Why worry about silly stuff like crunch, overworked developers, [false] sexual allegations ruining people's lives, and so on when we've got more important things to worry about more important issues like Snake getting "tickled" (which may be even more torturous than the electricity) and some anime titty/thighs?
Exactly to be quite honest if you have to change things in your game to get it released in your own country I will just say don't release it in your country entirely unless it's a major series
@@AirLancer Fuck that. She better be dressed like she's living in Taliban Land. Or in body armor, a leotard, or masculine clothing. You got that, Skarlet?
One case of "weird" censorship: in Xenosaga Episode 1, there's a scene in which the main villain Albedo demonstrates his regenerative powers and uses a knive to cut off his hand. After that he proceeds to cut off his head which is then shown falling and talking on the floor. In American version the knife is edited out, but the sound effect of a knive cut is heard anyway. In the Japanese version however they show the knife, but Albado's severed head is blackened, although it is left completely uncensored in the Western version. So the both versions are censored but in a different way.
Yes, thank you for bringing this up. Back in 2002 this really stuck with me. The Albedo and MOMO scenes are so... weird. Both versions are so creepy but some will argue that the English version's censorship is actually worse, haha. The scenes after that main one with Albedo's head are bad, too, but make more sense when censored. Albedo shoving his hand inside the torso of MOMO really pushed the boundaries of being raped. Having his hand hover over her head made it feel less terrible for sure. I never really understood censoring the part at the very start where Albedo just throws the body on the floor. Nothing graphic there, wtf. Overall, its believed it was censored to avoid an M rating in the USA, I guess. I almost forgot, in Xenosaga 3, all of the blood in the game was taken out in the English version. It made some critical story scenes around mid-game confusing and awkward because of what a character is trying to do with blood. Sigh.
It is any wonder why certain Japanese game developers such as Kojima, Suda 51 and Swery obsess over the West so much as making games outside of Japan afford them greater freedom of expression?
While not enforced by law, AO rating of the ESRB is effectively a soft ban as retailers won't carry them, and publishers are reluctant to release such titles. So while it's not the exact same thing, a similar situation exists in the US. It doesn't make it any less silly.
@@Slayer_Jesse I just don't get why western SH don't publish their mature games both in an AO and in a "lesser" version, like Japanese do. Also, movies for years have existed in different versions depending on where they were showed.
@@souljastation5463 It's very rare for the AO rating to even be an issue, but as was said earlier, the AO rating really is the ESRB's equivalent to CERO and PEGI straight up refusing a rating: No retailers will carry your game, and none of the major consoles will allow your game on their platform. Really though, the AO rating is almost exclusively given to games with pornographic content. There's only ever been 3 cases of it being given due to violent content. One was canceled when its publisher was bought out and and the new publisher didn't like the premise, and one of them did in fact do what you said, and made a censored, M-rated version so they could release on consoles. The third was rather clearly always going for shock value and so didn't bother.
@@Ravenbeak2564 No, that's just wrong. Not only is American culture hyper sexualized, but also it even showed in this very video that bare chested woman or any other form of nudity in the Japanese release had to be censored in Japan while it was uncut in the US.
@@RegalPixelKing To add hentai and porn used to be uncensored till 2003 or 2004 happen, with the hentai/meme title Boco no Pico and a live action movie came out with fucked up content. Japan still likes sex, it is adjusting itself. While America as you can see, has puritans on the left/communists and Right/Traditionalists?, who are wanting to protect women/adult children/minorities and the children. This is an outsider looking into America, from things he has seen and heard since the 2000s to now. Also having people in Canada have similar mind set
Small innacuracy. The mumblers that replace the "grey children" enemies in the original silent hill were not new. They are also in the us version but are not supposed to be encounterrd till around the last third of the game
I hear NHM games on the Switch were left uncensored this time for Japan. Also before Berserk, another musou game based on a popular manga was censored only in Japan. Fist of the Northstar: Ken’s Rage, in which enemies would swell up and explode. In the Japanese version the enemies would do the same thing except turn completely black to obscure the gore.
Sony is starting to do that since 2018 when it comes to lewd ecchi games. Things will get worse, aside from one game dev which gave Sony the finger when it comes to Omega Labyrinth Life. It was censored on the Ps4 and not on Swtich/PC.
Actually not entirely true. The Japanese been censoring their shit since forever. They even censored their own porn even back in the 80s and 90s. Hell the reason tentacle hentai exist in the first place was to avoid restrictions
10:54 Sakurai actually spoke about having CERO issues if they had included Mai from Fatal Fury in Terry's stage during the Terry presentation for Smash Bros. Ultimate, but the international localization of the presentation instead says that "Smash Bros is for good boys and girls".
Rating board restrictions is one of the most frustrating things to think about, especially coming from Japan where they seemingly get away with so much that airs on television.
Hell, her spirit in Smash Ultimate doesn’t even use her official Awakening artwork like everyone else. Instead, it uses her in-game portrait from Awakening.
Thanks for mentioning the SEA versions of Nioh including the Japanese censorship. I hope you can continue to cover censorship news for SEA version of games in the future!
I agree, since if buying the games from Playasia will be for nothing. Then go to the indies in japan the same way it is done for Select American indies/BECOME a gaming Indie as well if its doable.
This does prove to me that the "true" version of a game doesn't mean it comes from the country it was made it. In a way, the "truest" version of a game exists only in the ether, beyond country legislation, publisher changes, or even beyond the creators' minds. One part that helps the game reach its "true" version is being uncensored, even beyond what the creators want sometimes. Like Jill's classic costume in RE3 Remake not being the truest version. The more true version of that costume is what you can get with mods.
For a Mortal Kombat 11 release in Japan, they have to replace blood with magic sparkles (like Lollipop Chainsaw Japanese version Cero D Rating does) and Fatal Blows may be renamed as "Special Moves" and some fatal blows will have altered views. In the case of Fatalities, some fatalities will have altered views and will have effects such as magic sparkles covering the deaths. Also, for Japanese Special Version, they will include a japanese exclusive Kombat pack with the characters such as Sailor Moon, Cutie Honey and Asuka from evangelion.
