context

Time, place and purpose

Video games are a popular culture that is incredibly popular all around the world. This popular culture is not a recent development, but it has lasted for quite some time already. Back in the 1980s, the video games industries can be one of the most successful fields due to its strong universal appeal, primarily since video games have dominated the world market since the mid-1980s.

The game bionic commando was released in both Japan and North America in 1987. It is one of the many games that have been released in the popular age of video games. There are two different versions of this game, the Japanese version and the International version. The storyline in the Japanese version has the Nazis as the villain and the Nazi Swastika as artworks in the games.

Development

For the game to be released internationally, many changes have been made due to Nintendo censorship. The villain in the international version storyline changes to be called ‘the Badds,’ and the artwork changes from Nazi Swastika to an eagle. The villain’s leader name has also been changed from ‘Hitler’ to ‘Master D.’

Banned/Censored

With video games having a strong universal appeal and dominating the world market, more and more people know about video games. Hence, many people have worries about the negative impacts that these video games will bring to people. Therefore, many games have been banned and censored due to their content and themes, which Bionic commando is one of the many games that has been censored. This game is censored because of the strict restrictions made by Nintendo during the Nintendo era of censorship. The Nintendo era was around the late 1980s and the mid-1990s, where Nintendo’s priority is to present family-friendly themes and content. This game is released right during the strictest time during the censored era. The original (uncensored) version has contents that depict national socialist symbols (the Nazi Swastika), excessive violence towards the villain and the depiction of Nazis.