Feature: Censorship in Nintendo Games

[videogamer555]

I think that there is one obvious LACK of censoring that stands out in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The Zoras are all naked, including Princess Ruto, even in the North American version.

Majora's Mask changed this though, and the Zora who looks like Ruto (her name is Lulu) is wearing a dress, at least in the NA version (not sure about the JP version).

[videogamer555]

While Angel Kirby may have been changed to Cupid Kirby, Pit from the Kid Icarus games has always been referred to as an "angel" when describing his species, and has NOT been called a "cupid".

[kingmarth64]

I found that there was a censorship in Fire Emblem: Awakening that in the Summer Scramble DLC episode, Tharja's scene was heavily censored from her bottom that it was covered up from the Sheet (I think its might probably be her Dark Mage cape).

Japanese version:



North American version:



And in the Harvest Scramble DLC episode there was a censorship conversation about Tharja's and Nowi's "boingy bits" conversation that was censored in the European version that was replaced by about Tharja's sleek and silky hair:

North America version:





European version:

Nowi & Tharja

>First

Nowi:

Tharja, it's so nice and shiny.

Tharja:

...What?

Nowi:

Didn't you hear me? I said it's so nice and shiny!

Tharja:

And what does that mean, exactly? ...DO I even want to hear this?

Nowi:

You know! Your hair! It's so sleek and shiny and stylish!

Tharja:

Gods. Is that your idea of a compliment? One moment I'm dealing with a simpering innocent, and the next... *sigh*

Nowi:

Sooo...can I comb it? Oh please, say I can...

Tharja:

Why are you even asking ME, anyway? There must be others with more exciting hair than me.

Nowi:

Oh, no. I've checked out EVERYBODY in the whooole army, and you know what? You've got the best hair of them all. ...Trust me.

Tharja:

What an honour. Perhaps you should check again to be safe? Now go on. Run along.

Nowi:

FINE! If you're gonna be like that, I will! CHROM! HEY, CHROM! Tharja wants to know what you think about h-

Tharja:

WHAT?! Grr... Pipe down, or I'll hex you into next week!

Nowi:

But you just TOLD me to-

Tharja:

I changed my mind. No more asking anyone about my hair, you hear?

Nowi:

Boo. Well, if I can't comb it, can you at least tell me what it's like to touch?

Tharja:

What is this all about? Why do you want to know?

Nowi:

Well I heard some of the men talking about your hair... And they said they bet it was as sleek and soft to the touch as silk. That sounds pretty nice to me! So I decided I had to see for myself.

Tharja:

Grrr... When I find out who these men are who've been talking about me... Well, let's just say there are about to be some new toads hopping around camp...

>Second

Tharja:

...Hm? Did I just doze off in the middle of a battle? Curious. I must be even more tired than I thought. Still, it was a wonderful dream... Fancy Avatar showing up! Hee hee. Ooh, the fun we had...

Nowi:

Morning, sleepyhead! That was quite a snooze you had there!

Tharja:

What do you mean, quite a snooze? Why in the world didn't you wake me up? We're in the middle of a battle!

Nowi:

Hee hee! Because you look like you needed the sleep, silly! ...Aaaand it seemed like a good opportunity to touch your lovely hair.

Tharja:

Y-you WHAT?!

Nowi:
And you know what? I was right. Your hair is really special. The way it feels! So sleek and smooth and-

Tharja:

Are you out of your tiny mind?! I hope you enjoyed it...because you're about the receive the hexing of your life!

Nowi:

Eeeek! No, don't! I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I really am! You just looked so tired lately, I didn't want to wake you! I was worried, you know? But I stood watch over you the whole time, honest! I...I thought I was helping... *sob*



Tharja:

...Urgh. How am I supposed to stay angry with that face? All right, all right... Fine. I accept your apology.



Nowi:

*Sniff* R-really...? Oh, yay! 'Cause you know what- you look sooo much better now! You were all super-pale before, and-



Tharja:

Enough! Ever heard the expression 'quit while you're ahead'? Anyway, no more touching people's hair while they're asleep. Understood?



Nowi:

You mean I should only touch it while they're awake? Gotcha!



Tharja:

Grr... That's it. You ARE getting hexed!

