His original name was apparently ブラッキー in Japan (Blackie).
ファミリーコンピュータ向けソフト『レッキングクルー』などに登場するキャラクター「ブラッキー」の名称を、欧米での名称と同じ「スパイク」に変更いたします。なお、2023年4月28日に公開される『ザ・スーパーマリオブラザーズ・ムービー』での名称も、同様に「スパイク」となっています。 pic.twitter.com/HhTXEOmzxn
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) April 20, 2023
by razorbeamz
30 Comments
Very interesting.
Also, I believe the other Spike is called something different in Japanese.
His name was already Foreman Spike before.
What an interesting decision considering that he’s hardly been relevant for decades.
Considering his original name, yeah alright.
his name was WHAT??
Yeah good call lol
I know that is most likely a disclaimer for the movie, but I cant help but think that we may be seeing him in a game soon
His name was WHAT
What’s next?! They’re going to rename Princess Toadstool too?! Where does it end?!
Reading the replies on that tweet, it looks like a lot of people are having a Dr. Robotnik/Eggman moment where they’re so used to the old name that it’s hard to switch to using the new one.
I didn’t have internet access back then, but does anyone remember any major reactions to when Princess Toadstool’s name was changed to Princess Peach? I can’t find anything on Google about it.
It says in the original NTSC-U Wrecking Crew manual that his name was already Spike.
In 20 years we’ll look back and ask, “where were *you* when they renamed the guy from Wrecking Crew?”
🤞For a legend of zelda movie🤞
I love the wrecking crew easter egg in the movie. Did not expect it.
Foreseeing new game for this series
Wrecking Crew 2 for Switch incoming
Thought he was always Spike
[Wrecking Crew, Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrecking_Crew_(video_game))
Wait until you hear about the Pokémon Umbreon’s Japanese name
I wonder if they’ll make Mario’s extended family canon in the future.
Was Wreck-it Ralph a rip off from Wrecking Crew?
Whatever, just make Lumalee’s personality fit the absolutely legendary one from the film. Honestly stole the show.
Erm actually I think they did it bc blackie is a racism name
So are they going to rename Umbreon in Japan then?
Was his name not already spike? Could have sworn I’ve heard him called that before
I thought his name was already Spike?
Not a huge fan of this decision, honestly.
It’s a minor thing but considering he’s been conceived and known as “Blackie” in the Japanese source material for years, I don’t see what the point in changing it over there is.
I’ve seen speculation the same thing is happening with the name “Banzai Bill” in American media and it seems weird, I hope this isn’t a case of “everything has to line up with the movie” now.
Huh.
Not often a Japanese character is renamed to it’s western localization. But cool.
I wonder if this means anything though, like do they have any plans to actually use Spike again? I’d love them to revisit Wrecking Crew, or even Wrecking Crew ’98, and if he does get a revival, is his design going to be closer to the movies, or an updated take on how he looks in one of the games? He has a surprising number of re-designs.
I’m crossing my fingers for a Jakks Pacific figure or even a Medicom figure based on his NES appearance.
ITT: Americans thinking they control not only the English language, but also the Japanese language too.
Ok that’s kinda cool Nintendo also hey can you stop fucking over content creators who play your games?