Sonic R’s Religious Easter Egg – Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Greg

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Hello and Welcome to Did You Know Gaming? Extra! Today we’ll be talking about video game facts relating To religion in order to avoid controversy most publishers in the western market try to avoid or minimize religious symbolism within their games in some cases religion can play a central role in the game’s plot and as time has moved forward the strict attempts to keep religion out of games Has been loosened however this doesn’t mean that religion hasn’t been rammed into games where it has no relevance With Sonic R, one of the games programmers decided to sneak in a piece of his Christian beliefs the Ichthys symbol also known by many as the “Jesus fish” is a symbol used by some Christians to show their faith. With its full name and meaning in English being: ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour’ Practicing Christian, John Burton, the lead programmer for Sonic R, hid this symbol on the Resort Island level on one of the tracks huts It’s likely that this small easter egg slipped by Sega before the game was sent out for publishing. As time goes on, many have opened up to the freedom of expression that comes with games and the themes that they choose to cover. This even includes satirical approaches to the subject as seen with titles such as Fight of Gods the game was designed as a joke making use of Gods in a standard fighting game genre. The game, which was put up for sale for only $8 in 2017, caused a commotion in Malaysia. the Malaysian government forced a country wide block against the game’s distribution service, Steam, making the Steam store inaccessible. In response to these extreme measures, the games publisher pqube stated ‘Fight of Gods is a video game that takes a humorous approach to religion in the same way that other entertainment formats have. This game is not promoting any religious agenda and is not designed to offend we fully respect the choice of those who would not wish to play it. We are disappointed that such freedom of choice is not given to everyone and in particular that the game has been forcibly removed from sale in Malaysia.” Rajan Zed, a Nevada-based Hindu statesman claimed that ‘the game trivialized revered religious figures that it was disrespectful, inappropriate, and could be disturbing to those of faith.’ He went on to say that ‘Highly revered Religious figures are not meant to be reduced to just a character in a video game to be used in combat in a virtual battleground’ Valve eventually blocked the game from sale and distribution in Malaysia and Steams ban was ultimately lifted. Fight of Gods isn’t the only game where you can take on a real world religious figure. In Dragon Quest 7 for the original PlayStation there’s a battle where the player can literally fight God. The battle is optional and can be found in the game’s first bonus dungeon. If the player manages to beat god in 20 turns or less they receive a valuable reward. In the Nintendo 3DS remake of the game, this boss was ultimately renamed to The Almighty likely to avoid any backlash from religious groups. And now it’s time for this episode’s random piece of trivia. Today we’ll be talking about Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter for the arcade. The Japanese release of the game features an additional character known as Norimaro. This character is based on the Japanese comedian Noritake Kanashii. And because Kanashii isn’t well-known outside of Japan, he was kept exclusive to the region. Evidence shows that the character was intended to be in the English release at some point however as all of his dialogue had English translations in the code of the western release. By looking through the game’s data, it’s also possible to find some pretty bizarre unused content surrounding the fighter as well. A hyper combo attack can be found which would have had Norimaro fantasizing about a Capcom character in a suggestive pose followed by an aggressive nosebleed which can attack an enemy in the air. His fantasies include Chun-Li, Sakura, Cammy, Morrigan, Felicia, Anita, and Zangief. I mean, he is a hunk. Another attack which was left out of the game including having its graphics removed altogether, was demoed in a Japanese promotional video. The attack would have seen the characters sticking his fingers up his opponents rear end. An action known as kancho in Japan. Kancho is considered to be a game or trick that is played on school-age children involving sticking your fingers up somebody’s butt when they aren’t looking. And if you want more, Sonic facts, click one of the videos on screen. If you like this video, be sure to leave a like, share the video with all your friends, maybe leave a comment, consider subscribing, hit the bell, and tell your mum how much you love the show. Thanks for watching! Be careful of people trying to stick fingers up school kids bums.

 

100 Responses

  6. Jacob Keary

    March 2, 2018 4:28 am

    The zangief one had me dying.
    But on a real note, you're not jamming your finger up hulk's ass with something going down.

    Reply
  8. Yishai Abaddon

    March 2, 2018 5:02 am

    No mention of Xenogears? Missed opportunity, then again that could be a whole video on its own.

    Reply
  10. justanotherutuber3

    March 2, 2018 9:52 am

    Was sure there was no game where you actually fight god, how did they get away with that?

    Reply
  14. Python_l

    March 2, 2018 11:54 am

    Isn't Jon Burton the guy that "remastered" Sonic 3D Blast and just uploaded a video how to program for the Sega Genesis?

    Reply
  15. Yoshimasa Chong

    March 2, 2018 12:45 pm

    As a guy who was cursed to be born in Malaysia

    I can confirm Dat fact and it was the reason I missed a sale on my favorite game for up to 50% off

    Reply
  17. The Crimson Creep

    March 2, 2018 1:23 pm

    What about how they put an Atheist in Super Scribblenauts and made him invincible?

    Reply
  20. mhayes86

    March 2, 2018 5:13 pm

    Jon Burton has his own YouTube channel, GameHut, where he explains a lot of his coding secrets from Sonic R and his Genesis days. It's quite fascinating!

    Reply
  23. B-Spiral

    March 2, 2018 8:05 pm

    I only mean to take this at face value, but regardless of their faiths, I'm pretty sure the only reason people were probably pissed about that diety fighting game is that THE SPECIFIC diety of their worship was included in the game and portrayed "irreverently". Pretty sure if the specific god of their culture was removed from the game, that culture wouldn't care about the game anymore.

