Tag Archives: Game Localization

If you grew up tearing through Rainbow Road and tossing banana peels in Mario Kart 64, you probably never imagined that your favorite racing game once flirted with cigarette advertising. But that’s exactly what happened in the early versions of the game. Hidden in plain sight among the trackside billboards was a cheeky parody of Marlboro cigarettes, rebranded as “Marioro.” The red-and-white logo looked unmistakably similar to the real-life tobacco company’s branding,… Read more

When Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! arcade game first emerged in 1984, it introduced a roster of wild, tongue-in-cheek characters. Among them was a hulking Russian fighter whose rough appearance and drinking gag made him especially memorable. In the arcade version of Super Punch-Out!!, he was known as Vodka Drunkenski, and yes — he drank a bottle of vodka between rounds. But when Punch-Out!! was brought to the NES, Nintendo of America made a key… Read more