Trivia Browser
subdirectory_arrow_right Black Dawn (Game), Adrenix (Game), Sonic The Hedgehog (Franchise), Tommy Tallarico Studios (Company)
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Tommy Tallarico, credited composer for the "Molten Mine", "The Cauldron", and "Great Megalith" music tracks in Sonic and the Black Knight claimed in 2022 to have been the first American to work on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. Even if one refuses to count external work such as localization, marketing, and multimedia adaptations, this is not true, as Americans have worked on art, programming, and music for Sonic titles as far back as the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, with Tallarico having previously shown awareness in 2014 of American pop star Michael Jackson's involvement in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. In 2023, his involvement in writing the three tracks came into question when it was discovered that they contained similarities to several demos originally credited to Todd Dennis, a composer at Tommy Tallerico Studios in the 1990's, and originally written for the games Black Dawn and Adrenix.
Tallerico's original claim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP5uOMZoGRo
Tallerico acknowledging Jackson's work on Sonic 3 & Knuckles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF8XeZdh2Jc
Article questioning Tallerico's involvement in writing Sonic and the Black Knight tracks:
https://www.sonicstadium.org/news/games/sonic-and-the-black-knight-composers-contributions-questioned-r1810/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP5uOMZoGRo
Tallerico acknowledging Jackson's work on Sonic 3 & Knuckles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF8XeZdh2Jc
Article questioning Tallerico's involvement in writing Sonic and the Black Knight tracks:
https://www.sonicstadium.org/news/games/sonic-and-the-black-knight-composers-contributions-questioned-r1810/
subdirectory_arrow_right Mario (Franchise)
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There is a cactus prop at Universal Studios' Super Nintendo World that does not originate from an official Mario game, but rather the fanmade mod Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii. At the time of the park's opening, a Google search for "new super mario bros wii cactus" would show images of Newer's desert levels alongside New Super Mario Bros. Wii, meaning that the cacti was likely added by accident, being mistaken for official Nintendo material.
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When Sonic Prime was released on Netflix, GameFam Studios, the development team behind Sonic Speed Simulator, inserted officially-licensed Sonic Prime product placement into their other games on Roblox - however, this included the unauthorized Friday Night Funkin' fangame Funky Friday, which they would not legally be allowed to make paid content or promotions in. Friday Night Funkin' creator ninja_muffin99 has expressed interest in taking legal action against GameFam and Sega, though later specified that it would not be through a lawsuit. It is unknown if any legal action has or will be taken.
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In the original release of the game, the monster that the player could summon to attack the city was a thinly veiled parody of Godzilla, right down to using the character's iconic roar from the film series; the sound effect is even named "God" in the game's files, furthering the reference. The Godzilla parody is also depicted on the game's box art, gleefully waving at the viewer.According to programmer Don Hopkins, who notably ported SimCity to numerous versions of Unix, Maxis ended up getting sued by Toho, the owners of the Godzilla franchise; additional details were recounted to him by Maxis CEO Jeff Braun:
"We never referred to the name Godzilla, our monster on the box cover was a T-Rex looking character, but... a few magazine reviews called the monster, Godzilla. That was all it took. Toho called it "confusion in the marketplace". We paid $50k for Godzilla to go away. In all honesty, Toho liked Maxis, they said $50k was the minimum they take for Godzilla infringement."
As a result of this suit, the monster was redesigned in the v1.2 release to resemble a giant orange salamander. The creature's roar is also changed and the game's box art is redesigned to replace the Godzilla parody with a tornado. In the v1.3 release, the salamander is given a slightly larger and more detailed sprite to fit the revised art style, but its roar (now internally renamed "Monster") is corrupted.
