In Super Mario 64, the Backwards Long Jump trick has been used to refer to a glitch that’s known in Japan as Ketsu Waapu (ケツワープ). Surely, there has to be a better English translation. Turns out, there is.
In the original game, the glitch is used in Princess Peach’s Castle to get to the top of the Endless Stairs. But “Backwards Long Jump trick” is such a mouthful, and the abbreviation BLJ is also rather oblique.
Ketsu (ケツ) can mean “ass”, and is a bit rougher sounding than oshiri (お尻) or butt, while waapu (ワープ) is “warp.” This is why Tom James naturally came up with the following:
Official, this ain’t. After his tweet went viral, James astutely added, “I don’t try to tell other people how to do their jobs, but if the next person who interviews Miyamoto about Mario 64 doesn’t specifically say ‘ass warp’ so the Nintendo interpreter has to scramble to figure out what they mean on the spot, that reporter is doing it wrong.”
The Japanese site that originally published the article to which James referred (and that caused ketsu waapu to trend on Japanese Twitter) actually went back and did a follow-up, citing the Ass Warp tweet. Popular Japanese game site Hachima noted that “Ass Warp” wasn’t only funny, but had more flair than Backwards Long Jump. I agree! It’s a good translation.
Anyway, enjoy some Ass Warp fan art!
As previously reported, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and other classic 3D Mario games are coming to the Nintendo Switch this fall.