Nintendo's Woke Agenda Ruins Paper Mario?!

Vivian's Transgender Identity Confirmed in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake? Nintendo’s remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has brought significant changes to the beloved game, most notably confirming Vivian, the mustachioed plumber's flame-wielding ally, as transgender. Ever since the original game debuted in 2004, Vivian's exact identity has been a topic of hot debate. The game used vague language, leaving Nintendo’s exact intent for the character unclear.

In the original Japanese release, during her first encounter with Mario, Vivian introduces herself and her fellow Shadow Sirens as the “Shadow Sisters.” Her sister Beldam angrily corrects her, saying, “You’re a man, aren’t you?!!!!!!” This led many to believe Vivian was always intended to be transgender. Others thought Vivian was a feminine male, reinforced by the Japanese version of 2007’s Super Paper Mario, which described Vivian using the term ‘Otokonoko’ (オトコのコ), typically used for male-to-female cross-dressers and extremely feminine boys.

Thanks to new lines of dialogue in the remake, this uncertainty about Vivian's identity is gone. In a video review published by Nintendo Life, confirmation of Vivian’s transgender identity is provided by Vivian herself just before she joins Mario’s party.

Now, however, Vivian says, “Hey, that’s OK! Don’t worry about my problems… I’m not sure I really want to stay with my sisters anymore, anyway. We aren’t very happy together. Truth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister… not their brother. Now their usual bullying feels heavier.”

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Censorship Causes Outrage. In addition to Vivian's confirmation as transgender, the remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has also faced criticism for other changes in dialogue. About a month ago, it was reported that certain scenes had been heavily altered, changing the context of those scenes.

One example involves Bowser. Known for being a villain who kidnaps women and causes chaos in the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser had some of his dialogue changed to be less mean to his Koopa Troop. Specifically, they removed dialogue that could be seen as fat-shaming. Originally, Bowser telling a turtle to do more sit-ups was deemed offensive, so that was cut.

Another example is Goombella, a playable character who joins your party. When Mario and Goombella end up in Rogueport, some other Goombas catcall her. This catcalling was removed in the new version because it was considered misogynistic. Originally, the scene made Goombella look strong and capable as she stood up to the bullies. The new dialogue changes the Goombas' issue with Mario and Goombella to being about class, accusing them of being snobs from the surface.

To understand more about the outrage, let’s look at how different sources covered Vivian's character change. Kotaku, known for its left-leaning stance, claims the new localization restores Vivian's trans identity and even used a doctored image of Mario waving a trans flag. Their article implied that the remake is faithful to the original Japanese version, but this isn't entirely true.

Bounding Into Comics, a right-leaning site, argues that the new localization makes Vivian a trans character, which wasn't the case in the original game. They point out that the original Japanese version described Vivian as an ‘Otokonoko,’ meaning a crossdresser or extremely feminine boy, not a trans woman.

Both sides are trying to create outrage and division. The truth is that the original depiction of Vivian in the Japanese version was different from the English version, likely because Nintendo of America didn't want to explain crossdressing to children back then. Now, with trans representation being more common, it was easy for them to make Vivian a trans character.