NES Higemaru Makaijima: Nanatsu no Shima Daibouken - Insensitive Sprite Replacement (Hack) NES

[Teone]

Higemaru Makaijima: Nanatsu no Shima Daibouken - Insensitive Sprite Replacement (Hack) NES​

The "Insensitive Sprite Replacement" romhack "replaces a few insensitive caricatures in enemy and building sprites in Makai Island, primarily on Cook Island (the first one)." I also added a second file combining it with the "Restoration" romhack, which adds to the USA prototype some removed contents and makes it closer to the MSX original version of the game. Hack Credits: "Insensitive Sprite Replacement" Released By HangedMan Category Improvement Patch Version 1.0 Date 28 April 2024 Source and details: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8592/ "Restoration" Released By SCD Category Improvement Patch Version Final Date 24 October 2019 Source and details: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1102/ Thanks, Joe, for patching […]

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[Teone]

The original is still accessible, and I made it a point to also send the sprite restoration rom which restores some offensive sprites that were cut from the original US prototype. I also would argue the prototype is better than the fantranslation here, but I digress.

Just to be fair, I didn't include the pure "Restoration" hack without the "Insensitive Sprite Replacement" applied over it, simply because as curators we have the liberty to share what interests us personally. Sharing the original game is enough for me, in order to preserve it besides the aspects I'm bothered by.

I'm not against the "Restoration" romhack, though, since it brings many other improvements based on the MSX version and not only the "uncensored" sprites, so if other curator feels they would like to share this version alone as well, it's cool too!

Anyway, thanks again for showing me some interesting games we're missing!

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That aside, 8-bit sprites from nearly 40 years ago should not upset you; especially with *EVERYTHING* else going on in the world today. I absolutely do not understand the point of censorship patches.

I can't imagine the pathetic mindset of someone who makes this crap, but at least it's not mandatory and financially incentivized by Blackrock

Taking a moment to kindly read the conversations we had in this thread could be very helpful to you guys.

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Anyway, closing the thread now, to avoid repetitive racist or reactionary comments that started to show up! If you're frustrated you can't leave a "those censorship hacks should be censored and forgotten" kind of comment, don't forget to read the discussion we had here before! ;)

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[Darren]

I'm probably one of the most liberal people on this website.

That aside, 8-bit sprites from nearly 40 years ago should not upset you; especially with *EVERYTHING* else going on in the world today. I absolutely do not understand the point of censorship patches.

 

[joeriley121]

Okay, so I don't really do forums as a general rule, but hey, I'm the 'Joe' mentioned in the rom description who patched this stuff and sent it here, so I just want to say my piece with the whole thing going on here:
I think 'self-censorship' patches like this aren't a bad thing. The original is still accessible, and I made it a point to also send the sprite restoration rom which restores some offensive sprites that were cut from the original US prototype. I also would argue the prototype is better than the fantranslation here, but I digress.
I think having the history available and known is important, but I also understand that a lot of people just want to play and enjoy these games, and having to be exposed to bigoted shit puts a damper on that. Also as mentioned in the actual romhack link, it also makes these games more stream friendly, which in turn helps more people discover them.

 

[StopTheCatastrophe]

I hope this "self-censoring" patch thing doesn't become a trend. One of our goals as retro gamers should be to view these pieces of digital art in their purest possible form (at least as close as possible due to language and technical barriers). You shouldn't just upload a patch to erase "cartoonish racism" from an obscure Japanese action-adventure game from the 80s. You don't white wash history with a cheap palette swap. I personally do not believe that this is appropriate and am confused that it has been graced by being uploaded on retrogametalk. Are we preserving "old games" with this upload? What's next Chrono Trigger? Seriously... campy racial stereotypes are a literal trope and choosing artistic censorship is a sham. Normalizing this is a slippery slope.