14:23 This is what I fear about censorship in different regions; game devs would simply tone everything down from the get-go just to save money on having to censor for the appropriate regions.
@@shibba2517 I learned to fly in a sad excuse of a gaming console called the Jaguar. I escaped from that pussy of a machine a few years but got shot at by some guy named James.
@@thekappacombs A dumb law. No amount of mosaic or black bars will stop me from realizing that there's a D going into a woman's P. Besides, it's 18+ material. Who exactly is this censorship (which isn't even all that good at doing its job) protecting? The adult men and women that are old enough to see this stuff and don't need to be cockblocked by black bars that don't even block the whole cock?
@@Paulafan5 Its the weebs who are so overly defendant of japan because muh panty censors in the west. But ofc they dont know anything about the censorship in japan since they never read any news from japan.
@people are simple minded No, but you seem to have a strange fascination with poop games. Like you'll be forced to buy them. I bet you play Poop Hunter. 💩
@people are simple minded Out of all the things you could suggest without nanny government, it was pooping in video games. Who's the one that's got poop on their minds, hmm? 🤔💩
The red blood/white blood in Metal Gear Rising is so ironic because in the Metal Slug series, when you kill rebel soldiers it shows red blood for JP, but in the western release it shows white blood.
Japanese video game consumers who are old enough for the more graphic content need to defund CERO lol or at least import their games ;) It’s a pity that 18 rating for CERO is meaningless .
It's one of those things where I doubt they care that much. Like, censorship sucks, but is it worth paying an extra ¥1300 to ship it from somewhere else?
@@phabiorules well it depends on each individual person, right ? But at the same time it’s dishonest marketing and that should not be okay with anyone no matter where they come from . Especially if they’re spending hard earned money on a product and the rating is pointless if it’s a watered down t rated version in disguise. If some Japanese developers themselves take issue with the cero rating board in Japan then I think it’s fair to say that the cero 18 should allow true vision of a product to exist in the Japanese market place. Also if the true uncensored product was allowed , that would mean less work for a localization for Japan if it’s a series from the west that Japanese audiences enjoy.
@@sammytracey3935 you are misunderstanding my point. I'm not saying that censorship is good, but rather the flaw about your claim that "Japanese gamers should import their games". Buying something from another country is very expensive to have it shipped there. Japanese games are usually more expensive than they are in America (when games in the states are $60, many of them were around ¥7000). And now that games are going to be $70 in the states, they will be at least $70 everyone else (games in America are cheaper than most places). Now if a Japanese person wants to import their games (like you suggest they are) then with shipping (which is very expensive) they are paying close to $100 USD converted. If they really want to import them, then go ahead. I think censorship is usually pretty dumb, but unless it's something that affects the story or gameplay, I think *most* people will choose the cheaper option.
@@phabiorules either way this banter is useless because none of us has any sway in the diet of Japan lol or any clout with Cero or any other regulatory ratings board that does over zealous censorship but cheers :)
Honorable Mention: Banjo Tooie, specifically, the ending scene where they play hackysack w/ Gruntilda's head: the head was changed to a bag, though nonsensically, her eyeball still falls out of it, even though the sack is cinched shut. Censored for similar reasons to Penelo's kidnapping.
@@botmaster9000 maybe on Xbox, but unfortunately Sony is kinda woke right now, and having an attractive character like Juliet, revealing as she is, is something that won't get approved by them. Smh
It's honestly insane that there's so many people complaining about that when it's happening in Japan too. They think Japan is some safe haven for neckbeards and they probably think Japanese people carry body pillows around and revolve their life around anime. It puzzles me
@@jamiewaswrong the thumbnail was changed sometime after this comment thread happened, it was originally of the main character from “lollipop chainsaw”
First rate video. Thanks for covering things like this in-depth. In my mind, it was always the US version suffering censorship but I guess my mind is still stuck in the 90s haha.
Another big thing that got censored in MGS2 was a scene where Arsenal Gear crashes in to Manhattan. The game was scheduled to come out just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, and the scene had to be hastily scrapped.
Small correction: “grey children” is the name for the monsters in the SH movie. The, well, grey children that appear on the northern American SH game are called “mumblers”, and the “replacements” (also present in the NA version, but in the sewers), are called “claw fingers”. Nice video btw.
As I said to another user earlier, named Hu: most likely Japan didn't get the memo about violence in games do not cause real violence, while having actual violent events happen in the past.) If Human and you see this comment, I hope the message is clear as crystal. Wishing you both a wonderful time of day.
@@deathtrooper2048 That's a good joke. Literally the first result on google is an educational summary of the concept, followed by the wikipedia article, the wikipedia article for imperialisim and another edicational piece on the subject spesfically on how it impacted East Asia. Maybe do your damn research before claiming other people made things up? Just a thought.
American Censors: "Boobs are bad, you guys. Did you know that boobs are bad? Dismemberment is okay, though." Japanese Censors: "Blood is bad, you guys. Did you know that blood is bad? Panty shots are okay, though."
@@xblade149 Those are western games. It's fine when Japan does it just like it's fine for the US when the US does it, but got forbid Japan even show a little bit of midriff.
It's actually "Suda Five One", not "Suda Fifty One". This is because his name is Goichi Suda. Goichi can be read as "Five One", but never "Fifty One", as that would be Gojuuichi.
9:29 I don't know what the Japanese version of Nep V2 is like, so correct me if I'm wrong, be THIS is a problem for the Japanese version of the game being shown, but the Neptune, Uzume, and Nepgear bathing scene is fine?