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/SimCity_(Mac_OS_Classic)#Godzilla_vs._Notzilla
Don Hopkins testimony in a Hacker News post:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40050799
MobyGames gallery showcasing the different box art designs:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/848/simcity/covers/
https://tcrf.net/SimCity_(Mac_OS_Classic)#Godzilla_vs._Notzilla
Don Hopkins testimony in a Hacker News post:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40050799
MobyGames gallery showcasing the different box art designs:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/848/simcity/covers/
Franchise: Final Fantasy
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The arcade game Dino Pop, manufactured by the South African company Amusement Warehouse, features an unlicensed rendition of the recurring Chocobo theme from the Final Fantasy series. Based on a demonstration video uploaded by the manufacturer, it's also believed that other renditions of the game use an unlicensed version of the Gold Saucer theme from Final Fantasy VII.
TheGamer article:
https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-bootleg-chuck-e-cheese-music/
Dino Pop listing:
https://primetimeamusements.com/product/dino-pop/
https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-bootleg-chuck-e-cheese-music/
Dino Pop listing:
https://primetimeamusements.com/product/dino-pop/
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The character Veigar seems to be based on the Black Mages from the Final Fantasy series. This connection is further backed by one of Veigar's skins, called White Mage Veigar, which has the white and red coloring of the White Mages from the Final Fantasy series.
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The ending theme for Agent X II is plagarised from a popular British commercial for a product called "Shake & Vac". When asked for a reason why the jingle was used, composer Tim Follin responded: "None [referring to an answer]. Tight deadline probably."
Ending theme:
https://youtu.be/J-GF7kyNb-k?t=792
Shake & Vac commercial jingle:
https://youtu.be/4q8inM0gKVo
Follin on Shake & Vac similarities:
https://web.archive.org/web/20021223070706/http://c64audio.valuehost.co.uk/edge/czone_follin.htm
https://youtu.be/J-GF7kyNb-k?t=792
Shake & Vac commercial jingle:
https://youtu.be/4q8inM0gKVo
Follin on Shake & Vac similarities:
https://web.archive.org/web/20021223070706/http://c64audio.valuehost.co.uk/edge/czone_follin.htm
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Crazy Kong's sound effects were plagarised from Crazy Climber, another game about scaling a building that featured gorillas as enemies, and predated Donkey KongIf one is to count Crazy Kong as an official Nintendo release, it would technically be the first instance of Mario speaking, predating Donkey Kong Goes Home by two years, as he says "Hi-yah!" whenever he jumps over a barrel, using a slowed-down voice clip from the Crazy Climber gorilla.
Mario speaks in Crazy Kong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOZZZvWYS20#t=32
Crazy Climber - timestamped to the gorilla's appearance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCrAAIEnSYI#t=59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOZZZvWYS20#t=32
Crazy Climber - timestamped to the gorilla's appearance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCrAAIEnSYI#t=59
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Flappy Bird was removed from app stores by creator Dong Nguyen on February 8th 2014, due to being overwhelmed by its success and feeling guilt over the addictive, frustrating nature of the game, which he had originally intended to be relaxing. Although many speculated that the game was taken down by Nintendo due to the game's pipes and their similarity to the pipes from the Mario series, both Nguyen and Nintendo denied this.
Nguyen claimed that his worries about the game had lost him sleep, and removing the game from sale managed to restore piece of mind - despite this, Nguyen did promise a Flappy Bird comeback, albeit in a less addictive form, which would eventually come in the form of an official sequel: Flappy Birds Family for Amazon Fire TV.
Some eBay users attempted to sell the iPhones with the original game installed for up to $99,900, but the listings were removed due to eBay's rules against selling technology that has not been factory reset.
Nguyen claimed that his worries about the game had lost him sleep, and removing the game from sale managed to restore piece of mind - despite this, Nguyen did promise a Flappy Bird comeback, albeit in a less addictive form, which would eventually come in the form of an official sequel: Flappy Birds Family for Amazon Fire TV.
Some eBay users attempted to sell the iPhones with the original game installed for up to $99,900, but the listings were removed due to eBay's rules against selling technology that has not been factory reset.
