@gamehistoryorg.bsky.social has an amazing deal where you can get a random retro game magazine every month and support them at the same time. I present to you this month's 😬 Retro Game Magazine Moment from February 1999:
![A letter of the month from EGM, February 1999. It reads from the reader:
"Japan: The Holy Land?
After reading the EGM Letters section of issue #113, I worry about the popular belief regarding Japanese video games. It seems many gamers are vehemently opposed to anything that is not Japanese when it comes to this industry.
Japan is treated as some sort of nirvana holy land. Has anyone played Sabre Marionette J or any of the hundreds of poor (read: God-awful) Japanese titles? I had the honor of speaking with a Japanese developer, and it's ironic to hear his opinions about gaming. He hates the way Japanese RPGs force the player to fight nonsensical battles over and over. He even strives to create a games with "...the quality of Alone in the Dark..." He also would never wish to create a game that would offend someone. Nudity, violence and all this supposed "sacrifice of morality for the sake of creativity" is really non-existent. Japanese developers are just as concern with "proper" content as anyone else. It's merely a cultural difference. What we see as offensive, a Japanese game does not.
So maybe next time when we all complain about the evil American companies ruining Japanese ports with changes that are usually made for the sake of cultural boundaries rather then [sic] sheet censorship, we could all be happy with the extra secrets, option [sic], characters and gameplay that usually come with our exclusive version.
The more interesting part of the editor reply:
"We should be thankful, however, for the cultural boundaries you speak of. Have you ever played Choaniki: Great Brother? Good God! Let's just say there's no way this horribly bad, very homosexual shooter would've been allowed in the U.S.! That's right, we said a homosexual shooter. Nothing wrong with being a homosexual shooter, mind you, but if you've seen this game, you'd understand why we say we're glad "cultural boundaries" have kept this game in Japan.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7mq4wrjwmeftakjmv2mzz7mz/bafkreih7k2x2w6dtnjmsf7m5jszc35q3lh3epsj44gjigflma33ip4kl7e)
Kevin Turner
@kturn.bsky.social
175 followers 77 following 388 posts
Kevin's the name, rhythm is my game. Programmer/Video Guy/Professional Special Thankser for a bunch of VNs and music games including @stepmaniax.com
