Grounding developer Yukio Futatsugi said in an interview with SourceGaming that working with Nintendo on this eShop exclusive game was "a really good learning experience":
"When developing with Nintendo, I learned a lot, and Nintendo isn’t shy about giving really direct criticism, and a lot of times the ideas that I came up with were torn down because Nintendo said, ‘No, this is not a good idea, you could do this better’ and most of the publishers that I’ve worked with don’t do that. They sort of try to mask whatever isn’t developed properly and move on with development, but Nintendo wants to make sure that the game itself is good, so they give a lot of criticisms, and that was a really steep learning curve."
"When developing with Nintendo, I learned a lot, and Nintendo isn’t shy about giving really direct criticism, and a lot of times the ideas that I came up with were torn down because Nintendo said, ‘No, this is not a good idea, you could do this better’ and most of the publishers that I’ve worked with don’t do that. They sort of try to mask whatever isn’t developed properly and move on with development, but Nintendo wants to make sure that the game itself is good, so they give a lot of criticisms, and that was a really steep learning curve."
Contributed by PirateGoofy
According to video Game developer Yukio Futatsugi, his tabletop board game Machi Koro was originally going to be a digital board game available on the 3DS, but Nintendo encouraged Futatsugi and his company Grounding to go physical with it instead.
"My company has made a lot of board games, and Nintendo has told me that our games are interesting. Machikoro was supposed to be on 3DS, but the idea didn’t become a reality because it wouldn’t sell on 3DS, and so Nintendo suggested, 'Hey, Grounding, why don’t you manufacture this as a physical board game, I’m sure it will sell really well!' and that’s how Grounding came to become a board game creator."
"My company has made a lot of board games, and Nintendo has told me that our games are interesting. Machikoro was supposed to be on 3DS, but the idea didn’t become a reality because it wouldn’t sell on 3DS, and so Nintendo suggested, 'Hey, Grounding, why don’t you manufacture this as a physical board game, I’m sure it will sell really well!' and that’s how Grounding came to become a board game creator."
Contributed by PirateGoofy
Because console games were more desirable at the time, the PC version's Developers thought their game would only sell around 100,000 to 150,000 units, and were gobsmacked when the data came back from EA that the game sold a groundbreaking 1 to 2 million units.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
The development teams of the different versions actually shared concept art between them during the planning stages of development. After that, the developers were on their own as they thought the different versions would appeal to different audiences. For instance, The PC devs designed their game to be more appealing toward children and pre-teens.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
The Paintings on the walls of Hogwarts in the PC release are copies of famous portraits that have their heads replaced with the developers' heads to avoid copyright infringement.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
Because the production of the first Harry Potter movie was top secret, KnowWonder's request for onset photos lead to blurry photos coming back to them that were unusable. This caused them to send one of their devs named Phil to the set in order to write down everything the set designers did with all of the locations and the team then proceeded to base their environment work of their game solely off of Phil's writing and memory.
They also based the environments off of the heavy research they did on old and medieval British Architecture.
They also based the environments off of the heavy research they did on old and medieval British Architecture.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
Midway through making the game, PC version developers KnowWonder had to do a hard reset and completely restart their development of the game after the lore restrictions employed by Rowling made their original game uninteresting and a "glorified walking simulator", as they put it. Specifically, much of the KnowWonder's ideas had to be abandoned or worked around because many of the spells they wanted to adapt to gameplay they couldn't because first year Hogwarts students didn't have access to such abilities.
Going back to the drawing board caused the redone game to be rushed and the developers to experience crunch, but despite this, they still "found their groove" that helped them create the final game. The team also greatly understood Rowling's strict demand as they were huge fans of the source material.
Rowling also helped KnowWonder by creating a new spell for the team which didn't appear in her novels or on-screen before: Flipendo, a movement spell. Developer Christo Vuchetich opines that Rowling knew what went into making a game by giving his team vague and simple descriptions for the list of first year spells (i.e. "Flipendo moves things").
