Controversial Rising Sun Design Removed From Street Fighter II's Re-Release

Good! new design looks fine to me

@Darlinfan For a lot of East Asia, it would be like having a massive Swastika on the wall.

Why not just have the sun design from Street Fighter V in the port? The wall looks so empty in that Street Fighter 2 re-release.

Edit: I also wonder how the animation has been changed, or if the wall stays blank even then.

Ah yes, the real issues are being addressed thanks woke capcom.

At least you can still buy the collection.

I would have bought Street Fighter V for Switch if possible.

I probably never get the sensibility towards stuff like that.
Sure, there's no need to glorify regimes and their iconography specifically, i get that.
But instances like that, where it's simply an iconic style element found in a plethora of classic Japanese art, i really don't see the inherent connection to the navi.

It's a bit like we Germans banning/altering pictures of Buddhist temples sporting a manji because it was later misused by the 3rd reich.

I think what's bothering me is that context seems to become more and more irrelevant.

@Darlinfan if half of your family had been slaughter at the time of the Japanese invasion you would think differently. And im sure they want something like Street Fighter to reach as many people as possible.

The rising sun imagery was also removed from Takuma's stage in ACA NEOGEO Art of Fighting 2.

@Rika_Yoshitake It's understandable that a big entertainment company like Capcom is trying to maximize their bottom line and cover every base. Do you want an online mob and boycott coming after you?

@Darlinfan "Either way it doesn't affect me."

Probably why you can take comfort in your passivity.

Has the sun been brought up ever in the last 30 years? Like back when it was more relevant? WW2 is pushing 100 years ago...

Unless they wanted to depict E. Honda as an imperialistic nationalist (and in turn Japanese imperialism as a neutral ideology) it was a good decision to remove the rising sun.

Gotta love the absolutely pointless censorship. It's becoming censorship for censorship's sake at this point.

@AtlanteanMan you don't know what fascism means.

@AtlanteanMan ....left-wing fascists. Do you know how much of a massive oxymoron that is?

You didn't want to defend against censorship years ago with Xenoblade X and the weeb stuff so this is your reward. Enjoy.

2021: The Sun is now a trigger.

I always defend against censorship. Censorship of ANY kind is wrong. I'm not saying that people should be free of the consequences but their opinions should never be silenced regardless.

That's quite sad, the background in this level was pretty iconic. It was NEVER meant to be associated with politics or anything, it was just an old japanese painting.

@Darlinfan I think there is a distinction to be made when Nazis (in your examples) are central to a story or plot. Just as Imperial Japan and its flag has been shown in numerous fictional accounts before.

Removing this one detail from a video game, where it adds no real value or is not central to anything...please explain why that is suddenly critical to keep?

The bemoaners of this type "censorship" see everything in false equivalent terms.

It's censorship because it's been changed in an effort to not offend people.

Here's an option: how about Capcom simply including an option to turn the "offensive" imagery on or off and allow each user the freedom to decide for themselves? I could name a few other examples that could benefit from that approach, and if all else fails and something bothers you enough, just exercise your own freedom not to partake of it and let others do what they will. The real hate and anger right now are being fueled by SJWs taking those decisions out of everyone else's hands. Nobody should have that kind of power over everyone else.

Absolutely ridiculous.

@RupeeClock,

So basically you could take any symbol of flag, from any race or culture, as they all have done bad things at some point in time, a lot, and now years later state it's offensive and should be removed.

These symbols or flags should be kept as a reminder that the human race was not always perfect and there are still things to do, they should educate people going forward, so the same mistakes do not keep happening, just simply removing every instance is not the way to do it.

Any chance they're going to ban the Imperial butcher's apron ???🤣🤣🤣

No well this should be left alone

how is not offending people a problem? do you just walk around insulting people in order to demonstrate your freedom? no, you censor yourself in day to day life because you don't want to be an *****.

Is it really censorship when the developer is making the decision themselves?

@cdmac
Because you should be free to say what you wanna say, regardless of whether you hurt someone feelings or not. It's called free speech.

@Aya-chan you didn't read my post properly.

Why do people talk like making "an effort not to offend people" is a bad idea? If you can easily choose, without compromising anything important, why would you pick the version that upsets people?

It's not like its otherwise a important part of E Honda's character that he's a flag waving Japanese imperialist.

@cdmac,

This is the issue between offence and offended, for example I may be personally offended by something, this does not mean it's offensive, it just means I find it offensive on a personal level.

I just feel simply cancelling every symbol of flag from the past is not the right way to go about it. Nobody is suggesting we should let people go around offending people in the name of free speech.

@cdmac
No, I did. I stand by what I said.

@Aya-chan i asked, do you just walk around insulting people in order to demonstrate your freedom?

Hopefully they erased the sprites of drunken Russians in the background in Zangief's stage as that promotes a harmful stereotype!!!

@nessisonett It is not an oxymoron, fascism is an Italian socialist political movement from the beginning of the last century.
The manifesto published in 1919 contains points as:
Voting for women
A minimum wage
A strong progressive tax on capital
And many more topics that we today find 'progressive' or have since implemented in modern society.
Ofcourse the practice and reality of the movement was different from this as we so often see with idealistic movements be they 'left' or 'right' wing in nature.
Marx did not invent nor had a monopoly on socialism and it's ideas.

On the Topic, I like the SF V rework better because it just has a sun using that empty space well, in the re-release it just looks like an unfinished mural.

@johnvboy do you come from a country that was invaded by the japanese empire? if not who are you to say what others find offensive?

@cdmac
If I feel like I have something to say, yeah. I don't care whether my opinion on a matter offends someone or not.

@khululy fascism is not socialist. that's a really dumb mistake right wing people make.

@Aya-chan i bet you're fun at parties.

@nessisonett Do your research into the methodology of the Nazi Party beside that of the left over the past 15 years or so, from infiltrating the education system to control of and use of the media as a propaganda machine to the use of violence and intimidation to coerce compliance. Or the constant repetition of slogans and rhetoric that's directly from Hitler's own writings on propaganda and its application to the masses.

Evil isn't the sole domain of the "far right". And saying "left-wing fascists" is not nearly the oxymoron you think it is.

