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Assassin's Creed Shadows (2024)

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One of the game's dual protagonists Yasuke, an African samurai, is the first main character in the Assassin's Creed series to be based on a real historical figure, but his real-life identity and status serving under Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga has been the subject of a contentious debate among historians. There are few scholarly/historical resources available describing him and his life, as well as no known resources that refer to him as a samurai, with the most common conclusion being his title was a retainer to Nobunaga.

His reveal as a main character in the game on May 15, 2024 caused polarizing reactions worldwide on social media. Fans critical of the decision claimed Ubisoft were going against the series' penchant for accurate historical backgrounds and misrepresented Japan, which had never been covered in-depth in the globally-spanning game series, by inflating Yasuke's role in history and not having both protagonists be Japanese (the other protagonist, Naoe, is Japanese), claiming that Yasuke was not actually a samurai. Fans in support of Yasuke's role claiming that he was actually a samurai called these objections racist and based on narrow-minded arguments and inferences, with some going so far as to opine that Asian samurai protagonists in media were oversaturated and that critics would give the same complaints if it were a game set in Africa starring an African protagonist. This intense fighting lead to an edit war on Yasuke's English Wikipedia article, with administrators publicly calling the Talk page "a complete dumpster fire". As of May 19, the consensus that was reached on the Talk page appears to be that there is still no historical evidence confirming that Yasuke was a samurai, and the article does not call him one when talking about his documented life.

The lack of clarity on his life allowed popular culture and media to take creative liberties in speculating who he was, often depicting him in adaptations as a high-ranking samurai, and Ubisoft seemed to be going in a similar direction. The advertising for the game at its announcement described Yasuke as a "samurai of historical legend", and a press release stated:

"Ubisoft Quebec wanted to include a Samurai, and Yasuke's story was open-ended enough to allow for creativity; there are still plenty of questions and speculation surrounding him. The fascinating facts, though, were undisputable: of African origin, he arrived in Japan enslaved by the Portuguese; he impressed with size, strength, and wits; he served under the Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga. There must have been something exceptional about Yasuke to succeed in the service of a personality like Nobunaga's, [...] and the goal has been to expound on this in Assassin's Creed Shadows through his curiosity, openness, respect for values and tradition, valor, warmth, and charisma."

While the header for this section of the press release is called "Yasuke: A Real-Life Samurai", this description seems to be carefully worded to stop short of directly calling him a samurai, with the use of "historical legend" elsewhere suggesting that they were aware of the unconfirmed status and were fictionalizing Yasuke for the game.

In a set of developer interviews with Famitsu published on May 15, creative director Jonathan Dumont elaborated that they also chose Yasuke to fit with the game's story of a foreigner who fights off oppressing forces, like the Portuguese slave trade's effects on Japan, while exploring a country unknown to him alongside the player, stating that they were "first looking for "our samurai," someone who could be our non-Japanese eyes". The following day, the Famitsu article was edited to change direct quotes in the interviews in contexts where Yasuke was referred to as an "outsider" to being a "foreign-born samurai", and also removed the aforementioned quote, for unknown reasons.

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Game website with "samurai of historical legend" quote:
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/assassins-creed/shadows

Ubisoft press release:
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/2LH4Ael4X1TlNJY3B3aYg5/assassins-creed-shadows-launches-november-15-features-dual-protagonists-in-feudal-japan

Ubisoft article with several videos explaining historical backgrounds behind previous Assassin's Creed games:
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/6d4zQXyH0VF6z75Ab7jfss/discover-the-real-history-behind-every-assassins-creed

IGN articles:
https://www.ign.com/articles/when-and-where-is-assassins-creed-shadows-set
https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-asian-protagonist

TheGamer article:
https://www.thegamer.com/african-assassins-creed-shadows-controversy/

Time article:
https://time.com/6978997/assassins-creed-shadow-yasuke-controversy/

Forbes article mentioning Wikipedia edit war and international reactions:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2024/05/15/japanese-fans-are-puzzled-that-yasuke-is-in-assassins-creed-shadows/

Yasuke English Wikipedia article (Note: while much of this controversy occurred on English language Wikipedia, bear in mind that Wikipedia articles by themselves are not reliable sources for historical research, and the English article is not a uniform representation of the information on Yasuke across the different language versions of Wikipedia that have this article. There are varying primary, secondary, historical and pop culture sources suggested for and used in all of these articles either backing up verified information about him, or making different claims that may not be accurate.):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Yasuke

