In an update for the game released in November, 2020, two in-game podcasts featuring journalist Helen Lewis were replaced by Ubisoft after receiving complaints from concerned gamers. This was due to Lewis being known in the public for having transphobic views and writing a number of articles criticizing legislation which were in support of making gender transitioning easier.
Ubisoft told in a statement that the speaker profiles for the scripted in-game podcasts were chosen by an external producer that worked with the development team. They promised that in future they'd perform background checks on any future partners.
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.
In 2020, Konami in collaboration with prosthetics company Open Bionic released an official Metal Gear Solid "Venom Snake" Cover, based on Venom Snake's prosthetic arm in the game, for use with Open Bionics' "Hero Arm" prosthetic. The "Hero Arm" can be used by any upper arm amputee below the elbow. Daniel Melville from the town of Reading in the United Kingdom was the first to receive the design, an avid gamer and fan of the Metal Gear series.
Found on one of the movie theater marquees is the message "Maddie, Will You Marry Me?" This was an Easter egg included in the game at the request of fan Tyler Schultz who tweeted out to Insomniac asking them for help with his marriage proposal to his then girlfriend of 5 years Madison Gamble ("Maddie" for short) by including the message somewhere in-game. However, by the time the game had released, Gamble had broken up with him with Schultz explaining what had happened. Insomniac had offered to patch out the message but Schultz requested to keep it in as a reminder for "the almost mistake that I made." adding that his girlfriend told him "that the video game message wasn’t the way she wanted to be proposed to, either."
Gamble would later say in a statement that she never even liked video games and only tolerated them because of Schultz. She claimed that she broke up with Schultz due to his behavior and gave him a month to change but to no avail.
According to the Capcom team in the game's official Japanese guide book, they were asked about the meaning behind the name of Ibis island, and they responded:
"The name of the ibis bird in Japanese is “toki” (a homonym for time), and we liked how that word resonated with the game’s themes of “extinction” and “time”… we could probably come up with a number of different explanations for the name, but basically we liked those associations. Also, considering the name of “Raccoon City” from Resident Evil, maybe there’s a lot of animal lovers on the team too."
The game was notable for being the first PlayStation game that required the use of Dual Analog type controllers. The left stick was used for precision movements while the right stick was used for various gadgets.
While he is normally an avid gamer, Masahiro Sakurai revealed in a Famitsu interview that he strictly refrains from sharing what he is currently playing on social media sites because of fears it would be misinterpreted by the Smash Bros. fandom (especially outside of Japan) as a confirmation of a new fighter for the series. He also states that the issue has gotten so bad that he frequently declines appearances on TV shows that deal with a specific game for the same reason.
The game was originally called "Gods and Monsters" when it was shown off at E3 2019, however, Ubisoft ran into some trouble with the Monster Energy Drink company who not only claimed that the original title of the game infringed upon their trademark, but also claimed that the game's title would cause brand confusion. Ubisoft thought this was ridiculous but ended up relenting anyway and changing their project's title to the current one.
The "Orphaned kitten" was based on game's interior designer Manabu Takimoto's cat "Sasuke". During development, a game designer came by to Manabu's desk and ask to borrow the picture of "Sasuke" when he was a kitten.
Game's producer Yu Suzuki stated, "Ah, I remember that. We called him Sasuke during the planning phase too. We knew it had been modeled after Takimoto’s cat, so we wanted to leave the name as Sasuke, as a remnant of that. (laughs) But eventually someone was like, “Who named this cat Sasuke?!” and we had to change it. (laughs)". In the final version of the game, the "Orphaned kitten's" gender is now female, instead.
In the game's cutscene, "Ryo Hazuki" and "Megumi Mishima" talk about naming the "Orphaned kitten". There's an option to select Manabu's cat's name "Sasuke", if players choose "Sasuke", Ryo will say "So she can grow up to be big and strong like a ninja", but Megumi will not like it, because it's a boy's name. This name cannot be used, as it will result her name to be defaulted as Mimi.
In an update, more advertisements were added to the game which would appear during replay moments of matches. Despite the game already featuring advertisements, these additional ones received backlash from the community and were disabled from appearing again.
A member of EA's community team posted a statement via reddit: "Earlier this week, the team turned on ad placements in EA SPORTS UFC 4 that appeared during the “Replay” moments in gameplay. This type of advertising inventory is not new to the UFC franchise, though we have typically reserved displaying ads to specific main menu tiles or Octagon logo placement. It is abundantly clear from your feedback that integrating ads into the Replay and overlay experience is not welcome.
The advertisements have been disabled by the team and we apologize for any disruption to gameplay that players may have experienced. We realize that this should have been communicated with players ahead of time and that’s on us. We want to make sure our players have the best possible experience playing EA SPORTS UFC 4, so ad integration in the Replay and overlay experience will not be reappearing in the future. Thank you for your continued feedback on EA SPORTS UFC 4."
The game's producer and director Shigeru Miyamoto was asked if he had any references, or anything else he relied on when making all of Mario’s various animations. He responded:
"We tried out a lot of different things using motion capture, but ultimately we ended up doing it all by hand. We created a “skeleton” for Mario that was the basis of his movement."
Lugia was initially created as a plot device for, and only meant to be seen in, the Second Pokemon movie, The Power of One (aka Pokémon the Movie 2000). In fact, his designer, Pokemon Anime writer Takeshi Shudo said he was surprised to see Lugia in the games at all. Game Freak seemed to love the creature so much they not only made him canon, but also made him the mascot of Pokémon Silver.
The original arcade release of Punch-Out!! used two screens at once because Nintendo bought too many arcade monitors after Donkey Kong became a success and with its sales declining, they needed to develop an arcade game to help them get rid of the surplus monitors.
