A seemingly innocuous moment from the demo of Paper Mario: Color Splash at E3 has turned into what we in the biz call a good ol’ American internet sh–storm. A reference to Watergate and a lame mushroom pun were misinterpreted as a cruel Gamergate inspired ribbing, leading to some to call for boycotts of Nintendo.
It all stems from two stills from the demo:
On one side the “five fun guys” could be interpreted as a fun joke equating fun guys with fungi. Heh, heh, get it? They sound the same. Or on the other, it could be a shadowy hit job on Zoe Quinn, the original target of the vast right wing conspiracy known as Gamergate, whose ex-boyfriend posted online the identities of “five guys” whom he accused of being involved with Quinn.
To believe this conspiracy, you pretty much have to accept that a Japanese-to-American localizer (as workers who translate games for local markets are called) is a member of this scary anonymous Gamergate group, biding his time, working up the ranks of Nintendo until he could finally get his revenge on his nemesis Zoe Quinn — by secretly inserting reference to the controversy into a game as monumental as Paper Mario: Color Splash!
And of course “Shufflegate” could either be a random Watergate reference — or a nod to the translator’s online cyber crime network, AKA Gamergate. (Dun, dun, dun!)
Well, Zoe Quinn herself interpreted the stills as the (admittedly, much more exciting) second option.
https://twitter.com/UnburntWitch/status/745714046511394816
Some threatened to boycott Nintendo outright over this miscarriage of justice.
Others said it didn’t matter if Nintendo was just trying to make a mushroom pun, ’cause consequences and stuff.
One response I'm seeing is "Yeah but they probably didn't mean that!" I get where that comes from, but intent isn't the only arbiter of harm
— austin walker (@austin_walker) June 22, 2016
WOW. Indefensible. NOA? Treehouse? Handle your shit. This is spectacularly uncool, regardless of intent. https://t.co/111joOgx7C
— Bob Chipman (@the_moviebob) June 22, 2016
Some just wanted a damn female Zelda already. Nintendo, how could you!
Because between that, the no female Zelda bullshit, and the firing of Rapp, there seems to be a pretty shitty pattern emerging.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) June 22, 2016
Nintendo has made a statement, emphatically denying the Gamergate references and saying the offending phrases are just two separate unconnected jokes.
As many have observed, when viewed in its entirety the Nintendo Treehouse: Live segment for Paper Mario: Color Splash from E3 includes two jokes separated by commentary and gameplay that have no relation to each other. One joke has to do with Watergate, while the other is a nod to the Fungi Fun Guys from Mario Party 8. It was brought to our attention that these two jokes have been spliced together and misconstrued as a crude reference to an online hate campaign. While we typically do not speak on localization matters, we feel the need to confirm that these jokes are not linked in the game and were never intended to be linked. Nintendo firmly rejects the harassment of individuals in any way and was surprised to learn that its gameplay was misinterpreted in this manner.
But that didn’t appease everyone. How could anyone not know that “five guys,” usually associated with a hugely popular nationally franchised burger joint, also means something hurtful to one person on the internet?
It's really… "Enlightening" to see folks totally missing the "five guys" reference. Really drives home how much some ignored what happened
— groupon the third (@UnburntWitch) June 22, 2016
And that's just if you ignored what's been happening to me for 2 years. How do you miss that? How do you completely ignore this?
— groupon the third (@UnburntWitch) June 22, 2016
And why hasn’t anyone started a petition to shut down all Five Guys restaurants yet? That would teach those greedy restaurateurs for ignoring the reference.
So which is it, a dumb mushroom pun or a “hate campaign” directed at the Zoe Quinn, whose story is known far and wide and ignored by none?
Check out the full video to see for yourself.
Follow me on Twitter @William__Hicks.
