GAMER THREATENS NINTENDO:
Nintendo store threatened over fighting game
Maybe it was Waluigi.
A disgruntled gamer upset that Midtown's Nintendo World NYC had removed kiosks for an upcoming game threatened to blow up the store — but no one saw the threat for two months, officials said Saturday.
The threat — which was put on the Nintendo World forum in April — was discovered Saturday morning by a system administrator reviewing past posts about the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate video game, which is expected to hit stores in December.
The fighting game has been mired in controversy ever since it was revealed that every character in the Nintendo universe will be a playable character, except one — Waluigi.
When the threat was found, the system administrator alerted store officials, who called the police Saturday morning.
The writer expressed “displeasure over the Super Smash Bros. kiosks being removed from the store,” according to Tweeter and Twitch streamer Mitsu, who claimed to have knowledge of the case.
“It's not a joke,” Mitsu wrote. “I'm not keen on jokes about serious threats.”
An NYPD spokeswoman confirmed the threat was over the game kiosks — which are used to give players an early preview of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game -- but the threat was made in April.
Nothing has exploded since the post, but cops who are investigating don't believe the gamer will make good on his threat, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case.
A manager at Nintendo World NYC declined to comment about the threat.
“I have nothing further to add,” she said.
For months, Nintendo has been promoting the wildly anticipated new game, which is an update to the Super Smash Bros. that premiered in 1999. In March, Nintendo announced a Super Smash Bros. invitational tournament, where players can try the new game out and play each other. The game has the tagline “Everyone is here” but that promise rang hollow after it was learned that Waluigi — a purple plumber who is the arch-nemesis of “Super Mario Bros.” sibling Luigi. In the different iterations of the “Mario Bros.” franchise, Waluigi (photo) often conspires with Wario, Mario's arch-rival, to doom the brothers' chances of succeeding. Despite his evil bend, players were upset that no one can play him in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. “I feel so bad for Waluigi,” voice actor and writer Jesse Nowack wrote on Twitter. “Can you imagine a party, where EVERYONE is invited except you? Your a--hole kinda-brother who farts on everything and eats all the food and drives his super loud motorcycle is invited and NOT you.”
Fans sparked a social media firestorm over the Waluigi snub under the trending hashtags #Waluigiforsmash and #freewaluigi.
“RIP the people's champion,” bemoaned Krawfishgamer on Twitter. “You Wah'd your way into our hearts. You will one day be with the rest of the Smash crew!”
Nintendo officials said that while Waluigi is not a player character, he is in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — as an assist character that needs to be unlocked after a certain level is reached.
Nintendo World NYC routinely holds demonstrations of the latest Nintendo games for sale where gamers can play for free before purchasing.
This past week, Nintendo World NYC held three Super Smash Bros. invitationals, where the bouts between players were live-streamed online.