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Company: Atari SA
subdirectory_arrow_right Infogrames Entertainment SA (Company)
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Attachment In 2001, Infogrames Entertainment SA produced a corporate anthem entitled "Infogrames Rocks My World", which was used at industry events starting with E3 2001 as part of a heavy marketing push to promote their slate of IPs after a series of acquisitions throughout the 1990s. According to YouTuber Larry Bundy Jr. during a video researching the development and release controversies surrounding the game Driv3r, Infogrames' public relations division reportedly spent $50,000 creating the song, but due to the song being relentlessly mocked following its reveal, everyone involved with the song's production was reportedly fired. While Bundy also claimed that the song was first leaked to the Internet by a disgruntled Driv3r developer in 2004, the song was actually distributed by Infogrames to other gaming news outlets as part of digital press kits. The earliest known upload of the song appears to be by software developer Phil Bak to his personal website sometime during or immediately after E3 2001 in May, and the earliest known surviving upload is through a 2001 IGN article covering Infogrames' Gamers' Day press event in August. The song was later uploaded to ZDNET in 2002 on a special article ranking it at #9 on a list of their Top 20 Corporate IT Anthems.
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Acquisition, Advertisement/Commercial, Corporate Affairs, Music, Rumor, Trade Show
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month November 21, 2023
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Infogrames Entertainment SA's PR department - "Infogrames Rocks My World":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEQOv2g0JA#t=1041

Larry Bundy Jr. video on Driv3r development and release controversies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEQOv2g0JA

3000 AD forum post of the Phil Bak link to the song days after E3 2001:
https://www.3000ad.com/forum/topic/7001147-infogrames-e3-theme-song/

2001 IGN article and embedded link to the song:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/08/08/infogrames-state-of-the-union-at-gamers-day
https://pcmedia.ign.com/media/news/sound/infogrames.mp3

2002 ZDNET Top 20 IT Anthems archived article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20021004141104/http://www.zdnet.co.uk/specials/2002/it-anthems/
Pokémon FireRed Version
Pokémon FireRed Version (2004)
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon LeafGreen Version (Game)
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Attachment Shortly after the game's release, a screenshot started circulating online depicting the Seagallop ferryman in Vermilion City telling the player: "By the way: if you like this game, buy it or die." Those who posted the screenshot claimed that it was a hidden message which was only triggered if the game detected that it was running a pirated copy. This claim appeared to be further corroborated by people claiming that they had encountered the message themselves when playing the game with unofficial Game Boy Advance emulators or when hacking legitimate cartridges with cheat devices, and attracted further popularity after being disseminated by various gaming YouTubers.

However, while the screenshot was not photoshopped, the claim that it was an anti-piracy measure was not true. Rather, the text was added into the game's code by an anonymous individual who distributed a ROM of it online; the claim that it was an anti-piracy feature was most likely used by the individual to circumvent ROM distribution sites' restrictions on modified games. This explains why anecdotal reports of encountering the text were so much higher than what would be expected from a complete hoax, as well as why the text is absent when examining an unaltered ROM of the game in a hex editor.
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Anti-Piracy, Copyright, Hidden Message, Hoax, Rumor, Social Media, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month March 21, 2024
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DidYouKnowGaming video which mentions the rumor (before it was debunked):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HsxuGMWnXM

YouTube video by Tech Rules debunking the rumor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XjHZ-V4ooA&t=604s
Poptropica
Poptropica (2007)
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In December 2023, a Discord user posing as a representative of the developers of Poptropica stated on the server for the fan website Poptropica Help Blog that the game would be shutting down after December 29th. The account first appeared on the server in 2022, and while the blog did not do a complete screening to ensure the account was officially associated with the developers, it was eventually given the role of "Poptropica Creator" after they determined it was official based on its posting history. Many players initially believed the announcement was legitimate after Poptropica suddenly closed membership registrations earlier in the month. Shortly after the shut down announcement, the official Poptropica Twitter and Instagram accounts decried the Discord account as being unofficial, and assured players that the game would still be playable after December 29th, with all memberships up to the end of the year being available for free. The blog posted an apology for perpetuating the rumors the following day, but within the next year, the validity of the rumors being false would come into question.

