Trivia Browser


Tagsarrow_right
Filter:
Platformsarrow_right
Filter:
Yearsarrow_right
Filter:

Genresarrow_right
Filter:
Collectionsarrow_right
Filter:
Franchisesarrow_right
Filter:
Companiesarrow_right
Filter:

Tetris
2
Attachment The original release of the 1988 DOS version of Tetris features an animation on the title screen where a white Cessna airplane flies over the title logo; after the opening scroll, it reappears while dragging a banner that reads "PLAY TETRIS!" This sequence references Mathias Rust, a West German teenager who illegally piloted a Cessna from Uetersen Airfield to Moscow the previous year in an attempt to relieve tensions between the United States and Soviet Union, landing near Red Square.

Rust's flight was a major embarrassment for the Soviet military due to him disproving the notion that their defenses were ironclad. Consequently, later revisions of the game removed the animation on orders from ELORG, the Soviet Union's state-sponsored computer company and the owners of the Tetris license at the time.
person VinchVolt calendar_month May 29, 2024
Super Mario Maker
2
In the release build of Super Mario Maker, there were text strings relating to 13 unused Mystery Mushroom costumes:
• BabyMario
• BalloonFight
• EGadd
• GoldenRetri (presumably short for "golden retriever")
• MarioUs (presumably Mario's appearance from what is known in Japan as Super Mario Bros. USA)
• Mashiko (Japanese name of Mary O.)
• MrSaturn (from EarthBound)
• Muncher
• Nabbit
• Popo
Tetris
WindowsLogo

Baby Mario, Balloon Fighter, E. Gadd, Mary O., Mr. Saturn, and Nabbit would eventually be added in updates, as would an Ice Climbers costume featuring Popo alongside his friend Nana, while a power-up that turns Mario into his Super Mario Bros. 2 self would be introduced in an update to Super Mario Maker 2.

The most notable names are "Tetris" and "WindowsLogo", two non-Nintendo franchises that otherwise go unrepresented in Super Mario Maker. Tetris was formerly published on handheld and home consoles by Nintendo between the 1980s-1990s, and has been featured through music and Spirits in the Super Smash Bros. series, which is used as the basis for Super Mario Maker's base-game third party costume selection. WindowsLogo seems to be some kind of remnant of a Microsoft Windows operating environment being used to develop the game, as Nintendo has never been involved with the Windows line of software.
SimCity
2
Attachment 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.
person VinchVolt calendar_month April 22, 2024
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/
Cuphead
2
Attachment In 2019, Studio MDHR and the multinational automotive company Tesla announced that a special port of Cuphead would be released for the Tesla Arcade digital store and would be playable on the company's Model S, Model X, and Model 3 vehicles. Due to storage limitations with the cars, the Tesla Arcade version only includes the stages in Inkwell Isle I. The game can only be played with a controller plugged into each vehicle's USB port, but can be played cooperatively with two players controlling Cuphead and Mugman. As part of the announcement, Studio MDHR released commemorative artwork of Cuphead and Mugman standing with a Model 3 car.
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month April 20, 2024
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2
During the final battle in the Japanese version, Spoiler:a voiceover from Zelda states that the monstrous form that Calamity Ganon assumes is due to his obsession with maintaining his longevity. However, in the English localization, Spoiler:Zelda claims that this form is the result of him abandoning his ambitions for reincarnation and giving into his primal rage, which directly contrasts the Japanese script.

This also opens up a plot hole with Spoiler:Zelda's dialogue in the game's ending, where she says that "Ganon is gone for now" (emphasis added), implying that he will reincarnate anyway (as is the case in other entries, including the game's sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom); in the Japanese version, she simply says that "the threat of calamity has passed."
Moon: Remix RPG Adventure
subdirectory_arrow_right Moon (Game)
2
The 2019 release of Moon: Remix RPG Adventure for modern consoles marks the first time the game received an official English translation, being released almost a year after the Japanese release. Notably, the English translation was written by Tim Rogers, a video game journalist who used to work for the site Kotaku before resigning and becoming independent.
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month March 29, 2024
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
2
Attachment Shortly after the game's release in 2020, the government of China ordered gray market online storefronts to stop selling the game. While no official reason was given for the ban, fans and analysts speculated that it was due to players in Hong Kong using the game's customization features and online connectivity to broadcast messages in support of protests that were occurring at the time against changes to the region's extradition laws. Around the same time, the game was also used by Joe Biden's campaign team to advertise his candidacy in the 2020 United States presidential election by creating a dedicated island and customizable items.