@cdmac,

Never said people can't be offended, but I still feel cancelling everything is not the answer.

Not saying what is offensive, just stating that somebody being offended by something, does not make it offensive.

@cdmac So I live in a country invaded by the Germans 80 years ago, my grandfather worked in a German work camp, did this earn me the rights to be offended by swastikas?

Should of replaced it with a shining full moon.

@cdmac

I bet you're fun at parties

I think people who still use that phrase don't get invited to parties either

@AtlanteanMan my god you know nothing about political ideologies. fascists are the far right.

@Darlinfan whilst your comparison between the regimes has some validity, I think there are vast cultural differences between Germany and Japan, and Japanese culture may be a lot less passive about this than German. And since Capcom is a Japanese company, I trust they have an idea what they speak of - though it does beg the question of why they didn’t think about it in the last 30 years of SF2.

Personally, I prefer the SF5 sun version. More balanced and less glaring than a plain brick wall.

@khululy yes. duh.

Didn't know Nintendo Life had so many Japanese imperialism apologists, lol. Good luck!

@cdmac Instead of refuting my claim with information you assume I am right wing? I find that kind of offensive tbh...

@Tedikuma

Yeah at the end of the day it's their work, they can do what they want.

The game was originally released in the 90's, was there uproar then?

I think in general folks need to to take a step back and chill about stuff like this. There are plenty of things to take a stand on, if you take a stand on every little thing, the important stuff gets diluted. It's a bit like the boy who cried wolf.

@cdmac
I don't go to parties. Besides, don't act like you're better than me. You're the kind of person that isn't friends with someone because they hold a different opinion to your own. I don't bemoan people just because they have different views to my own.

@KillerBOB do one.

@Darlinfan TBH It’s never bothered me because I think it’s a cool flag design, but I was never subjugated to Imperial Japanese boots on my neck so I don’t think my vote carries more weight than a Korean’s - however I would also hope Koreans have an issue with the American flag in there, too, after the horrific atrocities that the US committed over there.

@Darlinfan Personally, yeah I'm okay with denigrating Nazis and everything they stand for. I don;t really see the need to portray them in a good light.

@khululy Hahahaha yeah, I wrote a paper on early Italian fascism and its ties to the futurist and vorticist art scene and you’re talking absolute bollocks. Fascism is by definition right wing, early fascists were not socialists by any meaning of the word as they positioned themselves as the ruling class, an ‘organised minority’ ruling over the ‘disorganised majority’. They literally weren’t socialist, that’s a stone cold fact.

@khululy then read a book. i'm not here to educate you, just to make sure other people don't believe the crap being spewed.

@Darlinfan

Do you ever get offending because someone is proudly displaying the flag of the guy who abused your mother to death after she got too old to be a sex toy for solders and tossed your baby brother on a spear when he was 3 months old?

No? Cool. Then take your white privilege, understand you have no idea what it's like seeing a symbol of oppression because you've never been oppressed, and shut up.

@johnvboy Yep, killing millions of people under the swastika will have that effect.

@Aya-chan the difference is my views are about acceptance and understanding. no, i wouldn't be friends with someone right wing. so what?

@RupeeClock,

You have me confused here, as I never stated any of these things were right, I simply feel just trying to erase history, good or bad is not a very progressive thing to do.

I don't even know what the terms " right wing" and "left wing" mean. Politics is a plague.

@AtlanteanMan

A) Fascism is specifically and factually “right-wing”

B) Who the heck is learning their history from Street Fighter II?

C) Look into the words “empathy” and “sympathy” - your comment is “we shouldn’t remove things because people are offended” but ALSO “we should keep things because their removal offends ME”

D) actually, Capcom DOES owe their customers “something” as a result of their business transaction. If the customers want the flag gone and they elect to take it out, it’s LITERALLY <b> not your business </b>

Well this comment section is going about as expected

tearing down statues of slavers and removing a symbol from a game is not erasing history. the history books and dramas and everything else will still be there. it is just not celebrating that history.

@Aya-chan further left means democratization of power, further right means consolidation of power into smaller groups

@Rika_Yoshitake Capcom is a Japanese company, so they should be free to choose how they represent their culture to the world in their own game. If Guile's base was draped in Confederate flags, that would definitely be seen as a real issue in the US.

@Aya-chan you should learn.

@HeHateMii,

Still does not change the original intention or significance of the symbol, so now we are saying any group can take a normal symbol and it can never be seen again.

@johnvboy I don't think anyone is suggesting we erase history. I think history is safe.

What actually happened was a background image was removed from a video game, not history books.

I hope you're proud of what you have brought, Kate.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ee/2e/31/ee2e31f222a341cc04dc91bd5b0308bc.gif

Sigh, brave move Capcom. Honestly, like @AtlanteanMan said, if it really is a big deal for these companies to bend over backwards to do stuff like this, at least give players the option. I bet their analytics team would find out most people would play with "offensive material" on.

@Aya-chan if you’re ok with being friends with someone who thinks other humans deserve to be ethnic cleansed and somebody else isn’t, that is not the damning insult to the other person you think it is.

@cdmac
I'm alright, having an interest in politics clearly makes you a snowflake that gets offended by everything.

@Rika_Yoshitake "Ah yes, the real issues are being addressed thanks woke capcom."

Yeah, because that Capcom pixel artist could have spent that 20 minutes solving world hunger and passing universal healthcare instead. You're on a video game news website.

@Aya-chan being interested in politics means i want to build a better world where people don't freeze or starve to death because they don't have enough money. you seem comfortable, screw everybody else. there's your privalege.

@Wargoose actually in the 90’s my conservative dad and grandfather were extremely pissed when they saw me playing in that room and I had to hear an entire discussion at my 5 year old brain about how Japan bombed pearl harbor and we changed their flag and deposed their empire etc etc etc etc etc so don’t be acting like nobody cared then. Bootlickers just didn’t have comment sections.

@TryToBeHopeful I am bothered by HOW the art was changed, now why.

@GannonBanned
It's more that I dislike people in general so it doesn't really matter either way. I've had family members that have been involved in some horrible things but I still don't think references to past events should be ripped out of media.