[nocturnal YL]

That's a rather half-fledged attempt of censoring. They should at least try to use something completely different. Completely replace the contents to avoid looking obviously censored - it's not like the main game's text tried to be completely faithful to the original anyway.

EDIT - On second thought, I wonder what has happened to the other conversations. Kjelle and Severa's conversation is rather perverted in the JP version, for example.

[Koopaul]

Oh yeah another thing. I've been looking at the UK version of Luigi's Mansion to see the differences. There's a part in the American version where E. Gadd says "evil control" or something like that. But in the UK version he says "mischievous control"

What's with the UK games trying to censor the word "evil"? I heard they had done that before.

[Shrikeswind]

May 5, 2013 15:00:18 GMT -5 Koopaul said:

Oh yeah another thing. I've been looking at the UK version of Luigi's Mansion to see the differences. There's a part in the American version where E. Gadd says "evil control" or something like that. But in the UK version he says "mischievous control"

What's with the UK games trying to censor the word "evil"? I heard they had done that before.

To be fair, "Mischievous" is more in line with the Boos and ghosts of the Mario world than actually "Evil" anyways. At least here, it makes sense.

[Johans Nidorino]

So more censored nicknames were added to Pokémon in Gates to Infinity, and I'm finding out they have been carried over to X and Y, one single example being "Rata" (a Portuguese vulgarity for vagina).

[Evie ❤✿]

Jun 21, 2012 5:52:24 GMT -5 videogamer555 said:

I think that there is one obvious LACK of censoring that stands out in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The Zoras are all naked, including Princess Ruto, even in the North American version.

Majora's Mask changed this though, and the Zora who looks like Ruto (her name is Lulu) is wearing a dress, at least in the NA version (not sure about the JP version).

I know this may sound absurd but I do genuinely wonder if Zora naked then clothed might actually be symbolism for 'fruit of knowledge'; the same thing happened to humans in that Christian message, water represents flow and transparency, clothes represent hiding it (the flow) - basically ignorance is bliss, yet we want to know more. So might not be a censorship (or it is and that interpretation is just a coincidence). I analyse too much though.

However, Occam's razor approach, it may just be censorship as you said. That's the philosophies of known, I think meta-philosophies cover philosophies of our own philosophies and unknown unknowns (science and epistemology are branches of this) - so in that respect it might be good to ask Nintendo about it given the stereotypical confusing nature of the game (and because it was not removed in the English version).

I'm trying to think of examples but not sure of anymore yet, sorry. Tomodachi Life changed the selection of foods, I wonder if there are other examples of censorship in that game. A lesser known Pokémon censorship according to lusentoj via this thread is:

lusentoj said:

Guy on floor 1 of the museum says, in English:
"That is one magnificent fossil!"

In Japanese:

ありがたや！ありがたや！
A thousand thanks! A thousand thanks! (general extreme/religious thankfulness — dunno how to translate)

Nocturnal yl, do you know what class of honorific form does this fall under and more about where it is used? ありがた is like a conjugation of arigatou and can mean "grateful", and I'm wondering if や is like "more than grateful and other gratefulness"; because of how ya や between two words in a list of things is like "there are others as well". Thanks.




The old man also originally drank liquor. TCRF and the main site of that forum have a lot of the other Pokémon ones.

[nocturnal YL]

This quote does invoke the image of some (perhaps old, and perhaps from a region west form Tokyo) person reciting thanks profusely, and may carry a religious tone. I don't know how to explain it precisely, though. Part of it is because the line is repeated.

Interestingly, Pixiv's encyclopedia has an entry on it.

And here's something I found after doing some preliminary search. In short, this や isn't really a grammatical component, and it may be better to just treat "ありがたや" as a set phrase.

Don't take my interpretation as a definitive answer, though. This is way beyond my level of understanding of the language.

[Evie ❤✿]

Jun 27, 2019 11:08:55 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

This quote does invoke the image of some (perhaps old, and perhaps from a region west form Tokyo) person reciting thanks profusely, and may carry a religious tone. I don't know how to explain it precisely, though. Part of it is because the line is repeated.

Interestingly, Pixiv's encyclopedia has an entry on it.

And here's something I found after doing some preliminary search. In short, this や isn't really a grammatical component, and it may be better to just treat "ありがたや" as a set phrase.

Don't take my interpretation as a definitive answer, though. This is way beyond my level of understanding of the language.

Thanks.