/vr/ - Retro Games

>>2601418
Blame the fact that Nintendo didn't think of simply putting a warning on the box that the game had blood and gore (like Splatterhouse 2 on Genesis did [pic related, red text on the bottom left], which came out in '92 while the SNES version of Wolf3D came out in '94). ESRB ratings didn't go into effect until September 1st of 1994 either, however I found this bit of info on the ESRB's Wikipedia page under its "formation" section that better explains why Nintendo requested that the game be censored instead:

"During the hearings, Howard Lincoln and Bill White (chairmen of Nintendo and Sega's U.S. divisions respectively) attacked each other's stances on objectionable content in video games; Lincoln condemned Sega for even releasing Night Trap and felt it "simply has no place in our society", while White argued that Sega was more responsible to consumers because they actually had a rating system in place, rather than a blanket presumption that all its games would be suitable for general audiences."

Basically, Nintendo of America's chairman at the time wanted every game to be as Family-Friendly as possible somehow. Nothing new though. Thankfully they manned up after the ESRB went into effect and the SNES version of Doom that came out in '95 wasn't censored, since it got an M rating.