In an 2000 interview with the game's composer Atsuhiro Motoyama published in the Great Mahō Daisakusen OST liner notes, he stated he had a great deal of personal affection for the first game in the Mahō Daisakusen series since he wrote the music for it. Before he started to compose Dimahoo, he chose to go back and listen to the old songs from Sorcer Striker for reference.
In Sorcer Striker, he stated that the approach he took to the songs was "melodious and colorful", but for Dimahoo he decided to try something else, not over-emphasizing the melodies and instead attempting to evoke a sense of atmosphere. In his mind, by contrasting these two approaches he was trying to explore the theme of what background music is supposed to be:
He also stated that he was not only plagued with technical difficulties with his sound equipment, but his air conditioner also broke. This made his working experience worse for a few days as Motoyama was "extremely sensitive to the heat":
He also thanked composer Manabu Namiki for assisting him with assembling the game's music data, saying he was "very indebted" to him. The way Namiki handled the music data for Dimahoo was different compared to the way he normally did it. Although he endeavored to keep his original data clean and simple to understand, it ended up being "idiosyncratic and confusing", and Namiki ended up spending many extra overtime hours dealing with it. So, he expressed his gratitude towards him by thanking him for cleaning all that up.
In Sorcer Striker, he stated that the approach he took to the songs was "melodious and colorful", but for Dimahoo he decided to try something else, not over-emphasizing the melodies and instead attempting to evoke a sense of atmosphere. In his mind, by contrasting these two approaches he was trying to explore the theme of what background music is supposed to be:
"When a video game composer writes melodic, busy pieces with tons of notes, and lots of progressive, complex chord structures, those songs make a good impression on the listener as songs, and they can also be quite effective in making the stages seem more exciting… but if you make a single misstep in this approach, it's very easy for the BGM to stand out too much (of course, if you can pull it off, the results can be spectacular). For Dimahoo I tried to do "both" (melody and atmosphere)… but how do you think it turned out?"
He also stated that he was not only plagued with technical difficulties with his sound equipment, but his air conditioner also broke. This made his working experience worse for a few days as Motoyama was "extremely sensitive to the heat":
"The sun would gradually heat the room up by midday, and on top of that, there was heat from the three computers and a rack full of music modules… I wasn't going to get through this with some dinky little table fan! The repair guy couldn't come for three days, and during that time I filled a bucket with ice water and put my feet inside while I worked (yes, I really did this). Damn! Now I can't use the damper pedal on my keyboard!"
He also thanked composer Manabu Namiki for assisting him with assembling the game's music data, saying he was "very indebted" to him. The way Namiki handled the music data for Dimahoo was different compared to the way he normally did it. Although he endeavored to keep his original data clean and simple to understand, it ended up being "idiosyncratic and confusing", and Namiki ended up spending many extra overtime hours dealing with it. So, he expressed his gratitude towards him by thanking him for cleaning all that up.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In the first, second and sixth SoulCalibur games, the classic numeric input for Ivy's notoriously difficult Summon Suffering throw is 376231A+G (Attack + Guard). This number combination actually holds significance as it appears to be a reference to the phone number for Namco's headquarters from before they were acquired by Bandai, being 03-3756-2311.
Allegedly, the developers used the phone number as the basis for the input as a reaction to an in-joke among Tekken and Soul Edge arcade communities, who would react to degenerate or weird stuff in the games with "gonna call Namco about this". The joke being: "If you can't do the throw, go call Namco about it." However, since this input was brought back in SoulCalibur VI long after the phone number stopped being used by Bandai Namco, this adds an additional (albeit probably unintended) layer to the joke: "Go call Namco about it. Oh wait, you can't."
Allegedly, the developers used the phone number as the basis for the input as a reaction to an in-joke among Tekken and Soul Edge arcade communities, who would react to degenerate or weird stuff in the games with "gonna call Namco about this". The joke being: "If you can't do the throw, go call Namco about it." However, since this input was brought back in SoulCalibur VI long after the phone number stopped being used by Bandai Namco, this adds an additional (albeit probably unintended) layer to the joke: "Go call Namco about it. Oh wait, you can't."
