Is LocoRoco racist?

By Ellie Gibson Published 3 July, 2006

Man says so; others say no.

A blogger has kicked up a right old storm of controversy after suggesting that PSP puzzler LocoRoco has racist overtones.

In a post on his 1UP blog, Alejandro Quan-Madrid argued that the Moja enemies in LocoRoco resemble the racist "blackface" caricature adopted by minstrel peformers at the start of the twentieth century. They remained commonplace for many years - in Britain, the BBC's own Black and White Minstrel Show ran until 1978.

"Today in virtually any public sphere in the US, a depiction of a blackface character is not met without much murmurings and harsh criticism," Quan-Madrid wrote.

"In comparison, some countries such as Japan (where LocoRoco was developed) do not have significant black populations and so blackface images can come about without any criticism.

"The images are also then okay to be labelled as the enemy or even serve as representations of black characters in general, despite the racist images they perpetuate. That and I hear that Japanese people (in Japan) at times can be pretty innocently racist."

'Is LocoRoco racist?' Screenshot 1

Quan-Madrid even goes so far as to suggest that "One could also equate the "invasion of the Moja and the fleeing of the LocoRocos to black slaves being brought to American and the very common practice of today of white flight.

"But we're not even going to go there," he added, perhaps a bit too late.

According to Quan-Madrid, he's "not accusing the developers of being racist, nor am I accusing LocoRoco of being a racist game. I simply believe that this is a product of unchecked institutionalised racism that needs calling out."

He went on to suggest that a colour change for the Mojas should be implemented, because "I do feel these racist undertones, whether intentional or not, would stop me as well as others from fully enjoying this game".

So what does Sony have to say about it? Well, "LocoRoco is a fantasy game geared towards a worldwide audience that takes place in a vibrant pastel world with colorful landscapes and characters and is not based on real-life places, people or things." So there.

Let the comments commence!

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (102) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • earl_roberts #1 6 years ago

    Racist!

  • mattigan #2 6 years ago

    Ban this sick filth!

  • Nostromo13 #3 6 years ago

    i wouldn't call that racist, i would call that guy an attention whore.

  • gth #4 6 years ago

    Where is Jack Thompson when he's REALLY needed?!?

  • justsomeone #5 6 years ago

    wouldn't darth vader also, under that definition of racism, be a product of institutional racism? ban lucas, i say.

  • Heds #6 6 years ago

    Forget the colour, I'm outraged by the fact they portray obese shapes as seemingly unable to find their way around by themselves, requiring constant attention by some other, presumably thinner, entity to push them left and right and through gaps as they can't do it themselves.

    It's stereotyping at it's worse, and should be banned NOW!

  • smoison #7 6 years ago

    What a load of bull, the Canon balls in Mario should be banned too.

  • the_dudefather #8 6 years ago

    PCGM

  • pauleyc #9 6 years ago

    The Ur-Quan in Madrid?

    /re-reads article

    Oh...

  • the creeper #10 6 years ago

    Aren't some of this guys comments regarding the Japanese a little rascist?

    With lines like "That and I hear that Japanese people (in Japan) at times can be pretty innocently racist" he's certainly talking about a racial stereotype that he's basing purely on circumstantial evidence...

  • Cabelo #11 6 years ago

    I'm damn well sick and tired of this.

    As much as the Loco baddies look like stereotyped negroid peeps, it's worth pointing out that there are Loco Rocos (pictured in the article in fact) that look almost exactly the same as them.

    All of the racist assertions are total muck. The moyja troop dudes are based on the designer, who had (at the time) very shaggy hair.

    Silly 1up peeps cause fuss.

    Cabelo is on the case.

  • Azazel #12 6 years ago

    "I hear yer a rascist now Father...

    Should we all be rascists now?

    What's the official line the church is taking on this?"