Flappy Bird Removal article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140214112459/http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/02/09/flappy-bird-removed-from-app-store/
Nguyen denying legal issues:
https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/432228383095668737
Nintendo denying legal issues:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DGB-32728
eBay Flappy Bird Phone listings:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/flappy-bird-phones-kicked-off-ebay/
Nguyen explains why Flappy Bird was removed:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lananhnguyen/2014/02/11/exclusive-flappy-bird-creator-dong-nguyen-says-app-gone-forever-because-it-was-an-addictive-product/
Flappy Bird Family announcement:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/01/flappy-bird-returns-with-new-features
https://web.archive.org/web/20140214112459/http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/02/09/flappy-bird-removed-from-app-store/
Nguyen denying legal issues:
https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/432228383095668737
Nintendo denying legal issues:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DGB-32728
eBay Flappy Bird Phone listings:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/flappy-bird-phones-kicked-off-ebay/
Nguyen explains why Flappy Bird was removed:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lananhnguyen/2014/02/11/exclusive-flappy-bird-creator-dong-nguyen-says-app-gone-forever-because-it-was-an-addictive-product/
Flappy Bird Family announcement:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/01/flappy-bird-returns-with-new-features
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If you press Select while pausing Q-Boy, you can unlock a "Mario mode" that replaces several of the game's original characters with Mario characters.
subdirectory_arrow_right Sonic The Hedgehog (Franchise)
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Quik & Silva features many plagiarized characters as duplicated enemies, including characters from Nebulus, Bubble Bobble, Contra, and The Great Giana Sisters. Among these characters is Sonic the Hedgehog, whose first title had not released at that point, technically making it Sonic's first appearance in a home console video game, even if unauthorized and predated by the arcade game Rad Mobile.
Sonic Retro article on appearance discovery:
https://sonicretro.org/tag/the-adventures-of-quik-silva/
Larry Bundy Jr. video on Sonic's first appearance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5uC0ymZK3s
https://sonicretro.org/tag/the-adventures-of-quik-silva/
Larry Bundy Jr. video on Sonic's first appearance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5uC0ymZK3s
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When Science Papa was announced by Activision, many journalists believed the game was trying to cash in on the success of Cooking Mama. When asked for a comment by Kotaku, Mama series publisher Majesco wrote an allegation writen in-character by Mama, stating Science Papa to be her ex-boyfriend:
"So you want some dirt on "Science Papa" to splash on your site? I'll shovel it. We dated briefly (when he had much better hair). And now he clearly wants a piece of the best-selling pie by associating himself with an incredibly successful, and I'll emphasize, happily married, woman. Frankly, he never appreciated my cooking and I grew weary of his tedious "experiments." You want real mind-bending science, go figure out how to make Toulouse Cassoulet for your next dinner party of 20 and let me know how it goes, Papa."
subdirectory_arrow_right Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Franchise)
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The Neave Interactive port of Pac-Man was reskinned and packaged as a new game by many Flash websites. Most of these were amateur jobs, and among those cheap ports existed a reskin of the game on the official 4Kids TV website to promote the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, titled Mutant Munchies.
Trivia about Pac-Man Neave Interactive port:
https://twitter.com/DailyPacMan/status/1705597897382002733
Mutant Munchies gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-SDUAy4GtQ
https://twitter.com/DailyPacMan/status/1705597897382002733
Mutant Munchies gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-SDUAy4GtQ
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In July 1999, the industrial metal band Powerman 5000 wrote and released the single "When Worlds Collide", which would become one of their signature songs.On February 23, 2016, patch version 3.2 of the "Heavensward" expansion for Final Fantasy XIV Online would be released, entitled "The Gears of Change". During the Containment Bay S1T7 trial, there is a boss fight against Sephirot, the Fiend, in two phases. The first phase's music is a rearranged version of "Battle to the Death", a boss theme originating from Final Fantasy VI where Fiend first appeared, while the second phase's music was an original song entitled "Fiend", composed and arranged by Masayoshi Soken with lyrics written by Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. The same day, a thread was made on Square Enix's forums noting the similarities between "Fiend" and "When Worlds Collide".
