Trivia Browser
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According to Warren Spector. He considers Epic Mickey (and Deus Ex) as the high point of his career for bringing back the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and getting fan mail regarding his work on Epic Mickey from fans.
It should be noted that Ortensia was not technically an original creation for Epic Mickey, as she already existed in the Oswald cartoons under the name Sadie. However, Ortensia would become Sadie's official name in the Disney Parks and merchandise following the game.
"I suspect no one at Disney realizes that we made Ortensia up for our game. I'm sure people at Disney think Ortensia is a part of Disney's history. We made her up. So the fact that Oswald is back, and the fact that Ortensia is now a part of Disney's history, is because of a video game. That's very cool.
I got more fan mail about Epic Mickey than any game I've ever worked on. It was more heartfelt fan mail than any game I've ever worked on. We touched people in a way that games just never touch people.
Screw Metacritic. Screw the gamers who didn't like our camera. Screw everybody. I am really proud of that game, and I am really proud of the team that made it, and nothing is going to ever sway me from feeling like that was one of the high points of my career."
I got more fan mail about Epic Mickey than any game I've ever worked on. It was more heartfelt fan mail than any game I've ever worked on. We touched people in a way that games just never touch people.
Screw Metacritic. Screw the gamers who didn't like our camera. Screw everybody. I am really proud of that game, and I am really proud of the team that made it, and nothing is going to ever sway me from feeling like that was one of the high points of my career."
It should be noted that Ortensia was not technically an original creation for Epic Mickey, as she already existed in the Oswald cartoons under the name Sadie. However, Ortensia would become Sadie's official name in the Disney Parks and merchandise following the game.
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One of the game's dual protagonists Yasuke, an African samurai, is the first main character in the Assassin's Creed series to be based on a real historical figure, but his real-life identity and status serving under Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga has been the subject of a contentious debate among historians. There are few scholarly/historical resources available describing him and his life, as well as no known resources that refer to him as a samurai, with the most common conclusion being his title was a retainer to Nobunaga.
His reveal as a main character in the game on May 15, 2024 caused polarizing reactions worldwide on social media. Fans critical of the decision claimed Ubisoft misrepresented Japan, which had never been covered in-depth in the globally-spanning game series, by not having both protagonists be Japanese (the other protagonist, Naoe, is Japanese) and claim that Yasuke was not actually a samurai, while those in support of Yasuke's role and claim that he was actually a samurai called these objections racist and based on narrow-minded arguments and inferences, with some going so far as to opine that Asian samurai protagonists in media were oversaturated. This intense fighting lead to an edit war on Yasuke's English Wikipedia article, with administrators publicly calling the Talk page "a complete dumpster fire". As of May 19, the consensus that was reached on the Talk page appears to be that there is still no historical evidence confirming that Yasuke was a samurai, and the article does not call him one when talking about his documented life.
The lack of clarity on his life allowed popular culture/media to take creative liberties in speculating who he was, often depicting him in adaptations as a high-ranking samurai, and Ubisoft seemed to be going in a similar direction. The advertising for the game at its announcement described Yasuke as a "samurai of historical legend", and a press release stated:
While the header for this section is called "Yasuke: A Real-Life Samurai", this description seems to be carefully worded to stop short of directly calling him a samurai, with the use of "historical legend" elsewhere suggesting that they were aware of the unconfirmed status and were fictionalizing Yasuke for the game.
In a set of developer interviews with Famitsu published on May 15, creative director Jonathan Dumont elaborated that they also chose Yasuke to fit with the game's story of a foreigner who fights off oppressing forces, like the Portuguese slave trade's effects on Japan, while exploring a country unknown to him, stating that they were "first looking for "our samurai," someone who could be our non-Japanese eyes". The following day, the Famitsu article was edited to change direct quotes in the interviews in contexts where Yasuke was referred to as an "outsider" to being a "foreign-born samurai", and also removed the aforementioned quote, for unknown reasons.