Wikipedia administrator discussion:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240518220622/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Talk:Yasuke_is_a_complete_dumpster_fire

Earliest archive of original Famitsu interview (in Japanese; English machine translations for all archives of this article compared between Google Translate and DeepL prior to publishing this submission. Deleted quote in Japanese is "まず“私たちの侍”、つまり日本人ではない私たちの目になれる人物を探していましたが、これは") (May 15):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240515185159/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194

Archived edited interview (May 16):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240516194746/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194

Latest archived edit (May 18):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240518034336/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194

Stellar Blade (2024)

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Stellar Blade became rather controversial with critics in large part due to the sexualization of its protagonist Eve. They argued that the game's marketing leaned heavily into Eve's sexual appeal by focusing on elements such as revealing costumes and suggestive character designs for its promotional strategy. This got to the point where the South Korean version of the game received an "Adults-Only" rating due to suggestive images, nudity, and violence. Hyung-Tae Kim, the game's director, defended these design choices, stating:

"When it comes to the design, we put special attention on the back of the character because the player is always facing the back of the character when they're playing. That's what they see the most of, so we thought this was pretty important."

This controversy culminated when the game released with a Day 1 update that patched out unintentionally offensive graffiti, and censored two revealing outfits Eve can wear in the game, the Holiday Rabbit and the Cybernetic Bondage, but these are not the only censored outfits left in the game. When the player finds their first unlockable Nano Suit blueprint on the overworld, a tutorial pop-up appears featuring a video that scrolls through a montage of the other Nano Suits you can unlock in the game, and among them is an uncensored version of the Moutan Peony, an outfit that features dark pantyhose covering Eve's skin up to her waist in both the base game and the Day 1 patch. It appears that the developers forgot to remove this video when changing the costumes during development, and it's currently not known if other outfits in this video were changed in the final game.

These changes are in contrast to a claim from the game's official Twitter account stating that all versions of the game worldwide would be released uncensored, leading to the changes being widely criticized by players on social media and speculation that the game's publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment mandated the changes after addressing the offensive graffiti. However, Kim addressed the matter during a Q&A at a launch event for the game, stating that the costumes in version 1.0.0.2 was their "final product", but claimed that "the answer is not enough to convince our users" and that an ongoing internal discussion was proceeding. Kim later reaffirmed his stance on the changed costumes in an interview with Korean outlet GameAbout, stating:

"I don't think that just because the costumes are vulgar doesn't necessarily mean they're good, so this is something that was modified for quality. As a result, there are parts where eroticism is lessened or emphasized. This is the final product that we want to show as the intended result."

The speculated tensions between Shift Up and Sony during development were actually highlighted by Drakengard and Nier: Automata creator Yoko Taro, a developer with a history of tensions with Sony, during a joint interview with him and Kim for IGN published a little over a week before the game's release:

Yoko Taro: "[...] Mr. Kim, I wanted to ask you if there were any fights with Sony Interactive Enteratainment (SIE), since they are publishing Stellar Blade."

Hyung-Tae Kim: "(Glances at SIE staff members in the room and laughs.) The people at SIE are... very, very nice!"

Taro: "SIE's staff members are pulling faces I've never seen before. I wish the readers of this article could see it!"

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Sexualization complaints:
https://www.denofgeek.com/games/stellar-blade-controversy-explained/

South Korean rating:
https://en.as.com/meristation/news/stellar-blade-gets-an-adults-only-rating-due-to-nudity-and-explicit-gore-n/

Design choice quote:
https://fandomwire.com/hyung-tae-kim-stellar-blade-avoid-controversy/

Day 1 patch censorship:
https://esports.gg/news/stellar-blade/players-outraged-at-unexpected-stellar-blade-outfit-censorship/

Compilation of outfits in base game before Day 1 patch (uncensored versions of Cybernetic Bondage at 2:30, and Holiday Rabbit at 4:52):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMT6z9xejeA

Compilation of outfits after Day 1 patch (censored versions of Cybernetic Bondage at 1:03, Holiday Rabbit at 2:19, and Moutan Peony at 3:02):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAcvYBGPoGk

Nano Suit tutorial pop-up montage with uncensored Moutan Peony costume (this is the only footage I could find of anyone sitting through this video start to finish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHJhViruQKM?t=3761

Stellar Blade uncensored claim tweet:
https://twitter.com/StellarBlade/status/1781976139688534449

Video of Hyung-Tae Kim defending update changes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/stellarblade/comments/1cdlllp/directors_answer_to_the_change_in_the_outfitvideo/

GameAbout interview with Kim (article in Korean):
https://www.gameabout.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=87017

IGN interview with Yoko Taro and Kim:
https://www.ign.com/articles/stellar-blade-x-nier-automata-taro-yoko-hyung-tae-kim

The Witch and the Hundred Knight (2013)

subdirectory_arrow_right The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition (Game)

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A major bug in The Witch and the Hundred Knight that can occur at seemingly any time will force the game to return to the system menu, losing all unsaved progress as a result. This became a common critique in the game's reviews, leading it to not be received as favorably by some. While The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition did not fully fix this glitch, it occurs much less frequently, with playing for extended periods of time being noted as a possible factor.

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Cubed3 review of the original version:
http://www.cubed3.com/review/1420/1/the-witch-and-the-hundred-knight-playstation-3.html

Cubed3 review of the Revival Edition:
http://www.cubed3.com/review/2786/1/the-witch-and-the-hundred-knight-revival-edition-playstation-4.html

Stellar Blade (2024)

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IGN article:
https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-says-racist-phrase-in-stellar-blade-was-unintentional-will-be-patched-out

Kotaku article with updated graphic:
https://kotaku.com/stellar-blade-ps5-racism-day-one-patch-1851432185

Wikitionary and Urban Dictionary entries for "Hard R":
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hard_r
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hard+R

Discovery tweet:
https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1783133869912539521

Patch tweet:
https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1783158271400182223

Stellar Blade uncensored claim tweet:
https://twitter.com/StellarBlade/status/1781976139688534449

SimCity (1989)

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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.

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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/

Advanced Lawnmower Simulator (1988)

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Advanced Lawnmower Simulator was originally just a joke game reviewed in an April Fools edition of Your Sinclair Magazine, which received a 9 out of 10 and teased several other humorously mundane hygiene-based games by "Gardensoft" such as a launderette game. Over time, this game would be mentioned more beyond the April issue, with fake letters in the Letters section detailing a humorous fictional story about the game being stolen, until it culminated with the game's release on a cover disc in Issue 45, released a year and a half after the game was first mentioned.

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Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson (2014)

subdirectory_arrow_right Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven (Game)

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Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (1993)

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Although the modern perception of Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind places it as a generally mediocre-to-bad game, it initially received highly positive scores upon its release in the 1990s.

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Bubsy 3D (1996)

subdirectory_arrow_right Bubsy 2 (Game), Bubsy (Collection)

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While Bubsy 3D is often considered to have killed the Bubsy franchise until its revival in the late 2010s, the franchise was not killed by Accolade as one may expect. Accolade wanted a new installment titled Bubsy 4 (Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales not being considered part of the franchise's official numbering) after Bubsy 3D's release, but series creator Michael Berlyn was the one who pulled the plug on the franchise, believing that Bubsy 2 and Bubsy 3D had dealt too much damage to it:

"I pitched [Sparky and Bolt, an unmade, Jetsons-inspired game] to Accolade, and Accolade said, "Ummmmm, I don’t think so. We’re more interested in a Bubsy 4." And I said, "I really think Bubsy’s dead by now. Between what you guys did with Bubsy 2 and what I did with Bubsy 3D, it’s time to move on." They didn’t agree."

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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog

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On June 23, 2016, Sega released a YouTube video titled "25 Years of Sonic the Hedgehog!", a video going through an abridged timeline of the Sonic franchise's games on the anniversary of the first game's North American release. Strangely and controversially for a celebratory video, the video makes multiple snide remarks towards the games featured, some that are innocent in nature (such as Sonic the Hedgehog 3's description mentioning the "Knuckle Chuckle" meme and Sonic Heroes' description referencing the infamous "Look at all those Eggman's Robots!" translation error) while others very directly mock flaws and criticised elements of the games, such as Sonic 3's referencing the "barrel of doom", Sonic 3D Blast's description poking fun at how the Flicky AI would run away from Sonic, 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog not even receiving a description and simply showing its loading graphic, and Sonic Colors' description stating that it is where "Sonic in 3D finally finds its footing", a statement that is technically true when looking at critical reception, but tends to aggravate fans of 2000s-era Sonic games.

