At NeoGAF they have an interesting topic about censored games, where you can find lots of great differences between released games in different countries! Some of my favourites are:
Ash in Street Of Rage 3
While translating this game from Japanese to American and European audiences, Sega of America altered it significantly. The most notable changes were that the miniboss character Ash was removed because he was a stereotyped homosexual, females were given more modest clothing, and the costume colors were changed. Axel is dressed like Adam, Blaze’s clothes were changed from red to white, and Skate wears red and blue instead of red and yellow. Sega stated that these were changed to create “gender-neutral colors.” The voice-effects were also changed, with most noticeably Axel’s catchphrase of “Grand Upper” for his semi-special move being replaced with “Bare Knuckle”. [Info from wikipedia]
German version of Soldier Of Fortune 2
To avoid being banned in Germany, the German version of the game had all in-game violence and gore removed and placed the story in a parallel universe which was populated by cyborgs. These changes were not accepted at all by the players’ community, and the game was unsuccessful. [Info from Wikipedia]
German version of Team Fortress 2:
German version of Bloodrayne:
Xenosaga Episode III
The North American release of the game, however, was criticized for a number of obvious cutscene edits that many felt were damaging to either the atmosphere or overall story of the game. The majority of these edits were for scenes of violence and blood that would have elevated the game beyond the “Teen” rating given by the ESRB to the “Mature” level. This official reason from Namco is puzzling, especially when Episode I is taken into consideration. Episode I featured several scenes with heavy blood flow (for instance, during the Gnosis attack at the beginning of the game, a crewmember is literally pounded into paste by a Gnosis) and it received a “Teen” rating from the ESRB. While the storyline remains identical in both the original Japanese release and the North American versions, the exclusion of certain violent scenes is quite noticeable, especially in a scene midway through the story in which a child reacts to the death of another character by “putting [the blood] back” in the dying individual. In the North American version, the child has nothing in her hands and several shots are shown of an area presumably splattered with blood, but that looks immaculate and clean in this version. Another scene where a character is pierced through the shoulder and leg by a weapon is also completely bloodless, whereas the scene is accompanied by a spray of blood in the Japanese version. Even more puzzling, the sound effect for the blood spray was not edited out. [Info from wikipedia]
Persona:
The North American release of Revelations: Persona saw many cosmetic and technical changes. In order to suggest that the story takes place in a western nation, the profile pictures of several characters have been recolored and (at times) redrawn completely. The most dramatic changes are to the main protagonist: his face and hairstyle are completely redesigned. Another notable change is to the character of Mark, who is altered from a Asian boy to an African American character with Ebonics added into his dialog. Both Nate and Ellen switch their hair colors from a dark shade of black to blonde. [Info from Wikipedia]
You can see these and more on NeoGAF forum …keep them up guys! Lots of new Unseen Changes articles in there :)
