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Platform: Nintendo Switch
subdirectory_arrow_right Nintendo (Company)
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In 2020, hackers Gary Bowser and Max "MAXiMiLiEN" Louarn were arrested and extradited to the United States for money laundering and selling products meant to crack the Nintendo Switch's copy protection to run pirated copies of games. The two were members of Team Xecuter, a hacking group which specialized in similar measures for a large number of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft consoles. In 2021, Bowser pled guilty on conspiracy and trafficking charges and was sentenced to 40 months in prison; Nintendo later filed a separate civil suit against him, which together with the prison sentence left him $14.5 million in debt. The company's legal department claimed during the court case that the unusually severe punishments were intended to send a chilling effect through the piracy world, intimidating would-be hackers by using Bowser's punishment as an example.

Following the case, multiple news outlets noted the irony of Gary Bowser's last name, which is shared with Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser and Mario series antagonist Bowser.
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Anti-Piracy, Corporate Affairs, Financial Affairs, General, Legal Affairs, Piracy, Real Life
person ProtoSnake calendar_month February 2, 2024
comment Comment (9) | Source
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Fortnite
Fortnite (2017)
subdirectory_arrow_right Epic Games (Company)
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In May 2024, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) fined Epic Games €1,125,000 for using "unfair commercial practices" aimed at children in Fortnite. The investigation found that Epic Games "exploited [the] vulnerabilities" of children through design choices in the game's Item Shop. Examples include the use of demanding phrases like "get it now" or "buy now" on certain advertisements, which the ACM deemed an "illegal aggressive commercial practice", as well as countdown timers that were used on some ads for items still available in the shop after the countdown ended, exploiting a fear of missing out by making items that were still available for sale falsely seem scarce. Epic Games immediately made changes to the game in response to this report, including removing countdown timers worldwide and adding time indicators for shop refreshes and item removal dates. As of May 24, 2024, players under 18 years of age in the Netherlands can only see items available for 48 hours or more in the store. However, the company still planned to appeal the decision, claiming that the ACM's findings contain factual errors about how Fortnite and the Item Shop operate.
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Complaint, False Advertising, Financial Affairs, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Removed Feature, Update Difference
person ProtoSnake calendar_month May 19, 2024
comment Comment (0) | link Source
Deltarune
Deltarune (TBA)
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Attachment Although Chapter 1 was given a surprise release in 2018, with Toby Fox giving no prior public indications of its existence, Deltarune had been teased in secret since at least 2015. Three months after Undertale released, the fan site DeltaRune.com announced that it would be rebranding to Dreemurr.com at Fox's request; Fox didn't tell the owners of Dreemurr.com why he didn't want them to use the domain. However, after the fan site fulfilled his request, Fox used deltarune.com to host an image called him.png, a passage of Wingdings text only readable by turning up the brightness using image editing software.

While the text initially parroted the phrase "THIS NEXT (space) EXPERIMENT (space) SEEMS (space) VERY (space) VERY (space) INTERESTING" from the unused room_gaster event in Undertale, by July 1, 2016, the text was edited to read "THREE HEROES APPEARED (space) AT WORLD'S EDGE", later being edited again by August 17 to say "THREE HEROES APPEARED (space) TO BANISH THE ANGELS HEAVEN". Both revisions quote portions of the legend that Ralsei recounts in Chapter 1, indicating that these parts of the game's backstory were already conceived by this point.

