Somewhat fittingly, I decided to make my first real post
about a rather well-known localization change in one of the most popular games of its era. The only way you won’t have played this game (in
at least one of its many forms) is because you’re some kind of limbless
invertebrate, or a piece of Dairylea, or five years old, or made entirely of up
quarks. I’m going to tell you in a
minute what this game is, but first, let me tell you a story; the story of when
I first found this big little variation.
Jurassic Park was in the cinemas; the Chicago Bulls were all
over that shit; and Nirvana were in the hit parade. There I am flicking through a copy of my
older brother’s SuperPlay magazine round Dad’s shop. Me and my little bro weren’t allowed to play on
the SNES unless our older brother, whose console it was anyway, was there to
make sure we didn’t start stabbing each other in the eyes with RCA cables. We had to make do with the mag. (He actually caught us having a cheeky covert
go on UN Squadron once, but it was only that one time, honest!)
Turning each page listlessly, longing glare in my
tear-heavy, sapphire eyes, I wait intently until my brother comes back and I can
start pestering him. I flip the page to
the pro tips segment. “Oooh!” I think, “My
brother’s got this game.” Scanning over
the words, but taking particular interest in the pictures, I notice what I can
only assume to be a typo. But that can’t
be a typo because I’m sure I’m looking at a screenshot, and that’s not his name
on the version our brother has! Utterly
confused by this I probably went off and start playing Batman on the
Gameboy. This is the extent to which I
can remember that moment in my life. That
memory occupies the part of my brain where “remember to flush” is supposed be.