  • AOFanboi #13 6 years ago

    Okay, he's identified the black ones. Isn't he also going to be identifying the green, yellow, red, blue etc. balls-that-aren't-even-remotey-human in the game? Maybe their singing is skill-ist since not everyone has a good singing voice? Equal time for Tom Waits/Shane McGowan/Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven(*) wannabes!

    (*) Singer in Norwegian black metal band Satyricon
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 16:16

  • GDS #14 6 years ago

    The blogger is correct. This is not intentionally racist, but Japan has a (bad) habit of using the blackface look to portray black people in all of it's medium: be it videogames, manga, anime, even on TV (variety shows).

    Because of their largely homogeneous society, their ignorance allows them more liberties with issues regarding other races than most other countries, and so the blogger's comments with Japan's 'innocence' about such issues, is largely true. However the country's situation certainly isn't an excuse in this case and people involved with worldwide medium (such as the devs of LocoRoco) should know about such things.
    Edited by 3 at 03/07/06 @ 16:21

  • AcidSnake #15 6 years ago

    I personally find those german guys of Call Of Duty to be a bit racist as well...

  • peterfll #16 6 years ago

    In the first world you are a yellow blob. This offends people of Asian and Far Eastern descent. By the second world you have turned into a shocking pink blob, thus making the developers homophobes to boot.

    ps Lucas *has* been accused of using racial imagery in SW for many years..... Darth Vadar (black) Watto (Jewish) Jar-Jar (afro-carribean). Indeed!
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 16:18

  • jmctavish #17 6 years ago

    Why is this even news on a supposedly quality gaming website?

  • York #18 6 years ago

    Sweet, I needed a reason to persuade my racist friend to buy this game.

  • septimus #19 6 years ago

    What a crock of sh**.

  • #20 6 years ago

    They do look like "Golliwogg", the character from Florence Uptons' book which was actually written at that times, but I don't think they mean to be racist, I really doubt it!

  • jellyhead #21 6 years ago

    They look more like SpaceHoppers to me.
    Dirty, dirty SpaceHoppers!

  • trav #22 6 years ago

    I worry about people that look so deeply into these things and seem to find this kind of stuff.

    LocoRoco is game about cute little blobs or goo rolling around singing their songs and yelling when trying to pull themselves together. What more do you need to see into that? BTW, has the guy noticed that one of the LocoRoco (the good guys) is black and has the same imagery?

    Well if LocoRoco is racist then PokEmon is about false-imprisonment of wild animals, brain-washing and slavery. "I've taken you away from your friends and family Pikachu, so I can put you in fight to the death battles with others of your kind, for my enjoyment. And you'll love it!!!"

  • Steroyd #23 6 years ago

    Hey shouldn't the Red Loco's who seems to sing like Jamaicans at times be racist to oh noes i like the Red Loco's voice as well i'm racist to!!

    OMG i was actually joking to my cousin that this game was racist I never thought there was an alternate universe where people actually took that to heart lol.

    Jack Thompson would have a field day with LocoRoco.
    Edited by 2 at 03/07/06 @ 16:38

  • GDS #24 6 years ago

    I think some people here need to know what it's like with certain medium in Japan, and indeed with much of the society of Japan itself.

    One Piece for example (one of the more popular mangas out in Japan, up to chapter 400 and odd) has portrayed black people with large red lips, kooky hair, and the like. And this is the same with many other popular mangas.

    This isn't seen as, well, "not very right" in Japan and the reason being is that most don't even realise it should be considered as such.

    The One Piece thing is but an example, but the big red lips, kooky hair, and other stereotypes are used in many other mediums too. So I hope those saying "People are looking too much into this" realises the full extent of this now because in fact it's rather quite obvious, especially when one has read/watched medium straight from Japan.
    Edited by 2 at 03/07/06 @ 16:36

  • fawe3 #25 6 years ago

    OMG new jack thompson wanabe.

  • pauleyc #26 6 years ago

    Oh noes! Gish is racist!

