Dragon Power/Dragon Ball: Shen Long no Nazo (NES/Famicom)

Study #2 – Dragon Power/Dragon Ball: Shen Long no Nazo (Bandai, NES/Famicom)

Mangaka Akira Toriyama’s original Dragon Ball manga is one of the most popular ever created. The initial series, which highlights the adventures of an alien boy named Son Goku, has spun off into Dragon Ball Z and GT in more recent years, which became huge in America in the late 1990′s. When the manga was originally published in Japan, Bandai, a Japanese toy and video game manufacturer, decided to capitalize on the popularity of the license and make a NES game based on the series. The game did well enough in Japan for Bandai to consider bringing it overseas in 1988. However, America would be completely in the dark about this whole "Dragon Ball" thing. Beyond the very (very) early adopters of anime and manga in the States, the license simply could not be a selling point.

That didn't deter Bandai at all. The localization department decided to simply excise any significant trace of the license, instead catering to the martial arts market that did exist in North America with its localization with the rebranded Dragon Power. Their ultimate success wasn't all that hot, mind, which we'll get to momentarily. First, let's take a look at the boxes.

The Famicom original puts Toriyama's artwork front and center. It's a pretty showy box for the early days of the console.

Dragons and balls still appear on the NA cover, but the license itself is no longer present. It is trying really hard to appeal to the aforementioned martial arts crowd, or perhaps those interested in kung-fu flicks. Bandai was also notable for putting screen grabs on the front of the box, a somewhat rare practice.

A comparison between the Dragon Ball (left) and Dragon Power (right) protagonists can be seen above. Son Goku (on the left) lost his pointed hair and open mouth during localization, gaining a far more generic martial arts stereotype makeover complete with headband and a constant, giant grin. His gi has also lost its orange flair for a more subdued pink color. The enemies appear to be unchanged. I suppose that these goons were original foes built for this game alone, otherwise we’d be seeing some sort of modification to them.

Other Dragon Ball characters who appeared in the original game were also altered to fit in with the new motif. Master Roshi, one of the progenitors of the perverted guru trope in anime, has been modified into a wizard-esque appearance:

As you may also suspect, the whole "panty" element is eliminated from Dragon Power; sandwiches were instead substituted. Also, the dialogue is brutally maligned, as you can gather here. Bulma managed to make it into Dragon Power pretty much unaltered outside of name; she is called Nora in America:

The Dragon Balls became Crystal Balls, and there's plenty of other "cameos" from DB characters in Dragon Power; even the programming was shoddy enough that occasionally the game reverts to the original Japanese sprites!

The most curious thing to me about Dragon Power is that Bandai took such pains to remove the Dragonball essence from the NA release, but then decided to make the game's narrative all about The Journey to the West, which is one of the four great novels of Chinese literature (and the inspiration for Dragon Ball, for that matter). While that book has been translated and has seen success abroad, I find it a little odd that Bandai would resort to using a Chinese myth to drive their game's marketing over creating some other plot that may have better suited their desired American customers. And, while they did strip out a lot of the Dragon Ball elements, it still retains a flair of the Toriyama style in its final form. Such pains to remove the anime from the game, yet it didn't really accomplish that goal at all.

Blaster Master/Chou Wakusei Senki: Meta Fight (NES/Famicom)

Anime/manga and video games have been hugely popular forms of entertainment in Japan for decades, and have often merged. In the last several years, North America has seen more and more games highlighting this combination. However, it wasn't always this way. An interesting cultural development occurred in the early days of video gaming where many Japanese developers hid or disguised their anime influences and licenses during the localization process. Why? Was there apprehension that the anime style would turn away American gamers used to action films and Saturday Morning cartoons? A possible bias, intentional or not, against displaying Japanese culture in the American branches of Japanese companies? Maybe it's something as simple as skipping a licensing fee and transforming a game into an original creation? Regardless of why, several Famicom games were modified to remove their original graphical trappings, and were replaced with more “American-looking” sprites. Game difficulties were adjusted per region. Box arts were drastically changed to match up with comic books and gritty films, or otherwise deemed appropriate for American consumption. This is what I want to explore in this series.

Study 1: Blaster Master/Chou Wakusei Senki: Meta Fight (NES/Famicom, Sunsoft)

Blaster Master is a well regarded classic from the NES era. Its blend of sidescrolling action and overhead maze/shooter gameplay styles are both well implemented, and is backed with an astounding soundtrack and solid visuals. Despite some unfair respawning moments, potentially burning out the Hover power on mistake, and punishing the player in the overhead segments with the loss of gun power upon taking a hit, Blaster Master is worthy of its legendary status.

The game we saw here in America was significantly different from the earlier Japanese release, Chou Wakusei Senki: Meta Fight. The original starred a young man named Kane Gardner, the brilliant pilot of the tank “Metal Attacker.” His goal was to defend his homeplanet Sophia the 3rd from the evil Goez’s Imbem Dark Star Cluster army. A young woman named Dr. Jennifer Cornet, who was the creator of Metal Attacker, joined Gardner on his deployment to Sophia the 3rd by the Nora Satellite of the Science Academy. Together, they are its only hope for survival.

