MookieRah
Kinda Sorta OK at Smash
Sorry to burst yalls bubble, but Birdo is a transgendered male.
Although Nintendo of America classifies Birdo as female and some classify it as transgendered, the first edition game manual for Super Mario Bros. 2 describes Birdo as follows: "He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called 'Birdetta.'" Based on this description, it is arguable that Birdo is the first transgendered video game character. Subsequent printings of the game manual delete the Birdetta sentence but retains the first description.
In Japan, Birdo is known as "Catherine" and purportedly enjoys being called "Cathy". However, the Birdo character has always been male in the original Japanese versions. Presumably to avoid controversy, Nintendo of America has localized Birdo as female in future appearances of the character. It was speculated that Birdo was possibly transgendered, and Nintendo of America would eventually retcon this tidbit to avoid raising any concerns about the character's transsexuality. Confusion has also arisen over Birdo because the names for Birdo and Ostro, an ostrich that playable characters can ride, were erroneously switched in the Super Mario Bros. 2 end credits [1] as well as in the game manual. Since then, many have confused the two to the point of calling the actual species "Ostro," and believing that the 'main pink one' was individually named "Birdo." Super Mario Advance, a game which contains a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2, does not repeat this mistake.
Recently, Birdo has been noted as a male on the official European Mario Strikers Charged Football website and in the game manual.