When the Mario Movie was first announced back in 2018, no one expected that Foreman Spike would make a reappearance. After all, he’s only appeared in the Wrecking Crew titles for the most part, and with the last of those being released in 1998, the odds of a comeback seemed slim to none.
But it did happen, and with that, Nintendo made a few changes to the character in Japan too! That being, his name is being changed to match the one used in the rest of the world. Here’s the post about it from the company on Twitter:
ファミリーコンピュータ向けソフト『レッキングクルー』などに登場するキャラクター「ブラッキー」の名称を、欧米での名称と同じ「スパイク」に変更いたします。なお、2023年4月28日に公開される『ザ・スーパーマリオブラザーズ・ムービー』での名称も、同様に「スパイク」となっています。 pic.twitter.com/HhTXEOmzxn
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) April 20, 2023
As well as a loose translation courtesy of Twitter itself:
The name of the character “Blackie” that appears in the family computer software “Wrecking Crew” will be changed to “Spike”, which is the same as the name in Europe and the United States. In addition, the name in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” released on April 28, 2023 is also “Spike”.
As you can tell, he was originally named ‘Blackie’ in Japan, which isn’t exactly a name that’s held up well in the years since. So the company has decided to rename him to Spike, like everywhere else, with the Mario Movie being the first piece of media to use said name.
It’s a wise choice really, especially given the controversy such names tend to generate on the internet and how ridiculously weird the original sounded. And hey, given that the Koopalings got their English names translated back to Japanese in the olden days, you could say it’s just making everything consistent here too.
But what do you think? Are you happy to see Foreman Spike renamed like this? What do you think about the character’s reappearance in the Super Mario Bros Movie?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or on our Discord server today!
Source:
Foreman Spike Renaming Announcement (Nintendo Japan on Twitter)