Trivia Browser

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Super Metroid
Super Metroid (1994)
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Samus Aran's appearance in Super Metroid was based on the actress Kim Basinger.
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Character Design, Development, Inspiration, Real Life
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month February 24, 2013
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EarthBound
EarthBound (1994)
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The main antagonist of EarthBound, an alien known as "Giygas", was made by Shigesato Itoi and described as "a living being that deserves love." While the character first debuted with a different design as the final boss of Mother, Giygas' appearance in EarthBound was inspired by a childhood incident where Itoi accidentally walked into the wrong movie at a theatre and watched the 1957 Japanese horror film "Kenpei to Barabara Shibijin". Itoi was traumatized by the film, where he confused a lovemaking scene that ends in murder as a rape scene. He says it had a "sense of terror having atrocity and eroticism side-by-side, and that's what Giygas's lines at the end are":

Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness Ness, Ness...
I...feel..g..o..o..d...
It hurts... It hurts...
I'm so sad, Ness...
Friends...
You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!
Go b..a..c..k
I am...H...a...p...p...y...
It's not right, not right...
Ness!
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Character Design, Development, General, Inspiration, Real Life
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 1, 2013
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April 18, 2003 interview with Shigesato Itoi:
http://www.1101.com/MOTHER/03.html

April 24, 2003 interview with Shigesato Itoi:
http://www.1101.com/MOTHER/07.html

DidYouKnowGaming blog post:
http://didyouknowgaming.com/post/35853816334/earthbound-mother-2
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (1981)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mario (Franchise)
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According to series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's appearance was the result of graphical limitations in the original Donkey Kong: his overalls allowed his arms to be visible against his body (as there was no room for outlines), his hat substituted for hair and eyebrows (and did not need to be animated when he jumped), and the large nose and mustache made up for the lack of space to depict a mouth.

Miyamoto additionally stated that the design was influenced by the decision to make Mario Italian-American, identifying his large nose in particular as a distinctly western feature.
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Character Design, Development, General, Inspiration, Sprite/Graphical Animation
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 15, 2013
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Mario Tennis
Mario Tennis (2000)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mario Power Tennis (Game)
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Attachment Waluigi was created by Camelot artist Fumihide Aoki during the development of Mario Tennis as a rival to Luigi. There were also talks of a Princess Peach counterpart to further expand the roster. This proposed "Warupichi" character was ultimately dismissed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo because they were hesitant about making an evil version of Princess Peach, given how she was still portrayed as innocent in earlier games. Despite this, Aoki would keep the character idea around for Mario Power Tennis, featuring another rejected design that would eventually be revealed to the public in 2023, both through unused sketches and a 3D model. In one sketch, the character wields an axe, which according to Aoki, was added to make her "cute and scary". Aoki also revealed more information through Instagram comments, like how "Warupichi" was going to be the authority figure that gave orders to Wario and Waluigi, and how he wanted to make a companion to "Warupichi" that would have been an arch-rival to Yoshi that was going to be a dragon with horns and wings. The day after revealing Warupichi and the rest of this information, Aoki deleted the original posts and locked his Instagram account.
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Artwork/Illustration, Character Design, Development, Early Idea, Model, Unused Character, Unused Content, Unused Graphic
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 15, 2013
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Original DidYouKnowGaming blog post:
https://didyouknowgaming.com/post/30812672774/mario-tennis-source

2000 Camelot interview revealing the existence of Warupichi:
https://www.camelot.co.jp/gimon/gimon13.html

Warupichi character design first Instagram post (now deleted):
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0TpKyDSfOy/?img_index=1

Archived Warupichi concept art and 3D model images:
https://archive.org/details/wapeach

Archived Fumihide Aoki Instagram comment collages (all other comments in the attachment not featured in these two images were captured on desktop directly from Fumihide Aoki's Instagram posts prior to the account being locked down):
https://twitter.com/GenesisJam_/status/1730803149915472217

Warupichi design articles (second link submitted by NintendOtaku):
https://www.polygon.com/23984146/nintendo-wapeach-design-waluigi-creator-mario-tennis
https://www.thegamer.com/waluigi-creator-reveals-wapeach-designs/

