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Paper Mario remake restores character’s trans identity in English version-Adam Starkey-Entertainment – Metro
Nintendo’s Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake has reinstated a character’s trans identity 20 years after the fact.
![Paper Mario remake restores character’s trans identity in English version-Adam Starkey-Entertainment – Metro](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SEI_205567145-d3ee.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
Vivian is back to her true self (Nintendo)
Nintendo’s Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake has reinstated a character’s trans identity 20 years after the fact.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a fantastic role-playing game, thanks in large part to its colourful cast of supporting characters.
Throughout the lengthy adventure, you team-up with various sidekicks, ranging from a clumsy Koopa Troopa to a female Goomba who has a love for archaeology. One of these supporting characters is Vivian, who you first encounter as one of the game’s villainous Shadow Sirens, before she later joins Mario on his quest.
In the original Japanese version of the GameCube game, released in 2004, Vivian was written as transgender. This was removed in the English and German versions, but in this year’s Nintendo Switch remake, Vivian’s trans status has remained intact in all language versions.
In the original Japanese version, Vivian’s sister Marilyn asks her how they can be defined as ‘the three shadow sisters’, before exclaiming: ‘You are a man! A man!’ In response, Vivian replies: ‘Sorry, sister… it was my mistake… Sigh…’
As documented by the University of Perugia’s Japanese lecturer Francesca Di Marco, most European versions of the game tweaked Vivian’s response to make her more proud to be a trans woman. In the Italian version, for example, Vivian replies: ‘That’s true, you are two sisters, but I am a woman too now, and I’m proud to have turned into a woman.’
Any reference to Vivian being trans, however, was omitted entirely in the English and German versions, with her sister instead calling her ugly. Nintendo only rarely creates British English versions of games and in this case the version sold in the UK, in 2004, used the US translation.
The Switch remake has reinstated Vivian’s transgender identity in the English translation, along with some smaller changes, such as removing mildly sexist taunts against one of your female sidekicks.
In one screenshot, Vivian tells Mario: ‘Truth is, it took me a while to realise I was their sister… not their brother. Now their usual bullying feels heavier.’
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While it’s unfortunate that this was removed to begin with, it’s one of many welcome alterations in the remake – along with visual improvements, a revamped soundtrack and some quality-of-life additions.
Vivian is not the only transgender character in the Super Mario universe, with Birdo also being identified as trans in her earliest appearances, although there has been little consistency in the character’s portrayal since then.
Nevertheless, she’s widely regarded as the first transgender character in gaming, following her appearance in the Japanese-only Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic in 1987 – which was later transformed into what in the West was known as Super Mario Bros. 2.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will launch for Nintendo Switch on May 23, 2024.
Like Yoshi, Birdo is both the name of the character and the species (Nintendo)
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