Random: Nintendo Pulls Drink Driving Game From Switch eShop

Awful and stupid, but arguably no worse than running around with automatic weapons shooting human beings in the head. This is all emblematic of a larger issue in video games.

How is this any worse than Grand Theft Auto, for example?

Counterpoint: spotlighting a shovelware game will increase sales.

While it's a stupid idea for a game I don't think there can be much moral uproar when nobody bats an eyelid at stuff like GTA.

I'm more surprised at the rating. Surely when the inclusion of alcohol would make the minimum be a teen rating?

I personally have more of a problem with a game I saw recently called Favella Zombie Shooter. There's something repugnant about trawling through one of worlds nastiest slums gunning down poor people. I'd much rather be going through the glass and steel skyscrapers the rich dwell in with a shotgun but that's just me.

What're you talking about, this is GOTY material right here. Heck, maybe even the GOAT.

@Peteykins Then there's really no winning here is it?

Call out something bad, increase interests.

Stay quiet and more will see it as a invitation to copy.

@Frogspree No reason to be rude. Is this how you usually talk to people?

@Frogspree Whoooooooaaaaa! Is this that "sarcasm" I keep hearing the kids talking about, cause it's sooooooooooo refreshing!
...sorry.

Couldn’t help but laugh while reading through this, kinda hilarious really. Probably should get the age rating higher though.

3+ rating!! That's shocking they have allowed that.

Otherwise I am all for games that give escapism of reality, I personally really enjoyed playing out things in GTA that obviously I wouldn't IRL.

@LikelySatan Yeah, but sarcasm can go multiple ways.

One being funny that invites others to laugh.
The other just doing it to mock someone.

The comment you're relishing in is the latter. Not cool.

As others said, doesn't seem any worse than shooting innocent people or running over sidewalks in GTA.

Hell, GTA even has drug trips. The 3+ rating is a bit weird though.

In this clown ass country you can drink drive and actually kill people in real life and get away with a slap on the wrist and your license handed back on a silver platter like it's a god given right. So I guess it only makes sense to teach kids from a young age that drink driving is no biggie, just make sure you have fun, don't worry about anyone else, even if they are bouncing off your bonnet.

Sounds like the sort of game I'd make (and enjoy) in high school. I wouldn't buy it but this is kinda pearl clutchy considering there's plenty of morally dubious games out there which are celebrated.

I feel like this could’ve been way more in depth than just “developer name” “game name”, “game summary”, and “age rating”.

Feels like some weird vendetta when read out (despite it making total sense).

Also, yeah. This is just bad GTA.

what's up with that car's number plate? Did they AI-generate the image?

@DripDropCop146 Yeah I thought it was pretty bad too. Just making light of things, I guess. It's my friday and I am almost off. Which means it's almost time to spring Mario Wonder on the kids. So I'm giddy.

I dont see how this is a problem when you have titles like Mario encouraging both drug and animal abuse on the system.
Is taking shrooms and jumping on turtles any worse than digital drink driving?

@LikelySatan

I've taken the week off for half term, been playing it this morning with my boys and it's brilliant. Hope you have a great time when you get to it.

@Woderwick Heh...IIIIIiii already did get to it. I know they are going to have a great time.

@LikelySatan

Sweet move, dude.

It's important to check it out first, just to ensure it's age appropriate and, uh, other totally legitimate reasons which I forget right now.

In all fairness, the e-shop page does describe it as delivering "a humorous take on a serious subject", so at least the devs are not lacking in self-awareness. I'm not seeing any harm done here, tbh. I can see the fun in their lampooning of "Need for Speed".

As others have pointed out, this is no different from the dangerous driving, theft, and murderous rampages you can do in games like GTA or Saints Row etc. Or how about those strategy games where you can enslave your opponents or genocide them.

So the only actual issue here is the age rating. Plus, the fact it looks like a poorly made shovelware game.

It sells because of articles. Buy my game instead! Super Hiking League DX look it up. Thanks, bye.

