Here is a heartwarming story about a fan’s interaction with Nintendo.
Twitter user kentarock1020 has a son named Hibiki who has been completely blind since the age of two. He has been unable to see due to the rare cancer form retinoblastoma, and cannot play most video games, but thanks to Nintendo, there is one series he is able to excel at.
Hibiki, with his dad’s help, wrote a letter to Nintendo, to thank the company for Rhythm Heaven (Rhythm Tengoku in Japan) and asking for more games in the future.
You can see the letter here
“Dear Nintendo,
Hello. My name is Hibiki Sakai and I am in fifth grade. I am blind, but I’ve always wanted to play video games like everyone else. But there aren’t many games I can play at all. The one game I can really play is Rhythm Tengoku. It’s the only game I can enjoy together with others, and I never lose at it. I’ve gotten perfect scores on all the versions on the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii, and 3DS too.
So I really, really want you to make more Rhythm Tengoku games. And it’s perfectly fine if you make them a little harder too!
I think that there are a lot of other kids with visual impairments who want to play video games but can’t. So I’d love for you to develop more games for people with handicaps to enjoy playing with others.
I will always support you, Nintendo.
From Hibiki Sakai”
What is amazing is that Nintendo took the time and responded to this letter and did so in an amazing way. They sent a written letter for his parents to read, but they also included a braille letter so that Hibiki could read the response himself. Kentarock1020, shared on Twitter that, “Them sending such a sincere correspondence to just one person is truly divine customer service.”
Nintendo’s reply can be read as follows
“Thank you so much for sending us here at Nintendo your heartwarming letter.
We are so happy to hear that you’ve perfected and enjoyed Rhythm Tengoku, Rhythm Tengoku Gold, Minna no Rhythm Tengoku, and Rhythm Tengoku The Best.
We have passed on your letter to Nintendo’s development department. We want to keep making games that everyone can have fun playing, so thank you for your support.”
Even if Nintendo doesn’t make more Rhythm Heaven games , the fact is that they took the time to reply to the letter and include a braille version so Hibiki himself could read it. This is amazing and shows that while Nintendo often gets attacked as not customer friendly, they can do a lot of good for their fans. They made one fan’s day very happy when they didn’t need to and that deserves praise.