Here’s a set of screenshots from the altered Japanese version of Konami‘s classic 1984 arcade game, Mikie. Known as “Shinnyū Shain Tōru-kun” (“Freshman Employee Toru“) in Japan.

Konami location-tested the original Mikie arcade game – with the classroom setting – but at the time there was concern about incidents of violence in Japanese schools, so they decided to change the setting of the game and replaced the school setting with a workplace setting instead, to avoid possible controversy.

In the first stage the teacher has been changed to a manager, and the classroom to an office. The dance class in the third level now features secretaries rather than schoolgirl dancers (although there really doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between them to be honest). The other levels (the hallway, the locker room, the cafeteria and the outdoor garden) are mostly unchanged aside from a few minor graphical modifications. The football players in the final level have been changed to security guards (although again: you’d be hard-pushed to know that).

Otherwise, Shinnyū Shain Tōru-kun plays exactly the same as the original Mikie, with the headbutting and the chase-based gameplay. It’s just as head-bangingly hard as Mikie (especially the second stage in the locker room), and just as much fun and frustration, but without the school setting.

See also: High School Graffiti Mikie

More: Mikie on Wikipedia