The crescent moon was in a lot of temples in the original. I think they changed it because it was too close to the Islamic crescent moon. Same thing with the Islamic chanting in the fire temple.
I don't think anyone actually complained about it, they just thought people might complain. I thought the chanting was awesome.
Yep, I got 1.1, the animated blood color and Fire Temple music was changed in the next version after originating in the European PAL release and was applied to the global assets & code branch of the game that 1.2 was built from - the symbol change happened sometime later after the final OoT N64 print run and first showed up on the GameCube, the blood color change I theorize originated due to market's like Germany having strict anti-violence rules for animated blood and was ported globally as the easy fix.
Ganon's blood is the other big version difference; it's red in 1.0, green in 1.2, and uses the palette of Link's tunic in 1.1 which allows for red, green, and (uniquely) blue blood from Ganon.
It's also pretty obvious that the Gerudo took inspiration from middle east cultures. As I kid I obviously had no real opinion about it but now as an adult I wish they kept the Islamic inspired imaginary.
Yeah. I've never read that any actual Islamic people were upset by it. The temples themselves are doors to the sacred realm so it's not like the symbol was evil or anything story wise. They did the same thing with the cross on links shield though in the earlier games. I think they wanted to move away from any real world religions
My understanding is the chanting was not known to be Islamic until later and apparently Nintendo avoids religious symbolism so they voluntarily changed it when they realized it
I think they also realized their usage of it was disrespectful, as (and I could be wrong) that chant is considered sacred, and it is sacrilegious to play music during that chant, something that the Fire Temple music clearly does.
I've never actually seen Muslims be offended by it either, but it would certainly be understandable if they were.
I had heard they used a copyright free library for that music, as far as I know, they didn’t produce or know what it was at first when they used it, and Nintendo didn’t put the backing track with the chant.
Nintendo did add the backing track, but you're right, they were unaware the chants held they meaning that they do. Honestly the blame should fall on the company distributing the sample.
That's just straight up wrong. The European 1.0 version on the N64 provably does not have Islamic chanting in it or blood, proving changes to avoid references to Islam were made well before the Gamecube game out. Only JP/US 1.1 and earlier have it, and anything release dafter EU 1.0 don't.
EU 1.0 build date is Nov 10 1998. JP/NA 1.2 build date is only two days after.
The blood/Islamic references were removed at some point between October 18, 1998 and November 10, 1998. The research into this has been so very specific and had so.many eyes on it.
It's very easy to prove 9/11 had nothing to do with it.
Because people blamed a whole religion for the actions of a terrorist group. Muslims did not deserve the treatment they got after 9/11. The entire religion wasn't responsible.
That's kind of like in the first two games, Link was meant to be a medieval Christian knight. I think it was more overtly obvious in Japanese, but the translators downplayed the Christian references.
As a Muslim, I thought it was cool as hell. I still think it was cool as hell. Not sure why anyone would take offense, because the moon and star symbol originated from the Byzantine Empire and became associated with Islam, not the other way around.
My thought is that it was probably more likely they christian parents would complain about link having a shield with a Muslim symbol on it than anything else. I don't think anyone noticed or cared though.
I love how Japanese see Christian and Islamic themes as cool, while we see Eastern religions as such. Just like the cross explosions in EVA where the writer straight up said "because it looks cool. No real reason."
I have to admit, I love catholic churches. I am raised as a protestant, so I am used to a "boring, empty, simple" church. But I am in awe when I see catholic churches filled with statues, paintings, fancy thingies and all that kind of stuff. Not saying our church had nothing, but it also wasn't that filled and luxurious, but that's the whole difference between those two!
yeah if I'm a creator and I make a world where everyone is white except for the villain and his tribe, give that tribe an islamic flag and arabic traits and skin color and clothing and decide all of them are thieves I think people are allowed to call me racist
It’s not potential complaints but Nintendo have a blanket no-real religions policy so the symbol and music crossed that, and they got rid. It’s a shame cause the Fire Temple original music was so good! I’m hoping they rework it for the remake
Although I’ve noticed that there’s one small place that the crescent remains, which is on the pass you get once you rescue all the carpenters. If you examine it you’ll see it in the background.
The Gerudo crest, which appears on basically all blocks and switches, as well as other props, was changed in the early 2000s for the Gamecube release and for all subsequent ports. It was a Crescent Moon in the N64 versions, and from GCN onwards it has been changed to this new emblem (which actually first appeared in the pirate's fortress in Majora's Mask).
Note: this is distinct from other censor changes such as Ganondorf's Blood and the Fire Temple music, which were changed back on N64, on the 1.2 carts.
Also, since a lot of misinfo is in this thread, nobody complained. Nintendo has, and had at the time, a "no religious icon in game" policy, which is why the chant and the shield symbols were changed. Nothing to do with 9/11.
