Beelzebub. Mephistopheles. Ol’ Thorny. Whatever you label the Prince of Darkness, this guy has really carved out a name for himself in pop culture. His list of credits in film is impressive (do yourself a favor and watch Tim Curry in Legend), but as the ultimate token bad guy, its only natural that he play the Big Boss in quite a few video games.
However, long before Cuphead made a bad bet, or Prince Aidan arrived in Diablo’s Tristram, the Big D’s first fight in a game was against Nintendo of America in the 80s.
In 1984, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto developed and released Devil World for the Famicon in Japan, which was essentially a maze-based game aping Pac-Man’s pellet-eating mechanic. However, instead of ghosts and miscellaneous fruit, the game was chock-full of demons, crosses, Bibles, and Satan himself. Yeah, that never would’ve sat well with hordes of religiously conservative parents, so Nintendo of America preemptively pulled the plug on a U.S. release due to the company’s policy on religious icons featuring in games.
A Deal with the Devil
You’re telling me you didn’t know they served ice cream in hell? C’mon!
While enough time has passed for Nintendo to thankfully put out Devil World on Switch Online’s NES catalog, this seemingly innocuous game could’ve been one helluva headache for the gaming giant.
God, I’m so grateful to have been born in the 80s, and it’s not just about the music—although it was pretty awesome. There was an explosion of new ideas that manifested themselves in pop culture outlets anywhere from books and film, to games. From 1980 to 1983, arcades served as dark neon playgrounds filled with classic cabinets like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Mario Bros (not Super yet) for kids to worship with their coin offerings.
Speaking of worship, televangelists like Jerry Falwell and Jim Bakker were simultaneously busy sweating and spreading the gospel via your parents’ (and grandparents’) TV sets, creating a widespread united front against threats to traditional values. Their fire-and-brimstone fervor may have been a reaction to a change in the wind regarding the separation of church and state, as attested to by several notable court cases occurred during those years focusing on religious rights.
Then, in 1984, Miyamoto, the young whizz kid responsible for the hit arcade game Mario Bros, developed his first Famicon game about a crucifix-wielding pellet-eating dragon who torched demon baddies and ambitiously tried to defeat the lord of the underworld. Bibles and ice cream incongruously floated about, while the only diabolical torture you experienced was getting crushed in the screen’s constricting parameters.
From a Satanic standpoint, the blue pixelated—and white-gloved—Devil looked more like a vampire and his minions had all the maliciousness of cute Kirby enemies. In fairness, the box art itself was probably the most offensive part of the game, and in those sensitive times, that’s probably what
Let me show you what I mean:
If you really want to rub the Christian community in the States the wrong way, take any of its religious iconography out of context. Bible cereal? No way. Crucifix toothbrush? Absolutely not. Bearing that in mind, Nintendo of America’s strict policies about the depiction of religious symbolism shut down Devil World before the game could make the journey from Japanese to U.S. shelves, which, judging by what was to come a year later, probably seemed like the safest bet at the time.
In 1985, Nintendo’s NES would change the gaming world forever in America. The console would be marketed as a “toy”, with its mustachioed plumber serving as the emissary to a wholesome world of good clean fun. To Nintendo of America, Devil World must’ve been like the problematic black sheep that could’ve prematurely doomed the gaming giant, so drastic steps needed to be taken. That being said though, preconceived notions can also be wrong. For example, according to this Devil World petition, 1985’s Ghosts ’n Goblins’ protagonist also used a crucifix as a weapon, featured Lucifer as the final boss and, funnily enough, no one batted an eye. So was all the fuss about Devil World just an overreaction? Perhaps.
An Unholy Resurrection
Just imagine if all crucifixes could turn your enemies into perfect sunny-side up eggs
The fact that Devil World is being added to Switch Online’s catalog now speaks volumes about how hype and fear work. We can only hypothesize about what would’ve happened if the “controversial” game would’ve been released as planned. Maybe 30 years ago zealots would’ve raided arcades and thrown Nintendo cabinets into the streets? It’s possible that little effigies of a certain plumber would’ve been hoisted and burned in protest, but we’ll never know. Times have changed and so have we.
As we speak, I’m playing Devil World, mostly out of curiosity and respect for Shigeru Miyamoto, but I probably won’t pick it up again. Most of the appeal of NES games for me now hinges on nostalgia, and this Old Testament Pac-Man just doesn’t hold any for me. To be honest, it ironically feels like a game a Christian game developer would make today. Hell, I could totally see my Grandpa and I happily enjoying it on a Sunday afternoon.
Touché, Big D, touché.