Trivia Browser
Platform: PlayStation
subdirectory_arrow_right Sega Mega Drive/Genesis (Platform), Game Boy Color (Platform), Sega Game Gear (Platform), Neo Geo AES (Platform), Arcade (Platform), Sega Master System/Mark III (Platform), Game Boy Advance (Platform), Game Boy (Platform), Nintendo Entertainment System (Platform), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Platform)
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In 2018, rapper Soulja Boy attempted to sell his own line of video game consoles, collectively called the SouljaGame line, sold for $149.99 for a console and $99.99 for a handheld. Advertising claimed that the consoles would be compatible with a variety of consoles' games, including modern platforms like the PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch. These, quite obviously, did not have such compatibility, but rather were a generic retro emulator console one could find on small business-oriented retail websites such as Wish and AliExpress loaded with pirated and modified games from the Neo Geo; NES; Game Boy Advance; Game Boy Color; Game Boy; Sega Genesis; SNES; Master System; Game Gear; and PlayStation libraries sold at a markup. The only difference from these pre-existing consoles being a photograph of Soulja printed onto the box. Soulja Boy would eventually stop selling SouljaGame consoles, with the website for the console redirecting to Nintendo's 3DS website.
Soulja Boy selling SouljaGame line article:
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/soulja-boy-selling-cheap-consoles-1203084022/
Soulja Boy ends sales of SouljaGame line article:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/01/02/soulja-boy-stops-selling-souljagame-game-consoles
SouljaGame unboxing and teardown showing the packaging:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo-qNU7Qu3k
Rerez video reviewing the console SouljaGame was based on, showing the console list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqXuAuTFXpA#t=595
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/soulja-boy-selling-cheap-consoles-1203084022/
Soulja Boy ends sales of SouljaGame line article:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/01/02/soulja-boy-stops-selling-souljagame-game-consoles
SouljaGame unboxing and teardown showing the packaging:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo-qNU7Qu3k
Rerez video reviewing the console SouljaGame was based on, showing the console list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqXuAuTFXpA#t=595
subdirectory_arrow_right Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (Game)
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The NES Punch-Out!! theme was plagiarized from the Gillette razors "Look Sharp, Be Sharp" jingle, which was used as the opening theme song for the American sports program Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, best known for its boxing programming, in the 1950s.
subdirectory_arrow_right Beyond the Ice Palace (Game), ThunderCats: The Lost Eye of Thundera (Game), Ghosts 'n Goblins (Franchise), ThunderCats (Franchise), Paradise Software (Company), FTL Games (Company)
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When Elite Software obtained the license to make a video game based on the ThunderCats cartoon, they were unsure if they would be able to complete the game in time for Christmas, and as such outsourced a second ThunderCats game to Paradise Software. Neither game could be finished before the deadline, and as such Elite instead attained the rights to a near-finished game titled Samurai Dawn by FTL Games and released it as ThunderCats: The Lost Eye of Thundera.
Elite's in-house ThunderCats game got pitched to Capcom as a sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins, but was not picked up due to Ghouls 'n Ghosts being in development at the time. It would be released as an original IP, simply titled Beyond the Ice Palace, featuring a character who in certain versions of the game resembles Lion-O.
Paradise Software's ThunderCats game remains shrouded in mystery, but it seems incredibly likely that the game was released as Bomb Jack II, owing to the C64 version of the game including a rendition of the ThunderCats theme song (stolen music being somewhat of a tradition for the Bomb Jack franchise), not featuring any bombs, and having a protagonist that more closely resembles Lion-O than Bomb Jack.
Elite's in-house ThunderCats game got pitched to Capcom as a sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins, but was not picked up due to Ghouls 'n Ghosts being in development at the time. It would be released as an original IP, simply titled Beyond the Ice Palace, featuring a character who in certain versions of the game resembles Lion-O.
Paradise Software's ThunderCats game remains shrouded in mystery, but it seems incredibly likely that the game was released as Bomb Jack II, owing to the C64 version of the game including a rendition of the ThunderCats theme song (stolen music being somewhat of a tradition for the Bomb Jack franchise), not featuring any bombs, and having a protagonist that more closely resembles Lion-O than Bomb Jack.
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The music in Frogger is taken from a variety of sources, some public domain (such as the Japanese nursery rhyme "Dog Policeman" and the minstrel song "Camptown Races") while others are stolen copyrighted music from anime (the Japanese theme songs to Rascall the Raccoon and Heidi, Girl of the Alps).
Re-releases of Frogger tend to replace all of the music in the game, including certain public domain songs, with original tracks (though "Camptown Races" tends to remain intact).
Re-releases of Frogger tend to replace all of the music in the game, including certain public domain songs, with original tracks (though "Camptown Races" tends to remain intact).