@WoomyNNYes I'd rather put my money on Ultra Street Fighter IV. Definitely the better game of the two, and should in theory be a simple enough port. Out of all the games we've seen ports of from Capcom, it eludes me why that one hasn't made the cut.

@KillerBOB Those are Buddhist symbols in Asia. The meaning changes with the context.

@TryToBeHopeful yes, anybody who has read a book on the subject.

@johnvboy

Hey, you can rest assured that even if you remove this hateful symbols from a video game, people in Korea are still going to "remember" the history of their grandmothers or mothers being forced into sex slavery, and they will "remember" how they are missing a generation after the Japanese tossed all their infants onto spears.

We have history books to teach history, and the stories of the people who's lives were destroyed. Statues and symbols have never been part of teaching history.

@Darlinfan Google “Japanese war crimes rising sun” and you’ll learn some dark history.

I cannot approve this.

@cdmac
Privilege? No, I'm not comfortable at all. Quite the opposite.

@Aya-chan then you should be political. you might not be into politics, but it is into you.

@Darlinfan sure man, other games have been censored in other countries as well...

Can we not all just agree that taking a sun out of a picture in a video game is bloody stupid?

@RupeeClock,

So if I play Wolfenstein and there is a Swastika flag on display, I am really a secret Natzi supporter.

Sounds like a balanced way to look at things.

@GannonBanned

https://news.yahoo.com/biden-confusion-talk-genocide-212650519.html

Are you okay with having a president who refers to a Chinese run genocide as "different cultural norms"??

I guess I'm okay with its removal, although I prefer the change in SFV. The painting in SFII just looks empty now.

Doesn't the military/navy of Japan still use the "imperial" flag?

This is getting way too heated. I'm going to leave. Apologies to any and all I've offended.

@Aya-chan are you from a country that was invaded by the japanese empire? if not you don't get to decide who may be offended. as a white person, i certainly wouldn't tell a black person what they should or should not find offensive. i mean, capcom must have done it for some financial reason.

@HeadPirate,

So things you see everyday can't be a reminder of bad things, not getting you there.

@Jakiboy Kate didn’t change the in-game graphic.
Don't shoot the messenger

@khululy uh yeah I’d probably not be super tight about swastikas if I were you

Does the game play the same? Then nothing of value was lost.

It’s not only about offense (which people have a right to their pain and to not tolerate someone trivializing it) but people also have to realize culture updates how it views itself. WW2 had a lasting impact on all sides, including the citizens that usually (some people are just monsters of course) are just following what their leaders tell them and are trying to survive. The Japanese may be choosing to abandon imagery associated with the past and they have every right to do that.

Either way at the end of the day, Capcom is trying to release a global product and that means tailoring that product for as many consumers in a market as they can. Don’t agree? I’m sure that one can procure an original Japanese cabinet if one is that bothered.

@BloodNinja in these trying times we need a silent assassin like you to bring us together

i do agree with those saying that the change looks bad. should have gone with what they did for sfV.

@Darlinfan I mean, I think this is a broader cultural discussion about artistic works appropriating history successfully and unsuccessfully. You're right that other works can trivialize serious subject matter, but those are usually bad or unsuccessful artworks. Others do a better job.

The point here specifically, is that the flag removal (which as far as I know, no mob was demanding, but was removed by the developers) doesn't have a strong case for its narrative-inclusion, does not impact the quality of the game whatsoever, and yet removes a symbol that is painful for other cultures. To me, the net "good" here wins out.

@cdmac Most statues are not erected because the people were slave owners, that was merely a side of them, they were erected because of their percieved impact on society.

@BloodNinja
No, but she reported it, giving us many lols in the comment section.

@khululy yeah and owning slaves had a pretty bad impact on society...

@GannonBanned I think I talk too much LOL

NINJA APPROVED (I can approve that)

what a strange argument.

Funny how people get massively triggered because they disagree with a simple design decision capcom made that doesn't even affect them in the slightest...

@Jakiboy I get where you are coming from. I just wouldn’t pin it on Kate. She’s not responsible for the “lols” in the comments.

NINJA APPROVED

@KillerBOB nope! I heartily and readily condemn the Chinese totalitarian government and the US military-industrial oligarchy.

I condemn Biden also for not supporting Medicare 4 All, a $15 minimum wage, authoring the crime bill, defending segregationists, and belittling the choices of black voters.

I’m a Christian Socialist, I condemn the governments of each nation on Earth throughout history as I don’t recognize the sovereignty of governments.

Kate Grey kicking back right now counting the ad revenue

@khululy actually most of these statues were erected during racial turmoil to send a message, this is easily verifiable and widely reported

@Darlinfan nobody likes forced censorship, but attitudes and what is deemed acceptable change over time. i would never make some of the jokes i made when i was younger. i was wrong then, yet by changing my mind i'm not censoring myself.

@KillerBOB it’s kate grAy

“Do your homework” - KRS-One

@HeadPirate not all white people are American @GannonBanned hehe I honestly don't care for them I am not shocked or enamoured by them it's just a symbol from the past. In that same light most Europeans should react the same to Roman imagery but I think the Goths got over it.

@TryToBeHopeful well then I withdraw my comment.

Does that make the Wolfenstein games illegal in Germany, or are they censored?

@KillerBOB,

They know what they are doing, just waiting for the right time to close the comments section.

Not a pleasant flag to look at, so it's fine with me that Capcom has voluntarily edited it out.

@nessisonett must you have an opinion on literally every subject? You can add ‘World War 2 historian’ to your ever-growing CV.

@Aya-chan if I was a member of the UK Empire I’d probably try and be more sensitive to how imperial ambitions can trigger other cultures

...What a shock, the comments section is a total bloodbath.

@KillerBOB
She made a whopping $1.99, which she then has to share with the rest of NL staff.

@cdmac I know exactly what I'm talking about. If the methodology is the same, the left or right of it is irrelevant. Seriously, look around you at what is happening; our public statues, monuments, even cemeteries are being vandalized, desecrated, destroyed, or simply removed. Brand labels and imagery are being replaced or removed. It's no different from the book-burnings that occurred in 1930s Germany. And who are the vast majority of the mobs behind it? Teens and twenty somethings who've been radicalized by what laughingly passes for our education system. Do the riots, the violence, the media's duplicity when it concerns their "narrative", and Big Corporate backing ring a bell? Does the targeting of certain groups (conservatives, Christians, Jews, law enforcement) for hate, or the witch-hunting and destruction of anyone who offends the "wrong" groups?