That plot line was disgarded for American audiences for...well, one of the kookier explanations for a young man to get into a tank and shoot aliens. Gardner was renamed Jason, Cornet vanished completely, and an entirely new intro was whipped up explaining how Jason ended up in this mess:

It was because of this frog. Yes, for those of you unfamiliar with Blaster Master, you did just read that correctly. Fred the frog escaped from Jason's terrarium, hopped into radioactive waste curiously scattered about Jason’s yard, becomes bigger, and promptly plunges down a pit nearby. Personally, I would totally sue Jason’s landscapers. 

Anyway, he follows Fred and stumbles upon the tank Sophia the 3rd. After a quick costume change…

…the game begins proper.

As you can see, Meta Fight and Blaster Master took their own unique paths towards developing their individual identities. Meta Fight aligns with dystopic anime storytelling at its finest, complete with cute chibi anime character designs. Americans...get a teenager chasing after a mutant frog. The mythology of Meta Fight was reworked for the American release as well. In Meta Fight, Sophia the 3rd was the planet, while Nora was the company who built MA-01, aka Metal Attacker (which was also called Nora). In Blaster Master, the tank’s full name was Sophia the 3rd Nora MA-01.

The boxes also reflect the changes in design focus quite nicely:

 

Blaster Master's box screams "1980's", doesn't it? That lovely glow and faux-3D effects take me back. Sprite rips of one of the bosses and some key background elements round out the “dynamic” look. Here’s another look at the Famicom box (yanked from the ad above) for Meta Fight:

 

Sunsoft was obviously relying on anime designs to sell its product back home.

In terms of in-game content, Sunsoft left it alone for the most part. The gameplay is relatively untouched. Only plot elements were altered. Meta Fight lacked an intro, so Jason and Fred’s escapades were exclusively added to the American release. The ending has some changes, which we'll examine below. The American version is on the left, the Japanese on the right:

 

The headquarters of the Plutonium Boss/Goez are different in both.

Jason (complete with Kane’s blue hair…whoops!) and Fred are reunited, while Kane alone stares into the tranquil peace he helped return to Sophia the 3rd (remember: in Meta Fight Sophia is the planet). The cliff is also lower in Meta Fight. I do wonder why Sunsoft so heavily altered the colors, though.

Here's the "The End" screen, with Kane and Jennifer’s chibi busts smirking at the player, in contrast to the EXTREME THE END Blaster Master gave Americans. Luckily, the Engrish was left alone. Sunsoft left the badge on the left alone beyond its colors, and you can see the origins of Meta Fight lurking in it.

In an interesting side note, Blaster Master received a Worlds of Power novel in the US, which were licensed books based on video game properties. It basically regurgitates the plot of the game, with a few additions. A character named Eve, a shapeshifting alien, plays a major role, having been the original pilot of Sophia the 3rd. The Plutonium Boss decimated her home planet, and now are coming to attack Earth. Jason and Eve successfully conquer the threat and settle down together. Years later, in the PS1 sequel Blaster Master: Blasting Again, Sunsoft adopted the Worlds of Power plotline as canon! Eve and Jason had two children, Roddy and Elfie. The Plutonium Boss returns to rain further havoc, and Roddy must pilot the modified Sophia J9 to stop them. Blaster Master's prior sequels kept up the Meta Fight premise in their home country, but Sunsoft decided to retcon all of Meta Fight's history and released the game in Japan as Blaster Master.

Thus, this kind of severe game alteration is not a one-way street. Meta Fight’s anime dystopia lost out in favor of continuing Blaster Master’s sci-fi oddity…at least for that particular game. The latest title in the two franchises, Blaster Master Overdrive for WiiWare, skipped Japan altogether. Perhaps the PS1 rebranding failed to garner any interest, so Sunsoft decided to just focus on furthering Blaster Master in the West? All and all, fascinating stuff.

Tropes vs Women in Video Games is Live!

Anita Sarkeesian's video series for Tropes vs. Women in Video Games has launched! I've included the Youtube clip of the first episode here, figuring it was relevant to our mission here at Game on Girl. I for one think she's done a very good job introducing the "damsel in distress" trope here, and look forward to part 2. I'm also glad to see the series come to fruition; Sarkeesian received a grotesque and disturbing amount of misogynist rebuttal and belittling (and I'm putting it mildly) for this project. The ugly reality of the divide, at least online, of male gamers who seemingly are incredibly ignorant about women playing games and that they too have a right to contribute to the medium is dumbfounding to me. However, I'll save that for another time (next week, maybe?). For more of Anita's work, check out her blog Feminist Frequency, and she has further examples of damsels on her Tumblr.

Game Music and Me, We Go Way Back: Body Harvest (N64)

This is certainly not on the list of usual suspects in terms of N64 gaming music...but it ought to beI may be taking a hiatus from these following this particular article; they haven't generated a lot of commentary. This may be my fault. I'm just babbling about music that has left a tangible impact on my gaming psyche, and perhaps I'm leaving you all out too much in my recollections. I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. :p If you've been enjoying these at all, let me know! It'll motivate me to keep on keeping on or something.

