- The animated movie Super Mario Bros. hits Japanese theaters on April 28, 2023
- Nintendo has announced the name change of a secondary character in the Japanese version
- In Japan, Spike has always been called Blackie
Since its release in dark rooms, Super Mario Bros. the movies did a real kart-on and chained records. Moreover, it marks the best start in history for an animated film and downright eclipses Frozen 2.
But if it has been in many cinemas in Europe and the United States for several weeks, the feature film dedicated to Nintendo’s two mustachioed plumbers has not yet been released in Japanese cinemas.
Indeed, fans of the Japanese archipelago must wait until April 28 to discover (finally) Super Mario Bros. Ahead of its release in Japanese cinemas, Nintendo announced a slight change by changing the first name of a secondary character.
As you know, the Mario universe is populated by cult characters like Toad, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, Yoshi, to name a few. The animated film currently showing is full of winks andeaster eggs. Thus, we can see and hear Charles Martinet, the original voice of Mario in video games. But other references are slightly more subtle for the less expert among us.
Spike changes name in Japan
At the beginning of Super Mario Bros. the movies, Mario and Luigi cross paths with Spike, their former boss. The atmosphere is electric between them, the former employer blithely mocking the dream of self-employment of the two brothers. If he does not have a crucial role in the animated film, note that this character takes us directly back to 1984 with the game Wrecking Crew. In this video game, the player controls Mario and must destroy all the bricks of a building while avoiding many enemies, including the famous Spike.
© Universal Studios / Nintendo
So far so good. But things are different in Japan since there Spike hasn’t been called Spike but Blackie for almost three decades. But with the release of the feature film, the antagonist of Wrecking Crew will be entitled to the same name as in Western countries. In the animated film as in the video games in which it appears. This is, in any case, what Nintendo announced on Twitter last week.
The name of the character “Blacky” that appears in the family computer software “Wrecking Crew” will be changed to “Spike”, which is the same as the name in Europe and the United States. In addition, the name in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” released on April 28, 2023 is also “Spike”. pic.twitter.com/HhTXEOmzxn
— Nintendo Co., Ltd. (@Nintendo) April 20, 2023
Although the Nintendo character has white skin, this moniker is in bad taste, even offensive. In its tweet, Nintendo did not clearly explain the reason for this change. However, we imagine that the Japanese company wanted to take the lead and avoid a bad buzz on social networks about it. Given the popularity of Super Mario Bros. the movies, it would have been unavoidable. As the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”. Plus, it never hurts to standardize.
It remains to be seen how this news will be received by Japanese fans… Indeed, as we know, some don’t like Really not that we touch their childhood memories. Despite legitimate reasons.