First of all, the "preserving old games" argument is obviously wrong and misguided since literally every fan-mod and fan-hack and fan-translation changes an original thing. It has no effect on preservation whatsoever, in fact it creates an ecological variety that gives rise to discussion and awareness of aspects that wouldn't have been commented on otherwise.

Second of all, the idea that "one of our goals should be to view [them] in their purest possible form" is wrong. The mod has no effect on the original and doesn't stop anyone from viewing it. And of course one person's ideology (yours) isn't the law of the universe. And that usage of "purity" looks like a meme fallacy and rationalization... the thing in question is an irrelevant triviality.

Also the "What's next Chrono Trigger"(?), "racist stereotypes are a TrOpE", and "Slippery slope", arguments don't even merit a response.

We could copy/paste the same comment with all the "I hope" / "You shouldn't" / "You don't X" / "Seriously?" / What's Next?" but replace the other words to reflect on the comment attitude itself: I hope this self-absorbed opposition to patches doesn't become a trend, one of our goals should be accepting peoples mods/hacks, you shouldn't just tell someone that their patch shouldn't exist. Normalizing that kind of comment is a slippery slope! #hypocrisy

We see the same thing when people wrongly oppose the removal of racist statues: they claim "history!' and "censorship" but are really just mad that someone doesn't want to respect the racist thing, so they get mad at people rather than saying something like "Yes, move the problematic thing to a relegated section of Terrible Stuff in a museum of racism". Indeed that's where people could/should look at degrading racist objects in proper context, not in public while randomly walking around or playing games and trying to enjoy life.

 

[loopy]

So I can see as a good idea trying to "invent" a fictional tribe as much distant as possible

I like this perspective, makes more sense to me now how the sprites in this romhack turned out the way they did.
More a re-imagining of the sprites to be something entirely different, because its otherwise fundamentally not fixable by only trying to make it less of a caricature, but keeping it fundamentally the same thing.

what we see as cannibalism can be as a ritual of making the dead person keep living via your body, turning into part of you

thats pretty interesting

Here in brazil we have this problem of the "civilized" man looking to the "tribes" and assuming they are all the same, because in our small cultural repertoire about their culture we are totally unable to differentiate them.

Brazil has some uncontacted tribes and is close to the Amazon, so you must know a bit more about stuff like that. Theres nothing close to that where i am from. So I guess i just cant relate.

I think you can figure out yourself why it makes people uncomfortable

Maybe i phrased it poorly. I can understand the arguments, Most of them just dont make logical sense to me. But that might just be another consequence of my autism and social stuntedness. Anyway ive said all i wanted to say about it so ill stop replying to this thread now. Thanks for discussing it with me, i learned a few new perspectives from it.

 

[Hahahavana]

So it just seems strange to me that those elements of the game would make anyone uncomfortable.
Im not saying the patch shouldnt have been made, people can make whatever fan patch they want, im just giving my argument for why I think its odd.

That's because stereotypes are usually based on things seen in reality, exaggerated to the point where is subsumes any nuance or context. I think you can figure out yourself why it makes people uncomfortable.

 

[Teone]

its not a Native American totem pole but its basically the same thing

No, it's not. That's the point. For us, outsiders of a culture, is easy to generilize and say "it's all the same, the nuances doesn't matter", while for a person inside a specific group, or closer than us at least, these "small details" can represent huuuuuuge differences in cultural and historical meaning.

It's common for us, for example, to assume that cannibalism is something bad, "evil" or a characteristic to have in a villain. Of course, because in the rules and cultural norms we've built for us it's really like that! But in some native groups (I don't know how to translate "povos originários" to english properly) what we see as cannibalism can be as a ritual of making the dead person keep living via your body, turning into part of you, or to share with you something they had when they were alive, or..... you got the idea, something that is read as "evil / bad / wrong" only by the outsider that doesn't understand and decides to describe it by his references. The problem with the logic in which you may talk about the totems goes along those lines.

