Rhythm Heaven fan’s letter to Nintendo goes viral

Time to dust off your fond memories of writing letters to Nintendo for this feel good news to brighten your day. Twitter user kentarock1020’s son, Hibiki, is big fan of the Rhythm Heaven series (known as Rhythm Tengoku in Japan.) So much so that he has perfectly cleared each game to date and is looking forward to the next installment. While Rhythm Heaven is a great music game series, it’s the only game that Hibiki can play currently. The young boy has been blind since age two, due to complications from retinoblastoma (eye cancer) and surgeries he underwent as a baby.

His father shared this and a few other details in response to a tweet that has now been reported on among news sites. The tweet consists of pictures of letters as Hibiki decided to write a letter to Nintendo. It wasn’t to ask for a repair, but to share his experience with the Rhythm Heaven series. Ultimately Hibiki just wants to play whatever video games he can — he’s a kid after all (and video games are awesome). He’s also a budding musician, playing the drums when he’s not interviewing wrestlers or chopping wood.

Here’s his letter:

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

“Good guy” Nintendo decided to respond back to Hibiki with just the right amount of TLC. The company sent two copies of its response. One was a transcript for Hibiki’s parents, and the other was a response for Hibiki that was typed in brail. kentarock1020 shared this portion:

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.

While he’s waiting for the next Rhythm Heaven installment, perhaps he can give 1-2-Switch a try. Thanks to the HD Rumble feature, blind gamers can dive into a new way to play… Maybe Nintendo can even give Rhythm Heaven that treatment if it ever makes the switch to the Switch? We’ll be waiting, Nintendo — and please send Hibiki another letter when you do make the announcement! Some swag would be nice, too.

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