For years, Nintendo has been shy about releasing certain games and franchises in America. Fire Emblem is one such example. Nintendo localized Fire Emblem on the Game Boy Advance years after the original was released on the Famicom in Japan, and in America, the Fire Emblem series is quite popular. But there’s one game that never made it to our shores that really should. That game is Devil World.

Devil World is a maze game where you play as a dragon named Tomogon. Your goal is to eat the dots in a given maze, but the screen scrolls automatically at the direction of Devil, who sits at the top of the screen while his minions move the screen at random. Tomogon can only collect dots after picking up crosses. Another stage has Tomogon pushing bibles to an altar with a skull on it. This game looks fun in my opinion.

In the 80s, it’s easy to see why Nintendo didn’t sell this game in the states. Nintendo of America has strict policies in place for content in games. Blood, nudity, and religious symbols were forbidden. Nintendo censored the original Mortal Kombat. The Sega Genesis version outsold the SNES version, causing Nintendo to rethink this policy. Former VP Howard Lincoln swore before Congress in the famous video game violence hearings that Night Trap would never appear on a Nintendo console. Night Trap is on the Switch now. Wolfenstein 3-D was censored to the teeth on the SNES. Now Wolfenstein II is on the Switch with all the violence, swears, and other such imagery. Nintendo is nowhere near as censor happy these days. 

It’s strange how religious symbols prevented Devil World from getting an American release when even the game Ghosts N’ Goblins had religious symbols in it. The ultimate weapon was a cross. The final boss was named Lucifer. In the original Legend of Zelda, Link had a cross on his shield. Zelda II has a cross as a key item. So why has Devil World never appeared in America?

I think it’s time Devil World got an official release. I could buy a repro cartridge, but I have a repro of Sweet Home, and I can’t get it to work. Devil World is not only the first console only game Shigeru Miyamoto designed, but his only game to never make it to America. I and many others have been begging for Devil World to get an American Virtual Console release. Please, Nintendo, please release it on NES Online.