It's the same. You can try to put fascism in a nice, neat little box and place it solely on the "right of center" all you like, but at the end of the day you're arguing semantics. As the old saying goes "If it acts like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck". The ideologies may be different, the faces behind them may be different, but they're all exactly the same in their hate and in how they operate.

I just want to say, I think it’s great that Capcom made the change. We don’t need imagery like this in a video game. It’s not censorship. Some of you folks are fighting for the equivalent of keeping a Swastika on a wall. There is nothing ok with this symbol, please familiarize yourself with its history. Google is easy to use, and we are not required to do the work for you. Please seek the knowledge that will help you understand.

NINJA APPROVED

@johnvboy Yes. If, under a swastika, a 6 million jews were systematically killed and burned (forbidden under judaism), and many more jews were abused, displaced, publicly humiliated, and tattooed (also forbidden) and almost an entire continent of people were killed, abused and plundered ... people are going to see the negative. It's not "funny." It's a fact and it makes perfect sense.

Maybe after a few generations we can be more philosophical regarding the origin of the swastika. Though the now-negative connotations regarding the swastika is the least of problems stemming from Nazi legacy.

@AtlanteanMan again, you really don't know what fascism means. please read about it.

@PessitheMystic Nah I’m not a WW2 historian, I just studied the Italian Futurist movement and artists like Umberto Boccioni in detail back in school which led to writing about Italian fascism. They’re intrinsically linked and anybody who’s ever written an art history paper can tell you that the social and political background is just as important as the actual paintings.

@AtlanteanMan you seem to have fallen into the alt right conspiracy pipeline. you should talk to somebody about it.

@Atariboy

But the flag moved and flashed when you won the round 😓

@Aya-chan the frustrating thing is that things have ALWAYS been ripped out of the media, it was just formerly things like heresy, homosexuality, black people, communism, etc - and Freeze Peach Activists on the right were silent.

Now people are like “let’s take out imperialism” and it’s suddenly CANCEL CULTURE.

I, personally, think cancel culture was more HUAC, Hayes Code, Comics Code, ETC

@GannonBanned I have never seen a comments section like this. It will likely get closed, but I’m shocked at the number of people fighting so hard to support that crazy flag.

Sorry, can’t approve this. Against regulations.

@nessisonett I like video games.

@TryToBeHopeful lol

@cdmac I have. I actually minored in History, by the way. But it's obvious that either what I'm saying is going over your head or you're deliberately choosing to ignore it for whatever reason.

Sometimes you need to look beyond the nice, neat definitions your teacher or professor taught you to see how and why history is repeating itself right under your nose.

@Jakiboy

That would still be too much

i like video games too. i have multiple interests.

@PessitheMystic So do I but I also like to respect victims of genocide.

@BloodNinja i’m trying to do my part as a bleeding heart SJW but these boyos with hate in their heart have me vastly outnumbered.

If I fall, please leave a shuriken on my grave.

@AtlanteanMan "minored in History". in the usa? not worth the paper it's printed on. i am actually a university lecturer. not in history, but i have read a lot.

This is getting quite aggressive in these comments.

@cdmac Do not put others down for the sake of your own arrogance. Show the world kindness, please.

@TryToBeHopeful yes, it was a bit of a generalisation.

@khululy

Yeah but the fact that I didn't include examples about how the rest of the white world has similar laws doesn't mean they are not there. You can't mention the Boar concentration camps in schools the UK, even though they cover the Boar war. In Russia ... I mean you teach a state written text book that leaves out the whole "Stalin killed more people then 3 Hitlers" part.

White isn't a race. There are no races, scientifically. But being white is a sign that you are descendent from European colonialists, and they are the one who have been re-writing history for 100s of years. We are the reason the oppression of billions has been erased from history. We are the only ones who own that, and it makes it just plan evil when we try and tell people it's wrong for them to not want to look at the symbols we used to oppress them because history is scared or something. If some other color people had won all the wars, they would have done the same. But they didn't ... we did.

France and Germany get a pass. They both teach of the atrocities they have committed by simultaneously making it illegal to glorify them.

@GannonBanned YOU WILL NOT FALL

I GOT YOUR BACK

For what it’s worth! LOL

NINJA APPROVED

@BloodNinja i suppose that was a bit mean. i really don't think much of the US education system, but i do know this guy does not know what fascism is.

@HeadPirate the "stalin killed more than 3 hitlers" is cold war propoganda.

@TryToBeHopeful I can love everyone and still think maybe they shouldn’t have a platform to vocalize hate.

I would hug a racist and ask him to repent, but I’d also place my hand over his mouth or my body in front of his fists if he was harming others.

@cdmac you're insane if you think Stalin wasn't a ruthless committer of genocide

@doctorhino sources please?

@cdmac Thank you, I appreciate that. I live in the US, and while I have my complaints about the system of education we use here, it still manages to turn out some brilliantly intelligent individuals, despite its flaws.

Remember, it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it, that counts!

NINJA APPROVED

MORE LOVE AND KINDNESS PEOPLE SEE THIS GUY DID IT SO CAN YOU

@doctorhino not all leftists are tankies, homeboy.

I can support marxist idealism without thinking Mao and Stalin were very good boys.

@cdmac you need me to teach you history to believe a man who sent everyone to Syberia and has countless historical records of him damning entire towns to death?

@GannonBanned It is always interesting to see what people "go to bat" over.

To be offended at the removal MORE than what it represents to others, just because it means nothing to them personally, just speaks a lot to the ignorance and twisted misuse of concepts of "censorship" and "free speech" ( and is it not free speech for the developer to choose to do this of their own volition?)

