Game:

Devil World (1984)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 15:57

80 views

1

Released 10/4/84, Devil World for Famicom would never make it to the U.S. due to Nintendo of America's policy banning religious imagery in its games. Though it did make it to the European NES, few in the U.S. are aware of it to this day because any references to it, such as the blue devil trophy in SSB, have been scrubbed in American versions. This despite the game being the first collaboration between Miyamoto, Tezuka, and Kondo.

Here is my wild take on the enigma that is Devil World. Miyamoto's successful arcade games earned him the right from Nintendo executives to do whatever he wanted with his first console-only title for Famicom. The only condition was he had to do to Pac-Man what Galaxian did to Space Invaders: improve on the formula. Note that Galaxian was released on Famicom just a few weeks before Devil World. Miyamoto being a man of principle could never attach his name to a blatant rip-off of Pac-Man, so he purposely sabotaged the games release to Western markets. There is a McDonald's M in the Duke Blue Devil's ear for crying out loud! He knew it couldn't be released in the U.S. without massive trademark lawsuits. Nintendo wanted to cash in on Pac-Man, but Miyamoto wasn't having it.

Miyamoto has expressed faith in God as creator, and he has made other spiritual games like Geist, so one must assume the Christian imagery comes from his own beliefs. Miyamoto has also expressed a fascination with American culture, which explains the odd allusion to the Duke Blue Devil's mascot. However, despite the personal references to Miyamoto (are fried eggs and ice cream his favorite foods?), I think this game is primarily a critique of Nintendo's desire to cash in on the success of Pac-Man. It's a crazy conspiracy theory, I know. But the alternative is Miyamoto was simply the pioneer of putting evangelical Christian games on the Famicom / NES. Which is easier to believe?

I am considering a playthrough to be a single loop through all of the mazes, or completion of Round 3. I played on an original NES with a Game Genie adapter (see Shorts) to allow for playing a Famicom cartridge. I am using a NES Advantage controller, RCA cables, and a Sharp X-Flat 27" CRT TV.

#crt #famicom #asmr #devilworld

Hi there! Just thought I'd post the link to my business profile on Venmo. For $20 you can sponsor a video. Plug your business, write a short dedication, or share a gaming memory. This will be included at the top of the video description. All sales go toward purchasing games for my chronological Famicom / NES library CRT TV playthrough!

https://venmo.com/code?user_id=3772549007672846151

Famicom / NES Chronological Playthrough Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhLc94yXAxYpMtgHYWlGrRCjZ-9XXf8I7

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