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Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy V (1992)
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Attachment The translation group RPGe's 1998 English translation of Final Fantasy V is considered to be one of the most widely-played and influential fan translations in video game history. It gained this reputation because it released before Squaresoft's first official translation in Final Fantasy Anthology in late 1999, and despite RPGe primarily consisting of inexperienced teenagers, it was regarded as a better translation than the official one, leading many Western players to first experience the game through it.

The first translation attempts stemmed from widespread confusion over Squaresoft not releasing three FF games in the West: Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, and FFV. Their decision to release Final Fantasy VII internationally under its original numbering after Final Fantasy VI was released in the West a few years earlier as the "third" game in the series also contributed to this.

The co-creator of RPGe, named Shadow, was inspired by an incomplete FFII translation by users Demi and Som2freak (the latter having later lent Shadow tools to work on FFV), and started translating FFV by making flashcards for which hex code corresponded to each Japanese and English character in the game's data. He promoted his efforts online using photoshopped FFV images and recruited other users to create RPGe, including translator David Timko, and a computer engineering major named Hooie who also asked Japanese instructors at his university to help translate some enemy names. RPGe's plan was to directly edit their English script into the text files of a ROM of the Japanese version, but their work was slow and tedious due to them having little experience with fan translations and being out of touch with fledgling emulation communities. This lead to technical issues with their text and sprite editing software, and English characters being poorly displayed under conditions that were originally designed for larger Japanese characters. The group also suffered from internal factionalism, and since Shadow promoted himself as the public face of the project, he found that he could not handle the attention and controversy that came from how seriously he took the project and RPGe itself, seeing the translation effort as a vital service to the Squaresoft fan community. After Demi published a lengthy post parodying Shadow, he "snapped" and left RPGe. The co-founders of RPGe would also eventually step down, but other users would take over and start their own work.

A user named Myria, who had argued against RPGe's hex editing approach to no avail, split off from their efforts beforehand to work on a separate translation. Sharing similar setbacks to them, she gradually parsed through the code used to handle the text files, and edited it so it could recognize English characters of different sizes and fit more in a dialogue box. Som2freak helped translate the script for a time, but then left the project after bringing on a new editor, named harmony7, who started heavily revising Som2freak's translations to his chagrin despite seeing several issues with it.

One of the most controversial aspects of the translation was the main character's name. Squaresoft's later English translation named him "Bartz", but RPGe's translation named him "Butz", which many joked sounds like "butts". Myria claimed that Butz was the most accurate translation based on documents and official merchandise using it "the way we'd written it" (for reference, the Romanized version of the Japanese name "バッツ" comes out as "Battsu"). However, Butz is used in real life as an actual German surname with a different pronunciation, the vowel being an "oe" sound like in the English words "put" and "good". Therefore, Bartz would make more sense to match up with the vowels in the Japanese name than Butz, and also fits better as a German first name since Bartz is a pet name for Bartholomäus (Bartholomew).

The bulk of Myria's technical work ended in October 1997, with harmony7 still working to revise the entire script until something unexpected happened. An early version of the fan translation mysteriously appeared on a Geocities website with others taking credit for it. This prompted RPGe to release their work up to that point as "v0.96" on October 17, 1997, with the final patch eventually being released in June 1998. The translation patch received acclaim for its technical aspects and near-professional writing quality, and influenced other players to become translators, including Clyde Mandelin who would later create the English fan translation for Mother 3. Squaresoft never contacted RPGe about the translation, and while their 1999 localization of the game was seen as inferior to RPGe's, Myria would later opine that Square Enix's 2006 localization in Final Fantasy V: Advance was better than theirs. Myria continued hacking and reverse-engineering games and eventually earned a job at an undisclosed major video game company.
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Cancelled Release, Complaint, Development, Emulation, Etymology, Fan Translation, General, Leak, Merchandise, Mistranslation, Modding, Name Change, Parody, Real Life, Regional Difference, Social Media, Technology, Website
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month December 24, 2023
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Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
subdirectory_arrow_right Super Mario Maker 2 (Game)
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Attachment Many international Mario fans were confused by the design of the Angry Sun in the New Super Mario Bros. U style of Super Mario Maker 2, noticing how it appeared more stern than angry. This is due to the fact that "angry" is not part of the enemy's name in Japan, just being called "sun", meaning that anger is not an inherent part of the character and giving it a different expression would make more sense without knowledge of its localized name.

