Nintendo Bans Trans Flag Stages From Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Nintendo banned the use of the trans flag from user created stages in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Nintendo recently launched a new feature that allowed users to create their own stages in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The feature went live on April 17th.

Twitter user Warm Safflina reported that Nintendo had banned the trans flag from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate indicating its use violated their Terms of Service. They would add that the flag was deemed “inappropriate and/or harmful.”

While they originally were unclear why the use of the trans flag violated Nintendo’s Terms of Service, they would later report that they contacted customer service, who revealed to them the flag was banned for making a “political statement.” They also reported their account was suspended for 9 hours following the violation.

They also noted that the customer service rep instructed them to contact Nintendo’s corporate office and visit the Smash support forums and “leave messages that the trans flag and message of support for trans rights shouldn’t be prohibited.”

They would later provide a screenshot of their original email from Nintendo indicating their decision to ban the stage was due to “inappropriate and/or hateful content.”

Twitter user MomBot reported that not only was Nintendo removing stages with trans flags, but was removing all stages “with political messages.”

MomBot’s report is backed up by a separate report from One Angry Gamer (OAG) where they indicate that a number of  user created stages are being removed for “inappropriate” designs. OAG reports, “Nintendo has been pretty quick to erase these types of stages.” They add, “But it looks like at least one person at Nintendo has now been tasked with checking out these reports and determining if a level is indeed a bit too problematic for this family-friendly game where dinosaurs fry plumbers to a crisp and princesses can throw children off of a cliff.”

This isn’t the first instance of Nintendo censoring Super Smash Bros. Ultimate content. In November of last year, they removed Mr. Game & Watch’s feather stating the original design of the character did not represent their company’s values. The character’s original design had come under fire from users on the ResetEra forum.

What do you make of Nintendo’s enforcement actions? Do you think the trans flag is a political message and should be removed from user-created stages? Let me know your thoughts below!

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