▲
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 However, Zann had a lot of characteristics that in the West are sometimes associated with hurtful and outdated stereotypes of native African people.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 However, Zann had a lot of characteristics that in the West are sometimes associated with hurtful and outdated stereotypes of native African people.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
Harvest Moon 64
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Harvest Moon DS Cute
Harvest Moon DS
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns
Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Sayonara Umihara Kawase
The King of Fighters XIII
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Legend of the River King 2
Half-Minute Hero
Pocky & Rocky
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
No More Heroes
Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam Seed
Abadox: The Deadly Inner War
Muteki-Ou Tri-Zenon
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Senran Kagura: Shoujo-tachi no Shinei
Bubble Bobble Revolution
Crash Bandicoot: Warped
One Piece: Romance Dawn
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires
Final Fantasy Type-0
Jak II
Mega Man Powered Up
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Criminal Girls
Spyro the Dragon
The 3rd Birthday
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Undertale
Gex
Mega Man Legends
One Piece: Unlimited World RED
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Ridge Racer Type 4