Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been accused by some players of having ‘racist content’, Gamerant reports.
In case you’re not aware of the gameplay, players can earn ‘Spirits’ by battling various fighters. The game has a pattern of trying to make the fighters match in some way with the ‘Spirits’ they are representing.
As Gamerant explains, players might fight Zero Suit Samus in a white costume when trying to unlock the Spirit for The Boss, as they look similar.
So you can imagine how annoyed some people got when they realised that Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong have been used to represent ‘Spirits’ of black characters in the game.
Smash spirits mad racist lmao! Are there black characters that aren’t represented by a kong? #SmashBros #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/HFYpL5sH2S
— Kelvin (@KelThaFunkee) 23 December 2018
Game director Masahiro Sakurai has been criticised before after including characters that appeared to be wearing ‘blackface’.
On the opposite side, some fans have come forward and said that they don’t believe that it was intentional racism as Diddy Kong and Dee Jay have similar fighting styles, and Donkey Kong was a secret boss at the end of Punch-Out!! on the Wii, hence why he represents Mr. Sandman’s Spirit.
Although it might be a bit harder to explain the second bit of ‘racism’, as there is a ‘Spirit’ in the game of Tac, a notorious thief from the Kirby series. Instead of fighting Kirby or Meta Knight when trying to unlock the Tac spirit, players fight a black version of the Villager character from Animal Crossing.
Some players have pointed out that the battle with the black Villager also sees the enemy with “increased move speed”, which arguably does pander to a stereotype that black people can ‘run fast’.
“THAT’S RACIST!” #SmashBros #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/kKlDFVHxEi
— E10+ (@The_Infinite1) 17 December 2018
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.