I like the statue names in the original. See, octopus would be “tako”, so the octopus eraser would be the “tako keshi”. “Takokeshi” contains the word “kokeshi”, so its a bit of a fun pun. And then you run into the kokeshi statues, which are just that pun turned into an object. The “kokeshi keshi” continues the pun while being amusingly redundant. With that in mind, I think the pencil and eraser statues were a very good way of localizing the joke. We get the bizarre first statue (pencil), and an item that removes it (pencil eraser), which is also a pun (instead of being an eraser for pencil marks, it erases pencils). And then we get a second statue that *is* the previous pun, and the item that erases it is amusingly redundant (eraser eraser). Really, great job to the localization team on that one. The idea of the joke translated perfectly.
Yeah I was a bit surprised Shesez didn't go into this a bit more. I think the localization for the statues is often overlooked. Huge credit to the localization team for creating a similar joke that resonated with western audiences.
My theory is that he considers the hat a part of him, of his identity, and probably wouldn't imagine himself without it, whereas his clothes were maybe used only in the events of the game, so they're not as memorable as the hat he had since he was a baby. It's a bit of a stretch, but hey.
That’s why there is a period of time where very little games had a red cross symbol or they had an altered one that just managed to get by the Red Cross’ legal team using things like a red H.
Imagine using charitable donations to sue people over video game sprites and anime drawings which used your red addition symbol to represent things like "health, healing, hospitals, healthcare"
7:50 the toned-down "spank" noise is the same sound effect that plays when an enemy insults you in the NA version, so you could argue that Mr. Minch is merely shouting at his kids as punishment.
@@PassTheSnails Ninten is 12 years old, and the game say outright in the Japanese version that it takes place in 1988. Ness is 13 years old and his game is stated to take place anywhere between 1990 and 1999(since it is listed at 199X), Even if it took place in 1999, Ness would have been born already at the time the events of Ninten's adventure took place.
Of course, if you see any instance in which europe gets disrespected or blatantly ignored shesez will be there to be part of it, Earthbound couldn’t be an exception on his personal crusade, just have to see the series logo
Also, the nakedness thing isn't a perverted thing either. In Japanese culture they often would take baths/hot springs/ etc etc. Together. It's a common way to socialize. But over in the west it's considered awkward.
@@MrRogerogerio A very interesting connection is that in Totoro the father of the girls, who is shown in that scene, is actually voiced by Shigesato Itoi, the creator of Earthbound.
I find it interesting that despite being a bee in the US pokey's mom calls it a dung beetle, mistaking a rino beetle for a dung beetle makes more sense then mistaking a bee for one
@@theravenpirate4744 yeah but you can also already easily run the fan translation of mother 3 on your phone or any hacked portable console that are far more easy to carry around than a switch
I prefer the change to Threed, which is literally 3D, y'know, like cheesy horror films, but uh... Threek just gives your 3K's... and I think you know where I'm going.
Definitely prefer the more "cute" clay model of Ness and friends compared to the more "cool" look they gave them for the US release. It better matches their actual sprites, too.
@@crust9889 Sonic too, though not as drastic a change. But Sonic on the Japanese box art definitely has a cuter more "round" look than how he appeared on US box art.
i like both, and I have to hand it to the artists that made that.. whether it was airbrushing or a brand new clay model, it looked dead on and cool. What's sad is the rest of the US marketing was completely opposite. Making it seem like a juvenile grossout gagfest, leading to poor sales.
@@crust9889 People in the US during the 80's to late 90's just couldn't understand Japanese culture back in the day, so the producers had to play god with content that was considered too Japanese for foreign audiences. I felt bad for the US marketing being too cynical about Japanese culture especially Nintendo of America playing god with video game content that was either too mature or too Japanese for us to understand back in the day. As BohepansTheThird said in one of his Final Fantasy IV playthroughs, "If anyone's that dense. Good god! Granted, there's no limit to human stupidity, but still..." And also, in one of my verses from 90's Paradise, I said: "They just forgot. No wonder why I didn't get nice things, dude!"
From what I understand, Nintendo of America repurposed Ness and his party into being middle schoolers (12 to 13 years old) when they were slightly younger in the Japanese version (9 to 10 years old).
Fan translation actually does have a few region differences. The Kokeshi statue and octo statue in the hall of memories is once again replaced by the eraser and pencil. Lucas and Oj's voice when they play in luckys room is also replaced with an English voive clip
An interesting note about the happy happy cult is that it’s also partially based on the Aum Shinrikyo cult which carried out two sarin attacks in 1994 and 1995
@@ludwiniiihernandez9873 I think it would make more sense if it was Aum Shinrikyo since they had been gaining a lot of notoriety in the years leading up to the gas attacks, and their marketing campaigns were overly cheerful which matches the whole Happy Happyism thing.
Thinking about it from a dev standpoint, why would it be? It's more likely based on something from Japan instead of a country far away from the creator.
@@kaitoudark1 Considering that this game is full of references to America, is essentially set in a fictionalized America ("Eagleland"), this comment comes off as completely oblivious lol
@@kaitoudark1 the first main villain of their very first super sentai series (what became power rangers here decades later with zyuranger) was a guy in a seemingly Klan-inspired white hood outfit in the 1970s. So using that imagery for fictional america while also invoking a cult fresh in people's memories for their target audience is absolutely plausible.
Literally just realised that the Labo peripherals are probably from the Japanese/French abbreviation of Laboratory -- because the cardboard peripherals were experimental.
Ever since I learned about the "Threek" thing, I think they missed an opportunity not calling it "Threeka", because it sounds like "Topeka". Goes nicely with "Twoson". Also, it's ironic that they edited the cultists to remove a resemblance to real life stuff, because they were modeled after a real cult in Japan that had killed some people, not too long before the game was made even.
I am a little bit late but... They couldn't name it "Topeka" because the city's name needed to be consistent with the numerology of the other towns. One-tt, Two-son, Three-d, Four-side
@@nibyafternight1983 They said that there was an opportunity to name it "Threeka", because it sounds similiar to "Topeka" (I don't know what he is referencing). So it would not break the theme
It just occurred to me when looking at the logo comparisons ... The title "Mother" sometimes gets poked fun at by us westerners because with the exception of the third game no mother character has a very big role in the game. But looking at the Mother logo with the Earth in it ... I realized just now that it could also be a play on the common term "Mother Earth". Which, if true, I rather like because it means the term "EarthBound" is actually somewhat connected to the original title, rather than just being pulled out of thin air.
