Nintendo games were used to smuggle spiders. Sweet dreams, gamers.
Another piece of evidence that we're all actually living in a burning tire fire has surfaced: Nintendo Famicom game cartridges intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border contained a treasure trove of smuggled spiders.
First question: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?
There is a reason, but let's look at the facts of the case first. Shudder.
During what sounds like a normal customs check at Guadalajara International Airport on Wednesday, Mexican authorities intercepted a package bound for Hanover, Maryland. Inside were 10 seemingly bootlegged Famicom cartridges containing 73 plastic tubes and 73 terrifying nightmare creatures.
Mexican newspaper La Crónica de Hoy (h/t NeoGAF) shared some video of the unpleasant discovery on Twitter. The camera mercifully slips out of focus as someone holds one of the plastic Hell Tubes up for a closer look.
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Obviously, you want to know why somebody would do this terrible thing.
Spider smuggling is actually more common than you might think. Tarantulas are popular in the exotic pet world, though protections imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) -- as well as local laws that vary by country -- can make moving them around a costly exercise.
That's where smugglers come in. It's a cheap -- if risky -- alternative to obtaining permits. Mexico is a particularly popular source for the black market tarantula trade because of the multiple species that dwell there and the relative ease of moving the spiders across the U.S.-Mexico border.
There's no word on what will happen to the 73 confiscated tarantulas and their 584 legs. Hopefully they'll be returned promptly to the pits of Hell from which they spawned.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