  • SeesThroughAll #27 6 years ago

    But islamic people never complained about EA's "C&C Generals" political pro-US bias and latent anti-islamic discrimination. And that one REALLY was obvious.

    But then again, the best GLA online players would always kick the a** off anyone playing as USA...

    Let the comments commence!

    They had already begun...

  • Jaggy #28 6 years ago

    try the african/american test in the demo section of this site, and you might get an idea of where people are coming from with this type of accusation.

    Interesting, but scary

    https://implic it.harvard.edu/implicit/
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 16:38

  • Xerx3s #29 6 years ago

    Reporting on this issue is racist!

  • nickthegun #30 6 years ago

    Sounds like someones got a dissertation due....

  • GDS #31 6 years ago

    For the record, I'm not offended by this, but you can't deny there being a connection when you take into account of the exact going ons with other medium in Japan.

  • corposant #32 6 years ago

    Won't somebody think of the children?

    These sick video games should be banned!

  • trevd72 #33 6 years ago

    i thought that they were funny spiders. i think the paradox here is that only the racists see the racism. Know what I mean!!

  • DarthCheesiest #34 6 years ago

    I also think the gamertag picture of Balrog looks a bit dodgy, it doesn't even look like Mike Tyson.

  • Teeth #35 6 years ago

    Even if they aren't based on the big hair of the lead artist, it's far from racist. In that case they would merely be a racial stereotype, and everybody uses them all the time.

  • jellyhead #36 6 years ago

    I don't deny that some people can see a connection but that doesn't mean that the connection is there though.
    Damn, am i not allowed to like One Piece now? :(
    Sod it, Luffy's great! :)

  • Xerx3s #37 6 years ago

    Seriously, I doubt that the maker has ever considerd it and it's imo very, very far fetched. There are far more obvious cases of racism.

    The prey demo was released last week. There where several racistic elements in that with stereotypes. I wonder how long it will take for ppl to moan about that as well.

  • chronom4n #38 6 years ago

    "not accusing the developers of being racist, nor am I accusing LocoRoco of being a racist game. I simply believe that this is a product of unchecked institutionalised racism that needs calling out." he needs to focus his energies on the real issue of racism. e.g. workplace, sports environment, rather than picking on the gaming environment. He is going down completely the wrong road. I honestly feel that he is wasting his intelligence. What i wish to know is that 'how did he come up with the conclusion that the black 'stars' in the game are indicative of institutional racism. he needs to let go of his inferiority complex or else he is on the road to negative thinking that every game has a ulterior motive. he needs to look further than his own nose. Overall i am insulted being asian myself that he would take a game like loco roco to be racist. If he is so obsessed with the way the game is portrayed, than he needs to look at his house. question? does he not hold minute levels of racism? If that is all he can see than i would say that he himself is a hypocrite. Why cant he see that all LocoRoco is is just a game? no more no less.
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 16:57

  • bauhaus #39 6 years ago

    He may have a point, I`ve been liberally disposed to all races until I started playing LocoRoco

    Having put some hours in, I`m now considering joining the BNP

  • Macross #40 6 years ago

    Exatcly, GDS. The only racism is in the intent. The Japenese do not intend to be Racist, One Piece (which i follow), is not intentionly racist at all, pretty much everything in it is a stereo-type its part of the series' charm.


    Just with LocoRoco, any resemblance to anything racist was not intended as a racial slur so it would be foolish in the extreme to take it as such, if everyone went round only listening to words and never to the intent behind them the world would be even more messed up then it is right now. Leave innocent fun alone and go over-analyse the BNP's website or something.

  • #41 6 years ago

    I totally agree with GDS. Unfortunately in this country we've learnt to comment on some very sensitive issues without looking into it deeply. Before we start talking about it, we should all bear in mind that there are different cultures out there. People from different countries take different approaches to issues and we shouldn’t think that the way we think about things and our culture is in any way superior to theirs.