I think it's funny that in the Japanese version Ness has no clothes because it's normal for them to not carry over clothes from the real world to the metaphysical ones, yet Ness still has his cap. Especially when they already have a Ness with no cap sprite to use.
A lot of people don’t realize that the overworlds textures in Japanese Pokémon red and green are completely different than in North American Pokémon red and blue. People tend to think they only changed the Pokémon sprites but they actually changed how the whole game looks like the grass, the water, and the building textures are totally different
@@Hollow_Tim well the US Red and Blue are not actually localizations of Japanese Red and Green. It's a weird mashup of red/green and the Japanese Blue version(yes really, it was like with Gold/Silver then Crystal... etc...). the Japanese Blue version had a LOt of art changes. The US version used that art instead of the original art.
I work for the Red Cross. Absolutely true that they go after any depiction of it that isn't their own. I get it but it's kind of extreme IMO. There was a Transformers ambulance toy that had the red cross and Hasbro had to either recall and/or change the toy and remove it.
They're protective of the mark because they have to be. It's a major part of their identity and the traditional way they get recognized as noncombatants in war, and, as a trademark, it's at risk of genericization. If they didn't zealously protect it, they'd open themselves up to a court challenge that it no longer uniquely identified them and was therefore no longer protected by trademark law. (It's a bit more complicated than that, I gather, because it's not *just* trademark law that factors into this, since I believe the symbol is also covered by treaty law. But I don't imagine they want to tempt fate either way.) I remember when the first two Doom games were rereleased in the mid-2000s, and someone finally reached id Software and got them to replace the red cross on the stimpacks with a weird little Dr. Mario-looking pill.
@@stevethepocket Beats me. They used to be less concerned with (or possibly just less aware of) video games. It's possible TF2 just sort of grandfathered itself in, before the Red Cross noticed.
Heh, same. Going through the Legends of Localization site and the Cutting Room Floor articles on the game every once in a while will do that. ;( Cool video regardless, obviously.
Onomatopoeia between cultures is so funny. I dated a Korean girl last year and she let me know that for her, “dang” is the sound that a bell makes, she eventually told me that because I always reacted to things with “dang”
Ness has a Japanese accent in smash, which I think is a character fitting detail. As well as Lucas having an American accent. Both characters have their games released on complete other sides of the earth, Earthbound being released in the USA, and Mother 3 being released in Japan.
It's a little odd, they were worried about the cult being confused for the KKK in US (despite them not really being prevelant at the time), but the original cult they were based on would a single year after the original release would commit one of the worst acts of terrorism in Japanese history and even before that were publically suspected of regularly making people disappear.
@@TheFawfulExpressMustardO-cx6mw Aum Shinrikyo and yes, the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack in 1995. Look up what their leader wore, he wore an entirely blue outfit. No hood though.
Im glad that Earthbound blew up, im glad that everyone got to experience a game that I bought when it came out. Beat it 10+ times before the internet was even a thing. Still own the box and everything, and my scratch and sniff cards still smell to this day. This game means soo much to me, and im really really happy other people get to experience it too.
@@jamesduncan6729 that's awesome! I remember my dad reading (what felt like) the entire book while I watched the intro scene play over and over in anticipation of playing. Man.. Soo much nostalgia.
One thing that made me love the earthbound community even more is that in Mother 3, there's a octopus statue identical to the one in Mother 2 (as a little quick reference), but in the Fan-translation of the game, the team CHANGED THE SPRITE to the pencil statue from earthbound. That Just shows how much they put care on translating the game.
Honestly, I think the pencil and eraser statues are great bits of humor. "Pencil eraser" is just great wordplay, but then you get to "eraser eraser" and it's a whole other level of wordplay.
I wonder how this game would've looked like in Europe because it never came out here sadly. In japan and in most european countries being naked is something natural. It's not sexual unless you make it sexual by putting it into an perverted context or something. I can understand why they changed it for NA because nudity is a really sensitive subject there for some reason. Really dumb
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! PAAAAAIIIINNNN!!!!!! I broke my hand yesterday because of the hate comments I get on my amazing videos. I was so angry that I punched a hole in my computer. Please don't comment anything mean on my wonderful videos, dear sqe
@@AxxLAfriku let me get this straight-- you punched a hole in your computer. So you must be using your phone to type this. Most people instinctively punch with their dominant hand, so you would have to be typing this on a phone with your offhand. Somehow I doubt you would go through the effort to find a random video just to inform us of this. Not only do I think that this is a botted reply, I don't believe that you broke your hand.
@@-Teague- Just report him for spam, I do it all the time, and sometimes they dissapear, it's a completelly out of place comment made to drive attention to his own channel after all.
Not sure if this was noticed or mentioned by anyone, but on the Japanese town map, the indicator for the general store is “DRUG” while in the US it’s changed to “SHOP.” At the time there was a strong anti-drug movement aimed at children, spawning such programs as D.A.R.E. and I believe that to be the reason for the localization. Keep up the good work! Your channel is one of my favorites; your videos are well made, I always check for updates, and you seem like a genuinely nice person. Thanks for doing what you do
The more I see someone holding an authentic cartridge of Earthbound, the more it makes me get jealous because dear lord the price is soooooo high for no reason. The game wasn’t even rare!!! I’m tempted to actually freakin’ learn Japanese so I can play and own the Japanese version.
Nowdays tough even Japan has become way more strict with nudity in media than they where before so a lot gets toned down to avoid higher ratings. So Im pretty sure Ness would have clothes on him if the game was released today.
True, this makes me wonder if the Wii U Virtual Console version that got released used the Ness sprite from the US version, i do know there was censorship on the Mother 1+2 collection (more specifically Mother 1)
Fun controversy note about the cultists: the cultists are based off of a real life cult in Japan that was responsible for a terrorist attack using sarin gas. I forget the details, but I believe the real life cult had a name having to do with the color blue, or something along those lines, hence the blue cultists in the game.