On January 18, 2024, possibly in response to the rumors the prior month, Coolmath Games revealed that they had been in talks with the team behind Poptropica to host the game on their site exclusively, with the game remaining playable on Steam and mobile devices. This would later be confirmed by Poptropica themselves through a pop-up message on their website shortly afterwards. Notably, in a blog post expanding upon the news, Coolmath Games revealed that "the original Poptropica decided to wind down", something that had never been officially stated by Poptropica themselves. This would suggest that there was some degree of truth to the initial hoax as well as various rumors.
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Apology, Corporate Affairs, General, Hoax, Real Life, Rumor, Suggested
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 19, 2023
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Poptropica Help Blog post about the shutdown claims:
https://poptropi.ca/2023/12/16/is-poptropica-shutting-down/

Official Poptropica statement regarding December shutdown rumors:
https://twitter.com/Poptropica/status/1735509964381372710

Coolmath Games announcement:
https://twitter.com/TheRealCoolmath/status/1748068741743555024

Poptropica Help Blog about the news:
https://poptropi.ca/2024/01/19/moving-coolmath/

Coolmath Games blog announcement:
https://www.coolmathgames.com/blog/poptropica-migration
Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64 (1996)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mario Kart Wii (Game)
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Attachment In Mario Kart 64's Bowser's Castle, one can see what appears to be a green Thwomp locked up in a jail cell - this Thwomp is not actually green, but simply lit in a way that makes him appear as such.

This Thwomp would inspire urban legends claiming that players could bail him out through varying elaborate tricks, after which he would be playable under the name "Marty" (likely chosen for the ease of editing hoaxed images with the names Mario, Toad, and Yoshi)

When N64 Bowser's Castle returned in Mario Kart Wii, "Marty" would be made the color of the rest of the Thwomps, suggesting that his green complexion was simply an error and not an intentional design choice.
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Backstory/Lore, Hoax, Mistake, Release Difference, Rumor, Unused Character
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 12, 2023
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Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3 (1995)
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Contrary to popular belief, Johnny Cage wasn't cut from MK3 because his motion capture actor, Daniel Pesina, had to be fired from Midway after advertising a game called BloodStorm (developed by a different company) while dressed as his character.

In a 2020 podcast interview, Mr. Pesina stated that he wasn't fired, but rather that he left Midway because they refused to pay their actors on time. He also stated that series' co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias assisted him with negotiating for the BloodStorm promo and what he wore in that ad was approved by Ed Boon, directly debunking the rumor.

A year later, John Tobias confirmed in a Twitter thread that the reason why Johnny Cage didn't show up in MK3 was because he was one of the least popular/played characters in the previous game, so they decided to remove him entirely, with the in-universe reason being that he died. He was later brought back for Mortal Kombat Trilogy, this time being potrayed by Chris Alexander.
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Development, Real Life, Roster Speculation, Rumor
person ZpaceJ0ck0 calendar_month November 10, 2023
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Overwatch
Overwatch (2016)
subdirectory_arrow_right Yoshi's Crafted World (Game), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Game), Pikmin 4 (Game), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass (Game), Pokémon Shining Pearl (Game), Pokémon Brilliant Diamond (Game)
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Coincidence, Hoax, Meme, Rumor, Similarities, Theory, Title
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 5, 2023
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Blinx: The Time Sweeper
Blinx: The Time Sweeper (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Xbox (Platform), Microsoft (Company), Blinx (Collection)
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Despite being positioned as the Xbox's mascot by the gaming press, Blinx the Time Sweeper was not created to fill that role or rival the likes of Mario and Sonic. Despite an internal push from the Blinx team for the character to become the platform's mascot in Japan (of which executive producer Ed Fries claims to be "not sure how seriously [the Blinx team] took it"), as well as the desire of Bill Gates for Microsoft's gaming department to have a mascot, the character was not officially used as an Xbox mascot, though the game did get a major marketing push in Japan thanks to convenient timing during a Christmas dry spell of game releases and being a Japanese game.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Regional Difference, Rumor
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 28, 2023
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Cooking Mama: Cookstar
Cooking Mama: Cookstar (2020)
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While the game was briefly released physically and through the Nintendo eShop on the Switch, the game was later made unavailable for purchase. The original rumor was that the game was using the Switch's hardware to mine cryptocurrency, but this was later discredited by the game's producers. It was revealed that the reason for the game's quick removal from sale was due to a lawsuit between the game's publisher, Planet Entertainment, and IP owners Office Create. The lawsuit claimed that Planet Entertainment's license to use the Cooking Mama IP expired the day before Cookstar's release.
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General, Legal Affairs, Rumor, Theory
person KidDivinegon calendar_month November 19, 2020
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Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush (2023)
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Attachment The January 2024 update celebrating Hi-Fi Rush's one year anniversary includes new t-shirts that players can wear in-game. Some of these t-shirts are exclusive to their own platform (Xbox, Steam, and Epic Game Store):

• Xbox owners get a green shirt saying “shadow dropped”, a reference to the game’s surprise release.
• Epic Games Store owners get a shirt saying “this is simply unreal epic”, obviously a reference to Epic Games and the Unreal engine and series.
• Steam owners get a shirt saying “Be Positive (Overwhelmingly)”, an obvious reference to Steam’s user review system.