    [Applause] lol
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 17:13

  • escapedape #42 6 years ago

    Strange as it may seem, he does have a point. I read a really cool book called Pikachu's Global Adventure, which is a series of quite serious essays by academics on different aspects of Pokemon (yeah, really!). One of them talks at length about the Pokemon known as 'Jynx', which is a quite deliberate racist caricature of a black woman. Apparently this is a deeply cultural thing in Japan, and isn't something that they consider to be offensive at all.

    Seeing those LocoRoco characters immediately brought the Jynx thing to mind, so I did think the same thing.

    Check this out: http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Jynx_%28Pok...

  • toy_brain #43 6 years ago

    Decent reply from a 1up staffer that defends the blog and basically says the guy has a few good points:
    [link url=http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7221859&publ icUserId=5379721
    ]http://ww w.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7221...[/link]

    Worth reading if only to make you realise what a total "LOL, WTF noob!" type-person the anonimity of the internet can turn you into.

    And just to throw my 2p in. Yes, I do think the enemies in LocoRoco could be seen by some sue-happy types as being racist - they have a resemblence to black and white minstrels and kinda look like they have dreadlocked hair. But I think the design was borne out of ignorance and the need to clearly colour-code good characters from bad ones (like it or not, black=dark and dark=evil in the world of cartoons) rather than racism, and besides, the game contains black LocoRocos, as well as those little guys you find (MuiMui's?) that are also black in colour.

    Its possible that the developers realised they may bee seen as racist, and therefore included other (good) black characters to try and balance things out, but no-one seems to have noticed.
    Either way, they should probably do a pallette-swap before the games US release - just to be safe.

  • kincaide #44 6 years ago

    no

  • pauleyc #45 6 years ago

    From toy_brain's link:

    "Anyway, my original point was: if you're going to criticize someone for pointing out a potentially valid fact, you'll look like much less of a dick if you do some research first. Think about it, Internet."

    Point missed - dig into anything deep enough and you will find symbology related to religion, race and sex. That doesn't mean it was intended in the first place. Or are we talking about subconscious yet unintentional association now? edit: Or to correct my own train of thought now - well, yes, obviously we are talking about some form of association here but point is that every human creation is full of symbology, the key is to discern the important things from the streched and imagined ones.

    Dig deep, get stuck in the mud.
    Edited by 2 at 03/07/06 @ 17:20

  • Kiigan #46 6 years ago

    Well now. More than a few disingenuous comments on this thread, so let's be real for a moment...

    The black Loco Rocos have dark skin, thick lips, sound like Animal from The Muppets and sing soul music. The baddies look similar too, with big dreads.

    Now, is it REALLY that surprising that some people in the western world think it looks reminiscent of those embarrassing, crass, hateful and offensive blackface images of the past? This sort of thing happens very frequently in Japanese manga, anime and videogames, and this is something that Sony need to be really aware of - they are a global company and sell to a global market. Foreigners who visit Japan are frequently surprised by how out-of-sync with the west Japan can be on certain racial and political issues, this is nothing new.

    Personally I don't know if anyone could really be offended by this, but the fact remains that when you are selling a product globally, you need to be aware of regional sensitivities and geopolitical issues. A company like Sony no doubt has a huge department devoted to the task. In the west, the shameful memory of blackface propaganda and minstrelsy has trained some people to have a knee jerk response against this kind of imagery and be offended by it. It may or may not be racist, and it may or may not be offensive, but it isn't that much of a leap to see why some people would find it offensive and frankly Sony should have fucking well known better.
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 17:17

  • Lukus #47 6 years ago

    Has the person who made these silly statements got nothing better to do than stir it? Or as someone already mentioned perhaps he is just a huge attention whore. It's like saying Predator is racist because he has dreadlocks and is the bad guy. For goodness sake. Surely he must have something better to think about!
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 17:18

  • GDS #48 6 years ago

    "Now, Is it REALLY that surprising that some people in the western world think it looks reminiscent of those embarrassing, crass, hateful and offensive blackface images of the past? This sort of thing happens very frequently in Japanese manga, anime and videogames, and this is something that Sony need to be really aware of - they are a global company and sell to a global market.