Following the release of Chapter 1, deltarune.com would be refurbished as the official website for Deltarune itself. Consequently, earlier versions of the site only survive through snapshots on the Wayback Machine, a URL archiving platform hosted by the Internet Archive.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Backstory/Lore, Development, Easter Egg, Hidden Message, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Secret, Teaser, Website
person VinchVolt calendar_month May 13, 2024
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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On April 8th, 2022 (the American release date for the film "Sonic the Hedgehog 2"), former Archie Comics writer Ken Penders revealed that he was contacting his legal team in regards to the Echidnas and their backstory featured in the film. According to Penders, both Knuckles' unnamed father and the workings of the film's depiction of the Master Emerald were derivitive of two of his characters, Locke and Enerjak. Despite the fact that the powers of the game version of the Master Emerald had been established back in 1994 with the release of Sonic & Knuckles, Penders has claimed to have legal ownership over the ideas he created in 1996. However, as of March 2024, no lawsuit has materialized.
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Backstory/Lore, Complaint, General, Legal Affairs, Multimedia Adaptation, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month March 25, 2024
comment Comment (0) | Source
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WWE 2K24
WWE 2K24 (2024)
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Attachment In early February 2024, one month prior to the game's release, multi-time WWE World Champion Brock Lesnar was removed from the cover of the "Forty Years of WrestleMania" showcase edition of the game in response to a sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. Although Lesnar's name was not directly mentioned in the lawsuit, his reported connection to the case led to his removal as part of a wider effort by the WWE to disassociate from him. The cover was updated to feature a larger version of John Cena, where Lesnar used to be.

Content creators who got early access to the game on February 23 confirmed that both Lesnar and McMahon were no longer playable characters in WWE 2K24. While the extent of McMahon's removal is unknown, Brock Lesnar’s data remains locked away in the game due to his matches with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30 and Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 31 being featured in the "Showcase of the Immortals" Showcase mode, and it being too far into development to remove them.
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Artwork/Illustration, Box Art, Censorship, Corporate Affairs, Development, General, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Removed Feature, Unused Character
person ProtoSnake calendar_month February 20, 2024
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Brock Lesnar Removed From WWE 2K24 Special Edition Cover:
https://www.ign.com/articles/brock-lesnar-removed-from-wwe-2k24-special-edition-cover

Brock Lesnar's replacement on WWE 2K24 cover revealed:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/news-brock-lesnar-s-replacement-wwe-2k24-cover-revealed

[Below source and additional info provided by SOGESNAKE.]

WWE 2K24 Final Roster Confirms Removal of Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon:
https://www.ign.com/articles/wwe-2k24-final-roster-confirms-removal-of-brock-lesnar-and-vince-mcmahon
Ace Attorney Investigations 2
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (2011)
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Frank Sahwit, the culprit of "The First Turnabout" (the first episode of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney), plays a major role in the second episode of Ace Attorney Investigations 2, "Gokuchū no Gyakuten" (roughly translated to "Reversal in Prison"). This is notable in that it suggests that not everybody convicted of homicide is given either a life sentence or the death penalty in the Ace Attorney series, as it's implied that he would have been eligible for parole after the events of the case had he not Spoiler:served as Marie Miwa's accomplice in the murder of Manosuke Naitou. This is consistent with real life, as Frank had committed a second-degree murder (a murder which occurs in the spur of the moment) rather than a first-degree murder (which are premediated). Additionally, given the short amount of time he had served prior to his near-parole (around two years and nine months), it's possible that Sahwit had been convicted of a lesser crime such as manslaughter since the first game did not indicate that he had actively intended to murder Cindy Stone.
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Backstory/Lore, General, Legal Affairs, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 18, 2024
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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In August 2016, Scott Fulop, a former editor and writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics (whose notable contributions include the characters Mammoth Mogul and the Fearsome Foursome), began pursuing legal action against Archie Comics for the unauthorized use of his characters and reprinted stories. He was inspired to do so by fellow former writer Ken Penders, who had also infamously sued Archie for similar reasons. However, on September 5, 2017, Fulop ultimately lost his lawsuit.
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General, Legal Affairs, Multimedia Adaptation, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 7, 2024
comment Comment (0) | link Source
Postal
Postal (1997)
subdirectory_arrow_right Running with Scissors (Company)
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Running with Scissors wanted to make "the most outrageous game they could", and began work on Postal after being inspired by Robotron: 2084. In 1997, they filed a trademark for the word "Postal" in the area of electronic gaming, but were soon counter-filed by the United States Postal Service, who claimed to be moving into video games: Marvin Travis Runyon, the United States Postmaster General at the time, even sent Running with Scissors a latter condemning the game's theme. The legal battle was ultimately dismissed with prejudice in June 2004.