To those who ask, why there are still censorship laws for Adult Only/18+ products in places like Japan: It's the same "argument" they give in Germany. One could buy this for their child, even if it is 18+ only, or you let your system unguarded and find a minor play a game/ watch a movie not suited for a minor. But at least in case of movies, there is a clear bias, depending on who is portrayed as the enemy. Take movies by Quentin Tarantino as an example: I'd argue the violence in Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained is on a similar level, yet KB is rated 18, due to the enemies being a more or less neutral faction. In IB, the enemies are Nazis, therefore violence is justified in the rating board's opinion. Nazis and slave owners as depicted in DU, deserve to be dehumanized, therefore a 16+ rating was justifiable. And this, although each's story can be brought down to "protagonist commits vigilantism". I'm paraphrasing, but this was the reason stated in their report when some officials questioned the age rating. The same argument could be made with porn movies, yet these have their own rating system: explicit movies don't have a sticker to clarify they are meant to be 18+ material, because officials take it as a given. Yet, each movie has to be watched before a release is possible, as to make sure that no illegal material is distributed. Therefore, the internal rating system is "suited for a general adult audience, special interest, extreme interest and illegal content" with the suspected latter being sacked and the people behind it investigated. If the investigation finds everything is in OK standing, the movies also get released. And if not, I suspect each civilized country's prison inmates are equal in their hospitality toward sex offenders. If these kind of movies would be regulated under the normal rating system's guidelines, politicians had to regulate their beloved dungeon scat torture porn and that would be a big no-no. Instead, us normal people who are able to differentiate fictional violence from real world violence, have to suffer through censorship, even though movies like Saw/Hostel clearly target an adult audience. But children could get their hands on them when they plunder your DVD cupboard. Then they also could find your disturbing taste in erotica, but these are fine to be left unrated. Doesn't make any sense to you? Welcome to Germany. We don't get it either.
Lucky, I got the uncensored version then, and here I always thought that Japanese versions of games, especially from their home country, would be better than the international versions, guess not
Well considering that these game's were censored in the country they were made in and not any other country especially America I'm pretty sure this will make weeabos have a mental breakdown
Yeah besides basically the reason why America and Japan are polar opposites with censorship is because America mostly sanitized with violence in our history and less on sexuality because our country was founded by puritans and Japan was more sanitized with sexuality and went through less violence and ofcourse when they went further with it they also ended up crossing lines where they shouldn't have crossed
@@alastor-yw7og what are You saying? Japan history it's full of violence and gore since samurai era to WW2, in games they are very hypocrites having movies like Guinea pig, fock Zero, i love to live in América where doesn't exist censorship in videogames or atleast it's not so common, life it's violence.
I was referring to anchient japan not ww1and ww2 japan they literally had tentacle hentai throughout there life and there were miko's, heck they even had pleasure camps during ww1 and 2 now i won't deny that japan had it's fair share of violence but it wasn't as huge and worst as america's history
@@alastor-yw7og ah dude the Japanese censores their own porn even back in the 80s and 90s. Hell the devilman manga that came out in the 70s got ridicule by the pta board in Japan because of the nudity and violence. Which funny since it was targeted to 15 to18 year old
Well i actually knew that so my best guess is the reason why they do it is because i guess the Japanese prefer 2d drawing and cartoon you know what over live action real life you know what
@@Ravenbeak2564 nintendo is a separate matter entirely since the time it takes for their exclusives to get a port is not yet determined. And, as I said. A deterrent to becoming a mostly console user, not a reason to never buy a console. I always wait for the second half of their market life when they got a proper library. Then I pick the one with a fair share of exclusives I want to play... Which often leads to Nintendo.
instead of their useless Z rating, they should create a new rating (e.g. X rating for 20+ or 21+) where game's designers/developers can push their games as far as they want without limitations
A Suda 51 quadrology would be even better, including Killer 7, Shadows of the Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw and Killer is Dead in the release, though I highly doubt something like that would ever take form given Sony' hypocritical double standard stance on censorship, Microsoft seems no better in this regard either
Meanwhile there's tons of violent anime and Hentai, yes this stuff is still censored on TV but I'm talking home releases. This reminds me of 15-20 years ago when Boomers in the US were freaking out over sexuality and violence in video games yet they didn't give a crap if it was in a movie or TV show. It's probably because many of them some how thought you controlling a character with button presses would turn you into a serial killer and that it was new technology they just didn't understand. I'm guessing maybe something similar happened in Japan but the ratings never got looser.
@@domennysometimesplays2484 This, but also note that violent and spicy anime is still censored when airing on TV (usually by obscuring the content with shadows, lens flares or steam). It gets uncensored when going to Blu-ray. And hentai (and regular porn) is ALWAYS censored with mosaic.
There is more censorship in Japan (on consoles) than in America. How many game devs self-censor themselves because they know it won't be allowed in Japan (ie any nudity). Games like the Witcher 3 are severely butchered in Japan. Censorship exists everywhere, unfortunately, but Japan definitely has a major problem of censorship (despite what some people may think).
I'm not surprised by most of these. I remember someone saying Japan is much more sensitive to violence and brutality than it is to sexuality and most of these entries show that. Now I would argue that is a better stance to have than America's glorification of war but being overly sensitive to sex, but what is and isn't censored does come down to what is deemed culturally acceptable.
The enemies in silent hill are actually meant to resemble children that's where the HORROR part of it comes in so why would they cut something so intrinsic to the games plot?
There is also censorship the other way around. Might be interesting to do a video about that too. This happens at least in anime. Some examples: Sailor Moon and Pokemon.
Every time bro says Palutena, I die a little inside. It's pronounced "Pah-loo-teh-na" or "Pah-loo-tay-nah," not "Pah-loo-tee-nah." Yes, I know like Hermione Granger.
i will admit tickling is worst than pain. if someone tickled my stomach id be most likely to break than if someone was to hurt me. i dont know why but tickling is painful in a different way.
Sakurai's statement isn't wrong. They're worried about the small things when there are far more bigger problems out there in the gaming industry.