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God of War Ragnarök (2022)

subdirectory_arrow_right Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (Game)

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During The Game Awards 2022, Christopher Judge's acceptance speech for the "Best Performance" award (given to him for his performance as Kratos in God of War Ragnarök) ran for 7 minutes and 59 seconds. This speech has been noted for surpassing the Guinness World Record for the "Longest speech accepting an Oscar award", which is currently held by actress Greer Garson for her speech at the 15th Academy Awards in 1943, which lasted for 5 minutes and 30 seconds. The length of Judge's speech was referenced during his appearance at The Game Awards 2023, where he presented that year's award for "Best Performance". Prior to announcing the nominees, he took the opportunity to poke fun at the length of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III's campaign, claiming "my speech last year was longer than this year's Call of Duty campaign". Following the ceremony, several developers who currently and formerly worked on the Call of Duty series responded negatively to the roast, with Sledgehammer Games engineer Darcy Sandall saying:

"Honestly, as COD developers, we've heard way worse. But we don't expect it from a peer, at an event that supposed to be celebrating this years achievements in gaming. Especially with all the information that was leaked about it's development."

It's worth noting that both before and after release, Modern Warfare III's campaign mode was heavily criticized, with many describing it as shallow, short, rushed, and disappointing in spite of its technical aspects.

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New world record article:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/12/random-kratos-actors-epic-god-of-war-ragnarok-award-speech-broke-a-world-record

Guinness World Record for "Longest speech accepting an Oscar award":
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/69853-longest-speech-accepting-an-oscar-award/

Call of Duty devs response:
https://www.ign.com/articles/call-of-duty-devs-are-a-little-peeved-at-christopher-judges-dig-during-the-game-awards

Darcy Sandall statement:
https://x.com/darcy_sandall/status/1733031322610958377?s=20

Modern Warfare III campaign criticism (pre-release):
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/modern-warfare-3/
https://www.ign.com/articles/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-single-player-campaign-review
https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23949450/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-campaign-review
https://kotaku.com/call-duty-modern-warfare-3-mwiii-dlc-rush-crunch-1851009723

Modern Warfare III campaign criticism (post-release):
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10096943-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-review-gameplay-impressions-for-campaign-multiplayer

Skullgirls (2012)

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Skullheart Forum official patch notes:
https://skullheart.com/threads/official-content-updates-and-revisions.11921/

Community statement from game director Charley Price:
https://forum.skullgirlsmobile.com/threads/official-skullgirls-content-updates-revisions.20180/

Two-part update comparison videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL18fryeqUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5PJL8VMxDo

Update details article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/skullgirls-update-changes-content-developer-felt-was-in-poor-taste

Review bombing article:
https://www.pcgamer.com/skullgirls-bombarded-by-negative-steam-reviews-after-devs-alter-old-artwork-they-felt-was-in-poor-taste/

General article:
https://www.techradar.com/gaming/skullgirls-has-received-a-cosmetic-update-and-fans-are-displeased

"Keep Skullgirls Growing" Indiegogo campaign:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keep-skullgirls-growing#/

Overwhelmingly negative reviews tweet:
https://twitter.com/FGC_Daily/status/1675870761007939585

Cuphead (2017)

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On August 24, 2017, a video was uploaded by gaming news outlet VentureBeat where lead writer Dean Takahashi, who specializes in general industry articles, strategy games and first/third person shooters and normally does not cover platformers or sidescrolling action games because by the outlet's own admission he was extremely bad at them, recorded a gameplay demonstration of him playing the Gamescom 2017 demo for Cuphead due to him being the only one on staff at Gamescom. This footage is notorious for the first two and a half minutes where he struggles to complete the game's tutorial, before struggling to play for another 23 minutes under conditions that were made intentionally easier for the game's demo such as increased health and instant access to some stronger unlockable charms like Spread. VentureBeat knew the footage was bad, but uploaded it anyways and drew attention to Takahashi's poor gameplay in the video title, calling it "shameful". However, VentureBeat initially did not explain the full context of the footage in the video description, and due to Gamescom being held one month prior to Cuphead's release, the clip was passed around out of context leading people to believe he was doing a full review of the game and trying to make a point of it being too difficult. In reality, the video was posted alongside an article about the demo by Takahashi to VentureBeat that regularly acknowledges his poor skill at the game; he also called Cuphead a fun game that showed "why making hard games that depend on skill is like a lost art". Regardless, the footage still drew extreme negative backlash and harassment towards him and claims that he was unfit to be a game journalist. Takahashi's response to the controversy spurred more controversy after he accused people attacking the footage of being connected to the 2014 #Gamergate movement, when one week prior to responding, he published an article promoting the idea of a "leisure economy" that stems from game journalists among others being paid to play games, and promoting the fact that he had been reviewing games for 21 years up to that point.

