Trivia Browser
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The South Korean version of the game (released two years after the original Japanese edition) contains eleven unused maps not found in any other release, featuring fully 3D environments which do not line up with any locations present in the finished product. All assets related to these maps are dated after the game's Japanese release, with intervals ranging from five days to just over three months. Additionally, the maps' texture names are written in Romanized Japanese rather than Korean, indicating that they were not created by Nintendo of Korea.Two of these maps, kri_04 and kri_05, additionally feature various cat NPCs, all drawn in substantially different art styles compared to not only each other, but also the final game. Each one is named after a developer from the Super Paper Mario staff: yamada_neko02 (Koichiro Yamada), koba_neko (Sayuri Kobayashi), tuka_neko (Naoko Tsukamoto), and kawa_neko (Chie Kawabe).
Of these four, kawa_neko is the most unique, and was apparently designed as a player character. Firstly, the cat's name is only given to its mesh, with its sprite instead being named bc_all.1. Additionally, kawa_neko features an animated tail and a mesh that is centered on the ground rather than the middle of the room. Furthermore, new_neko_18, a redesigned version of kawa_neko with white fur instead of black, can be found in kri_08, kri_09, and kri_10; new_neko_18's mesh is explicitly labeled "PLAYER" in the data for these maps.
Taken together, all of these elements imply that these early rooms were created as a proof-of-concept for an original project by Intelligent Systems that ended up cancelled for unknown reasons.
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon LeafGreen Version (Game)
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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.
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
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
subdirectory_arrow_right Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Game)
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On August 18th and 19th, 2014, several weeks before Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS launched in Japan, one of the most influential leaks in the series occurred. Footage of the gameplay and the roster (including fighters who were not announced by Nintendo at the time) were uploaded to 4chan, and then YouTube. The legitimacy of the leaks were brought into question by fans (such as the consistency of the rosters compared to the one that was shown at E3 that year), with some speculating that the leaks originated from an employee connected to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), leading fans to refer to the leak as the ESRB leak. It was not until Nintendo took down the YouTube videos very shortly after they were uploaded when they were confirmed to be legitimate. Days later, Shulk would be revealed for the game in a Japanese Nintendo Direct, confirming the rest of the game's unannounced roster.
In 2023, it was discovered that the leaker was a child of a Nintendo of America employee. According to a DidYouKnowGaming? video researching the history of various video game leaks, the employee recorded footage of the game in action, which would be sent to the ESRB for review. The child gained access to it and shared the footage with his friends, before spreading out of control. Nintendo of America fired the employee shortly after word got out.
In 2023, it was discovered that the leaker was a child of a Nintendo of America employee. According to a DidYouKnowGaming? video researching the history of various video game leaks, the employee recorded footage of the game in action, which would be sent to the ESRB for review. The child gained access to it and shared the footage with his friends, before spreading out of control. Nintendo of America fired the employee shortly after word got out.
subdirectory_arrow_right Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Game)
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Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe redesigns Wing Kirby's costume, changing the pattern on the headband to a series of straight lines, adding a red jewel on the front (similar to the kind seen on other Copy Ability hats), and replacing the rows of feathers on the back with arrangements that more closely resemble a bird's wings. As the original design was based on a Native American warbonnet, the redesign was likely to avoid cultural appropriation, as real-life warbonnets are regarded as sacred in tribal cultures and consequently can only be worn by those who have earned the right to do so.
YouTube video highlighting various changes made in the Nintendo Switch remake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiLRSBsOiFA
Indian Country Today article on cultural appropriation of warbonnets:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170706114746/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/sports/houska-i-didnt-know-doesnt-cut-it-anymore/
Native Appropriations article on why wearing warbonnets as generic headgear is considered offensive among Native Americans:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160513074733/http://nativeappropriations.com/2010/04/but-why-cant-i-wear-a-hipster-headdress.html
Texas Law Review paper on Native American perspectives on cultural appropriation:
https://texaslawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/RileyCarpenter.FinalPDF.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiLRSBsOiFA
Indian Country Today article on cultural appropriation of warbonnets:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170706114746/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/sports/houska-i-didnt-know-doesnt-cut-it-anymore/
Native Appropriations article on why wearing warbonnets as generic headgear is considered offensive among Native Americans:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160513074733/http://nativeappropriations.com/2010/04/but-why-cant-i-wear-a-hipster-headdress.html
Texas Law Review paper on Native American perspectives on cultural appropriation:
https://texaslawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/RileyCarpenter.FinalPDF.pdf
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The Sega Genesis version of Action 52 was directed by a young Jay Phillip Obernolte, who would later succeed Paul Cook as a Republican member of California's House of Representatives on January 3, 2021.