@TryToBeHopeful i had a feeling we were but wanted to expand my emotions outwardly in case I was giving you the wrong impression

@Darlinfan Since you're obviously not getting it. I'll spell it out: the iconography and symbols have meaning to people who are still alive today, many with negative connotations. Just because it doesn't affect you doesn't mean it's no big deal. It's a completely selfish way of thinking. Realizing that forcing people to be okay with the continued existence of symbols of those regimes is wrong, is an act of sympathy and compassion.

Actually take yourself and imagine being a victim of those regimes, how would you feel to see people proudly parading those symbols and icons around? It's not hard to figure out how you'd probably feel about that.

@AtlanteanMan So symbols of people who espoused hate, tried to enslave or kill people, and used their religion among other things as excuses to do the aforementioned, should be allowed to stand in public as symbols of power of a failed regime? For someone who minored in history, you seem to have very little understanding of what that means to let them continue to stand. It says their view of the world, the one that allowed slavery and mistreatment of fellow human beings to stand for hundreds of years, will be tolerated and allowed to continue to exist, for no reason other than "Freedom of Speech"

Which, by the way, I feel the need to inform you, is not how it works. The First Amendment keeps the government from jailing you for things you've said (the kind of thing you could've had happen to you in Colonial England). It does not however protect you from the consequences of your own words. To use a phrase: "Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose."

@doctorhino i'm not saying he didn't kill people. i'm saying most of the deaths attributed to him were propoganda and have since been debunked.

@Mallow I can just never wrap my head around people screaming and crying about how they’re NOT offended, darn it!!!!!

@TryToBeHopeful

I said they teach it. I said they don't teach about the fact that they ran concentration camps and committed genocide when they teach it.

Honestly, I apricate the comment and debate, but if you care enough to comment, care enough to read closely please.

I really get why the image of the rising sun would be removed entirely. It was something bought into concern for those that were planning on making faithful cosplays of characters from Kimetsu no Yaiba.

But leaving the wall so empty? A simple sun would make the wall faithful to the original design without being of offense for those that were affected by the actions of Imperial Japan.

And people should really learn to differentiate the Buddhist manji from the Nazi swastika. The swastika is a mirrored manji, at many times rotated 45°. It should be noted that the Wolfenstein games have you fighting Nazis, except in the German versions, we're anything Nazi is banned by law.

Lastly, a General Lee car without the Confederate flag isn't a General Lee. For pop culture references, that's the only acceptable use of the flag. Otherwise, it's considered a hate symbol.

@cdmac He killed countless people. Now if you want to bicker over numbers idk where to meet you in the middle. I think he is easily accountable for well over a million deaths due to forced starvation, enslavement and moving people to areas that are uninhabitable because he didn't like them.

He wasn't even a communist, he followed more of the ideals of a fascist or a dictator figure. He did not represent his people in a way that made them equals. He tore them apart.

@RupeeClock,

So you can keep things if it's a negative, but any symbol or flag that could show something in a positive light is right to be removed.

No issues with this, but who set the rules, and how do we gauge any possible offence?.

@doctorhino oh boy, wait until you hear about this Andrew Jackson character if you think deaths and starvation are bad!

Believe it or not, we have a TON of statues of him where I live, and boy I wish we didn’t!

@doctorhino well that's the point. it wasn't countless. many of the deaths attributed to him were caused by bad harvests and killing nazis. yes he was a paranoid man and killed many political prisoners.

It's Capcom's game and if they want to tone down the antiquated nationalism on display in E. Honda's bathhouse, then that's their prerogative.

I certainly have no problem with it - I think the only time I saw the old battle flag in Japan over the years was on the extreme right-wing propagandists' black vans, and on some of the tricked-out deco-trucks.

@GannonBanned I don't get it, are you sticking up for Stalin?

@khululy i feel like that analogy would carry more weight if the abused and battered surviving romans were still alive and having to see the iconography

@doctorhino no, I actually even specifically said in an earlier comment with you tagged that I didn’t support Stalin.

I just find it extremely sus that you pop up ex nihilo slamming the Soviet Union when you could be talking about the horrors of Japanese Imperialism? Or being nice to people?

Feels like you’re sliming in on a bad faith right wing sales pitch, so I’m asking you:

Friend or foe? Are you cool?

@Teksetter There is no room for this kind of logic and sense here, sir.

@GannonBanned Because someone was talking about the Soviet Union and this is a forum. We respond to each other. If you think saying Stalin is evil and committed genocide is right wing I think you're horribly confused.

So I was not being nice to people reciting a historical fact? I offend all the Russians who are still Stalinists. Spoiler alert, they don't exist anymore.

@GannonBanned and i'm sure you can be friends with so called "tankies"?

@doctorhino the question was, are you cool?

Next topic: Abortion....

@cdmac tankies deserve equal rights just like all other human beans, but I reserve the right to tell them to stop giving me copies of Bob Avakian’s Dream Journal

@GannonBanned Anyone ever told you that you look like Jared from Subway.

@cdmac You know Stalin was dead for 25 years before the start of the cold war, was Churchill's and the UK strongest and most trusted ally in the war, and Roosevelt called him a hero and perhaps the greater leader of all time right? If it was up to the US, we have have nationally holidays to celebrate Stalin.

We know about Stalin's atrocities for one reason and one reason only ... he bragged about them. A lot. When Roosevelt called his army brave he replied with "In my army, it takes more courage to retreat then to advance". This guy was NOT hiding what he was.

Oh you didn't know that? Why are you talking then?

@DenimDemon I'm a Belarusian, we have no genealogical trees not scarred by the Nazi invasion to various extent. How do I manage to play Wolfenstein games and not have a stroke?

I understand the emotions behind this logic, but that doesn't make the logic any less perverse. And if attempts to avoid insulting people come with the necessity of insulting Fiction, one can shove these attempts high up as far as I'm concerned.

People who are "affected by the iconography" are always welcome to steer clear of the products containing this iconography. But much of this "censorship" stems from the publishers going on a ghost hunt after these people's wallets as well, rarely realizing that most folks maintaining the sentiment in question will never bother with or so much as ever LEARN about the product in question. This practice does little but fuel the idea of condemning a once explicitly hijacked and misused symbol with conscious disregard for context. Which is an obscenity both within and outside the realm of fiction studies.

@TryToBeHopeful what are SWaPpies or should i not ask?