    I don't know anyone who would really be offended by this, but the fact remains that when you are selling a product globally, you need to be aware of regional sensitivities and geopolitical issues."

    Exactly Kiigan, that's exactly my view on it too.

  • Shinji #49 6 years ago

    Have to say, my first reaction to the picture of Jynx on the Wikipedia page was that she's meant to be a parody of Yamanba - a particularly hideous Japanese fashion which includes very deep fake tan along with really pale lipstick and white eyeshadow, and of course, bleached blonde hair.

    Japan is undoubtedly quite a racist nation in general - more commonly among the older generation, since younger people are heavily exposed to European and US culture - but it's all too easy to start looking for racism where none is intended, and also very easy for those who go looking for racism to label what is actually simple ignorance as hateful, racist behaviour. The few black people I know who have gone to work in Japan have found that while things do happen or are said which they would find offensive at home in Europe, very often it's down to simple ignorance on the part of the Japanese, not any intended racism; although that clearly doesn't forgive the serious, genuine and sadly institutionalised racism in some parts of society there.

    Where "some parts of society" does not include Pokemon, One Piece or bloody LocoRoco, I might add.

  • Razz #50 6 years ago

    It's no so much the colour, but the lips are a bit overboard.

    IBut overall I don't really find them racist as a black(ish) man.

  • hypernova #51 6 years ago

    pauleyc wrote: Or are we talking about subconscious yet unintentional association now?

    I thought that's exactly what this argument was about.

  • #52 6 years ago

    You're absolutely right Shinji...

  • GDS #53 6 years ago

    Indeed. People need to understand that this shouldn't be taken as a "OMG, this is the worst thing ever", nor should anyone feel bad by paying and playing for it (I still love One Piece). All that some of us are saying is that the connection cannot be denied, the designs of these certain characters are undoubtedly derived from Japan's out-of-date caricatures and that people in the West, who are knowledgeble with the past would recognise the connections.

    So it shouldn't be a total shock to find that some of those people will find offense with it, and as such it is up to the localisers to make sure that such scenarios are kept to a bare minimum.

    What I do find shock with is that the European version has these characters intact, because considering our multicultural society, I really expected them to have changed.

  • el_pollo_diablo #54 6 years ago

    Rumour has it that the LocoRoco dev's have hidden a Haitian killing minigame in there too.

    Personally, I'm with Kiigan.
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 17:36

  • pauleyc #55 6 years ago

    @hypernova: Yes, that's why I edited my post a bit. ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 17:34

  • toy_brain #56 6 years ago

    "Has the person who made these silly statements got nothing better to do than stir it? Or as someone already mentioned perhaps he is just a huge attention whore. It's like saying Predator is racist because he has dreadlocks and is the bad guy. For goodness sake. Surely he must have something better to think about! "

    Did you actually read his blog entry?

  • c.lo #57 6 years ago

    ITS ART! F**K OFF!

  • Stormflood #58 6 years ago

    I never saw the likeness, and I had a Golliwog as a kid. Loved that little fella, took him everywhere, right up to when his stuffing came out and his fuzzy hair unstuck.

  • dllord #59 6 years ago

    This guy is a pure troll!, if we ignore him he will go away!

  • PearOfAnguish #60 6 years ago

    "Rumour has it that the LocoRoco dev's have hidden a Haitian killing minigame in there too."

    If there's a secret LocoRoco sex game I'm buying a PSP tomorrow.

  • gerald #61 6 years ago

    If there's a secret LocoRoco sex game I'm buying a PSP tomorrow.

