Nintendo has officially changed the name of one of its characters thanks to ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’
It’s not every day that a video game company changes the name of its official characters decades after the game’s release. So when Nintendo announced that it plans to give one character an official name change, it confused a majority of the player base, especially those from Japan. And this all has to do with The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The official Japanese Nintendo account announced that “Spike” will be the official name of this Nintendo character from the game Wrecking Crew. While Spike was the official name for the character in the USA and Europe releases, its Japanese name was originally called “Blackie.” Nintendo has also confirmed that in the Japan release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Spike will also be the name shown in the film’s credits.
ファミリーコンピュータ向けソフト『レッキングクルー』などに登場するキャラクター「ブラッキー」の名称を、欧米での名称と同じ「スパイク」に変更いたします。なお、2023年4月28日に公開される『ザ・スーパーマリオブラザーズ・ムービー』での名称も、同様に「スパイク」となっています。 pic.twitter.com/HhTXEOmzxn
This news shocked both Western and Japanese Nintendo fans. Western fans didn’t expect Spike to have a different name in the Japanese release. They were even surprised by the racist connotations this name had.
The WHAT???????????????????? https://t.co/LjEQB7E4Nd
His original name was what now!? https://t.co/S7KTwhqtt7 pic.twitter.com/XMyC8W5IhV
Meanwhile, Japanese fans were surprised that this character from a 40-year-old game even had a name to begin with. They just assumed he was called “evil Mario” or gave him another title. At the same time, others said that they didn’t mind the name change.
名前あったの？悪マリオって呼んでた https://t.co/VRaGhimEiQ
もう40年前のゲームやなてか名前あったのが驚き https://t.co/cMRh1YOkYj
正直ずっと「おっさん」って呼んでたから名前変わっても別にいいかな、ジャマすんなおっさん！！！！ https://t.co/jYINtws2eo
Interestingly, this news caught Pokémon fans’ attention since
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