    Reply
  25. Jared the Alpaca King

    March 2, 2018 10:37 pm

    "Hello, welcome to another episode of Coding Secrets. Today I'll be showing you how I managed to sneak the Jesus Fish past Sega's censors into Sonic R while only using barely a fraction of the disk space."

    Reply
  30. karkesyc

    March 3, 2018 6:20 am

    So this video is about mentally ill people who take fairytales too seriously and can't take any jokes and depictions about their favorite characters.

    Reply
  37. Strain42

    March 3, 2018 9:20 pm

    "Fight of Gods is not the only game where you can take on a real world religious figure."
    Yeah, it's called ANY Megami Tensei game…
    "In Dragon Quest VII…"
    Fair enough.

    Reply
  39. ManiacX1999

    March 4, 2018 2:10 am

    So… What about Sonic 06's main villain literally being the Islamic devil?
    0:53 IS THAT SHIA LABEOUF?!?!

    Reply
  42. TFG

    March 4, 2018 7:10 pm

    It's kinda incorrect to imply that kancho is the practice of sticking a finger up a school kid's butt. It's mainly a childish prank these school kids play on both kids and adults at times. Not a very pleasant one, but if you ever go to Japan to teach grade school kids, protect your bum.

    Reply
  45. JoltyVappy / PinkSylveon

    March 5, 2018 1:23 am

    …i might have to kancho my friend next time he sits in my seat.

    …but with Freddy Krueger hand ofc.

    Reply
  50. Sergio Rivera

    March 8, 2018 3:35 am

    Video game devs: we changed or removed any religious figures/motifs in the game to avoid offending anyone.

    Atlus with Megami Tensei: Lol. Go fight Lucifer and kill YHVH.

    Reply
  53. Cool Coyote

    March 10, 2018 12:22 am

    hahaha love it how religious people get a bee in their bonnet about their 1 true god, as if they know or something

    Reply
  54. Kratos Aurion Plays

    March 10, 2018 7:47 pm

    Still waiting for the DYKG episode on the Tales series. When will you guys acknowledge who won the poll from the Chrono Trigger episode?

    4:02 Oh ok then.

    Reply
  60. bo jackson

    March 18, 2018 10:41 pm

    The Vesica Pisces (jesus fish) goes back way before jesus.

    it was derived from the flower of life which goes back to ancient times.

    Reply
  62. Blue Moon Candy

    March 21, 2018 10:57 pm

    As a Sonic fan the only thing I liked about Sonic R was the music in the game. My favorite song in the game is Super Sonic Racing.

    Reply
  66. High5ghost 101

    April 3, 2018 9:19 pm

    Sega knew about the Jesus fish in Sonic R on Jon's channel (Gamehut) he made a video recently but this video was made before his video so go check out his channel which is Gamehut which I already mentioned but do that.

    Reply
  71. vjm3

    April 22, 2018 3:18 am

    The coder of Sonic R has his own semi-popular channel, and mentioned the Easter egg. According to him, Sega was well aware of the fish, asked him "Is this a Christian symbol?" where he admitted "Yes." And their response? They said. "Eh…" and kept it in. They simply didn't care, either because they figured people wouldn't get up and arms over it, or because even Sega knew Sonic R was going to blow so badly, nobody would play it anyway.

    Reply
  73. Josh?

    April 27, 2018 2:02 am

    "Remember kids, there's nothing better than playing a good fighting game, but when you play a fighting game with real-world religious figures as the fighters, that's NO GOOD."

    Reply
  79. Kyle Kirkpatrick

    May 31, 2018 3:27 am

    Actually, the Christian symbol did not "slip past" Sega. They knew well it was there.

    According to lead programmer, Jon Burton, in a video he released on his YouTube Channel, GameHut, where he discussed hidden Christian Easter Eggs he had hidden in his games over the years, he stated that when Sega first noticed the symbol, asked if it was a Christian symbol. Jon said yeah, and they were pretty chill with it and didn't really seemed like they cared.

    That video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvUPOtz4v7A

    Reply
  82. Amy Daniels

    June 5, 2018 1:08 pm

    Actually the developer said that sega saw it and went eh so he kept it in. So im sure sega did know

    Reply
  88. DoodleManDrew

    July 9, 2018 4:57 pm

    Kinda not cool to use a bumper sticker image that happens to include another anti-LGBT sticker, it's not a requirement that someone be against homosexuality to be a Christian, that's what that image would suggest.

    And then when showing Jon Burton, they find a pic of him with a supreme resting bitch face, and standing next to a crazy person Shia the Beef…come on guys…

    He's the freaking founder of travellers tales, I didn't even see that image when googling him briefly, so it can't have been the first option…

    I like your guys' stuff, can you not be passive aggressive about my religion, that'd be pretty cool

    Reply
  89. Salem TheDireShipper

    July 10, 2018 12:56 am

    Kancho..huh So that's what it's called…well make sure they don't have claws on their fingers.

    I'm looking at you Choi(kof series)

    Reply
  95. Paphvul

    January 20, 2019 2:03 am

    Hey, thanks for stealing GameHut's content, dickheads.

    He covered this shit long before you did, and he WORKED ON the game in question.

    Reply
  98. BBJ Publishing

    March 9, 2019 5:51 am

    For those reading the comment section in a year old video: Jon said on his own youtube channel Gamehut that SEGA actually asked if that was the "Jesus fish"… he said it was, and they said "okay" and left it at that shrugs I guess they thought it was hidden enough that nobody would mind?

    Reply
  100. vargen1414

    November 6, 2019 1:32 pm

    A Certain Sonic R Developer Saw That Nintendo Had Mario Prey At A Christian Altar In Nintendo Power And Tried Something Similar

    Reply

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