Anyway, instead of diving into a broad pool of gaming music by console like I have been, I'd like to instead put the spotlight onto a particular game's soundtrack. In this case, it's the vastly underrated score for the forgotten N64 action/shooter Body Harvest. If you'd like some background on the game, I just so happen to have written a lengthy piece on the game for Hardcore Gaming 101 that may be of interest. For those who would like the Cliff Notes version, I'll summarize: Body Harvest was originally announced before the launch of the Nintendo 64, to be published by Nintendo and was developed by Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto developer DMA Design. Nintendo and DMA had conflicting opinions on how to design the game; Nintendo hoped to convince DMA to make Body Harvest a RPG, but DMA wasn't really interested in going that way. Eventually, Nintendo backed out, leaving the game in a brief bit of limbo. Midway stepped in to publish the game in America, and DMA Design was bought out by Gremlin, which was bought out by Rockstar/Take 2 Interactive, and now are best known for...well, I did say Grand Theft Auto a few moments ago. :p The game itself is a solid if slightly clunky experience that shows a lot of the same design philosophies as GTA3, but I think it controls better. :p

Stuart Ross and Allan Walker were responsible for composing the game, and the quality of the instrumentation and the stunning arrangements are a definite highlight for a console not well regarded for its sound hardware. Most people would probably point to Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the finest example of musical excellence on the N64, but not I. Body Harvest exceeds in terms of its stunning sampling and striking emotional weight leaves me awe-struck. Here's a sample:

Such a excellent piece. It's one of the random "indoors" themes that occur whenever Adam, the protagonist, steps into a cave, house or other building. What I love about it is how it conveys both a sense of safety and tension. Aliens are lurking about outside, and while Adam is escaping any fear of harm inside, it's only a temporary state. He will have to return to the fray at some point, and I think this and other indoor themes display this duality quite well.

So, is there an underrated soundtrack you'd like to pop? Want to further talk about Body Harvest? Just want to say "you're doing fine, Jerry?" Let me know in the comments!

Game Music and Me, We Go Way Back: Part 2

Chrono Trigger remains one of the quintessential soundtracks for my psycheI missed the 16-bit wars while they were going on; I had to be content with merely reading about the conflict in magazines during the early 90's. Occasionally I would be able to partake of a Super NES or a Genesis, but I never owned either until 2002 (the former; still don't have a Genesis). Once I snagged the console, I made quick work snagging whatever I could from Funcoland (remember those? I preferred them to Gamestop!), and I did pretty well if I may say so: my copies of Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, and Ogre Battle all came from that period right before they stopped carrying SNES games (because of Gamestop's takeover XD ). I continue to hunt down games for it, with some more recent additions like Demon's Crest and Lufia II joining the ranks. Unfortunately, I haven't devoted as much time to my SNES collection as I would like. It's easy to be wooed by modern games, I guess.

Anyway, this is not about how I gathered up my SNES collection! It's about music memories! Personally, I adore two soundtracks from this era more than most; Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. The former I would easily categorize as one of the greatest in all of gaming. Chrono Trigger has an incredibly broad and overall exceptional medley of music that covers different time periods and emotional states beautifully. Here's one that I consider the best of the whole soundtrack:

"Memories of Green" hits me hard. It is such a melancholy song for an overworld tune, and gives greater meaning to the wanderings of Crono and his friends. Despite no random encounters, it embodies a tragic quality to their march that becomes more realized the deeper you probe into the game's storyline. There is a reason most of the overworld tunes are on the dark side. Without spoiling it too much for you, let's just say that I interpret this as a nod to the sleeping force that is lurking beneath the surface. The remainder of Chrono Trigger's tour de force rarely disappoints. Mad kudos to Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu for such beautiful work. I really could go on for paragraphs on just CT alone, but let's not and move on to Secret of Mana. :p

Hiroki Kikuta's soundtrack here was one of the first that nailed me to the floor. This song in particular, "Into the Thick of It", just blew me away with how incredibly composed it was. Using the SNES soundbank to its fullest, even so relatively early on, Kikuta captured the sense of exploration and excitement with this track. While I can't vouch for every song on Secret of Mana's STK as much as I can for Chrono Trigger, the majority of the songs are truly astounding and appropriate for the universe.

Other 16-bit musical entries I've enjoyed include Final Fantasy III (or VI, for those who want to be particular), Sonic the Hedgehog 1 - 3 (2 in particular being most excellent), Shinobi III, Ys Books I and II, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Breath of Fire I and II, U.N. Squadron, Super Metroid (mastery of ambient music, plus some damn good standard music, too), Simcity, Zelda: Link to the Past and Super Mario RPG.

Any 16-bit aural thoughts I'm missing? Have a favorite soundtrack you'd like to share? Please feel free to comment!

I'll continue with a discussion of Playstation and Nintendo 64 tunes when I get the time to do so. School has been insane lately. O_O