Tagged with: Super Mario 3D Land

The crazy folk in charge of PETA have made a final statement in regards to their campaign against Mario and Super Mario 3D Land. It was a joke! Or at least that’s their story now. Here’s what they’ve said:

Mario fans: Relax! PETA’s game was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, a fun way to call attention to a serious issue, that raccoon dogs are skinned alive for their fur. We wish real-life tanukis could fly or swat enemies away with their tails and escape from those who profit from their skins. You can help them by never buying real fur.

This is obviously a continuing publicity stunt and I’m probably falling into their trap by writing about this, but at the same time it’s proof to never trust PETA and to never support PETA. They’re either incompetent morons making a “joke” that aims to harm the reputation of a company, or they’re incompetent morons who make a bold statement but back down and change their story as soon as it receives a negative response.

PETA is campaigning against Super Mario 3D Land. Today, Nintendo has sent out a response to their campaign, sharing that:

Mario often takes the appearance of certain animals and objects in his games. These have included a frog, a penguin, a balloon and even a metallic version of himself. These lighthearted and whimsical transformations give Mario different abilities and make his games fun to play. The different forms that Mario takes make no statement beyond the games themselves.

And there it is, plain and simple. Mario’s transformations are for fun and have no secondary meaning whatsoever.

PETA is not comprised of the brightest bunch of activists. They might do good work here and there (I think), but they’re also real life trolls who do stunts that make it impossible to take them seriously and thereby hurts their cause overall. In their latest campaign, they’re taking on Mario. Why? Because of the Tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D Land. Here’s what they’re saying:

When on a mission to rescue the princess, Mario has been known to use any means necessary to defeat his enemy — even wearing the skin of a raccoon dog to give him special powers. Tanooki may be just a “suit” in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it’s OK to wear fur.

I can see the connection. But the connection is oblivious to context. Mario is a cartoonish video game character, the game itself is not violent in any way (you don’t see Mario skinning alive racoon dogs), and the suit itself gives Mario special abilities, making it far removed from even the idea of real fur.

All in all, PETA is silly and needs to learn how to pick their battles.

Update: They’ve also launched a website with a Flash game parodying Mario, but with a bloodier theme. You can click here to play the game, or check after the break for a video of it in action.

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Nintendo has held the launch event for Super Mario 3D Land in Times Square, New York City. It looks like the turnout was quite good and there are plenty of photos from the event which you can check out after the break.

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The above scan from a catalogue has confirmed that Best Buy will be selling two bundles for the 3DS for $179.99 each. The two bundles are:

• Flame Red 3DS with Super Mario 3D Land
• Cosmo Black 3DS with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

These are just a couple of the many deals we should be hearing about soon that I will continue to report on.

(Thanks to @luismacintosh and @slackslick for sending this in.)

Nintendo has released the launch trailer for Super Mario 3D Land. You can check it out after the break.

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Super Mario 3D Land has sold 343,492 copies during its first week in Japan. This is triple the total software sales for the 3DS in October. The game also seems to have had an effect on hardware sales as there were 145,271 3DS handhelds sold in the same week.