@doctorhino that's not cool.

@Darlinfan Welcome to the world governed by politically correctness BS we live in. Just breathing feels like walking on thermonuclear eggshells because someone might sue you if they get offended by the way you breath.

I don't blame the devs for playing it extra safe, but I do blame most of the world for using the "offended" excuse to veto/sue everyone and everything.

@nessisonett Most people don't even know about the religious symbol (which is mirrored for the Nazi symbol) and would get offended by peaceful Hindus. Everything is potentially offending and this is why I value respect over modern politically correctness BS.

@HeadPirate they needed stalin, but were only planning to betray him after the war. in fact they turned down his offer of help the first time because they hated communists so much. as others have said, keep it civil.

@TryToBeHopeful It doesn't take much effort to turn that "law" on its head. After all, if the comparisons are accurate and relevant to the discussion (and they are), then quoting it is an obvious attempt to deflect the truth, most likely to cover for one's own approval of leftist ideology and the protection of "the narrative". There's a reason history repeats itself; people like Godwin know how to distract others from what's really pertinent. Hey, the media's been doing it for years now.

@doctorhino not really, I have short, straight hair, a beard, and am 6’1” in skinny jeans and commie t shirts.

I do get told I look like Scott Disick all the time, and once at a Dave & Buster’s in Austin, TX a group of Puerto Rican women on a business trip were convinced I was him and took a group photo with me even as I assured them they were incorrect.

Time for ninja to go poof

smoke

chopped log

NINJA APPROVED

@Rhaoulos it really isn't that hard to not be offensive. if you say something somebody doesn't like, apologise and try not to say it again. that's not going to kill you.

I mean they could just remove it in East Asia?

@Rhaoulos if “don’t be sexist, homophobic or racist” feels like a nuclear landmine to you.....you might want to re-evaluate your moral values.

Its always fun coming in late to the comments section, and getting all riled up to post some long tangent, then after scrolling through 200+ comments, realizing everything's been covered, and there's nothing more to add to the conversation.

Not that this comment ended up adding anything to the conversation in the end. Oh well.

@TryToBeHopeful ahh. trotskys.

@AtlanteanMan @TryToBeHopeful wow, if you have a pre-existing grudge against Godwin you might want to revisit what forums you’re hanging out in

@Desrever hey I think you matter <3

@BloodNinja

We’re not sad because you left.

We’re happy because you came.

“Sail Ah Vee, friendo”

I understand why people would find this offensive but if this is removed from stuff shouldn't the Union Jack also get the same treatment?

@TryToBeHopeful sorry king/queen/non-binary royalty - I was responding to a response to you because I thought their claim was so outlandish I chipped in my two cents.

Mea culpa for any confusion

@The__Goomba the union jack does stand for a horrible history of empire and slavery, but it is also the current national flag of an existing country. hopefully one day that changes.

@Rhaoulos If a Japanese developer chooses to remove something related to Japanese history/culture from their own artwork, can you enlighten us over how this is political correctness run amok?

There is a lot of needless extrapolating here. This is not a case of "modern woke (insert prejoratives)" BS. Many here have bent over backwards to try and retrofit this into being an example of something it is not.

It is not censorship...a government or powerful entity has not forced Capcom to do this.

@cdmac

BAHAHAHahahahahahahhaha

No sorry, wait ...

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

Ok, ok, I can do this ...

ha ... ha ... You know Stalin wasn't a communist right?

That he actively opposed to communist party, renamed Lenongrade to Stalingrade to erase the father of communism from history? Called Marx a traitor and censored all pro-communist writings as Marxist propaganda right?

Honestly man, this is the most I've laughed scene the pandemic started. I can not thank you enough.

At least the flag was still there in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection to those who miss it. Not sure about Ultra SF2 though.

@HeadPirate you are rewriting a lot of history there. you are also being an *****.

I always thought E. Honda’s name was offensive. I always imagined people driving him. Seriously though. I had a rising sun bandana years ago I bought from a Japanese shop downtown in Mooresville NC. I walked into a coffee shop for veterans and got the “you got a target on your head, boy.” joke. Hence... WW2 and all that... I bought it because it looked cool and it reminded me of stuff I’d seen in movies, and the Loudness album cover. A few years later I joined the USAF. Not there anymore as that was years ago. However, I wouldn’t wear another flag but an American one now. Still love Japanese stuff, but I can see where people outside of Japan aren’t fond of that flag.

@GannonBanned What a perfect illustration of being offended by everything. You are comparing breathing to being sexist, homophobic or racist. It's like comparing being PC and being brain damaged

@TryToBeHopeful yes, leftist media like the WaPo, run by Comrade Bezos.

Mike Godwin is a lawyer who said if you argue long enough on the internet, Hitler always gets brought up.

That got turned into a “Law” where whoever says “Hitler” first is ruled out by the invisible debate umpire.

I'm likely only picking up volume one of the stadium arcade collection. I've been having fun with it. Rewind is a life saver for these very, very tough games.

I already have Ultra Street Fighter II, so not sure I need four more versions of pretty much the same game.

As for the level edit, not the hill I'm going to die on, unlike some of the commenters here.

@Mallow

Is it "censorship" when Disney removes a black guy from a Star Wars poster to appease the racist Chinese?

@Rhaoulos hey, that’s a good point! I have mental health issues and am a Social Justice Wario.

You did it, you cracked the code

To me as long as it doesn't the context of the game then it really doesn't bother me.

If I remember correctly it was either apple or google that started removing apps and games from their service that contained the confederate flag. The problem is that this included civil war games.

If it just a background piece then I don't care but if they are trying to remove something that was part of a historical event then that would be an issue to me as I see it trying to change history.

Makes sense... as games are more and more often being released officially in China... you probably wanted this out before the game got into Nanking.

@cdmac I always apologise when there is a reason for it. If I say something confusing that could be interpreted differently, I'll always correct it.

The problem is people being offended on purpose for whatever reason. There needs to be a limit to what "being offended" means, or would spend 70% of our lives apologising following your logic.

Also I was offended by your comment. Apologise at once!