His reveal as a main character in the game on May 15, 2024 caused polarizing reactions worldwide on social media. Fans critical of the decision claimed Ubisoft misrepresented Japan, which had never been covered in-depth in the globally-spanning game series, by not having both protagonists be Japanese (the other protagonist, Naoe, is Japanese) and claim that Yasuke was not actually a samurai, while those in support of Yasuke's role and claim that he was actually a samurai called these objections racist and based on narrow-minded arguments and inferences, with some going so far as to opine that Asian samurai protagonists in media were oversaturated. This intense fighting lead to an edit war on Yasuke's English Wikipedia article, with administrators publicly calling the Talk page "a complete dumpster fire". As of May 19, the consensus that was reached on the Talk page appears to be that there is still no historical evidence confirming that Yasuke was a samurai, and the article does not call him one when talking about his documented life.
The lack of clarity on his life allowed popular culture/media to take creative liberties in speculating who he was, often depicting him in adaptations as a high-ranking samurai, and Ubisoft seemed to be going in a similar direction. The advertising for the game at its announcement described Yasuke as a "samurai of historical legend", and a press release stated:
"Ubisoft Quebec wanted to include a Samurai, and Yasuke's story was open-ended enough to allow for creativity; there are still plenty of questions and speculation surrounding him. The fascinating facts, though, were undisputable: of African origin, he arrived in Japan enslaved by the Portuguese; he impressed with size, strength, and wits; he served under the Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga. There must have been something exceptional about Yasuke to succeed in the service of a personality like Nobunaga's, [...] and the goal has been to expound on this in Assassin's Creed Shadows through his curiosity, openness, respect for values and tradition, valor, warmth, and charisma."
While the header for this section is called "Yasuke: A Real-Life Samurai", this description seems to be carefully worded to stop short of directly calling him a samurai, with the use of "historical legend" elsewhere suggesting that they were aware of the unconfirmed status and were fictionalizing Yasuke for the game.
In a set of developer interviews with Famitsu published on May 15, creative director Jonathan Dumont elaborated that they also chose Yasuke to fit with the game's story of a foreigner who fights off oppressing forces, like the Portuguese slave trade's effects on Japan, while exploring a country unknown to him, stating that they were "first looking for "our samurai," someone who could be our non-Japanese eyes". The following day, the Famitsu article was edited to change direct quotes in the interviews in contexts where Yasuke was referred to as an "outsider" to being a "foreign-born samurai", and also removed the aforementioned quote, for unknown reasons.
Game website with "samurai of historical legend" quote:
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/assassins-creed/shadows
Ubisoft press release:
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/2LH4Ael4X1TlNJY3B3aYg5/assassins-creed-shadows-launches-november-15-features-dual-protagonists-in-feudal-japan
IGN articles:
https://www.ign.com/articles/when-and-where-is-assassins-creed-shadows-set
https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-asian-protagonist
Time article:
https://time.com/6978997/assassins-creed-shadow-yasuke-controversy/
Forbes article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2024/05/15/japanese-fans-are-puzzled-that-yasuke-is-in-assassins-creed-shadows/
Yasuke English Wikipedia article (Note: while much of this controversy occurred on English language Wikipedia, bear in mind that Wikipedia articles by themselves are not reliable sources for historical research, and the English article is not a uniform representation of the information on Yasuke across the different language versions of Wikipedia that have this article. There are varying primary, secondary, historical and pop culture sources used in all of these articles either backing up verified information about him, or making different claims that may not be accurate.):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Yasuke
Wikipedia administrator discussion:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240518220622/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Talk:Yasuke_is_a_complete_dumpster_fire
Earliest archive of original Famitsu interview (in Japanese; English machine translations for all archives of this article compared between Google Translate and DeepL prior to publishing this submission. Deleted quote in Japanese is "まず“私たちの侍”、つまり日本人ではない私たちの目になれる人物を探していましたが、これは") (May 15):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240515185159/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194
Archived edited interview (May 16):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240516194746/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194
Latest archived edit (May 18):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240518034336/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/assassins-creed/shadows
Ubisoft press release:
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/2LH4Ael4X1TlNJY3B3aYg5/assassins-creed-shadows-launches-november-15-features-dual-protagonists-in-feudal-japan
IGN articles:
https://www.ign.com/articles/when-and-where-is-assassins-creed-shadows-set
https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-asian-protagonist
Time article:
https://time.com/6978997/assassins-creed-shadow-yasuke-controversy/