Presumably, Powerman 5000 were informed of this and took to Facebook on February 24 to accuse the game's developers of ripping off "When Worlds Collide" while writing "Fiend", commenting:
"Really? Got to say that the level of unimaginative theft that was used in creating this music for #finalfantasyXIV is mind blowing! I mean, this is When Worlds Collide! Using something as inspiration is one thing but a straight up rip off is another! Did they really think no one would notice? […] To clarify, this is music from the game. If it was a song made by a fan, we wouldn't care."
After the story gained traction and several mixed responses were put against Square Enix and Powerman 5000, the band's frontman Spider One made another Facebook post on February 25 revealing that the band would not be taking legal action against Square Enix, while emphasizing that their original post was "Just an observation" about "a piece of music that was way too similar to be coincidence" and there was "no cry for attention or publicity", before briefly advertising their upcoming tour dates in March and April.
In response to the controversy, the game's producer/director Naoki Yoshida released a statement in the original forum thread that spurred the controversy explaining how they created "Fiend":
"Building upon the motif of Sephirot as a representation of the World Tree, to create this FINAL FANTASY XIV original track, we further incorporated story-driven themes of death and a warped obsession with life, all while utilizing a musical genre─industrial rock─which we believed would provide substantial emphasis to the message.
Industrial rock is a popular genre that can be further divided into numerous sub-genres. Countless songs from these genres have been released worldwide, and I have been made aware of an allegation regarding similarities between an existing track and the track created for the 2nd phase of Containment Bay S1T7. However, track composer Masayoshi Soken, has also stated to me that he was unaware of the track in question while working on this FINAL FANTASY track."
Industrial rock is a popular genre that can be further divided into numerous sub-genres. Countless songs from these genres have been released worldwide, and I have been made aware of an allegation regarding similarities between an existing track and the track created for the 2nd phase of Containment Bay S1T7. However, track composer Masayoshi Soken, has also stated to me that he was unaware of the track in question while working on this FINAL FANTASY track."
Powerman 5000 - When Worlds Collide (1999):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsV500W4BHU
Final Fantasy XIV Online - Fiend (2016):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9f44iJftVM
Final Fantasy XIV Online - Battle to the Death Rearrangement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWNiVOpsZ0c
Final Fantasy XIV Online - The Gears of Change announcement trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yw4shsQsYk
First Powerman 5000 Facebook post (February 24):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170316063418/https://www.facebook.com/officialpowerman5000/posts/1163822686963071
Second Powerman 5000 Facebook post (February 25):
https://web.archive.org/web/20171006141827/https://www.facebook.com/officialpowerman5000/posts/1164522363559770
Naoki Yoshida Square Enix forum response (original thread post noting song similarities can be found by going to page 1 in this thread):
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/283311-Sephirot-Theme-%28-Phase-2-%29-sound-familiar?p=3589465&viewfull=1#post3589465
News coverage of the controversy:
https://www.polygon.com/2016/2/25/11114168/final-fantasy-14-powerman-5000-song-ripoff
https://kotaku.com/band-says-new-final-fantasy-xiv-boss-battle-music-is-ri-1761120297
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsV500W4BHU
Final Fantasy XIV Online - Fiend (2016):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9f44iJftVM
Final Fantasy XIV Online - Battle to the Death Rearrangement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWNiVOpsZ0c
Final Fantasy XIV Online - The Gears of Change announcement trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yw4shsQsYk
First Powerman 5000 Facebook post (February 24):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170316063418/https://www.facebook.com/officialpowerman5000/posts/1163822686963071
Second Powerman 5000 Facebook post (February 25):
https://web.archive.org/web/20171006141827/https://www.facebook.com/officialpowerman5000/posts/1164522363559770
Naoki Yoshida Square Enix forum response (original thread post noting song similarities can be found by going to page 1 in this thread):
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/283311-Sephirot-Theme-%28-Phase-2-%29-sound-familiar?p=3589465&viewfull=1#post3589465
News coverage of the controversy:
https://www.polygon.com/2016/2/25/11114168/final-fantasy-14-powerman-5000-song-ripoff
https://kotaku.com/band-says-new-final-fantasy-xiv-boss-battle-music-is-ri-1761120297
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The box art for Paccie was stolen from an entry in the December 1994 Ray Tracing Competition.