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Cuphead Dean Takahashi Gamescom 2017 footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848Y1Uu5Htk

Earliest archived video page prior to description updates:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170902001715/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848Y1Uu5Htk

Earliest archive of Dean Takahashi Cuphead article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170909095947/https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/24/cuphead-hands-on-my-26-minutes-of-shame-with-an-old-time-cartoon-game/

Earliest archive of Dean Takahashi leisure economy/experience article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170901192804/https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/01/the-deanbeat-the-leisure-economy-where-we-all-get-paid-to-play-games

Earliest archive of Dean Takahashi Cuphead response article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170908155049/https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/08/the-deanbeat-our-cuphead-runneth-over

Braid (2008)

subdirectory_arrow_right Number None Inc. (Company)

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When Braid first released, its creator Jonathan Blow was not happy about the reception the game received, despite much of it being overwhelmingly positive, as he felt players didn't catch on to its deeper themes and messages, and only cared about its aesthetic and puzzles. This view of his game's success has made him a contentious figure, with particular infamy being drawn from his appearance in the 2012 documentary film Indie Game: The Movie, which has a scene of him silently contemplating in a dark room, while audio from a video of rapper Soulja Boy having fun with the game while completely ignoring its plot plays in the background.

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Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 (1998)

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Olympic Hockey Nagano ‘98 is the only game ever to receive a round 0 review score from IGN.

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Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust (2009)

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This game is the second Leisure Suit Larry game to feature no involvement from series creator Al Lowe. Around the time the game was released, Lowe wrote this testimony about the game on his blog:

"All I know about BOB is what I've read online. VU [Vivendi Games] (and later Activision, Team 17 and Codemasters) did not consult me nor discuss anything about this game with me. In fact, they've expressed no interest in me whatsoever! For a while, I hoped that they would remember to send me a review copy. Now that the reviews are in, it's just as well that they didn't!

In case you missed the news, Sierra announced another Larry Lovage game (although this time they spelled his name with an extra "E" i.e., "Loveage" ): Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust. A few months later, after Activision merged with VU, they cancelled it, along with many other VU titles. In early 2009, the game's developer Team 17 announced that Codemasters had picked up the title. It was released at the end of March. No advance copies were released to reviewers (always an ominous sign).

Originally, the game's Executive Producer, John Melchior, claimed it had "open world sand box gameplay," racing, platforming, and puzzles and yet also repeated four times that "it's an adventure game." As another warning sign that rarely bodes well for good gameplay, Larry BOB proudly features its voiceover talent, which includes some D-list "stars." Mr. Melchior wanted to make a game that "Al Lowe would like to play." I wonder why he didn't just ask me?

Ah, well; it can't be worse than Magna Cum Laude, can it?

Now that the reviews are in, the answer is: Yes, it can!"

Lowe then proceeded to list several negative reviews of the game from various major outlets, before concluding with:

"My Take: Thank you, VU Games, for keeping me completely away from this latest disaster!"

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Kao the Kangaroo (2000)

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During development, Kao's name was originally going to be Denis the Kangaroo. This is reflected in some early reviews of the game at the time, which still refer to him as Denis.

