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Reviewing the Real Super Mario Brothers 2
An anonymous reader writes "When Mario Brothers 2 for the NES came out in the U.S. in 1988, many people were surprised at how different than the original Mario Brothers it was. The second Mario Brothers title that U.S. audiences know was never designed to be a Mario title at all. Instead, it's a game called Doki Doki Panic that's been modified with Mario sprites. Here's a review of the original Super Mario Brothers 2 as designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and released only in Japan. Nintendo felt that the poison mushrooms, blowing wind, and warps that took you backwards made it too difficult for North American audiences."
He basically reviews a really old game that wasn't released in the US initially, but did find its way into super mario all stars (what was it, 10 years ago?)with updated graphics. Why review the original is beyond me unless you really wanted to see if Nintendo made any gameplay differences(the author never talks about the differences, if they exist)
Monstar L
It's more to do with marketing that anything, I believe. If it's simpler, they can sell it to more ages of consumer. It's not unusual for other games to be "dumbed down" for an American audience. It's the American publishers that usually change it. It's also not limited to just games... films and books are also culprits.
e r_toned_down/
Harry Potter and the ***Philosopher's*** Stone
Apparently the US doesn't consider itself bright enough to know what a Philosopher is.
There are countless examples of this happening. Just an example:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/11/10/tomb_raid
I have a published children's author in the family and (aside from the changing of words that American children just would not understand because of culture differences), there is also a way to "write" for an American audience that incorporates these sorts of things. Publishers and editors will frequently remove bits that they believe are "too hard" for US kids to understand.