'Vagina Bones,' Kirby's Eyebrows, And Other Bizarre American Video Game Changes

Kirby, Fire Emblem, Resident Evil, and Mega Man? You're looking...different

America’s birthday is nearly upon us, and you know what that means: It’s time to loudly blow stuff up so that we can drown out the self-conscious voices in our heads that remind us how weird and bad America can be. In honor of All Of That, this week’s Splitscreen is about how games from other countries get changed to appeal to our delicate American sensibilities—and vice versa.

To kick off the episode, Ash Parrish, Mike Fahey, and I dig into the strangest instances of games being changed for the West, including the “vagina bones” controversy surrounding Tokyo Mirage Sessions back in 2016, Kirby’s angry eyebrows, the original Mega Man’s low-key terrifying box art, the profanity-inspired origin of Pac-Man’s name, Fire Emblem’s gay conversion therapy controversy, and that one time a Mario game almost included blackface.

Then we flip things around and discuss Western games that had to be reconfigured for international audiences. For example, you’d better believe that a whole lot of things pertaining to nukes changed in the Japanese version of Fallout 3, including the name of the weapon for the bomb America dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.

Source: Kotaku