City of Big Bear Lake official biography for Obernolte's time on the City Council as Mayor, including description of him founding FarSight Studios:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140415120336/http://www.citybigbearlake.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=302%3Ajay-p-obernolte-biography&catid=45&Itemid=57
FarSight Studios website listing for Action 52:
http://farsightstudios.com/portfolio/1993-action-52/
Action 52 Genesis longplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsg2n6TvKYM
https://web.archive.org/web/20140415120336/http://www.citybigbearlake.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=302%3Ajay-p-obernolte-biography&catid=45&Itemid=57
FarSight Studios website listing for Action 52:
http://farsightstudios.com/portfolio/1993-action-52/
Action 52 Genesis longplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsg2n6TvKYM
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In the Chinese port for the iQue Player, the 'Special Cup' has been renamed 'iQue Cup', though the courses appear to the same.
subdirectory_arrow_right Planet Sheen (Franchise)
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In Super Fall Brawl, one of the many reskins of Jingle Brawl, the new character was intended to be Sheen Estevez from Jimmy Neutron, in promotion for his then-new spin-off series Planet Sheen. However, Sheen was not coded correctly, making him near-impossible to beat in a fight. The game's second update would remove Sheen and his stage completely, and he would never be added back in, making Fall Brawl the only Super Brawl game without any new combatants. Sheen would return in Super Brawl 2, though the House of Pain stage, based on the first episode of Planet Sheen, would be swapped for a Zeenu stage generally based on Planet Sheen instead of a single episode.
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Because the developers were still experimenting with Double Battles where the player teams up with an NPC ally to fight two NPC opponents, this lead to a glaring oversight during the battle where the player joins with Steven Stone to battle Maxi and Tabitha where, during the battle, Steven's Level 42 Metang can actually gain a substantial amount of EXP simultaneously with the player's own Pokémon. This essentially means that, with careful manipulation, the player can have the ally Metang get enough EXP to grow to Level 43. This so far is the only instance in the entire Pokémon main series where, in a non-scripted battle, an NPC's Pokémon can gain EXP and level up.
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If a fighter tries to footstool Piranha Plant while the plant is crouching, the footstooler will be met with a biting attack that takes 4% damage. This happens automatically every time even when the Piranha Plant player presses nothing during the footstool. This highly situational attack however can be easily dodged and countered by the attacked player making it useless in high-level play.
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Spoiler:The scene where Artorius kills Laphicet was changed for the Western release. Instead of stabbing him directly in the chest, Artorius sacrifices Laphicet through a magical ceremony.
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In the Japanese version of the game, the knocked out guard Spoiler:outside of Meryl's cell will still be wearing underwear. In other versions of the game, the guard is found naked with his rear-end blurred out.
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In the North American version, the enemies known as "Grey Children" bare a strong resemblance to real-life children, however in the Japanese & European versions they were instead replaced by "Mumblers".
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In all versions of the game there is a secret passage in Cafe HOWDY!/Pub Lali-Ho in the Dwarven Castle of the Underworld that leads to a place called the "Developer's Room". In it are recolored sprites that are meant to be the developers of the game. In the DS release, it has the developers of the DS remake instead. This area was cut in "Final Fantasy 4 Easy-Type" and "Final Fantasy 2 (US)" because it's possible to find a pornographic magazine in the room, called Lustful Lali-Ho.
subdirectory_arrow_right Yume Koujou: Doki-doki Panic (Game)
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Super Mario Bros. 2 was technically not a unique Mario game, but rather an enhanced port of a Japanese game called "Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic", translated to English as "Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic". The "Dream Factory" part of the name refers to an expensive 1987 Japanese expo organized by Fuji Television called the Communication Carnival Yume Kōjō '87 that showcased various upcoming programs. As part of an ongoing license cooperation between Nintendo and Fuji, the festival's four main mascots became the playable characters in the game, while all other characters were created by Nintendo. It was ported and released in North America with Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad replacing the mascots. This was released in place of the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 (known in the US as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels) because Nintendo of America considered it to be too difficult and too similar to the first Super Mario Bros. to compete with rapidly advancing games from rival companies.
Article on game's history:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/04/the-secret-history-of-super-mario-bros-2/
Video documenting Dream Factory festival:
https://youtu.be/tYPQEla4DUA?t=213
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/04/the-secret-history-of-super-mario-bros-2/
Video documenting Dream Factory festival:
https://youtu.be/tYPQEla4DUA?t=213
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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.
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/
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/
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In 2019, Studio MDHR and the multinational automotive company Tesla announced that a special port of Cuphead would be released for the Tesla Arcade digital store and would be playable on the company's Model S, Model X, and Model 3 vehicles. Due to storage limitations with the cars, the Tesla Arcade version only includes the stages in Inkwell Isle I. The game can only be played with a controller plugged into each vehicle's USB port, but can be played cooperatively with two players controlling Cuphead and Mugman. As part of the announcement, Studio MDHR released commemorative artwork of Cuphead and Mugman standing with a Model 3 car.