The Windows PC version is an exact port of the Xbox version of the game. Because of this, many of the bugs that exists on the Xbox version were carried over to the PC port. One of the bugs that would occur happens whenever a non-CG cutscene would play. All the character’s that appeared in these cutscenes would have their eyes stay fixed in a forward looking position instead of moving around. This bug does not appear in the PlayStation 2 or GameCube versions of the game.
There is anti-piracy protection within the Dreamcast version of the game. If the console detects that the game is running from a copied disc and not an official GD-ROM, Eggman will be locked in death cycle at the start of his section in Cannon's Core. He'll immediately start falling through the floor, dying and respawning in the same position repeatedly. It's still possible to reach the end of the level, but visual glitches and a fixed improper camera angle will hinder the player's attempts to navigate the level.
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The Japanese version of the game contains downloadable maps featuring Japanese swimsuit model Yukie Kawamara that was only accessible via codes that were in specially marked boxes. In these maps, Kawamara's breasts are small bumps in the platforms that the player can roll on. This may have been deemed inappropriate for a kid-friendly game, which is why it hasn't been available in other countries for download since its release.
In June of 2020, the game's creative director, Ashraf Ismail, had to step down during development due to accusations that he'd been having extramarital affairs with younger fans of the series.
Ismail made a statement on Twitter saying "I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life, [...] The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this."
Italian model Fabio Lanzoni appears on the game's cover as the protagonist Kuros. Despite this, Kuros appears throughout the game in a full suit or armor.
The game's cover artwork originally featured the American flag and green gaseous fumes, and on the back the words "WANTED: Deadly Force Authorized", "deadly arsenal" and "terrorists". However, due to the then recent 9/11 terrorist attacks and the anthrax scare, the game had been recalled with these removed and the back text changed to make it more politically correct. This pushed back the game from its original September 25th, 2001 release to early November 2001. Some copies with the original box art had already shipped, making that version a collector's item and dubbed the "9/11 American Flag Cover". It also came in a dual case, despite the game only having a single disc.
In 2020, a Beijing court ruled that the 2018 Chinese fantasy comedy film Warrior Angels had infringed on SNK's copyright as some of the characters in the film resembled designs from The King of Fighters series. The film's character Qiao Fan transforms into a "red clad woman" which heavily resembles Mai Shirainui in her appearance as well as in her movement. SNK China was awarded in damages the equivalent of $111,500 with the film ordered to be pulled from distribution. However, the ruling is being appealed.
In an update for the game released in November, 2020, two in-game podcasts featuring journalist Helen Lewis were replaced by Ubisoft after receiving complaints from concerned gamers. This was due to Lewis being known in the public for having transphobic views and writing a number of articles criticizing legislation which were in support of making gender transitioning easier.
In 2020, Konami in collaboration with prosthetics company Open Bionic released an official Metal Gear Solid "Venom Snake" Cover, based on Venom Snake's prosthetic arm in the game, for use with Open Bionics' "Hero Arm" prosthetic. The "Hero Arm" can be used by any upper arm amputee below the elbow. Daniel Melville from the town of Reading in the United Kingdom was the first to receive the design, an avid gamer and fan of the Metal Gear series.
Found on one of the movie theater marquees is the message "Maddie, Will You Marry Me?" This was an Easter egg included in the game at the request of fan Tyler Schultz who tweeted out to Insomniac asking them for help with his marriage proposal to his then girlfriend of 5 years Madison Gamble ("Maddie" for short) by including the message somewhere in-game. However, by the time the game had released, Gamble had broken up with him with Schultz explaining what had happened. Insomniac had offered to patch out the message but Schultz requested to keep it in as a reminder for "the almost mistake that I made." adding that his girlfriend told him "that the video game message wasn’t the way she wanted to be proposed to, either."
The game was originally called "Gods and Monsters" when it was shown off at E3 2019, however, Ubisoft ran into some trouble with the Monster Energy Drink company who not only claimed that the original title of the game infringed upon their trademark, but also claimed that the game's title would cause brand confusion. Ubisoft thought this was ridiculous but ended up relenting anyway and changing their project's title to the current one.
In an update, more advertisements were added to the game which would appear during replay moments of matches. Despite the game already featuring advertisements, these additional ones received backlash from the community and were disabled from appearing again.
In June of 2020, the game's creative director, Ashraf Ismail, had to step down during development due to accusations that he'd been having extramarital affairs with younger fans of the series.
Italian model Fabio Lanzoni appears on the game's cover as the protagonist Kuros. Despite this, Kuros appears throughout the game in a full suit or armor.
The game's cover artwork originally featured the American flag and green gaseous fumes, and on the back the words "WANTED: Deadly Force Authorized", "deadly arsenal" and "terrorists". However, due to the then recent 9/11 terrorist attacks and the anthrax scare, the game had been recalled with these removed and the back text changed to make it more politically correct. This pushed back the game from its original September 25th, 2001 release to early November 2001. Some copies with the original box art had already shipped, making that version a collector's item and dubbed the "9/11 American Flag Cover". It also came in a dual case, despite the game only having a single disc.
In 2020, a Beijing court ruled that the 2018 Chinese fantasy comedy film Warrior Angels had infringed on SNK's copyright as some of the characters in the film resembled designs from The King of Fighters series. The film's character Qiao Fan transforms into a "red clad woman" which heavily resembles Mai Shirainui in her appearance as well as in her movement. SNK China was awarded in damages the equivalent of $111,500 with the film ordered to be pulled from distribution. However, the ruling is being appealed.