Forbes article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2024/05/15/japanese-fans-are-puzzled-that-yasuke-is-in-assassins-creed-shadows/
Yasuke English Wikipedia article (Note: while much of this controversy occurred on English language Wikipedia, bear in mind that Wikipedia articles by themselves are not reliable sources for historical research, and the English article is not a uniform representation of the information on Yasuke across the different language versions of Wikipedia that have this article. There are varying primary, secondary, historical and pop culture sources used in all of these articles either backing up verified information about him, or making different claims that may not be accurate.):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Yasuke
Wikipedia administrator discussion:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240518220622/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Talk:Yasuke_is_a_complete_dumpster_fire
Earliest archive of original Famitsu interview (in Japanese; English machine translations for all archives of this article compared between Google Translate and DeepL prior to publishing this submission. Deleted quote in Japanese is "まず“私たちの侍”、つまり日本人ではない私たちの目になれる人物を探していましたが、これは") (May 15):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240515185159/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194
Archived edited interview (May 16):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240516194746/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194
Latest archived edit (May 18):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240518034336/https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194
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When assets from Star Fox 2 were leaked in the 2020 Nintendo Gigaleak, one character that caught people's attention was what appeared to be a human woman. Some fans and news outlets assumed the character to be black based on her frilly hair and large lips, but palettes were eventually discovered that revealed her to be fair-skinned. The human woman's sprites have the same filename as Miyu and Fay's in the final game, and her two sprites' facial structures resemble Miyu and Fay's prototype sprites (the latter being a sheep instead of a poodle), suggesting she was simply a placeholder meant to give a human reference for Miyu and Fay's anthropomorphic expressions.
subdirectory_arrow_right Yakuza Online (Game)
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In a 2020 interview with the YouTube channel Archipel, series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi claimed that the decision to change Yakuza: Like a Dragon from an action game to a turn-based RPG came from a 2019 April Fools' Day video for Yakuza Online showing turn-based combat which was received positively by fans. However, fans and news outlets seemed to take this statement seriously, and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's head Masayoshi Yokoyama later had to clarify that it was a joke. The decision to shift to turn-based combat was made before production on the game even began due to it being too drastic of a change to make late into development.
Yakuza Online April Fools' Day 2019 video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noioqCv92hM
IGN video believing the April Fools' video was real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSsNFsPf8ts
Nagoshi April Fool's claims:
https://www.destructoid.com/yakuza-like-a-dragon-became-an-rpg-after-the-april-fools-day-reaction-says-nagoshi/
Clarification from Nagoshi:
https://www.fanbyte.com/legacy/no-like-a-dragon-was-not-an-rpg-because-of-an-april-fools-joke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noioqCv92hM
IGN video believing the April Fools' video was real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSsNFsPf8ts
Nagoshi April Fool's claims:
https://www.destructoid.com/yakuza-like-a-dragon-became-an-rpg-after-the-april-fools-day-reaction-says-nagoshi/
Clarification from Nagoshi:
https://www.fanbyte.com/legacy/no-like-a-dragon-was-not-an-rpg-because-of-an-april-fools-joke
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The character most commonly known as Snuggly the Crow or Sparkly the Crow is not a crow at all. She is actually a hawk named Hawk Girl and the more common names were actually created and propagated by fans.
Company: Sega
subdirectory_arrow_right Nintendo (Company)
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The first official crossover between a Nintendo property and a Sega property is often assumed to be either Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games or Super Smash Bros. Brawl. While these are indeed the first Nintendo-Sega crossovers within the gaming medium, there have been instances prior of crossovers in supplementary marketing material:• A 1994 advert made by DIC for animation industry insiders showing their global reach through the Panda Club and Dragon Club TV blocks in China shows Sonic the Hedgehog waving through a TV screen while Mario pats him on the back, joined by Madeline from the Madeline book series and Billy Lee as seen in the cartoon adaptation of Double Dragon.
• The infamous Fight for the FoxBox promotional film made by 4Kids Entertainment in 2003, which utilizes existing anime and cartoon clips to make a new crossover story, shows Dr. Eggman and King Dedede as allies alongside Dial-bolic from Ultimate MUSCLE, Dr. K from Cubix: Robots for Everyone, and Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles working for Wayne from The Cramp Twins in an attempt to shut down the titular television channel. Although the villains do interact in this half-hour film, the heroes mostly do not, with Kirby and Sonic never sharing screen time in particular.
