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It was the early 90s. Games like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap had just been released on home consoles and largely thanks to the media, caused a moral panic. The politicians swooped in and US Congress got involved. Something had to be done about stopping kiddies from playing these violent video games! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv3HDVd22P8 The major publishers themselves stepped in and formed the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and the future of videogames changed forever. Games with mature content now had a recommended age rating, which while not legally enforced, gave parents an informed choice as to which games they allowed their children to play. What of course this meant was censorship would soon follow. Before the ESRB was established, games popular for their violent content, like Mortal Kombat, had been heavily censored on the largely family friendly SNES and as a result, had seen poor sales against its rival Sega's port (which was also censored, but included a cheat code to turn on all the blood and fatalities.) Following the formation of the ESRB, Nintendo allowed the sequel, Mortal Kombat II, to be released on the SNES uncensored, with a warning about mature content on the front of the box (as ESRB ratings were not due to be implemented until after the game's release.) Poor Japanese gamers though.... Yes, it's totally fine to watch a cartoon in which a young lady gets anally raped by a tentacled monster, but don't you dare try to play a game where you can uppercut someone's head off their torso, that's too much! Yes, the Japanese release of MKII on the Super Famicom was heavily censored. Blood was recoloured green (and toned down), and the screen turned to black and white whenever a fatality was performed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejZ_JuMQg6g What could be worse than being forced to play a censored version of Mortal Kombat II? Well, not being able to play it at all, if you happened to live in Germany! Yes, pretty much every Mortal Kombat game was banned upon release in Germany for at least 10 years. Amazingly, this ban was in effect until 2015. The most recent releases of Mortal Kombat in Germany were given heavy restrictions on its forms of advertising, including in videogame stores, effectively banning the game (most major retailers refused to stock it as a result.) Being British, I felt smug about a lot of this as none of our games were censored. UNTIL. Twisted Metal: Black on the Playstation 2 was released in Europe in 2001. This game had the entire storyline cut out of the European release, making it completely pointless to play. Twisted Metal Black: Online was released as a standalone game but multiplayer on the PS2 in 2001? Haha, yeah right. Included in the NTSC version of the game were coded messages on the loading screens, which when deciphered, would further each playable character's story. Because these would make no sense without the cinematics, they were removed from the European version as well, giving literally no incentive to play the game. It's one of the most bizarre censorship decisions I've ever seen and it still baffles me as to why one of my favourite games was completely butchered in my region. So, fellow Retro Goons, what are your favourite games that have been butchered by the old censor? Anyone from other countries who have banned games for strange reasons?
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Jan 18, 2020 12:15
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Ritznit posted:I'm definitely going to effortpost about ridiculous German censorship examples in this thread. I promised I'd do it for Command & Conquer Generals, so I think I'll have to start with that. Please do, I genuinely find it fascinating. By the way, was I accurate in my OP about Mortal Kombat 11's advertising being severely restricted?
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Jan 20, 2020 20:43
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food court bailiff posted:I'm sure most people posting in this thread would be familiar with at least some of the censorship around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles through the years, and if not someone on the UK/Europe side of things could almost certainly sum it up better than I could, but I still did a double take when I noticed that in Injustice 2 Michelangelo's nunchaku have been replaced by a skateboard. All three live action films also suffered cuts and censorship. The whole TMNT/TMHT thing was and still is weird. Dell_Zincht fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 08:49
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