Why worry about silly stuff like crunch, overworked developers, [false] sexual allegations ruining people's lives, and so on when we've got more important things to worry about more important issues like Snake getting "tickled" (which may be even more torturous than the electricity) and some anime titty/thighs?
@@espurrseyes42 what Sakurai said is fact they focused on other problems like blood and dismemberment. Why shift there change to something so trivial
Far bigger problems in the gaming industry? What kind of statement is that? You can say that about EVERY industry
@@markula_4040
And how does that make what OP said any less true?
Exactly to be quite honest if you have to change things in your game to get it released in your own country I will just say don't release it in your country entirely unless it's a major series
lol the tickling MGS thing got me.
Brbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr
It also got Snake too apparently
To be fair, it's quite in character for MGS.
@@DarthWall275 depends on the character/boss cuz a lot of them play around with snake before they try to kill him....and then he kills them. lol
Big boss go brr
I don’t get why some people are so adamant about censoring nudity but then allow depictions of severe torture...
Mortal kombat checks out
@@shawklan27 You can dismember a woman and crush her skull with her own leg, but there better not be even a hint of a nipple!
@@AirLancer
Fuck that. She better be dressed like she's living in Taliban Land. Or in body armor, a leotard, or masculine clothing. You got that, Skarlet?
In CERO's defense, they also censored the torture.
Torture is at least sometimes censored. 3:46 They changed torture by electricity to torture by tickling.
One case of "weird" censorship:
in Xenosaga Episode 1, there's a scene in which the main villain Albedo demonstrates his regenerative powers and uses a knive to cut off his hand. After that he proceeds to cut off his head which is then shown falling and talking on the floor. In American version the knife is edited out, but the sound effect of a knive cut is heard anyway. In the Japanese version however they show the knife, but Albado's severed head is blackened, although it is left completely uncensored in the Western version. So the both versions are censored but in a different way.
I love watching that comparison video, it's so bizarre.
I am dying to play this game again. I could never beat it.
Yes, thank you for bringing this up. Back in 2002 this really stuck with me.
The Albedo and MOMO scenes are so... weird. Both versions are so creepy but some will argue that the English version's censorship is actually worse, haha. The scenes after that main one with Albedo's head are bad, too, but make more sense when censored. Albedo shoving his hand inside the torso of MOMO really pushed the boundaries of being raped. Having his hand hover over her head made it feel less terrible for sure. I never really understood censoring the part at the very start where Albedo just throws the body on the floor. Nothing graphic there, wtf. Overall, its believed it was censored to avoid an M rating in the USA, I guess.
I almost forgot, in Xenosaga 3, all of the blood in the game was taken out in the English version. It made some critical story scenes around mid-game confusing and awkward because of what a character is trying to do with blood. Sigh.
@@YouaNumbahOneRacist Indeed. I wish I could find the comparision videos for the hand in MOMO's stomach censorship. Much harder to find.
You need to get your priorities straight if you’re more about seeing cloth than include firearms. Wise word from Sakurai
Agreed
That is why his games are good.
It is any wonder why certain Japanese game developers such as Kojima, Suda 51 and Swery obsess over the West so much as making games outside of Japan afford them greater freedom of expression?
Why the hell are they restricted even when at the most mature rating.
While not enforced by law, AO rating of the ESRB is effectively a soft ban as retailers won't carry them, and publishers are reluctant to release such titles.
So while it's not the exact same thing, a similar situation exists in the US. It doesn't make it any less silly.
@@Slayer_Jesse I just don't get why western SH don't publish their mature games both in an AO and in a "lesser" version, like Japanese do.
Also, movies for years have existed in different versions depending on where they were showed.
@@souljastation5463 It's very rare for the AO rating to even be an issue, but as was said earlier, the AO rating really is the ESRB's equivalent to CERO and PEGI straight up refusing a rating: No retailers will carry your game, and none of the major consoles will allow your game on their platform.
Really though, the AO rating is almost exclusively given to games with pornographic content. There's only ever been 3 cases of it being given due to violent content. One was canceled when its publisher was bought out and and the new publisher didn't like the premise, and one of them did in fact do what you said, and made a censored, M-rated version so they could release on consoles. The third was rather clearly always going for shock value and so didn't bother.
You should do a top 10 of Japanese games that where made before the CERO that couldn't be made now. Besides Resident Evil and Silent Hill of course.
I guess there are some thing of the West that East can’t take.
Japan is super anti violence+mostly pro sex and the west is anti sex+pro violence
@@Ravenbeak2564 no, in Europe both are accepted
@@Ravenbeak2564 No, that's just wrong. Not only is American culture hyper sexualized, but also it even showed in this very video that bare chested woman or any other form of nudity in the Japanese release had to be censored in Japan while it was uncut in the US.
@@RegalPixelKing To add hentai and porn used to be uncensored till 2003 or 2004 happen, with the hentai/meme title Boco no Pico and a live action movie came out with fucked up content.
Japan still likes sex, it is adjusting itself. While America as you can see, has puritans on the left/communists and Right/Traditionalists?, who are wanting to protect women/adult children/minorities and the children. This is an outsider looking into America, from things he has seen and heard since the 2000s to now. Also having people in Canada have similar mind set
@@Ravenbeak2564 we're definitely pro sex AND pro violence in the west lol crazy how it's supposedly a christian part of the world
Small innacuracy. The mumblers that replace the "grey children" enemies in the original silent hill were not new. They are also in the us version but are not supposed to be encounterrd till around the last third of the game
I meant new for that part of the game. Sorry about causing any confusion.
@@CensoredGaming i figured that what you meant but the wording implies that the mumbler was created for the sole purpose of replacing the grey child
You can tell these changes just annoy or piss off the developers
And yet CERO seems to still be perfectly okay with lootboxes in games aimed towards children...
Seems that way, the same as ESRB. Not sure for PAL or other ratings boards.
They have them there too!? What in the mother of... no, just no.