The theme was also highly controversial not just within the larger media, but also within the video game industry. This was a surprise to CEO Vince Desi, who felt Postal was more comical and over-the-top, and stated that the game was not meant to be taken seriously. After it was released, Postal was targeted by Senator Joe Lieberman, who called the game "one of the worst things in America". Additionally, retail chains such as CompUSA and Walmart refused to sell the game.
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Complaint, Development, General, Inspiration, Legal Affairs, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 3, 2024
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Palworld
Palworld (2024)
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Following the Steam Early Access release of Palworld on January 18, the developers faced accusations of copying Pokémon models for the designs of the game's Pals. The allegations were made by a Twitter user named byofrog, who claimed that some of Palworld's creature models were directly copied and edited from 3D models ripped from Pokémon games. These allegations were criticized for scaling the Pokémon and Palworld models to be comparable in size, leading to claims that edited models were not reliable or accurate evidence. byofrog claimed in response that because the models from each game loaded into modeling software at different sizes, scaling them appropriately were the only necessary edits made to compare them, and that the models' meshes, proportions, and other fundamental features were not edited.

Takuro Mizobe, the CEO of Palworld developer Pocket Pair, denied the allegations, calling them "slanderous", and also stated that Pocket Pair has "no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies". On January 25, The Pokémon Company released an official statement confirming they were aware of a flood of inquiries about "another company’s game released in January 2024", and that they were currently investigating them.
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Complaint, Copyright, Development, General, Legal Affairs, Model, Real Life, Social Media
person ProtoSnake calendar_month January 25, 2024
comment Comment (0) | Source
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The Getaway
The Getaway (2002)
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Censorship, Complaint, Demo, Development, General, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Regional Difference, Regulatory Content Rating, Release Difference, Update Difference, Version Difference
person ProtoSnake calendar_month January 24, 2024
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Collection: Mario Kart
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Attachment In 2016, Nintendo entered a legal dispute with MariCar, an Osaka-based company offering tourists Mario Kart-themed tours of the city using modified go-karts. The service included costumes based on the Mario Kart roster and alluded to the games' items in its advertising, jokingly asking customers not to attack each other with "banana peels" or "red turtle shells." Nintendo filed a complaint with the Japan Patent Office in September, arguing that the company's trademark was deliberately over-evocative of that for Mario Kart. Four months later, however, the office denied Nintendo's request, noting that "MariCar" was not a common abbreviation for Mario Kart, and thus the two trademarks did not conflict.

As the Japanese legal system does not include fair use protections for parodies, Nintendo subsequently sued MariCar the following month for copyright infringement due to the unauthorized inclusion of Mario character costumes. The case was ultimately decided in Nintendo's favor in September 2018, with MariCar being forced to drop the Mario Kart iconography and pay Nintendo ¥10 million (roughly equivalent to $89,000 USD) in damages. The company attempted to appeal the case to the Japanese Supreme Court, who rejected the motion in December 2020 and increased the fine to ¥50 million (approximately $483,000 USD). MariCar has since rebranded as Street Kart in the wake of the lawsuit.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Character Design, Legal Affairs, Plagiarism, Real Life
person VinchVolt calendar_month January 24, 2024
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Dying Light 2: Stay Human (2022)
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In June 2020, the game's writer Chris Avellone was publicly accused of sexual assault and harassment by two women in the video game industry on Twitter claiming to have been victims of his behavior. Avellone denied the allegations, stating that he has never sexually assaulted or harassed anyone. Techland, the developer of Dying Light 2: Stay Human, later announced that the two had agreed to let him go from his work on the game, with Avellone also losing work on other games. However, in March 2023, after Avellone brought on a libel lawsuit, the women retracted their statements claiming that they were misinterpreted, and paid Avellone a seven figure payment as part of the settlement. In a joint statement, the women said that Avellone "never sexually abused either of us. We have no knowledge that he has ever sexually abused any women", and they "believe that he deserves a full return to the industry and support him in those endeavors."
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Complaint, Corporate Affairs, Development, General, Legal Affairs, Male/Female Gender, Misconception, Real Life, Social Media
person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 25, 2023
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone accused of sexual assault and harassment:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200622211330/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/365244/Dying_Light_2_writer_Chris_Avellone_accused_of_sexual_assault_and_harassment.php

