Baldur's Gate 3's Japanese version wins over fans by leaning on a 20-year-old parody song to somehow make censorship funny

Baldur's Gate 3 Act 2 — (Image credit: Larian Studios)

Japanese players seem to be enjoying the way Baldur’s Gate 3 depicts nudity or rather the way it doesn’t.

Larian Studios’ smash hit launched on PS5 in Japan just yesterday - December 22 - and publisher Spike Chunsoft censored some aspects to comply with regional laws. For example, nudity in the Japanese version is non-negotiable and will always be covered, but players are getting a kick out of how the game obscures private parts.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s global release already had a “No Nudity” option which covered your party’s genitals with green fig leaves and skipped past the more, ahem, romantic scenes in the game. The option is automatically on in the Japanese release, with no toggle to turn on nudity or sex scenes.

Although the game is now infamous for how boisterously thirsty it can be, Automaton notes that Japanese players aren’t bothered by the restriction. In fact, the censorship seems to have been a hit thanks to a popular meme song involving naked men and green leaves.

Automaton also explains that back in 2001, fictional J-pop boy band Happatai (translates to Green Leaves) released a parody song called Yatta, alongside a music video that had the group flaunting on stage dressed in nothing other than a small leaf to cover their valuables. The song found some crossover success as the group even performed the hit on Jimmy Kimmel, and it’s still in the public consciousness even now.

Japanese players took to social media to make comparisons to the above internet meme, alongside jokes about the sometimes small size of the leaf and other comments gushing about the game’s nudity workaround. Either way, the creative decision is just another point on Baldur’s Gate 3’s unblemished winning streak.

One Baldur’s Gate 3 lead recently reaffirmed that the game has around 17,000 ending variations.

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.