Nintendo France bans Dragon Quest Hero from official Smash Ultimate tournaments

When the creator of a game bans its own character from official tournaments, you know something is wrong.

Nintendo of France has banned Dragon Quest Hero from all of its future Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments. This ban will go into effect starting with the European Team Cup event on Sept. 29.

This ban is just for French tournaments hosted by Nintendo of France, however. Other European tournaments and events in other regions will allow Hero, at least for now. But this decision does point toward Hero potentially being banned in global events down the line.

The ban is likely because of some issues with Hero’s special move where a menu pops up with an array of options to choose from. There are also language barrier issues since the name of a move in one region won’t be the same in another.

So if you’re using a Japanese version of the game and don’t know Japanese, for example, you’ll have no clue which moves are which if you didn’t study beforehand. And anyone playing against a Japanese player won’t be able to know what move they’re using and won’t be able to defend or prepare for the incoming attack.

If this is the case, Hero will likely get banned by other regions partaking in the EU Team Cup moving forward to level the playing field.