Censoring / Sanitizing North American Games

esteban · 04/16/2005, 04:36 AM

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.

DragonmasterDan · 04/16/2005, 07:55 AM

Quote from: stevek666Hi 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 · 04/16/2005, 11:10 PM

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.

Quote4. 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 · 04/17/2005, 02:43 AM

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 · 04/17/2005, 02:57 AM

Quote from: stevek6666. 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.

Quote from: stevek666PART 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.

Quote from: stevek6665. 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.

OldRover · 04/17/2005, 03:33 AM

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 · 04/17/2005, 08:17 AM

Quote from: OldRoverWhat 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 · 04/17/2005, 08:45 AM

Quote from: DragonmasterDanA 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:

Quote from: guyjinIf 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 · 04/17/2005, 08:57 AM

Quote from: trapjaw76As 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 · 04/17/2005, 09:15 AM

Quote from: KeranuYou 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.

Quote from: KeranuBy 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 · 04/17/2005, 09:22 AM

Quote from: guyjin'Magician' for the NES did this...

yeah!

Quote from: guyjinTake 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...

OldRover · 04/17/2005, 11:59 AM

Quote from: stevek666The 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 · 04/17/2005, 04:31 PM

Quote from: stevek6667. 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 · 04/17/2005, 05:32 PM

Quote from: ElSevenIn 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 · 04/17/2005, 05:43 PM

;)

OldRover · 04/17/2005, 08:37 PM

The US version of Splash Lake still has the smoking log...it's not censored.

trapjaw76 · 04/18/2005, 02:54 PM

Quote from: stevek666HELP 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).

Yeah, the whole level is the eggs splopping out, and if they land on the ground the egg pops and the fetus will jump on you and cling to you. Ugh. Swimming in evil demon semen. Demon Semen....what a great band name.

esteban · 04/18/2005, 03:12 PM

Quote from: OldRoverThe US version of Splash Lake still has the smoking log...it's not censored.

sweet! thanks for checking it out! i totally appreciate it

fancy taking a screenshot (or three) and posting them here? Or, at the very least, is he / she a cute log? The sprites in Splash Lake were pretty small... from what i can remember.

Quote from: trapjaw76Yeah, the whole level is the eggs splopping out, and if they land on the ground the egg pops and the fetus will jump on you and cling to you. Ugh. Swimming in evil demon semen. Demon Semen....what a great band name.

Thanks for clarifying that. and moving on.. Demon Semen. I concur, how could there be no film / band / comic book with this title? well, i haven't actually googled it yet... i'm sure some juvenile has claimed this.

OldRover · 04/19/2005, 10:35 AM

/splash-lake-1.png
Smoking logs

/splash-lake-2.png
One takes a dive...

/splash-lake-3.png
Ciggy's still floating in the air for a brief moment before falling in.

These are from the US version, taken with Magic Engine 1.0 PR10.

Keranu · 04/19/2005, 08:09 PM

I always loved those smoking logs! I'm surprised I never thought of those!

esteban · 04/20/2005, 09:28 AM

THANK YOU for those fab screenshots. You have captured the essence of Smoky the Log and his untimely demise. I totally don't remember this character, so I would never have suspected that Splash Lake was relevant to the "Sanitation" topic.

I'm a dork, but I think Smoky has a cute death scene. As folks pointed out, the cig floating on the water is a nice touch

R.I.P. Smoky the Log. 1991-2005.

JBSpeed · 04/20/2005, 12:25 PM

Here's a silly one.
The uniforms of the cheerleaders in TVS: Basketball were changed so they show much less cleavage than the girls in TVS: Football.

Keranu · 04/20/2005, 02:16 PM

Haha that's a great one!

esteban · 04/20/2005, 07:47 PM

Quote from: JBSpeedHere's a silly one.
The uniforms of the cheerleaders in TVS: Basketball were changed so they show much less cleavage than the girls in TVS: Football.

awesome. i'm anal, so one thing bugs me: if Basketball came out first, then this fits your theory, but i thought football came out first.... so I'll have to figure it out

Keranu · 04/20/2005, 10:49 PM

Well if football came first, I guess they decided to do some BREAST ENLARGING.

Liquid Snake · 04/21/2005, 11:56 AM

I really hate those BS censorship and alteration for domestic release.

SNES and Genesis are the worst in 16-bit era.

I rarely buy US release at that time because of this and guess how much $$ I've spent ..........

(JPN has better cover art...........you know what I mean)

JBSpeed · 04/21/2005, 06:10 PM

football came out first. There is an odd white stripe around the neckline of the bball cheerleaders, like it was a quick fix when someone higher up must have complained.

esteban · 04/21/2005, 09:28 PM

Quote from: JBSpeedfootball came out first. There is an odd white stripe around the neckline of the bball cheerleaders, like it was a quick fix when someone higher up must have complained.

EXCELLENT! You rock, thanks for noticing that, I will definitely put this game in the article and grab a screenshot of this "cover-up" !

