Chinese court plays up achievements in ‘Super Mario Mr Judge’ video
- Three-minute clip shows Mario tackling difficult law enforcement issues, battling a corrupt ‘tiger’ and finishing big projects like building ‘smart courts’
- It was posted on social media last week but has since been removed
A top court in central China has apparently sought to raise its profile by depicting its judges as a character from popular video game Super Mario in an animated clip released on social media.
The three-minute video was posted on an official Weibo account of the Communist Party Central Committee’s national body overseeing political and legal affairs on Wednesday.
“Watch the video,” the post said. “Do the familiar sound effects and visuals take you back to childhood?”
It added that there were “breakthroughs all the way” when the Hunan Higher People’s Court entered the world of Super Mario.
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Titled “Super Mario Mr Judge – how Hunan courts broke barriers in 2018”, the video looks back on the court’s highlights for the year using the iconic Nintendo character.
Mario the judge is seen using his head to smash bricks as he tackles difficult law enforcement issues, battling a tiger – a metaphor for corrupt high-ranking officials – and eating mushrooms to power up before knocking out thugs. He also finishes big projects such as building “smart courts”, collecting coins along the way.
Mario even slides down a goal pole – seen at the end of every level in the video game – when he achieves something, like handling 803 crimes related to abuse of power.
But the video has since been removed from the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission’s Weibo account, and it is no longer on the Hunan court’s microblogging account either.
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As well as Mario the judge looking much like the original character as he runs around making legal “breakthroughs”, the scenes, sound effects and music used are also similar to the video game.
Commenters on social media questioned whether Nintendo’s copyright had been infringed.
One Weibo user asked: “Has this got permission from Nintendo?”
Ahead of a video mash-up event in Japan in 2014, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that the company’s well-known characters could be used for the event and for non-commercial purposes.
The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment regarding the video.
Released in 1985, Super Mario Bros features Mario and his brother Luigi, who traverse various worlds avoiding hazards such as enemies and pits as they try to rescue their princess. They power up on super mushrooms, fire flowers and super stars
