Original Cover

The game Actraiser back then was an unrivalled mixture of platforming action and strategy simulation. The game's background story is that Satan's (!) evil powers took over the world and the rest of humanity has a hard time fighting off his demons. What other solution is there than to have God (!) interfere and to fight the powers of darkness with a holy sword?! During the platform levels you fight your way through dungeons filled with evil monsters. In between you can start rebuilding the cities in a "Sim City"-style. Every now and again, the humans pray to God or give him some presents which are a big help to repopulate the planet. Overall, the game was one of a kind, however, it had to be censored for the international market. Nintendo of America apparently thought that it was a blasphemous act to fight as God himself. The alterations are not too bad in terms of playability, especially since it is still obvious what the game is actually about. This is a comparison between the Japanese Super Famicom Version and the American SNES Version which all other international versions are based on.

The altered graphics are especially noticeable towards the end of the gane. In the last level you can see that Satan misses out on his horns and replaced by something like bolts. This was done for both the overview of the enemies and the fight itself. The other enemies also no longer have horns which might hint at hell. Additionally, a gargoyle statue – which also appears in other levels – was altered. Ironically, the US Version's gargoyle looks more demonic than in the original version, where it rather looks like a demon wearing armor.

US Version	Japanese Version

The map of the simulation mode was slightly altered. In the area Kasandora/Casandra you canm see a pyramid along with a mythic eye. Since this is a religious hint, it was deleted for the US Version. Some monster cities (so-called dungeons or lairs) are depicted with a Star of David – only in the Original Version, that is.

US Version	Japanese Version

For the sake of completeness it has to be mentioned that some level names are written differently, however, this has probably nothing to do with censorship. This does not concern all level names. I can not judge whether or not the translations are fitting. Since the US Version does not talk about "God", the praying townsfolk calls you "Master".

US Version	Japanese Version