Dream Factory : Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros 2
Have you ever wondered why SMB2 isn´t like other Mario games ? Well that´s because it wasn´t an ordinary Mario game from the beginning! SMB2 was at first a Japanese game called Dream Factory: Doki Doki Panic  that Nintendo made some changes to and released in the US and Europe!
 
Contra Spirits / Contra / Probotector / Gryzor
When Konami released their first Contra game in Japan (for the NES) it was called Contra Spirits, but when released in the US they renamed it Contra. The Japanese version on the contrary had both a smaller intro, animated sequences between the levels, moving background and a map screen which neither the US or European version had.  This was just the beginning of this story - when it was released in Europe they thought the idea of two brute men running around and slaughter other humans and aliens was just to violent so they replaced the two heroes with two robots! Also some human enemies were redesigned. The name of the games was also changed to Probotector.
Note: This game has also been released on the MSX titled Gryzor and was a little bit redesigned to fit the MSX.
 
The Japanese Contra game for the Game Boy was named Operation C in the rest of the world and the stage select option was removed.
 
The SNES Contra game Contra Spirits was renamed Contra III - The Alien Wars when released in the USA. In Europe it was renamed Super Probotector - Alien Rebels and the humans were replaced by robots again. In the Japanese version there was also a sound test and a level select and if you finished the game on the normal difficulty you still got the best ending!
 
Later Konami released another NES game called Super C which was very much like the Contra 3 for the SNES but with duller graphics.
 
I hate to say this, but one of the best Contra games was released for the Mega Drive! It was named Contra: Hard Corps and was one violent blaster with (it hurts when I write it!) even more and bigger bosses and explosions than the SNES version! One strange thing happened with this game when it was released outside Japan though... Instead of that the heroes could take 3 hits before dying as in the Japanese version, they changed the game so that you died instantly when hit! This made the game much harder! In Europe the game was renamed to something like Probotector and the humans were replaced by robots with names like CX-1, CX-2 etc and all the dialog with "curse words" like "damn" was changed. Also some other in-game changes were made.
 
Also a Contra game called Contra Force for the NES has been released (In Japan and USA I think.) which had nothing to do with aliens at all. Although that the game was a platform shooter it wasn't designed at all like the other Contra games. I don't think that this game was ever released in Europe.
Personally I think that the robots are much cooler than their human counterparts but that may be because I have "grown up" playing as the the robots.
 
Secret of Mana
Did you know that Secret of Mana was from the beginning designed for the Nintendo Disk (The SNES CD-ROM add-on) but since it was never released Square converted it into a normal SNES cartridge instead.
 
Super Mario Kart R
While in development, Mario Kart 64 was named Super Mario Kart R and Koopa Troopa and Magi Koopa were there instead of Wario and Donkey Kong.
 
Final Fantasy 4 (2)
When Final Fantasy 4 was converted into Final Fantasy 2 they didn´t just change the text. They also had to make some other changes: All the "techniques" (The ability to use monsters etches or attacks etc.) was not included in FF.. They also censured a lot of things like for example some "strippers" that was included in the japanese version, but was changed into dancers in FF2. This simpler version of FF4 was referred as "FF4 easy version" in Japan!
 
Final Fantasy 6 (3)
So you thought that Square only changed FF4 when they made it into FF2 over here...? We'll did you know that FF6 was also changed in MANY ways before it was released in the US and Europe... In the Japanese version the characters are cursing a lot and there is even one scene where Celes's underwear fall off... What are you waiting for? Click the link above to read more.
 
Mother 2 / Earthbound
Some of you might have played the SNES RPG Earthbound, but did you know that it's original name was Mother 2 and that changes were made when the game were converted for the US?.
Thanks to: Vince { The Mother 2-aholic} for the info and pictures for this feature.

BS F-Zero 2 Grand Prix
Read all about the mysterious F-Zero game for the SNES consisting of only one league, the Ace League and a bunch of new vehicles.
 
BS Zelda 1
Read about this redesigned and graphically enhanced BS-X (SNES) version of the original Zelda 1 for the NES.
 
BS Mario Excite Bike
An enhanced version of the old NES game Excite Bike. This time featuring Mario and friends as drivers..
 
BS Super Mario Bros 3
A unfinished and a bit weird version of Super Mario Bros 3.
 
Super Mario Bros USA
Super Mario Bros 2 (Western version) in a new updates version.
written by: Kwyj
 
Mario No Picross
Mario Picross in color.
 
BS Dr. Mario
A SNES version of Dr. Mario.
 
BS Cu on Pa
A mystery...
 