Going back to the drawing board caused the redone game to be rushed and the developers to experience crunch, but despite this, they still "found their groove" that helped them create the final game. The team also greatly understood Rowling's strict demand as they were huge fans of the source material.
Rowling also helped KnowWonder by creating a new spell for the team which didn't appear in her novels or on-screen before: Flipendo, a movement spell. Developer Christo Vuchetich opines that Rowling knew what went into making a game by giving his team vague and simple descriptions for the list of first year spells (i.e. "Flipendo moves things").
Contributed by PirateGoofy
Despite being developed by different studios, in all versions but the Game Boy Color version, during the final battle with Voldemort Spoiler:/Professor Quirrell, the player must use the Mirror of Erised in the middle of the room in order to strike and defeat him. This does not happen in either the book or movie version of the story. Spoiler:In those stories, Harry involuntarily "defeats" Lord Voldemort when the villain tries to touch him only for Lily Potter's protection spell that she put on Harry to disintegrate Quirrell and in turn Voldemort's physical vessel.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
According to Eidos Senior Project Manager Kevin Gill, he stated that the game came about when he ordered tapings of backyard wrestling footage during a Christmas party:
"[Later] I went to Rob Dyer, the president of Eidos Interactive, and pitched the idea to him. It went through the whole development committee, [and then] we had the task of finding who was the best-suited, most talented developer for the project. The first thing that came to my mind was, 'Well, it could be like Thrill Kill.' Then it was like, 'let's just go right to the source, you know?'"
While Nintendo's name is often translated as "leave luck to heaven," the veracity of this is dubious at best, owed in part to a lack of historical documentation and the wide range of possible readings for the name as written in Kanji. Among other things, "Nintendo" can also be interpreted as the more mundane "the temple of free hanafuda," referring to the company's initial purpose as a playing card manufacturer. Late president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was descended from company founder Fusajiro Yamauchi, admitted that he didn't know what "Nintendo" actually meant, and that "leave luck to heaven" was only accepted by the company because it seemed plausible.
Contributed by game4brains
Due to a loop hole with the Tolkien estate, Vivendi Games was able to make the game independently from Peter Jackson's film adaptations and have it more based on the book. However, despite this, the game's console and PC versions still open with a narration by Lothlorien Elf Galadriel where she describes the history, lore, and creation of The One Ring, which is something that happens in the very beginning of Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring film and not the original novel.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
Five of the dungeon maps in the second quest can be put together to spell "ZELDA".
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
In one cutscene, Wave berates Jet with sped up, high-pitched dialogue. Slowing down this dialogue reveals that it's comprised of recycled Japanese voice clips of most of Wave's dialogue up to that point in the game.
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
As Mario and Luigi approach Ludwig's hotel, Mario comments "We ain't afraid'a no Koopas!", a reference to the theme song to the 1984 film "Ghostbusters".
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
After Mario, Luigi and the Princess run out of Lemmy's hotel, a giant fan is switched on blowing Lemmy and the hotel away, to which Mario says "Hey you! Get off of my cloud!". This is a reference to The Rolling Stones' 1965 song "Get Off of My Cloud".
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
Bowser and the Koopaling's hotels are all references to real-life and fictional hotels:
•Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria = Waldorf Astoria
•Roy's HardBrick Hotel = "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley
•Larry's Chillton Hotel = Hilton
•Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel = Hyatt Regency
•Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel = Trump's Castle
•Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel = Ritz-Carlton
•Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel = Caesars Palace
•Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria = Waldorf Astoria
•Roy's HardBrick Hotel = "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley
•Larry's Chillton Hotel = Hilton
•Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel = Hyatt Regency
•Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel = Trump's Castle
•Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel = Ritz-Carlton
•Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel = Caesars Palace
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
In 2018, on the Discord channel of the Japanese gaming blog Gamecast, an anonymous former Sega AM2 developer revealed a previously-unknown Easter egg where at the end of the quick-time event at the New Yokosuka Harbor, if you input Hado Hado + A within 3 frames, you will perform a Shin Shōryūken as used by Ryu in Street Fighter III two years prior to Shenmue's release (Note that "Hado Hado" (or 236 236) refers to performing the command for the Hadoken move from Street Fighter by moving the D-pad down, down-right, right in rapid succession, twice in a row).
