Sunday, March 4, 2012

Game B1 : The Legend of Zelda - Third dungeon and controversy

Just a little post to share some thoughts about the game. I know the topic has been addressed before, but I wanted to come back on the famous shape of the third dungeon...

Ring any bell?
I mean, I know the thing is a "Manji", a reversed swastika, symbol of good luck in buddhist mythology. But, hey, it's 1986, not 1923. Could they simply have forgotten what this could mean? I've read a few things about this controversy (which occurred, but didn't make a lot of noise, good thing this game didn't come out nowadays, or Miyamoto's head would be on a stick somewhere) and I find this just crazy that, at some point of the development, no one came with the simple idea that the symbol could be offensive to a few people...

Hardcore game player Ed Norton had had a hard time with this dungeon so he had the map tattooed not to forget it.
Well it was just a quick thought I wanted to share with you. I read another fun fact about it. When Nintendo released Pokemon, one of them had some kind of physical relationship with a Manji, but they had to change it to be able to export the game and avoid another controversy. That's a shame, really, I would have loved to capture the Nazi Pokemon...

5 comments:

  1. It's strange to think that a particularly shape or symbol can be considered taboo due to an historical event, but it is hard to believe that anyone could look at that and not see it for what it is.

    I've put a link on my blog to yours Alfred. I'm not so egotistical to think that you're suddenly going to be inundated with traffic, but I hope a few of my readers find their way across. :)

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  2. Thanks a lot for the link, Trick, I secretly hoped you'd do that, but didn't want to ask ;)

    I hope your readers will like my writings as well, and having more readers will certainly be a major motivation for me!

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  3. It's too bad Mr. Norton's tattoo artist inked it backwards, but maybe that was so he could see it correctly in a mirror.

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  4. Alfred, I've added you to my blog list as well. I don't have many followers either, but the potential for more exposure is always a good thing. Now on to more of your Zelda posts. :)

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