ottoecamn

@CrimsonDragoon yeah... no. A game running like ass never stopped a switch release (look at Arkham knight) I don't but that for a second.

I am shocked at this. This flies directly in the face of what Furukawa said in 2019.

I quote "Nintendo, as do 3rd-parties and their software, applies for an objective rating from 3rd-party organizations prior to release. If platform-holding companies choose arbitrarily, the diversity and fairness in game software would be significantly inhibited. We provide parental controls that can be used to apply limits."

This has to be NoA and NoE pulling some shenanigans. and I'd REALLY urge everyone who even remotely cares about freedom of expression in games to email Nintendo of Japan talking about this situation. If we can bully Nintendo of America into releasing the Operation Rainfall games in the west by being relentless, we need to do the same here. because this is simply unnaceptable.

@OstianOwl the problem was that, unlike bayonetta or even mythra, mai would require a DRASTIC change. So he figured it wasn't worth going through that just for a cameo.

@Not_Soos from what I've remeber, what he actually did was something about CERO no allowing for Mai to appear in her original look. So yes, "the good boys and girls" was a localization choice.

if you ever needed a more obvious indicator that Nintendo won the console war.

They're the only ones of the big 3 that haven't caved to putting their software in rival platforms. they know their own value.

@RubyCarbuncle not liking the artstyle is fine, the problem is saying "The Artstyle is ugly therefore it's fine that it was rejected".

@MARl0 I just learned of the existence of Prison Princess 2 and if that's true, I'll be extremely disappointed, one of the main reasons I dropped every other major console except for Nintendo was because Furukawa was the only CEO of the Big 3 to openly denounce censorship and say in no uncertain terms that Nintendo doesn't censor third parties.

Really hope NoA isn't taking things in their own hands. I tried googling about it after reading your comment and the only "proof" I found was someone commenting "Nintendo of America and Europe are not allowing lewd games like this on their eShops anymore. Tokyo Clanpool is also not coming to the Western eShops and they directly cited this as the reason."

This is quite worrisome.

@Zaruboggan say, this might be a long shot but, is there a way you contact the devs to get clarification? if nothing else, it'd be good to have just to understand what happened here.

Assuming this WAS censorship, When we complain about the west becoming overly puritanical and censorious, this here is exactly what we try to warn people about.

I haven't heard of this game before and Shmups aren't my cup-o-tea, but it's ridiculous that this game gets refused classification over what seems to be just suggestive imagery and covered up cartoon boobs, while stuff like Last of Us 2 can have realistic graphic violence, full frontal nudity, and a sex scene.

People saying like "the game looks bad", or "looks mid" are entirely missing the point here.

Wasn't this really poorly received? I remember hearing it was a huge disappointment.

Gun? check.
Maria? check.
Pissing on the moon? check.
Double Jim Carrey? check.

This movie is gonna be peak fiction.

@stinkyx I am! though I'd be content with a Dead or Alive 5 Deluxe on Switch to hold me over. (it's probably my favorite fighting game ever made. I main La Mariposa).

Hopefully the Switch's successor will be their priority and not the Playstation, not only does Nintendo not impose censorship regulations (which is why I STRONGLY defend that Dead or Alive should come back with the Switch as its only console), but Koei Tecmo and Nintendo have been doing some fantastic work together!

@Carck exaclty. it's one thing to be indifferent, if you're to personally bothered by the changes, that's one thing, but to come out and attack people who are upset and actually defend the censorship is a whole 'nother thing.

@nessisonett well mate, if you want an example of "what else are they gonna do?" look no further than Senran Kagura.

Senran Kagura Burst Renewal came out on both PS4 and PC, however, the PS4 released had to be delayed to remove a feature called "Intimacy mode" from the dress up menu (mind you, this feature was in every single Senran Kagura game after Shinovi Versus, and is present in Senran Kagura Reflexions and Peach Ball on the Switch).

Next thing that happens, due to Sony's censorship policy and an allegedly exclusivity contract, the franchise is now dead. the series creator left Marvelous and expressed in no uncertain terms that with their new regulations, it'd be impossible to make Senran Kagura 7EVEN (the next game in the franchise that was highly anticipated by fans) in its original vision.

Ever since that, SK only exists as a Mobile game thats Japanese exclusive.