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
In the 2023 film "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", the Japanese name for the character Spike (the foreman from Wrecking Crew) was changed in the corresponding dub. Although no specific reason was given as to why the change was made, it can be assumed it was done to avoid controversy as the character's original Japanese name is "Blackie", which is also a derogatory racial slur in English-speaking countries used to refer to dark-skinned people of African descent.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
In a 2023 interview done to promote "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", Shigeru Miyamoto shared his thoughts and opinions on certain aspects of the character Mario that the filmmakers could easily take from the video games that made him endure over time and become so beloved the world over:
"It’s the very fact that he is not your typical superhero that makes him such an interesting movie character[...]He’s so relatable. He’s an Everyman character. He never gives up. He always keeps coming. Those qualities make for a very compelling central character.
I think part of it is the idea that Mario never gives up[...]And he’s kind of got this shy side to him. When all the attention is focused on him, he’s a little bashful and doesn’t maybe want that. That speaks to me. He might seem brave, but that’s still a fundamental core essence of his character."
"It’s the very fact that he is not your typical superhero that makes him such an interesting movie character[...]He’s so relatable. He’s an Everyman character. He never gives up. He always keeps coming. Those qualities make for a very compelling central character.
I think part of it is the idea that Mario never gives up[...]And he’s kind of got this shy side to him. When all the attention is focused on him, he’s a little bashful and doesn’t maybe want that. That speaks to me. He might seem brave, but that’s still a fundamental core essence of his character."
Contributed by PirateGoofy
Street Fighter series director Takayuki Nakayama revealed some concept designs by Bengus meant to represent each of divine beasts in Japanese mythology. These designs depict Byakko (the white tiger), Suzaku (the vermillion bird), Genbu (the black tortoise), Seiryu (the azure dragon), and the less often seen Koryu (the yellow dragon). These designs were meant to be used for mascots of the annual Special RAGE Cup events, which were Street Fighter tournaments held in Japan. The winner would recieve an special costume made for them.
As the RAGE Cup event only lasted for three years (2016-2018), only three of the beasts were present. It is unknown what the final concept of the blue and yellow dragons might have looked like.
As the RAGE Cup event only lasted for three years (2016-2018), only three of the beasts were present. It is unknown what the final concept of the blue and yellow dragons might have looked like.
Contributed by ZpaceJ0ck0
In a 1985 interview with Bill Gates published in the 8/83 issue of LOGiN magazine, he stated the "X" letter in the MSX name doesn't have any special meaning. It was added purely for aesthetic reasons that he felt the logo needed to look good, and that it had an almost artistic sound and a nice ring to it. He thought the logo captured their distinctive style, and that it acted as a "guarantee of compatibility" when systems compatible with the MSX would start using it.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In a 2003 interview with the game's chief designer Masahiro Kumono published in Shinobi THE WIDE Illustration Archives, he stated him and his team began development in April 2001, and they exhibited the game's first playable demo at E3 2002. At the time, because they were showing the Shinobi game at an overseas trade show, they wanted to focus on the Japanese elements of the visuals to help stand out in an obvious way. For the ninja for instance, they incorporated super-Japanese onigawara into the ninja's leg armor, held on with buckled kumihimo, and joked that it was made of lacquerware. In the initial settings for the game, they tried to incorporate Japanese touches like this everywhere, such as characters in furisode-esque outfits, and the backgrounds would show more element like torii in between city buildings, or traditional Japanese houses with expressways running behind them and so on. Kumono wanted to try and express those juxtaposed "modern/Japanese" elements from every potential angle.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
According to a later version of the "Project Wombat" developer bible for Crash Bandicoot (this version was given to a fan by the game's producer David Siller in 2015; an earlier version of it was officially published in 2018 in the book "The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy the Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania"), Dr. Neo Cortex's backstory describes how he and Dr. Nitrus Brio when they were younger destroyed their high school by tampering with the physics department's test nuclear power plant. Afterwards, they traveled the world looking for a new home, but no matter where they went they were ridiculed and ostracized, and it is noted that soon after they left a location, that place was then met with "violent explosions and catastrophes". This culminates in one last account where the pair left the city of Chernobyl, drawing the attention of various international law organizations who connected the dots to their past incidents and soon added Cortex and Brio to the international most-wanted list. Feeling the heat, they finally settled down far away from humanity on the Australian island that he would soon name Cortex Island. This backstory heavily implies that Cortex and Brio were responsible for the real-life 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union.
