Nintendo denies Paper Mario joke is Gamergate reference

A couple of references that have been interpreted as a call out to the Gamergate hate campaign are nothing of the sort, Nintendo has said.

Two pieces of dialogue plucked from a demo of Wii U title Paper Mario: Color Splash were called out by harassment victim Zoe Quinn as making a joke” of the treatment she received online.

Nintendo, however, has denied that this is the case.

"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,” Nintendo told Eurogamer. 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 today 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 localisation 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."

Gamergate has been referenced in games before. Recently Beamdog removed a reference from the new Baldur’s Gate, while Batman: Arkham Knight also contained a dig (or not, as one side of the debate preferred to interpret) to the hate movement.

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