New Super Mario Game Featuring White Hand Is Deemed Racist

screen shot 2015-07-16 at 5.06.58 pmThe latest Super Mario Bros game from Nintendo is an interesting take on classic versions of the company’s flagship series. Super Mario Maker allows users to construct their own version of the game, using scenes and worlds from several of the editions of the game. You literally draw the game out, and it features a somewhat creepy hand on the screen that mimics your hand movements.

But wait a minute. What do you notice about the hand that’s used in the game? Well, to the ordinary, rational person, nothing. But to the modern day Social Justice Wackjob, it’s an oppressive racist *WHITE* hand.

Ben Gilbert, butt hurt over white hand being used in new Super Mario game.
Ben Gilbert, butt hurt over white hand being used in new Super Mario game.

Writing for the Business Insider, video game and tech reporter Ben Gilbert cries foul over this:

During a meeting with Nintendo on Thursday in New York City, I tried the game and was immediately struck by the strangeness of a disembodied human hand – bearing little similarity in looks to my own – acting as a stand-in for my actual hand. Yes, I’m a white guy, but my fingers are far from long and slender (sadly). 

What if I were, say, a 10-year-old black girl? Or a 30-year-old Japanese man? Or literally anything other than an adult white woman (which the hand appears to belong to)?

Given the mainstream appeal of the mustachioed hero and his ongoing battle against Bowser, you’d think Nintendo – a company that’s repeatedly shown willingness to be inclusive – would have thought of this.

He later updated the article, after learning from Nintendo that the game does, indeed, allow for users to choose different hands.

 

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