Nintendo Affirms Character’s Identity in English Mario Game

Nintendo restored a character’s previously hidden gender identity in the new English version of a Mario game, after initially introducing the character in the 2004 Japanese version of the video game as transgender.

In the new Nintendo Switch version of “Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door,” game makers have decided to make it clear that a supporting character named Vivian is transgender after previously removing the language in the 2004 English and German version of the game, UK Metro reported.

In the original 2004 Japanese version, released for the Nintendo GameCube, the villainous character — born as a male — is introduced alongside his two villain sisters, the New York Post noted.

Vivian’s sister Marilyn asks him how they can be defined as “the three shadow sisters,” before exclaiming: “You are a man! A man!” Vivian then replied, “Sorry, sister … it was my mistake … Sigh…” Metro noted.

In the European version, it is also clear Vivian is a man, replying to his sisters, “That’s true, you are two sisters, but I am a woman too now, and I’m proud to have turned into a woman,” Metro noted.

In the previous English version of the game, the character was described as “ugly” and was bullied, the Post noted. However, in the new remake with the English translation, Vivian tells Mario: “Truth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister … not their brother. Now their usual bullying feels heavier,” the outlet noted.

Paper Mario TTYD localizers made Vivian trans.

She was originally a cross-dresser, or femboy, in the original Japanese. Not trans.

We have such a problem with kids being forced into gender assignment before they are consenting adults that this doesn’t belong in a kid’s game by… pic.twitter.com/Qx1cGpdu0S

— Grummz (@Grummz) May 21, 2024

Another reported change in the new version of the game is that Vivian’s trans status is now seen as something to celebrate and they have tamped down the teasing, the Post noted.

However, there were those on social media who disputed the claim Vivian was ever trans, noting that translation to English is off. One post shows that Vivian was described as a “feminine-presenting man or a crossdressing” one, rather than trans.

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Another post wrote, “She was originally a cross-dresser, or femboy, in the original Japanese. Not trans. We have such a problem with kids being forced into gender assignment before they are consenting adults that this doesn’t belong in a kid’s game by [NintendoAmerica].”

The introduction of a transgender character in the Super Mario Universe is reportedly not new, Metro noted. A character named Birdo was first introduced as trans in the Japanese-only “Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic” in 1987, which later became known as “Super Mario Bros. 2.”

However, the outlet noted that there’s been no consistency about the character’s transgender status since its earliest introduction. Nintendo‘s own instruction manual for “Super Mario Bros. 2” described Birdo as a character who “thinks he is a girl” and would “rather be called ‘birdetta,’” Screen Rant noted.