Why did Abe go from having four fingers in the Abes Oddysee to having three in Abes Exoddus?
Alf: Well, it’s a long story that needs to be told. So here it is… Japan has a strict discriminating policy against any simulated characters entering their country with four fingers. Historically, Japan has had a subclass of meat packing workers that were typically looked down upon in their society. In later days, the blatant displaying of a four fingered hand gesture, intentionally directed at another, came to mean that you were calling them a member of the meat packing sub class. Which, we understand, was not at all a compliment. It appears that the four finger connection with the meat packing class was due to work related accidents, but was so frequent that it came to symbolically represent the sub class. It seems as though this is a part of the Japanese history that some groups within Japan would like to see forgotten. Therefore, it is at great risk that you publish four fingered characters in Japan, as you may very likely end up in legal battles with a vociferous pressure group.
Related Questions
- In Abes Oddysee and Exoddus, Scrabs would fight each other to the death if they met, but in Munchs Oddysee they e running around in a herd. How is this possible?
- In the game I noticed that in the first game Abe and Mudokons have 4 fingers then in Abes Exoddus they have only 3 fingers. What happened with the 4th finger?
- Didn Abes voice also get a lot deeper between Abes Oddysee and Abes Exoddus?
