Unrated Console Video Games (and other game rating shenanigans)
I found while doing research on other lists that some games had a little “This product does not require age classification” label instead of an age rating! This got me curious so I dug into it and here’s every game I could find that doesn’t have a rating but “should”.
Update 7 January 2024 – Added a note about Southeast Asia games no longer showing ratings on the box
Update 14 April 2024 – Changed the title from “Unrated Video Games” to “Unrated Console Video Games (and other game rating shenanigans)”, and changed the “Extra Notes and Bonus Points” section to be titled “Shenanigans”. Added the CoroCoro Splatoon 2 game case and Senran Kagura 2 contest replacement cover spoof CERO ratings
Exclusions
Video/movie carts and discs – Game Boy Advance Video carts and PSP UMD Videos were not given game age ratings (though they were were given film age ratings in the UK and Australia). DSvision carts are entirely unrated
Games that came out prior to the creation of the rating board in that region – I suppose that is another kind of unrated but I don’t find that very interesting
CERO Database rated games – I consider that a rating
Demos – RP galore
Digital downloads – the only way I have to mass check if a game is not rated is by looking at the boxes on GameFAQs and seeing if a rating is there or not
Internet browsers – I initially included these but soon there was so many that it was basically its own project and it was taking forever so I will make a separate post of them at some point eventually. They were all unrated anyhow (except the PS2 Network Adapter Start-up Disc which is because it had demos slapped in there)
Nintendo
Game Boy
Game Boy Camera – North America (too early for Japan or Europe)
GBA
e-Reader – North America (Australia was rated, and both versions were too early to be rated in Japan)
DS
1-Nichi-10-Pun de E ga Jouzu ni Kakeru DS 1日10分でえがじょうずにかける DS – Japan
100 Classic Books – North America, Europe, France, Germany, Australia
200 Klassische Bucher – Germany
1000 Cooking Recipes from Elle à Table – Europe
Anone DS あのねDS - Japan
Anpanman to Asobo: ABC Kyoushitsu アンパンマンとあそぼ ABC教室 – Japan
Anpanman to Asobo: Aiueo Kyoushitsu アンパンマンとあそぼ あいうえお教室 – Japan
Art Academy – Europe, Australia (North America, Japan, and Korea are rated)
DS de Yomu Series: Tezuka Osamu Hi no Tori 1, 2, 3 ＤＳで読むシリーズ 手塚治虫 火の鳥 1, 2, 3 – Japan
Flips Artemis Fowl – Europe and Australia (though I couldn’t find a photo of an Australian one)
Flips Cathy Cassidy – Europe and Australia
Flips: Enid Blyton – The Adventure Series – Europe
Flips: Enid Blyton – Faraway Tree Stories – Europe
Flips Mr Gum – Europe
Flips Percy Jackson – Europe
Flips Too Ghoul for School – Europe
Junior Classic Books & Fairytales – North America, Europe
…….but there are also rated EU copies, and both have green triangles so it’s not a regional thing
Something fishy is going on
Kuruma de DS クルマでＤＳ- Japan
McDonalds eCDP – Japan
McDonald’s eSMART – Japan
McDonald’s eSMART 2.0 – Japan
Soreike! Anpanman: Baikinman no Daisakusen それいけ！アンパンマン ばいきんまんの
大作戦 – Japan
Suguroku DS すぐろくDS – Japan
3DS
Disney Art Academy – Australia (North America, Europe, and Japan are rated)
Louvre Guide – English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese
The Japanese Louvre Guide from the Louvre (European region) is unrated, but the Japanese Louvre Guide that was available in Japan (Japanese region) (http://www.perfectly-nintendo.com/nintendo-3ds-guide-louvre-getting-limited-retail-release-in-japan/) gets the database rating
New Art Academy – Europe, Australia (North America and Japan are rated)
Pokémon Art Academy – Australia (North America, Europe, Japan, and Korea are rated)
Wii U
Art Academy Atelier – Australia (Europe and Japan are rated)
Sony
PS2
Eyetoy Chat – Europe
Linux for PS2 – North America (too early for the PAL or Japan versions)
PSP
Chotto Shot edit ちょっとショット – Japan
Go! Explore – Europe
Hilton Garden Inn: Ultimate Team Play (NA games should have the ESRB logo on the UMD if they have one) – North America
According to GameFAQs, all these Passport games came out on the same day (09/22/06) so I’m not sure why only four of the six have a “This product is exempt from classification” banner
Passport to Amsterdam – Europe
Passport to Barcelona – Europe
Passport to London – Europe
Passport to Paris – Europe
Passport to Prague – Europe
Passport to Rome – Europe
Netflix Discs
Normally there is an ESRB rating on the disc
Wii – US
PS2 – Brazil
PS3 – US
Peripherals that came with digital download codes
There’s probably more of these but I’m not sure how to find them and I feel like they barely qualify as it is, so…
Bakutsuri Bar Hunter 爆釣バーハンター – Japan – cannot find on CERO’s site http://www.cero.biz/search/search.cgi?name=%C7%FA%C4%E0%A5%D0%A1%BC%A5%CF%A5%F3%A5%BF%A1%BC&txtCP=
Pokemon Tretta Lab ポケモントレッタラボ – Japan – cannot find on CERO’s site
