Censoring / Sanitizing North American Games

[esteban]

Hi folks.  I am trying to think of a feature article to write for my upcoming website and I thought the topic of "sanitizing game content" is something that would appeal to folks in general (not just turbo fans).

YOUR MISSION: To expand the list of games for Part I & II below, and to correct any mistakes / omissions you see in this thread. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful comments.

PART ONE -- So, I'm trying to compile a list of all the Turbo games that were cleaned up during localization... but I don't think many games fall into this category:

1. Scatalogical Content.  Kato & Ken --> JJ & Jeff.  In K & K, farting was an offensive weapon... but for J & J it became "aerosal" from a can of spray paint. Piles of poop remained in the game, however, including some birds who poop on you (ASIDE: file this under "scatalogical pet peeve" -- instead of white, goopy bird poop, both versions simply re-used the generic "pile o' dog poop"... why couldn't Hudson give us more varieties of poop?)

2. Nudity.  The infamous shower scene in Cosmic Fantasy 2... was anything really censored in this game besides the shower scene?

3. Religion. Anything? Perhaps something about the Crusades / Christianity was altered in Exile so as not to offend Christians?  The Templar Knights were real, historically (... but now I am wondering if it was Drac X that dealt with Templar Knights?)...

4. How about gory / bloody stuff?  Final Zone II and Last Alert (Red Alert) have some bloody cinemas... were they left intact?  

5. Violence Against Women:  In Final Zone II, Bowie slaps Momoko in the face HARD in one of the cinemas... This remained in the U.S. version, though...

6.  Promoting alcohol. Anything?  I've read how "drinking ale" in some RPGs was changed (for games on other systems, though I can't remember any further details now )

7. Promoting tobacco.  When I started thinking about sanitizing booze, I thought, "Hey, what about SMOKING?"  Final Lap Twin, for example, was going to be the original HuCard pack-in for the TurboDuo... but NEC didn't want the "Marboro" billboards in the game to be construed as "promoting smoking to minors".  Well, that's what TurboPlay magazine reported, for what its worth.

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PART TWO: What Japan-only games have particualry bloody / naughty / misogynistic elements in them that would have been sanitzed for  North America (explain, in detail, please):

0. Nudity?.  Camera Man / Photograph Boy (the actual title escapes me at the moment) -- I remember a dude in a raincoat who "flashes" you (bonus points if you snap a picture of him at the crucial moment!).  anything else?  I vaguely recall naked women, but my brain might be playing tricks on me.

1. Scatological content. Toilet Kids -- vertical shooter with one theme: poop. even the spiders have arses and shoot poopy bullets at you.

2. Titilation/Sexualization of women. For example... Steam Hearts -- I need details, I don't own this game... Strip Fighter II... and many other games, I'm sure...

3. Sexuality. For example, Ai Cho Aniki (Super Big Brother) -- folks in the U.S. are so prudish that the overtly homoerotic theme would be a stumbling block.  

4. Race/ethnicity/national origin. Anything? Did any of the Japanese games have stereotyped racial / ethnic character designs, for example?

5. Nazis.  Download 2 has a bio-morphed HITLER monster as a final boss.  For some reason I think this might cause problems for a U.S. release.  At the very least, the Japanese cover art (which features hitler's visage) would have to be changed, methinks.

[DragonmasterDan]

Hi folks.  I am trying to think of a feature article to write for my upcoming website and I thought the topic of "sanitizing game content" is something that would appeal to folks in general (not just turbo fans).

YOUR MISSION: To expand the list of games for Part I & II below, and to correct any mistakes / omissions you see in this thread. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful comments.

PART ONE -- So, I'm trying to compile a list of all the Turbo games that were cleaned up during localization... but I don't think many games fall into this category:

1. Scatalogical Content.  Kato & Ken --> JJ & Jeff.  In K & K, farting was an offensive weapon... but for J & J it became "aerosal" from a can of spray paint. Piles of poop remained in the game, however, including some birds who poop on you (ASIDE: file this under "scatalogical pet peeve" -- instead of white, goopy bird poop, both versions simply re-used the generic "pile o' dog poop"... why couldn't Hudson give us more varieties of poop?)

2. Nudity.  The infamous shower scene in Cosmic Fantasy 2... was anything really censored in this game besides the shower scene?

3. Religion. Anything? Perhaps something about the Crusades / Christianity was altered in Exile so as not to offend Christians?  The Templar Knights were real, historically (... but now I am wondering if it was Drac X that dealt with Templar Knights?)...

4. How about gory / bloody stuff?  Final Zone II and Last Alert (Red Alert) have some bloody cinemas... were they left intact?  

5. Violence Against Women:  In Final Zone II, Bowie slaps Momoko in the face HARD in one of the cinemas... This remained in the U.S. version, though...

6.  Promoting alcohol. Anything?  I've read how "drinking ale" in some RPGs was changed (for games on other systems, though I can't remember any further details now )

7. Promoting tobacco.  When I started thinking about sanitizing booze, I thought, "Hey, what about SMOKING?"  Final Lap Twin, for example, was going to be the original HuCard pack-in for the TurboDuo... but NEC didn't want the "Marboro" billboards in the game to be construed as "promoting smoking to minors".  Well, that's what TurboPlay magazine reported, for what its worth.