@@thecompareablezombie PEGI themselves seem to be okay with lootboxes, even though European lawmakers think otherwise
@@ExtremeWreck I mean, just look at how many gaccha games Japan cranks out. Hell, the word "gaccha" comes from Japanese gachapon machines.
It's capitalism.
I hear NHM games on the Switch were left uncensored this time for Japan.
Also before Berserk, another musou game based on a popular manga was censored only in Japan. Fist of the Northstar: Ken’s Rage, in which enemies would swell up and explode. In the Japanese version the enemies would do the same thing except turn completely black to obscure the gore.
Strangely enough you do have the option go full uncut or censored in the options menu.
Same thing happened to another Fist Of The North Star game, Hokuto Ga Gotoku (or Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise.)
My goodness how times have changed. Back in the day, it was usually North America and Europe games were censored heavy, but now it is exact opposite.
Sony is starting to do that since 2018 when it comes to lewd ecchi games. Things will get worse, aside from one game dev which gave Sony the finger when it comes to Omega Labyrinth Life. It was censored on the Ps4 and not on Swtich/PC.
Actually not entirely true. The Japanese been censoring their shit since forever. They even censored their own porn even back in the 80s and 90s. Hell the reason tentacle hentai exist in the first place was to avoid restrictions
That's pretty much true and they were more sanitize to sexuality for most of there history to
I mean it's been like this for over 20 years. The time haven't just changed, they were already changed all along.
Back in the day it was the companies doing the censors nowadays it's esrb and Sony
10:54 Sakurai actually spoke about having CERO issues if they had included Mai from Fatal Fury in Terry's stage during the Terry presentation for Smash Bros. Ultimate, but the international localization of the presentation instead says that "Smash Bros is for good boys and girls".
They made a video on that actually!
Even though Bayonetta is in the game
Does that mean 2B will never come to Smash Bros?
@Nemesis King Negro Yeaaa you're right that they censored Bayo's wicked weaves
@@flower123wf True, I guess maybe he and I forgot about that in different ways. I guess.
Rating board restrictions is one of the most frustrating things to think about, especially coming from Japan where they seemingly get away with so much that airs on television.
9:05 Dept Heaven is such a weird yet lovable series.
Wasn’t a trophy of Tharja removed completely from the smash brothers series
Was supposed to be in Smash for 3DS, yeah
Hell, her spirit in Smash Ultimate doesn’t even use her official Awakening artwork like everyone else. Instead, it uses her in-game portrait from Awakening.
@@paperluigi6132 🤦🏻Bruh seriously
When they said "Gore mode," they forgot to include the "Tipper" bit
Someone say gore?
@@SedentaryGhost, Yeah who?
Just Say No!
Wait, no, that was Nancy Reagan's thing. What was Tipper Gore about? Putting labels on music?
Thanks for mentioning the SEA versions of Nioh including the Japanese censorship. I hope you can continue to cover censorship news for SEA version of games in the future!
I agree, since if buying the games from Playasia will be for nothing. Then go to the indies in japan the same way it is done for Select American indies/BECOME a gaming Indie as well if its doable.
I was like, wtf is he saying? Nyew? What's Nyew?
10:52 - Can you imagine because of this, Sakurai ends up making a D or Z-rating game with lots of guns involved just to spite the CERO?
Japan: too much skin
Also Japan: vending machine for panties
This does prove to me that the "true" version of a game doesn't mean it comes from the country it was made it. In a way, the "truest" version of a game exists only in the ether, beyond country legislation, publisher changes, or even beyond the creators' minds. One part that helps the game reach its "true" version is being uncensored, even beyond what the creators want sometimes. Like Jill's classic costume in RE3 Remake not being the truest version. The more true version of that costume is what you can get with mods.
For a Mortal Kombat 11 release in Japan, they have to replace blood with magic sparkles (like Lollipop Chainsaw Japanese version Cero D Rating does) and Fatal Blows may be renamed as "Special Moves" and some fatal blows will have altered views. In the case of Fatalities, some fatalities will have altered views and will have effects such as magic sparkles covering the deaths. Also, for Japanese Special Version, they will include a japanese exclusive Kombat pack with the characters such as Sailor Moon, Cutie Honey and Asuka from evangelion.
Just sell them a MK vs DC universe version of the game
14:23 This is what I fear about censorship in different regions; game devs would simply tone everything down from the get-go just to save money on having to censor for the appropriate regions.
Where did you learn to fly?
@@shibba2517 I learned to fly in a sad excuse of a gaming console called the Jaguar. I escaped from that pussy of a machine a few years but got shot at by some guy named James.
in japan even porn is censored
Some youtube commenters seem to think Japan has less censorship when they actually have more censorship overall.
@Eduardo Mendez I think it’s a law to censor it in Japan
@@thekappacombs
A dumb law. No amount of mosaic or black bars will stop me from realizing that there's a D going into a woman's P. Besides, it's 18+ material. Who exactly is this censorship (which isn't even all that good at doing its job) protecting? The adult men and women that are old enough to see this stuff and don't need to be cockblocked by black bars that don't even block the whole cock?
@@Paulafan5 Its the weebs who are so overly defendant of japan because muh panty censors in the west. But ofc they dont know anything about the censorship in japan since they never read any news from japan.
_M o s a i c c e n s o r s h i p_
That Metal Gear Rising blood change is weird... especially when I remember Megaman Zero on the GBA.
Imagine a world without nanny government impeding game artists and developers.
@people are simple minded You don't have to buy games about poop you know? 💩
@people are simple minded They already do though. 💩
@people are simple minded No, but you seem to have a strange fascination with poop games. Like you'll be forced to buy them. I bet you play Poop Hunter. 💩
@people are simple minded Out of all the things you could suggest without nanny government, it was pooping in video games. Who's the one that's got poop on their minds, hmm? 🤔💩
@people are simple minded Developers should be allowed to make whatever they want. You're the one that focuses on poop games. 💩🤫
The red blood/white blood in Metal Gear Rising is so ironic because in the Metal Slug series, when you kill rebel soldiers it shows red blood for JP, but in the western release it shows white blood.