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Kao the Kangaroo reviews:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/12/13/kao-the-kangaroo-2
https://www.eurogamer.net/p-kao-dc

The Police Mystery (2023)

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person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 6, 2023

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80 LEVEL article:
https://80.lv/articles/this-bizarre-game-tasks-you-to-escape-from-giant-police-women/

KnowYourMeme article:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/the-police-mystery-giantess-game

Metroid Prime: Federation Force (2016)

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At E3 2015, Nintendo unveiled a new game as an event played during the Nintendo World Championships competition entitled "Blast Ball", with many in attendance noting the game's resemblance to Metroid Prime Hunters. Days later, during the 2015 Nintendo Digital Event, Blast Ball was announced to be part of a full-fledged Metroid Prime spin-off game entitled "Metroid Prime: Federation Force". The game received heavy critical and fan backlash upon its reveal, with common complaints including the choice to reveal a Metroid Prime spin-off title almost ten years after the last traditional Metroid Prime game and after a six-year gap from the similarly polarizing Metroid: Other M, the utilization of a chibi art style, and a seeming lack of Samus Aran or a single-player mode (Samus would later be revealed to be in the game as a side-character and single-player functionality was later confirmed during E3). The reveal trailer received a heavy dislike-to-like ratio on YouTube, having at least 87,000 dislikes and only 10,000 likes as of this writing. Furthermore, a Change.org petition to cancel the game received 7,500 signatures 24 hours after its creation, and received 24,108 signatures prior to its closure.

Nintendo acknowledged the negative pre-release reception of the game several times, but still defended the game overall, with Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie giving similar statements about trying to propel the Metroid series by challenging the traditional gameplay formats that came before it and made up the essence of the franchise. Fils-Amie also compared the fan reaction to the game's reveal to that of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which also received heavy criticism for its art style and gameplay compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The game's co-producer and Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe on the other hand had much more conflicting reactions, initially stating that he had expected the negative reception, but later remarking that he was quite surprised by the negative reception and criticized the heavy criticism against the game's graphics, but in both cases he still asked players to reserve their judgements until they played the game.

During the March 3, 2016 Nintendo Direct five months prior to the game's release, an entire segment of the Direct dedicated to the game was hosted by Tanabe, where he addressed fan criticism, explained the development history of the game, showed a more in-depth view of the story mode, and offered a glimpse of Samus' role in the game. Some people believed this segment of the Direct showed that Nintendo was doing "damage control" for the game after the criticism it received at its reveal. Fan reception did not improve, as shortly after the release of the Direct and a subsequent trailer, it started to receive thousands of dislikes like the reveal trailer, prompting Nintendo to disable the like/dislike ratio. Metroid Prime: Federation Force was noticeably absent during E3 2016, but would receive more coverage and trailers from Nintendo in the immediate weeks leading up to its release, where it ultimately received a mixed to average reception from critics and fans.

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person aa1205 calendar_month November 4, 2023

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Blast Ball pre-reveal news coverage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sGf58VOo-s
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/14/e3-2015-blast-ball-revealed-during-nintendo-world-championships
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/16/e3-2015-metroid-prime-federation-force-is-e3s-biggest-tease

Fan reception sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGu3Xe1uUUg
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/e3-2015-metroid-prime-federation-force-fan-petition-wants-nintendo-3ds-game-cancelled-1506600
https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-petition-for-cancelation-of-metroid-prime-federation-force

Reggie Fils-Amie/Shigeru Miyamoto statements:
http://mashable.com/2015/06/30/nintendo-e3-reggie-fils-amie-metroid/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-17-super-mario-galaxy-3-opportunity-as-hardware-technology-gets-better-and-advances
http://kotaku.com/nintendos-reggie-talks-metroid-amiibo-and-of-course-1713347550

Kensuke Tanabe statements and Nintendo Direct coverage:
https://www.cgmagonline.com/articles/the-future-of-metroid-prime/
https://www.vg247.com/i-was-quite-surprised-by-the-backlash-kensuke-tanabe-on-metroid-prime-federation-force?page=2
https://www.nintendo.com/us/nintendo-direct/03-03-2016/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbKY_DYLZf8
http://kotaku.com/new-metroid-prime-federation-force-trailer-rapidly-down-1762753956

Absence at E3 2016:
https://twinfinite.net/2016/06/e3-2015-announcements-that-were-no-shows-at-e3-2016/4/

Buck Bumble (1998)

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Buck Bumble was criticized by game journalists for having a high level of distance fog. On this topic, Fabian Blache of Q64 Magazine jokingly claimed:

"I am sure the fact that the game is set in England will be the excuse for its presence in this title."

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 23, 2023

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