So yes, they DO take a mile if you give them an inch. I'm honestly surprised they haven't covered up Baiken yet but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they did.

I said it before and I'll say it again.
Strive is what happens when a Typically anime-style over-the-top japanese property tries to cater to the west. every design gets toned down (not just the female characters, every single design is more boring and less striking than Xrd), the colors get muted, and every edge gets sanded off. and everything that's "problematic" has to get removed.

This game is a piece of *****. I'm glad I never bought it, They didn't need to give another reason to never wanna touch it but I guess they did now. It's not like I hadn't already long lost my respect for this team.

Censoring a feature long after a game's been released so you can't refund it's a one-way ticket to guarantee I'll never buy another game by these developers again.

@Lizuka How does this address any type of rating issue when the game has been out for literal years and not a single soul ever complained about it.

@MeanBeanEgg mate, Yuji Horii himself expressed he didn't like the changes. Why you defend something even the original creator isn't in favor of?

Disappointed but not surprised you guys didn't bring up that many fans enjoy the west were displeased with the censorship of the designs. They keep being told there's "regulations" not allowing to keep things as they were when that's blatantly untrue, and it's so rare that someone who, as a writer in a site such as this (whoch is a loy more respectable than something like kotaku or ign), would be perfectly aware of the sentiments of western players gets to talk to one of the producers and don't let them know.
I'm not saying the whole interview should be about that, but but it should've been brought up since it's a point of contention for a lot of people (specially when Toriyama's art gets brought up in the interview).

I'm beyond excited for this!

@rvcolem1 the game itself is really fun they just really need to fix the switch version. Fortunately the deck have been very communicative and open and are working on updates (not just performance, but they'll add new outfits too).

Too bad the Japanese version doesn't come with an option to revert the censorship. I would've imported it if it did.

She's pretty but considering how phoebe waller bridge is involved in the production, and how the western companies want to "update Lara for Modern audiences" (they don't even want her to raid tombs anymore cuz that's cultural appropriation), I fully expect this series to be ass. I'd love to be proven wrong, but don't think I will.

@TotalHenshin look up Sonic P-06. And you'll see that thr level design in 06 is actually pretty good. It's the controls that made 'em look bad. Not to menti9n the soundtrack is excellent, and the story from shadow and silvers perspective is pretty good (there's a reason fans were so excited to see Mephiles return in Shaodw Generations).

@Orpheus79V fair point, still it was leagues better than what NoA was doing in the Wii U and 3DS days.

@Steel76 if you're saying you miss the dawn covers like SA2, I agree.

The Japanese cover is so mych better it ain't even funny.

I was looking forward to this, but worried nobody was talking about it. Decided to get it day one anyway and I'm very pleasantly surprise. It's cool that the day 1 edition came with an art book and soundtrack, all at no additional cost.

@jesse_dylan Nintendo did get better on the Switch generation, with games like Xenoblade 2 coming over unchanged, even with crazy risque designs like Newt. but the industry as a whole is probably as the worst it's ever been with censorship, specially after playstation shifted it's HQ to california and f*cked every developer that liked doing fanservice.

@jesse_dylan it's only made weird here because the content gets removed, which prompts people to ask why and it devolves from there. Had they left the game alone, I guarantee you nobody would be talking about it. Also, if you wanna bring age rating into the question, games like samurai Maiden, Senran Kagura burst, and even xenoblade 2 itself all have T ratings. A book slider would not raise the age rating past a T.

People wanna day this is a non-issue. And it would've been if they hadn't removed the feature.

@jesse_dylan you do realize Nintendo saved bayonetta, the woman who gets naked when she fights and constantly makes suggestive poses ans sexual innuendos, from oblivion and went out of their way to tell Platinum to make the link costume Sexier right?

Not to mention that they HAD all of that in the original Japanese release. All I'm arguing for is that the original vision be preserved.

@LikelySatan again, not part of the development team. they're employed by completely different segments of the company. they went in after the game was finished and removed the bits they didn't like.

@Finntendo Here's the thing mate, I too have played character customization games without a boob slider and I don't have a problem with them. What you're ignoring is that this WAS a feature that WAS included in the game, but then got removed from the in the western release. in a game that features LOTS of revealing outfits. (and again, I don't mind Lyn being the only one to have this toned down as long as the rest of the cast is unaltered).

