Censoring Nintendo Games! Trivia Quiz

Answer: By the fireplace

This is one of the more surprising bits of censorship in Nintendo's history in that Square and Nintendo would have even had this type of content in a major "Mario" game. The player never sees the otherwise unknown item, but Princess Peach is highly embarrassed and berates Mario for this discovery.

Answer: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

In the Fire Temple in "Ocarina of Time", Nintendo used actual Islamic prayer chants for background music. Apparently this was an unintentional oversight on part of the developers. In later copies from subsequent print runs, Nintendo would remove the chants as well as changing Ganon's blood from red to green.

Answer: ''Ice Climber", for clubbing seals

In the original Famicom version of "Ice Climber", the player clubbed seals. When Nintendo brought the game to the American and European markets, the seals were replaced with yeti due to the controversy surrounding clubbing seals.

Answer: The Legend of Zelda

The first game in "The Legend of Zelda" explicitly references Christianity, and Shigeru Miyamoto has said in interviews the original conception of religion in Hyrule involved Christanity. However, Nintendo changed the story in 1998 with "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" with the introduction of the three goddesses Din, Nayru, and Faroare who are responsible for the creation of the Triforce.

In the original Famicom version "The Book of Magic" item was called "The Bible". Notably, when Nintendo released the game in 1987 they changed "The Bible" to "Book of Magic", but they left the crosses in the graveyard intact and unchanged.

Answer: Star Fox

In Star Fox, Andross is known as Andorf in Japan. For its western release, Nintendo renamed the villain due to Andorf sounding similar to Adolf". In "Star Fox 64", Nintendo changed the dialogue of Pigma Dengar taunting Fox from saying that his father awaits him in hell to "Daddy screamed real good before he died", which personally speaking sounds even worst the the original.

Answer: Street Fighter II

The SNES ports of "Street Fighter II" removed the game's opening scene due to its possible racial overtones. Other details that have been censored in various iterations of "Street Fighter II" include a man in Ken's stage that appears to be flipping someone off, editing Sagat's face after he loses to reduce the amount of blood coming from his mouth, removing the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union from Zangief's stage, and also removing the Hindu god Ganesha from Dalhsim's stage.

Answer: Princess Peach

Both Bowser and Peach are seen drinking champagne in the original Japanese version of "Super Mario Kart", which Nintendo changed to the victors throwing the bottles in the air instead of drinking. Peach actually becomes red-faced and tipsy in her animation, while Bowser has champagne spilling out of his mouth and all down his chest.

Answer: Golga 13: Top Secret Episode

"Golga 13", which debuted in 1969, is a long-running manga series in Japan about a sniper who is famous for never missing a short and is completely amoral in the jobs he takes. In Level 2 of the NES game "Golga 13: Top Secret Episode", Golga meets up with another secret agent named Cherry Grace in a hotel.

In both the Japanese and the PAL/Western releases the implication is that Golga and Cherry Grace become intimate with each other. However, in the Japanese version there is actual nudity shown involving Cherry Grace, which was completely eliminated in all other versions of the game.

Answer: False

"Mortal Kombat" is one of the most important games in the video game industry due to its graphic violence. "Mortal Kombat", along with the Sega CD game "Night Trap", proved so controversial that the United States Senate held congressional hearings over violence in video games and the industry introduced ratings systems analogous to the ratings present for movies. Nintendo censored "Mortal Kombat" by removing all fatalities and changing the red blood to grey sweat.

The Sega Genesis port included the fatalities and blood; however, to access the unedited version of the game the player had to input a secret code in order to play the full version.

The SNES version was a commercial failure, whereas the Sega Genesis version sold well in comparison. Nintendo took note and subsequently relaxed its stance on violence that they would allow on their consoles.

Answer: The ability to microwave a hampster

All four answers are actual examples of changes that had to be made to the NES version of "Maniac Mansion". "For a Good time Call Edna 3444" was changed to "Call Edna 3444" as that was a required action needed to progress in the game. Two posters were removed from Cousin Ted's Room. LucasArts retitled the arcade "Kill Thrill" to "Tuna Driver". Nurse Edna had some obscene calls that had to be completely rewritten. There were some nude statutes removed as well and pictures hanging on the wall, which are all present in screenshots in the Nintendo Power issue covering "Maniac Mansion". During the credits the game referenced "NES SCUMM", which referenced "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion", the game engine used for develop the game. Nintendo objected and so LucasArts took "NES SCUMM" out. There is an invisible pendent present in the game that references "SCUMM".

What did make it into the final release was the ability of microwave a hamsters and returning the dead pet to its previous owner. The censors did not catch this originally, and early print runs of the game include this action possibility for the player. Once Nintendo became aware, they forced LucasArts to remove microwaving the hamsters, so later printings of the game removed this indiscriminate hamsters killing.