It seems that the following article is well known among fans of “Maniac Mansion”, but since I don’t know the game very well nor I know how it was developed and marketed, I have found this reading extremely interesting.
The author, Douglas Crockford, explains which questionable changes had to be made to the NES version of the game in order to pass the scrutiny of the Nintendo censorship.
What I find particularly puzzling is the logic behind the Nintendo policy. They asked to remove suggestive contents but violence was somehow accepted and Nintendo had no issues at all with what happens to the hamster:
They didn’t object to the nasty stuff that happens to the hamster. Ron suggested that it was just violence.
Killing the hamster is an Easter egg and not required for completing the game. There is a chance they may have just overlooked it.
But nonetheless, most games on such consoles were about shooting enemies, so naturally violence was much less of an issue.
In retrospect I wonder why Maniac Mansion wasn’t banned in Germany…
Because of the violence of course, not the nudity. If you would have showed them at the Bundesprüfstelle killing the hamster like that… I don’t know if they would have liked it
Btw. recently there were episodes on ZDF about Killerspiele (“killer games”), including @BorisFromGermany talking about censoring of games for instance, and old footage of women from the Bundesprüfstelle trying to figure out a game (spolier: they needed to get an expert/teenager).
I am skeptic that the hamster would have been enough to ban the game: You don’t need to kill the hamster to progress (it has even negative consequences if you show the “microwaved” hamster to Ed) and the game doesn’t show how the hamster is killed (you only see the abstract result of the explosion). There were other not banned games with more violence.
You can also see it like that:
There is no gameplay/story reason to kill the hamster, it’s just “for fun”. Doesn’t this sound even worse?
You put it into a microwave, turn if on, the hamster explodes and leaves a bloody mess (which you can pick up).
There isn’t much more you can show? (At least with this graphics style)
Although this may not be enough to ban the game, what about mass murder? This is a topic the BPjM is particularly sensitive about.
Ask the BPjM. I would say no, because MM is a comic game.
You …
… said it. With that logic you have to ban other games too - including several Infocom games.
(btw: For all non-germans: The BPjM doesn’t ban games. They were only classified as inappropriate for children with the consequences that no one is allowed to advertise the game and to sell it to kids under 18. But the games were still available - like VHS videos for adults.)
What? Mass murder in MM? Maybe I played a different game… And please remember that the BPjM refused to ban Counterstrike…
@milanfahrnholz: Yes, she is the one who appears in interviews. But the decision was (and is) made by a council.
This was much later, they are getting more and more tolerant with time.
Just look at Mortal Kombat X: As far as I know it’s not on the Index, just 18+!
Back then this wasn’t much of a difference, it effectively was a ban since without Internet or other means of getting information about such game to the masses they just didn’t sell.
So later many game developers started censoring their Germany versions just to be sure it’s rating will be fine (thanks again but hey, sometimes it was quite funny, e.g. robots in Half-Life instead of human grunts).
Because they can’t: AFAIK if the USK has approved / labeled the game, they can’t ban it anymore.
Yes and no. In most cases the potential players knew the games because they were “banned” after their release (back then the BPjM was allowed to review a game only if someone told them to do so - for example parents). I bought Doom after the ban without problems at a local games shop.
I would say no, because MM is a comic game.
but hey, sometimes it was quite funny, e.g. robots in Half-Life instead of human grunts).