However, two more additional exclusive shirts have recently been discovered through datamining that seem to curiously pertain to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, two competitor platforms to Xbox.

• The red shirt seemingly for Switch says "rock out anywhere", obviously referencing the Switch's portable nature.
• The blue shirt seemingly for PS5 says "I'm here baby", possibly a reference to the game finally arriving on PS5 after a year of being exclusive to Xbox platforms.

In early 2024, Hi-Fi Rush was the subject of various rumors claiming that Microsoft planned on porting it and possibly other first party Xbox titles to its competitor platforms, those specifically being PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. In response to these rumors, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer announced in an Xbox Business Update on February 16, 2024 that four of their previously Xbox exclusive titles were being brought over to rival platforms. On February 21, 2024, it was announced that Hi-Fi Rush, along with Rare's Sea of Thieves and Obsidian's Grounded and Pentiment, were all being released on PlayStation 5 (and Nintendo Switch as well as PlayStation 4 for the latter two games), fully confirming the rumors.
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Bonus Content, Console Difference, Customization, Rumor, Suggested, Theory, Unused Graphic, Update Difference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month February 4, 2024
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Resident Evil
Resident Evil (1996)
subdirectory_arrow_right Disney's Goof Troop (Game)
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Some gameplay ideas used in Resident Evil - such as an action-puzzle-action-puzzle structure, and a restricted inventory system - were first explored in the very tonally opposite SNES cartoon adaptation Disney's Goof Troop, which was designed by Resident Evil's director Shinji Mikami. One rumor, originally claimed online in a Kotaku article by Tim Rogers, who claimed to have been informed of the connection by an unspecified "tech genius" friend, suggests that Resident Evil is built off of Goof Troop's source code.
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Asset Reuse, Development, Inspiration, Rumor, Similarities, Source Code, Unsolved Mystery, Website
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 19, 2024
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War Thunder
War Thunder (2013)
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Starting in 2021, War Thunder's official forums became notorious for being the center point of multiple leaks of export-restricted or regionally classified military documents from around the world detailing how various weapons and transportation equipment like tanks and fighter jets are built. The leaks are attributed to the fact that the game strives to depict the minutiae of warfare as realistically as possible, leading to players with military connections, or access to resources that are publicly available in other regions, sharing the documents on the forums in order to prove points regarding what would or would not be accurate in-game. Despite the forum moderators quickly removing these posts and issuing multiple warnings about them breaching international law, the issue became so prominent and recurring that laypeople began spreading rumors that the United States military had to start filtering out War Thunder players during the recruitment process, which American weapons contractor RTX Corporation denied.
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General, Leak, Legal Affairs, Misconception, Real Life, Rumor, Social Media, Technology
person VinchVolt calendar_month December 13, 2023
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Power Punch II
Power Punch II (1992)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch (Game), Punch-Out!! (Franchise), Mike Tyson (Franchise)
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Cancelled Release, Celebrity, Legal Affairs, Misconception, Name Change, Rumor, Theory, Unused Character, Unused Content
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 17, 2023
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Duck Hunt
Duck Hunt (1984)
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There exists a myth that claims that the giggling scent hound from Duck Hunt's real name is "Mr. Peepers", also the name of a 1950s sitcom. This name is not mentioned in any official Nintendo material, but has been brought up as the dog's name on the internet as far back as at least 2006, and would be cited by many legitimate sources as the dog's name up until the release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, which named the character simply "Duck Hunt" or "Dog". To this day, it remains unknown where the idea of the dog being named "Mr. Peepers" originated and how it spread to be such a popular title for the character.
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Hoax, Rumor, Title, Unsolved Mystery
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 14, 2023
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Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64 (1997)
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 3D (Game)
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Attachment One of the more enigmatic characters in Star Fox 64 is the tanuki or raccoon dog that only appears in its training mode. On the official Japanese Star Fox 64 website, Slippy reveals that his name is ヤル・デ・ポン (Yaru De Pon), and that he is the president of Space Dynamics, the manufacturers of the Arwing and other vehicles the Star Fox team utilizes in their missions.

His surname seems to reference the du Pont family (ポン spells both "Pon" and "Pont"), a wealthy American family who made their fortune selling gunpowder, and later chemicals and motor vehicles. A popular rumor is that Henry A. du Pont secretly sold gunpowder to the Confederacy during the Civil War; fittingly enough, Slippy implies that Yaru de Pon is involved in "shady weapon deals", suggesting that he might be supplying Andross' forces as well.

