Nintendo struck a deal with Nvidia recently to release its games in China. While this is yet another step in the right direction within the growing market, local operations haven’t always been quite as upfront. As publicised by Chinese Nintendo, back in the day there were unlicensed Mario board games available featuring art assets from the SNES classic, Super Mario World.
The board game borrows sprites and even the first few levels of the famous video game. As can be seen, the characters have all been re-coloured. There's also a peculiar looking version of Yoshi, some mushrooms and what appears to be a fire flower.
Have you ever stumbled upon counterfeit Nintendo merch? Tell us in the comments below.
[source twitter.com, via weibo.com, nintendosoup.com]
Comments 31
LOL
Made in China.
Totally Fake.
No, it really doesn’t look good at all, let alone too good
Erm it looks fake from the start, it does not look to good to be true at all. Are the click-bait titles returning or is this just some weird oversight?
Grand Dad??
Haha who wants to buy things made in China?
@Nincompoop More than half the world buy things made in China.
The game actually looks interesting. The idea of using level maps as the board is kinda cool.
Yoshi looks more like a duck than a dino. It's awesome.
That Yoshi is the best part of this. WANT.
Looks great. I want it.
Awesome Yoshi! looks legit
I would buy it just for Yoshi’s Duck cousin.
I don't think 'fake' is the right word here. That gives the impression it's a copy or counterfeit of an existing game, or that the game never existed and this is made up by a fan. Counterfeit board games are a real issue facing the tabletop industry and China right now. This looks like a wholly original game that stole assets from Nintendo but did exist and was sold as such.
@essiw It's also not 'fake', they just stole assets. It looks like a game that actually existed and was sold in China.
it looks like some kids made it lol
Even though Yoshi looks like a duck I still want to play it lol
Incredible. Can anyone translate the title of the game? I’m guessing it’s just as funny as the artwork. I couldn’t tell if that was imposter Yoshi or Koopa Troopa. That design should be a skin for Yoshi in the next game, or killable in the next 2D Mario title.
Since Dinosaurs does no longer exist we've all been wondering what animal Yoshi is. Finally this game reveals the ongoing mystery. He's a duck.
@MrGlubGlub Yeah, people are using "fake" in different ways. When I see "fake" in a headline, my first thought is that it's a hoax. As in this game never existed and it was a mockup to get a BS headline. This was a REAL game, just unlicensed. Now the question is, was it fun?
What part of that thing looks too good to be true?
Lawsuit incoming in 3...2...1
@RazumikhinPG The question was "who wants to?"
@bimmy-lee
The title just says "Super Mali Brothers". It looks like a simple roll-and-move type of game in which depending on your roll, you're asked to move forward/backward X spaces or lose a turn.
The name on the Yoshi-esque card says...
...wait for it...
..."Camel Bird".
Fake Mario merchandise is about as common as it gets.
@HADDA when I saw the yoshi translation I relized, camel bird should now be Yoshi's official name. It's just so much better. #camelbird4smash
@HADAA - Thanks so much for translating. It makes it all even better. Camel Bird is delightfully preposterous. Especially since its back is almost concave, which is sort of the opposite of a hump. I still feel like that could be a Koopa Troopa knock off instead of Yoshi. Who would know though? I think the game box, board, and cards are strangely beautiful. I’d be inclined to frame a lot of it. All the color variations of Mario remind me of the pallet swaps when he gets star power.
Nintendo never really released any of its games in China which is a shame. Chinese gamers can’t even tell Yoshi is a fake because Nintendo classics like Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island and Yoshi’s Woolly World were never released in China.
Mario has made several forays into the tabletop world. but I don't think any of them was particularly good or memorable.
This may be the most interesting one due to counterfeit characters.
"Camel Bird", lol.
@Gauchorino Again, lots of people.
@MrGlubGlub well this is fake news.... lol
@RazumikhinPG People love buying cheap bootlegs and products of slave labour? I guarantee that you'll push start to rich after buying this, 白左.
@Gauchorino I don't understand what your problem is. The guy asked "who wants to buy things Made in China", and I pointed out that we all buy loads of things Made in China. We're not even aware of the origin of the things we buy, most of the time. What's so debatable about what I'm saying?
Also completely unrelated to the article. There are people who love collecting all sorts of things, maybe even cheap Chinese knockoffs.
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