Here in brazil we have this problem of the "civilized" man looking to the "tribes" and assuming they are all the same, because in our small cultural repertoire about their culture we are totally unable to differentiate them.

I'm not a big fan of that analogy but do you know that saying that says that people who live 100% in the snow have hundreds of words to refer to snow based on how they relate to it? In our case, though, we're are not talking about snow, but people, populations, groups historically erased since we started to travel around and colonize them.

So I can see as a good idea trying to "invent" a fictional tribe as much distant as possible from the symbols we got used to associate poorly to native groups of the real world, because chances are we'll mess up their meanings, and propagate more prejudices through our art to future generations (whether through naivety, carelessness or bad intentions).

 

[loopy]

based in ideas of stuff like "savage" Africans, cannibal islanders

The game doesnt say they are African. Ever heard of Papua New Guinea or the Maluku Islands? They have cannibal tribes.
Also theres recent examples of people being killed by tribal people who visit their remote islands.

totem poles even though that wouldn't have anything to do with someone living on a tropical island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisj_Pole heres a Papua New Guinea totem pole, made by people living on a tropical island. I get its not a Native American totem pole but its basically the same thing

old racist tropes about various indigenous cultures.

As seen in the video, 2023, let alone in 1984 when the game was made, they still have Bisj poles and wear the equivelent of grass skirts, 'tropes' like a pierced bone through their nose, they make scary looking masks, are cannibals. All in current year, its not old tropes besides that its old in the sense that they have been living like that ever since times of old.

So it just seems strange to me that those elements of the game would make anyone uncomfortable.
Im not saying the patch shouldnt have been made, people can make whatever fan patch they want, im just giving my argument for why I think its odd.

 

[Kero]

I dont understand people saying the original sprites look bad, the thing they turned the tiki hut into looks awful, and they turned that one old guy into some kind of lion, what was insensitive about him? He looked like what an old village chief living in a jungle would look like to me, white hair, long beard, bad teeth, makes sense?
And they added a nose to a mask for no reason, looked fine without the nose, why add it?

Also why is a tiki hut and a totem pole insensitive? I'm sure there is some elaborate reason why but it just seems strange, the game takes place on an isolated island in a Jungle, and the inhabitants there logically wouldn't be technologically advanced, and tribes in jungles did have stuff like scary masks and totem poles for their weird religious believes, so isnt it just accurate? I get the big lipped negroid man is a bit too much of a caricature, but why not just make them look like proper indigenous natives without big lips and leave it at that?

Are vikings also 'insensitive' aswell because 'you depict them as brute savages' etc.? Yeah, they were, sorta. Dont see anyone making sprite replacement romhacks for a viking SNES game

This romhack just turns a coherent game set in a jungle with indigenous people and their religious artifacts, which thematically makes sense...
... into an in comprehensible jungle with tall white humanoid blobs, and their huts becomes just a weird collection of sticks, and there are random upright logs everywhere.

The general idea of the "generic indigenous tribesman" enemy is itself a racist trope based in ideas of stuff like "savage" Africans, cannibal islanders, etc. There's a mishmash of those elements here, like the way they have grass skirts and use spears, the masked leader, and the presence of Native American totem poles even though that wouldn't have anything to do with someone living on a tropical island. Again, all the elements being changed are stuff pulling from old racist tropes about various indigenous cultures.

It's the kind of thing that's in about 1000000 pieces of media and everyone's definitely seen before. Doesn't mean it's fine and cool! Doesn't mean people want to completely erase this game's history either just because they made a fan patch to take those elements out if it makes people uncomfortable.

Also for the vikings thing, there's lots of stupid stuff and stereotypes for all kinds of cultures that pop up in media. But the difference with something like THIS is how much heinous shit the irl groups these tropes relate to have been through, and how even today there's a struggle to escape these stereotypes. Even if in this instance it was all done out of ignorance rather than malice (which is probably generally true whenever this kinda thing pops up in Japanese media?)

