Now You're Really Playing with Power: The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion for the Nintendo Entertainment System

The bad words we removed, meaning that “The meteor is going to be pissed” was changed to “The meteor is going to be mad.” Howie Rubin of Jaleco (the company that was going to publish the game under license) advised us the that the baddest bad word is Kill. The central activity in most Nintendo games is killing things. The image and the act are good, but the word is bad, even if the word does not suggest the image or the act. —Douglas CrockfordNow You’re Really Playing with Power: The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion for the Nintendo Entertainment System (Crockford.com)

A bizarre story. Quotable quote: “Nintendo is a jealous god.”

View Comments

  • I remember giving Maniac Mansion some playing time in my NES, which is a system I still own, but I never thought about it as an example of IF until now. The game featured multiple endings based on two main factors that I remember: 1)decisions made by the player and 2)which characters go into the mansion.

    Unfortunately, my games always ended with either my characters ending up dead by radiation exposure from the microwave, or the meteor destroying the planet.

Share
Published by
Dennis G. Jerz

Recent Posts

The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.

The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.

9 hours ago

So I’m starting a thing. Wish me luck. #blender3d #medieval #york #mysteryplay #corpuschristi

So I’m starting a thing. Wish me luck. #blender3d #medieval #york #mysteryplay #corpuschristi

14 hours ago

No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater project. #blender3d

No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater…

19 hours ago

This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.

This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.

2 days ago

Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve this later. #blender3d

Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve…

2 days ago

Yesterday my stack of unmarked assignments was about 120, so this is not bad.

Nothing in this stack is pressing, but they do include rough drafts of final papers,…

3 days ago