Banning games before the ESRB

[@ravager48]

The irony of Howard Lincoln's speech - Nintendo let Mortal Kombat 2 keep all the blood and gore because they hated the fact Sega outsold their version of Mortal Kombat. When money talks, people listen.

[@Jenovi]

100%. Still relevant today more than ever.

[@stepheng8061]

And nighttrap is on the switch...

[@anthonyterry8162]

The seal of approval was not to regulate what was appropriate for a certain age group, it was to prevent your shitty game from causing another video game crash

[@Pan_Z]

Companies posture for the sake of revenue rather than any moral conviction. They'd be foolish not to with how many people buy into the charade.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

Jenovi, this hits home for me especially. I helped structure my bosses speech at those hearings. It was a dark time indeed. Nintendo were huge dicks and we let them know that when it came time to carry thousands of copies of their latest game. The fact is 100% of the legislatures had no idea what the games were about and used the entire thing as a political tool. What's new, same shit different day.

[@st1ka]

"Jenovi, did you really censor this? Yes, yes I did" haha!

[@Jenovi]

Even an Atari 2600 game can cross that safe line.

[@overkill1473]

The CNN coverage back then gave Mortal Kombat sales a huge boost. They probably made MK into what it is today.

[@LateToTheBeardParty]

The original Carmageddon was banned in the UK initially, the developer appealed it by censoring the game changing all the blood the green and the sounds to zombie noises. A year later they released the ‘Splat Pack’ expansion which put almost all the original content back in, and that did not get banned. You might also want to look into how Manhunt 2 was censored prior to release.

[@Jenovi]

I remember the Manhunt controversy. There's some mind blowing stories out there.

[@drgribb]

Awesome, dude! Very well researched. I always learn something on your videos, in addition to being entertained. Always kinda wondered about the pre-ESRB ratings on the sides of the Genesis boxes.

[@Jenovi]

Thanks amigo. Appreciate you watching this.

[@182punkbunny]

WONT SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

[@oskisciascia]

"Sega receives a near Arcade Perfect Port" hahahah that was really funny.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

The only thing that Nintendo could not censor on the NES, was the map of Level 3 in the first quest of The Legend of Zelda. Sure, its called the Manji, but it is clearly a swastika, a symbol with dual meaning: The original meaning for the symbol was good luck and good fortune, but when the the Nazis adopted it as their symbol, it became a symbol of hatred. The symbol was left in the game since removing it would alter the gameplay, the people playing Zelda on the NES are informed of the symbol's original, unoffensive meaning in the instruction manual.

[@TheLandofObscusion]

Howard Lincoln held a masterclass in corporate BS-ing with that Senate hearing, doing everything he could to portray Nintendo as a pure saint of a publisher, even being WILLING TO LOSE MONEY on Mortal Kombat 1 just so they could save those innocent little children. Also, as others pointed out "Night Trap will never be on a Nintendo console", which is hilarious both in hindsight (Thanks, Switch!) & even for its time (Sega's rep should have literally responded with "Your console can't even physically play it!"). What's all the more hilarious, though, is that it was Lethal Enforcers that got called out for its portrayal of stereotypes & killing live-action actors... Even though American Laser Games had been doing LITERALLY THE SAME EXACT THING for about two years by that point, with the only difference being a distinct lack of blood or extreme "violence", & was looked at as a fun amusement; Mad Dog McCree was demoed on the Today Show!

[@TheGunmanChannel]

Awesome documentary Jenovi.

[@cessnaace]

Ironically, years later Sega would publish the ultra violent hack and slash game MadWorld for ... The Nintendo wii.

[@MadPanicGaming]

I've seen a lot of videos covering this topic over the years, but yours is probably the most comprehensive and detailed I've ever seen. Brilliant stuff.

[@SuzuNoUtaTX]

Nintendo throwing SEGA under the bus at the night trap hearings is still one of the coldest things I’ve ever seen.

[@Jenovi]

It's wild. I watched both hearings and Howard Lincoln gave zero craps about anything other than making Nintendo look like winners.

[@Rando1975]

Yep. Instead of defending the video game industry as a whole, he said said Sega was an evil corporation, poisoning young minds. And his own company was saintly, with with nothing but wholesome games on the platform(s)

[@SuzuNoUtaTX]

Rando1975 I dunno man. Toad always did something to me. Now both of our nsa agents have to read that.

[@buckroger6456]

That was back in the real console wars days, not the current fanboy wars. The 90s was savage with the console wars.

[@martlowe]

I remember working in a game store in the UK in the late 90s. The most controversial release I remember was Carmageddon. We sold so so many copies.