This is, of course, discounting instances of unauthorised parodies and mockery at the height of the console wars.
Print ad cel:
https://twitter.com/SatamHistorian/status/1452085625558118402
Full advert found on eBay, and attached as a file.
Fight for the FoxBox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKHYLf8uxnk
https://twitter.com/SatamHistorian/status/1452085625558118402
Full advert found on eBay, and attached as a file.
Fight for the FoxBox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKHYLf8uxnk
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After Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's announcement in 2003, some Mario fans incorrectly believed that the character of Madame Flurrie was going to be the ghost of Bowser's wife, based off of her character design and Japanese name. This is due to Flurrie's Japanese name, "Cloudia", sounding a lot like "Clawdia", a popular urban legend name for the Koopalings' mother supposedly created by the Mario fan website "Lemmy's Land", as well as Flurrie sharing a hair style with Ludwig and lip-shape with Wendy, who were at the time considered Bowser's children by Nintendo.
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Sephiroth's inclusion as a DLC fighter was apparently so top secret that even certain members of Square Enix had not known that the villain was going to be included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate until the corresponding show-stealing announcement at The Game Awards 2020 was made. Even Square Enix employee and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi was quite shocked and stated:
"[...] it was actually extremely confidential that he was even going to be in it, [...] So, none of the dev team knew, including myself. So it was more like when the whole world knew it, and that's when we knew it like, 'Oh, I had no idea!'"
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CrazyBus' soundtrack is often said to be randomly generated - this is partially false. The game does use a random number generator for its music, but it uses an outdated psuedo-RNG that is not truly random, so every boot of the game will play the exact same tune. However, if you press a button that does not start the game, the RNG will shift and the music will therefore end up becoming randomly generated.
subdirectory_arrow_right Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven (Game)
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The infamous American Mega Man 2 box art, where Mega Man wields a pistol instead of his signature Mega Buster, was not an attempt to make Mega Man appear more "edgy", but was actually born from a misconception where Capcom's art director believed Mega Man was using a gun too small to be seen in sprite form rather than transforming his arm. Artist Marc Ericksen would say to Nintendo Age in 2012:
"So we're talking about the infamous Mega Man 2 where Mega Man is actually running around waving a pistol! Okay so, the question on everyone's mind is 'how could the illustrator be such a complete idiot that he didn't realize that Mega Man had a cannon for an arm, and why is he holding a pistol for God's sake.'
What happened was I had to go down to Capcom and do a game they just got in from Japan. They had a beta version; they were in a hurry to get this thing out. So I went down there. The gentlemen was the art director was there with the beta guy and they were waiting for me and I came with my pad and they started running the game. What we saw was this little pixelated figure of the famous Mega Man running around on the screen shooting. Bang, bang, bang, he's shooting obviously like this with his arm [Marc points his arm forward]. So I said to the art director, 'what is he shooting? What is he shooting with?' The art director said, 'he must have a pistol because I don't see that he's got a rifle so he must have a pistol.'
'So... a pistol? You want me to do a pistol?' And he said, 'yeah, let's put a pistol in there.' So I did what I was told and I put the pistol in there. Add to the fact that they only had, like, a day and a half for me to do the painting and what you wound up with was not the greatest result but certainly a result that was not my fault. It was one of those things. Here's my opportunity: I'm saying to everybody now that was not my fault! Talk to Capcom about the pistol."
What happened was I had to go down to Capcom and do a game they just got in from Japan. They had a beta version; they were in a hurry to get this thing out. So I went down there. The gentlemen was the art director was there with the beta guy and they were waiting for me and I came with my pad and they started running the game. What we saw was this little pixelated figure of the famous Mega Man running around on the screen shooting. Bang, bang, bang, he's shooting obviously like this with his arm [Marc points his arm forward]. So I said to the art director, 'what is he shooting? What is he shooting with?' The art director said, 'he must have a pistol because I don't see that he's got a rifle so he must have a pistol.'
'So... a pistol? You want me to do a pistol?' And he said, 'yeah, let's put a pistol in there.' So I did what I was told and I put the pistol in there. Add to the fact that they only had, like, a day and a half for me to do the painting and what you wound up with was not the greatest result but certainly a result that was not my fault. It was one of those things. Here's my opportunity: I'm saying to everybody now that was not my fault! Talk to Capcom about the pistol."
