Something that doesn’t happen a lot anymore but used to occur all the time was localization changes, particularly in the game’s title. One game or franchise famous for one name in the West can have a completely different name popular in the East.
Nowadays, companies have tried to mitigate that as much as possible, with even Capcom retconning Street Fighter character names so that any answer is right. These title changes were for various factors. They could occur due to trademark issues with something popular in another country, to avoid confusion with something else or a general localization decision.
These can be individual games or entire series that changed names. Also, even if the name got reverted at some point, as long as it was originally given a different name, it will still count.
10Resident Evil
Became More Recognizable Than The Band That Forced The Name Change
The most famous example of a changed title in gaming history has to beResident Evil, originally called Biohazard in Japan. Capcom couldn’t trademark Biohazard in America due to the metal band of the same name, so they had to use a different title.
Resident Evil fit very well for the original game but not so much for the entire series, as not every game takes place in a house. Biohazard fits the general vibe of the entire series much better since it focuseson mutated creatures or beings.
9The Evil Within
Keeping In Tradition With Shinji Mikami’s Past Work
Resident Evil’s quasi-spiritual successor,The Evil Within, also had a name difference between the regions. Everywhere but Japan has The Evil Within title, which fits the game well and tells customers exactly what it is: survival horror.
Japan, on the other hand, got Psycho Break as the title. This fits in its way as The Evil Withinis psychological horror in nature, but it doesn’t do nearly as good of a job communicating to consumers that this is a survival horror game, and The Evil Within is a more marketable title.
8Mega Man
He Ain’t No Rock
One of the most famous examples of a title change along with Resident Evil has to be another Capcom franchise,Mega Man. In Japan, the series is known as Rockman due to the Rock, Paper, Scissors mechanic of the Robot Master’s weaknesses. It doesn’t hurt that the series also has amazing music.
For most everyone, however, this title won’t make sense and doesn’t tell what Mega Man is to an 80s Western audience. Capcom wisely used the title of Mega Man everywhere else, being a much more understandable representation ofthis iconic Capcom hero.
7Fatal Frame
Different For Everyone
For theFatal Frameseries, there’s not one, not two, but three titles, one for America, one for Japan, and another for Europe and Australia. In America, the series is called Fatal Frame, named after the Fatal Frame shot game mechanic in which you take a picture of a ghost at the very last moment.
In Europe and Australia, the series is called Project Zero, named after the Zero Shot game mechanic, and in Japan, it’s just called Zero. All three titles work, but Fatal Frame does the best job of easily telling you about the unique camera system that is special to the series.
6Anarchy Reigns
Taking It To The Max
Platinum Games' forgotten gem, Anarchy Reigns, is notable for being a semi-sequel to MadWorld featuring many of the same characters. It’s a pretty obscure game, even for Platinum, but what’s even less known is the title change.
Anarchy Reigns was first released in Japan nearly six months before it came out elsewhere, and it was originally titled Max Anarchy. This title has a better ring to it and is more eye-catching, making the name change a bit baffling. Perhaps Max Anarchy is a little too wild and out there for the rest of the world.
5Star Fox
Nintendo, The Company That Plays It Safe
Yes, theStar Foxfranchise name is the same globally, but that wasn’t the case during the franchise’s beginnings. For both Star Fox and Star Fox 64, the name had to be changed in Europe due to worries by Nintendo over the German company called StarVox. Nintendo didn’t want to be receiving a cease-and-desist.
Star Fox was changed to Starwing, and Star Fox 64 was oddly changed to Lylat Wars instead of Starwing 64, as you’d think. Thankfully, by the time Star Fox Adventures was released, the franchise was a well-known name in gaming, so Nintendo didn’t have to worry anymore about similarities.
4EarthBound
Treat Your Mother Right
This name change is pretty understandable, given the period. The Mother trilogy is probably the most cult-beloved Nintendo franchise that historically has not seen love back, at least by Nintendo of America. The original NES game got cancelled back in the day, and even then, the title was changed toEarthBound.
This carried over to the SNES sequel, which was released stateside. Mother as a title would not go over well at all in the ’90s when the general age of gamers was much lower than they are today. EarthBound still flopped regardless, but that was more due to it being overpriced. In today’s gaming landscape, however, Mother would be a fine title and fits the series much better.
3Indigo Prophecy
The Simple Case Of Being Too Generic
After the 1999 PC classic Omikron: The Nomad Soul, Quantic Dream’s next game was Indigo Prophecy. At least, that’s what the game was called in North America. Everywhere else, it was given the much more generic title of Fahrenheit.
This was due to the publisher Atari, who didn’t want anyone relating this game to the controversial Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which came out the previous year. If anything, the game should have been retitled because there already exists a game called Fahrenheit released for the Sega CD.
2Another World
The Most Baffling Title Change
Like Star Fox, Another World has the same name worldwide today, but not when it first came out. The classic adventure game was retitled in Japan as Outer World, but the American name change is far more egregious. The publisher changed the name because they thought consumers would confuse the game with the long-running soap opera TV show also called Another World.
Who in the gaming audience would even think of that? People who are watching that show probably aren’t your target audience. In North America, Out of This World was the name, which fits as well, but the reason behind it is still baffling to this day.
1Luigi’s Mansion 2
The Odd One Out
While the name change forLuigi’s Mansion 2isn’t offensive, it’s nearly as baffling as Another World. Announced at E3 2011 as Luigi’s Mansion 2, fans were hyped for a sequel toa beloved cult favorite. However, later down the road, the game was retitled Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, but only in America. Everywhere else retained the sequel number.
It’s almost like they wanted the game to seem like a spin-off instead of a true sequel in case the fan reception was bad. Fan reception was indeed mixed, but Luigi’s Mansion 3 had the same name worldwide, and the HD remaster of Luigi’s Mansion 2 on the Switch kept the sequel number as well. This name change couldn’t have been more pointless.
