Why Bandai Namco Were Wrong To Remove Roger the Boxing Kangaroo From Tekken 7

If we truly want to live in a society that respects democratic values, then we have to understand that freedom of speech is an absolute cornerstone of democracy. Put simply, you can’t have a democracy without freedom of speech, and that means that we should be willing to defend speech and expression which we both agree and disagree with. Censorship be damned.

Which is why I’m so disappointed with Bandai Namco for giving in to the demands of ARAs (animal rights activists) and removing fan-favorite fighter Roger the Boxing Kangaroo from Tekken 7. The game’s producer Katsuhiro Harada confirmed to VG247 that the decision was made as they feared that the character’s inclusion would stir up controversy following a viral video of a man punching a kangaroo after it got into a fight with his dog. He was quoted as saying the following:

“There was a video of a man’s dog being headlocked by a kangaroo, and he punched it in the face. It turned into a big problem. People were complaining about him punching a kangaroo. It seems that in the last few years there’s a lot more animal activists – even though they probably wouldn’t play our game they would still hear about that, about a kangaroo in our game being punched, and would complain about it.”

I love how he admits that the people who complain about such things are people who don’t actually play video games.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m an animal lover through and through, and I despise people who hurt animals in real-life. But Tekken 7 is a goddamn video game. It’s not real. You control pixelated characters as they fight other pixelated characters. So anyone who actually thinks that seeing Roger the Boxing Kangaroo being kicked in the face by Paul Phoenix hurts their sensibilities seriously needs to make an appointment with reality.

I guess this also means that putting animals in fighting games from here on out is a major nono. Sorry, Nintendo, but certain people are gonna scream and shout if you put Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad and Falco Lombardi in any future Super Smash Bros. games. Same goes for Capcom if they put Rocket Raccoon in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.

Video games have always been victims when it comes to censorship, I’m truly sorry to say. To give some recent examples, Germany censor pretty much any game that moves, Nioh, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk and Resident Evil 7 all had their gore toned down for their Japanese releases, Gears of War 4 was originally banned in Japan (although the uncut version was later approved for release), Outlast 2 was originally banned in Australia, a Koei Tecmo employee states on Dead or Alive Xtreme 3’s Facebook page that the game would not be released in the west amid fears of being accused of sexism (thanks, Anita Sarkeesian), and Capcom removed the Thailand Temple Hideout stage from Street Fighter V because of “unintentional religious references”. Oh, and the Bolivian Government are threatening legal action against Ubisoft because their feelings were hurt over how they were depicted in Ghost Recon Wildlands. Sounds to me like a good use of their time. I mean, it’s not like they’ve got a country to run or anything.

Then we had that appalling Change.org campaign to remove Grand Theft Auto V from Target stores in Australia because of because of how it encourages violence towards women. A petition that not only was based on lies and misinformation (tons of scientific studies have proven there to be no connection between violent videogames and committing acts of violence in real-life, and GTA V never even specifically tasks the player with committing violence against women), but was actually successful. Target stores across the country stopped selling the game after it received 48,509 signatures.

Giving in to the demands of people who find certain content to be offensive sets a very dangerous precedent, and I’m sure you’ll agree that nobody wants to live in a world where everything that upsets anyone is either banned or censored. Tekken 7 will be sorely missing a Marsupial member of its family when it arrives on consoles and PC on June 7.