The developers had originally planned to include this in the game as a tribute, but producer Yu Suzuki stepped in and disabled it from being useable in the final release. For the average player to make the move, it takes 6 frames to perform, but the game lowers the window to successfully perform it to 3 frames, making it impossible to perform under normal circumstances. However, the secret itself was not removed, and would later be discovered and executed by a modder in 2019.
When asked why the Easter egg was added in the first place, the developer added:
The developers had originally planned to include this in the game as a tribute, but producer Yu Suzuki stepped in and disabled it from being useable in the final release. For the average player to make the move, it takes 6 frames to perform, but the game lowers the window to successfully perform it to 3 frames, making it impossible to perform under normal circumstances. However, the secret itself was not removed, and would later be discovered and executed by a modder in 2019.
When asked why the Easter egg was added in the first place, the developer added:
"Although we were employees at Sega, we were far from staid workers, and all we wanted to do was make our games fun. We told ourselves we mustn't ever lose that way of thinking.
We attributed a minimum number of various events in parallel to all the characters, so even if the ending is the same, the path to get there will be different for every player. We were trying to do something like that. Quite different from multiple endings. The main story alone was followed without exception, but at the same time we wanted to give all the players a differing experience."
We attributed a minimum number of various events in parallel to all the characters, so even if the ending is the same, the path to get there will be different for every player. We were trying to do something like that. Quite different from multiple endings. The main story alone was followed without exception, but at the same time we wanted to give all the players a differing experience."
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
Homeworld's closing theme "Homeworld (The Ladder)" was composed by the British progressive rock band Yes for the game. It was originally released on the band's 1999 album "The Ladder" eight days before the release of Homeworld. The collaboration was spearheaded by lead singer Jon Anderson who wanted a piece of Yes' music to be worked into a video game, which resulted in the band discovering and becoming interested in Homeworld's plot and development, writing lyrics that fit with the themes of the game such as "thoughts that we're all trying to find our way home". Sierra Studios CEO Alex Garden commented that they tried to do as much as they could to tie the real world into their games to enhance the experience and provide a grounding in reality, and that the collaboration with Yes just came together with that philosophy.
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
While riding Epona, it's possible to jump over the Southern, Western, and Eastern fences to exit Lon Lon Ranch, with each jump featuring a unique cutscene.
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
NSFW - This trivia is considered "Not Safe for Work" - Click to Reveal
The game's creators Marcus Smith and Drew Murray pitched the game to numerous companies, but all of these pitches broke down over Insomniac's condition that they own the IP for Sunset Overdrive. They ended up pitching the game directly to Microsoft several times, who were more open to Insomniac owning the IP, and they ended up publishing the game as an Xbox One exclusive. The "main pitch" that presented the core ideas of the game to several executives however was noted for being unconventional, with Murray arriving wearing his "lucky shoes", riddled with holes, which he had not changed in two weeks:
Murray: "We're presenting, and I have these wet socks up in Seattle. I swear, there must have been six or seven levels of [Microsoft executive] hierarchy at this thing."
Smith: "It's the guy we know, and his boss, and his boss, and his boss... But it started off with us cluing into the speaker system in the conference room and playing the sample from the beginning of MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams', where it's like, "kick out the jams, mother fucker,' not knowing that one of the executives there hates swearing. And then it ended with Drew on top of a chair, mimicking how the game was going to play, and the last minute heroics. It was epic, and I'm shocked they didn't walk away from the table at that point. But for some reason, here we are."
Smith: "It's the guy we know, and his boss, and his boss, and his boss... But it started off with us cluing into the speaker system in the conference room and playing the sample from the beginning of MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams', where it's like, "kick out the jams, mother fucker,' not knowing that one of the executives there hates swearing. And then it ended with Drew on top of a chair, mimicking how the game was going to play, and the last minute heroics. It was epic, and I'm shocked they didn't walk away from the table at that point. But for some reason, here we are."
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
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