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
NSFW - This trivia is considered "Not Safe for Work" - Click to Reveal
On March 21st, 2009, the Nintendo World store in New York City held a Pokémon Platinum Launch Event to celebrate the game's release. However, flyers were distributed around Nintendo World stating that attendees can receive a Mystery Gift, which turned to be a hacked Gengar with the nickname "Nigger" caught in a Safari Ball. Its moves were based on black stereotypes consisting of Thief, Sucker Punch, Sludge Bomb, and Snatch along with the Truant ability. The flyers that were distributed around Nintendo World turned out to be a Photoshop edit of the original flyer that didn't specify any Mystery Gift being given out to attendees at all. The Photoshopped flyers were intended for an unrelated unofficial distribution of an Eevee that was also occurring at Nintendo World. The people distributing the Eevee quickly stopped their distribution when security questioned them about the racist Gengar, as two wi-fi signals were detected at Nintendo World. Reports have speculated that an African-American man dressed as a common Team Rocket grunt was solely responsible for the hacked Gengar distribution, and that he was later arrested by police. Nintendo later issued an apology regarding the controversy stating that anyone should refrain from downloading the hacked Mystery Gift Pokémon to avoid any data corruption.
The game's artist Kinu Nishimura, likely used a picture of Masutatsu Ōyama (more commonly known as Mas Oyama) doing his stance as a reference work for her illustrated work of Ryu.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
On February 3, 2023, 9 days after Forspoken's release, Square Enix released the Outline of Results Briefing held on that day, which shows some insight on the publisher's takeaways concerning its recent game releases.
While the briefing primarily focuses on the financial results of numerous underperforming "small and mid-sized titles" that released in the quarter of October-December 2022 to try and fill the gap for declining net sales in the "HD Games sub-segment", the company did make a comment on the sales and reception for Forspoken. On page 6 of the outline, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda stated the following:
On February 28, Square Enix announced that the game's developer, Luminous Productions, would be absorbed back into Square Enix on May 1 to "further bolster the competitive prowess of the Group's development studios". Despite Forspoken's failure, Luminous Productions said that they would remain committed to the game in the meantime, releasing patch updates and working on the game's upcoming DLC "In Tanta We Trust", which is scheduled for release that Summer.
While the briefing primarily focuses on the financial results of numerous underperforming "small and mid-sized titles" that released in the quarter of October-December 2022 to try and fill the gap for declining net sales in the "HD Games sub-segment", the company did make a comment on the sales and reception for Forspoken. On page 6 of the outline, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda stated the following:
"Reviews of “FORSPOKEN,” which we released on January 24, 2023, have been challenging. However, the game has also received positive feedback on its action features, including its parkour and combat capabilities, so it has yielded results that will lead to improvement of our development capabilities of other games in the future. That said, its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings."
On February 28, Square Enix announced that the game's developer, Luminous Productions, would be absorbed back into Square Enix on May 1 to "further bolster the competitive prowess of the Group's development studios". Despite Forspoken's failure, Luminous Productions said that they would remain committed to the game in the meantime, releasing patch updates and working on the game's upcoming DLC "In Tanta We Trust", which is scheduled for release that Summer.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
Between 2016 and 2017, male specimens of a new species of Nocticola cockroach were discovered at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore. The species' discovery was first published in 2023, and it was also announced that it had been named after the Ultra Beast Pheromosa, a Pokémon designed to resemble a "freshly-moulted" American cockroach, from the Generation VII games Pokémon Sun & Moon. The authors of the findings were fans of the series and noticed similarities between the two, including "having a long antenna, wings that mimic a hood and long slender legs." Unlike the hardy American cockroach, cockroaches in the Nocticola genus are very delicate and are known to be found in Africa, south-east Asia, and Australia. This species, Nocticola pheromosa, is the first scientifically-documented instance of a Nocticola cockroach in Singapore.
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
In a 2010 interview with the game's producer Yoshinori Ono published in the MTV Multiplayer Blog, before the release of Super Street Fighter IV, he revealed that he's a big fan of the character Rainbow Mika, and that he wanted her to be put in Street Fighter IV, especially in Super Street Fighter IV. He "basically harassed the director constantly" by just whispering in his ear "Rainbow Mika! Rainbow Mika!". Ultimately, the directors of either version of Street Fighter IV didn't listen to Ono for unknown reasons, and Rainbow Mika never appeared in any Street Fighter IV installments. She would later appear as a playable character in Street Fighter V.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In the 1992 interview with the game's designer/writer Oji Hiroi published in The Super Famicom magazine, an interviewer asked him in what ways was Tengai Makyou II an upgrade from the first game? He responded that the game cartridge could now hold 2 MB of storage. He went on to talk about how they wanted the first Tengai Makyou to be a CD-ROM game before the PC Engine system went on sale, but once they began the development, a variety of unexpected problems cropped up. They spent about a year prototyping and doing various experiments, and "for awhile it didn't seem like we were going to be able to make an RPG at all."
