▲
2
▼
Gol Dodo (JP Version) had much darker skin than Zann (US version). In a forum post on their official message boards, Natsume responded as to why they changed his skin color:
"Normally, we're happy to see ethnically diverse characters in Harvest Moon games. However, Zann had a lot of characteristics that in the West are sometimes associated with hurtful and outdated stereotypes of native African people. The skull on his head, the fact that he spoke in broken English, etc. Unfortunately, it just wasn't possible to completely change his character design and rewrite all of his dialogue, so changing his skin color seemed to be the best fix. Again, we're happy to see ethnically diverse characters in Harvest Moon games, but not when they're reinforcing negative stereotypes that a lot of our players will find hurtful and offensive."
"Normally, we're happy to see ethnically diverse characters in Harvest Moon games. However, Zann had a lot of characteristics that in the West are sometimes associated with hurtful and outdated stereotypes of native African people. The skull on his head, the fact that he spoke in broken English, etc. Unfortunately, it just wasn't possible to completely change his character design and rewrite all of his dialogue, so changing his skin color seemed to be the best fix. Again, we're happy to see ethnically diverse characters in Harvest Moon games, but not when they're reinforcing negative stereotypes that a lot of our players will find hurtful and offensive."
Related Games
Harvest Moon DS
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon DS Cute
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Harvest Moon
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Harvest Moon 64
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life
Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns
Chulip
Sayonara Umihara Kawase
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven
Muteki-Ou Tri-Zenon
Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam Seed
Half-Minute Hero
Pocky & Rocky
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Abadox: The Deadly Inner War
The King of Fighters XIII
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Bubble Bobble Revolution
No More Heroes
Legend of the River King 2
Senran Kagura: Shoujo-tachi no Shinei
Sakura Taisen 1 & 2
Samurai Shodown Anthology
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition
Crash Bandicoot
The King of Fighters '96
Mortal Kombat
Shovel Knight
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Ridge Racer 2
Suikoden II
Syphon Filter
Kurohyou: Ryuu ga Gotoku Shinshou
World End Economica
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return
Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Party Edition
MediEvil
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Puyo Pop Fever
Wipeout