http://www.cero.biz/search/search.cgi?chkPF=3DS&name=%A5%C8%A5%EC%A5%C3%A5%BF%A5%E9%A5%DC%A5%E1%A5%A4%A5%F3%A5%B7%A5%B9%A5%C6%A5%E0&txtCP=
Poochy プーチ – Japan – cannot find on Cero’s website
http://www.cero.biz/search/search.cgi?name=%A5%D7%A1%BC%A5%C1&txtCP=
Shenanigans
I did find a handful of games that came out without ratings a few months after that region’s rating board started rating games, I chose not to include those because I figure it’s just some publishing logistics stuff. Cero’s site says 注1.アイコンは、2004年4月以降に審査をした イトルで「全年齢対象」を除くタイトルに表示されています。注2.年齢区分A、B、C、D、Zは、2006年3月1日より制度改訂されたマークです。
“Note 1. The icon is displayed on titles reviewed after April 2004, excluding titles that are “for all ages.” Note 2. Age categories A, B, C, D, and Z are marks whose system was revised from March 1, 2006.” http://www.cero.biz/search/
I’m honestly a little confused what this means because they did put an “all ages” rating on games starting in 2003
See the bottom right corner on Dragon Quest Monsters Caravan Heart (ドラゴンクエストモンスターズ キャラバンハート) that came out in March 2003
But then like this game, Fruits Mura no Doubutsu Tachi (フルーツ村のどうぶつたち) came out in October 2004 with no rating…kinda confusing. I wish CERO had GBA stuff on their site so I could check more.
PEGI and ESRB have no such notes on their site but PEGI does let you search by year back to 2003
Early Limited Run Games stuff didn’t have a rating on the box even if the game was rated
Some Nintendo Switch special editions will put the rating on the outside cardboard box, but not the inside plastic game case, for example, these games (thanks Zel!)
Some My Nintendo bonus switch covers come in an age rated and a not aged rated version, for example:
In December 2023, Nintendo Soup reported that Southeast Asia Switch games will no longer show any age ratings on the box starting with the release of Another Code Recollection https://nintendosoup.com/all-first-party-nintendo-physical-games-in-southeast-asia-will-not-have-a-rating-on-the-cover-starting-from-another-code/
Yes, NA e-reader card packs that unlock whole games got ESRB ratings (I was surprised too)
Two separate ratings on one box (there are a few games with a merged logo, for example The Orange Box and demo discs galore, I just thought this was interesting)
DS Dengeki Bunko: Iria no Sora, UFO no Natsu I-II Complete Pack ＤＳ電撃文庫 イリヤの空、ＵＦＯの夏I・IIコンプリートパック
Net Link Game Pack
This Monthly CoroCoro Comic pack-in from August 2017’s issue is a Nintendo Switch game case complete with artwork AND a spoof CERO rating (note the CORO, instead of CERO)
Senran Kagura 2 had a contest in Japan where you could win this new cover for your game, also with spoof CERO ratings. That’s pretty clever, noticing how both CERO ratings and bra sizes both use the first few letters of the alphabet and turning it into a joke like that. You can read more about the contest here: https://dengekionline.com/elem/000/000/941/941522/.
Thank you to じろのすけ Jironosuke (@jironosuke99) on Twitter for sharing this information and the image! https://twitter.com/jironosuke99/status/1564578514938253312
I originally had the next two posts on this page but Shawn told me it was taking forever for all the images to load so I should split them up into their own things (cuz they kinda are anyhow) to try and slightly speed things up
In this one I look at how similar the colours used for video game age ratings are:
And in this one, I look at the three icons you may see on violent Japanese Sony games:
Research Process:
Listed as many as I could think of from other projects I did where I looked at a lot of game boxes
Asked around
Googled the following:
GBA “this product does not require age classification”
DS “this product does not require age classification”
Wii “this product does not require age classification”
Nintendo “this product does not require age classification”
3DS “this product does not require age classification”
Wii U “this product does not require age classification”
Switch “this product does not require age classification”
Checked every region for everything I found
Looked on gamefaqs at every box under “277-miscellaneous-application”, “275-miscellaneous-edutainment”, and “256-miscellaneous-general” for GB, GBC, GBA, DS, 3DS, Switch, SNES, Virtual Boy, N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, PSP, Vita, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast
All images are from eBay or Mercari unless otherwise noted
Game region release info from GameFAQs
If you would like to use my lists for any reason (make a video, add it to a wiki, build on it and make your own list, anything at all), you are free to do so! No need to credit if you don’t want. I would be so happy if you want to be a link to sharing silly gaming knowledge to even more people. All I ask is that if you make anything, please share it with me because I would love to see 🙂
Please note I don’t own the images anyhow, they’re all from eBay or Mercari unless otherwise cited
Thanks for witnessing!