The game and comics industries are grappling with widespread allegations of harassment and abuse:
https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/25/21302341/video-game-tabletop-game-comics-allegations-harassment-abuse-racism-metoo

Fallout Writer Chris Avellone’s Accusers Settle Libel Case For Seven Figures:
https://kotaku.com/fallout-new-vegas-avellone-sexual-misconduct-libel-1850270184

Chris Avellone resolves sexual misconduct allegations, claiming a "seven-figure payment"
"There are still many very real challenges that we face but am confident we can face them together.":
https://www.eurogamer.net/chris-avellone-resolves-sexual-misconduct-allegations-claiming-a-seven-figure-payment
Company: Gizmondo Games
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In October 2005, a newspaper report was released in Sweden linking multiple high ranking staff at Tiger Telematics, the company that made the Gizmondo game console, to the Uppsalamaffian, a Swedish mafia. The report singled out Stefan Eriksson, a prominent figure in the console's development, as the leader of the mafia until he became involved with the Gizmondo, and having received at least 2 prison sentences beforehand. On the same month that the Gizmondo was discontinued in Feburary 2006, Eriksson crashed a Ferrari in California so hard that it tore in half, with the investigation into the crash landing Eriksson behind bars again, and eventually deporting him back to Sweden to face repercussions for additional crimes committed there.
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General, Legal Affairs, Real Life
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 21, 2023
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Company: Activision Blizzard
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In 2023, Activision Blizzard was ordered to pay $35 million by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its failures to maintain proper workplace disclosure controls and violations of whistleblower protections. The fine was imposed due to the company’s failure to ensure proper employee protections against workplace harassment and gender discrimination, which led to many women leaving the company. The SEC used a 2021 lawsuit by the state of California’s Civil Rights Department against Activision Blizzard to launch its own investigation meant to determine whether the firm’s handling of the situation constituted a breach of its fiduciary duty to investors. The proceedings were started after the company’s home state charged it with violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act in summer 2021.
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Complaint, Corporate Affairs, Financial Affairs, Legal Affairs, LGBTQ+, Male/Female Gender, Real Life
person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 17, 2023
comment Comment (0) | link Source
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (1981)
subdirectory_arrow_right Crazy Kong (Game)
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Crazy Kong was an officially licensed clone of Donkey Kong released by Falcon Inc. to compensate for Nintendo's inability to make enough Donkey Kong machines as there was demand for. However, Crazy Kong was only allowed to be distributed in Japan, but Falcon released the game abroad anyway with Elcron Industries, leading to a lawsuit where Nintendo won.
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Corporate Affairs, General, Legal Affairs, Reskin
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 13, 2023
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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In a post titled "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: One Year Later...", Karl Bollers (a former writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics) revealed numerous plans that he had intended to include in the comics following Issue #134 that were never used, such as:

• Sonic and Amy becoming a couple after being stranded at sea together, keeping it a secret from Sally.
• Tails reuniting with his parents by traveling into space on a modified Tornado.
• Amy's origins being explored in a fuller adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
• Knuckles departing Angel Island after learning that his presence exposes the location of the Master Emerald, going on a global pilgrimage to learn martial arts and battling a Dr. Eggman controlled-Monkey Khan while himself under the control of the Iron Queen before discovering the Master Geode.
• Sally being a pawn in a villainous plot by the corrupted Source of All and Ixis Naugus to prevent the future first previewed in "Sonic In Your Face!".
• Bunnie and Antoine breaking up due to a change in Antoine's personality, with Bunnie's origins later being explored and her true name being revealed as "Scarlette O'Hare" (which may have served as the inspiration for Scarlette Rabbot from Sonic Universe's "Fractured Mirror" story arc, and Bunnie's codename when she was in the Metropolis Egg Army in Issue #255).
• Antoine gaining his scar due to an accident with a knife and becoming a villain after allowing himself to be possessed by a corrupted Source of All in hopes of winning Bunnie back.
• Rotor retiring from field duty in order to pursue a role analogous to that played by "Q" from the James Bond franchise.
• The Source of All surviving Robotropolis' destruction and reconstituting itself in a remote mountain range, where it began to exert control over King Max, brainwashing the Arachne Clan and another group of Spiders known as the Strand, and possessing Antoine while under the control of Ixis Naugus.
• Locke and Lara-Le putting aside their previous disputes to help raise Kneecaps after his father Wynmacher ends up in the Egg Grape Chamber.
• Dr. Robotnik kidnapping Hope Kintobor under the pretense that he is the only correct choice to be her legal guardian, while using her as bait to lure in Shadow.
• Ixis Naugus attempting to return by transforming Max's body into a duplicate of his own, only to be thwarted by the destruction of the Crown of Acorns.
• Mammoth Mogul beginning to age rapidly due to his original Chaos Emerald running out of energy, forcing him to seek out alternative sources through illicit archaeological expeditions and hiring mercenaries like Nack the Weasel. The Master Geode, a powerful gemstone that would fulfill Mogul's needs, would be contested by him, the Iron Queen, Robotnik, and Rouge the Bat.
• Nate Morgan surviving the destruction of Robotropolis and being de-Roboticized by the Bem, returning as Coconuts' amnesia-addled ally, who creates a new Metal Sonic, Metal Amy, Metal Knuckles, and Tails Doll that are mistaken for Robian versions of the heroes.
• Snively taking up a fifteen foot-tall mechanical battle suit and the alias "Skarkus" in pursuit of revenge against Robotnik for leaving him alone against the Xorda, leading to an alliance between him and Shadow.
• A.D.A.M. and Nicole becoming romantically involved, leading to A.D.A.M. seizing control of the Shadowbot army and leading them from New Megaopolis to Knothole.
• A new Dingo Regime leader named Colonel Mange being introduced, with Croctobot, Jack Rabbit, and Gala-Na being reintroduced as Robotnik Sub-Bosses over Downunda, the Great Desert, and Albion. This would have led to the disappearance of the Downunda Freedom Fighters and a confrontation involving the Mercian Freedom Fighters.
• Evil Sonic coming to enjoy impersonating Sonic and enjoying the love of his parents and adulation of his people, leading him to plan to eliminate Sonic and permanently take his place.

Additionally, in the aftermath of Ken Penders' lawsuit against Archie Comics, Bollers has confirmed that he now owns the rights to all the characters he created for the comics, such as Mina Mongoose, Ash Mongoose, and Hope Kintobor.
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Early Idea, General, Legal Affairs, Multimedia Adaptation, Real Life, Reference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 9, 2023
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Blasphemous
Blasphemous (2019)
subdirectory_arrow_right Blasphemous II (Game)
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According to a December 7, 2023 tweet from Team17's official support account on Twitter "Team17 Help", they stated that currently both Blasphemous and Blasphemous II would not be releasing on Xbox consoles in Japan due to unspecified "local legislation".
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Console Difference, General, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Regional Difference
person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 8, 2023
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Pengo
Pengo (1982)
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Attachment The first two versions of Pengo use "Popcorn" by Gershon Kingsley as the background music, in the third and fourth, they were swapped for an original tune.
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Copyright, Legal Affairs, Music, Plagiarism, Update Difference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 27, 2023
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Super Brawl 3: Good vs. Evil
Super Brawl 3: Good vs. Evil (2013)
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Gold Ranger and Xandred from "Power Rangers Samurai" were originally included in the US version of the game, but were later removed. While never actually confirmed, it's believed to be due to rights issues regarding the Power Rangers franchise.
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General, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Regional Difference, Removed Feature, Update Difference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 27, 2023
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Mario's Super Picross
Mario's Super Picross (1995)
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Attachment The Virtual Console versions of Mario's Super Picross replace three puzzles, likely due to legal issues:

• The likeness of Marilyn Monroe, which was replaced by a tortoise.
• A set of Tetrominos from Tetris, which was replaced by a hermit crab.
• The painting The Scream by Edvard Munch, which was replaced by a chameleon.

Despite The Scream and Monroe's likeness entering the public domain in 2015 and 2012 respectively, the Wii U; New 3DS; and Switch versions of the game keep the replaced puzzles.
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Console Difference, Copyright, Legal Affairs, Version Difference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 26, 2023
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