Fantastic Localization work by the team. I'm glad EarthBound and the Mother trilogy is loved by many. Nudity to represent purity in a metaphysical sense in Japanese media is so intriguing, reminds me of Sailor Moon.
Something that always bothered me about the "Pencil Eraser" or rather the "Octopus Eraser" is, from what I understand in the Japanese Help Text for the Picnic Lunch, rather than having "a Slice of your favorite cake" they contain "octopus wieners" meaning hot dogs cut into the shape of an octopus. The "Octopus Eraser" should erase the delicious octopus wieners from your Picnic Lunch!
@Hamann Djatmiko: Oddly enough, I learned of octopus-shaped weiners from the American dub of _Sailor Moon_ from Dic (now known as Cookie Jar Entertainment).
the baffling part is that this has somehow become MORE taboo over the last several decades, when that is not the direction.. things are supposed to ever move in. to the point that shesez here is being so careful and meek and dancing around even saying any words to describe it. I mean it's kind of adorable, but it's also warped as hell and proven to be the source of all manner of psychological issues.
@PestoMayo The only thing that's really odd, and this extends outside to several unrelated topics, is that everyone is sure their particular sensibilities and standards are the only ones to exist.. meanwhile every 3 feet you spot a conflicting standard. No two shows seem to have the same rules. not even from season to season of the same one.
If you enjoyed this video, that Legends of Localization book will be right up your alley. It’s filled with hundreds of pages explaining all the differences (like, ALL OF THEM) between the two games. Highly recommended!
I think the "Labo" title is even more fitting for me because I always assumed winters was in Canada so it would make sense to have some form of French on their signs :)
That or the three K thing especially given the fact that they already have a cult going on in the game...one of which already kind of looks like the "three K"
Why does "Threek" rhyming with "freak" make more sense? "Freak" isn't a Japanese word or anything, thus a Threek/freak rhyme wouldn't make sense to them. Beyond that, the town is temporarily inhabited by zombies, but before and after that, it's a pretty normal town.
Kinda misleading title. The kid from Breath of Fire was nude in a scene and that was rated Teen. Even with the slight nod to alcohol and infidelity, that wouldn't get an M rating. Interesting video nonetheless, but still clickbait. Of course, it DID make me click on it, so the jokes on me I guess :) EDIT: I meant to say Breath of Fire 3.
@@theextremeanimator4721 Whoops, I meant to say Breath of Fire 3. If memory serves, it was near the beginning of the game after he reverts from his dragon form.
It's interesting, I own a reproduction cart of Earthbound called Earthbound Uncut and it restores all the things left out in the American version you mentioned and I think even some saltier dialog. But they kept Ness with pajamas. Even those people were like "we're not touching that one."
It's actually a japanese pun. I can't remember the exact pun for the octopus, but the dolls are called "kokeshi" and the word for eraser is "keshi" making the item that erases dolls a "kokeshi keshi"
Here's an interesting fact: America's lack of openness on nudity has to do with a complete misunderstanding of what the Bible says concerning this topic (eg: missing the spot where a prophet of God says he'll mourn in the nude, not understanding what lust is, reading a definition of modesty into the text, etc.). And the development of this lack of openness started relatively recently (~250 years ago) over a long period that lasted until the mid 20th century.
Lovin' the new show so far, and glad many else are, too!!! Also, I too would enjoy seeing some (if any) differences between PAL region and NTSC region versions of games on the show. How they differ in that region I've not seen much coverage of in my time watching content of this sort.
@@lh9591 UA-cam: I said you're going to watch this clip. And you are going to do what we told you before we do something to your channel. And I don't care what the counter arguments is because every user does what we say!
8:25 The reason they took the HH off of the Happy Happyist's hoods is confirmed to be an attempt to avoid a misread it as "KK" because of the fuzziness you would see on a CRT TV
No idea how its phrased, but in Japanese, calling something "In the depths of the earth" is basically just calling it underground. So it's basically "The underground continent" which means it's not too far to call it the Underworld thematically. I like how everytime you go "He refers to her as his wife" and the Japanese version, you spend 90% the time holding on ウィヒック、ネスじゃないか？, which is literally just him saying "I'm Hick. If it isn't Ness" and has absolutely nothing to do with the line your pointing out。For those wondering about the Mrs vs Ms thing since another language. 夫人 or ふじん or Fujin absolutely implies she's still married in Japanese.
Except the word "underworld" has a different connotation in English besides just being underground. That would be a rare screw-up for the English localizer.
@@Compucles However, referring to a large society underground as the Underworld, is not unique in English. I swear I know multiple RPGs that have done it.
The hat stays ON during the dream sequence
"But ma-mah Identity!-"
I'm glad I'm not the only one questioning this
Ness born with the hat confirmed 100%.
"The helmet stayed on."
@@nmotschidontwannagivemyrea8932 Ah yes, a man of culture I see
I like the statue names in the original. See, octopus would be “tako”, so the octopus eraser would be the “tako keshi”. “Takokeshi” contains the word “kokeshi”, so its a bit of a fun pun. And then you run into the kokeshi statues, which are just that pun turned into an object. The “kokeshi keshi” continues the pun while being amusingly redundant.
With that in mind, I think the pencil and eraser statues were a very good way of localizing the joke. We get the bizarre first statue (pencil), and an item that removes it (pencil eraser), which is also a pun (instead of being an eraser for pencil marks, it erases pencils). And then we get a second statue that *is* the previous pun, and the item that erases it is amusingly redundant (eraser eraser).
Really, great job to the localization team on that one. The idea of the joke translated perfectly.
That is really funny! I'm sometimes honestly amazed with what localization teams come up with for various things.
Today I learned a tiny bit of japanese. Fun times!
That’s genius
The pencil eraser is just ironic XD
Yeah I was a bit surprised Shesez didn't go into this a bit more. I think the localization for the statues is often overlooked. Huge credit to the localization team for creating a similar joke that resonated with western audiences.
The only disturbing part of Ness being nude in his metaphysical state was that he never got rid of his hat. That is what always made me wonder lol.
The hat is obviously part of his body.
I noticed that too XD
Maybe he was born with that hat
yeah, made me think maybe shesez and ness are related
His hat is part of his identity
My theory is that he considers the hat a part of him, of his identity, and probably wouldn't imagine himself without it, whereas his clothes were maybe used only in the events of the game, so they're not as memorable as the hat he had since he was a baby. It's a bit of a stretch, but hey.
