History CulturalTranslation / VideoGames

* The CuteEmUp game ''VideoGame/KikiKaiKai ~ Nazo no Kuro Manto'' for the UsefulNotes/SuperFamicom contained many references to Japanese mythology; the two player characters are a {{miko}} and a [[{{Youkai}} tanuki]], the former's weapons are [[PaperTalisman ofuda]] and an [[ZigzagPaperTassel ōnusa]], and the enemies are various types of {{obake}}. The official English version went by the title of ''Pocky & Rocky'' instead of attempting to translate the original title, and correspondingly renamed the aforementioned player characters to Pocky and Rocky. (The ThemeNaming was not present in their original names, Sayo-chan and Manuke.) The ofuda and ōnusa were referred to as "cards" and "magic stick". Finally, Manuke / Rocky was referred to as a raccoon, rather than a raccoon-dog (the correct English name for tanuki). The ''obake'' were also called "Gorgonzola Goblins".

** ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom'', the American version of ''Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari'', Anglicizes the names of every character (with Kunio becoming Alex and Riki becoming Ryan) and replaces their Japanese high school uniforms with t-shirts and jeans. The game's currency was also changed from yen to dollars. Oddly enough, the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake features an Americanized script with the same anglicized names from the original NES game, but keeps the school uniforms from the Japanese version, though the box art makes them look more like kung-fu uniforms.

* ''Money Puzzle Exchanger'', the international UsefulNotes/NeoGeo version of ''Money Idol Exchanger'', changes the sprites of yen coins to make their denominations more obvious.

* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation line of consoles and its games traditionally map the red O button to "Okay/Confirm", and the blue X button to "Cancel/Back" for Japanese consoles and games, referring to the idea of "O = OK and X = NG[[note]]"no good"[[/note]]/no". However, that symbolism is largely foreign in the Western world; blue is commonly associated with positivity and red with negativity, and Westerners are more familiar with the concept of "X marks the spot", so the North American and European/Australian versions of [=PlayStation=] consoles and games swap the mappings of the confirm and cancel functions. DamnYouMuscleMemory ensues for players in Japan importing games from the West and vice versa, as well as Western gamers who play localized versions of Japanese-developed games that ''don't'' do the confirm/cancel O/X swap -- and is only further compounded when a game gets remade on a newer system and ''does'' make the switch, if you're used to the original version.

* ''VideoGame/AlexKidd in Miracle World'' had rice balls replaced with hamburgers in the version included as a built-in game with some models of the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem.

** Another ''Pokémon'' example comes with the villainous Team Rocket. Originally based on {{Yakuza}}, the localizations style them more as a [[TheMafia Mafia-type]] group, even naming the boss "Giovanni".

** There are also various items whose names are changed in the translation for this reason. ''Rage Manjū'' becomes "Rage Candy Bar", while ''Forest Yōkan'' is translated as "[[JustForPun Old Gateau]]"[[note]]The item, which heals all status effects except for fainting (something also done by the more common Full Heal and Lava Cookie), is associated with the Old Chateau[[/note]].

* The Japanese version of ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest'' [[http://ca.kotaku.com/5812431/japan-what-the-hell-did-you-do-to-this-classic-pc-adventure-game redraws the game to make everyone look like Anime characters.]]