Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door remake reinstates a censored character’s trans status

The Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door restores the trans status of a previously censored character.

Vivian is first met as one of the game’s villainous Shadow Sirens, but she later leaves the group to join Mario.

In the original GameCube version the character was written as transgender, something that was removed from the English language localisation.

However, the Switch version fixes this, meaning Vivian is once again trans, as originally intended.

In the original Japanese version of the GameCube game – as previously explained by the University of Perugia’s Japanese language lecturer Francesca Di Marco – Vivian’s sister asks her how she can consider herself a Shadow Sister, and taunts her by saying: “You are a man! A man!”

Vivian sheepishly replies: “Sorry sister, it was my mistake.”

This was tweaked in most European versions of the game to retain Vivian’s trans status, but to make her prouder of it.

In the Italian version, for example, Vivian’s sister makes the same taunt, but 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.”

The English and German versions of the game, however, completely removed any reference to Vivian being trans, and instead have her sister calling her ugly.

However, as confirmed by My Nintendo News, the Switch remake has now reinstated Vivian’s transgender status in the English localisation, officially making her trans for English-speaking players for the first time.

Announced in September 2023, the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake will arrive on May 23, two decades after the title was originally released for GameCube.

The Thousand-Year Door, which sees Mario trying to rescue Peach from a group of aliens called the X-Nauts, has a cult following among fans, many of whom believe it’s the best RPG in the Mario series.

VGC’s Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake review says the game “remains a treasure”, adding: “The Thousand-Year Door is an adventure that remains as memorable and captivating as any of Mario’s many spin-offs to date.

“It’s a consistently inventive and entertaining adventure that stands up brilliantly on Nintendo Switch, and feels genuinely unique among the mascot’s library. We’re grateful for the opportunity to experience it again.”