No Colorblindness Settings Dull Paper Mario: The Origami King’s Gorgeous Visuals

Paper Mario: The Origami King is one of 2020’s very best games so far. It’s a beautiful testament to Nintendo’s willingness to encourage ambitious concepts, and a remarkable return to form after a decade-plus of truly slumming it. Every inch of this JRPG/puzzle/rhythm gaming romp is oozing with charm and personality, in a year where we’re all in desperate need of escape.

But while playing this vibrant, sumptuous visual feast of a game, I couldn’t help but to think about my own colorblindness. Typically, games like this don’t always shine in the visual department for me. That’s because I have colorblindness, which often impedes my enjoyment of bright and colorful games due to my inability to distinguish different shades of greens and yellows, reds and browns, and greys and bright blues.

The thing is, The Origami King‘s palette is diverse enough that the game truly pops for me. Every color is distinctly separated in such a way that the palette never sludges together, and the colors chosen so unambiguous that I haven’t gotten any, “huh, why is the grass yellow?” moments. Yet my experience won’t be universal, because Paper Mario: The Origami King doesn’t have a single colorblindness option.

That’s a huge mistake.

Why Include Colorblindness Settings?

There are whole games that I literally can’t play due to my colorblindness. The puzzle genre, one that I love dearly, has historically been very woeful about inclusion in that department. Games like Puzzle Bubble, Magical Drop, Puzzle De Pon, Puzzle Fighter, and countless more use palettes that prevent me from being able to distinguish pieces from each other.

Likewise, this can affect other games. Certain shooters can be unplayable if they use certain palettes and don’t offer any alternatives, leading me not being able to tag and shoot enemies. Some games have menus where the text and background blend in for me, which gives me some serious eyestrain when just trying to read.

Luckily, things have gotten better in recent years. Excellent puzzle titles like last year’s Crystal Crisis and the upcoming Swapette Showdown make excellent use of colorblindness settings, and modern shooters have been getting decent at offering alternative color schemes. Developers taking the extra time to think about this is really meaningful, and helps to make gaming way less frustrating. (read the full original article at the link below)