It was a reaction to the Satanic Panic of the late 80s/early 90s, which ended up putting all "children's media" under a harsh spotlight from the conservative right. Nintendo wanted their image to be squeaky clean, SEGA defined their early image in opposition to Nintendo but they weren't willing to push the envelope too far, and it wasn't until gaming was large enough again that smaller devs were able to push the boundaries back out which made the major companies feel safe doing more risque stuff.
Some of it though it localization teams not respecting the original material and thinking they could improve it.
It was a reaction to the Satanic Panic of the late 80s/early 90s, which ended up putting all "children's media" under a harsh spotlight from the conservative right. Nintendo wanted their image to be squeaky clean, SEGA defined their early image in opposition to Nintendo but they weren't willing to push the envelope too far, and it wasn't until gaming was large enough again that smaller devs were able to push the boundaries back out which made the major companies feel safe doing more risque stuff.
Some of it though it localization teams not respecting the original material and thinking they could improve it.