--------------------------
PART TWO: What Japan-only games have particualry bloody / naughty / misogynistic elements in them that would have been sanitzed for  North America (explain, in detail, please):

0. Nudity?.  Camera Man / Photograph Boy (the actual title escapes me at the moment) -- I remember a dude in a raincoat who "flashes" you (bonus points if you snap a picture of him at the crucial moment!).  anything else?  I vaguely recall naked women, but my brain might be playing tricks on me.

1. Scatological content. Toilet Kids -- vertical shooter with one theme: poop. even the spiders have arses and shoot poopy bullets at you.

2. Titilation/Sexualization of women. For example... Steam Hearts -- I need details, I don't own this game... Strip Fighter II... and many other games, I'm sure...

3. Sexuality. For example, Ai Cho Aniki (Super Big Brother) -- folks in the U.S. are so prudish that the overtly homoerotic theme would be a stumbling block.  

4. Race/ethnicity/national origin. Anything? Did any of the Japanese games have stereotyped racial / ethnic character designs, for example?

5. Nazis.  Download 2 has a bio-morphed HITLER monster as a final boss.  For some reason I think this might cause problems for a U.S. release.  At the very least, the Japanese cover art (which features hitler's visage) would have to be changed, methinks.

A good Turbo related situation that would fall under catagory 5 is Tengai Makyo: Manji Maru. For the uninitated a Manji is a good luck sign in Japan. Unfortunately, in Western culture a Manji is known as a swastika. As a result removing every single Manji from that game might have been one of the many hurdles that led to its being passed over for a US release.

[Keranu]

I really like the idea of this feature, but I'm afraid there isn't going to be a whole lotta content than what you already have.

You could mention some kind of "avoiding copyright issues" or something dealing with the mask color change in Splatter House.

4. Race/ethnicity/national origin. Anything? Did any of the Japanese games have stereotyped racial / ethnic character designs, for example?

I'm sure there are quite a few, but I can't think of any. Japanese games seem to have black stereo types at times. (Ehem, SNK!)

By the way, was there any smoking in Last Alert? It seems like Guy Kazama would certainly light up a cig at any time like Solid Snake, but I can't be sure if he ever did or not.

[trapjaw76]

As far as gory stuff, I gotta say Splatterhouse is kinda nasty.  For the one level alone, where you're in the monster "womb" and smacking around monster fetuses, then you get to the end and beat up on that cervix or whatever the hell it is....kinda warped me.  Anyways, they'd never release Strip Fighter or any of the other "sexy" games here, not to my knowledge...

[guyjin]

6.  Promoting alcohol. Anything?  I've read how "drinking ale" in some RPGs was changed (for games on other systems, though I can't remember any further details now )

'Magician' for the NES did this. If you entered the 'guild' and drank 2 mugs of 'goats milk', the proprietor would give you some valuable information. Drink too much 'goats milk' and the game would end on you. Even at 10 i knew what they were really getting at.

PART TWO: What Japan-only games have particualry bloody / naughty / misogynistic elements in them that would have been sanitzed for  North America (explain, in detail, please):

4. Race/ethnicity/national origin. Anything? Did any of the Japanese games have stereotyped racial / ethnic character designs, for example?

Take a look at great basketball. I refuse to put that card in my Turbo again, or my Duo EVER, but IIRC there were a lot of highly stereotypical players in it.

5. Nazis.  Download 2 has a bio-morphed HITLER monster as a final boss.  For some reason I think this might cause problems for a U.S. release.  At the very least, the Japanese cover art (which features hitler's visage) would have to be changed, methinks.

If I remember correctly, the final boss in bionic commando(for the nes) was hitler. They changed the name stateside, though.

[nodtveidt]

What I always found amusing was that games developed in the USA, when imported to Japan, are also sanitized. It became really noticeable when Mortal Kombat was exported.

[esteban]

What I always found amusing was that games developed in the USA, when imported to Japan, are also sanitized. It became really noticeable when Mortal Kombat was exported.

Ahhh, yes, if the scope of my article went beyond the tg-16 / pce, I would definitley like to compare / contrast the US -> Japan vs. Japan -> US sanitation processes. I don't know anything about Mortal Kombat,though... what's the scoop?

anyway, if I broaden the scope of the article, it would also allow me to discuss how things have / haven't changed over the years.  For example, during the NES era, Nintendo often required religious iconography to be removed from games (i.e. some of the castlevanias had crucifixes removed).

[esteban]

A good Turbo related situation that would fall under catagory 5 is Tengai Makyo: Manji Maru. For the uninitated a Manji is a good luck sign in Japan. Unfortunately, in Western culture a Manji is known as a swastika. As a result removing every single Manji from that game might have been one of the many hurdles that led to its being passed over for a US release.

Yeah, that is interesting... I agree, if this game was brought out to "the west", the Manji would definitely be replaced with some other "innocuous" symbol.