🎵 And I'm street, street lethal
Poundin' down the back roads
Higher than a steeple 🎵

Be careful you don't clutch your pearls too hard over this.

GTA is rated 18, this game is rated 3+. That’s the problem, muppets who have brought this point up

As someone who has worked in game's development and who has spoken on this topic with lawyers in the past, best I explain the whole PEGI thing. The whole system is a bit rubbish and there is a massive loophole by design. So only games that are released at shop retail need an official PEGI rating. Games that are digital only don't, but they do still show pegi rating in some digital stores, even when the game doesn't require them, which the developer sets.

This does mean that all those retro indie games, released on SNES, Mega Drive, Dreamcast at retail. All need PEGI rating and any shop selling them without can be fined or worse. Something to keep in mind if you sell indie titles, doesn't help PEGI is like £1500 at its cheapest cert. UK Trading Standard ignore this at present it seems, but that could change at any moment.

The no rating required for digital only games is intended for indie PC releases, as otherwise any video game, even homebrewed content would need a rating. But really it needs changing so any game with a major platform release should also have to be rated e.g. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple. I believe this would need a change in the UK law to occur and developers would all be against it.

Based on the PEGI system this game should be a 16 and includes the Drugs symbol which alcohol falls under. The PEGI system is rubbish anyway as the developers set the rating themselves and only if someone complains to PEGI, will they review and adjust. In this case they will say that the game doesn't need to be rated by PEGI, so people would have to kick up a serious fuss, but yes if rated by PEGI the game would be a 16. So Nintendo might want to adjust the current rating shown on their store.

This premise is clever I suppose for masking subpar graphics.

Also, if it's a big seller, perhaps Wonder Flowers will be a new item in Mario Kart 9. 😉

How do they have licensed vehicles in such a game? Highly doubt Stellantis or Ford would give their license to such

I don't really see the issue here. It's a game. Killing is fine, but drinking is tabu?

Nintendo really need to get a grip with their eShop and have some sort of quality control. The amount of rubbish released on there is insane. Its probably too late for Switch but something really needs to be implemented for their next system.

Id play this over fifa & cod without a doubt

@EarthboundBenjy it seems so, as the car doesn't have very good symmetry, and the tire pattern is a bit off.

GTA exists. Thanks NL for spotlighting! Added to my WL!

Just like with anything we consume, you don't have to buy it.

Maybe it's educational and shows the dangers of drinking and driving?

@Frogspree you're not making sense.

@Spider-Kev In America, we don't do that around here. Take that education back where it came from.

But is it fun to play? Seriously, we play games where we do things that would be absolutely horrendous both legally and morally ALL THE ***** TIME. We don't need moralizing.

Yeah, as RG-Riven said, age ratings on digital storefronts are set by the developer, not PEGI themselves. When submitting to MS Store, Steam, PS Store, or Nintendo eShop, you fill out a survey of your game's content and it generates an automatic age rating.

So the age rating being incredibly inaccurate is first the developer's fault for lying, and then Nintendo's fault for giving the game the greenlight.

Nintendo really needs to get a tight rein on their eShop. They approve incredibly poor and stupid games, but I've known legitimate developers have their games refused by them.

@RG-Riven

Thanks for the additional context. I'd assumed that for a game submitted to a major distribution platform someone at PEGI would at least check the game's description and screenshots to ensure that they aren't wildly at odds with the content the publisher has claimed on the submission form.

I got another one

🎵 Drunk, drive, then you wail, you gotta
Drunk, drive, then you wail, you gotta
Drunk, drive, then you wail awaaayyy 🎵

My developer friends are starting to look forward to the next Nintendo system precisely for the reason that the Switch eShop is now flooded with trash, and getting worse every week.

Some people hope that games and ownership will carry over to the next system with their Nintendo Online account. But I certainly hope this won't be the case.

While I appreciate Nintendo lowering the barriers to game development so smaller developers can have a shot at releasing games on their system, Nintendo got popular because of curation and quality control of games on their system, they need to curate games on their store better

It's only good if you consider it a PSA against drunk driving and bad games. So it still isn't good.

