Nintendo NES Hands Free Unit

Japan-Games.com · Apr 8, 2006

Nintendo NES Hands Free Controller

Not too much information available about this one, other than it was released for paralyzed children to be able to play. The unit straps to the front of their chest.

Barc0de · Apr 8, 2006

judging from the serial number the rarity of this item should be around the same as that of the 64DD no?

ASSEMbler · Apr 8, 2006

No, they still make them. You can order them for nes through gamecube.

If you want rare, go find the nes treadmill.

ccovell · Apr 8, 2006

I prefer to think of it as the "Nintendo lung-killing unit". If you have to suck for the A button and blow for the B button through the same straw, think of how impossible it would be to play games that need both buttons pressed or held. Think of how much one would be switching between sucking and blowing. I think the poor kids'd hyperventilate. ;-D

But then, I'm just a pessimist.

the_steadster · Apr 8, 2006

Wow, With this Track and Field can kill...

Barc0de · Apr 8, 2006

I bet darth vader had one of these built-in his suit

RyanGamerGoneGrazy · Apr 8, 2006

ASSEMbler said:

No, they still make them. You can order them for nes through gamecube.

If you want rare, go find the nes treadmill.
Click to expand...

Really? Its still possible to order one?...must admidt, it's a weird contraption

Ryan

HunterKaz · Apr 8, 2006

We actually had a few of those at the childrens hospital I volunteered at as a wee lad. the trick was to adjust the pressure sensitivity of the umm... blow hole? It actally worked pretty well for regular games like Mario and such, but Metroid or Gradius was out of the question unless you had really REALLY good lungs.

Yes, I got schooled by a quadrapalegic in a hospital bed. Yes, it was really REALLY ugly (Tecmo Bowl and Bases Loaded, usually by 4 TDs or 20 runs).

Mark30001 · Apr 8, 2006

I always knew Nintendo cared about their customers deep inside that heart of theirs! :dance:

Thanks for the link Japan-Games. This gets me wondering (not to get off-topic), did any other company besides Nintendo make video gaming accessories for the physically disabled?

Yakumo · Apr 9, 2006

Japan-Games.com said:

Not too much information available about this one, other than it was released for paralyzed children to be able to play. The unit straps to the front of their chest.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links. I was speaking to Dan the other day and he told me about you buying in a few of these things. I've never seen one before today. Very interesting stuff.

Yakumo

Japan-Games.com · Apr 9, 2006

Here's more info on it, including a pic of a kid that schooled Kaz. You got....served? Wheeled? Bedded? Not sure what to call it.

http://www.nesplayer.com/database/accessories/neshandsfreecontroller.htm

Mark3001: When I was searching for info I came across this post:

"Hi Manu - I'd love to get hold of your Hands Free controller to show off at this year's Game Developer Conference in March, if possible? As part of the IGDA's Game Accessibility group, we're trying to educate game developers about game access. See more here: (www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/pioneers.htm) - It would be great to hear from you, if only to learn a bit more about this historic controller. Cheers - Barrie (www.OneSwitch.org.uk)"

Check out the "See more info here" link, lots of pics and info about similar accessories.

Speedy_NES · Apr 10, 2006

For those interested, here's a picture of a likely prototype of the Hands Free controller (scanned this from an old Fun Club magazine):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/Hands-FreeJoystickPROTOTYPE-NintendoFun.jpg

Also, since this is the best place to ask, does anybody know anything about the following device?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/InterfaceModuleforHandicappedPlayersforNES.jpg

It was listed on eBay quite a few years ago, and IIRC it was some sort of controller for handicapped players.

ASSEMbler · Apr 11, 2006

That device is TREMENDOUSLY expensive. I would hold onto it as it's 1. boxed 2. super expensive.

ASSEMbler · Apr 11, 2006

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ASSEMbler · Apr 11, 2006

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WolverineDK · Apr 11, 2006

Hmmm the handicap controllers arenÂ´t bad. Since handicapped people should also get the enjoyment of a video game .

Barc0de · Apr 11, 2006

The dance dance revolution dancing matt-controller is something that makes even full-bodied individuals feel like handicaps. On the other hand, I ve seen dogs dance better than me, which is embaressing

Speedy_NES · Apr 11, 2006

ASSEMbler said:

That device is TREMENDOUSLY expensive. I would hold onto it as it's 1. boxed 2. super expensive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the Team Xtreme info! I unfortunately don't own the unit shown in the pic, it was just from an eBay auction from quite a few years ago. I had always wondered what it was meant to be used for, never knew about those switches for disabled people. I searched the web a little, and it turns out that multiple models from different companies were released for the NES. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one of these in the near future

GigaDrive · Apr 11, 2006

I remember reading about this thing in Video Games & Computer Entertainment in '89.

HunterKaz · Apr 11, 2006

Speedy_NES said:

Also, since this is the best place to ask, does anybody know anything about the following device?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/InterfaceModuleforHandicappedPlayersforNES.jpg
Click to expand...

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it connected to a larger input device, like say a control stick for an electric wheelchair. I've seen something like that for use with an old Ms. Pacman machine, but a few less connectors.

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