Mario Kart 8’s Smart Steering allowed a child who suffered a stroke to finally play

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Switch is almost an exact copy of the original Wii U version, but with a new platform comes a new control scheme: one that, in a heartwarming story, has allowed a four-year old girl named Molly who suffered a stroke to finally play, via Kotaku.

As Keith, Molly’s father, explained in a Reddit post overt the weekend, his daughter was unable to hold the right side of the controller well enough to both steer and accelerate at the same time in past Mario Kart entries. But Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has several automatic control options: smart steering, which causes the game to help out when it comes to staying in the middle of the road, and auto accelerate, which gets rid of the need to constantly hold the A button to go forward.

In Molly’s case, those options mean that she “can now steer with her left hand and let the game drive for her or vice versa,” letting her join in on the fun with the rest of her family. And sure, while many may find it annoying that the automatic controls are enabled by default, it’s nice to see that the guided options are making it possible for more people than ever to play together.