@Pod @lacaras4

But that's not really workable in practice. Who gets to decide what's a 'valid' game and what isn't?

I've got a game which is essentially a port of an unfinished mobile game, it's almost permanently on sale and most of the assets are from a generic set bought by the dev. But I love it because it's basically a beefed-up version of Super Melee mode from Star Control II. By most people's definition it's trash but I've sunk hours into it.

On the flipside, I'd personally be more likely to kick something like L.A. Noire off the store because it's massively overpriced and, due to the fact that you basically can't fail, I don't even consider it to be an actual game.

Also, I'd hate to lose backwards compatibility (assuming it's coming) just to clean out the eShop of somebody else's definition of acceptable games.

So basically GTAVC's Boomshine Saigon mission but game-sized?😄 IIRC the PC sequel was recently a giveaway on IndieGala or somewhere similar, too.

@Woderwick As my old boss said never assume anything, as explained in my previous post PEGI have nothing to do with digital only game. So I highly doubt they have any involvement, unless a publisher directly submitted the game to them for review.

If you check PEGI's website the game isn't listed like most digital only games. It was released on PC back in 2018. This is down to Nintendo alone, really there should be a PEGI unrated rating that said "this game is digital only and doesn't require rating, may contain content rated between 3-18+ please review the title before buying". All I think Nintendo can do is adjust the shop rating at their end, as this game doesn't fall under PEGI's remit at present.

@RG-Riven

That's the part I don't get. They can obtain a PEGI rating without any involvement from PEGI. You'd think that from their point of view it's something they want to stamp out for exactly this sort of situation. Most people won't be aware of the ins and outs so it will just erode trust in their rating system entirely.

Likewise for Nintendo allowing that to happen instead of, as you suggest, making such games use an 'un-rated by PEGI' label.

Yeah, they need to up the age rating, but other than that (& the fact that it's probably a cheaply made cash grab), there's nothing inherently wrong with the game.

It's not the onus of game developers to make sure their titles are morally upright (and although I understand that platform holders absolutely have the right to curate their storefronts, I don't believe they should object to hosting a title unless it's broken from a mechanical standpoint, actually illegal in some manner, or blatantly pornographic, because the rating system should let customers know what is & isn't appropriate for their own tastes).

Thanks for highlighting this. It is on sale now for $2!

Down with this sort of thing!

Careful now!

@Twilite9 Flag why? does a drunk driving joke upset you? lol

I have no problem with this sort of game existing, and in fact in the right hands (probably not these) it could be an effective anti-drinking and driving game. Imagine a racing game where you had to complete all sorts of debilitating microgames like downing a shot or sending a text, while driving, for instance.

The fact that it's PEGI 3 speaks more to issues with PEGI than the game concept.

Now review Ski Sniper!

This is this some next level viral marketing going on from Nintendo Life.

Kind a fascinating idea on the drunk and driving part and it's also a valid excuse to purposely make the graphics look bad in a seemingly bad game too. Yeah I say whoever made this did a swell job and even if you absolutely refuse to play this cause you don't want to get into the idea of drinking and driving in your mind, a felony crime to the highest. Know that a game (GTA) which got you into committing crimes does exist so not sure why the idea of this can't also be accepted.

Where could it be that "think of the children" gif...

At first I thought the PEGI rating was because of the old american stereotype that Europeans feed their children with wine all the time, but that info about how most games don't get an actual rating makes far more sense.

"nasty blemish on the Switch eShop"

You guys have got to be kidding with this anger at a bad or distasteful game being on the eShop like the eShop is some paragon of quality. Let's be fair here, this game is one miniscule drop in the sea of garbage shovelware on the Switch eShop.

I love my Switch but the eShop is just absolutely awful. There's no point even looking at the reduced category because you can't move for hentai puzzles, Unity asset flips and other electronic garbage designed purely to trick kids into buying using their parent's bank cards.

Drink driving? I've always thought it was drunk driving.