[@yannisbskt]

That happen in Greece at the beginning of the 2000 after a tv show with hidden cameras recorded parlament members ,famous business men etc playing casino games in arcades when the swith them with a button.that was ridiculous...

[@thecunninlynguist]

crazy to think how times have changed. MK 1 was so "controversial" and now it's pretty tame. I got that Sega version though cause I wanted that blood, haha.

[@Jenovi]

It's wild. Honestly wild.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

I demand Kyle Shelly make an appearance in every video going forward. Great video, as usual. There was a lot of stuff here I wasn't familiar.

[@Jenovi]

Kyle Shelly may just lend VO support to more videos.

[@maneco88]

Great work like allways, never a disappointment to watch ur videos.

[@Jenovi]

I appreciate that.

[@Pan_Z]

Perturbing to me how people (such as Joseph Lieberman at 14:13 ) declare tantamount to, "I don't like this so it shouldn't exist." It's not enough they don't like it, but others can't like it either. This stuff is still happening to this day.

[@Jenovi]

100% true and quite sad.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

Great work, as always, man. Also, embarrassing, since I'm a guy who makes a show about game differences, but... what was changed from Cho Makaimura to Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts?

[@Jenovi]

I believe in the US, all religious references that could be tied to Christianity were altered. Crosses changes to ankhs, ect.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

@@Jenovi Makes sense.

[@lmfsilva3000]

You're thinking of ELSPA which began around early 1994, plus there were some national rating systems (BBFC in the UK if a game was deemed unsuitable for minors, USK in Germany also around 1994). PEGI only came around much later, around 2002-2003, as a replacement for ELSPA.

[@Jenovi]

Interesting! I don't know much about non North American rating systems though I did look into some interesting storied in Australia, but they didn't really impact the system, it was more an attack on specific games.

[@volvagia6860]

Ah, the scumbag tactics Nintendo would engage in once a worthy competitor appeared.

[@PONTOCRITICO]

The narrative of this video is so disturbing that it makes me wonder: if the people of that time knew how terribly censored things are today, would they do the same? The 90's summarily defined standards that are applied to the limit of exhaustion until today. And the world is not better because of that, in fact we can consider quite the opposite. It seems that you have not reflected how reprehensible and despicable censorship is, since it takes away the opportunity for people to draw their own conclusions about any work. Someone else simply does it for you without asking your permission... And that's it, with the agreement of many, which is worse.

[@CandisClassicGameShrine]

Yessss! So excited to see this in my subs. Great coverage of a crazy and constant battle in video games.

[@Jenovi]

Thanks Candi. 😆

[@EtherBoo]

Great video as always Jenovi. Thank you.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

1993 - Video game violence was becoming a big problem and creating a new rating system, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, was feasible to help parents decide what games are appropriate for children. 2019 - Protecting childrens' online privacy on KZbin was a big issue, KZbin obliged by letting the Federal Trade Commission enact COPPA, the Childrens' Online Privacy Protection Act.

[@DrGamelove]

I just think the government was blowing things out of proportion. And I don’t think most parents were that strict on us back then. My mom was super religious and I would play Mortal Kombat or Lethal Enforcers right in front of her. My parents even bought me Technocop for Christmas when I was 12. Most the kids I knew watched movies that were 20 times worst than anything in Night Trap with no issue.

[@Jenovi]

If you were in a kid in the 90's and hadn't seen Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm St, or Basic Instinct, you were living under a rock.

[@DrGamelove]

@@Jenovi exactly!

[@belstar1128]

Yea i was playing a lot of violent video games early on but the generation of people who where politicians at the time where absolutely moronic when it came to video games and modern technology its like trying to explain quantum physics to a gold fish.

[@jamesw3546]

I’m not a gamer and haven’t been since the days of the Mega Drive but I find gaming history and evolution really interesting. Have to say, though, that this is probably my new favourite channel on KZbin for my random retro-historical needs.

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

On banned/censored games for the 2600 there was another company "Wizard Video Games". They had their games banned from a lot of retailers with the few remaining ones selling them "under the table" in hopes to not anger the prudes of society. The two games that caused quite a stir was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.

[@PabstOban]

This is a fascinating topic, that of censorship. I remember it being a big thing in the 80's and 90's in both music, movies and video games. I look at a lot of who was driving that censorship, and much of it were more conservative or religiously motivated groups. Much has changed in the past 2-3 decades, and now most of the censorship is being driven by the opposite force which I find a little surprising (more liberal anti-religion leaning groups). I think while there is no place for games that involve making sport of raping anyone, I think when it comes to violence and other themes, I would leave the parenting to the adults.

