Mario snogs Link in John Oliver's take on Tomodachi Life debate

Nintendo's promise to be more inclusive in future games is an important step worthy of serious discussion, but have this video of Mario and Link having a pash instead.

On yesterday's episode of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the host discussed Nintendo's response to the Tomodachi Life same-sex exclusion debate, and brought fanfiction dreams to life with a series of short vignettes of Nintendo characters in same-sex relationships.

It's a bit of a laugh, of course, and the Donkey Kong bit especially amused me, but Oliver's voice drips with dissatisfaction at Nintendo's promise of "virtual eventual equality". The host isn't the only one questioning why it's taken Nintendo so long to make its pledge, or why its reaction now is all talk and no action.

I mentioned this issue to a friend a few days ago, happily reading out Nintendo's statement on the matter. She wasn't as impressed as me, and asked why Nintendo can't be inclusive now. "Well," I said, "I guess because patching costs a lot of money. And maybe it would be pretty hard, they'd have to rewrite a lot of code?"

She just gave me a face. Sometimes I hear the things coming out of my own mouth and wonder if maybe I should go work in a more morally rewarding industry. Like merchant banking, or puppy mills.

Thanks, Kotaku.