...Might get this with Gold Points at some point lol

@Woderwick
“nobody bats an eyelid at stuff like GTA.”
There actually were a group of (mothers?) that tried to boycott GTA 4. But other than that, I agree.

Is “drink drive” actually a thing? I’m not familiar with the term.

oh calm down people, this is hilarious! I have no interest in buying it, but just knowing that there's a drunk driving game on the switch is awesome. I hope we see mario shooting hookers next, get on it shovelware eshop devs!

@MrCookieCrisps

And there were a group that tried to ban D&D in the 80's, and then another group tried to ban Harry Potter. But let's exclude people with obvious mental health issues.

@DegenerateStar @OldManHermit

In the UK it's referred to as drink driving. Because you don't need to be smashed to be dangerous.

Anything that emerges from word-salad shovelware purveyors like InstaMarketing, West Connection, Dezvolt, Midnightworks et al is egregious to some level, but this is a whole new degree of vile.

I can only guess that those having a right old giraffe about it have never lost someone to a drink-driver’s selfishness. Maybe if it had an ex-49er kneeling in it to protest police racism and brutality, there’d be a bit more rage from them.

I don't disagree, but there are many worse games, and Nintendo doesn't care. I even contacted the about a game once, they literally do nothing. They care more about the two grand they make from this more than the few hundred they might lose. Basic point, people care, but they don't really care that much.

@DegenerateStar It's the British term

@epicgamner You obviously didn't 100% Sunshine. That's the bonus level.

@Poodlestargenerica IM A FAKE GAMER, IM SORRY PLEASE DONT TELL ANYONE SUNSHINE WAS JUST TOO UNBEARABLY EASY TO COMPLETE

The game is better than I was expecting. The second level gets really hard when you drink Brandy. It really makes you feel like you are drunk diving.

The game clearly teaches you that drinking brandy while driving in the desert is a terrible idea and you will most likely drive off a cliff to your death.

@PikaPhantom It is $2 right now on sale. I think that is the right price for this.

Better they do it here than in real life...

'Memba when DUI was a mechanic in the first two Saints Row games?

I agree, really really stupid and sad.

It's a blemish because it's crap. We've been drink driving since at least GTA4 (and drug driving since San Andreas)

That is an incredibly stupid and pointless thing to base an entire video game around, and this is coming from someone who has got busted--twice--in real life for that very thing. It's not fun, it's not funny, it's not cool; in real life it could leave you walking or riding a bike for a minimum of a year and behind bars for a while on top of that. Not to mention the absolutely sky-high fines, fees, and other costs you have to pay.

The premise could serve as an amusing mini-game or small subsection of a larger game, but as the whole point of a game? I'm not 13 years old anymore, my sense of humor has evolved and I'm still paying on an OVI so I think I'll pass.

@PizzaKing it’s not. But GTA is rated 18+

Mario is literally tripping on Mushrooms in all his games, I see no problem lol.

Wow, the ratings board missed the drink driving part of the drink driving game

I’m all with you guys on the problematic side of this game, I really am. But I gotta say "Need for Spirit" is one ingenious title.

The rating is wack but I don’t understand how this is any worse than a shooter or gta? They arguably have worse content lol. So I think “nasty blemish” is a bit much considering all the other games that exist.

But like I said I agree with the age rating being low.

@Vexx234
Uhm, I am from America. :/

@Spider-Kev Im joking around. Fellow American too.

No it's not 'a bit much.' It's a video game, a work of fiction, people need to stop being so damn hypersensitive. If you don't like the content, don't buy it, that simple but there are far more egregious things than this in gaming, in movies, tv shows, etc.

The rating is off, but why would this be unnaceptable when something like say, Red Dead Redemption is just fine?

Reality is that most of the things that are okay in gaming are knowhere near okay in real life. I wouldn't go slash someones chest with a sword just because I can do it in Zelda.

@Woderwick No need to be snappy - I was just pointing out there was backlash.

@MrCookieCrisps

Sorry if it came across that way, not my intention at all. The comment about mental health issues was intended to show that the comment was tongue-in-cheek. I understand exactly what you're saying and don't dispute it. My point was that those groups are very firmly outliers and not representative of anyone who has their hat on straight.