I swear I recall a time when the Canadian Red Cross blew an entire year's budget suing game devs for using the red cross symbol.
That’s why there is a period of time where very little games had a red cross symbol or they had an altered one that just managed to get by the Red Cross’ legal team using things like a red H.
Imagine being a kid drawing a hospital red cross in it but gets sued over a symbol.
Imagine using charitable donations to sue people over video game sprites and anime drawings which used your red addition symbol to represent things like "health, healing, hospitals, healthcare"
@@cleverman383 sometimes i lose faith in this world
@@cyanidepizzaLose faith in corrupt corporations and businessmen, rather.
It's weird that the original Japanese version is simultaneously cuter and darker at the same time.
Basically the entire Kirby franchise in a nutshell.
in japan: mother 2 geigas strikes back
in america: earthbound 2 the war against geigas
7:50 the toned-down "spank" noise is the same sound effect that plays when an enemy insults you in the NA version, so you could argue that Mr. Minch is merely shouting at his kids as punishment.
A solid theory!
*doug*
Hmm...maybe.
The JP version literally sounds like he went in there packing an Ak47 or somethin, made me lol
@@JakobeOG
*P U N I S H M E N T*
“Characters in a metaphysical world shed their additions from the physical world.”
So, Ness was born with a hat on? It’s part of him!
When you examine baby Ness’ crib in the flashback, he literally has the hat on. You could be right bro
@@PassTheSnails Oh really? Dang, I didn’t even know about that!
@@Zenlore6499 in reality my theory is that Ness’ dad is Ninten from mother 1 and thus Ness’ dad gave him the hat at birth. But yeah crazy detail huh?
@Oshabot 16 underrated
@@PassTheSnails Ninten is 12 years old, and the game say outright in the Japanese version that it takes place in 1988. Ness is 13 years old and his game is stated to take place anywhere between 1990 and 1999(since it is listed at 199X), Even if it took place in 1999, Ness would have been born already at the time the events of Ninten's adventure took place.
Dang Shesez is flexing on all of us by showing off his American _and_ Japanese copies of Earthbound
💪
@@BoundaryBreak 🗿 stonks
📈📈📈
Of course, if you see any instance in which europe gets disrespected or blatantly ignored shesez will be there to be part of it, Earthbound couldn’t be an exception on his personal crusade, just have to see the series logo
@@mikutsu5356
?????????????
@@mikutsu5356 17:52 is a special message meant just for you and 4 others who liked your comment!
Also, the nakedness thing isn't a perverted thing either. In Japanese culture they often would take baths/hot springs/ etc etc. Together. It's a common way to socialize. But over in the west it's considered awkward.
It was also common in the west, just look ancient greece and rome (but only for man trough). But not more because of Christianity.
It was even depicted in My Neighbor Totoro, much to my initial shock.
@@MrRogerogerio A very interesting connection is that in Totoro the father of the girls, who is shown in that scene, is actually voiced by Shigesato Itoi, the creator of Earthbound.
@@Lalo-dh8xqokay, I love coincidences. Lol. Thanks
Culture shock
I find it interesting that despite being a bee in the US pokey's mom calls it a dung beetle, mistaking a rino beetle for a dung beetle makes more sense then mistaking a bee for one
He isn't a bee in the US.
"A bee I am.
Not."
Basically the kids are dumb for mistaking a beetle for a bee.
What the comment above me said. He flat out says that he’s not a bee.
I'd argue that it makes it a funnier joke to me. Like this woman is so stupid lol
(also my comment is stupid. Its super late where I'm at)
that's funny because in the japanese version she mistakes him for a "toilet fly"
I like how the Japanese Magicant has Ness with his hat, but the American one has Ness without his hat lmao
*Magicant. It's a play on the words "magic" and "can't".
@@abomasnow4 oh, thanks. I haven't played Earthbound so I just wrote what I thought Shesez said.
@@abomasnow4 I'm pretty sure it's spelled "Magnicant".
@@Schnoz42069 Looks like I'm dead wrong. No idea why I thought that.
Japan: *“Hat stays ON during sax”*
It should be rated W for Why Is Mother 3 Still Not Localized?
Better yet but still just as important: Why the Hell are none of them on the switch?
Because the fan translation is better than any official localization will ever be
@@juannaym8488 yeah but I could bring out my switch on a bus
The story was too disturbing
@@theravenpirate4744 yeah but you can also already easily run the fan translation of mother 3 on your phone or any hacked portable console that are far more easy to carry around than a switch
Well, Threek makes some sense to me cause it almost sounds like 'Freak' which would make sense since the entire town is filled with freaks.
Welcome to the town of EEK!
@@dansmith1661 Welcome to _EE!_
it's also got the only glitchless access to an area the freaks the game out
I think the joke in the name was "Trick"
I prefer the change to Threed, which is literally 3D, y'know, like cheesy horror films, but uh... Threek just gives your 3K's... and I think you know where I'm going.
I must admit, despite the changes, The English translation of Earthbound is really well thought-out and fitting the game's atmosphere.
Yeah they did a good job adapting it to western cultural standards without ruining it
Old school Localization is an art, and I think Earthbound(yes including the Mother 3 fan translation) and the Mario RPGs get the best of the best.
Everything in the UNverse could be destroyed at the hands of Giygas.
@@TheQuashingoftheTub SMRPG got a pretty terrible translation, but the rest of the RPGs were pretty good
The most scary thing is being awake at like 4AM playing earthbound and seeing the "War against giygas" screen with the creepy music playing.
Definitely prefer the more "cute" clay model of Ness and friends compared to the more "cool" look they gave them for the US release. It better matches their actual sprites, too.
That's unfortunately how it was then. Megaman box art was probably the most glaring example. "Old" was cooler than cute in the West at the time.
@@crust9889 Sonic too, though not as drastic a change. But Sonic on the Japanese box art definitely has a cuter more "round" look than how he appeared on US box art.
i like both, and I have to hand it to the artists that made that.. whether it was airbrushing or a brand new clay model, it looked dead on and cool.
