Nintendo has started removing user-created designs from the in-game marketplace of its new Kirby racing title Kirby Air Riders. The deleted designs depict Chef Kawasaki, a recurring Kirby character, wearing a two-piece bikini.
Players used the game’s custom decal editor to create the bikini designs shortly after launch. The editor lets players design vehicle appearances using shapes and colors. Multiple users created similar versions of Chef Kawasaki with bikini patterns placed over the rotund orange chef character.
The designs quickly became the most popular items on the in-game store. Within three days of the game’s release, bikini Chef Kawasaki designs filled the top pages of the marketplace. One Japanese player reported booting up the game with his six-year-old daughter only to find the store showing “literally just pages of bikini Kawasakis.”
Nintendo began deleting the designs from the public marketplace. According to reports, the company cited marketplace disruption as the primary concern. The meme design was distorting the automatic pricing system and encouraging players to upload repetitive copies. This crowded out other designs and frustrated users looking for variety.
The designs themselves are tame by most standards. They use basic shapes to create the illusion of swimwear on a cartoon character with no explicit content. Players can still create similar designs for personal use. Nintendo’s action targets the public marketplace listings rather than the creation tool itself.
The pricing system automatically adjusts based on popularity rather than letting players set their own prices. No real money changes hands. Players use in-game currency only.
Nintendo’s UGC track record
Nintendo has a long history of moderating user-generated content in its games. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s stage builder saw similar issues at launch when players created explicit stages. Nintendo removed those stages but kept the builder active.
The same pattern played out with Super Mario Maker 2, where Nintendo continues to delete inappropriate levels while maintaining the level creation system. The company runs a tightly controlled online environment across its platforms, especially for franchises targeting younger audiences like Kirby.