Frogger gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rUPuz2Z9NY
Dog Policeman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC1goSAFxtk#t=57
Heidi, Girl of the Alps theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgEvxRppDiM#t=82
Camptown Races:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXE_PfcXtYE#t=68
Rascall the Raccoon theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YMH5ntJEZ0#t=116
Example of a Frogger rerelease:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uyxWL9F_GE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rUPuz2Z9NY
Dog Policeman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC1goSAFxtk#t=57
Heidi, Girl of the Alps theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgEvxRppDiM#t=82
Camptown Races:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXE_PfcXtYE#t=68
Rascall the Raccoon theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YMH5ntJEZ0#t=116
Example of a Frogger rerelease:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uyxWL9F_GE
subdirectory_arrow_right Venge (Game)
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Around Poppy Playtime's release, Mob Entertainment developer Ekrcoaster accused Mob Entertainment of plagiarizing his game, Venge. In a statement, Mob Entertainment CEO Zach Belanger denied these accusations, stating there was no intent to plagiarize.
Poppy Playtime controversy article:
https://screenrant.com/poppy-playtme-developer-mob-games-controversy-nft-plagiarism
Archived tweet of Zach Belanger statement:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220504194640/https://twitter.com/mobgamesstudios/status/1521627181222354948
https://screenrant.com/poppy-playtme-developer-mob-games-controversy-nft-plagiarism
Archived tweet of Zach Belanger statement:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220504194640/https://twitter.com/mobgamesstudios/status/1521627181222354948
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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."
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Shark Jaws was originally intended to be an official Jaws tie-in game, but plans fell through - however, Atari still went through with the game, putting the word "JAWS" in large letters on the game's promotional but having "SHARK" be much smaller. To avoid a potential lawsuit, Atari released the game under the pseudonym "Horror Games", similarly to what it had done with Kee Games prior.
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:
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":
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 Airship update for Among Us partially took so long to come out because of talks with lawyers about circumventing bootleg Among Us merchandise.
Among Us creator Marcus Bromander would claim two years later in an interview with YouTubers LS Mark and Veronicaandjelly that he felt that taking legal action against fake Among Us products was a "losing battle" and that he ultimately just found them funny and thought of them as free promotion.
Among Us creator Marcus Bromander would claim two years later in an interview with YouTubers LS Mark and Veronicaandjelly that he felt that taking legal action against fake Among Us products was a "losing battle" and that he ultimately just found them funny and thought of them as free promotion.
Marcus Bromander interview:
https://youtu.be/r_1fjreI5Kc
Among Us Dev Log post:
https://innersloth.itch.io/among-us/devlog/232933/-march-31-the-airship-releases
https://youtu.be/r_1fjreI5Kc
Among Us Dev Log post:
https://innersloth.itch.io/among-us/devlog/232933/-march-31-the-airship-releases
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The Skibidi Toilets in Hauntred Factory Skibidi Poppy Freedy use a bald, bearded head instead of the Half-Life G-Man model featured in the Skibidi Toilet series. It is unknown why an original model was used in place of G-Man, given that the game blatantly uses plagiarized models from Poppy Playtime.
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The box art of Dalmatians 3 shows a character inspired by the animated Disney version of Cruella De Vil. This character does not appear in any of the movies originally produced by Dingo Pictures or its associated re-release video games, with the game disc featuring no human characters whatsoever aside from a jester mascot who appears on the menu screen. The original book character of Cruella De Vil has yet to enter the public domain.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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
subdirectory_arrow_right Adrenix (Game), Black Dawn (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/
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There exists 5 versions of Donkey Kong 5: The Journey of Over Time and Space:
• The original version featuring Donkey Kong
• Harry Boy and the Chamber of Secrets, featuring characters from Harry Potter
• 2003 Digitmon Sapphire featuring Digimon and Bubble Bobble characters
• Super Marrio Sunshine, which is identical to Over Time and Space aside from a different title screen and an added glitch, still featuring Donkey Kong and not Mario
• Digit Dinosaur 7: The Adventrue of Devildom which is identical to Digitmon aside from a different title screen, and is theorized to predate it due to having Sintax's copyright info.
Of the 3 main releases, the level layouts are closest to Super Mario Bros. in Digitmon, and least accurate in Harry Boy.
• The original version featuring Donkey Kong
• Harry Boy and the Chamber of Secrets, featuring characters from Harry Potter
• 2003 Digitmon Sapphire featuring Digimon and Bubble Bobble characters
• Super Marrio Sunshine, which is identical to Over Time and Space aside from a different title screen and an added glitch, still featuring Donkey Kong and not Mario
• Digit Dinosaur 7: The Adventrue of Devildom which is identical to Digitmon aside from a different title screen, and is theorized to predate it due to having Sintax's copyright info.
Of the 3 main releases, the level layouts are closest to Super Mario Bros. in Digitmon, and least accurate in Harry Boy.
Donkey Kong 5: The Journey of Over Time and Space:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NKExQIaho
Harry Boy and the Chamber of Secrets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUhe1f0Yb0
2003 Digitmon Sapphire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u7sPTk6OdU
Super Marrio Sunshine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IBv9ejxM0o
Digit Dinosaur 7: The Adventrue of Devildom
https://repo.12bit.club/gb/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NKExQIaho
Harry Boy and the Chamber of Secrets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUhe1f0Yb0
2003 Digitmon Sapphire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u7sPTk6OdU
Super Marrio Sunshine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IBv9ejxM0o
Digit Dinosaur 7: The Adventrue of Devildom
https://repo.12bit.club/gb/21
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