    Well, when you leave them alone they try to jump onto each other, wobbling and making funy sounds ... even in groups up to five, with changing partners. Cleary some kind of bizarre mating habits?

  • gizmo #62 6 years ago

    It would never have crossed my mind. To me, people who kick up a fuss like this are the racists.

  • Scimarad #63 6 years ago

    How utterly, utterly ridiculous...

  • Toonster #64 6 years ago

    Damn it, where's Quelle!?

  • urban #65 6 years ago

    thats absolutely ABSURD

  • Hughes. #66 6 years ago

    More fuel for proffessional whiners, lobby groups, anti-gamers and assorted other social malignants who get status and leverage out of living in a state of permanent paranoid self-imposed victimhood. Well done Mr Madrid!

  • Micro_Explosion #67 6 years ago

    How long before someone decides to try to get Chess etc banned?

  • SeesThroughAll #68 6 years ago

    How long before someone decides to try to get Chess etc banned?

    Knight takes Queen from behind.

  • DrugBert #69 6 years ago

    If you don't like something about a game, don't buy it. I for one don't like the glorification of killing germans so I don't participate in Call of Duty games. Besides, it is not only african americans that have ever been slaves or has ever been exclusively associated with slavery, which seems to be the central offense of the image. If the US was really concerned with the issue they should do something about the flag of the southern states that went to war to defend their practice of owning slaves rather than consider a cartoon image of a victim to be offensive. The image from the game looks like a hairy spider to me, and now we can't portray spiders because of their resemblance to cartoon characters, offensive or not?

  • LOLLERS #70 6 years ago

    WHAT

  • myk #71 6 years ago

    If I could change my religion to South Park I would

    to be honest, just about every single debate ever has been covered by south park, and 90% of the time their conclusions make a hell of a lot more sense than halfwitted politicians etc.

  • a8a #72 6 years ago

    Truth - Japanese people are often racist, out of ignorance rather than spite. I am currently living in Japan, and there is a certain degree of inherent racism directed at me just for being foreign. Nothing particularly bad, so far - mainly the assumption that foreign people don't know very much about anything, really (when in my experience, Japanese people are actually painfully unaware of anything that happens outside of Japan, up to and including basic geography - I think my brain exploded when a Japanese girl drew a map of Europe with Africa directly south of Sweden, and India immediately to the east). Of course, I realise that this is primarily because Japan is really NOT a multicultural society. It retains the isolationist streak it developed hundreds of years ago... On top of this, Japanese people have something of a supremacist attitude towards themselves - it is kind of hard to make out for a casual observer, through the layers of modesty and social correctness, but they really do believe they are inherently better than others. However, like I said, I have not encountered any spiteful racism thus far, or anything to even put me out especially, although that might come in the event that I am passed over for a job or refused for renting an apartment on the basis of being foreign (it happens!).

    Also, however bad I have it, black people here have it worse. I have a black friend from Sweden (of all places) here, and some of the stuff he has to put up with is really quite ridiculous. Whatever the notions are about foreigners in general, it is nothing but the worst possible stereotypes that are accepted about black people - not helped by the media, to be honest - where a primetime television celebrity (and pretty much the only black person Japanese people will come across on a day-to-day basis) is a man who deliberately plays out the stereotype of black people being stupid for laughs. My friend has been refused access to clubs for being black (they said it to his friend, assuming he didnt speak Japanese), been picked up by the police for doing nothing at all, and has people regularly cross to the other side of the street if he's walking towards them... I'm certain it's not out of any sort of racial hatred, but I think Japanese people just dont know what to expect.

    Back on topic:

    Truth number 2: While the premise is true, the blogger is full of it for the simple reason that this does not deserve the time of day. I mean, racism is a terrible thing and all the rest, but America in particular has a tendency to make mountains out of molehills with regards to it these days. He thinks the devs werent being racist, but the racism inherent to the game is still reducing his enjoyment? I think this is bull - surely racism is the thought process behind the act, rather than the inclusion of coincidentally black coloured enemies? If not, couldn't it be argued that black people are racist for being black? Seems a pretty ridiculous subject for a blog.

