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Forbidden SIREN - Censorship and Other Changes in the USA Version of the Game



forbidden siren ps2 horror game usa american version difference sony playstation 2 cover art censored


Not many people know this, but the American version of the horror game "Siren" was censored.

And it also contains several more strange differences from the European and Japanese editions.

In this article, I will show the censored scenes and other interesting differences.


Spoiler Warning: the article contains minor spoilers for Forbidden Siren 1.





Censorship in the
Akira Shimura scene


 

In the American version, a few seconds from Akira Shimura's suicide scene were cut out. Because of this, the meaning of the scene is greatly distorted - and it becomes difficult to understand what actually happened there.

Interestingly enough, in the European edition of "Forbidden Siren" this scene is not censored.





Censorship in the
Shiro Miyata scene




The censors also cut a portion of the scene where Shiro Miyata puts a gun to his head. Apparently, they were very afraid to show anything related to suicide in the game.

Again, censorship affected only the American edition. In the European version of "Forbidden Siren" this scene is not cut.

Another fun fact is that even in its censored form, the game still received a maximum age rating of "17+” in the United States. But the European version, without any censorship, had only a "16+” rating.





Kyoya's age changed


kyoya suda forbidden siren ps2 horror game character


For some reason, the censors didn't like the age of some characters.

In the Japanese and European versions, a character named Kyoya Suda was 16 years old - but in the American release he suddenly became 18.

And this annoyingly censored age will be shown to you every time you pause the game and open the inventory menu.





Miyako's age changed


miyako kajiro ps2 horror game character


Miyako was even more unlucky - she was made older by THREE years. In the Japanese and European editions she was 14, but in the American version she became 17 years old. Fortunately, her age is indicated only in the manual - so in the game itself it is not an eyesore.





Tomoko's age changed


tomoko maeda ps2 horror game character


A girl named Tomoko also suffered from the censorship. In the original version she was 14 years old - but in the American edition she became 17.





Archive file 032 changed


forbidden siren tomoko maeda archive item file 32 european version

(file 032 in European version)


forbidden siren tomoko maeda archive item file 32 usa version

(file 032 in the American version)


Since Tomoko's age was changed, the American localizers also rewrote the archive file that contains information about her. As you can see in the screenshot, the date of birth and the class where she studies have been changed.





Archive file 006 changed


forbidden siren naoko mihama archive item file 006 european version

(file 006 in European version)


forbidden siren naoko mihama archive item file 006 usa version

(file 006 in the American version)


One of the strangest differences in the American version is the change in Naoko Mihama's age in the old magazine where she was interviewed. Here, for some reason, the translators lowered the girl’s age by one year - originally it was 20, but here it became 19 (at the time of magazine publication in 1996).

Why such changes were made to the archive file is completely unclear. It just doesn't make any sense.

By the way, Naoko’s age in the game itself was not changed - in all versions she was 28 years old at the time of the events of the game.





Naoko's HIPS SIZE changed!?


forbidden siren naoko mihama archive item file 69 european version

(file 069 in European version)


forbidden siren naoko mihama archive item file 69 usa version

(file 069 in the American version)


Another really weird difference is that in the USA edition, the size of Naoko Mihama’s hips was changed.

In the Japanese and European versions of the archive file "069", her hips size was indicated as 86 centimeters.

But for American translators, it seemed too thick! So they changed the size of the heroine's hips to 33 inches (83 centimeters).

It looks like Sony had some really creative localizers. Sometimes they can increase the age of a character by a couple of years, and sometimes they can reduce a character's butt by a couple of centimeters :)






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Author of the article: SilentPyramid

Date of publication: 27.10.2023








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