It would be kool to compare the computer versions of these games to the TG-16... but I've yet to explore the PC versions (i think there were AMIGA versions as well, I'd check those out first.... maybe plunk down $60 on this amiga emulator i've been eyeing...)

GUTS · 04/23/2005, 02:38 AM

Aren't those amiga emulators free? I have one on my Xbox by X-port that works great and it had to have been open source for him to port it, he only did open source projects. I think it's called UAEX or something.

Keranu · 04/23/2005, 04:14 AM

The UAE Amiga emulator is free.

esteban · 04/23/2005, 07:43 PM

I want to support these fabulous folks:

http://www.amigaforever.com/

because they do things right (it's totally legal), plus they pack a whole bunch of historical documentation with it. Kick ass awesome docs, videos, etc. ($60 for everything, $30 for just emulator). It's the way I feel about MagicEngine as well... I could have used my brother's key, but I wanted to support ME so I got my own. On PC, I've tried AMIGA emulators... I've had the best experiences with amiga forever (they really try to get all the nuances... like the sound of the floppy drive!).

PLUS, they have a cross-platform package with Windows / Mac OS X. My new laptop is a mac, so...

GUTS · 04/23/2005, 10:08 PM

Ah that would be cool if it came boxed like real software with actual docs and stuff. I wouldn't mind paying for Magic Engine if they ever incorporate some filters, Turbo games look like Legos on my monitor.

OldRover · 04/24/2005, 12:08 AM

Umm...magic engine HAS filters...two to be exact...

GUTS · 04/26/2005, 03:27 PM

Well I haven't tried magic engine in a couple years, there weren't any the last time I downloaded the demo.

OldRover · 04/26/2005, 07:34 PM

Two filters were added in ME 1.0. Time to upgrade.

The hires filter is completely badass.

OldRover · 04/27/2005, 07:15 PM

Back on topic: here's another good "sanitized" game...The Legendary Axe II. This was actually the only change in the game that I know about, aside from the title screen.

US version:
/lau2-1.png

Japan version:
/laj2-1.png

esteban · 04/27/2005, 11:53 PM

Quote from: OldRoverBack on topic: here's another good "sanitized" game...The Legendary Axe II. This was actually the only change in the game that I know about, aside from the title screen.

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Guess, what, I think this might be the first game to lead off my article. THE SCREENSHOTS ARE GORGEOUS (they are the reason, in fact, I want to use them to lead the article

).

Please keep up the good work! Come on folks, I know you have noticed things like this, I need your help ;)

OldRover · 04/28/2005, 12:18 AM

Hehe cool...I actually played through both versions tonight just to capture those screenshots.

esteban · 04/28/2005, 01:25 PM

Quote from: OldRoverHehe cool...I actually played through both versions tonight just to capture those screenshots.

I figured as much! Which reminds me: LA II is on my TOP 10 of best HuCard soundtracks of all time.

I love the compositions, the PSG "instruments", the mood each song evokes (plus, each song totally matches the atmosphere / mood of the level it was intended for)....

What do you think? I won't be offended if you think LA II ain't so spectacular

OldRover · 04/28/2005, 07:38 PM

Actually, I agree...LA II definately has one of the best soundtracks on hucard. The only track I wasn't too partial to was the one for level 6 (sounded rather generic in places but it was good overall). The music for the final level was just plain awesome and the boss track was cool too.

Honestly, I can't think of many games off the top of my head with a better soundtrack on hucard than LA II, except maybe Neutopia II or Violent Soldier/Sinistron.

esteban · 04/28/2005, 08:48 PM

Quote from: OldRoverActually, I agree...LA II definately has one of the best soundtracks on hucard. The only track I wasn't too partial to was the one for level 6 (sounded rather generic in places but it was good overall). The music for the final level was just plain awesome and the boss track was cool too. Honestly, I can't think of many games off the top of my head with a better soundtrack on hucard than LA II, except maybe Neutopia II or Violent Soldier/Sinistron.

it's nice to know i'm not the crazy one! you see, I've also told folks that I dug the 2 simple songs on Blodia / Timeball. I do like those songs, not top 10 of course, but they're definitely underappreciated tracks. Well, my credibility was shattered for saying anything remotely positive about Timeball (which isn't so bad a game -- another instance of my credibility crumbling).

Back on topic: Blodia was not censored / sanitized in any way when it was released in North America under the title "Timeball".

TurboHuC6280 · 04/29/2005, 04:20 PM

Quote from: stevek666
Quote from: OldRoverActually, I agree...LA II definately has one of the best soundtracks on hucard. The only track I wasn't too partial to was the one for level 6 (sounded rather generic in places but it was good overall). The music for the final level was just plain awesome and the boss track was cool too. Honestly, I can't think of many games off the top of my head with a better soundtrack on hucard than LA II, except maybe Neutopia II or Violent Soldier/Sinistron.
it's nice to know i'm not the crazy one! you see, I've also told folks that I dug the 2 simple songs on Blodia / Timeball. I do like those songs, not top 10 of course, but they're definitely underappreciated tracks. Well, my credibility was shattered for saying anything remotely positive about Timeball (which isn't so bad a game -- another instance of my credibility crumbling).

