Throughout the life of the original Nintendo, there were a good handful of games that, indeed, had the famous quality seal that simply ensured… that they were licensed. Although, for years, many confused it with a real quality seal (as if it were a selection of greatest hits), the truth is that it had nothing to do with it. However, when a title came without that distinction, it was time to start worrying.
Great myths of the history of bad games, such as Bible Adventures or Action 52, were released without any kind of license, the excuse that several publishers used to sneak in shoddy games with nudity (Bubble Bath Babes, Peek-a-boo poker), fake ports, or decidedly poor titles. The real taboo nonsense of NES is in this infamous list of unlicensed games, yes, but for a time, Nintendo tried to convince us that they could also walk the tightrope of morality.
We drew lots
Since 1987, a newly formed Rare was exclusively dedicated to making games for NES, basic but necessary adaptations in the entire catalog, such as Wheel of Fortune, WWF Wrestlemania, or Marble Madness. To give you an idea of the production level, in 1989 they made 16 titles for the console, more than one a month. Such was the quality, of course: it would still be years before their Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye 007, or Banjo-Kazooie, and in those early days they were taking the opportunity to make some money to keep the studio afloat.
From time to time, they were tasked with creating an original game. This is what happened in 1988, when Tradewest, a distributor that had gained some traction with Ikari Warriors for arcade and the NES adaptation of Double Dragon, decided it was time to exploit the then-burgeoning American tarot trend with a game that promised strong emotions thanks to a title that at the time captivated every teenager looking for new gaming experiences that crossed their path. Taboo: The Sixth Sense was released in April 1989 in the United States, but no one expected what was hidden inside.
And the thing is, Taboo was marketed as a party game for kids and adults, but it was actually… a tarot card reading simulator. Just like that. When you turned it on, the screen asked for the player’s name, date of birth, and gender, requested them to ask something, shuffled the cards, and generated a tarot reading. In case you were not amazed enough, it had one more twist: afterwards, players would choose a state from the country and it would generate numbers for the lottery. If someone won, of course, it has never been known. But Taboo, within its simplicity, hid several secrets inside.
What you were waiting to see: Pornographic Nudes!
One of Nintendo’s maxims -especially in this early period- is that games should not have nudity or religious iconography. However, Taboo somehow managed to get away with both. Particularly, in a couple of cards you could see a woman without a shirt and a couple from behind showing their buttocks. It required a bit of imagination between pixels, but clearly Rare achieved the impossible: getting Nintendo to overlook this flagrant violation of its rules and eventually license it.
Shortly after its release, Taboo also earned an urban legend that follows it to this day. It was said that some kids, trying their luck, received the unmistakable message on screen that they were about to die… And they did shortly after, which led to the game being immediately pulled from stores. Of course, it’s all a lie: the game’s “prophecies” would never indicate anyone’s death, and the title, although it caused some controversy due to its adult content, was not well-known enough to be sanctioned by the U.S. Congress and banned from sale. Even before the Internet, there were fake news.
The most curious thing about Taboo, in the end, is its mere existence: A tarot game that is not played and is completely random, from Rare and released only in the United States in the late 80s? NES may have had more taboo games, but certainly few as strange as this one. Is it time for a reboot for Switch 2? With online stores, you never know.