Trademark law definitely works like that in most jurisdictions, which is why there is a requirement that the mark hold take steps to protect their rights. When they don’t, they risk the mark becoming genericized and losing it in court (as happened with several formerly-trademarked words like “kleenex” and “cola”).

Some of the Castlevania games got away with flaunting Nintendo’s censorship rules to an extent. But other games definitely did not: all of the pre-PlayStation Final Fantasy games released in the US had offending crosses removed, as, for that matter, did numerous Castlevania games (the subweapon cross is still there,…

Yeah, it’s not like the symbol itself is a new thing, either. So the smart money is likely on the International Committee of the Red Cross not knowing about or not caring to enforce their rights over video games in the same way they had been doing for movies until the last decade or so, I guess.

Under normal trademark law, certainly. But since the Geneva Convention has been mentioned, I’m thinking there are considerations above and beyond normal national trademark laws here. If it’s a matter of international treaty, all bets are of when it comes to mark genericization.

Was that really because of Red Cross objection, though? Lots of other games of that era featured the symbol without any publicized objections. I figured the Earthbound censorship had more to do with Nintendo of America’s blanket restrictions on depicting any religious imagery (crosses, in this case) than with the…

I think this is a relatively recent thing, actually. The Red Cross either couldn’t or didn’t care to go after video games featuring their symbol until the last few years. Obviously, lots of older games used it as a graphic, but I’ve noticed a bunch of newer titles, and rereleases of older titles (like the first two Doo…

I remember this coming up when id Software rereleased the first two Doom games as part of Doom 3: BFG Edition. The stimpacks, medikits, and berserk packs, all of which had featured the standard red cross symbol in the original release and all rereleases up to that point, were replaced with a red and white pill…

The GBA was certainly capable of decent music, but developers did seem to have to make the choice between graphics and sound more often than not. See also, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (great soundtrack, but ugly) and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (looks pretty good, but terrible soundtrack). Go figure.

If you’re able to run the PC version from Steam, it’s worth pointing out that version is identical, content-wise, to the GBA version (and actually superior to it in terms of musical quality). The biggest problem is that the sprites have been put through that godawful bilinear filter than Square Enix loves so much, so…

Bravely Default was a more or less direct successor to the DS game Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, which had the same aesthetic, and similar job system and battle system (minus the brave/default concept). The team that made FF:4HL, and later made the two Bravely games, had not worked on the classic franchise,…

Ah, memories. Way back when, I compiled a guide to blue magic in the game. It’s probably still out there on GameFAQs somewhere, although since it was based on the RPGe fan translation script, it’s probably not particularly useful to anyone playing the more recent official translations.

The only thing I hold against the GBA release of the game (Final Fantasy V Advance) is that the soundtrack suffered for the conversion. Same problem with Final Fantasy VI Advance, actually.

Amen. I’ve been a fan of the series since the NES days. Final Fantasy V is my third favorite. Final Fantasy VIII is my first.

Just to clarify something: the mobile/PC release of the game is identical to Final Fantasy V Advance, both mechanically and in terms of content. It has the two new job classes, and the bonus dungeon. The only real difference is the graphical “upgrade,” which are... unfortunate, I’ll agree, but, on the other hand,…

I kind of enjoy the PS1 version in a “so bad it’s good” kind of way. Mainly due to the translation. The game script isn’t the worst thing Square ever produced (though it is dry and awkward in points, it’s still better than Final Fantasy Tactics and probably on par with Final Fantasy II for the SNES and Final Fantasy…

I disagree. There’s definitely a marketing angle to Snoopy’s increased prominence in later strips, but I think he’s actually a more effective character for getting at some of the themes that Schulz tackled in Peanuts. All of Peanuts’s characters are deeply, almost existentially dissatisfied with their lot in life, and…

FFI: (Based on NES version, not remakes)
1) Add save points to dungeons

-Patch to wake up Yang and replace Edge as the fifth final party member

I love VIII. It’s up there with III (the Famicom original, not the travesty of a 3D remake) and Tactics as one of my favorites in the franchise. But, yeah, the orphanage scene was terrible. To make it worse, it felt like an afterthought. The overall plot doesn’t require it, and, in fact, it complicates things…

I don’t hate FFXIII as much as everyone else seems to do. I actually find the battle system interesting, even if it took me quite a ways into the game to really get a hang of it. And the characters aren’t completely without merit: even if some of them start to grate on my nerves after a while, at least they all have a…