  • Mr_Brown #73 6 years ago

    Ban black boards and blackjack!

    Hahaha the colour black is officially racist again!

  • banjo21 #74 6 years ago

    Actually if we were all exactly the same shaped and sized and textured and built and sexed marbles with exactly no beliefs or opinions and all had the same experiences and life and skills and education and emotions then maybe all these PC cants would go away and do something useful like lie on their backs and drink their own wee until they pop.

  • #75 6 years ago

    @a8a
    "I think my brain exploded when a Japanese girl drew a map of Europe with Africa directly south of Sweden, and India immediately to the east)."
    I agree with anything else you said, but how many people in Britain do you know who can draw the map of Europe, let alone the world? What most people in this country know about the rest of the world is based on the religion or the food of those countries...
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 21:49

  • admir #76 6 years ago

    this is stupid

  • Pho-Zoon #77 6 years ago

    Thing is, people who go about accusing material as being racist only serve to deepen existing rifts between different cultures. People like him are making society hyper-sensitive about political correctness.

    Has this already been said?

  • dsmx #78 6 years ago

    Personally this had never occured to me so I can only thing that I can conclude from this is the person who noticed it is obviously racist, or very paranoid because out of all the hours I've put into this game I've never thought about that.

  • JediMasterMalik #79 6 years ago

    I loved it when my Loco-Roco went all fizzy when it got tickled by those brown creatures - so cute. ^_^

    The summary is: Loco-Roco is NOT racist, but it does contain stereotypical caricatures which may be seen by some as representing a certain ethnic group. There was certainly no malicious intent to show the caricatures in this way and so the game can not be seen as racist.

    Man I should be a PR guy. :p

  • Nikanoru #80 6 years ago

    If one really sees shit like that in a game like this, maybe one should have a good look into one's own mind to see whether one isn't a fucking racist oneself.

  • qball #81 6 years ago

    "Down with this sort of thing"

    "Careful now"

    I'll get my coat...

  • tenma #82 6 years ago

    for every insightful post by someone like GDS, shinji, or a8a, there are 5 other posts by people who didn't read the article and can't even acknowledge the blogger's valid points.

  • lasermink #83 6 years ago

    Heh. I know I couldn't draw a map of Japan that would be anything other than an elongated blob. I'm sure that would make the brain of a japanese explode as well.

    Edit: sofalover, thanks for sharing. You really do not appear to be kidding.
    Edited by 1 at 04/07/06 @ 09:28

  • tenma #84 6 years ago

    Nothing wrong with being racist

    I'm sorry, but that's the best way to begin a comment if you really want to make yourself look like a douche bag. Try all you want to make your racist tendencies justified, but either way, you're still a bigot.

  • escapedape #85 6 years ago

    "It's a natural human condition to hate other races for various reasons and no amount of liberal do-gooding by the tree huggers will ever change that."

    Really? So babies and children immediately dislike other cultures and races simply because it's natural to do so? We're born with the desire to hate based purely on skin colour or country of origin?

    Riiiiiight. Love the way that bigots try to justify their outdated and pointless worldviews.

  • kangarootoo #86 6 years ago

    This is an interesting subject. And its disappointing to see so many posters leaping on the "this is nonsense, its just a game, /sacastic JP related comment" bandwagon.

    The guy who wrote this blog did not say the game is racist. Just in case that little detail got missed, here it is again. The guy who wrote this blog did not say the game is racist.

    Kudos to GDS and a8a for "attempting" to introduce some context and personal experience to the situation.

    Its not a requirement of a discussion that you already have an opinion before you join. And discussion is a bloody good thing, because it helps us find out stuff we don't already know.

    Actual discussion on these boards, on any subject, can be very interesting. People posting the same old lame sarcastic "jokes" (showing that they haven't read the thread and have barely actually read the article) is just plain old sad.

