Ah, 1998, a simpler time. The very first Pokémon movie had just premiered in Japan, and Britney Spears’ ‘...Baby One More Time’ was in the charts. What a time to be alive.
This fateful year also saw the release of the very first Mario Party game in Japan, thus commencing an era of destroying friendships and becoming sworn enemies over the result of Bumper Balls and Shy Guy Says. Since then, there’s been a further 11 instalments of home console Mario Party games (as well as six handheld ones), but none have managed to cause quite the amount of chaos that the first one did.
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In case you were unaware, Mario Party ended up being at the centre of controversy when a number of complaints were filed, due to players reportedly ending up with friction burns and blisters on their hands. For some mini games, which required players to quickly spin the N64 controller’s analog stick, people discovered that you could spin way faster by using the palm of your hand rather than your regular ol’ thumb. It turned out that there was a reason why people don’t normally play like that.
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In the end, Nintendo apparently ended up giving those affected free gloves so that they could continue their Mario Party grind without causing any more damage to their palms. Now though, as reported by Screen Rant, following the release of Mario Party on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, Nintendo has opted for a different approach.
Upon loading up the game, players will be greeted with a health warning. It reads: “CAUTION: Some individuals may experience skin irritation and/or damage to the Control Stick if they rotate it with the palm of their hand. Nintendo recommends the Control Stick be rotated with the thumb only.”
Given how susceptible to drifting Joy-Con controllers tend to be, that point about damage to the Control Stick is a very valid point. But most importantly, please don't injure yourself playing Mario Party, okay?
Featured Image Credit: NintendoTopics: Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Mario, Super Mario