A racing game set in Japan just took a very deliberate swing at the most litigious franchise in Japanese gaming history, and it did so through a radio station.
Forza Horizon 6 players have spotted a knowing wink buried inside the game's Hospital Records Radio station, a series staple that has appeared in every entry since Forza Horizon 2. The hosts encourage players to "grab your camera and snap 'em all" before dropping the line: "it's like that Japanese collecting game we're not allowed to name for legal reasons."
Hospital Records Radio banter
The joke that writes itself
The reference was first shared by Twitter user wxrry, and it spread fast. The reason it lands so well is that the punchline practically explains itself. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have spent years building a reputation as the most aggressive IP enforcers in the games industry, and anyone who has been paying attention gets the joke immediately.
Here's the thing: the setup is genuinely clever for a racing game. Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, and one of its core activities involves players driving around and photographing cars and scenery. The "snap 'em all" framing fits the game's photo mode mechanic perfectly, which makes the callback feel earned rather than forced.
Why Nintendo's legal history makes this land harder
The joke has extra bite because of how well-documented Nintendo's enforcement history actually is. Around a decade ago, fan projects Pokemon Uranium and AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) both received DMCA takedowns, and their nominations were subsequently pulled from The Game Awards in 2016. Those incidents are still referenced regularly in gaming communities as the moment Nintendo's legal reputation truly crystallized.
More recently, The Pokemon Company's ongoing lawsuit against PocketPair, the developer behind Palworld, over monster-capturing mechanics has kept that conversation alive. At this point, even a throwaway radio line in a car game is enough to trigger collective recognition.
What this actually is (and isn't)
To be clear, this is almost certainly just a light gag rather than a pointed legal commentary. The tone of the radio hosts in Forza Horizon games has always leaned playful, and a quip about not being able to name a famous franchise is firmly in that tradition. Death Stranding's "Mario and Princess Beach" line never drew any legal response from Nintendo, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it radio joke is unlikely to either.
Still, the fact that a Microsoft studio felt comfortable enough to make the reference at all says something about how widely understood Nintendo's reputation has become. When a car game can land a copyright joke without any further explanation and have players immediately know exactly what it means, that reputation has officially become part of gaming's shared cultural vocabulary.
Forza Horizon 6's Japan setting makes the whole thing work even better. The game is already deeply engaged with Japanese culture across its map, its car selection, and its events. Slipping in a nod to the most famous Japanese gaming franchise while technically never naming it is exactly the kind of layered humor that rewards players who are paying attention.
If you are exploring Japan's roads and want to know what else is waiting out there, the Forza Horizon 6 barn finds guide covers all 15 hidden car locations and how to unlock them through the Discover Japan stamp system.