  • kangarootoo #87 6 years ago

    Please people stop responding to Sofalover. Trying to apply logic to someone flying the old "its human nature, so its OK" flag is a frustrating and unproductive experience.

    Especially if that person, despite boldly entering a discussion on race presenting "some truth" that we have all apparently been missing out on, can't even tell the difference between race and nationality.

  • escapedape #88 6 years ago

    Hear hear, kangarootoo. Not only does it seem that those posting the same old uninformed comments haven't read the article/blog, but also that they haven't bothered to read some of the very well informed and nicely written comments that do go into a bit of cultural context and give you a bit of background so as not to immediately just type in a "WTF? n00b!" response.

  • frod. #89 6 years ago

    WTF? n00b!

  • mingster #90 6 years ago

    Jynx pokemon = racist and was banned
    Moja Locoroco = not racist shouldnt be banned

  • ProfessorChaos #91 6 years ago

    Well said a8a, it seems lot of Japanese are Nazi loving racists. Anyone who can't see that, is just upset because someone attacked a videogame (you can't defend games all the time just because you're a gamer).

  • kangarootoo #92 6 years ago

    Well done ProfessorChaos, weak ass sarcastic "joke", bang on cue.

    a8a described his limited personal experience and he/she didn't offer it as anything more than that. You could of course think on how his personal and limited experience fits into the very complex subject we have at hand, or you could I guess just make a crap joke that incorrectly suggests he is stereotyping all Japanese people as racists and watch some more Lucky Ladders. Ah, I see your choice has already been made.

  • UncleLou #93 6 years ago

    All I could have said has already been said by kangarootoo

  • UncleLou #94 6 years ago

    Seeing as you mentioned that you hate the French, and define that as racism, and are of the opinion that some races are "better than others", I assume you think you're somehow better than French people? In what respect?

  • otto #95 6 years ago

    I don't think we need to wait for his answer...

  • UncleLou #96 6 years ago

    Well yes, probably not.

  • Fozzie_bear #97 6 years ago

    Quan-Madrid even goes so far as to suggest that "One could also equate the "invasion of the Moja and the fleeing of the LocoRocos to black slaves being brought to American and the very common practice of today of white flight.

    You could go as far as to suggest that, yes. But it'd make you a fucking idiot.

  • Inquisitor #98 6 years ago

    People are overreacting to someones overreaction, this seems to be happening a lot these days. I think people are getting tired of how seemingly out of control political corectness has gone.

  • a8a #99 6 years ago

    Well said a8a, it seems lot of Japanese are Nazi loving racists.

    I specifically did *not* say that, nor do I believe it to be true. I believe they naturally differentiate (to the point of discrimination, sometimes) between Japanese people and foreigners simply because they do not have much experience with foreigners. If America or Europe was as homogenous as Japan in terms of race, I think that there would:

    1) Be more of this 'racism' and
    2) Be less of a big deal about it.

    Without the exposure to such a multi-cultural society as we are used to, you just don't become sensitive about such issues.

    Of course, there are extreme sides to every spectrum, and I would be surprised NOT to see some extreme japan-o-philes who have never even been there commenting about how everything in Japan is great. God knows, I've met enough of them...

  • kangarootoo #100 6 years ago

    Some us understannd what you are saying dude. And we realise that information is a good thing, and that simply being interested in HAVING information does not pre-presume a conclusion.

    Sometimes information messes with people's own strongly held beliefs, so they will attack you for providing it.

  • tenma #101 6 years ago

    frod: woah hahaha

    My jaw is on that floor after seeing that ad. I don't even know how to respond.

  • TheChojin #102 6 years ago

    That is the most racist thing I've EVER seen , I'd expect nothing less from Sony...DIS-GUSTING , DOWN WITH PSP!

  • thefjk #103 5 years ago

    WTF?