Current Events > you know, it is pretty nuts Nintendo put a swastika in the first Zelda game

(+) Yeah! (+)

Now to be fair, the swastika (or manji, which is really just the Japanese word for swastika) is still considered a relatively benign symbol in most far-east countries and is usually associated with Buddhism.

But considering Nintendo's history of censorship, it's bizarre they even chose the symbol in the first place.
In Ocarina of Time 3D, they changed the Forest Medallion's design because it kinda sorta looks like a swastika if you squint. Then there's other games like Bionic Commando, which removed all references to the bad guys being Nazis (save for one glorious exploding Hitler head)

Now, the real reason why the design of Level 3 in the original Zelda game was never changed in re-releases is due to how the dungeons work. All 9 of the game's dungeons are loaded into the same area of memory, and fit together like a puzzle. Therefore, in order to change the shape of Level 3, they'd have to change the shape of its neighboring dungeons as well (namely Levels 2 and 6), which would be a pretty major change so they just never bothered.

---

I don't know what you're talking about, but I know that literally no one cares.

---

It's a Manji:



Swastikas are tilted.

---

YourLovelyTina posted...

Now to be fair, the swastika (or manji, which is really just the Japanese word for swastika)

You got this backwards.

---

but really, if I had a nickel for every instance where Nintendo removed a cross from its NES and SNES games, i'd be able to afford each console's entire library

ViewtifulGrave posted...

You got this backwards.

IIRC 'swastika' comes from the original Sanskrit term

---

Turbam posted...

Swastikas are tilted.

the Nazi swastika is typically tilted by 45 degrees, but the shape in general doesn't have to be, and can face either direction

---

YourLovelyTina posted...

All 9 of the game's dungeons are loaded into the same area of memory, and fit together like a puzzle.

That's actually something I never knew. That's pretty interesting