Wii Karaoke U is a service that's been available in Japan for a while, a built-in app for Nintendo's console that lets users play a basic singing game using their Miis. The game - developed by Joysound - went and hit Europe last month, converted to a downloadable title, and the song selection is...interesting.
According to reports from sites like Nintendo Life (and some YouTube videos) there are a number of tracks on there you wouldn't expect from a game that's not only published by Nintendo, but is using cute little Miis as avatars. Even then, you'd expect any adult lyrics to have been censored or swapped out for radio edits. Right?
Nope.
Despite the game itself being rated PEGI 3 - meaning it's OK for kids aged 3 and up to play - there's a disclaimer that song downloads themselves aren't rated by the European classification agency.
So, for example, Afroman's Colt 45 is available. And has lyrics like this (NSFW):
We fucked on the bed
Fucked on the floor
Fucked so long I grew a fuckin' afro
Then I fucked to the left (left)
Fucked to the right (right)
She sucked my dick 'til the shit turned white
The weird thing here isn't that a music game exists with adult lyrics. Guitar Hero, for example, had plenty. As did SingStar. But those games were rated accordingly, a PEGI 12 (for ages 12 and up) instead of a PEGI 3.
But that's still technically OK. If parental controls are active on a Wii U console, they should block any content - "as well as purchase through the Nintendo eShop", says Nintendo's own guidelines - above the rating level specified by an adult.
No, the weird thing here is that this game isn't some random little third-party application that snuck in under the radar. It's published by Nintendo itself, a company normally adverse to even the slightest hint of adult content in its games. And it stars the company's Miis, normally associated with all-ages fun, not dropping f-bombs.
We've been unable to test this out ourselves, since we've only got American Wii U consoles, and the service is only available in Europe. But we've contacted Nintendo, and will update if we hear back.
Until then, enjoy YouTuber CoreSublime's rendition of another Afroman classic.