[@PabstOban]

At the core of censorship is an imposed morality... but morality is defined differently across the board. In the current culture today (cancel culture) people aggressively go after anything that doesn't agree with them, then they strong arm whoever to comply with their demands. I see this going on with things that were produced a while ago where culture was much more different. Where I can see how this might offend or trigger people today, it also provides context of an age we've progressed away from. To erase these things from history also erases the knowledge of how things were... and I think long term this is a very detrimental thing. If you erase history, you are doomed to repeat it.

[@Jenovi]

Great post and all valid points. Appreciate you taking the time to write it out.

[@belstar1128]

Yea its pathetic how political correctness has become so powerful also some of the older hard core politically correct people where conservative 20+ years ago and they became leftist later in life.

[@madaction9373]

Great video! You are doing fantastic work.

[@Jenovi]

Thank you very much! 😁

[@GimblyGFR]

Great video, and a relevant and important exploration of what lead to the hearings. In South America, where I live, home computers like C64 were all the rage, and many, many games clearly not for children were released without any control. Even when consoles exploded, most South American countries did not establish a rating system until after the new millennium started. Also, software piracy was - and still is - absolutely common down here, so you could always find the uncensored Japanese versions of games without much trouble. In fact, during the 90s, it was a lot harder to find non-pirated games than pirated ones.

[@Jenovi]

Thanks for this comment. Not South America, but I spent time in Mexico visiting family back in 1999. I brought my PSX with me and when I got there, was told about the PSX modding screen. So we set a trip to open air market in Mexica City where these guys were. The mod was cheep and games were sold for $1.00 USD each. I picked up 100 games that day. Never say a legit game while there outside some arcades and original NES stuff.

[@GimblyGFR]

​@@Jenovi Also, the guys selling carts, and later disks, didn't care at all if they were selling adult games to kids. Anyone could buy anything. The advantage was that I played loads of European, Japanese and Chinese NES, SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive games that were never legally distributed on my region. And that was in Argentina, I've heard Brazil was even more "import friendly" with games (and toys, and almost anything). Thanks for replying.

[@Jenovi]

Really appreciate your comment.

[@RayCommend]

It's ironic at how much Nintendo has about-faced on "adult" oriented content. The e-shop has some content that's pretty racy and bordering on hentai. Sure didn't take them long to change their minds about MK and money, and Night Trap did get released on a Nintendo platform. As always, another informative & entertaining video. I've been meaning to play Stormlord since release but somehow never got around to it. Maybe this weekend if I don't forget!

[@alexander_mejia]

Hell yeah another Jenovi video with great research!

[@savageduck2613]

I think that putting an age by the classification does not always work as some kids are mature enough for some games rated 13+ or 17+ but some are not. I think maybe the esrb should rate things with words and not numbers. Also "the video games", it always cracks me up when someone says it that way

[@Jenovi]

I think it's a solid position. Me personal, I don't much care for movies with sex in them. I'm not big on movies in the first place, and feel like if I want to watch sex, it should be a dedicated porno. It's just lazy movie making IMO. So if it's R for sex, or I go to Kids in Mind, I bypass that movie. Anything else, I'm good to go. So really, knowing why it was rater how it's rated is important.

[@savageduck2613]

@@Jenovi totally agree with knowing why its rated. More games should get detailed classification

[@nattila7713]

@@Jenovi even a simple showing of a woman's nipple might mean it will get that rating, doesn't it? even if it was shown when she wokes up, in a totally non-sexual context... while I don't think my kids will become monsters due to nipples, I am not that sure regarding "mortal kombats" ;) (and regarding mortal kombts.... I don't care violence in pixel-art games as much as I care violence in modern games - problem is that today you get the gore in photo realism :( I know I am a bad father but honestly... I let my 8 years old boy to play broforce... which has ton of pixel blood... just couldn't look at it as a violent gorefest despite(!) it is, really ... time will tell if I made a mistake ;) see you in 10 years!)

[@belstar1128]

The attitude people had to video games back then was weird they could not comprehend that someone over the age of 14 would want to play video games i bet if i was a adult at the time in around 1990 i would probably be harassed for playing game boy in public while waiting on the bus they would think i am some kind of weirdo.

[@Jenovi]

I guess it just depended on the family setting, but it's a fair point. I was introduced to games because my dad loved Pac-man and owned a Ms Pac-man arcade machine. We always had gaming systems in the home and my mom owned an original Gameboy at launch, one I still have.

[@chattingesque372]

No way, quite the opposite, you would have likely gotten a fair amount of adults wanting to play or just watch. Portability was a HUGE novelty back then for any technology. News reports usually aren't an accurate depiction of how everyday people feel.

