In 2004, Nintendo released "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door" for the GameCube. The fantasy story adventure takes gamers on a quest filled with various missions and characters who "speak" via speech bubbles that appear on the screen.
In the original version, the Japanese company presented Vivian, a purple ghost-like character with a pink hat, as a male who identified as a female.
"Truth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister… not their brother," his speech bubble read. "Now their usual bullying feels heavier."
In the 2004 version released in the U.S., those lines were reportedly removed from the game. But now, they are included in Nintendo's remake for the Switch.
Alleigh Marré, executive director of the American Parents Coalition, says it is part of an unfortunate and growing trend "not just unique to videogames, but also more broadly [in] media and streaming content that is aged for everyone or for young children."
The broader culture, she says, has been slowly slipping in these subliminal messages for a while.
"I think what's most disturbing about it is that regardless of where you stand on it, someone else is deciding when you're having these conversations with controversial topics with your children," Marré laments.
As a personal example, she says she was forced to have a conversation with her own five-year-old daughter, who was asked during a doctor's visit how she identifies, before she deemed it appropriate.
