10 CENSORED Moments in Resident Evil Games
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to Mojo Plays and today we're taking a look at all the times Resident Evil was
00:12 too much for the censors.
00:22 Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:26 Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:31 The Intro
00:40 No one will ever forget the hokey opening to the original Resident Evil, not with all
00:44 that B-movie writing and violence.
00:46 Well, the violence we were left to imagine anyways, for those of us in the US and Europe.
00:52 Japan got to see everything that was just simply told to us.
00:56 The bodies in the forest, the severed hand, Joseph's death, it was all shot but removed
01:02 in the US and European versions.
01:05 Whether this was Aesirb's call or Capcom self-censoring is anybody's guess.
01:15 No decap, I mean decap.
01:23 Now the North American versions of the Resident Evil games are known to be pretty graphic
01:27 in how certain characters die.
01:29 A lot of limbs get thrown around, and many, many heads too.
01:34 However, some regions, like Japan and Europe specifically, had decapitations censored all
01:40 over the place, so characters that were killed off by hunters and the like had less gruesome
01:44 ends than the scenes depicted in the North American releases.
01:48 Zero and Peggy, the ratings boards for Japan and Europe respectively, have a long history
01:53 of disapproval towards brutal deaths in media, so this was no surprise.
02:06 Alien anatomy?
02:12 Resident Evil 2 has some pretty graphic game over screens, but even for 1998, censoring
02:18 polygons was a tad questionable, don't you think?
02:23 Regardless, Germany and Japan did not appreciate the savagery of the game over screens here.
02:28 Japan had scenes fade to black before any violence was shown, whereas Germany had that
02:34 in addition to blood changing from red to green, and sometimes grey.
02:38 It kind of makes some of the characters seem like they're human-like aliens.
03:02 Speaking of violence being removed, Resident Evil 4 was just asking to be censored.
03:07 RE4 has long been known for the various vicious ways Leon can die, as well as the combat,
03:13 level design, and campy tone.
03:15 So it's no surprise that Japan went and had just about every single death censored,
03:20 and these censors would carry over into the HD re-releases years after.
03:25 Of course, North Americans got to see all of these deaths as they were.
03:29 Same for Europe, it's kind of why many of us are traumatized by the Chainsaw Death,
03:33 which we're not allowed to show.
03:41 The Snake Key
03:55 Resident Evil 7 is perhaps the grossest game in the franchise due to how much interactivity
04:00 there is with corpses and body parts.
04:02 One scene involves Ethan digging into an unalived person's throat for a key.
04:07 This clearly did not fly with Zero, the Japanese ratings board.
04:11 Rather than reach inside the corpse for the key, the Japanese version of RE7 just lets
04:15 players grab the key instead of enduring a disgusting moment.
04:20 Hey, we still like it because it's part of the horror.
04:24 There's still a dress code.
04:35 Resident Evil doesn't typically get too sexual, typically.
04:39 But when it came to Jill's skirt in the HD remake, or at least the releases that came
04:44 after the original Gamecube version, some shots had to be changed.
04:48 Certain camera angles would give players a view of Jill's underwear, allowing them
04:52 to see her white panties.
04:54 Every version to have come out since the original has had a black void filled in to block players
04:59 from peeking too much.
05:07 Smoking
05:14 Though it hasn't had as heavy of a presence as, say, violence, Smoking has faced some
05:19 scrutiny during the censoring process of RE Games.
05:22 This was mainly on Capcom's end, as the company had fears about the perception of
05:26 smoking in other countries.
05:28 To mitigate possible controversy, Capcom opted to remove any smoking scenes Chris had in
05:33 the first Resident Evil, and had tobacco advertisements replaced with anti-smoking PSAs in Resident
05:39 Evil Outbreak File #2.
05:42 Too Perfect
05:54 Nothing is more satisfying than nailing the perfect shot, that flawless pull of the trigger
05:59 that ensures no zombie is bouncing back to life.
06:02 Thing is that, you know, a head exploding is pretty visceral, and as expected, not everyone
06:09 is going to be cool with it.
06:11 Much of the franchise has faced censorship over this in Japan, most likely due to how
06:15 it's the player enacting the violent act, which is something Ciro has a long history
06:20 of disapproving.
06:21 And so, many of the Japanese versions have heads intact, much like the decapitation scenes.
06:32 A Regime of Monsters
06:40 One of the more fascinating aspects of Code Veronica's story is how it gives us a glimpse
06:45 into Kruger's twisted past, specifically his heritage.
06:48 Various documents reveal one of Kruger's ancestors, Hilbert, was an officer of the
06:53 Third Reich who ran a concentration camp and would hunt military artifacts during World
06:58 War II.
06:59 However, this part of the story was concerning for the game's European release, and how
07:03 it might be perceived.
07:04 As a result, much of this part of the story was wiped from the game for PAL regions.
07:15 The Face That Changed Survival Horror
07:17 Let's be honest, that zombie turn has aged horribly.
07:28 It just isn't scary, and perhaps it never really was.
07:31 But for the folks hanging around in 1996, it was too much.
07:35 In the Japanese version, the zombie drops Kenneth's head on the floor, rolling to
07:39 face the camera.
07:40 The US and European versions of RE1 got the simpler version, where Kenneth's head is
07:45 never seen.
07:46 Just that creepy, creepy head turn.
07:59 Did any of these censors surprise you?
08:01 Let us know down in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more
08:05 Resident Evil videos, as well as some other interesting stuff every day.
08:09 Thanks for watching.
08:10 See you next time.
08:10 [outro]
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08:14 (whooshing)
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