Some of you need to read for context

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50285383

@TryToBeHopeful oh, as for that part, he received a giant grant from the Commie Corporation to discredit people who are “not a racist but just asking questions” so feel free to make sure you offend the “right” kind of people and then you can censor away!

@ResoluteGP the original boards and backed up ROMs still exist. until recently china and korea banned a lot of japanese products. now capcom wants to sell versions there too. that's all there is to it.

@Rhaoulos haha, i don't think you were really offended. honestly though, how often do you actually end up offending somebody?

@KillerBOB They reduced the size of Boyega on the poster, they didn't remove him...so that isn't censorship...more like an appalling appeasement of racism.

@ResoluteGP ah yes, the distant past of a 30 year old game.

I have my OG copy of SFII for SNES, I see this flag all the time.

However, Nintendo has not yet made Zombies At My Neighbors available on the SNES Online, so Konami, Nintendo, and LucasArts are collaborating to erase history!!!

@GannonBanned I'll give it to you, the "Social justice Wario" made me laugh (don't forget Waluigi or people will ask for him as a DLC!). I thought your previous comment was serious but you were obviously just pulling my leg.

Please, anyone who supports this, and the people who actually approved it--get the **** out of my face.

PS. And, to respond to the question at the end of the article, I prefer the original, by far.

Just finished reading through this whole comment section.

Welp, that's enough internet for today!

@Rhaoulos yes and no - I was being hyperbolic because at the end of the day this is NintendoLife, not the Hague or a UN Summit on equality, but also I am a bleeding heart pinko commie SJW and make no apologies for it either.

But I like to have fun and joke and pal around, and being born and raised in the South in an extremely “being PC is for <gay slurs>” family I’ve learned to just roll with the (literal) punches.

I love everyone

is was mostly an interesting debate. i don't usually do this on the internet.

@RupeeClock To be fair, the Axis powers of WWII were defeated by a world-wide cabal bent on global domination and erasing their beliefs from history (sarcasm if that isn't obvious)

@impurekind wow, yet you use a site that would censor your ability to use a curse word.

Better delete that account.

“It’s about principles” - Ralph Fiennes, In Bruges

Cancal Culture is Cancer to art and creativity! What these SJW Wokes are doing to things we like is sacrilegious.

@cdmac yeah, but your fly was down the whole time.

Me and the boys were over here laughing it up

People are so ***** sensitive. It's history. Yes, it's unfortunate that it's a symbol of a dark period in Asian history, but it is also a graphical element that depicts a specific period in time. Editing history and censoring things that people find offensive is wrong. What's next? Swastikas are going to be edited out of Wolfenstein?

Disappointing to see Capcom selling out their home country to appease foreign activists. Oh well, I'll at least get to enjoy the delicious schadenfreude when the people praising this censorship turn around and whine about western companies censoring their products to appease China.

@Chamver it doesn't represent a period in time. the game isn't set during WW2. it's a painting in a bath house lol

@cdmac I certainly was... Not. I don't get offended if people have a different opinions. They're like buttholes, everyone has one. It's just that some people act like said buttholes when they can't accept it.

@Freak_Show they are appeasing foreign customers. they are a company that wants to sell more copies. perhaps they are being respectful too, who knows?

@nhSnork hi man. Sure. But this is not Wolfenstein. Its Saturday Morning Cartoon Street Fighter 2.

297 comments in, has anybody posted the infamous " Hill to die on " comment.

@johnvboy yes. don't remember who it was.

@DenimDemon,

You are correct, until this was pointed out I never even thought about anything negative about the offending sun image.

@cdmac,

Just needed to tick it off my outrage bingo card, just had to leave the forum for a while, and have some dinner.

@GannonBanned Well, you've taught me my lesson--fo sho!

I guess we should go in and censor all those thousands of classical paintings portraying the likes of violence against both men and women, acts of war, various sexual and sexually perverse acts, various naked/tortured/sexualised/etc depictions of various religious deities, and so on, that some people would find offensive too then?

Let's just delete all of history, and all works of historical significance, and all artistic creations, and so on--don't wanna upset anyone....

@TryToBeHopeful cool, thanks

@Chamver tell me everything you learned about pre-war Imperial Japan from your playthrough of Street Fighter II.

I’m curious what HISTORY is on the line

@Freak_Show actually that Japan was a different Japan

@impurekind nobody is saying paintings should be changed. capcom put out a new release and made a change for a modern and more international audience.

@impurekind believe it or not, I would probably have a problem if Capcom put a painting illustrating sexual torture as a prominently placed background object in a fighting game for children.

Call me a humorless scold, I suppose, since we live in a world of manichean opposites which contains absolutely no nuance or context.

@cdmac But let's....

@GannonBanned Yeah, you turned that point all around and upside down in your head, didn't you.

I can see what I'm dealing with now.

@cdmac I have seen no evidence to suggest that these foreign activists are actually customers in any significant numbers. But even if they are, Capcom is still selling out their home for (potential) money, which is disappointing.

@GannonBanned I also love everyone until people convince me individually that I should hate them instead. And I get where you come from, I'm team PC/Android in a apple fan boys family that acts like hardcore Nazis and insult you when they disagree.

But pushing the " being offended" to its limit, you'd start a petition to change the colour on our beloved NintendoLife because that exact shade of red reminds you of something related to blood, or communism, or your ex from 15 years ago. Don't you dare change that shade of red! I wouldn't be offended, but really pissed off.

Not surprised. People get butt hurt over the dumbest crap these days. This was one of my fav stages on SF2...

@ResoluteGP they can have their cake and eat it. they are literally doing it. it's just pissing some people off for some reason.

@Rhaoulos Yeah, exactly: What if it reminds him of the N*zi party or communist China or communist Russia or....

Petition to change NintendoLife's colour immediately....

@Rhaoulos your examples are facetious.

@ResoluteGP that all or nothing mindset is an absolutely terrible logical fallacy.

Wait until you learn that Mortal Kombat was censored for release on Super Nintendo!

Did you know that Wal Mart sells versions of CDs with the profanity removed?

Wow, we truly live in the new dark ages.

@Freak_Show capcom probably wouldn't be doing it if there wasn't a financial incentive. their market researchers probably know more than we do.