Back on topic: Blodia was not censored / sanitized in any way when it was released in North America under the title "Timeball".

I actually really like Blodia/Timeball. I think it's a very unique puzzle game, and is great to play on the Express everyone once in a while. I particularly like the second song when I play.

esteban · 04/29/2005, 09:17 PM

Quote from: zborgerdI actually really like Blodia/Timeball. I think it's a very unique puzzle game, and is great to play on the Express everyone once in a while. I particularly like the second song when I play.

yes! so do I. There was another TG-16 board where the folks, as an ongoing joke, would make fun of Timeball / Blodia. It was funny because I never could say that I actually liked the game. And since there weren't many puzzle games for TE, I spent a lot of time playing Timeball, Chew Man Fu, and Cratermaze. Oh, and boxyboy.

FYI: There was a pirated HuCard (a multi-card, if you will) that had 4 pc-engine puzzlers on it... including Blodia (boxy boy, drop rock, and can't remember the last one)! That would have been great for portable puzzling on the go!

GUTS · 05/11/2005, 09:29 PM

Blodia is one of the worst games ever made! Of course coming from the man who enjoys China Warrior, it doesn't surprise me that you like it, haha. My guilty pleasure is Ordyne, that game sucks but I love it.

TurboHuC6280 · 05/11/2005, 10:50 PM

Quote from: GUTSBlodia is one of the worst games ever made! Of course coming from the man who enjoys China Warrior, it doesn't surprise me that you like it, haha. My guilty pleasure is Ordyne, that game sucks but I love it.

Nothing wrong with Ordyne. I've only been able to play it a few times though before getting bored and tired of its cuteness.

Want a bad game, play Drop-Off. WORST puzzle game ever. Blodia looks like a work of art when it comes to Drop-Off.

esteban · 05/11/2005, 11:09 PM

Quote from: GUTSBlodia is one of the worst games ever made! Of course coming from the man who enjoys China Warrior, it doesn't surprise me that you like it, haha. My guilty pleasure is Ordyne, that game sucks but I love it.

Yeah, if I had any credibility, I lost it by admitting to liking China Warrior and Timeball

. I really haven't played much Ordyne, but I'll dig it out and see how I feel.

GUTS · 05/12/2005, 02:35 AM

Actually you'll probably dig it too, if for nothing else than it's incredibly bad music. The first level has some of the worst, yet most memorable music in a hucard. I can still remember that one and the Neutopia II song, hah.

torgo · 06/24/2005, 11:53 AM

I'm new here, and I'm pretty sure that nobody will believe me, but I used to test quite a bit for TTI. I also talked with Victor Ireland at Working Designs quite a bit.

Victor had very strong convictions in terms of retaining the integrity of the games that they converted. the nudity and a part where a girl flips someone off are the only things pulled from CF2 as far as I can remember. It's been a few years

I was a tester for Splash Lake, and to tell the truth, for the last couple of years, the only game that actually went through any graphical changes was Air Zonk. Everything else became merely a language translation.

The changes in Air Zonk consisted mainly the Charged Bomb, that was originally a big pile of poo in the Japanese version. That game was on such a fast track, that the US names of the characters and levels were applied via a hasty phone call. "I need to rename all of this for a meeting taht's in a half hour!" The names that John and I came up with are what were applied to the final game.

esteban · 06/26/2005, 04:23 AM

Quote from: torgoI'm new here, and I'm pretty sure that nobody will believe me, but I used to test quite a bit for TTI. I also talked with Victor Ireland at Working Designs quite a bit.

Victor had very strong convictions in terms of retaining the integrity of the games that they converted. the nudity and a part where a girl flips someone off are the only things pulled from CF2 as far as I can remember. It's been a few years

I was a tester for Splash Lake, and to tell the truth, for the last couple of years, the only game that actually went through any graphical changes was Air Zonk. Everything else became merely a language translation.

The changes in Air Zonk consisted mainly the Charged Bomb, that was originally a big pile of poo in the Japanese version. That game was on such a fast track, that the US names of the characters and levels were applied via a hasty phone call. "I need to rename all of this for a meeting taht's in a half hour!" The names that John and I came up with are what were applied to the final game.

Rock on, thanks for the scoop. If you can think of anything else, please feel free to share it with us! I am still working on this article... and of course there is a entire section dedicated to "Scatalogical" content that was found in Japanese versions....

I NEVER KNEW ABOUT AIR ZONK! awesome.

Ninja Spirit · 06/27/2005, 10:49 AM

In the Hucard "Photograph Boy" I forgot what the name is in Japanese, but somewhere in the game has a racial charactererization of Michael Jackson. Big red lips and everything.