BS Golf Out
Mini Golf.
 
BS Marvelous
A Japanese RPG.
 
BS Chrono Trigger Character Library
A presentation off the heroes, and enemies from Chrono Trigger.
 
BS Chrono Trigger Jet Bike Special
The Jet Bike mini game from Chrono Trigger as a stand alone game.
 
BS Let's Pachinko
A virtual arcade simulator.
 
BS Shubimano
Manga platform beat 'em up.
 
BS Sutte Hakkon
A puzzle game.
 
BS Dragon Quest
The original NES game with enhanced graphics.
 
BS Famicom Wars
Wage war on your SNES.
 
Treasure Conflict (Square) Yet to be found...
 
Radical Dreamers
A sequel to Chrono Trigger. The new PS-X adventure Chono Cross is based on the story from this game.
written by: Kwyj

 
Mike Tyson's Punch Out / Punch Out
Did you know that the famous NES game Punch Out was originally sold under the name Mike Tyson's Punch Out? Then Tyson went to prison and his contract with Nintendo expired and Nintendo didn´t want to be associated with him anymore because of the fact that he was in prison so they didn't renew the contract. All the new games that were released was named only Punch Out and Mike Tyson, who was the grand champion in the original game was renamed Mr. Dream. I'm not sure about this but I think that Nintendo recalled all the old Mike Tyson games that hadn't been sold yet and replaced them with the new Punch Out game!
 
Mega Man / Rockman
If you´ve seen some Japanese games named Rockman with a blue little robot that looks exactly like our Mega Man don´t call Capcom and tell them that their idea has been stolen, because it´s the same game. Rockman or just Rock is his real name and he´s only renamed in the US and Europe! One funny thing is that Dr. Light (Rock´s creator) has got a robot maid that is Rock´s sister that is named Roll! Then in Mega Man 7 for the SNES you meet two friendly robots, one human like robot like Rockman himself called Bass, and a cat robot named Treble! Rock n Roll, Treble and Bass, huh huh! Get it...?
But wait, there is more: Protoman has two other names: Breakman or Bluesman and Rockman´s robotic cat is called Tango and his little bird robot is named Beat. Cool or what!
 
Street Fighter 2 boss name confusion
In Japan the bosses in Street Fighter 2 wasn´t named as they are over here: M. Bison was named Balrog and Balrog was named Vega and Vega´s name was changed to M. Bison! When Capcom released the game in the US Capcom changed the names to avoid lawsuit from the champion boxer Mike Tyson for coincidences with him and the character M Bison which also was a champion boxer.
 
StarFox / Star Wing
One of the most known name changes must be the StarFox to Star Wing one, but not many seams to know really why, just that it was some legal problems. Now we think we know why: Once there was a game for the Commodore 64 , Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the Amstrad CPC that was named StarFox. This was a space fighting and exploration game in the style of Elite. The StarFox trademark (for the 8-bit games) was however only valid in Europe so Nintendo only had to rename the game when they released it in Europe.
 
Star Fox 64 / Lylat Wars
Then why was Star Fox 64 renamed Lylat Wars in Europe then? We'll from what we have heard the Star Wing name had for some reason later been reregistered to a Australian company.
The Lylat language option, is an option where the voice in the game is replaced with a synthesizer like sound, much like the way they talked in the original. The odd thing is that this option only exists in the Japanese and European version. When the game reached American shores this option was mystically removed.
Andolf, or we non Japanese players might now him better as Andross.
In the Japanese versions of both Star Fox and Star Fox 64, the badguy's name was Andolf. For some reason Nintendo decided to change Adolf's name into Adross when released in USA and Europe. We don't know why, but a quess good as any would be that Andolf sounded bit too much like Adolf (Hitler).
Thanks to BlueYoshi for the info about the Andolf and Lylat language.
 
Star Fox 2
A rumor says that the main reason that StarFox 2 (SNES) never was released, was that it was delayed too much. After a while Miyamoto's team started to work on StarFox 64 for the N64 as well. When they were done with StarFox2, they thought it would make a bad impact on StarFox64, so they didn't sell it. Nintendo even sent our billboards and stuff saying that StarFox 2 was coming out, before they canceled it.
Special thanks to Unycs A.K.A. "CrashOverride", and Jordan for this rumor.
 
Super Smash Bros
Use the force Yoshi!
In the Japanese release, when you get the Laser Sword (called, strangely
enough, a Lightsaber), you would hear the Lightsaber hum much like the one used in the Star Wars movies. The hum sound was deleted in the American release to avoid possible lawsuits from George Lucas.
Also, the sound for when people connect a hit was replaced with a sort of
"metallic" bowling pin sound. Why this was changed I don't know, but it was
a pretty silly change.
Thanks to BlueYoshi for this piece of info.
 