The new design of the "Angry" Sun seems to be based on pre-colonial mythology based on the sun, most particularly the Inca sun god Inti, a design inspiration that seems to exist in anthropomoprhic suns from multiple other Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mole Mania, and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
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Character Design, Complaint, Inspiration, Name Change, Regional Difference, Release Difference, Religion, Similarities, Theory
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 18, 2023
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Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64 (1997)
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Attachment An earlier logo for Star Fox 64 found within the 2020 Nintendo Gigaleak seems to indicate that its subtitle was, at one point, going to be "The Cosmic Crisis".
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Development, Early Idea, Name Change, Title, Unused Graphic
person Dinoman96 calendar_month January 28, 2024
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Drawn to Life
Drawn to Life (2007)
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3
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Mari's name was originally Mayonnaise.
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Development, Early Idea, Name Change
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 13, 2023
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Eric and the Floaters
Eric and the Floaters (1983)
subdirectory_arrow_right Bomberman (Franchise)
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The ZX Spectrum release of Bomberman was renamed Eric and the Floaters to prevent association with a series of terrorist bombings performed by Irish republican groups during The Troubles in 1984.
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Censorship, Name Change, Real Life, Regional Difference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 13, 2023
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Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. (1985)
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According to source code leaked in 2020, during development of Super Mario Bros., Bowser was called "Big tortoice" [sic]
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Early Idea, Name Change, Placeholder, Unused Text
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 31, 2023
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Terraria
Terraria (2011)
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Name Change, Update Difference
person BlueStaggo calendar_month October 28, 2023
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Gameplay with Zombie Eskimo name:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQbJyOwhBzs

Supplementary Terraria wiki info:
https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/Frozen_Zombie
Beatmania IIDX 4th style
Beatmania IIDX 4th style (2000)
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According to a tweet by dj TAKA, the song "ABSOLUTE" was originally called "Special Thanks". The name was changed after CG Designer VJ GYO and illustrator GOLI thought the name was "lame".
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Complaint, Development, Early Idea, General, Music, Name Change
person aa1205 calendar_month April 13, 2024
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Antonball Deluxe
Antonball Deluxe (2021)
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Anton was originally created as series creator Tony Grayson's profile picture for a forum when he was 9 years old in 2007, under the name "Red Guy". Because the first Antonball was black and white, Red Guy was renamed to Anton. One of the Anton variant characters in Antonball Deluxe is named after Red Guy.
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, General, Name Change, Real Life, Social Media, Website
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month April 3, 2024
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Silent Hill: The Short Message
Silent Hill: The Short Message (2024)
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Throughout 2022, there were several leaks in regards to the existence of Silent Hill: The Short Message. First, screenshots were leaked of a playable teaser for the game, where it was known under the working title "Silent Hill: Sakura". Then, in both September and December of that year, the game received age ratings in both South Korea and Taiwan, respectively. Additionally, when Konami began hiring for upcoming projects based on Silent Hill, one of the projects was an unannounced in-house game, which would later turn out to be Silent Hill: The Short Message.
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Development, Early Build, General, Leak, Name Change, Real Life, Regulatory Content Rating, Title
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month March 27, 2024
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Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (2019)
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Censorship, Name Change, Race, Update Difference, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month February 26, 2024
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Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2005)
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In a 2005 interview with the game's producer Koji Igarashi published in the official Konami strategy guide, he explained the decision to change the series' title in the domestic Japanese market from "Castlevania" back to "Akumajo Dracula".

The title change to Castlevania in Japan initially occurred because the Akumajo Dracula games enjoyed a larger market share in Europe and America compared to Japan. Consequently, more reports and information about the games were available in those regions, and they were released there first. In the recent past, news from outside Japan was harder to access, but with the advent of the internet, Japanese users could now easily stay informed. However, there was a concern that Japanese players might not immediately recognize the equivalence between Castlevania and Akumajo Dracula, so the main title of the previous game Lament of Innocence was changed to Castlevania in Japan to address this.