@impurekind check this out:

When they play rated R movies on TV, they remove certain profanities, drug use, and explicit sex or violence.

Now it’s happened on a video game.

This is how the world has worked for time immemorial.

@TryToBeHopeful vegan cake to get people really riled up!

@cdmac baseless speculation

@Freak_Show educated guess. i've worked in the games industry for a long time.

@Rhaoulos yeah but that’s pretty excessive. Like, I live in America but if somebody in Nagasaki was triggered by Guile’s stage I would extend them sympathy and kindness.

@Mallow I don't speak English well enough or am not young enough to understand half your comment. But do you think they would have made this change if it wasn't to avoid PC BS?

@TryToBeHopeful these leftists and their fascism personally paid ticket money to see Captain Marvel, KNOWING it had Brie Larson in it!

My mind recoils from such horrors.

@TryToBeHopeful i'm 100% vegan and just living the left-wing commie educator stereotype.

@impurekind get what? That you’re offended other people are offended and a company is choosing to use their development resources to alleviate the offense?

I flatter myself that you made it perfectly clear.

@cdmac self-proclaimed educated guess with zero evidence to back it up

wowww over 333 comments about the rising sun in honda's stage

@Freak_Show i mean it's only logical. companies are there to make money. they don't usually do stuff, unless it's to make money.

@ResoluteGP Solomon was actually pretty dumb, but I digress....

I don’t know how to explain it to you more clearly, but:

When MK was made, it wasn’t censored.

When those artists were performing, it wasn’t censored.

Those changes were made retroactively.

For the record, Han Shot First

@jancotianno,

The moral outrage is strong with this one.

Wow you guys...talk about beat the dead horse...

@cdmac a real leftist would know that veganism is bourgeoisie affectation!

@cdmac it this an admission that your previous statement "perhaps they are being respectful" is highly unlikely?

@GannonBanned i know you're joking, but i've heard it before and i disagree. reducing the suffering in the world, environmentalism and more land for growing crops for people.

@Freak_Show yes, i said perhaps because i doubted that was the case.

@TryToBeHopeful had two different jokes, couldn’t decide which to use

A) david wrote most of them, and he was a scruffy nerd herder with a slingshot. How hard could it be?

B) i have dozens in my drafts, but I’m a poor editor, I never know when to put in a selah

@ResoluteGP hey, I’m a Christian, and I say Solomon was dumb because (supposedly, in my religion) he had actual conversations with god/God and had his wish granted, but then switched teams later in life to false gods that didn’t exist.

If someone starved to death because they kept eating exclusively sand, I would feel fine questioning their wisdom

@GannonBanned Reductio ad absurdum. Push it to its limit and you see how little sense it makes. Another stupid comparison that makes sense: why is a polluting car from 1950 acceptable when a modern one needs to have far less emission? Why isn't it the same for videogames? It is perfectly acceptable in retro gaming, why shouldn't it be in a compilation.

This is just food for thoughts. I'm not saying it should be the same in every domain, but highlighting the issues of "being offended".

It's disappointing but not surprising people are offended because of a basic act of human decency.

@cdmac then we agree on that at least. But I'm not gullible to believe anything without stated evidence, so I'm still not convinced that a significant number of these foreign activists are also customers

@cdmac oh yeah, I was drawing from my memories pre-pandemic from “conversations that I drink through because it’s so dumb”.

I’m a future vegan, I haven’t been able to fully commit yet because I’d be dragging my family into it with me, but I’m definitely an ally

@Freak_Show why are you calling them activists? regular people are able to have an opinion.

@Rhaoulos that’s actually still a bad example, because it’s not like Capcom is forbidding the sale of old carts, they’re just altering the current product.

If you wanted to make a car now that had 1950’s emissions, it wouldn’t be ok

@cdmac Depends on who you are asking really.

@TryToBeHopeful on man I’m jealous.

“Why can’t you tolerate my intolerance” is one of my favez

@Freak_Show i think the point you’re missing is, now that they’ve made the change, they’re hoping to court those customers

@cdmac activists aren't regular people?

@AtlanteanMan Good “Rant” 👍🏻 This idiotic cancel culture needs to end. All adults have the right to think for themselves.

@Freak_Show sure they are, it's just an odd choice to use the word activist. it implies they are people who are more political than the average person.

@HeadPirate Miss me with that white guild, plenty 'none white' cultures and people have been guilty of erasure of history or justification of past atrocities.
There is no denying that all history is written in the blood of it's victims but no one has a monopoly of evil in this world.

@ResoluteGP have a nice day - sorry things didn’t work out between us, I tried 😞

Anyway guys, SF2 is one hell of a game isn't?
Changed the arcade and home console gaming landscape for good.

As fun as it is to stir some beehives now and then, let's all realize that having different opinions can be a healthy and interesting thing.
Most of the people here are not evil or nasty people because in my experience most people aren't, wether you like em or not.

Whatever you do, don't be like Shadaloo

At least we can all agree that we all like video games. 👍🏻

@PatrickMarioMan “love the games; hate the gamers” as the old saying goes

@khululy i was convinced as a child if I could get amazing bangs like Vega, the rest of my life would just fall into place nicely

@RupeeClock,

Fair enough, as I said I was not condoning anything, and I am not sure what people want, has to be a balance somewhere though.

For instance what if you had a statue of a historical figure that did a lot of great things, but was also part of something that was not so good, as I said there has to be a balance.

@TryToBeHopeful tell us who your main is so we can start disagreeing on something

@cdmac activist only implies vocally or physically advocating for something, which is really easy for regular people nowadays with social media

if there's a statue of somebody who had anything to do with slavery, tear it down and scrap it. it really isn't that hard.

@Freak_Show you’re confusing activism with slacktivism.

Tweets don’t feed the hungry, that’s just organizing.

And if you don’t have a circle to organize, it’s just complaining.

@TryToBeHopeful Fox, Kirby, or (shudders) a Mii.

@TryToBeHopeful i picked a poor choice of words

@TryToBeHopeful it’s ok tho, I play as the King of Evil, Ganondorf, who is OP if anyone is.

oh man, my inbox is full now. i guess that's a setting i can change.

dunno. i really did think this was going to reach at least 500 haha