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In a 2000 interview with the game's director Yoshio Sakamoto published in the Nice Games' Game Boy Navigator tankobon, he stated at the time, he had been developing Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru and 3D games were just beginning to emerge. Argonaut Software, an overseas company with a high degree of technical expertise, approached him and his team with the offer to make a 3D game with them. Sakamoto thought it would be a useful experience, so he took the job, but he noted it was hard, summing up the hardships he faced working on the game as "brutal". Sakamoto had not finished writing the scenario for Kaeru, so someone else was put in charge of his half-written scenario, and he told them to continue working on it until he returned. When the development of X was finished and he returned to see how Kaeru was turning out, the game was essentially content-complete, with the only thing left for him to do was to fine-tune the enemy placement and the balance of the maps himself. Despite his minimal involvement with that game, he thought that it turned out exactly as he imagined.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In 2/86 interview with the game's designer Masanobu Endō published in the issue of Famimaga magazine, while he was discussing with Shigeru Miyamoto about how hard it is to work with employees, he mentioned one incident when working on The Tower of Druaga where he proposed to his team that he wanted the player to be able to defend with his shield even when his sword is drawn. After constantly pleading: "Put it in, put it in, it'll be cool! It'll look good! Put. it. in!!!", he eventually convinced them to put it in.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In the 2/86 interview with the game's designer Masanobu Endō published in the issue of Famimaga magazine, he commented that one of the team's employees named Akira was nicknamed "Bakira", because he had a tendency to break things. This in-joke is likely a play on the kanji "爆" (baku), to explode/burst/roar. Endō then admitted he used his nickname as an inspiration for the enemies as "Bacura" enemies in Xevious, commenting:
"...my generation, the "Gundam Generation", we love to make up stupid reasons for every choice we make. Even if it's a lie. (laughs)"
Contributed by ProtoSnake
According to a 1998 The PlayStation magazine interview with director/producer/writer Hideo Kojima & designer/artist Yoji Shinkawa, they commented about designing the character Psycho Mantis, specifically how elements such as him wearing a gas mask because he had "no face" were "part of expanding and developing the story", according to Shinkawa. Kojima clarified that while he didn't know why Shinkawa made those choices, he was not against them being made, stating that "unexpected things like this are part of the fun".
Early concept art of Psycho Mantis by Shinkawa includes notes that read: "His body is like a preying mantis, spindly and emaciated. He wears a mask to hide his ugly face." and "Is this Psycho’s secret real face?"
Early concept art of Psycho Mantis by Shinkawa includes notes that read: "His body is like a preying mantis, spindly and emaciated. He wears a mask to hide his ugly face." and "Is this Psycho’s secret real face?"
Contributed by ProtoSnake
In Episode 7 of the TV series adaptation of The Last of Us, Ellie and Riley are seen playing the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II. At one point, Riley uses Mileena's fatality on Ellie's character Raiden, with Riley being heard pressing four buttons to initiate the killing blow. Following the episode's release, a number of fans online claimed this was inaccurate, as one can simply just press and hold the Heavy Kick command during the "Finish Him!" prompt to initiate her Fatality. However, other Mortal Kombat players argued that the show's display of gameplay could possibly be correct, pointing out that there is an alternate way to do the fatality. Specifically, Mileena can perform the Fatality by standing close to the opponent, holding the Block button and tapping the Heavy Kick command.
Contributed by PirateGoofy
In 1/92 interview with the game's producer Shigeru Miyamoto published in the edition of Famicom Tsuushin magazine, he was asked if the SNES version of Zelda be the same as the Super Famicom version. He responded that him and his team thought about making some improvements to the SNES version, including a number of things they could not complete in time for the Super Famicom release. Zelda makes full use of the available 8 MB of ROM space, but they knew they were going to need extra space for the English translation. They initially planned to increase the ROM size by 1 MB to solve this, until the compression routine their programmers wrote actually allowed them to fit everything in the original 8 MB storage. Miyamoto joked that they would save those aforementioned improvements for the next game.
Contributed by ProtoSnake
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