5 Video Games From The ’80s That Were Censored In America

Since the early days of the medium, video games have been known to stir up controversy, with discerning parents paying close attention to what their children are playing. In the 1980s, many adults were highly skeptical about the gaming industry, with media scaremongering about the effects games could have on children causing a panic. Newspaper headlines like “Are We Raising A Nation of Vidiots?” led to developers and publishers heavily retooling some games for the North American market to avoid the wrath of the anti-gaming movement.

It’s important to note that, while the level of panic was certainly over the top, the concern that parents felt wasn’t completely unfounded — there are several ’80s games that would be banned if released today, after all. The games we’re covering in this list would have no doubt come under fire from folks had they been released in their original form. From games that originally contained shocking levels of violence to one that heavily featured an infamous dictator, these titles were all heavily censored in North America.

The 1985 game “Ice Climber” brought arcade action to the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System. Players control protagonists Popo and Nana as they ascend multi-level stages. The two wintry explorers battle different enemies on their way upward, including polar bears. The characters are armed with large wooden mallets, not just to combat enemies, but to break through the icy ceilings above them to continue the climb. The higher the climbers get, the more platforming obstacles they encounter, like conveyor belts and moving clouds. One enemy type present in Japan that didn’t come to North America are seals, which could be defeated by a blow to the head like any other creature.

Execs at Nintendo were apparently worried that this part of the game would be likened to seal clubbing, which was very much in the public consciousness at the time. This practice, which was common in Canada, had sparked massive protests. In fact, less than two weeks after the game’s release, the Canadian Sealers Association released a statement confirming that the commercial clubbing of whitecoated harp seal pups in Canada was being stopped due to the backlash. ”There will be no commercial clubbing of whitecoats in the foreseeable future, perhaps never again,” the association’s executive director Kirk Smith said (via The New York Times). Nintendo’s decision to swap the seals for little creatures resembling yetis was definitely a wise one.

Capcom’s 1988 adventure platformer “Bionic Commando” saw a significant content change when it was localized for the North American and European markets, and it’s not hard to see why: In Japan, it was released under the name “Hitler’s Resurrection: Top Secret.” In the original Famicom version, the big bad is revealed to be a resurrected Adolf Hitler commanding a resurgent Nazi army.

The premise, the title, and even the game’s original cover (which featured a very visible Hitler hovering over the action) were bound to cause controversy in North America and beyond. It wasn’t until 2018 that Germany officially lifted its ban on Hitler and swastikas — the symbol of his Nazi Party — appearing in video games.

When “Hitler’s Resurrection: Top Secret” came to North America in 1988 under the name “Bionic Commando,” all Nazi imagery had been scrubbed and Hitler had been replaced by the generically named Master-D as the villain. The player controls a soldier called Ladd, who is fitted with a bionic arm. He uses this to fire a grappling hook while battling enemy forces before a fiery showdown.

In 1988, Konami released a game called “Mad City” in Japan, which came to North America the following year under the title “The Adventures of Bayou Billy.” It was one of the most ambitious games on the NES to date, at least in terms of gameplay variety: It offered side-scrolling beat’em-up levels, driving levels, and rail shooter levels that made use of the NES Zapper peripheral. The protagonist is Billy West, a Louisiana crime-fighter who takes on local mob boss Godfather Gordon after he kidnaps Billy’s girlfriend Annabelle Lane. Billy battles through Gordon’s goons across nine mercilessly difficult levels to rescue his girlfriend and take down the mobster for good.

There are several differences between the Japanese Famicom and North American NES versions of the game, ranging from the game over screen to Annabelle’s clothing and hairstyle. But the biggest change lies in the conclusion, with a possible alternate ending available for the game in Japan compared to American players only getting the stock happy ending. If players move Billy away from Annabelle immediately after the final battle in “Mad City,” she breaks up with him despite him fighting a small army to save her life. This darker ending, though optional, may have been considered too off-putting for American gamers and it was scrubbed entirely from the NES version.

1989’s “Last Battle” is a forgotten launch game for the Sega Genesis. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world and sees a brawler named Aarzak roaming the wasteland rooting out injustice in the ruins of society. The game is a side-scrolling beat’em’up, with Aarzak using a variety of moves to defeat waves of enemies. It all seems pretty standard, but “Last Battle” initially contained graphic violence that Sega wanted to avoid for the American release.

If you know what “Last Battle” is based on, the violence won’t surprise you — it’s actually a tie-in game to the Japanese manga series “Hokuto no Ken,” known as “Fist of the North Star” in English. All references were scrubbed to appeal to American audiences unfamiliar with the source material and the new version was way more family friendly, with the violence significantly toned down. 

In the original Japanese version of the game, the heads of defeated enemies would explode in a bloody burst, which is very “Fist of the North Star.” In the North American version, however, defeated foes simply fly off the screen. It looks kind of goofy and definitely isn’t in the spirit of the franchise, but at least parents had nothing to complain about.

This entry is a little different as the game in question came out on home computers in North America before being censored for a console release in the same territory. Originally released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, “Maniac Mansion” has teenager Dave Miller trying to rescue his girlfriend Sandy Pantz from the murderous mad scientist Dr. Fred. With a point-and-click gameplay interface, players guide Dave and his friends through a mansion, solving puzzles and avoiding traps and enemies. When one playable character dies, you move onto a different member of Dave’s friend group until you succeed or you run out of characters.

The fact that “Maniac Mansion” came from Lucasfilm Games likely led some parents to think it was relatively family friendly, given that all three films in the original “Star Wars” trilogy were rated PG, but that turned out not to be the case — this is an ’80s horror game that was too disturbing for kids. Nintendo recognized that, as when the game was ported to the NES, its content was censored significantly. This included cutting curse words, jokes that were deemed suggestive, and moments of violence. This removed a lot of the identity and appeal of “Maniac Mansion” but shielded Nintendo from possible controversy.