A Banned Game Just Got Added To Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo has revealed the latest batch of games joining Nintendo Switch Online, and one game stands out in particular as a surprising, but welcome, addition.
The big game for this batch is Devil World, which holds the distinction of being the only video game developed by Shigeru Miyamoto that was never released in North America. This is because of the game’s Christian iconography, that violated Nintendo of America’s early rules on video game content.
Devil World first came out for the Famicom in 1984, and American rules didn’t stop its release in Europe in 1987. Subsequently Devil World had seen rereleases in Virtual Console, but Nintendo had never published the game in North America, even long after doing away with those rules banning religious imagery or content.
But let’s talk about the game itself. You play a dragon named Tamagon who is attacking the ‘Devil’s World.’ Like Pac-Man, Tamagon moves around a maze, collecting dots, as well as crosses to power up and fight the monsters on screen. Unlike Pac-Man, a figure called “The Devil” float overhead as he restricts Tamagon’s movement to a small section of the maze. The Devil keeps moving the boundaries around, in an attempt to get Tamagon squeezed between the walls.
Devil World demonstrates the competence of its designers, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takashi Tezuka, who most recently helped in making Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This game, however, is more of a curious oddity than a real lost masterpiece, but Americans can officially play the game for the first time.
Now many gamers will call The Mysterious Murasame Castle, also released on the Famicom,an actual masterpiece. Like The Legend of Zelda, it is a top down action game, but it moves its fantasy setting from Europe to
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