What's sad is the rest of the US marketing was completely opposite. Making it seem like a juvenile grossout gagfest, leading to poor sales.
@@crust9889 People in the US during the 80's to late 90's just couldn't understand Japanese culture back in the day, so the producers had to play god with content that was considered too Japanese for foreign audiences. I felt bad for the US marketing being too cynical about Japanese culture especially Nintendo of America playing god with video game content that was either too mature or too Japanese for us to understand back in the day. As BohepansTheThird said in one of his Final Fantasy IV playthroughs, "If anyone's that dense. Good god! Granted, there's no limit to human stupidity, but still..." And also, in one of my verses from 90's Paradise, I said: "They just forgot. No wonder why I didn't get nice things, dude!"
From what I understand, Nintendo of America repurposed Ness and his party into being middle schoolers (12 to 13 years old) when they were slightly younger in the Japanese version (9 to 10 years old).
Now do the differences between the japanese version of Mother 3 and the... oh. Wait.
Wasn't Mother 3 in Europe as well?
ouch
I literally just commented the exact same joke bruh😂
@@JonathanRiverafrickinnice555 Nope, no official English translation exists.
Fan translation actually does have a few region differences. The Kokeshi statue and octo statue in the hall of memories is once again replaced by the eraser and pencil. Lucas and Oj's voice when they play in luckys room is also replaced with an English voive clip
region break mother 3, see what the difference are between japan and nowhere else
tragicomic
You see, in the Japanese copy of Mother 3, there is a game. In the American version, there isn't
@@psiseven "as you can see the differences are *stark*"
You mean Nowhere Islands?
A perfect April Fool's episode imo
An interesting note about the happy happy cult is that it’s also partially based on the Aum Shinrikyo cult which carried out two sarin attacks in 1994 and 1995
I thought they were a parody to the K.K.K
@@ludwiniiihernandez9873 I think it would make more sense if it was Aum Shinrikyo since they had been gaining a lot of notoriety in the years leading up to the gas attacks, and their marketing campaigns were overly cheerful which matches the whole Happy Happyism thing.
Thinking about it from a dev standpoint, why would it be? It's more likely based on something from Japan instead of a country far away from the creator.
@@kaitoudark1 Considering that this game is full of references to America, is essentially set in a fictionalized America ("Eagleland"), this comment comes off as completely oblivious lol
@@kaitoudark1 the first main villain of their very first super sentai series (what became power rangers here decades later with zyuranger) was a guy in a seemingly Klan-inspired white hood outfit in the 1970s. So using that imagery for fictional america while also invoking a cult fresh in people's memories for their target audience is absolutely plausible.
15:27 - in fairness, who'd want to drink a soda named *Come,* anyways?
Your mom. Wait you said "come" my bad
@@rhyano_ can mean the same thing, actually
Anyone on twitter I suppose.
LOL
Girls
Me: "But 'labo' is fine.... oh right, I'm French."
mie tout ail âme franche!
I hear labo and it just makes me think of Nintendo's cardboard peripherals.
@@YashaMikage yeah me too
Literally just realised that the Labo peripherals are probably from the Japanese/French abbreviation of Laboratory -- because the cardboard peripherals were experimental.
Pareil, j'ai mis un moment avant de comprendre que ça ne se disait pas en anglais.
Be right back, I'm headed to the department.
The... BASED department?
Hey, to be fair to them, the common Japanese word for a department store is デパート (depaato), so you're not even that far off
Dad is that you?
Then after that, you can go to the conbini! (which is Japanese shortform for "convenience store")
@@salemthecat oh my gosh lol
when are we gonna do the mother 3 region break hehe
Easiest episode ever
Well, comparisons could be made to the fan translation but idk how much of a difference there'd be.
:(
The trailer of earthbound 64 vs mother 3
*Laughs*
The 3d lettering on the box is called "embossed".
E M B O S S E D
No thanks
Ever since I learned about the "Threek" thing, I think they missed an opportunity not calling it "Threeka", because it sounds like "Topeka". Goes nicely with "Twoson". Also, it's ironic that they edited the cultists to remove a resemblance to real life stuff, because they were modeled after a real cult in Japan that had killed some people, not too long before the game was made even.
I am a little bit late but... They couldn't name it "Topeka" because the city's name needed to be consistent with the numerology of the other towns. One-tt, Two-son, Three-d, Four-side
@@nibyafternight1983 They said that there was an opportunity to name it "Threeka", because it sounds similiar to "Topeka" (I don't know what he is referencing). So it would not break the theme
Topeka... Isn't that a city in Kansas?
It just occurred to me when looking at the logo comparisons ...
The title "Mother" sometimes gets poked fun at by us westerners because with the exception of the third game no mother character has a very big role in the game. But looking at the Mother logo with the Earth in it ... I realized just now that it could also be a play on the common term "Mother Earth". Which, if true, I rather like because it means the term "EarthBound" is actually somewhat connected to the original title, rather than just being pulled out of thin air.
The Earth is everyone’s mother!
I mean, Maria being the "mother" of Giygas seems like a pretty big plot point, tbh.
*my mother's middle name is earth*
Mother Earth is the opening song to Mother
It's because Shigesato Itoi likes the Beatles.
As a Earthbound/ Mother Fan all I can say is: No crying until the end.
Bro I cry when buzz buzz die ;-;
@ً noone cares
@ً lol nice.
Bitch, I'm a grown man.
I will cry when I want. ;n;
mother 3 1st chapter
ah so they dropped the -tle and made him a bee
how fitting, even the character's species name is cut short too soon
Just goes to show why you should never time travel. Ever.
Actually no, they didn’t change him to a B at all. He even says in his dialogue, and I quote, “A bee I am, not”.
@Jesse Schmies you're saying the same thing I'm saying, dude
I think it's funny that in the Japanese version Ness has no clothes because it's normal for them to not carry over clothes from the real world to the metaphysical ones, yet Ness still has his cap. Especially when they already have a Ness with no cap sprite to use.
The hat stays ON during dreams
The hat has been with ness since birth
A lot of people don’t realize that the overworlds textures in Japanese Pokémon red and green are completely different than in North American Pokémon red and blue. People tend to think they only changed the Pokémon sprites but they actually changed how the whole game looks like the grass, the water, and the building textures are totally different
Really? They can’t be that different, cuz I played Green a bit and never noticed that.