You can literally do the same things in the Saints Row games.

@ear_wig thank you for this honestly amazing comment. While I'm all for cleaning things up, let's realize that there is really a very small moral high ground in the gaming industry. But if you want it cleaned up, then clean it up. You don't get to cherry pick your pet peves.

Worst review ever! How did it play? Graphics? Music and sound effects? Frame-rate? Where were the joys and cons?

Right, I need a drink, then I’ll go pick up my kids … (joking!)

Yet you’re ok with war games and killing…?!

This game is satirical... Right? It has to be it's TOO stupid.

I mean, it does get the point across that drinking makes driving a lot more difficult and dangerous. Just call it edutainment.

Gambling in Pokemon games = bad.
Drunk driving simulator = Okay for 3 year olds.

The lessons PEGI has taught us.

@Woderwick
While I do agree that -we- as the audience shouldn't be deciding what's suitable for the platform or not, it would not be a new occurrance for Nintendo themselves to play judge in this regard.
On paper they still pass all release clients through their traditional and mysterious LOT-check, but from what I'm hearing, they're not really failing any games in that these days.

I'm not saying an unfinished, short, cheap, or ugly game can't be good. Or that bad ports of AAA games should get a free pass because of their pedigree. The case is that the eShop now contains quite many games that are straight up misleading, buggy messes, for which, back in the day, a confused parent would have to twist the arm of some poor teenage store clerk to get a refund.

@Pod

Yeah, it's not an easy thing to address. I think if a game has bugs that either mean you can't finish it, or frequent and reproducible crashes which wipe out progress then you should definitely be able to get a refund. I mean you can, if you want to go through the palaver of contacting Nintendo support and complaining to them, but it should be an easier process. That way Nintendo could remove games that are demonstrably broken.
Minor bugs are a different matter though. I've got some big name releases that suffer from annoying bugs but to an extent that's just a given with software. It's hard to test every single possible combinations of events and inputs and the more complex a game is the more likely it is to introduce bugs that aren't caught by the devs.
I don't think there's a right answer really, but personally I'd rather have to put up with wading through some trash in order to open up the eshop to more games. You just have to be a bit more careful about what you buy and do some research before making a purchase. But that's always been the case, even going back to my first foray of buying games on the ZX Spectrum.

And, just to throw in a real outlier, Wrestling Empire had some massive bugs in it but they made me laugh so much during the demo that I immediately bought the thing at full price. I've got hours of fun out of it, bugs and jank and all. More fun than ever I got out of Witcher 3, for example.

It’s been pulled. Just got a blip from Eurogamer.

These should count as strikes a la YouTube.

Edit: it’s only been yanked because PEGI has demanded it should be a 16+. No, It should be pulled because it’s a shoddy pile of toss.

@SpeedRunRocks Props on the Racer X!!! However this game gives me Vince Neil vibes .

And this is why it's important to properly guide and monitor younger gamers. Parents can't just rely on age ratings and eShop quality vetting, especially these days.

@EarthboundBenjy My thoughts exactly

@Woderwick
Absolutely. Minor bugs and occasional game crashes have always been a thing.

It's just that there are games now on the eShop where you don't have to spend more than five minutes with them to see that they don't do what they say they do, or that they are so broken, buggy, and unfinished they ought not to be sold to an end user at all.

In my opinion, a Nintendo device shouldn't really feel like it's itch.io.
I love itch.io, but I don't think Nintendo wants the reputation of being an indie platform where hobbyist beginners can publish their WIPs, or deliberate scam artists can post whatever they want.

It's my impression that Nintendo COULD have their QA department at least play the weekly 30~40 eshop releases for five minutes, which they probably already do, and they COULD weed out the worst offenders. But they seem content with just seeing where things are going in this late stage of the Switch's lifespan.