Hyper Olympics / Track and Field in Barcelona
The Hyper Olympics game was produced by Konami long before the Track and Field version was released by Kemco in 1991. The only difference between the two are the title screens!
 
Ninja Gaiden / Shadow Warrior
The only reason to why the name was changed was that some language experts and English teachers claimed that if a video game title contained the word "Ninja" the kids would be affected by that and start to run around playing ninjas and hurt themselves and other people or something like that! That´s really the only reason for the name change (I think).
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
One thing that the TMNT and Ninja Gaiden have in common is that their titles both contains the word "Ninja" and, as I explained in the text above, this was a too dangerous word for European kids to hear so the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was forced to be renamed to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles! As a consequence, the games that Konami released in Japan and the US was also renamed. In facts ALL Turtles thing sold in Europe was renamed! How silly!!!
 
Shadow of the Ninja / Blue Shadow
More Ninja censoring! Shadow of the Ninja was released by Natsume in 1990 but when it was time for the game to be released in Europe they changed the name to Blue Shadow and let Taito release it. There are no other differences what so ever between the two game except the title screen.
 
Seiken Densetsu
The first Seiken Densetsu game was released in Japan for the Game Boy by Square, but later it was released in the US and was renamed Final Fantasy Adventure and then renamed again to Final Fantasy - Mystic Quest in Europe! Seiken Densetsu 2 was released for the SNES and this game is the game known as Secret of Mana outside Japan! Seiken Densetsu 3 was never released outside Japan and was therefor never translated into English.
 
Salamander / Lifeforce : Salamander
You might have played the great (but hard as hell) shoot em up Life Force : Salamander which was released in 1988. This game was released the year before in Japan under the name Salamander.
 
Area 88 / UN Squadron
This SNES shoot em up was for an unknown reason renamed to UN Squadron when it was released in Europe.
 
Blackthorne / Blackhawk
This great Prince of Persia inspired shooter was renamed to Blackhawk when released in Europe.
 
Uniracer / Unirally
This game was renamed to Unirally when released in Europe.
 
Final Fantasy name confusion!
Many of Square´s Final Fantasy games have different names in and outside Japan. That´s because some of the Final Fantasy games were never released outside Japan. To spare you the headache to try to figure out which games were released here, and which were released in Japan for yourselves, here´s a complete list:

Super Puyo Puyo / Kirby's Avalanche
Super Puyo Puyo had been a real hit in Japan for a long time when it was decided that it would be nice to release the game abroad as well, but they weren't sure if the western audience would fancy the strange Japanese characters in Super Puyo Puyo. Therefor they renamed the game Kirby's Avalanche and made Kirby the mascot of the game instead and changed the enemies of the game to enemies from the Kirby games instead.
 
Special Tee Shot / Kirby's Dreamcourse
Many of you may have played the cute mini golf games Kirby's Dreamcourse but what not many people know is that the original game didn't even feature Kirby. Instead you whacked a small red ball with big eyes around the course. The two games are pretty similar except for the graphics and some of the gameplay...
 
Mission Impossible
If you compare the the cover of the American (NTSC) version of the NES game Mission Impossible with the PAL version you'll quickly discover that one detail is missing on the PAL cover. The cover features the 4 heroes from the game posing with different weapons. On the American cover one of them has got a assault rifle in his hands but when you then look at the PAL version the rifle is not there. It has been censured away.
Click here for pictures of the two covers.
 
Mortal Kombat
The release of Mortal Kombat must be one of the most well known cases of "Nintendo censorship". In this game digitalized human fighters fighted to the bitter end with each other. The game featured tons of blood and was more of a gore fest than a serious beat em up. Nintendo decided to replace the blood with something that could best be described as "sweat" while Sega let the games pass as it was. The first effect of this was that the Genesis version of the game out-sold the SNES version at a factor of 8 to 1 in many stores! The media however, praised Nintendo and criticized Sega. In fact Sega gained so much bad image and negative critics from the media that they were forced to re-think. In the future Sega censored many of their Sega Megadrive titles. There was one way to turn the sweat into blood in the SNES version as well. Using the infamous Action Replay you could change the color of the sweat from white to red giving the illusion of blood.
 
Blackthorne / Blackhawk
In Blackthorne a.k.a. Blackhawk, there is no blood in the SNES version. Instead a green "squirt" appears when you shoot the Goblins. In the PC version, however the "squirt" is red, as it should be.

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