@@Hollow_Tim well the US Red and Blue are not actually localizations of Japanese Red and Green. It's a weird mashup of red/green and the Japanese Blue version(yes really, it was like with Gold/Silver then Crystal... etc...). the Japanese Blue version had a LOt of art changes. The US version used that art instead of the original art.
Congrats your comment got turned into a video.
On Labo is short hand for laboratory in Japan?!
That explains Nintendo Labo.
I thought it was some weird pun on danbo, meaning cardboard..
@@KairuHakubi Maybe it's both
yeah it's usually the first two or three syllables for abbreviation
Speedo waifu
@@BigOlSmellyFlashlight what about dept. for department lol
Ah, yes, the refreshening taste of Come.
No, no, n o, *n o .*
At least Shesez didn't say it in a provocative way.
Haha oh come on
"These trucks over here say Come™"
"A taste of things to come"
- A billboard for a fictional soda brand in a video game
Psssssst, title says "Boundary Break"
whoopsie
I was thinking about that too lol
If you think about it tho it is breaking continental boundaries 👀
@@BoundaryBreak technically, you're out of the games Boundaries, so it IS, a "Boundary Break".
Even though I played the US version, I still had the feeling that the cafe was a bar 😂
the music doesnt help either.
I work for the Red Cross. Absolutely true that they go after any depiction of it that isn't their own. I get it but it's kind of extreme IMO. There was a Transformers ambulance toy that had the red cross and Hasbro had to either recall and/or change the toy and remove it.
They're protective of the mark because they have to be. It's a major part of their identity and the traditional way they get recognized as noncombatants in war, and, as a trademark, it's at risk of genericization. If they didn't zealously protect it, they'd open themselves up to a court challenge that it no longer uniquely identified them and was therefore no longer protected by trademark law.
(It's a bit more complicated than that, I gather, because it's not *just* trademark law that factors into this, since I believe the symbol is also covered by treaty law. But I don't imagine they want to tempt fate either way.)
I remember when the first two Doom games were rereleased in the mid-2000s, and someone finally reached id Software and got them to replace the red cross on the stimpacks with a weird little Dr. Mario-looking pill.
I wonder why they never went after TF2 for their medpacks.
@@stevethepocket Beats me. They used to be less concerned with (or possibly just less aware of) video games. It's possible TF2 just sort of grandfathered itself in, before the Red Cross noticed.
I'm big enough of an EarthBound nerd that I actually knew all of these.
That's impressive haha
Heh, same. Going through the Legends of Localization site and the Cutting Room Floor articles on the game every once in a while will do that. ;(
Cool video regardless, obviously.
I forgot what the regions were named, so it was a welcome image.
@@dansmith1661 No idea what you mean.
When Shesez get's recommended the same 7 year old Simpons video.
I got that one as well XD
As a French guy "labo" didn't really shock me that much I have to say
Onomatopoeia between cultures is so funny. I dated a Korean girl last year and she let me know that for her, “dang” is the sound that a bell makes, she eventually told me that because I always reacted to things with “dang”
She just heard the Taco Bell sound effect every time you were mildly upset about something
Ness has a Japanese accent in smash, which I think is a character fitting detail. As well as Lucas having an American accent.
Both characters have their games released on complete other sides of the earth, Earthbound being released in the USA, and Mother 3 being released in Japan.
Makes little sense tho cause Ness is from a land based off USA and Lucas is from a land probably based on Europe.
@@JohnDoe-id5ihare you implying you would like lucas to be british
@@RigWim Yes
@@RigWimthe UK isn't the only country in Europe, what if Lucas is Croatian or something
It's a little odd, they were worried about the cult being confused for the KKK in US (despite them not really being prevelant at the time), but the original cult they were based on would a single year after the original release would commit one of the worst acts of terrorism in Japanese history and even before that were publically suspected of regularly making people disappear.
Which cult was that? Was it the Sarin nerve gas thingy?
@@TheFawfulExpressMustardO-cx6mw Aum Shinrikyo and yes, the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack in 1995. Look up what their leader wore, he wore an entirely blue outfit. No hood though.
@Vmac1394
Already seen it. He does bear a striking resemblance.
The cult in the game IS based on the KKK. If you don't know what HH means I'm not the one who will tell ya
If Mother 3 comes west uncensored, it has to be rated M, as well. I think that is what's stopping Nintendo.
they might be able to get away with T, but Nintendo still probably doesn't want that
Maybe rated T atleast or e10 if they can do a good job at censoring it
@@Deadhead-kq4hr yeah then i rather not want it
@@Deadhead-kq4hr T was probably what they’d have to target, since E10+ wasn’t established until 2005
@@TheMamaluigi300 i'm pretty sure that they could have had it be E10+ if it was released on the virtual console but ok
Huh. Didn't think about the fact that "Earthbound" doesn't have the MOTHER Earth logo in it.
Yeah, J never really thought about it either. It'd fit well into the "o" too.
"Threed was originally Threek. This was changed to avoid--"
Me: To avoid people thinking "Freak?"
"To avoid people thinking "Three K's."
Me: Oh...
I get it...KKK.
kool kids klan?
Fun fact: There's a King Crimson album that's called "Earthbound" too.
And a common mall store
@@FriskDrinksBrisk really?
I know this is a 2 year old comment but King Crimson is sooo good. I need to relisten to that album later!
and a jungi ito story
Imagine getting up and going to get a nice cold glass of come
Always Come Cola...
Always Come Cola...
Reminds me of when I played through Earthbound in Japanese when I didn't know Japanese
You again...
@@kenzo2909 Again?
YOU AGAIN
@@Levi_The_One_The_Only WHO AM I!?!
@@OilFreak Why are you in the bathroom? Also YOU AGAIN???
Im glad that Earthbound blew up, im glad that everyone got to experience a game that I bought when it came out.
Beat it 10+ times before the internet was even a thing. Still own the box and everything, and my scratch and sniff cards still smell to this day.
This game means soo much to me, and im really really happy other people get to experience it too.
It's honestly my favorite game of all time. We first got it when it came out and I was about ten years old.
