It was recently announced by the producer of the upcoming Dragon Quest XI that the game
will not be censored or toned down over in the West.
Something that was specifically mentioned as being left intact were the game's 'puff-puff'
scenes, which are a long running gag within the series.
The 'puff-puff' scenes are also something that used to be notoriously censored in the
west due to their suggestive nature and, with that in mind, today we'll be taking a look
at some of the ways puff-puff has been depicted throughout the series' history and then how
these scenes got changed overseas.
But, to begin, what exactly is 'puff-puff'?
The term puff-puff was first featured in chapter 15 of the original Dragon Ball manga, published
in 1985.
The phrase is used to describe placing a person's face between a woman's chest and is a type
of Japanese onomatopoeia.
Incidentally, the character designer for all main games in the Dragon Quest series is none
other than, Dragon Ball's creator, Akira Toriyama.
Thus, it appears that he may have helped influence the inclusion of this element in the Dragon
Quest games.
Puff-puff's first appearance in the Dragon Quest series would be in the very first game.
At the entrance to the town of Rimuldar, a woman will say to the hero:
“Hey there, boy.
If you want a puff-puff, it’s 50 gold.”
In the Western NES release, though, the line was changed to:
“No, I have no tomatoes.
I have no tomatoes today.”
Puff-puff was considerably more hidden away in Dragon Quest II.
There’s a woman in the southwest corner of Lianport and her dialogue differs depending
on whether the Princess is alive and in the party.
In the Japanese version, if the Princess is present, her dialogue wouldn’t be anything
out of the ordinary.
However, if spoken to with either the princess dead or not yet obtained, she will offer a
puff-puff, and the player is given the ability to respond with either "Yes" or "No".
Selecting "Yes" will have the puff-puff be carried out with appropriate dialogue to match.
If you select "No", however, the girl will call you an "Okama" (オカマ), which is
a Japanese slang term for homosexual.
Interestingly, the English version keeps the NPC's dialogue differing, depending on wither
the Princess is alive and in the party or not.
If the princess is present, she will say: "Be nice to one who lives here; she knows
how to turn princes into tadpoles."
If the princess isn't, she will instead say: "Dost thou think I am pretty enough to be
queen?"
And, if you select yes, she will reply: "Perhaps the great Prince of Cannock thinks
so too."
And if you say no, she simply exclaims: "What's wrong!"
Dragon Quest III also included puff-puff and this was also the first game which began the
running joke of how the puff-puff would not be the lecherous act that the player was expecting.
In the original Japanese version, in the town of Assalam, a woman would greet a male character
at night and offer him a puff-puff.
If he accepts, he would follow her to her room, where she insists he leaves his party
members alone.
There, the screen fades to black as the lights are dimmed, and dialogue from the player announces
his enjoyment.
When the lights come back on, it is revealed that it is the woman’s Dad performing the
puff-puff, and not the woman herself.
If you talk to the woman afterwards, she says “How was it?
Your stiff shoulders should be better.
Come again.”
The English version did not change any of the action of the scene, such as separating
from the party and the darkening of the lights.
Instead, only the dialogue was changed.
Instead of offering a puff-puff, the woman offers to tell the player’s fortune.
In the dark, the player is looking into a crystal ball, when the woman’s father announces
that he’s the one operating the crystal ball, upsetting the woman for spoiling her
trick.
Strangely, dialogue afterwards isn’t changed, with the woman claiming that the player character’s
shoulder stiffness should be gone, despite no physical contact with him.
Puff-puff is featured twice in Dragon Quest IV and one of these scenes was let uncensored
in the West, despite "puff-puff" being spelt with one "f" instead of two.
This scene can be activated by visiting the town of Monbarbara, waiting until it's night,
and entering the town with only one male character.
In both the English and Japanese versions, a bunny girl on the 2nd floor of the bar will
offer the male character a puff-puff.
If you accept, she will, in both versions, say a range of cryptic phrases related to
puff-puff but with some unusual suffixes added to the end.