Japanese video game consumers who are old enough for the more graphic content need to defund CERO lol or at least import their games ;) It’s a pity that 18 rating for CERO is meaningless .
It's one of those things where I doubt they care that much. Like, censorship sucks, but is it worth paying an extra ¥1300 to ship it from somewhere else?
@@phabiorules well it depends on each individual person, right ?
But at the same time it’s dishonest marketing and that should not be okay with anyone no matter where they come from . Especially if they’re spending hard earned money on a product and the rating is pointless if it’s a watered down t rated version in disguise. If some Japanese developers themselves take issue with the cero rating board in Japan then I think it’s fair to say that the cero 18 should allow true vision of a product to exist in the Japanese market place. Also if the true uncensored product was allowed , that would mean less work for a localization for Japan if it’s a series from the west that Japanese audiences enjoy.
@@sammytracey3935 you are misunderstanding my point. I'm not saying that censorship is good, but rather the flaw about your claim that "Japanese gamers should import their games".
Buying something from another country is very expensive to have it shipped there. Japanese games are usually more expensive than they are in America (when games in the states are $60, many of them were around ¥7000). And now that games are going to be $70 in the states, they will be at least $70 everyone else (games in America are cheaper than most places). Now if a Japanese person wants to import their games (like you suggest they are) then with shipping (which is very expensive) they are paying close to $100 USD converted.
If they really want to import them, then go ahead. I think censorship is usually pretty dumb, but unless it's something that affects the story or gameplay, I think *most* people will choose the cheaper option.
@@phabiorules either way this banter is useless because none of us has any sway in the diet of Japan lol or any clout with Cero or any other regulatory ratings board that does over zealous censorship but cheers :)
@@sammytracey3935 fair enough!
Honorable Mention: Banjo Tooie, specifically, the ending scene where they play hackysack w/ Gruntilda's head: the head was changed to a bag, though nonsensically, her eyeball still falls out of it, even though the sack is cinched shut. Censored for similar reasons to Penelo's kidnapping.
Not a Japanese game though
@@jonnyOysters That's why it's honorable mention
video starts at 3:20 ... wow talk about filler
9:30 ESRB used Uno Reverse Card
4:19 I'm sure there's people who'd consider tickle torture to be just as bad and just as much of a war crime.
I've often wondered what the general consensus is amongst Japanese consumers about the state of Japanese censorship in gaming
So the blood in Rising had to be censored but the Gray Fox scene in Twin Snakes was ok? I guess CERO can be just as inconsistent as ESRB sometimes.
I miss lollipop chainsaw. What I don't miss is how ungodly long each level was. wtf is wrong with Suda51?
Suda's answer to Onechanbara
Also, Suda-san being Suda-san
Maybe they will port it over to modern consoles someday?
@@botmaster9000 maybe on Xbox, but unfortunately Sony is kinda woke right now, and having an attractive character like Juliet, revealing as she is, is something that won't get approved by them. Smh
@@angelchang5194 It could come out on the Switch. After all, Suda 51 seems to have a good relationship with Nintendo.
onechanbara on switch would be nice. it doesnt look that intensive. hell dark souls is on switch. I think it can handle lollipop fine.
9:29 - this goes for people that think only West censors fanservice
It's honestly insane that there's so many people complaining about that when it's happening in Japan too. They think Japan is some safe haven for neckbeards and they probably think Japanese people carry body pillows around and revolve their life around anime. It puzzles me
@@jamiewaswrong Finally, someone say it.
@@jamiewaswrong the diference is here everythink is censored, in japan pc games dont have rules, only the p0rn restrictions
@@filipegolineli9909 American PC games don't have restrictions either I believe, American porn has no restrictions either
That thumbnail made me feel....... something unusal...
The game its from “lollipop chainsaw” is actually really good and is often overlooked
Lollipop Chainsaw, yeah I remember that! It scarred me when I was a kid.
@@callumg3330 are you sure it's not from kid icarus
@@jamiewaswrong the thumbnail was changed sometime after this comment thread happened, it was originally of the main character from “lollipop chainsaw”
@@callumg3330 oh well that makes sense now, thanks
When even Sakurai is criticizing CERO, you know shit's fucked up.
First rate video. Thanks for covering things like this in-depth. In my mind, it was always the US version suffering censorship but I guess my mind is still stuck in the 90s haha.
Another big thing that got censored in MGS2 was a scene where Arsenal Gear crashes in to Manhattan. The game was scheduled to come out just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, and the scene had to be hastily scrapped.
Small correction: “grey children” is the name for the monsters in the SH movie. The, well, grey children that appear on the northern American SH game are called “mumblers”, and the “replacements” (also present in the NA version, but in the sewers), are called “claw fingers”.
Nice video btw.
Sooo, they censor games but have gore in anime :\
Blame CERO
Anime is censored in Japan too
@@xblade149 Not that much as they censor games for consoles
As I said to another user earlier, named Hu: most likely Japan didn't get the memo about violence in games do not cause real violence, while having actual violent events happen in the past.)
If Human and you see this comment, I hope the message is clear as crystal. Wishing you both a wonderful time of day.
@@xblade149 Well NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!
The Paz scene in Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pains is also censored in the international release of the game but only on Steam for some reason
Be careful with those mgs sounds. TH-cam dmca shenanigans are not to be underestimated.
TV shows in the Philippines use them a lot.
But Philippines is pretty much a piracy paradise so it’s fair game.
Damn, Sakurai going off, what a legend
I really appreciate the subtitles!
Fascinating! Thank you so much for all your research again! Happy new year!
7:11 So western imperialism wasn't to blame for this and CERO-based censorship one but general paranoia, which is universal?
Western imperialism?
@@PasscodeAdvance Google it, I don't really think I can properly explain.