Yaru de Pon is also notably the only character in the original Star Fox 64 to not have any voice acting. This was addressed in its 3DS remake, Star Fox 64 3D, where he is now properly voiced by Jay Ward (who also voices Wolf O'Donnell in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as the Nintendo Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas) in the English version, and Kunpei Sakamoto in the Japanese version.
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Etymology, General, Real Life, Reference, Regional Difference, Rumor, Voice Acting
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 1, 2023
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Franchise: Five Nights at Freddy's
subdirectory_arrow_right Chuck E. Cheese (Franchise)
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Attachment Throughout October 2023, children's entertainment restaurant Chuck E. Cheese held a promotion titled "Five Nights of Fun", coinciding with the release of a movie based on Five Nights at Freddy's, a horror game franchise inspired by Chuck E. Cheese and littered with references to the company's history. The marketing for FNOF directly pastiches the poster for the FNAF movie and refers to the purple-furred character Mr. Munch as a "purple guy", referencing the overarching villain of the game series.

Despite the obvious parody, an alleged internal document was posted online by a former employee, who had left Chuck E. Cheese days prior to the promotion coming under scrutiny, informing employees that they should feign ignorance of FNAF during the promotion if asked by children or their parents. One example of terminology provided is:

SAY THIS
Oh, is there a movie coming out...? That's news to me! We're celebrating Five Nights of Fun in a row this October!

NOT THIS
Yeah, they wanted to combat that idea of that people think that we are like that place they have in the movie... so they did this
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Advertisement/Commercial, Multimedia Adaptation, Real Life, Reference, Rumor, Suggested
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 10, 2023
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Franchise: Pokémon
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Contrary to popular belief, the name "Pikachu" is not derived from the pika (a rodent-like lagomorph found in Japan that gains a yellow tinge in the winter), but rather a Japanese onomatopoeia for an electric spark. It should be noted that pikas are known as "nakiusagi" in Japan.
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Coincidence, Inspiration, Rumor
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 9, 2023
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The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023)
subdirectory_arrow_right Sonic Origins Plus (Game), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Game)
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The 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has two endings:

• A good ending, played if the player collects all the emeralds, where Sonic and Tails run off together at night, and see a constellation in the shape of their heads in the sky.
• A bad ending, where Sonic runs alone in the night, and sees a constellation in the shape of Tails' head in the sky

Although it has never been confirmed, many fans have speculated that the bad ending is supposed to involve Tails dying at the hands of Dr. Eggman, with some even going as far as to suggest that a large star on the right of Tails' forehead is supposed to represent a gun wound. The @sonic_hedgehog Twitter account has jokingly acknowledged this theory without confirming one way or another if it is true - once in a cross-promotion for The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and the 8-bit game's addition to Sonic Origins Plus, where it compares both games' inclusion of "a beloved character's possible demise", and in a piece of promotional artwork taking place at a carnival, where Tails gets nausea on an intense ride and his constellation can be seen above him, with the "gun wound" star being placed on his muzzle.
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100% Completion, Console Difference, Ending, Rumor, Theory
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 8, 2023
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Luigi's Mansion
Luigi's Mansion (2001)
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Attachment The October 2001 issue of Nintendo Power included a page with preview screenshots of Luigi's Mansion, including a screenshot of an earlier build of the Safari Room with the caption: "When your ghoul-busting mission takes you to the trophy room, proceed with caution. If you meet up with the ghost of a hunter, he'll want to add Luigi to his collection." This sparked rumors among players that the Safari Room originally featured a hunter boss who wanted Luigi's head as one of his trophies, and that it was removed from the game for being too frightening to the target audience of children.

However, no evidence of a hunter ghost is present in the game's data despite the presence of other unused ghosts, and no direct mentions of the boss exist in previews prior to the game's release in Japan in September 2001. The caption was likely an attempt at hyperbole rather than a serious indication that a hunter-themed ghost was in the game, as the article was written after Luigi's Mansion was released in Japan, meaning all characters would have been finalized long before the article was published.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Magazine, Rumor
person NintendOtaku calendar_month September 13, 2023
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The Great Giana Sisters
The Great Giana Sisters (1987)
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Attachment It is often rumored that Nintendo filed a lawsuit or sent a C&D to Rainbow Arts over The Great Giana Sisters' resemblance to Super Mario Bros. - however, according to the game's music composer Chris Hülsbeck, this is not true, Nintendo only sent Rainbow Arts an "angry letter" over the UK release's cover art containing the phrase "the brothers are history!", leading to the game being pulled.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Complaint, Plagiarism, Rumor
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 10, 2023
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Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing!
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing! (1988)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mavis Beacon (Collection)
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Despite the product line being marketed as if Mavis Beacon is a real person who endorsed the software, Mavis Beacon is a fictional character. The first version of Mavis was portrayed by Renée L'Esperance.
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Credits, Rumor
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 10, 2023
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