Articles about Cuphead being added to Tesla cars:
https://gamerant.com/cuphead-tesla-vehicles/
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/09/28/you-can-now-play-cuphead-on-your-tesla-car
https://www.eurogamer.net/you-can-now-play-cuphead-in-a-tesla
Studio MDHR and Tesla announcements:
https://twitter.com/StudioMDHR/status/1177305158470029314
https://www.tesla.com/blog/introducing-software-version-10-0
Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQGKvVVEB2I
https://gamerant.com/cuphead-tesla-vehicles/
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/09/28/you-can-now-play-cuphead-on-your-tesla-car
https://www.eurogamer.net/you-can-now-play-cuphead-in-a-tesla
Studio MDHR and Tesla announcements:
https://twitter.com/StudioMDHR/status/1177305158470029314
https://www.tesla.com/blog/introducing-software-version-10-0
Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQGKvVVEB2I
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During the final battle in the Japanese version, Spoiler:a voiceover from Zelda states that the monstrous form that Calamity Ganon assumes is due to his obsession with maintaining his longevity. However, in the English localization, Spoiler:Zelda claims that this form is the result of him abandoning his ambitions for reincarnation and giving into his primal rage, which directly contrasts the Japanese script.
This also opens up a plot hole with Spoiler:Zelda's dialogue in the game's ending, where she says that "Ganon is gone for now" (emphasis added), implying that he will reincarnate anyway (as is the case in other entries, including the game's sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom); in the Japanese version, she simply says that "the threat of calamity has passed."
This also opens up a plot hole with Spoiler:Zelda's dialogue in the game's ending, where she says that "Ganon is gone for now" (emphasis added), implying that he will reincarnate anyway (as is the case in other entries, including the game's sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom); in the Japanese version, she simply says that "the threat of calamity has passed."
subdirectory_arrow_right Moon (Game)
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The 2019 release of Moon: Remix RPG Adventure for modern consoles marks the first time the game received an official English translation, being released almost a year after the Japanese release. Notably, the English translation was written by Tim Rogers, a video game journalist who used to work for the site Kotaku before resigning and becoming independent.
Localization confirmation:
https://twitter.com/oniongames/status/1169393628520861701
Tim Rogers' involvement:
https://kotaku.com/22-years-later-a-major-milestone-for-rpgs-is-finally-c-1838156407
https://twitter.com/oniongames/status/1169393628520861701
Tim Rogers' involvement:
https://kotaku.com/22-years-later-a-major-milestone-for-rpgs-is-finally-c-1838156407
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X was originally pitched under the name Eclipse and was developed under the title Lunar Chase. The single-letter rename came at the request of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who contacted director Yoshio Sakamoto early in the morning after playing the game.The Lunar Chase name was retained for a planned English localization of the game, which was ultimately scrapped due to fears from Nintendo of America that international players would find the game's presentation and design too complex for a handheld title. Creator and programmer Dylan Cuthbert additionally blamed the cancellation on a presumed lack of interest from retailers in the United States. A prototype of the English version would eventually surface in 2020 as part of the Gigaleak, a massive leak of internal server data from Nintendo. The Eclipse pitch, meanwhile, was released to the public by the Video Game History foundation three years later.
Video Game History foundation article:
https://gamehistory.org/eclipse-the-demo-that-sold-3d-to-nintendo/
US Gamer article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190210151024/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/dylan-cuthbert-star-fox-game-boy-hacking-feature-interview
ArsTechnica article:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/exclusive-legendary-star-fox-coder-on-series-history-surprise-sequel-launch/
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Proto:X/Lunar_Chase
https://gamehistory.org/eclipse-the-demo-that-sold-3d-to-nintendo/
US Gamer article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190210151024/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/dylan-cuthbert-star-fox-game-boy-hacking-feature-interview
ArsTechnica article:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/exclusive-legendary-star-fox-coder-on-series-history-surprise-sequel-launch/
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Proto:X/Lunar_Chase
subdirectory_arrow_right FIFA Soccer 97 (Game)
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If you insert the PlayStation or PC versions of the game into a CD player, or play the Sega Saturn version's disc in the console's music player, you can access a hidden song on track 6 titled "Motty's Rap". The song consists of humorous phrases recorded by longtime FIFA commentator John Motson that mostly comment on the song's techno/rock instrumental with some mild innuendos, including: "That is the fattest bottom end I've ever heard" and "This reminds me of touring with the Sex Pistols". The song was the work of EA composer/audio designer Robert Bailey, who got Motson to record lines for the song during his time in the recording booth. In a 2024 interview, Bailey stated that the song was one of many obscure Easter eggs involving Motson's dialogue that the developers put together, with "Motty's Rap" being pulled from "just all of the stupidest phrases John said" and were put into the context of the music. The song was approved to be put into the game by its executive producer Bruce McMillan.
"Motty's Rap":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TWUUW4dFQ
Time Extension article:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/03/random-did-you-know-about-this-hilarious-fifa-97-easter-egg
Robert Bailey interview:
https://www.timeextension.com/features/the-making-of-fifa-road-to-world-cup-98-the-greatest-fifa-of-all-time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TWUUW4dFQ
Time Extension article:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/03/random-did-you-know-about-this-hilarious-fifa-97-easter-egg
Robert Bailey interview:
https://www.timeextension.com/features/the-making-of-fifa-road-to-world-cup-98-the-greatest-fifa-of-all-time