Having that Slider only gives people the option, games are fantasy, escapism. if someone wants to run around in a big fantasy world as a big boobed anime woman in cyber lingerie, let 'em. if that's not your thing, that's fine, X allowed for both. Why would you support NOT having the option to chose?

I kinda blame the Nintendo World Report. not everyone knows the game has customizable outfits and this is a lot of people's first time seeing Elma. we've seen A LOT of Remasters censoring outfits so you can't blame anyone for being concerned.

My main worries are: Are any of the existing outfits going to be toned down and is the Breast Slider going to be restored? there was absolutely no reason to remove what is a standard slider for customizing a female character from the game. These are fair concerns to have and is very disappointing seeing people so dismissive of that. it's fine if you particularly isn't bothered, but why is it such a bad thing for people to want aspects of the game they liked to be preserved?

@LikelySatan yes. because the localizers are outside actors. they took no part in the creation of the game. just removed a feature they personally didn't like despite it being a staple of character creators. and, Remember the Yuji Horiie interview, the West is ALWAYS the ones pushing censorship and alterations of japanese art.

@Samalik oof, that's not very reassuring, I'm still gonna "wait and see" for now, since they are doing the thing they did with Xenoblade 1 DE and redoing all the models in a new artstyle. so far, doesn't look like anything was removed, but we need more information.

@Samalik I get what you mean, ideally, nothing should be censored, but I'm saying that if Lyn is the only compromise, I can accept that. to me it's more important that the rest of the characters get their uncensored outfits and that the Breast Slider isn't removed.

@N8tiveT3ch Nintendo isn't Sega. they don't operate in the same way (plus X has a higher age rating).

Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but usually when something gets changed in Nintendo games, it's NoA's touch of death. I'm just hoping the japanese branch keep them in check this time. since they DID get a lot better about not letting Three House censor their games when the Switch launched (granted, if Fire Emblem Engage and Paper Mario are anything to go by, they need to clean house again).

I am VERY excited!

I just hope it's uncensored this time. I don't really mind Lin (who is a child) getting toned down outfits since the rest of the cast had them uncensored, but one thing that was ridiculous was the removal of the breast slider from character customization.

I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic, mostly because XC1DE didn't get any of it's more spicy outfits toned down.

of course they would. Westerners respecting rules in Japan? never!

How to make your fitness franchise prosper? Make sure the instructors are hot!

I talked about this in another post, but I think it bears repeating here:

other than the Rouge situation, I don't really see the dialogue changes as censorship.

Sega had revealed a while back that they were gonna have the dialogue be rewritten. Generations was written back in what so.e call the "Meta Era" of Sonic (the 2010s, post colors), when they had the writers Pontac and Graff working on the games. These guys admitted in an interview that they didn't really know or cared about sonic prior to getting the job and all they did after being hired was "watch some cutscenes on youtube to get the gist of it", that's why every game in that era has that cringe Saturday morning cartoon humor and the characters act like parodies of themselves (with knuckles in particular being made into a joke).

After they FINALLY got rid of those guys and brought Ian Flynn (who's been writing the comics since 06) to wrote Frontiers and that resulted into a shift back to the 'Adventure Era' style of stories (like we saw with the Dark Beginins Shorts) and the most well received Sonic story in years, they wanted to rewrite the Sonic part so it wouldn't be as jarring when put next to the Shadow part. Knowing the context, to me, removing stuff like Sonic putting his hand on Amy's face and Knuckles eing slammed into a tree, or not making a "gained weight" joke wasn't done out of censorship and political correctness, but out of an attempt to take the characters more seriously.

Heck, on the Amy note, Ian actually addressed it in his podcast a few years ago when a fan noticed that Sega was already trying to move away from having Amy be obsessed with Sonic be her defining trait (it's been happening since Lost World) and he said that, to him, her feelings towards Sonic should absolutely still be part of who she is (and he even still sprinkles moments of that in IDW comics, she's just less over the top and abrasive about it), but he's ultimately beholden to write what Sega wants him to write.

That being said, no excuses for what they did to rouge's model, that is censorship and I will definitely not ever defend it. Her model was fine and unchanged as recently as Mario and Sonic at the 2020 Olympics, and if NINTENDO of all people didn't have a problem with Rouge's cleavage being put next to their squeaky clean Mario, there's no justifiable reason to do what they did to her model. It was never a problem and it never affected the games' age rating.