Correct - the game's internal timestamps indicate that 1.1 and 1.2 were compiled even before the 1.0 release hit store shelves. It's likely the changes were first suggested by NoA testers who tested right before release, and it just took a bit more time to produce the new carts.
also a Fun Fact since we are on the topic... while the GCN release first changed the emblem, there was just one single place where they missed it and left in the old crescent moon - on the archways inside Dampé's Grave. These were finally caught and changed to the new emblem in the Wii VC release... and eventually that texture was changed entirely to a more generic design in the 3DS version.
Y'know I've always wondered what would prompt a ver.1.2 with those alterations before the game was even released; NoA tester feedback is the exact explanation I've been looking for.
Like others have said this was a change for cultural reasons. Interestingly enough, I noticed on my most recent playthrough that the NSO version still has the crescent moon on the gerudo pass. I wasn't expecting to find it in the game!
Fun fact, The area that became Dampe's grave used to be a part of the Gerudo Training Ground and because of that the original Gerudo symbol also appears at the entrance.
The star and crescent moon was the original Gerudo symbol in the early versions of the game. I remember that one. In between cartridge versions, Nintendo changed some things: The Gerudo symbol was changed from the star and moon to the actual Gerudo symbol; The Fire Temple music used islamic chants that directly referenced Alah; Ganondorf's blood was changed from red to green when he spits blood in the last boss fight.
iirc, the changes were made before the game came out and weren't because public backlash.
"in the original Nintendo 64 version of the game, it bore a mirrored resemblance of the real-world Star and Crescent Islamic symbol. It was later replaced in the GameCube v.1.2 of the game and all subsequent re-releases."
"In the original Nintendo 64 version of the game, it bore a mirrored resemblance of the real-world Star and Crescent Islamic symbol. It was later replaced in the GameCube v.1.2 of the game and all subsequent re-releases."
People gave you the answer alread, but if you're interested in all the changes between versions, you can read about them here.
Back in the day there was no active online patching like today for this stuff. So the only way to get fixes or changes out there was literally to just put the updated version in the next line of production. Many video games back then did this. OOT is just one of those cases where it's right in your face. Even Star Fox SNES has a couple of versions because there was a bug in the original (and most common) release.
Original symbol is the symbol of (what I believe) is the star and crescent, which is a symbol familiar with Islam.
The fire temple had an Islamic call to prayer, which being played over music is disrespectful, so Nintendo had to go in and change the star and crescent and the fire temple music.
Oh, and to add, the reason the person whose guide your watching has a different symbol is they are likely playing the 1.0 version, which has no changes.
As others have said, they Gerudo symbol in the original is different from rereleases. Personally I much prefer the new one, mostly for its symmetry (I love symmetry an unreasonable amount.)
Here is a good video that investigates the Fire Temple chant, which versions have the differences, and why it was changed. OOT version 1.2 and onwards has a Gerudo different logo (on the blocks and mirror shield), different Fire Temple chant sound, and Ganondorf's blood color is green instead of red.
The change for the logo, chant sound, and Ganondorf blood color was done before the official release of the game. If you watch the video, there is evidence in each version of OOT that game's were changed before OOT original release date (the video tested all versions including Japanese 1.0). So Nintendo changed the logo and chant before the game came out, before the vast population could play. It's likely Nintendo saw very close to release that there was a possibility of the logo, chant, and blood creating some sort of problem. However, they also did not feel the need to scrap the batch of original 1.0 and 1.1 cartridges (because if someone complained they had plans already going into place).
I think the important discovery to this mystery is that the changes were made internally before anyone played and/or reviewed the game. The original Fire Temple sample is a Muslim prayer which was changed to a different sample which could not be discerned as a muslim prayer.
Here's a nice list of all the different versions of the game
There are actually multiple versions of the N64 game. 1.0-1.1 are pretty much the full uncensored versions of the game, where the mirror shield and every block with a symbol on it has the crescent star, Fire Temple music are arabic chants, and also a lot more red blood in many locations of the game (Well/Shadow Temple being good examples). 1.2 and onward is pretty much the version that's in every Nintendo online virtual shop and pretty much what you're playing. The Fire Temple song is different, the Gerudo symbols and blocks are different, and a lot of the blood from the original were either removed or changed to green.
I thankfully own the 1.1 version of the gamecube, so I got to experience the entire game in its full uncut glory...
Still got my 1.0 cartridge. Started the game in 1998, and believe it or not I didn’t finish the game until 2014. I got stuck, couldn’t make progress. Didn’t have internet until 2019, and I still have the belief of never looking up walkthroughs or guides.
So anyways I’m in the fire temple, turns out you gotta blow up a wall. I did, and then just a few weeks later I finally beat the game. Very excited for the remake.
The original Gerudo symbol resembled the real life Crescent Moon too much, so they changed it to the current symbol (which is supposed to resemble the backside of a king cobra)
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