I always thought that Manji was slightly different than the swastika (like a reverse image of it, or something), but to most westerners, they'd simply see a swastika.  This is amsusing because I'm pretty certain that many old churches in Europe have the Manji (there might be a different term for it) and use it as a sacred design motif (i.e. as a border on walls and on tiled floors).  The nazi party, IIRC, simply took this existing symbol, and slightly altered it (why? would they do this... i can't remember).

TANGENT: one of my favorite vegan restauraunts in southern cal, Wheel of Life, is run by a buddhist. Great thai / chinese food and a loving atmosphere... BUT they have this illuminated, rotating wall decoration (a technicolor Manji that spins!) featured prominently behind the counter.  I know it must confuse some folks!  Since we're on the swastika theme:

If I remember correctly, the final boss in bionic commando(for the nes) was hitler. They changed the name stateside, though.

The original Bionic Commando (famicom version) had tons of swastikas (they were turned into the "falcon" symbol) because super joe was fighting nazis!  I, too, forget the original title of the game, but it was obvious in the the famicom version that nazis and hitler had been resurrected and that super joe was our only saviour (sp?). Bionic Commando, by the way, is one of my all-time NES faves (in fact, it was kind of kooler that Hitler appeared out of nowhere in the U.S. version!  It was like a great "plot twist"... here you are, thinking you're fighting a generic army, only to discover...)

TANGENT: There was an episode of Bionic Woman or 6 million dollar man that had this same premise (contemporary nazis resurrecting hitler).  Much more fun than the movies that used this plot (i.e. "they saved hitler's brain" or whatever).

[esteban]

As far as gory stuff, I gotta say Splatterhouse is kinda nasty.  For the one level alone, where you're in the monster "womb" and smacking around monster fetuses, then you get to the end and beat up on that cervix or whatever the hell it is....kinda warped me.  Anyways, they'd never release Strip Fighter or any of the other "sexy" games here, not to my knowledge...

THANKS!  Being the scoundrel that I am, I never realized how twisted that  stage was!  FETUS, WOMB, CERVIX (or EVIL FALLOPIAN TUBES that shoot out eggs).  

HELP ME OUT:  In the the next to last level, they started out as EGGS / round discs, right? and then they turned into fetuses, right?  or is it only when you get to the cervix boss that you are assaulted by EGGS shooting at you?

If I'm correct, this means that the eggs are being fertilized by unseen evil semen (poor Rick, he's swimming in the stuff).

[esteban]

You could mention some kind of "avoiding copyright issues" or something dealing with the mask color change in Splatter House.

hey, that's not a bad idea!  I'd also mention Fighting Street!  If TTi brought Street Fighter II ' HuCard to the U.S., i think they would have called it Fighting Street II!  I'm serious, i think i read that somewhere (file under "hearsay").  Also (maybe?): Air Buster (Genesis) --> Aero Blasters. I don't know when a name change is a copyright issue versus localization process.

By the way, was there any smoking in Last Alert? It seems like Guy Kazama would certainly light up a cig at any time like Solid Snake, but I can't be sure if he ever did or not.

I gotta check that out. I picture Guy with a cig hanging off the tip of his lips...

[esteban]

'Magician' for the NES did this...

yeah!

Take a look at great basketball. I refuse to put that card in my Turbo again, or my Duo EVER, but IIRC there were a lot of highly stereotypical players in it.

Excellent!  This sounds like a perfect candidate for my article, thanks!  Check your PM...

[nodtveidt]

The nazi party, IIRC, simply took this existing symbol, and slightly altered it (why? would they do this... i can't remember).

They didn't. The swastika is an old Aryan religious symbol. Just as Japan used Shinto as a state religion as part of their agenda in WW2, Hitler and his Nazi party used the swastika and other Aryan symbology as part of theirs. It's merely a religious thing. Of course, since stories are often misconstrued and mistold, especially in countries which fought against the Nazis, the symbol became one of evil rather than the good symbol that it was to millions of people for centuries.

From what I understand, MK was "cleaned up" when sent abroad. Blood and fatalities were removed from the game completely (even the "pit death"). I can't quite confirm it but I also heard that a couple of the moves were removed as well (like Johnny Cage's split punch).

[ElSeven]

7. Promoting tobacco.  When I started thinking about sanitizing booze, I thought, "Hey, what about SMOKING?"  Final Lap Twin, for example, was going to be the original HuCard pack-in for the TurboDuo... but NEC didn't want the "Marboro" billboards in the game to be construed as "promoting smoking to minors".  Well, that's what TurboPlay magazine reported, for what its worth.

In Splash Lake, one of the enemies is a cigarette smoking log.  When you drown him, his log body goes under first, while his cigarette lingers before it falls as well.  His name was "stumpy" maybe? i cant find my booklet right now...

[esteban]

In Splash Lake, one of the enemies is a cigarette smoking log.  When you drown him, his log body goes under first, while his cigarette lingers before it falls as well.  His name was "stumpy" maybe? i cant find my booklet right now...

I know I have splash lake in a box somewhere. AWESOME to find out that this cute game has a character who smokes!!! What an awesome death "stumpy" faces, too.  I honestly don't remember anything like this in the game, and I would have never suspected it.

[esteban]