Then, when the dialogue is over, she will reveal that what she actually did was some
sort of special spell or therapy that will make the character more popular with the ladies.
The scene that did get censored over in the West happens earlier in the game, during Chapter
1.
A minor plot point in Chapter 1 revolves around a pair of characters who are husband and wife.
The husband has lost his memories and, when visited by his wife, he doesn't remember who
she is.
In the Japanese version, she helps kick-start his memory by performing a puff-puff, which
is clearly stated in the dialogue.
The husband enjoys this and suddenly his memories are restored to normal.
The original English release however, changed this so the wife says:
“Don’t you even remember this?
Smack!”
It's not made clear what action the "smack" is supposed to represent, but this results
in the husband regaining his memories.
You may have noticed how we specified that this change was made to the "original" English
release.
You see, in the much later remake for the Nintendo DS, this scene would be changed yet
again, but in a different way.
Furthermore, the English DS release also went back and changed the previously uncensored
puff-puff at the town of Monbarbara and replaced it with getting your "fortune told".
The husband and wife scene, on the other hand, altered the dialogue so that she now helps
him regain his memories by showing him her wedding ring, saying:
"Maybe yer own weddin' ring'll jog yer memory, eh?
Remember how much this little beauty cost ye?"
Over in Japan though, the remake kept the puff-puffs for both of these scenes.
The next Dragon Quest game released in the West was Dragon Quest VII.
This is the first game to not change any of the puff-puffs overseas.
Both the puff-puff performance on the player character, which one can get from a woman
on a balcony in Buccanham, and the move used in battle are left unchanged.
Dragon Quest VIII continues this trend and also contains one of the most well memorable
puff-puff scenes in the series.
Here you can discover a hidden puff-puff parlour and any character, including females, can
be seated in a chair and promised a puff-puff by a voluptuous bunny girl.
The character is blindfolded and then the puff-puff is revealed to actually be two slimes
being rubbed on the sides of their head.
Puff-puff would be censored one more time over in the West though.
Much like the Dragon Quest IV DS remake, the Dragon Quest VI DS remake also altered all
puff-puff scenes in the English version.
In the Japanese versions of Dragon Quest VI, one of these scenes involves the player being
offered a puff-puff by a bunny girl in the town of Turnscote.
If the player agrees, they are led into a room by the girl and the rest of the party
are made to wait outside.
The screen then goes dim and the usual puff-puff dialogue goes on.
But, when it's over, it is discovered that the girl was actually applying makeup on your
face and your style points go up by 5.
In the English version, all puff-puff scenes would be changed to "Pattycake".
"Pattycake", or "Pat-a-cake" as it's more commonly called, is a popular English nursery
rhyme that is often accompanied by a hand clapping game between two people.
The scene just described, for instance, was altered so that the player is offered a "private
pattycake session" instead.
Then, when the screen goes dim, the girl will sing the traditional pattycake song and the
English version also adds in music symbols, which aren't found over in Japan.
The makeup part, however, was kept the same as in the Japanese version.
Interestingly, one use off puff-puff was left unchanged.
This being the ability titled puff-puff that the Gadabout job class can learn.
It's also worth pointing out that the iOS and Android versions of both IV and VI are
based on the censored DS versions and retain these changes.
Dragon Quest VI would be the last time for puff-puff to be removed though.
Dragon Quest Heroes, for example, has all of the puff-puff scenes kept intact, as well
as a Trophy centred around seeing every puff-puff scene.
Dragon Quest Builders is especially notable, as it actually contains a flashback to the
first game in the series and the player being asked whether he would like a puff-puff, just
like in the original Japanese script.
We don't want to spoil the new game but, if it is like it's said to be and with all puff-puffs
being left intact, there will be many new puff-puffs in Dragon Quest XI too.
Are you looking forward to Dragon Quest XI and what game would you like to see us cover
next?
Please let us know in the comments below and, until next time, thank you for watching.