Warupichi designs taken down article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/waluigi-creator-shares-then-removes-designs-of-wario-style-peach
Pokémon Red Version
Pokémon Red Version (1996)
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon Green Version (Game), Pokémon Blue Version (Game), Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition (Game)
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Attachment Dratini's sprite as found in Red, Blue, and Green (both the original Japanese release and the updated International release with different sprites) Versions has stripes on its belly. These stripes were removed in Yellow Version and have not reappeared since.
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Character Design, General, Release Difference
person Funland47 calendar_month April 15, 2013
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Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992)
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Attachment The Unibō enemies bear a striking resemblance to Gordo enemies from the Kirby series.
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Cameo, Character Design, Reference, Similarities
person Ophl calendar_month October 16, 2014
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Franchise: Tomb Raider
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Lara Croft's design was based on the style of Swedish pop star Neneh Cherry, and the attitude of Tank Girl from the comic book series of the same name.
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Celebrity, Character Design, Development, Inspiration, Real Life
person DrakeVagabond calendar_month March 8, 2015
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Kid Dracula
Kid Dracula (1990)
subdirectory_arrow_right Kid Dracula (Game)
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Attachment In the Famicom release and the Japanese version of the Game Boy port, the first boss' forehead bears a manji, a Buddhist symbol for balance representative of love, mercy, strength, and intelligence. However, outside of East Asia, the manji is widely seen as a hate symbol due to Nazi Germany appropriating a modified version of it as the swastika. Consequently, the international release of the Game Boy edition removes the icon; the top of the boss' head is also made rounder to further reduce visual similarities to a Ku Klux Klan member.

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection reissue of the Famicom version similarly removes the manji from the boss' design, but does not alter the shape of his head. This change is also present in all versions of Castlevania Anniversary Collection rather than being limited strictly to the international release.
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Censorship, Character Design, Regional Difference, Version Difference
person Ophl calendar_month January 14, 2016
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Game Sack video discussing regional differences in numerous video games, including Kid Dracula:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbAPvxI56GM

The Cutting Room Floor article on the Game Boy version:
https://tcrf.net/Kid_Dracula_(Game_Boy)#Level_1_Boss

The Cutting Room Floor article on the Famicom version:
Source: https://tcrf.net/Kid_Dracula_(NES)#Stage_1_Boss
Mega Man X
Mega Man X (1993)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mega Man X8 (Game)
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Attachment Contrary to popular belief that Vile's character design was inspired by bounty hunter Boba Fett from the Star Wars franchise, and that his Japanese name VAVA (ヴァヴァ) was changed to Vile for the international release out of fear of a lawsuit from Lucasfilm (due to the letters "B" and "V" sometimes being used interchangeably in Japanese causing the name to appear too similar to "Boba"), Capcom character designer TOM-PON stated in a 2012 interview that VAVA's design was actually inspired by the character Bubba Zanetti (ババ・ザネッティ, transliterated as Baba Zanetti) from the 1979 film "Mad Max". Coincidentally, as VAVA is renamed Vile outside Japan, this would also result in Dr. Weil's name being transliterated as such from Dr. Vile in order to avoid confusion with him.

In Mega Man X8, Vile's primary color scheme was intentionally changed from purple to green, which more closely resembles Boba Fett, and may be a reference to their similarities.
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Character Design, Coincidence, Development, Etymology, Inspiration, Reference, Regional Difference, Rumor
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month September 21, 2021
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Part 19 of a Capcom USA interview with TOM-PON:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVEfMIIGh6o

Mega Man X8 Vile color scheme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C13NnSgZosw
Franchise: Castlevania
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According to The History of Castlevania: Book of the Crescent Moon, the Belmont family was originally planned to be called the Dante family, with Simon Belmont originally being "Peter Dante, Vampire Killer and grandson of Christopher Dante".
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Backstory/Lore, Character Design, Development, Early Idea
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month October 5, 2021
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Shining Force II
Shining Force II (1993)
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In an interview with the game's producer/writer Hiroyuki Takahashi and director/programmer Shugo Takahashi published in the 6/93 Famicom Tsuushin magazine, they stated that they asked Fumio Iida a.k.a. Suezen, the character designer for NHK’s anime "Yadamon", to be the character designer for the game. When Suezen finished his work on Shining Force II, Takahashi felt Suezen’s designs were better than he expected and almost felt embarrassed, because he felt the designs made the story and writing look weak by comparison.
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Artwork/Illustration, Character Design, Development, Early Idea, General, Real Life
person ProtoSnake calendar_month February 28, 2022
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Franchise: Pac-Man
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In a 1986 interview published in the out-of-print book "Programmers at Work" by Susan M. Lammers, series creator Toru Iwatami explained the kind of character he intended Pac-Man to be:

