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INTEREST: Nintendo Changes Name of Character in Japanese Version of Super Mario Bros. Movie

I doubt they changed it for any racial reasons the word might have in America, especially on their Japanese twitter of all things. I think a more likely explanation why they would make a post about it in the first place is they wanted Japanese audiences to know who the character was due to the names being different between regions since he's such an obscure character. Hearing Mario and Luigi call him Spike would be confusing for them, especially since the name Spike is written out in text in the movie like on his nametag.

I didn't know Blackie was a bad word in America though. I've seen tons of people name their pets that throughout my life and no one ever found it odd or commented on it. Apparently "goombah" is an anti-Italian slur though which is ironic.