@@jamesduncan6729 that's awesome! I remember my dad reading (what felt like) the entire book while I watched the intro scene play over and over in anticipation of playing. Man.. Soo much nostalgia.
I heard the chemicals in the sniff cards may be toxic.
Tell me.. what does Ness' scratch card smell like?
I'd imagine he smells kinda like trees and dirt, what with all the traveling he did...
One thing that made me love the earthbound community even more is that in Mother 3, there's a octopus statue identical to the one in Mother 2 (as a little quick reference), but in the Fan-translation of the game, the team CHANGED THE SPRITE to the pencil statue from earthbound. That Just shows how much they put care on translating the game.
Honestly, I think the pencil and eraser statues are great bits of humor. "Pencil eraser" is just great wordplay, but then you get to "eraser eraser" and it's a whole other level of wordplay.
10:08 So the hat is considered part of Ness' body? That's kinda disturbing...
Jotaro and Ness the same person
I wonder how this game would've looked like in Europe because it never came out here sadly. In japan and in most european countries being naked is something natural. It's not sexual unless you make it sexual by putting it into an perverted context or something. I can understand why they changed it for NA because nudity is a really sensitive subject there for some reason. Really dumb
Yeah, I was really confused as to why Shesez put a trigger warning in there. I was thinking something disturbing was about to show.
@@klaaskolpert8431 Those 20 pixels man. Risky
@@klaaskolpert8431 trigger warnings are stupid, that part was very cringe
Here before he changes the title from "Boundary Break"
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! PAAAAAIIIINNNN!!!!!!
I broke my hand yesterday because of the hate comments I get on my amazing videos. I was so angry that I punched a hole in my computer. Please don't comment anything mean on my wonderful videos, dear sqe
@@AxxLAfriku let me get this straight-- you punched a hole in your computer. So you must be using your phone to type this. Most people instinctively punch with their dominant hand, so you would have to be typing this on a phone with your offhand. Somehow I doubt you would go through the effort to find a random video just to inform us of this. Not only do I think that this is a botted reply, I don't believe that you broke your hand.
@@AxxLAfriku oh my God you're like a bad justin y.
@@-Teague- Yeah just ignore him. He's a troll that just wants attention so he comments stuff like that all over youtube
@@-Teague- Just report him for spam, I do it all the time, and sometimes they dissapear, it's a completelly out of place comment made to drive attention to his own channel after all.
10:04 apparently ness's hat is a part of him literally.
Not sure if this was noticed or mentioned by anyone, but on the Japanese town map, the indicator for the general store is “DRUG” while in the US it’s changed to “SHOP.” At the time there was a strong anti-drug movement aimed at children, spawning such programs as D.A.R.E. and I believe that to be the reason for the localization. Keep up the good work! Your channel is one of my favorites; your videos are well made, I always check for updates, and you seem like a genuinely nice person. Thanks for doing what you do
Interestingly the desert store still just says "DRUGS"
@@17thstellation *sips tea loudly*
The more I see someone holding an authentic cartridge of Earthbound, the more it makes me get jealous because dear lord the price is soooooo high for no reason. The game wasn’t even rare!!! I’m tempted to actually freakin’ learn Japanese so I can play and own the Japanese version.
I mean it sold extremely bad in the USA so that might be part of the reason why, but yea they're egregiously expensive
Things are worth whatever a person is willing to pay for them. In this case of a highly desirable item; a lot.
The day I buy a real, actual version of Earthbound, I’ll come back here with a load of joy, no matter how long it will take to get it lmao.
I still have mine.
@Lick Tasty So what do you think happened to all the unsold copies? They all just get destroyed?
Nowdays tough even Japan has become way more strict with nudity in media than they where before so a lot gets toned down to avoid higher ratings. So Im pretty sure Ness would have clothes on him if the game was released today.
True, this makes me wonder if the Wii U Virtual Console version that got released used the Ness sprite from the US version, i do know there was censorship on the Mother 1+2 collection (more specifically Mother 1)
Which is a damn shame
"PAL regions will also be featured on this show"
TRAIN ZELDA INTENSIFIES
Pardon?
@@k-leb4671 I'm guessing there's a lot of differences in the PAL version of Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (I've never played it, so I wouldn't know)
I like this game :)
MYSTICAT??? WHAT U DOING HERR!!
Let's make a game.....
@@deidrecullum5754 Making an indie game yea that would be cool but I don't think so our game would get popular without sponsors which would cost a lot
Fun controversy note about the cultists: the cultists are based off of a real life cult in Japan that was responsible for a terrorist attack using sarin gas. I forget the details, but I believe the real life cult had a name having to do with the color blue, or something along those lines, hence the blue cultists in the game.
Fantastic Localization work by the team. I'm glad EarthBound and the Mother trilogy is loved by many. Nudity to represent purity in a metaphysical sense in Japanese media is so intriguing, reminds me of Sailor Moon.
The word “Labo” just reminds me of the Nintendo Labo! XD
Yeah that's what I was thinking
Something that always bothered me about the "Pencil Eraser" or rather the "Octopus Eraser" is, from what I understand in the Japanese Help Text for the Picnic Lunch, rather than having "a Slice of your favorite cake" they contain "octopus wieners" meaning hot dogs cut into the shape of an octopus. The "Octopus Eraser" should erase the delicious octopus wieners from your Picnic Lunch!
@Hamann Djatmiko Yeah! I didn't know how widespread they were but knew of them because of Mother 2.
@Hamann Djatmiko: Oddly enough, I learned of octopus-shaped weiners from the American dub of _Sailor Moon_ from Dic (now known as Cookie Jar Entertainment).
Love your content, Sheez! Please keep this series of Regional differences going!
‘Department” is a perfectly fine label for a store
Rated M for Mother
I hate how nudity is considered "mature."
We are born naked. It's the most natural thing about humans.
the baffling part is that this has somehow become MORE taboo over the last several decades, when that is not the direction.. things are supposed to ever move in.
to the point that shesez here is being so careful and meek and dancing around even saying any words to describe it. I mean it's kind of adorable, but it's also warped as hell and proven to be the source of all manner of psychological issues.
@PestoMayo The only thing that's really odd, and this extends outside to several unrelated topics, is that everyone is sure their particular sensibilities and standards are the only ones to exist.. meanwhile every 3 feet you spot a conflicting standard. No two shows seem to have the same rules. not even from season to season of the same one.
