Why Terranigma was never released in America

[Rom Manic]

Wikipedia.com wrote:

Because of the parallels to religious tales and heavy religious overtones, this game was not released in America, but was popular in Europe and Australia (published by Nintendo). However, Terranigma got a chance at American life through console emulation. There is also a patch to convert the European version from PAL to NTSC to suit the American audience.

So as it turns out, Quintet did not go out of business. I think it was only a few years back in 2002 (The last time they updated their webpage) that they either went out of business, or just stopped updating that website. Who knows.

Anyway, there's the answer to the mysterious question. Thank you

[inferiare]

I dunno, I don't really buy that. At the time, even in other RPG's, there were a lot of otherworldly religious overtones and the like. FF6's Cult of Kefka, for example. They would chant about Kefka, and yet it was still released in the United States. Chrono Trigger as well, when people are worshipping Magus, and when the people of Zeal act like "gods" to their inferior people on the surface world (plus, Queen Zeal acted as if she were a god anyways).

Also, I don't think that's really a cold hard fact. I've seen many places online say that Quintet folded.

Quote RPGamer.com:

Quote:

"Have you got any idea as to why Terranigma wasn't released in North America?" The game was fully translated and ready for US release when Enix's North American branch folded. This translation was used for the European release.

and also from an archive (or so it looks) from the GIA:

Quote:

A fantastic game, translated into English, and denied to North America by reason of Enix of America's closing.

Since Quintet was involved with Enix of America, yes, Quintet hit the bucket with Enix here in America (Quintet of America went down with it as well after releasing SB and IoG).

[Freedan]

Wikipedia isn't always totally reliable.... anyone can write for it, so misinformation is quite possible.

[Rom Manic]

How can you say that?!

In Terranigma, Light and Dark Gaia were representations of God and Devil. Not to mention churches in Litz, Pagan worshippers in Zu (Or whatever it's called, can't remember).

As for FF6 and whatnot, they're all worshipping ficticious characters. Kefka was never real, and neither was Magus from CT.

...Anyway, lets not forget that it wasn't exactly the 21st century back in 1996. I could imagine people making a fuss about it. But whatever the reason, it wasn't because Quintet died.

But as for those quotes, Quintet may have been a part of Enix and because of their closure in America, but Quintet probably didn't have the resources to pull off the mass production on their own (Plus, Enix was part of it all too, so if they couldn't get a hand in it, Quintet probably couldn't either).

In any case, it's Enix's fault. I just wish people wouldn't be so vague about everything.

[inferiare]

Rom Manic wrote:

How can you say that?! In Terranigma, Light and Dark Gaia were representations of God and Devil. Not to mention churches in Litz, Pagan worshippers in Zu (Or whatever it's called, can't remember). As for FF6 and whatnot, they're all worshipping ficticious characters. Kefka was never real, and neither was Magus from CT. ...Anyway, lets not forget that it wasn't exactly the 21st century back in 1996. I could imagine people making a fuss about it. But whatever the reason, it wasn't because Quintet died. But as for those quotes, Quintet may have been a part of Enix and because of their closure in America, but Quintet probably didn't have the resources to pull off the mass production on their own (Plus, Enix was part of it all too, so if they couldn't get a hand in it, Quintet probably couldn't either). In any case, it's Enix's fault. I just wish people wouldn't be so vague about everything.

Just because they aren't ficticious characters in Terranigma doesn't mean it was solely because of that, that it never made it stateside. In this day and age, the Biblethumpers are a bigger group, and they make more of a fuss now than they did back in 1996. It's not exactly believeable, since in a lot of games, even today, the game characters worship whatever god is in the game. FFX, they worshiped Yevon. I'm surprised that didn't get bashed. Plus, in Terranigma, Dark and Light Gaia are never actually worshipped, and you never see the people in Zu worshipping anything, so that makes the Wiki entry kind of an invalid point. In CT and FF6, they are SEEN worshipping Magus and Kefka, ficticious or not.

[Tifu]

If we're talking religious stuff in games, what about Breath of Fire II? The evil church of St Eva in that game features nuns and stuff. It actually looks like a catholic religion, but it's all about the evil demon thing.
If anything was going to get banned for religious tones, it would be a game that actually seems to demonize the church surely...

Also... Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer had similar themes to Terranigma. Heavy dosages of re-incarnation and such. They made it safely to the US

[Muerte]

Didn't those people in whatsits worship beruga?

[Axe Kazama]

yeah, that was like the Ku Klux Klan meets Hitler and his Nazis

[Freedan]

Rom Manic wrote:

...Anyway, lets not forget that it wasn't exactly the 21st century back in 1996. I could imagine people making a fuss about it.

Aside from the fact that 1996 is only 4 years away from the "21st century", I doubt people were really up in arms about it. People are a lot less tolerant these days than they were even 10 years ago.... and games with similar themes have made it here.

Like Raini said, the Gaias aren't worshipped... they're only even mentioned as God and Devil in passing. Kefka, on the other hand, had a cult. Cults worship false Gods/idols/ideals, which (you'd think) would be every bit as threatening as mentioning God in a game. No fuss was raised over that, so I doubt the game didn't make it to the U.S. out of concerns like that.

[TerraHero]

i cling to my popualr belives that it was not released becoz sales from IoG where depressing. They juz didnt have the financial funding to attepmt such a gamble.

[inferiare]

Well, that was part of it... since Quintet stateside kinda lost sales from IoG, they shut down before it was brought stateside. Which is depressing.

[snow_rock]

americans probably like other type of games so they don't appreciate iog very much

[Freedan]

I don't know about that. IoG was an adventure type, not too different from Zelda: LttP (they had similar gameplay elements).

[Miss Prime Blue]

that's retarded.

Tenchisouzou DOES have religious references - but so do many other games released in america. After all, the game IS about the creation of heaven and earth, hence the title, which means "the creation of heaven and earth."

[snow_rock]

zelda was a lot older. so, many people are familiar with it.
while fewer people buy iog. i only discovered tn accidentally.
but zelda can be heard everywhere