The Final Fantasy Censorship That Turned Drugs Into Bananas, Explained – Screen Rant

The English version of Final Fantasy Legend 2 on the Game Boy was forced to rename opium, so the localizers decided to switch it with bananas.

TheFinal Fantasyseries has had its fair share of censored content, but none are as strange as the banana smuggling operation fromFinal Fantasy Legend 2on the original Game Boy. The first six mainlineFinal Fantasygames were released on Nintendo systems, and they faced some strict content guidelines.

The first threeFinal Fantasygames were limited in the kinds of stories they could tell, due to the limitations of the NES' hardware and cartridges. Once the series reached the SNES era, Square Enix (then known as Squaresoft) was able to tell more expansive stories. The only problem was that Nintendo had strict rules for the games that appeared on its consoles, especially in the era when violence in video gameswas a hotly-debated topic. This was part of the reason why Square Enix brought theFinal Fantasyseries to PlayStation systems, as Sony let the company go further than it ever could before in regards to adult storytelling in games.

Related:Why Final Fantasy 12 Was Censored In Japan (But Not In The West)

The most common form of censorship theFinal Fantasyseries has faced is covering up bare skin, as well as recoloring blood effects, both of which make sense for games that are trying to avoid high age ratings. There is one bit of censorship from theFinal Fantasyseries that is completely ridiculous, and feels like an attempt by the localizers to make fun of a change that was imposed upon them.

InFinal Fantasy Legend 2on the Game Boy, the player can visit a town called Edo. It's here that they will encounter a banana smuggling ring, as well as people who are addicted to bananas. If this doesn't make any sense, it's because it was a purposely comedic localization. According toLegends of Localization,the people of Edo were supposed to be addicted to opium, but it was changed to bananas, likely due to Nintendo mandating that alcohol/drug references couldn't be made in its games. A similar change happened inPokmon RedandBlue, where the drunk old man in Viridian City was changed to needing a cup of coffee.

The jump to the PlayStation allowed Square Enix to make drug references in its games, asFinal Fantasy Tacticsincluded references to opium. The people who want to check out the banana smuggling operation can do so on the Nintendo Switch, asFinal Fantasy Legend 2is part of theCollection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legendset, along with the other two games in the series. All three of theFinal Fantasy Legend games are retro in terms of their gameplay design, and that also includes its localization, which comes from a time when drugs had to be switched with fruit.

Next:Did Final Fantasy 7's Aerith Secretly Debut In Final Fantasy 5?

Source: Legends of Localization

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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz. A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early 90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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The Final Fantasy Censorship That Turned Drugs Into Bananas, Explained - Screen Rant