@Pod

Agreed. It's a fine line to tread but I'd like to think that if Nintendo were getting repeated complaints about a title they'd take a look for themselves and confirm whether or not it a broken mess. It doesn't help that the eshop leads you to believe refunds are impossible when you can actually complain directly to get a refund for a title if it is is in some way unplayable.

Similarly, Thief Simulator received an automated PG rating in Australia, but had it been peer-assessed, I think it would have received MA15+ at the very least (perhaps even R18+), or even banned entirely due to instructional depiction of criminal activity (which is considered grounds for refusal of classification in Australia).

Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure was banned in Australia for far less.

However, as per PEGI's rating system, any game containing substances such as alcohol or tobacco must be rated either PEGI 16 or PEGI 18.

That can't be right. Coffee Talk 2 contains cigarette smoking throughout and that was rated 12 (for "bad language", with no mention of any other classifiable elements).

Perhaps if players could interact with the cigarettes, it might have been a different story, but there's recent evidence to the contrary of the assertion.

In Australia, cigarette smoking doesn't even register as a classification issue at all except in the rare instance that it forms a strong part of the storyline (and I can't think of any examples where tobacco use has been flagged for this reason), though consumption by children can be deemed a classification issue.

@KingMike Comes from the same company that says gambling with real money is fine in FIFA but gambling with fake money in Pokémon isn't.

PEGI once rated Muse Dash 3+ if I remember correctly so yeah.

my goodness. are people going soft or what. shame on anyone crying about this and getting it pulled. go back to playing the knockout game on GT and crying about a dumb driving sim

@smithyo It was pulled due to a misleading rating (3+ when by PEGI classification should be 16+). It'll likely return in a week or so.

No need to get your panties in a bunch kiddos!! This is still readily available in dark places on the internets. SERIOUS BUSINESS!!!

Makes you wonder what the point of rating boards is if there's a whole "free self-submitted process" that can goof up their very guidelines and misrate the product.

I do expect the game to resurface later, though - a premise like this obviously never pursues an audience of "3+" anyway. So don't worry, fandom, your pool of "abysmal eShop curation" venting targets isn't getting drier for long.

This isn’t the first time they have rated something like this right? Mistakes seem to be a little common.

It is quite sad that there are people putting out games like this at all. And to rate it “3+” is abominable! I really mis the “Nintendo Seal of Quality” when I get eShip games these days…

@nhSnork Moments after I posted using “abominable” I scrolled through and saw your statement… guilty as charged

I feel like someone at PEGI is going to get a very good telling off....

Pfft. Get one of the GTA games for £20 or less, there's usually a level in there where you have to drive under the influence.

But yeah, the ratings board were clearly rubber-stamping stuff quickly for an early jaunt to the pub on the day this came through the office. "Colourful picture of a car? Probably a kids game, 3+ will do it, now grab your coat!"

Well that’s hopeful - they absolutely should have pulled it for that busted rating.
Once it gets it’s M rating, I suppose it’s fine to relist it along with the rest of the schlock shovelware.

Gasp, Nintendo actually moderating the Switch eShop for once?

How on earth did PEGI screw up do badly here, its in the title.

Nintendo should be fined for allowing this to be sold on their store with that rating. It's absolute incompetence on their part and highlights, yet again (and like we need more highlights...!) how poorly run the eShop is.

Nintendo make huge sums of profit, not just income, from the eShop. Hire some more staff Nintendo... pay them a decent salary. Give a decent service.

At least it’s due to the rating and not the content itself. Looks like a crap game but it shouldn’t be denied due to the subject matter, there are tons of AAA games that emulate behaviour that is just as abhorrent.

Not to say that there shouldn’t be limits on what can get released based on content but I don’t think this game crosses that threshold

@ear_wig,

There are no issues at all, it's just video games, not real life.

@Woderwick
Agree.
For Nintendo to react by complaints on a title, they sort of rely on enough people buying it, who also have the wherewithall to complain. I'm unsure if that even really happens with many of the 2 dollar bizarre looking titles. ^^

You are practically encouraged to do this in GTA4, there's even specific dialog from every character chastising you for driving drunk, which I always thought was funny. I don't think you have to worry about me ever doing this for real.