 

[loopy]

I dont understand people saying the original sprites look bad, the thing they turned the tiki hut into looks awful, and they turned that one old guy into some kind of lion, what was insensitive about him? He looked like what an old village chief living in a jungle would look like to me, white hair, long beard, bad teeth, makes sense?
And they added a nose to a mask for no reason, looked fine without the nose, why add it?

Also why is a tiki hut and a totem pole insensitive? I'm sure there is some elaborate reason why but it just seems strange, the game takes place on an isolated island in a Jungle, and the inhabitants there logically wouldn't be technologically advanced, and tribes in jungles did have stuff like scary masks and totem poles for their weird religious believes, so isnt it just accurate? I get the big lipped negroid man is a bit too much of a caricature, but why not just make them look like proper indigenous natives without big lips and leave it at that?

Are vikings also 'insensitive' aswell because 'you depict them as brute savages' etc.? Yeah, they were, sorta. Dont see anyone making sprite replacement romhacks for a viking SNES game

This romhack just turns a coherent game set in a jungle with indigenous people and their religious artifacts, which thematically makes sense...
... into an in comprehensible jungle with tall white humanoid blobs, and their huts becomes just a weird collection of sticks, and there are random upright logs everywhere.

 

[Sorion]

Maybe the creators of this game were totally unaware how offensive these sprites are overseas, since japan was pretty culturally issolated at the time and were not fully aware of the do's and dont's of other countries, eitherway the original sprites look pretty bad and I'm glad someone decided to change them

 

[Dingalow]

How is it awkward or insensitive? It was depictions done at the time with limited colour palettes. It is borrowing art that was the norm at the time which were done with limited colour palettes. I mean how sensitive are you?

Okay, let's not pretend that the designs aren't insensitive. To say these depictions were only done because of limited colour palettes is just wrong. A lot of Japanese media at the time would design black dudes with looks inspired by 30s/40s cartoon depictions of black people, since they were highly inspired by western cartoons but had limited sources of them, and while it's possible some cartoonists drew them in such ways so that their mouths were more visible in greyscale, they're still all undeniably meant to mock the appearance of them.

I think stuff like this is more of a grey area because the artists were innocently motivated, since they were still borrowing from ideas from racist depictions of black people without realising the connotations but that doesn't really make them less offensive on the surface. Most people won't know the nuance of these designs immediately, so without to them it's just an insensitive depiction of black people and these kinds of efforts are made.

I don't entirely agree with the idea of replacing sprites rather than just explaining the real reason why they look that way but it is what it is.

 

[minimug]

I hope this "self-censoring" patch thing doesn't become a trend. One of our goals as retro gamers should be to view these pieces of digital art in their purest possible form (at least as close as possible due to language and technical barriers). You shouldn't just upload a patch to erase "cartoonish racism" from an obscure Japanese action-adventure game from the 80s. You don't white wash history with a cheap palette swap. I personally do not believe that this is appropriate and am confused that it has been graced by being uploaded on retrogametalk. Are we preserving "old games" with this upload? What's next Chrono Trigger? Seriously... campy racial stereotypes are a literal trope and choosing artistic censorship is a sham. Normalizing this is a slippery slope.

(I appreciate that the author links to SCD's original patch)

Yeah, it's definitely a debatable point. I think as long as the original work and history is not being erased, it's fine! The point of a romhack is nothing more than to change stuff the way the author felt like, and I see no problem in sharing it if it's not harassing somebody etc etc

But I'd say hacks that changes assets people feel annoyed by for whatever reason is a trend since the beginning of the whole romhack scene, I guess?? I don't think that any hack between the 50 pages we published here to this day is a threat to the preservation of their original versions. Like, Pokémon is not in danger because of Moémon changing all the creatures to cute anime girls. Of course, Pokémon is a huge and protected franchise, different of how the majority of the old games are treated, but I've shared the original clean rom too! Plus... romhacks preservation and dissemination also matters and all that.

