Nintendo has spawned a Twitter backlash today with a sponsored tweet to promote the new Kid Icarus game.
The hashtag #aNewNintendoHeroRises designed to promote the new game has backfired, as gamers claim the Nintendo "hero" character is in fact old, not new.
Gamers have co-opted the hashtag to write "#aNewNintendoHeroRises is a stupid. Pit is 25 years old", "didn't know that the 80s is now considered new." and "People who know anything about videogames will know exactly what's wrong with the topic #aNewNintendoHeroRises".
Pit is the lead character in the game Kid Icarus, released today on Nintendo 3DS. The first Kid Icarus game was published in in December 1986.
Sponsored hashtags have famously gone wrong for brands. The promotional hashtag #McDstories, launched by McDonalds as part of a campaign calling for wholesome, heart-warming tales of McDonalds love, backfired magnificently when tweeters used it to share their poor experiences of McDonalds.
Initial tweets included: "When u make something w/pride, people can taste it,' - McD potato supplier #McDStories". Then tweets such as this appeared "Watching a classmate projectile vomit his food all over the restaurant during a 6th grade trip. #McDStories."
McDonalds pulled the promotion very quickly. Rick Wion, social media director, told paidcontent.org: "Within an hour, we saw that it wasn't going as planned. It was negative enough that we set about a change of course."
Nintendo was approached for comment, which was not received by time of publication.
See the slideshow below for Twitter's reaction to #aNewNintendoHeroRises.