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On June 12, 2008, the film studio Morgan Creek Productions filed a lawsuit against Nintendo of America, alleging that Hans Zimmer's song "You're So Cool" from the 1993 film "True Romance" was used in a commercial for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door without permission.
Six days later, Morgan Creek dropped the lawsuit without comment. Nintendo would later release a statement revealing that the day before the lawsuit was dropped, Leo Burnett, their advertising agent, gave Morgan Creek "a copy of a music license entered into between Leo Burnett USA, on behalf of Nintendo of America and Morgan Creek, for licensing of the song."
Six days later, Morgan Creek dropped the lawsuit without comment. Nintendo would later release a statement revealing that the day before the lawsuit was dropped, Leo Burnett, their advertising agent, gave Morgan Creek "a copy of a music license entered into between Leo Burnett USA, on behalf of Nintendo of America and Morgan Creek, for licensing of the song."
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In the PS2 version of MaxPlay Classic Games Volume 1, you can find a full pirated copy of Metroid Fusion in the folder "DELETE_ME". It was likely used to test the compilation's emulator.
subdirectory_arrow_right Active Enterprises (Company)
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The Action Gamemaster was a 16-bit portable game console announced by Active Enterprises, infamous for Action 52, in 1994 - it would've had a slot for games designed for it, as well as adapters that would allow it to play SNES, Genesis, NES, and CD-ROM games, alongside adaptors that served as a TV tuner and cigarette lighter.The console never released due to Active going out of business, and if it were to release it is unlikely that it would have bared much resemblance to the overly-ambitious original plan due to emulation not being in an advanced state at the time and patents for the 3 game platforms still being active.
Notably, the Action Gamemaster is also the name of a character in the NES version of the Cheetahmen minigame of Action 52.
Console Database entry:
https://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/actiongamemaster/
NES World article on Active Enterprises' appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show 1994:
http://www.nesworld.com/aeces94.php
https://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/actiongamemaster/
NES World article on Active Enterprises' appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show 1994:
http://www.nesworld.com/aeces94.php
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In June 2023, the character models for the game received complaints on Twitter by fan artist Rafa Knight, who noted that they resembled her own models of the characters that had been used for merchandise, even having the same minor imperfections as the toys. She claimed she had not been credited for her work either, instead being ignored by Sega and other related figures. In response, Katie Chrzanowski, the social media manager for Sega of America, apologized for the misunderstanding and explained that the models were custom-made for Sonic Superstars, and promised to privately email Knight with more details later on. It's unknown if any more developments in this controversy happened since.
Model comparison:
https://twitter.com/Rafaknight_rk/status/1666905823115632674
Rafa being ghosted:
https://twitter.com/Rafaknight_rk/status/1667684205160005635
Katie's response:
https://twitter.com/KatieChrz/status/1667687403648335873
https://twitter.com/Rafaknight_rk/status/1666905823115632674
Rafa being ghosted:
https://twitter.com/Rafaknight_rk/status/1667684205160005635
Katie's response:
https://twitter.com/KatieChrz/status/1667687403648335873
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It is often rumored that Nintendo filed a lawsuit or sent a C&D to Rainbow Arts over The Great Giana Sisters' resemblance to Super Mario Bros. - however, according to the game's music composer Chris Hülsbeck, this is not true, Nintendo only sent Rainbow Arts an "angry letter" over the UK release's cover art containing the phrase "the brothers are history!", leading to the game being pulled.
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