[@ashtraydekay6624]

Your research, and production is high......new to your channel, new sub also

[@Jenovi]

Thanks 🤠 welcome aboard the slow train.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Screw these dudes, I had a Sega CD when I was 13 and am doing fine! Besides the felonies I have for 5 Grand Theft Auto convictions (see what I did there LOL)

[@Jenovi]

🤣

[@182punkbunny]

Oh yeah and now we have 8yr olds playing grand theft auto, call of duty and a more graphic mortal kombat.... great job guys

[@Jenovi]

They did the bestest job.

[@timpieper5492]

That actually kinda confirms some ppl's fears about violent games being a slippery slope. (Lol.) But we all know there's no direct psychological cause & effect link between gaming and real violence. These senators were just grandstanding on an unimportant "morality" issue to deflect from more serious societal problems like poverty and healthcare.

[@gc3k]

There's simultaneously more censorship and more extreme content in video games than ever before

[@ThickpropheT]

I came here to say exactly this. Oh how the times have changed

[@BryanTruong]

Great video as always

[@Jenovi]

Appreciate that

[@onaretrotip]

Great insight mate.

[@jokerzwild00]

You know, we laugh at this and act like we're a society that is free from censorship in games these days, but we're really not. Sure we have any flavor of violence a person could want, but a lot of Japanese games are censored or just not localized because of sexual content. You might say, oh well that's just gross garbage that people don't need to see anyway. Think about it though, that is the same thing the people who wanted to ban Night Trap and Custer's Revenge were saying. And this time people unabashedly want to ban grown adults from this content, they aren't even standing on the "for the kids" argument. One person thinks something is inappropriate for society but others find it entertaining, it's the same old story. And for the record I personally would not purchase or play the kind of games that are banned or censored today, I don't get off on polygonal or animated nudity but I do see the parallels and think it's notable at least. The groups of people and their associations might change, but there are always those who want to dictate what is good and proper for society. I think the fact that people believe it's fine to watch a human being get decapitated and disemboweled, but start clutching pearls when they see a naked cartoon really says something about us. I dunno what, but it says something.

[@Jenovi]

So true. Much appreciate the post.

[@drgribb]

Often it's small stuff that gets censored in the localization process too, these days. Like, stuff that isn't really integral to the primary game -- of course I don't care about a skimpy unlockable costume, or an extra boob jiggle, but it's really about the principle, ya know? Kinda irks me. The localization "logic" is that Japanese people are just more into sexy characters or something, but I just don't buy it. I think sometimes it comes down, for them, to a business decision of not wanting to risk offending potential US buyers and lose a profit, while not wanting to stifle or offend Japanese creators. But like, I've seen even when they localize a game that's very much intended for a niche Japanese-loving audience, like Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, where they intentionally skipped recording English voices and left in the Japanese language track because that's what they assumed "hardcore" fans wanted, but then still replaced some of the unlockable costumes with less skimpy ones.

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

It’s nice to see that with Steam allowing Ao games it’s possible for even them to sell now.

[@TopSpot123]

Well done. High quality work as always. I'm always surprised to see relevant TV news clips from 20-40 years ago. How do these still exist and how do documentations find them?

[@Jenovi]

For some of these, it's a matter reading newspapers. I have a sub to Newspapers.com, so I can search out stories. Where you find one that's been published, you can start looking for archived TV news from a small date range and typically find something.... Sometimes not though.

[@jacklazzaro9820]

1994: The government: These games are too violent for kids. Midway, Konami, Sega: These games were not intended for kids. 2020: PETA: Animal Crossing New Horizons is not vegan enough! Get rid of it! Nintendo and fans: So then don't play it.

[@Jenovi]

🤣

[@belstar1128]

A lot of video games are now being censored again now this time for mostly different reasons.

[@jacklazzaro9820]

@belstar Like what?

[@belstar1128]

@@jacklazzaro9820 Political correctness.

[@Tybis]

@@belstar1128 any specific examples?

[@BDawgStudio]

And then Nintendo made Killer Instinct so they could make money.

[@SoulforSale]

Censorship was never the issue for my family but my folks refused to let me buy any unlicensed games because they were "illegal".

[@MorganIsAway]

Great video!

[@video-luver769]

To this day I still can't understand who honestly thought "Custer's Revenge" was a good idea. They had so, so many opportunities NOT to make that mistake.

[@jeremybowers3181]

And the spotlight that shone on these titles ultimately fueled popularity for them...I knew then as a kid...I HAD TO PLAY THEM.lol 👊💥🇺🇸.mainly Night trap. Augers...lmao

[@Jenovi]

For all intents and purposes, Night Trap isn't a game that should have sold well. Thankfully, the US Senate was there to promote that crap out of it.

