{"id":36522,"date":"2024-06-06T09:20:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T13:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=36522"},"modified":"2024-06-06T09:20:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T13:20:13","slug":"nintendos-paper-mario-remake-sparks-controversy-over-trans-identifying-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/06\/nintendos-paper-mario-remake-sparks-controversy-over-trans-identifying-character.html","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo’s ‘Paper Mario’ Remake Sparks Controversy Over Trans-Identifying Character"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Usa-Pyon\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The remake of the Nintendo game \u201cPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door\u201d will include a trans-identifying character after discourse referring to the character\u2019s gender identity was removed from the original U.S. version of the game. The Paper Mario game was originally released for GameCube in 2004, and Nintendo released a remake for the Nintendo Switch gaming system. In the remake, Vivian, a purple ghost who wears a striped hat, now has an exchange with Mario in which he discusses his self-declared gender identity.<\/p>\n

Vivian initially serves as a villain in the game alongside his sisters, Bedlam and Marilyn, but he later joins Mario\u2019s team because the Italian plumber is kind to him, whereas his sisters frequently bully him. According to a\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of the game by Nintendo Life, Vivian, who was born a boy, was written as a trans-identifying character in the original Japanese version of the game intended for the Nintendo GameCube. The 2004 U.S. version of the Mario game removed the lines discussing Vivian\u2019s gender identity, but the remake has restored them.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister, not their brother. Now their usual bullying feels heavier,\u201d\u00a0Vivian tells Mario in the 2024 version, according to a photo of the\u00a0game\u2019s\u00a0remake\u00a0shared<\/a>\u00a0by the X account No Context Super Mario.\u00a0However, the news of the remake of the Paper Mario game hasn’t been without its share of controversy. In an\u00a0X post<\/a>, Libs of TikTok accused Nintendo of going \u201cwoke,\u201d while others argued that Nintendo was correct in including what was already in the original script. Libs of TikTok wrote, \u201cThey just introduced a transgender character in a kid\u2019s game. Vivian discusses [his] gender identity and [his] sisters\u2019 transphobia with Mario. [He] says [he] realized [he] \u201cwas their sister … not their brother.\u201d<\/p>\n