@@mattwo7 How about don't make up random shit instead
@@deathtrooper2048 That's a good joke. Literally the first result on google is an educational summary of the concept, followed by the wikipedia article, the wikipedia article for imperialisim and another edicational piece on the subject spesfically on how it impacted East Asia.
Maybe do your damn research before claiming other people made things up?
Just a thought.
It just goes to show that even Japanese Games are censored by their own companies not just Western games
Yeah, but that's not going to stop tons of internet idiots from thinking Japan is some kind of censorship-free paradise.
True
American Censors: "Boobs are bad, you guys. Did you know that boobs are bad? Dismemberment is okay, though."
Japanese Censors: "Blood is bad, you guys. Did you know that blood is bad? Panty shots are okay, though."
It’s actually “Anime Boobs and Anime Ass are both bad”. The American censors are also like “Cute Anime Girls are Bad”
Ah no Japan censored titties. They did it in God of War, Shadows of the damn, and grandtheft auto
@@xblade149 Blame CERO
@@xblade149
Those are western games. It's fine when Japan does it just like it's fine for the US when the US does it, but got forbid Japan even show a little bit of midriff.
The difference is how american censors isn't done by the government like in Japan
I'm happy I got a copy of the NTSC version of Silent Hill when I first saw it.
It's actually "Suda Five One", not "Suda Fifty One". This is because his name is Goichi Suda. Goichi can be read as "Five One", but never "Fifty One", as that would be Gojuuichi.
What game is that version of rayman from at 2:28? Never seen a blue rayman in red spikey armour
2:36
2:53 What game are those?
9:29
I don't know what the Japanese version of Nep V2 is like, so correct me if I'm wrong, be THIS is a problem for the Japanese version of the game being shown, but the Neptune, Uzume, and Nepgear bathing scene is fine?
What's the game at 2:19? The futuristic planes dogfighting one?
CERO is also why
Mai Shiranui doesn't appear in the SNK stage in smash ultimate. in short, fuck CERO and other ratings systems.
4:22 I'm not a big Metal Gear fan primarily because I never gotten into the Series but damn, that kills the intensity big time.
I bet yellowflash 2 wouldn't talk about this
To those who ask, why there are still censorship laws for Adult Only/18+ products in places like Japan:
It's the same "argument" they give in Germany. One could buy this for their child, even if it is 18+ only, or you let your system unguarded and find a minor play a game/ watch a movie not suited for a minor. But at least in case of movies, there is a clear bias, depending on who is portrayed as the enemy.
Take movies by Quentin Tarantino as an example: I'd argue the violence in Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained is on a similar level, yet KB is rated 18, due to the enemies being a more or less neutral faction. In IB, the enemies are Nazis, therefore violence is justified in the rating board's opinion. Nazis and slave owners as depicted in DU, deserve to be dehumanized, therefore a 16+ rating was justifiable. And this, although each's story can be brought down to "protagonist commits vigilantism".
I'm paraphrasing, but this was the reason stated in their report when some officials questioned the age rating.
The same argument could be made with porn movies, yet these have their own rating system: explicit movies don't have a sticker to clarify they are meant to be 18+ material, because officials take it as a given. Yet, each movie has to be watched before a release is possible, as to make sure that no illegal material is distributed. Therefore, the internal rating system is "suited for a general adult audience, special interest, extreme interest and illegal content" with the suspected latter being sacked and the people behind it investigated. If the investigation finds everything is in OK standing, the movies also get released. And if not, I suspect each civilized country's prison inmates are equal in their hospitality toward sex offenders.
If these kind of movies would be regulated under the normal rating system's guidelines, politicians had to regulate their beloved dungeon scat torture porn and that would be a big no-no.
Instead, us normal people who are able to differentiate fictional violence from real world violence, have to suffer through censorship, even though movies like Saw/Hostel clearly target an adult audience. But children could get their hands on them when they plunder your DVD cupboard. Then they also could find your disturbing taste in erotica, but these are fine to be left unrated. Doesn't make any sense to you? Welcome to Germany. We don't get it either.
Austria has more sensible rules for video games and other kinds of media.
Well Supposedly Fist of North Star:Lost Paradise is in that list since the Japanese ver was Censored while the Overseas ver was Uncensored.
Lucky, I got the uncensored version then, and here I always thought that Japanese versions of games, especially from their home country, would be better than the international versions, guess not
Well considering that these game's were censored in the country they were made in and not any other country especially America I'm pretty sure this will make weeabos have a mental breakdown
Yeah besides basically the reason why America and Japan are polar opposites with censorship is because America mostly sanitized with violence in our history and less on sexuality because our country was founded by puritans and Japan was more sanitized with sexuality and went through less violence and ofcourse when they went further with it they also ended up crossing lines where they shouldn't have crossed
@@alastor-yw7og what are You saying? Japan history it's full of violence and gore since samurai era to WW2, in games they are very hypocrites having movies like Guinea pig, fock Zero, i love to live in América where doesn't exist censorship in videogames or atleast it's not so common, life it's violence.
I was referring to anchient japan not ww1and ww2 japan they literally had tentacle hentai throughout there life and there were miko's, heck they even had pleasure camps during ww1 and 2 now i won't deny that japan had it's fair share of violence but it wasn't as huge and worst as america's history
@@alastor-yw7og ah dude the Japanese censores their own porn even back in the 80s and 90s. Hell the devilman manga that came out in the 70s got ridicule by the pta board in Japan because of the nudity and violence. Which funny since it was targeted to 15 to18 year old
Well i actually knew that so my best guess is the reason why they do it is because i guess the Japanese prefer 2d drawing and cartoon you know what over live action real life you know what
Even though I hate censorship, I still gotta admit that it can be really creative.
I hate to agree with you, they can be creative.
How is anyone in Japan buying games locally. Like, I can't imagine anyone wanting such a bad experience instead of just importing
The list could've been much longer if you included eroge.
But that would've been too easy.