16 days after the election in November, Nintendo updated the game's Usage Guidelines for Businesses and Organizations, significantly narrowing how they could use the game for advertising. This included a rule requesting that offensive content be refrained from being created in-game, along with a statement asking to "refrain from bringing politics into the Game." However, this rule does not clarify what "politics" specifically Nintendo wanted to keep out of the game, and it appears to be in effect for any content created after the update, as it seems that none of the Hong Kong protest content or the Biden campaign's promotional content were taken down.
person VinchVolt calendar_month March 28, 2024
X
2
Attachment X was originally pitched under the name Eclipse and was developed under the title Lunar Chase. The single-letter rename came at the request of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who contacted director Yoshio Sakamoto early in the morning after playing the game.

The Lunar Chase name was retained for a planned English localization of the game, which was ultimately scrapped due to fears from Nintendo of America that international players would find the game's presentation and design too complex for a handheld title. Creator and programmer Dylan Cuthbert additionally blamed the cancellation on a presumed lack of interest from retailers in the United States. A prototype of the English version would eventually surface in 2020 as part of the Gigaleak, a massive leak of internal server data from Nintendo. The Eclipse pitch, meanwhile, was released to the public by the Video Game History foundation three years later.
person VinchVolt calendar_month March 26, 2024
FIFA Soccer 97
subdirectory_arrow_right FIFA Soccer 97 (Game)
2
Attachment If you insert the PlayStation or PC versions of the game into a CD player, or play the Sega Saturn version's disc in the console's music player, you can access a hidden song on track 6 titled "Motty's Rap". The song consists of humorous phrases recorded by longtime FIFA commentator John Motson that mostly comment on the song's techno/rock instrumental with some mild innuendos, including: "That is the fattest bottom end I've ever heard" and "This reminds me of touring with the Sex Pistols". The song was the work of EA composer/audio designer Robert Bailey, who got Motson to record lines for the song during his time in the recording booth. In a 2024 interview, Bailey stated that the song was one of many obscure Easter eggs involving Motson's dialogue that the developers put together, with "Motty's Rap" being pulled from "just all of the stupidest phrases John said" and were put into the context of the music. The song was approved to be put into the game by its executive producer Bruce McMillan.
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month March 17, 2024
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
This trivia has been marked as "Not Safe for Work".
It may not be appropriate for all visitors and definitely isn't appropriate for work or school environments.
Click here to unhide it.
2
person VinchVolt calendar_month February 26, 2024
Franchise: Final Fantasy
2
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.
person Kirby Inhales Jotaro calendar_month February 22, 2024
Tomb Raider I•II•III Remastered
This trivia has been marked as "Not Safe for Work".
It may not be appropriate for all visitors and definitely isn't appropriate for work or school environments.
Click here to unhide it.
2
Hi-Fi Rush
2
Attachment The January 2024 update celebrating Hi-Fi Rush's one year anniversary includes new t-shirts that players can wear in-game. Some of these t-shirts are exclusive to their own platform (Xbox, Steam, and Epic Game Store):

• Xbox owners get a green shirt saying “shadow dropped”, a reference to the game’s surprise release.
• Epic Games Store owners get a shirt saying “this is simply unreal epic”, obviously a reference to Epic Games and the Unreal engine and series.
• Steam owners get a shirt saying “Be Positive (Overwhelmingly)”, an obvious reference to Steam’s user review system.

However, two more additional exclusive shirts have recently been discovered through datamining that seem to curiously pertain to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, two competitor platforms to Xbox.

• The red shirt seemingly for Switch says "rock out anywhere", obviously referencing the Switch's portable nature.
• The blue shirt seemingly for PS5 says "I'm here baby", possibly a reference to the game finally arriving on PS5 after a year of being exclusive to Xbox platforms.