"Pac Man’s character is difficult to explain even to the Japanese–he is an innocent character. He hasn’t been educated to discern between good and evil. He acts more like a small child than a grown-up person. Think of him as a child learning in the course of his daily activities. If someone tells him guns are evil, he would be the type to rush out and eat guns. But he would most probably eat any gun, even the pistols of policemen who need them. He’s indiscriminate because he’s naive. But he learns from experience that some people, like policemen, should have pistols and that he can’t eat just any pistol in sight."
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Character Design, Development, General
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month January 24, 2023
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Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6 (2023)
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On a Street Fighter 6 developer Q&A stream, the team confirmed that the idea of having JP using Bartitsu (mistakenly referred to as Baritsu) was inspired by Sherlock Holmes. Said martial art's appearances in Sherlock Holmes stories inspired the staff to create a character that fought using a cane.
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Character Design, Development, General, Inspiration, Livestreaming
person ZpaceJ0ck0 calendar_month September 3, 2023
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Pizza Tower
Pizza Tower (2023)
subdirectory_arrow_right Memoirs of Magic (Game)
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Cameo, Character Design, Easter Egg, Similarities
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 5, 2023
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Five Nights at Freddy's Plus
Five Nights at Freddy's Plus (TBA)
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Attachment The animatronics' design in Five Nights at Freddy's Plus were inspired by the old, neglected or in-disrepair animatronics from abandoned locations, such as the animatronics from the West Virginia restaurant Billy Bob's Wonderland.
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Character Design, Development, Inspiration, Real Life
person Violett calendar_month September 5, 2023
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The creator, Phisnom, included this in the FAQ on his Pastebin:
https://pastebin.com/3wTC9Mvm
https://twitter.com/phisnom/status/1489722432793419777
30XX
30XX (2021)
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The character Delta was originally created by artist Glauber Kotaki back in 2002, for a personal project which never saw the light of day. Delta's first appearance in a game was the 2009 Mega Man fangame "22XX Grand Tournament".
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, General
person Cirom calendar_month September 6, 2023
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Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
subdirectory_arrow_right Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Game), Super Smash Bros. (Collection)
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Ganondorf's design in Super Smash Bros. Melee is based on his appearance in the Spaceworld 2000 tech demo which showcased a fight with Link and himself where he wields a large sword. This large sword only ever appeared in that tech demo and in one of his win animations in Melee. This specific sword would not be used in Ganondorf's moveset until the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018, where his design is based on that same Spaceworld 2000 tech demo as well as elements from his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
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Character Design, Demo, Inspiration, Moveset, Reference, Trade Show
person Wolfen50 calendar_month September 6, 2023
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Five Nights at Freddy's
Five Nights at Freddy's (2014)
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Attachment In a 2018 interview with YouTuber Dawko, Scott Cawthon was asked how he came up with the original designs of the animatronics. Cawthon answered with:

"The main 3 characters Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica. Those designs just kind of [...] I didn't really plan ahead like what animals they should be. Those three just kind of seemed natural to me for some reason. You know, the only one I really struggled with was trying to think of the fourth character. [...] I'm trying to remember all the options that I'd originally was kind of debating between. I mean, one of the contenders was a fox obviously which ended up winning. The other one was a wolf, and the other one was going to be a beaver. But then later I decided against that, because I thought that was too on-the-nose from Chipper so I decided against that."
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, General
person Violett calendar_month September 6, 2023
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Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon Channel (Game), Pokémon (Franchise), Super Smash Bros. (Franchise), Nintendo GameCube (Platform)
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Attachment The trophy representing Meowth in Super Smash Bros. Melee is a reference to his appearance in a tech demo shown off at Spaceworld 2000 called "Meowth's Party", which itself was based on a recurring ending musical number from the Pokémon anime. In his trophy he is holding the same red guitar that he performs with in the tech demo. The flavor text for his trophy even directly mentions this tech demo:

"This...is Meowth's dream. Meowth strides all over the globe, scattering invitations to other Pokémon, insisting they come to "Meowth's Party." At this wonderful party, guests are packed in like sardines as Meowth climbs up the stage with its faithful guitar. It strikes a chord, pauses, and then rocks their world!"

A version of Meowth's Party eventually made its way into the GameCube release of Pokémon Channel.
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Bonus Content, Character Design, Demo, Reference, Trade Show
person Wolfen50 calendar_month September 6, 2023
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Spaceworld 2000 Meowth's Party tech demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62O2vFfS_Ok?t=1387

Pokémon Channel Meowth's Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DcqH7Cl9MY

Meowth Trophy image:
https://www.ssbwiki.com/File:Meowth_Trophy_Melee.png

Original Pokémon anime short:
https://vimeo.com/267748188
Q*bert
Q*bert (1982)
subdirectory_arrow_right Q*bert: Rebooted (Game), Wreck-It Ralph (Franchise), Q*Bert (Collection)
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Q*Bert co-creator Warren Davis, although highly grateful for the character's continued longevity, dislikes that modern portrayals of the character, such as those in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, Adam Sandler's Pixels, and the Q*Bert: Rebooted game make his nose "flaccid".
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Character Design, Complaint, Credits, Real Life
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 11, 2023
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