Overworked burnt out employees? Nah.
A little bit of a woman's thigh? This is truly an Avengers level threat!
INFO:
The Top 10 starts at 3:20
Why Japan does NOT get all the cool stuff.
Well that's because Japan's history was less sanitized by violence while our country America was
but they are okay with underage girls in skimpy to non outfits being fetish 24/7.
awkward...
Yeah japan' s history was more sanitized with sexuality which pretty much explains alot
@@newfacepaula Difference in culture, in the USA it's a lot more about controlling sexuality, in Japan it's about violence.
Yeah and like i just said both countries were more sanitize with different concepts
PC master race stands defiant.
Censorship deters me from becoming a mostly console user.
Nintendo switch doesn't censor games but like the other 2 consoles it doesn't except AO games either
@@Ravenbeak2564 nintendo is a separate matter entirely since the time it takes for their exclusives to get a port is not yet determined. And, as I said. A deterrent to becoming a mostly console user, not a reason to never buy a console.
I always wait for the second half of their market life when they got a proper library. Then I pick the one with a fair share of exclusives I want to play... Which often leads to Nintendo.
Well that's a pathetic reason
Was expecting you to put God of war 3 in the list. im still puzzled with Aphrodite scene in the Japanese vesion.
God of War was developed in America, these are games created and censored in Japan.
How about the next episode be about changes that were made to all sly cooper games? 1, 2, 3 and thieves in time.
I can't make any promises about when, but there will be videos on Sly Cooper in Japan one day for sure. There's definitely lots to talk about.
I've seen a lot of your videos. I think it's about time I subbed. Especially since you didn't take the "easy route" for this video !
instead of their useless Z rating, they should create a new rating (e.g. X rating for 20+ or 21+) where game's designers/developers can push their games as far as they want without limitations
It won't ever happen Japan is a cenorship paradise
4:40 But Grey Fox had red blood...
10:43 sums my thoughts up perfectly
Think you could cover Kinnikuman in America, it’s interesting since most stuff was left unchanged, definitely a video I would love to see
Seems their age rating board is getting worse
due to censorship gungal was cancelled on xbox one
Funny how the Switch version (the one you would assume that will get the most censorship because Nintendo) is the only one that survivied.
Can lollipop chainsaw please get a sequel or at least a 10th anniversary rerelease in 2022, had to take the opportunity to say that
I wouldn't be surprised that they would censor it, if we either get a sequel or just a remastered. And I don't talk about JP's censorship
A Suda 51 quadrology would be even better, including Killer 7, Shadows of the Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw and Killer is Dead in the release, though I highly doubt something like that would ever take form given Sony' hypocritical double standard stance on censorship, Microsoft seems no better in this regard either
i actually finished riviera when i was a kid. its the uncensored version so needless to say i had an awesome time with it.
what is the hack and slash game shown at 2:41 ?, can anyone recognize it?
Dynasty Warriors
@@ShadowOfNexxus thank you very much, but it appears dynasty warriors has many instalments, would it be possible to pinpoint which one it is?
Does anyone know the game @ 2:54? Looks crazy. Searched all over the comments already.
What game is at 2:01 ?
A sponsor that actually helps. :)
Actually those tickle rods in MGS seems so normal for MGS that I would argue that the shock rods were the censored versions
Meanwhile there's tons of violent anime and Hentai, yes this stuff is still censored on TV but I'm talking home releases. This reminds me of 15-20 years ago when Boomers in the US were freaking out over sexuality and violence in video games yet they didn't give a crap if it was in a movie or TV show. It's probably because many of them some how thought you controlling a character with button presses would turn you into a serial killer and that it was new technology they just didn't understand. I'm guessing maybe something similar happened in Japan but the ratings never got looser.
@@domennysometimesplays2484 This, but also note that violent and spicy anime is still censored when airing on TV (usually by obscuring the content with shadows, lens flares or steam). It gets uncensored when going to Blu-ray. And hentai (and regular porn) is ALWAYS censored with mosaic.
Video games were played by kids anytime.
I love Lollipop chainsaw and The Evil Within i hope they someday release on the switch
I’m just hoping that Lollipop Chainsaw gets remastered for Current Generation platforms.
There is more censorship in Japan (on consoles) than in America. How many game devs self-censor themselves because they know it won't be allowed in Japan (ie any nudity). Games like the Witcher 3 are severely butchered in Japan. Censorship exists everywhere, unfortunately, but Japan definitely has a major problem of censorship (despite what some people may think).
4:15 Sounds like Randy from South Park if he become a Harley Rider.
I'm not surprised by most of these. I remember someone saying Japan is much more sensitive to violence and brutality than it is to sexuality and most of these entries show that. Now I would argue that is a better stance to have than America's glorification of war but being overly sensitive to sex, but what is and isn't censored does come down to what is deemed culturally acceptable.
Me who hates game censorship: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE CHOSEN ONE
The enemies in silent hill are actually meant to resemble children that's where the HORROR part of it comes in so why would they cut something so intrinsic to the games plot?
@reesemonkey it's a horror game again this is where the HORROR element comes into it.
@reesemonkey it's not meant to be pleasant it's horror horror is meant to sometimes be genuinely unpleasant it's not MEANT to feel nice to do.
4:42 someone had an eventful night 👀
There is also censorship the other way around. Might be interesting to do a video about that too. This happens at least in anime. Some examples: Sailor Moon and Pokemon.
Every time bro says Palutena, I die a little inside. It's pronounced "Pah-loo-teh-na" or "Pah-loo-tay-nah," not "Pah-loo-tee-nah." Yes, I know like Hermione Granger.
Mature Rating but still censored LMAO
i will admit tickling is worst than pain. if someone tickled my stomach id be most likely to break than if someone was to hurt me. i dont know why but tickling is painful in a different way.
And then there are YuGiOh Cards from Japan with more nudity/ sugestive Clothes, which are totally fine. I dont get it.