Kapital Koopas: Tencent's Nintendo Switch Celebrates its First Anniversary and Monster Hunter Pisses Off Chinese Audiences

Press F to pay respects to all the fallen goombas. It's time for a deep dive into China's gaming culture in our column, Kapital Koopas.

New imported games hit Chinese market and Tencent-Nintendo Switch celebrates one year

On Dec 2, the National Press and Publication Administration updated its list of approved imported games for mainland China, four months after the last update. Although most of the titles are mobile games that have been held up in the backlog of Apple App Store games awaiting ISBN numbers, five console games managed to get approval for publication, almost as many as were approved throughout the first eight months of 2020. Aside from Unruly Heroes – which will initially be launched on PS4 and Xbox One in China – all of the console games will be published on the Tencent Nintendo Switch platform and include Just Dance, To the Moon, Mario Tennis Aces, and Yoshi's Crafted World.

Currently, Tencent's Nintendo Switch has 12 playable games and five more with impending release dates. Admittedly, the selection can hardly be considered satisfying, but seeing as how it became increasingly difficult for games to attain publication approval this year, many gamers have applauded the efforts that Nintendo and Tencent have made, such as releasing a mini-program for Ringfit Adventure which helps players track their daily fitness patterns, the use of Chinese songs in Tencent's version of Just Dance, and the relatively cheaper price for games, controllers and other accessories. Meanwhile, the team behind Tencent and Nintendo Switch's collaboration recently announced that they will be celebrating their first anniversary with a number of special deals and exclusive merchandise available via their Tmall store. You can pre-order the Tencent version of Just Dance on TMall now and receive it just in time for all your Christmas parties, and Mario Tennis Aces will also be released soon according to Tencent.

According to Bloomberg, 1.3 million Nintendo Switch units have been sold in China since its release earlier this year, beating out the PS4 and Xbox One, to become the most popular console in the country.

Monster Hunter makes tone-deaf reference to a racist rhyme

In the last Kapital Koopas, I mentioned the movie adaption of the renowned action-role-playing game Monster Hunter would be released in Chinese theatres on Dec 4. Even though I didn’t expect the movie to be well-received by the gaming community, I never could've imagined that it would be wholly removed from cinemas shortly after its premiere.

As the old saying goes, “the devil is in the details,” or in this case, a ten-second clip of dialogue which resulted in some netizens accusing the movie of trafficking in racist references, and promptly turning to comment sections for both the film and the game to vent their outrage.

The controversial lines occur near the beginning of the movie when a soldier asks his comrade, “What kind of knees are these?” followed by, “Chinese.” On the face of it, this seems like a pretty underwhelming pun and lazy, subpar writing, however, some folks were quick to connect it to a notorious rhyme that once prevailed in the States: “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, and look at these,” with the singer squinting their eyes and pointing at their knees, a not so subtle dig at the appearance of Asian immigrants, a stereotype of Asian women's bodies, and Chinese day laborers in general, all rolled into one highly offensive package.

To make matters worse, in the Chinese subtitles, the translator may have noticed the problem because the lines were changed to “我膝盖下有什么 wǒ xīgài xià yǒu shé me What is under my knees? 黄金 huángjīn Gold," a reference to the traditional Chinese saying ”男儿膝下有黄金 nán'ér xīxià yǒu huángjīn Men have gold under their knees," meaning a guy should cherish his dignity and should not kneel or surrender easily. However, the incoherence of the Chinese subtitle and English dubbing apparently exacerbated the problem, with many viewers thinking that the original line was “What is under my knees? Chinese.”

Ironically, the dialogue is spoken by MC Jin, the famous Chinese-American rapper who recently earned himself a stellar reputation in mainland China for defending Chinese and Asian communities in US mainstream media during the pandemic. Earlier this week, he officially responded to the backlash, claiming it was not his intention to offend anyone, and that it hurts him to see people thinking he belittled his own cultural background. Rather, he hoped it would be a moment for Western audiences to see a Chinese figure in an international title. 

So far, he and the production company behind the movie, Constantin Film, have released official apologies, and even went so far as to remove the scene from subsequent releases, however, it's still unclear whether it will see a re-release in Chinese theatres. Likewise, despite some gamers calling for a boycott of the franchise altogether, others worried the incident will affect the import of future Monster Hunter games into China.

Weekly Board Game Nite at nugget café

Besides its mellow, freshly brewed coffee, walls of cassettes, and backroom recording studio, nugget café has plenty more to offer. A few weeks ago, we told you about their weekly Mario Kart tournament, however, they also host a decidedly more analog adventure: a weekly Board Game Nite, every Tuesday beginning at 7pm. You are free to either bring your own game(s) or simply join the fun of someone else's. What's more, it's also a supportive environment for designers to test their games’ prototypes, which I had the pleasure of doing this past week (pictured above).

Pop-Up store from Thunderbolt Project By FRGMT & POKÉMON available at SKP-S

A recent report from Hypebeast revealed that the Thunderbolt Project by FRGMT & Pokémon – founded by Japanese musician and streetwear designer Hiroshi Fujiwara – is arriving at one of Beijing’s biggest and most high-end retail pop-up malls, SKP-S. The limited-edition store features an expansive capsule containing a vibrant array of apparel like hoodies, sweaters, long-sleeve shirts, and T-shirts alongside toys, accessories, and lifestyle goods, all of which are emblazoned with some of Pokémon’s most iconic characters such as Pikachu and Psyduck. Besides the apparel, the capsule features a bright yellow Pikachu plushie – and smaller keychain version – with FRGMT‘s twin lightning bolt logo embroidered across its chest. Rounding out the capsule is a rug, pillow, tote bag, retaW car fresheners, and various iPhone cases.

Thunderbolt Project by FRGMT & Pokémon’s upcoming capsule will be available at Beijing’s SKP-S from Dec 12 to Jan 1 of next year. However, before you think about catching 'em all, the price of the merch ranges from RMB 469 to RMB 1,499, meaning these cuties might just sap your entire holiday budget.

Read: Kapital Koopas: Monster Hunter Movie Hits China and Jay Chou Endorses Street Fighter

Images: Polygon, The Escapist, Youtube, Pinterest, nugget café, Thunderbolt Project