 way back when. It was fun and occasionally very difficult, depending on which character I chose. I have a soft spot for Linck.
posted by Alensin at 9:09 AM on June 25, 2018

The dev's of the classic arcade "Dragons Lair" reputedly could play a perfect game just from audio cues.
posted by sammyo at 9:20 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've seen blind demos of games like Mike Tyson's Punch Out on AGDQ, but that was PvE. Playing a PvP game by sound alone is infinitely more impressive. So cool!
posted by explosion at 9:36 AM on June 25, 2018

fighting games seem to be more inclusive in a few ways; there's a strong African American contingent in high-level tournament play, there's (of course) a large Japanese presence as well. One of the very best in the world at Injustice 2 and Dragonball is SonicFox, who often competes in (part of) his fursuit these days.

Not a lot of female presence, and the games themselves suffer abominably from male gaze of course.
posted by Fraxas at 11:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've been searching for non-video videogames. Mazes that you navigate by sound, by rumble, something.
posted by rebent at 11:57 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]

I found this documentary that is also worth sharing here: Gaming Blind [Accessible Media]

“After losing her sight, Shelby Travers thought video games were a part of her past. Join her as she discovers how accessible gaming is to the blind and partially sighted community today, picking up a controller for the first time in 10 years.”

posted by Fizz at 12:05 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

rebent, that sounds like a really interesting unexplored concept. Definitely something that ought to exist in the Indie space where graphicsgraphicsgraphics isn't the primary focus. Ironically, it might maybe be something that developers avoid because of the accessibility issues.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 7:01 PM on June 25, 2018

I've been searching for non-video videogames. Mazes that you navigate by sound, by rumble, something.

"Alexa, open Skyrim."
posted by radwolf76 at 7:10 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]