Although having come a long way in recent years, transgender representation in video games is often considered lacklustre, one-dimensional and downright unclear. So it’s no wonder that when Nintendo, a company who makes games for all walks of life, introduced Vivian in 2004’s Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, it was significant and ahead of its time. 

Vivian is a companion in the game who defects to Mario’s side after being mistreated by her sisters. The original Japanese dialogue and other foreign localisations would reveal that this conflict largely originates from the sisters’ repeated misgendering of Vivian. While the original 2004 English translation disappointingly misses out most of these references, the Japanese and 2024 English version make no mistake in expressing that Vivian is transgender. Various supporting characters and narrative text often refer to Vivian using masculine terms, such as ‘man’ and ‘little brother’, whilst Vivian refers to herself using feminine pronouns. The Italian translation is perhaps the most explicit with its confirmation of Vivian’s gender identity, stating that ‘she used to be a man, but now she’s a woman and proud of it’. In short, there is no other way to canonically interpret her character than as a transgender woman. 

But beyond simply existing in her time, Vivian’s representation is a pure, positive example of trans representation. In a refreshing turn of events, Vivian’s gender identity is nothing short of fully accepted by the main cast of protagonists, with even her sisters coming to accept her in all her purple glory. Her character arc throughout the game sees her also come to embrace who she is in the face of rejection and bullying, becoming more confident and outgoing in the process. Unlike many other trans portrayals, even in the modern day, Vivian is given depth, sympathy and agency. 

However, Vivian was not Nintendo’s first foray into trans representation. Widely considered the first transgender video game character, Birdo, also from the Super Mario series, was first introduced in 1988’s Super Mario Bros 2. While being a more well known character, appearing in Mario Kart and other main Mario games up to the present, Birdo is not given the justice she deserves from the start like Vivian. The first mention of her gender identity comes in the manual of her debut game, stating: ‘he thinks he is a girl and spits eggs from his mouth. He’d rather be called “Birdetta”’. In games for the Japanese-only Satellaview, Birdo is portrayed as an ‘okama’, often used as a slur for trans women, gay men and crossdressers. From the beginning, Birdo’s ‘ambiguous’ gender identity is played for a joke. 

Fortunately, Birdo is later embraced as a female counterpart for Yoshi, although Nintendo still haven’t acknowledged her gender identity as explicitly or warmly as with Vivian. Vivian remains a shining example in the modern day of how to treat your transgender characters with care, placing them alongside their co-stars as fully-fledged character with development, not solely defined by their hardships. Still, hope remains that Nintendo will build upon this in the future and treat Birdo with the same love as Vivian and maybe introduce more queer representation in future. 

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