Nintendo's Maniac Mansion Censorship Explored

Thanks to Video-Fenky for a new feature illustrating the Nintendo censorship affecting the NES version of Maniac Mansion. These comments were originally written up in a 1993 issue of Wired, and an unedited prototype NES cart of the classic point n' click adventure has been found to show the changes - though "Nintendo didn't catch the old 'blow up the hamster in the microwave' trick (it was removed in the European version)", changes include editing Nurse Edna's suggestive speeches ("I should have tied you to my bed, cutie!"), and switching graffiti in the bathroom from "For a good time EDNA 3444" to "Call EDNA 3444".

Nintendo will always be known as kid-friendly

[ChiefArcher]

Nintendo (until recently?) has always taken a stand to produce kid friendly games (aka no adult games)..

This kind of censorship is expected from them.
I still think that's why most gamers still go with the PS2 or Xbox..

ChiefArcher

Maniac Mansion Remake

[Matrix272]

Although I was only an early teen, or pre-teen when Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle came out, I thought the dialogue was hilarious. I'd love to see a third in the series, or a remake of the first two, with updated graphics and voice acting... as long as it kept the point and click interface. Would anybody else like to see a remake of some of the more memorable games like Maniac Mansion?

On ./ Games Why?

[skermit]

(This comment isn't intended as a flame, or troll, but a suggestive criticism question aimed at editors)

Why is this news now, when the game came out 13 years ago, and the wired article came out 11 years ago? Is there nothing else in the queue worth publishing? (I'm not a ./ subscriber)

Albeit interesting, it's not "news" but if this is what's getting posted, maybe I should start submitting more articles to generate traffic. The ./ games section receives about 30 comments an article (roughly 1/5th to 1/20th of normal articles) so if nobody responds, I understand, but I'd like some feedback from the editors please.

Re:Maniac Mansion Remake

[Anonymous Coward]

I was hoping for a true adventure revival. Runaway was a decent adventure, and with Lucas arts working on a new Sam and Max & a new Hell on wheels I tought it was all good.
Until recently ofcourse they had to cancel Hell on wheels. We can only hope Sam and Max is as funny as the first one, and who knows, a Maniac Mansion sequal will follow. Or a good Monkey Island (Not Monkey Island 4, that one was just sad)

Re:Maniac Mansion Remake

[Crockerboy]

I have to agree. Reading this article makes me want to dig my NES out of the closet and load up a game of Maniac Mansion. MM is the only Adventure game that I really got into as the problems presented had solutions that were't that far fetched, unlike some of the stuff in the Police quest games. Plus, the sense of humor (the Edsel spaceship in the garage) was clevor and the ability to use multiple characters to complete the story in multiple ways made the game have huge replay value. I usually hate sequels with a passion, but I would welcome a Maniac Mansion Sequel.

tsr's back!

[Schnapple]

Apparently this article is part of the return of tsr, which rocks. tsr did tsr's NES Archive [atarihq.com] until he put it on hiatus in January 2000. He hasn't touched it since and it looks like this site [video-fenky.com] is like the second coming. Very cool.

Re:Nintendo will always be known as kid-friendly

[Anonymous Coward]

"Nintendo (until recently?) has always taken a stand to produce kid friendly games (aka no adult games).."

Yes, Nintendo themselves develop and publish games that people of all ages can enjoy.

But regarding third parties in the U.S., NoA saw the writing on the wall in the SNES days, after the market caused such a stir about the unpopular decision to alter the first Mortal Kombat game (changing the color of blood, changing some fatalities). That's why Mortal Kombat II contained red blood and was arcade-accurate: because the American public demanded it.

"This kind of censorship is expected from them."

Only if you've been out of the gaming industry loop since then. Remember which version of BMX XXX (....sigh....) was censored? Hint #1: It was not the GameCube version. Hint #2: The market leader in this industry often burdens itself with certain responsibilities that the competition don't have to, in order to protect itself (see also Nintendo in the 80s and 90s). Hint #3: It was the Sony version.

"I still think that's why most gamers still go with the PS2 or Xbox.."

Events like the one in this article and the ones I pointed out happened so long ago that many current gamers aren't aware that they happened. I'd even say that most wise veterans don't care at all about old news like this any more, since it has no bearing on NoA's practices in the here and now.

Rather, I think Western males in their early- to mid-twenties simply enjoy indulging in things they were not allowed to touch when they were younger. I always imagine these people as thinking, "I can handle it now, good or bad. Give it to me, because as an adult I demand MAXIMUM STIMULATION." In turn, their little brothers/nephews/kids see this and want the same. Consider how repressive American culture is for children when it comes to violence and sex, and how liberating GTA must seem to this same group.

In fact, witness the popularity of gorefest-type games, gratuitous T&A and drug themes in games, etc. across all ages. I don't think Nintendo is commonly seen as a group whose sole meaning for existence is to repress these themes. Instead, I think there is a certain group of gamer that is simply being actively pandered to by Sony and Microsoft, that Nintendo would rather not deal with. Problem for Nintendo is, this group has a lot of money, and, better or worse for gaming culture as a whole, they have large control over the direction that games in the U.S. and Europe are destined to go. They are instead targeting the children and young adults who have made Pokemon such a phenomenon, in addition to the Nintendo core audience of enthusiasts (like me and my group of friends).

Anyway, playing armchair analyst is fun, but I'll only find reason to panic when the Japanese start taking idiot pills and stop making fun games that the majority of sane people can enjoy. After all, I'm looking forward to the day that I can play games with my kids, and I don't think anybody but Nintendo (among very few others) is making sure that I'll be able to do that with a clear conscience.

Re:You live in the bush for 15 years?

[Spleener12]

Oh, it continued after MK1. Perhaps they stopped censoring blood and guts, but in the US version of Final Fantasy 6(Called Final Fantasy 3 here in the US) they turned every single pub into a "cafe." They changed the name of the magic spell "Holy" to "Pearl" (not much of an improvement over the name it had in FF4/2, "White.") Some monster designs that contained partial nudity were covered up. They also got rid of Cyan's porno magazine. Chrono Trigger did the same pub-cafe conversion, plus they changed Toma's sake to soda pop. Both of these games came AFTER Mortal Kombat.

They did some more censoring in the N64 era as well. The original Zelda 64 US cartriges were unaltered (I think,) but later 'prints' of the game changed the music in the Fire Temple because it was a Muslim chant (or at least it sounded like one,) changed the design on the Mirror Shield because that was a muslim symbol, and in one scene where Ganan coughs up blood, they changed the color of the blood from red to green. Yes, they changed the color of the blood, the EXACT same thing that they did to censor Mortal Kombat.

So, in conclusion, Nintendo DOES still censor their games. They leave violence alone (for the most part,) but cursing, religion, sex, and booze were still big no-nos for a long time after the ratings were introduced. Perhaps they still are; it's been a while since I've played a game on a Nintendo system. The MK1 debacle, along with getting their asses kicked around by Sony has made them shape up a lot, but old habits die hard.