In 1991, Nintendo published an adventure game (developed by Pax Softnica) in Japan for the Famicom Disk System called Time Twist. It is not the kind of game Nintendo would publish in 2016.
Hardcore Gaming played through it the other day, and say “it seems like they took a look at Nintendo of America’s censorship rules and set out to create a game that broke each and every one of them.”
It’s… look, why not just sit back and take a tour of some of the shit that goes down in this game as you meet a girl, fall in love, have your soul stolen, fight Hitler and are strung up by the KKK.
Time Twist is like someone read Nintendo of America’s censorship guidelines and made a game that broke all of them pic.twitter.com/z0J6y4fKZ2
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
The game begins when try to talk to a girl you like, but, through assorted mishaps, end up summoning a devil pic.twitter.com/Se06vip3zh
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
The devil steals your body and traps your soul is his old one. What a bother! pic.twitter.com/kg83MphfAJ
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
You chase the devil (in your body) to this mansion, where he steals a belt that lets him travel through time. pic.twitter.com/AaqzDumX2Z
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
Your first subject is Pierre. If you want to leave his body, you must drink yourself stupid, so you’ll pass out. pic.twitter.com/db3YQYywKA
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
You will feel bad for Pierre’s liver after this part. Anyway, you also save Joan of Arc. pic.twitter.com/DEJj4Y0lzi
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
In the next time period, you end up in someone escaping from a German concentration camp during WWII pic.twitter.com/xewHP0rLwP
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
Predictably, here is the devil conversing with Adolf Hitler pic.twitter.com/b647PRbykC
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
Later on, the devil possesses Hitler and you have to fight him…in space or something. pic.twitter.com/McIpO6a81V
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
After this you end up in the time of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War. You can see where this is going… pic.twitter.com/y94frWnlIZ
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 17, 2016
Then you HOLY SHIT you get lynched by the KKK pic.twitter.com/2JZFwJ7LGI
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
Thankfully you don’t actually die. You do change bodies to the older woman, Belle pic.twitter.com/kRvdFeWPFX
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
This chapter ends when you solve that classic “river crossing boat” puzzle with Lincoln and some coyotes pic.twitter.com/G4mMBQqbYi
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
In the next chapter, you’re sent to 4 BC, Nazareth to witness the birth of Christ. Also you’re a donkey named Cassim pic.twitter.com/sHoeisEgfV
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
Mary gives birth to baby Jesus, then, uh oh, here’s the devil, still using your body! pic.twitter.com/z6G1frLFGT
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
You’re able to kick the devil out of your body, then travel back to present day 1995 Tokyo. Hooray! pic.twitter.com/BiVfK29hKH
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
…except 1995 Tokyo is now a nuclear wasteland. Ooops. pic.twitter.com/H56cKdzhlg
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
Turns out the devil had possessed Jesus and caused some kind of screw-up that caused nuclear devastation. pic.twitter.com/zUGGHvAaYW
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
So you go back to time again, to face off against the demon-possessed baby Jesus pic.twitter.com/Xr1wW6Dm8a
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
He zaps you, but you win somehow, and end up casting the demon out! pic.twitter.com/2Q6LFdLeDG
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
You’re back in the present day, right before you set the demon free. What luck! pic.twitter.com/SvicDBLXR4
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
Except the girl unwittingly says the magic words to summon the demon instead of you. Womp womp. The End! pic.twitter.com/Mi6UHxnzkW
— Hardcore Gaming 101 (@HG_101) August 18, 2016
If you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of this game, despite it having been published by Nintendo, that’s probably because it looks like the company tried to brush it under the rug even as it was headed out the door. It was barely advertised in Japan, its cover art and manual (below) are blandly vague and, most damning of all, it has never been re-released by a company that re-releases everything. Not even on Virtual Console.
Indeed, Time Twist ended up being the very last game physically released for the Famicom Disk System.
Because of all this, and unlike most other games published by Nintendo, there isn’t an English translation available.
So if you want to see for yourself what happens, you’ll have to sit through some Japanese playthroughs. Being a text adventure they’re not the most exciting thing in the world, though, so HG’s write-up might be a better place to head.
Oh, and a final fun fact: The game was composed by Hajime Hirasawa, who only ever worked on two games for Nintendo. This, and Star Fox.
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Comments
5 responses to “Nintendo Once Published A Game Featuring Nazis, Baby Jesus And The KKK”
Is this game why the Nintendo rules exist?
I’m pretty sure nes kid dracula did too
In 2016, can’t we just call this “Trump: The Video Game” and sell it to Bible-belt America and make a few million bucks?
probs would, just wouldn’t release it outside Japan
I think Nintendo JP gave zero fucks back in the day.
There was another game that instructed the player to “TURNING FUCKING DISK TO SIDE B”, in plan English, forget the game though