Mario Party 8 Recalled In UK

Nintendo UK has been forced to recall all copies of Mario Party 8 for the Wii, due to the game featuring text which would be construed as offensive in the UK – just weeks after Ubisoft was forced to recall a game for similar use of the same word. A notice on Nintendo’s UK website indicates that “a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error”. The game had already been delayed by a number of weeks in the UK, for unknown reasons, but was finally due to be released on Friday 13th. The game did make it to stores but was immediately recalled by Nintendo over the weekend because some copies of the game use the U.S. translation of the game, which features the word “spastic” in the game text. The use of the word is quite different in the UK, compared to the U.S., where it and its many derivatives are a common schoolyard insult implying a mental or physical disability – particularly relating to the symptoms of cerebral palsy. The recall comes only two weeks after Ubisoft recalled all copies of Sega’s Nintendo DS title Mind Quiz in the UK for similar usage of the word, following a complaint from a member of the public. The issues have again raised the issues of the quality of game releases for the British market, which are often forced to wait for several months while titles are translated into the other major European languages and yet simply reuse translations created for American English. Nintendo has indicated that Mario Party 8 will be re-launched in the UK “as soon as possible” although no new release date is currently available.