Subsequently, for Curse of Darkness, the decision was made to revert to the original title because the team felt that the Castlevania name had become associated with trilogies, inadvertently making it challenging for fans to find information about the Akumajo Dracula titles. The team wanted to ensure clarity for Japanese fans and clear up any confusion among Akumajo Dracula fans about if Castlevania was supposed to be Akumajo Dracula.
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Development, Early Idea, General, Magazine, Name Change, Real Life, Regional Difference, Sales, Title
person ProtoSnake calendar_month February 17, 2024
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The Bombing Islands
The Bombing Islands (2001)
subdirectory_arrow_right Charlie Blasts Territory (Game)
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The Bombing Islands was re-developed into Charlie Blast's Territory (originally known as "Charlie Blast's Challenge") for the Nintendo 64 by Realtime Associates and game designer Scott Kim. Aside from the graphics being changed, the game notably added a four-player versus mode, complete with multiple different characters and bomb types not seen in the game's single player mode (i.e. a Freeze Bomb and a Rainbow Bomb).
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Development, General, Name Change, Real Life, Reskin, Version Difference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 2, 2024
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Mr. Gimmick
Mr. Gimmick (1992)
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According to the Scandinavian manual for Mr. Gimmick, the girl Yumetaro must rescue is named Mary. In all other releases of the game, she is unnamed. During development, she was planned to be named either "Kasumi" or "Ayaka".
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, Manual, Name Change, Regional Difference, Release Difference, Title, Version Difference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 25, 2024
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Scandinavian manual - mentioned multiple times, including Page 3 (Page 5 in the filename listing):
https://www.nintandbox.net/index.php/en/nintendo-boxes-project/NES-Famicom/Mr-Gimmick/MrGimmick_NES-Manual_EUR(NES-G8-SCN).zip/file-1687/

Russian magazine on Gimmick - Page 10:
https://issuu.com/dfmag/docs/df_mag__5
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (2021)
subdirectory_arrow_right The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures (Game), The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve (Game)
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Due to long-standing copyright issues regarding the character Sherlock Holmes brought about by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate (which had previously delayed the games' release), the international release of The Great Ace Attorney games changed his name to "Herlock Sholmes". According to series creator Shu Takumi, this was done as an allusion to "Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes", a story collection by Maurice Leblanc.

Following the announcement of the name "Herlock Sholmes", various memes came about surrounding the character and the circumstances for the renaming in regards to copyright law. This got to the point where major news outlets began covering it, with some noting that the goofy-sounding name "fit with the comedic and sometimes irreverent tone of the Ace Attorney series, even if it does leave a few things lost in translation."
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Copyright, Development, General, Inspiration, Legal Affairs, Name Change, Real Life, Reference, Regional Difference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month January 24, 2024
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Drill Dozer
Drill Dozer (2005)
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When a US release for Drill Dozer was first announced, it was titled Screw Breaker, a shortened version of its Japanese title Screw Breaker: Goushin Dorirurero.
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General, Name Change, Regional Difference, Title
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 19, 2024
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Batman
Batman (TBA)
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2
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Leak, Name Change, Prototype, Title
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 5, 2024
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Infestation: Origins
Infestation: Origins (2024)
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Asset Reuse, Backstory/Lore, Complaint, Development, General, Name Change, Real Life, Similarities
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month January 4, 2024
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Wario World
Wario World (2003)
subdirectory_arrow_right Wario (Franchise), Nintendo (Company), WarioWare (Collection)
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Attachment www.warioworld.com was an official Nintendo website made as a hub for developers and publishers licensed to work on Nintendo hardware. The site used Wario as a mascot, something that may not seem strange as his profession is designing video games in the WarioWare series. However, the site was opened in 1997, predating WarioWare by multiple years, and also predates the Wario World game for GameCube. Instead of renaming the site to avoid confusion and using the URL for the game's US promotional site, the URL www.wario-world.com was used for the game's website, something that more than likely caused confusion for Wario fans. WarioWorld was closed in 2016, having recieved very few visual updates since the 1990s, and now redirects to a more modern and professionally designed Nintendo developer hub.
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Coincidence, Development, General, Name Change, Website
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 18, 2023
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Archive of a Supper Mario Broth post about WarioWorld:
https://twitter.com/AJ_256652/status/1736456383774466136

Forum thread about Wario World's promotional website, showing a screenshot with the URL:
https://warioforums.com/threads/in-search-of-wario-websites.3431/
Company: Atari
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Founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney originally wanted to name Atari "Syzygy," only to learn that the name was already taken by a roofing company. Consequently, the pair decided to brainstorm new ideas while playing a round of Go, which Bushnell was experienced in; an issue of Atari's home computer magazine I/O stated that "Their best brainstorming always occurred over a good game and a bottle of beer."

Following this, Bushnell and Dabney decided to name the company after a piece of Go jargon, settling on "Atari," a term used to describe a playing piece that is surrounded on all but one side. "Sente" and "Hane" were also considered as possible names.
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Corporate Affairs, Early Idea, Inspiration, Legal Affairs, Magazine, Name Change
person VinchVolt calendar_month December 13, 2023
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