Super Mario Brothers character's name is changed by Nintendo from potential racial slur

Video game maker Nintendo has announced it has changed the Japanese name of the foreman from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, ahead of the film's release in Japan later this month. The character, who first featured as an enemy of Mario in the 1980s game Wrecking Crew, will have its name changed from Blackie to Spike in Japanese, as he has been known to Western fans of the video game for the past three decades. Nintendo did not immediately provide a reason for the decision to change the name, which is a racist slur in Western countries. It noted that the new Japanese name will be the same as the name used in Europe and the United States. 'The name in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which will be released on April 28, 2023, will be "Spike" as well,' the company wrote in a tweet posted to its official Japanese Twitter account last Thursday.