TLDR, Rouge's model change is a change made out of censorship, but while there's PLENTY of remakes and remasters that rewrote things for the sake of removing what they deemed "problematic". (I myself called these out like removing catcalling or jokes in Paper Mario, or the atrocity that was the Dead Rising Remake), but this isn't the case here. though I don't blame anyone who isn't aware of the finer details of the reasoning for thinking so.

@Samalik Indeed, I'd say there's an argument to be made regarding whether or not the changes are an improvement or not (personally, i despise the Pontaff years, so as far as I'm concerned, nothing of value was lost) and it is odd that they didn't change certain animations to fit the new dialogue.

But I've a lot of people on our side of the argument conflate the writing changes and Rouge as both being instances of politically correct censorship when Id say, knowing the entire context, only the latter is. (Heck, I wasn't even gonna play the Sonic side cuz I hate the Meta Era writing, and hearing that Flynn was rewriting the whole thing actually made me wanna play it).

But I know there's a lot of cases nowadays of remakes arbitrarily changing things and censoring them, so I don't blame anyone for jumping to that conclusion.

@Samalik actually, other than the Rouge situation, I don't really see the rest as censorship at least not for the most part.

Sega had revealed a while back that they were gonna have the dialogue be rewritten. Generations was written back in what so.e call the "Meta Era" of Sonic (the 2010s, post colors), when they had the writers Pontac and Graff working on the games. These guys admitted in an interview that they didn't really know or cared about sonic prior to getting the job and all they did after being hired was "watch some cutscenes on youtube to get the gist of it", that's why every game in that era has that cringe Saturday morning cartoon humor and the characters act like parodies of themselves (with knuckles in particular being made into a joke).

After they FINALLY got rid of those guys and brought Ian Flynn (who's been writing the comics since 06) to wrote Frontiers and that resulted into a shift back to the 'Adventure Era' style of stories (like we saw with the Dark Beginins Shorts) and the most well received Sonic story in years, they wanted to rewrite the Sonic part so it wouldn't be as jarring when put next to the Shadow part. Knowing the context, to me, removing stuff like Sonic putting his hand on Amy's face and Knuckles eing slammed into a tree, or not making a "gained weight" joke wasn't done out of censorship and political correctness, but out of an attempt to take the characters more seriously.

Heck, on the Amy note, Ian actually addressed it in his podcast a few years ago when a fan noticed that Sega was already trying to move away from having Amy be obsessed with Sonic be her defining trait (it's been happening since Lost World) and he said that, to him, her feelings towards Sonic should absolutely still be part of who she is (and he even still sprinkles moments of that in IDW comics, she's just less over the top and abrasive about it), but he's ultimately beholden to write what Sega wants him to write.

That being said, no excuses for what they did to rouge's model, that is censorship and I will definetly not ever defend it. He model was fine and unchanged as recently as Mario and Sonic at the 2020 Olympics, and if NINTENDO of all people didn't have a problem with Rouge's cleavage being put next to their squeaky clean Mario, there's no justifiable reason to do what they did to her model. It was never a problem and it never affected the games' age rating.

@jowy_sw It's not a conspiracy when you can find video of SBI employees making presentations where they say with their own mouth that their goal is to burn the industry to the ground and bring up how they're needed because otherwise the industry will be filled with people like Quentin Taramtino (their words, not mine). Not to mention that now we have heard straight form people like Yuji Horiie about how Americans have this narrow minded idea of what's appropriate and force it on japanese game developers.

Also, what SBI defenders such as yourself dont understand is that There's a difference between having diversity happen naturally in a game or even political themes in a story and shoving american left-wing current day politics in a game to lecture players. Baldur's Gate 3 gives players freedom to express themselves and doesn't try to lecture the player, And Alan Wake 2 was a financial flop.

I remember playing this as a kid on PC. I feel so old

I remember being interested in this game when it was announced as it's not often we see a game (or any media really) based on African mythology, But I changed my mind when I saw SBI was involved.

Seems like I was not the only one.

@SillyG play-asia could've done it and CDPR did it with Witcher 3.

sigh.... it was HAD to be Limited Run eh?