In early 2024, Hi-Fi Rush was the subject of various rumors claiming that Microsoft planned on porting it and possibly other first party Xbox titles to its competitor platforms, those specifically being PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. In response to these rumors, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer announced in an Xbox Business Update on February 16, 2024 that four of their previously Xbox exclusive titles were being brought over to rival platforms. On February 21, 2024, it was announced that Hi-Fi Rush, along with Rare's Sea of Thieves and Obsidian's Grounded and Pentiment, were all being released on PlayStation 5 (and Nintendo Switch as well as PlayStation 4 for the latter two games), fully confirming the rumors.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month February 4, 2024
The Bombing Islands
subdirectory_arrow_right Charlie Blasts Territory (Game)
2
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).
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 2, 2024
Mr. Gimmick
2
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".
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 25, 2024
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
Ninja Gaiden
subdirectory_arrow_right Ninja Gaiden Black (Game)
2
In the DLC update, Ninja Gaiden Black, Ayane's kunai messages featured fully voiced dialogue, which was not a feature in the original version. In Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the text and dialogue that explained the controls were changed to reference both PlayStation 3 controls and altered mechanics.
person DrakeVagabond calendar_month January 20, 2024
Turrican
2
In the Commodore 64 version of the game, there are two known messages written with destroyable blocks that are hidden out-of-bounds in two levels of the game. In Level 1-1, the year "1989", referring to the year the game began development, can be found in the middle of the map. The other message is hidden in Level 1-3, where the letters "DTE" can be found in the middle of a land mass in the bottom-right corner of the map.
The Callisto Protocol
subdirectory_arrow_right Striking Distance Studios (Company)
2
On January 9, 2023, a report was released by GamesIndustry.biz revealing that over 20 developers who worked on The Callisto Protocol were not included in the game's end credits, including multiple full-time developers and other key contributors. The decision to leave out these developers was described as "egregious" by one unnamed employee, while another accused the game’s developer, Striking Distance, of "playing favorites" and only crediting those that "they liked or had some sort of relationship with". The report also highlighted the intense work culture at Striking Distance with a controversy involving the studio's director Glen Schofield in September 2022, where he made a tweet about his employees working "six-seven days a week" for "12-15 hour days". At the time before the report's release, this tweet about the crunch culture at the studio was roundly criticized; it was later deleted and Schofield issued an apology, stating that the studio valued "passion and creativity, not long hours." In June 2023, an update was released for the game that added the names of over 50 previously uncredited developers to the credits, a notably higher head count than the numbers in the original report. These credits were added to the "Miscellaneous" group, which originally had only 18 names, and was also now renamed to "Additional Development".
person ProtoSnake calendar_month January 13, 2024
Callisto Protocol developers left out of credits:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/callisto-protocol-developers-left-out-of-credits

Glen Schofield back pedals Callisto Protocol crunch comments:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/glen-schofield-back-pedals-callisto-protocol-crunch-comments

The Callisto Protocol Reportedly Left Around 20 Devs Out Of The Credits:
https://www.thegamer.com/the-callisto-protocol-left-20-devs-out-of-credits/

Developers left out of The Callisto Protocol credits accuse Striking Distance of "playing favourites":
https://www.eurogamer.net/developers-left-out-of-the-callisto-protocol-credits-accuse-striking-distance-of-playing-favourites

Callisto Protocol update restores omitted developers to credits:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/callisto-protocol-update-restores-omitted-developers-to-credits/
River City Girls
2
In the original release of the game, the hidden ending that follows the optional final boss battle against Hasebe and Mami reveals that Spoiler:Kyoko and Misako are not actually Kunio and Riki's girlfriends, but rather are simply delusional stalkers, with Hasebe and Mami being the boys' real partners; Kyoko and Misako then angrily punch Kunio and Riki into the sky after being reminded of this. This was written as an inside joke regarding the Kunio-kun franchise's convoluted localization history, specifically the fact that River City Girls Zero (the only prior game where Spoiler:Kunio and Riki actually dated Kyoko and Misako) had not yet received an English localization at the time of this game's release. As River City Girls was developed with Western audiences in mind, the joke was thus meant to be that Spoiler:Kunio and Riki have no memory of a title that wasn't officially available for this game's target audience.

However, the esoteric nature of the gag and the plot holes it opened regarding the game's premise resulted in it generating backlash from players who were not in on it. Because of this, the game was updated on January 18, 2020, changing the secret ending so that Spoiler:Kunio and Riki go out for food with Kyoko and Misako, implying that the latter two actually are their partners.
person VinchVolt calendar_month January 3, 2024
Yoshi's Island DS
2
Attachment The Japanese and Korean releases radically alter the final boss theme, adding a second movement and raising the pitch of the French horn soundfont. This version of the music also changes the loop to start at the added portion rather than going back to the beginning of the song. The extent of these changes implies that the music was unfinished when the original international release came out.
keyboard_double_arrow_leftFirst keyboard_arrow_leftPrev Page of 119 Nextkeyboard_arrow_right Lastkeyboard_double_arrow_right