Warning: Slight spoilers for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door follow.
The Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door marks the first time Vivian has been written as a transgender woman in English versions of the game.
At the start of the adventure, Vivian is one of The Thousand-Year Door’s villains, working alongside her sisters Marilyn and Beldam to track down and defeat Mario. But due to incessant bullying from Beldam, Vivian eventually leaves her sisters to join Mario’s party.
In the original Japanese version of The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian was written as a transgender woman, but that element of Vivian’s identity was removed in the English localization, where instead of bullying Vivian about her gender, Beldam called her ugly.
Now, when Vivian is traveling with Mario in Chapter 4’s Twilight Town, it’s revealed that her original backstory is intact: “Truth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister… not their brother,” Vivian tells Mario. “Now their usual bullying feels heavier.”
The new localization smartly tones down much of Beldam’s bullying from the GameCube original’s script. In the 2004 Japanese version, Vivian is consistently misgendered by Beldam, Goombella’s tattle, and her in-game character description, but the remake is much more affirming of Vivian’s gender, as Beldam’s comments are less direct and all other characters and text refer to Vivian as a woman.
Goombella’s tattle now says, “The youngest of the Three Shadows. She’s so cute, she’s able to infatuate anyone”, while her character bio says, “Vivian was one of the Three Shadows but has now chosen to leave her two sisters behind.”
We called the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake amazing in our review, saying, “There’s a reason The Thousand-Year Door has been considered one of the greatest Nintendo games for the last 20 years, and this brilliant remake ensures it will maintain that reputation for at least a thousand more.”
Logan Plant is IGN’s Database Manager, Playlist Editor, occasional news writer, and frequent Super Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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