If you enjoyed this video, that Legends of Localization book will be right up your alley. It’s filled with hundreds of pages explaining all the differences (like, ALL OF THEM) between the two games. Highly recommended!
14:40 is that why it’s called “Nintendo Labo?”
So it looks like everyone is being recommended that "unusually smooth Simpsons animation" video
The American Player's Guide for EarthBound still features an image of a naked Ness in Magicant.
In one picture, though.
I think the "Labo" title is even more fitting for me because I always assumed winters was in Canada so it would make sense to have some form of French on their signs :)
If their variant of Nessie had been a reference to Ogopogo instead, I could see it.
Threek makes so much more sense as the town's name, given it sounds like "freak", but the change is understandable.
That or the three K thing especially given the fact that they already have a cult going on in the game...one of which already kind of looks like the "three K"
Why does "Threek" rhyming with "freak" make more sense? "Freak" isn't a Japanese word or anything, thus a Threek/freak rhyme wouldn't make sense to them. Beyond that, the town is temporarily inhabited by zombies, but before and after that, it's a pretty normal town.
I thought Threek, as is "Eek!".
So they made Threed - like Three D - 3D?
The word freak was somewhat common in Japan.
15:40 Wait, the word Monoploy is copyrighted? Damn, that's a Monopoly right there.
15:18 I don't think Americans would be comfortable with Nintendo characters being able to drink "Come"...
They named the theater "Topolla", not knowing the amount of imagination spanish speakers have.
lol
What does it mean to Spanish speakers?
I know Spanish and I still don’t get it.
@@AngelVazquez-vs9xp Like Polla.
That explains Nintendo Labo
I was going to comment this but i thought that it wasn't amuzing enough lol
9:47 My reaction would be
"Holy butter balls!"
absolutely OBSESSED with this new series. i love stuff like this, honestly even more than the boundary break stuff!!! so interesting, keep it up !
Hey Shesez, you should Boundary Break Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, that could be fun
The fact that he showed the hospital sign is amazing. That’s why I voted for this game
Kinda misleading title. The kid from Breath of Fire was nude in a scene and that was rated Teen. Even with the slight nod to alcohol and infidelity, that wouldn't get an M rating. Interesting video nonetheless, but still clickbait. Of course, it DID make me click on it, so the jokes on me I guess :) EDIT: I meant to say Breath of Fire 3.
Oh...what scene was it?
@@theextremeanimator4721 Whoops, I meant to say Breath of Fire 3. If memory serves, it was near the beginning of the game after he reverts from his dragon form.
Xenogears had plenty of Ken doll nudity as well. Don't forget the opening and ending animes with actual nudity.
@@dansmith1661 which are some examples of the latter?
Also when Deis awakens in III and Ryu the beginning of Breath of Fire IV.
There are so many games that I'd love to see regional difference videos on! I love this series and can't wait to see more!
It's interesting, I own a reproduction cart of Earthbound called Earthbound Uncut and it restores all the things left out in the American version you mentioned and I think even some saltier dialog. But they kept Ness with pajamas. Even those people were like "we're not touching that one."
I feel like octopodes fit whatever symbolism they're trying to convey. With such an alien biology comes versatility.
It's actually a japanese pun. I can't remember the exact pun for the octopus, but the dolls are called "kokeshi" and the word for eraser is "keshi" making the item that erases dolls a "kokeshi keshi"
Here's an interesting fact: America's lack of openness on nudity has to do with a complete misunderstanding of what the Bible says concerning this topic (eg: missing the spot where a prophet of God says he'll mourn in the nude, not understanding what lust is, reading a definition of modesty into the text, etc.). And the development of this lack of openness started relatively recently (~250 years ago) over a long period that lasted until the mid 20th century.
I love this series. Regional changes and their reasonings are always so interesting, even ones I already know about. Good stuff!
The European localization of Splatoon's dialogue is...
intriguing.
Lovin' the new show so far, and glad many else are, too!!! Also, I too would enjoy seeing some (if any) differences between PAL region and NTSC region versions of games on the show. How they differ in that region I've not seen much coverage of in my time watching content of this sort.
11:57 I would say it ain't jibanyan without this trademark tails. .... or his ear,his handkerchief yellow thing,well it is jibanyan.
Was a great show
Relevance of earthbound? In 2021, I don’t believe it!
Saying atm machine is redundant since the m already stands for machine.
It's a common colloquialism, especially in the States. It was at one point at least, like "xerox"
6:30 Now that's some unusually smooth animation on "The Simpsons"
That video keeps getting suggested to me even though I’ve watched it and then said I wasn’t interested when it was re- recommended to me.
@@lh9591 UA-cam: I said you're going to watch this clip. And you are going to do what we told you before we do something to your channel. And I don't care what the counter arguments is because every user does what we say!
8:25 The reason they took the HH off of the Happy Happyist's hoods is confirmed to be an attempt to avoid a misread it as "KK" because of the fuzziness you would see on a CRT TV
14:30 24 years later, it became a switch game
So you're basically telling us that Ness was born wearing clothes. Those clothes are flesh. That's messed up.
We’re all born wearing a birthday suit.
No idea how its phrased, but in Japanese, calling something "In the depths of the earth" is basically just calling it underground. So it's basically "The underground continent" which means it's not too far to call it the Underworld thematically.
I like how everytime you go "He refers to her as his wife" and the Japanese version, you spend 90% the time holding on ウィヒック、ネスじゃないか？, which is literally just him saying "I'm Hick. If it isn't Ness" and has absolutely nothing to do with the line your pointing out。For those wondering about the Mrs vs Ms thing since another language. 夫人 or ふじん or Fujin absolutely implies she's still married in Japanese.
Except the word "underworld" has a different connotation in English besides just being underground. That would be a rare screw-up for the English localizer.
@@Compucles However, referring to a large society underground as the Underworld, is not unique in English. I swear I know multiple RPGs that have done it.
@@fearedjames Then all those RPGs screwed up their use of the term.
14:35 Mother 2 predicted the Nintendo Labo :P
6:37 Holy crap I'm not the only one who got recommended that Simpsons video
This dude is awesome. I don’t understand how you’re not in the millions by now.