As I said recently discussing the TLoZ Linear Version hack, it's just one more option. :p

Thanks for the quick response, i concede i was being a bit hyperbolic and reactionary. You were very clear in showing the differences between each version, allowing people to have options, and not obfuscating the original release in anyway. I appreciate your argument that "romhacks in general" (this one included) deserve preservation as well as their source material. You convinced me that it is a relavant upload, as you did just release several other versions of the same game. I'll temper my misgivings and avoid trying to start (or join) some witch hunt or flame war. Moving forward I will keep an open mind and think of it from a preservation standpoint, instead of trying to gatekeep another's option for an experience.
<3
Thanks for all the games~

 

[Teone]

I hope this "self-censoring" patch thing doesn't become a trend. One of our goals as retro gamers should be to view these pieces of digital art in their purest possible form (at least as close as possible due to language and technical barriers). You shouldn't just upload a patch to erase "cartoonish racism" from an obscure Japanese action-adventure game from the 80s. You don't white wash history with a cheap palette swap. I personally do not believe that this is appropriate and am confused that it has been graced by being uploaded on retrogametalk. Are we preserving "old games" with this upload? What's next Chrono Trigger? Seriously... campy racial stereotypes are a literal trope and choosing artistic censorship is a sham. Normalizing this is a slippery slope.

(I appreciate that the author links to SCD's original patch)

Yeah, it's definitely a debatable point. I think as long as the original work and history is not being erased, it's fine! The point of a romhack is nothing more than to change stuff the way the author felt like, and I see no problem in sharing it if it's not harassing somebody etc etc

But I'd say hacks that changes assets people feel annoyed by for whatever reason is a trend since the beginning of the whole romhack scene, I guess?? I don't think that any hack between the 50 pages we published here to this day is a threat to the preservation of their original versions. Like, Pokémon is not in danger because of Moémon changing all the creatures to cute anime girls. Of course, Pokémon is a huge and protected franchise, different of how the majority of the old games are treated, but I've shared the original clean rom too! Plus... romhacks preservation and dissemination also matters and all that.

As I said recently discussing the TLoZ Linear Version hack, it's just one more option. :p

 

[minimug]

I hope this "self-censoring" patch thing doesn't become a trend. One of our goals as retro gamers should be to view these pieces of digital art in their purest possible form (at least as close as possible due to language and technical barriers). You shouldn't just upload a patch to erase "cartoonish racism" from an obscure Japanese action-adventure game from the 80s. You don't white wash history with a cheap palette swap. I personally do not believe that this is appropriate and am confused that it has been graced by being uploaded on retrogametalk. Are we preserving "old games" with this upload? What's next Chrono Trigger? Seriously... campy racial stereotypes are a literal trope and choosing artistic censorship is a sham. Normalizing this is a slippery slope.

(I appreciate that the author links to SCD's original patch)

 

[Hahahavana]

How is it awkward or insensitive? It was depictions done at the time with limited colour palettes. It is borrowing art that was the norm at the time which were done with limited colour palettes. I mean how sensitive are you?

Probably because the design itself is based on a racial stereotype. Like, straight up. I'm not particularly bothered by it personally since it rises more from cultural differences rather than any intent to offend, but I think its a good thing to have hacks like this available for people who are uncomfortable with it.

 

[lagunareturns]

How is it awkward or insensitive? It was depictions done at the time with limited colour palettes. It is borrowing art that was the norm at the time which were done with limited colour palettes. I mean how sensitive are you?

 

[Boscobilly]

Normally not a fan of this kind of thing but those sprites are pretty bad and I'd feel awkward playing the game otherwise.

 

[Kero]

Huh, don't think I've really seen a patch like this before. Not a bad idea, especially after looking at how rough some of those original sprites are lmao. I'll probably end up checking out both versions, just to see the original experience and how the fan changes compare. Game looks neat!