[@buckroger6456]

That was my reason for buying night trap back in the days lol

[@grype83]

Nintendo of America and Howard Lincoln were assholes at these hearings and when it came down to money they buckled under the pressure anyway. The creation of the ESRB was a good thing that came out of these hearings and i'm happy that this was the outcome and not the banning of violent games. I still have an issue with how certain companies handle mature games such as Sony now selectively censoring games and leaving others alone. If it's a game for adults and got it's ESRB rating then leave it alone. Nintendo have always been a ruthless company that treated it's partners horribly over the years. I feel like video games like movies can and should be allowed to be made about anything and everything with the only censorship coming from the developers if trying to get a certain age rating and not from console makers or woke twitter people. Someone in the comments said they don't get why we in America worry about violent games but are allowed to go out and buy a gun. You cannot just go to a store and buy a gun without a background check first off and secondly they are two completely different things. Responsibly owning a gun is one of the rights we have as Americans, and playing violent video games is not. People use fire arms in America for a lot of different reasons and cannot be compared to a violent video game. A gun shouldn't be used on another human being unless protecting yourself and is the last resort, a video game is just a video game. And when it comes to gun violence we do care about that, hopefully more than a video game, i know i do. Ultimately i don't think Americans should care or worry that much about violent video games because we have figured that problem out already. If the game has violence in it, children cannot purchase it. The only way a child is doing so is if they have shitty parents and that itself is worse than the game in my opinion. rambling done.

[@jonbourgoin182]

I’ll never have kids but if I did I’d sooner allow them to play violent video games than ever let them own a smart phone or tablet, or have social media accounts for that matter.

[@Jenovi]

I have four kids. It's important to know what they are doing and to have a solid relationship with them. Talking and caring makes a world of difference.

[@chattingesque372]

Raising kids is not that simple. You can have a kid who spends all his or her time on a tablet turn into an amazing programmer, or you can have them turn into a violent killer, it's more about their innate personality than anything. You see the parents of serial killers and they can have raised 5 upstanding citizens, but this one went wayward for whatever reason. That's life.

[@ms.ilovecotton9778]

Crazy how people once were thinking video games cause violence. That's not how things work

[@belstar1128]

Some still do but there are less of them now.

[@sinistermoon]

Is the game footage all emulator footage in this video?

[@Jenovi]

Hard to recall what footage is there, but almost never emulated unless it’s dos or arcade. Anything else, I own. Want to see some cool captures, check out the Vectrex and Gizmondo series videos. That’s all real hardware and was very hard to capture.

[@sinistermoon]

@@Jenovi I have watched your Vectrex video, I love the Vectrex. Out of all of my CRTs it's actually one of the easier one for me to capture. My camera just gets along with it for whatever reason.

[@sinistermoon]

@@Jenovi would you consider making a game room tour video? I know you moved not too long back, would love to see your collection!

[@Jenovi]

Likely because it's not a CRT, it's a Vector monitor. So different refresh rates.

[@Jenovi]

I don't think so, it's really outside what I'm comfortable doing.

[@poil8351]

Well if a certain person becomes president this could really be the outcome a complete scrubbing of video game to get rid of any thing a certain bunch don't like.

[@KanonZombie]

Ah, that time Nintendo tried to push the industry under the bus

[@consty715]

I find it amazing that a country like America has issues with games, kinder eggs and ikea furniture yet can go down the road and buy a gun

[@nattila7713]

hypocrisy at its best :) he didn't killed them because he could buy a gun at the local store but because of GORE AND TITS IN VIDEO GAMES 10 YEARS AGO!!!!44

[@robbiedoblin]

It had to be embarrassing enough to be "that guy" who went to the store and purchased beat em and eat em with people seeing that weirdo buy that game

[@Jenovi]

😂

[@GTA_500]

It's interesting how they use the children to take our rights.

[@CaptNRetro]

Howard Lincoln is a bold faced liar...Night Trap is on Switch..

[@perpetualcollapse]

Aight then.

[@gc3k]

As a traveler to other countries, it's weird being around one culture that has a lax opinion of sexuality (and don't automatically consider somebody in swimwear inappropriate explicit content), then being around another culture that demonizes everything

[@MarquisDeSang]

The next MK will have Trans-Gender finish

[@Tybis]

What does this mean

[@MarquisDeSang]

@@Tybis The next Mortal Kombat will have bloody gender switch reveal

[@Tybis]

oh ok

[@sppspharmdude]

why hasn't trump hired Howard Lincoln yet? Seems like he'd be a good puppet.