2023-04-25 16:16:00
(CNN) — Nintendo announced it has changed the Japanese name of Spike, the taskmaster featured in the “Super Mario Bros. Movie,” ahead of the film’s release in Japan this month.
The character, who first appeared as Mario’s enemy in the 1980s game “Wrecking Crew,” will be renamed “Blackie” to “Spike” in Japanese, as Western fans have known him for three decades.
Nintendo has not provided an immediate justification for the decision to change the name, which could be construed as a racist slur, saying only that the new Japanese name will be the same as it uses in Europe and the United States.
“The name in ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’, which will be released on April 28, 2023, will also be ‘Spike’,” the company added in a tweet posted on its official Japanese Twitter account on Thursday.
The video game giant, which is also responsible for other hits like Pokemon and Animal Crossing, has been contacted by CNN for comment.
Foreman Spike originally debuted in the 1985 Wrecking Crew series as a construction worker and Mario’s arch-enemy. He made the leap to the big screen in this year’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie,” in which he appears as Mario’s former boss and his brother Luigi before they quit their construction jobs to ride his own plumbing business.
The film, which grossed more than $200 million in the United States and Canada in its five days of release, according to a press release, and about $377 million worldwide, stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.
The film tells the story of Mario and Luigi, Brooklyn plumbers, who are transported by a mysterious pipe while working underground to fix a water main. The brothers enter a “magical new world” and when separated, “Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi,” according to the synopsis on Mario’s website.
Mario and Luigi have appeared in various game titles produced by Nintendo in recent years, such as Mario Kart, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario Party.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains the game maker’s best-selling title, with 52 million copies sold worldwide since its 2017 release on Switch, according to Nintendo.
1682447848
#Nintendo #Japanese #Super #Mario #villain