@calbeau Agree that as parents we need to check game content, but I also disagree at the same time and feel the owner of the store, in this case Nintendo, should not be allowing games to go on sale that have not been checked. This highlights a fundamental flaw in the eShop whereby dodgy content is freely made available.

To clarify, no issue with the game content. It's the rating and lack of moderation of the rating that disappoints me. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Nintendo to check ALL game content before it goes on sale.

Absolutely fair enough if they miss a reference to alcohol... but this is the entire content of the game. That's not good enough and they should be fined and made to explain, and improve, their moderation process.

What a stupid game to make.

Silly Europeans and their rating system.

On the topic of indie games there is just so much junk out there. I don't care about the game, but I really don't understand the market for having thousands of single digit sellers like this. Why clutter the library with them?

@UltraZelda64 Just because you’re not 13 years-old anymore doesn’t mean ***** to 13 year olds.

@EarthboundBenjy Obviously they were drinking while making this game

@Frogspree

You are on an international site, which country are you talking about?

@Runo The publisher is an asset-flip company. They buy sample game code for 30 Euros and repackage them (from online marketplaces made for such business), so they only need a few sales to make their money back.

@nocdaes True, some concepts like this should have been caught before release, but speaking on whole... while ideally Nintendo (and the ESRB and other ratings organizations) would play through all the game content before allowing/rating it, that is absolutely impossible in practice.
Even if they hired a whole team of people able to thoroughly play and rank all the games as fast as they get published (some designed to have hundreds of hours of content), the nature of video games is that they have secrets that often are not meant to be found casually by players.
The most infamous example of this... "Hot Coffee", I remember Hilary Clinton condemning the ESRB for not finding this before the game was rated. It was something found by game modders (people who WANT to spend untold number of hours ripping apart the code and assets to their favorite games) after the PC version was released. So... the ESRB is supposed to somehow find time to (theoretically worst case) play multiple dozen or hundred hour games every week, but then also spend unknown amount of time cracking apart every one of those games' programming code to look for objectionable material that is made inaccessible by normal human gameplay, and can only be seen by figuring out how to alter the game code with cheat devices?
The rating system isn't the best, but the "they should play everything thoroughly" suggestion is just ludicrously infeasible in practice.

Game's still up on the North American eShop as of this post's writing. To be fair, though, the game's listed ESRB rating is T, with a Use of Alcohol descriptor...

Part of the reason these rating systems don't work, is because the ratings are dependent on content sent to the rating boards from the game creators (developers/publishers), and also the fact that these boards have classifications that are not universally shared by consumers. For example, you could have one family put off by a game that has spiritual content, though not by the violence in the same game, while another family doesn't care about the spiritual content, and is instead bothered by violence in the title. Likewise with sexual content, or anything else.

@KingMike Yep, that's all true and it is a challenge to check content. My suggestion would be that the store owner, so in this case Nintendo, updates their payment terms with publishers so they can withhold payment on cases as severe as this one.

Also, maybe I am old fashioned... but do we even want 100 games on the eShop every single week? There is so much garbage put on sale, perhaps if Nintendo did have to screen things more thoroughly then the volume would naturally decrease and quality should also increase as a by-product.

There should also be a better way for consumers to report content.

They should've just made them trip balls on psychedelics.

@Dizavid And it would still get kicked up in the air by any Jeff Minter game. Going right back to the days of Ancipital and Attack of the Mutant Camels.

Would it still require the 16/18 rating if they resubmitted it as educational?
Uhm, you know, on the dangers of a D.W.I.
Driving while Intoxicated

@ear_wig I think it's great, hope it'll show people how bad drinking and driving is.

@silberbauer15 No, I'm not, I'm on a UK site

The license plate characters make me think the art is AI generated which wouldn't be surprising for these low-integrity publishers.

@Frogspree hookshot media is based in UK yes, but the majority of the readers are from outside of UK. And if you look at the journalists on nintendolife they represent many different european countries.