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Asterix sprite artist Masaaki Kukino visited France while doing market research for the game, and visited the Parc Astérix theme park while he was there. He has claimed to be very proud of the fact that the game was so faithful to the comics that some French Asterix fans believed the game to have been made by French people.
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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."
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
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
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Although Billy and Lance on the NES cover art are believed to be inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, both characters' poses and attire were based on only Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearance in the movie "Predator".
Clips from Predator showing Arnold Schwarzenegger's attire matching Billy and Lance on the box art:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzxSr6l9Y4?t=85
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7CDejp6Lw?t=115
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzxSr6l9Y4?t=85
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7CDejp6Lw?t=115
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A well-known claim relating to Bug! is that legendary film director Steven Spielberg endorsed the game as "the character that is going to do it for [the Sega] Saturn." This claim is somewhat dubious however, as both the 2009 IGN article the quote was popularized by and the internal pitch video for the game's sequel that the quote originated from cite the origin as being from his visit to the 1995 Consumer Electronics Show, which was in January, 5 months before Bug! would be revealed to the public at E3. Bug! creator David Warhol has stated that he was not there to actually see Spielberg approve of the game, but did know that he approved of the game.
Twitter thread researching quote history:
https://twitter.com/PandaMoniumGR/status/1637489008950362117
IGN article the quote originated from:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/02/what-hath-sonic-wrought-vol-10
GameFan magazine Volume #3, Issue #7 (Page 52):
https://retrocdn.net/images/d/db/GameFan_US_0307.pdf
https://twitter.com/PandaMoniumGR/status/1637489008950362117
IGN article the quote originated from:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/02/what-hath-sonic-wrought-vol-10
GameFan magazine Volume #3, Issue #7 (Page 52):
https://retrocdn.net/images/d/db/GameFan_US_0307.pdf
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The WarpStone, despite living on a planet filled with dinosaurs, is infamously somehow incapable of warping them, hence why Tricky can't accompany Fox to Krazoa Palace.In the Japanese version of Star Fox Adventures, the WarpStone, whose Japanese name is ワープ魔人 (Wāpu majin) or Warp Demon, offers a different explanation of why he can't warp Tricky through Japanese subtitles:
すまない 、1つ言い忘れたことがある。恐竜たちはワープをこわがるんだ! (Sorry, I forgot to mention one thing. Dinosaurs are afraid of teleporting!)
Essentially, it's not that the WarpStone can't teleport dinosaurs like Tricky, it's just that they're merely afraid of being warped.
Star Fox Adventures (JP) - WarpStone explanation:
https://youtu.be/wmlb1ql3NxI?list=PLNQca9Z15B3Cwq7rwz2GeE0Bkvcu546e8&t=177
SFA 4koma manga:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DwuiJ2CZ7RNKd5Do-FLTE7cV5XoMvo0d
https://youtu.be/wmlb1ql3NxI?list=PLNQca9Z15B3Cwq7rwz2GeE0Bkvcu546e8&t=177
SFA 4koma manga:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DwuiJ2CZ7RNKd5Do-FLTE7cV5XoMvo0d
Collection: Shantae
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On April 16, 2015, WayForward's official Twitter account claimed that the title character of the series is approximately 16 years old in response to a fan's inquiry on the topic. This generated controversy from audiences due to the series' heavy emphasis on fanservice, including provocative depictions of Shantae herself, drawing concerns that the series was sexualizing a minor.Following the 2015 tweet, a user on the Shantae subreddit claimed that they contacted WayForward staffer James Montagna about the controversy. According to the user, Montagna stated that the tweet on the official account was made by an intern without the approval of higher-ups, that the staff at WayForward did not work on the series under the pretense of Shantae being a 16-year-old, and that they seek to avoid doing anything with her that would make people feel uncomfortable. The Reddit post included a link to a screencap of the conversation with Montagna; both the post and image have since been deleted. Commenters on the post additionally speculated that the tweet was referring to the age of the series rather than the age of the character. Corroborating these claims, series creator Matt Bozon stated in a June 2015 tweet that although "I write her as a 16 year old," Shantae doesn't have an official age.
The controversy over Shantae's age would finally be settled in a 2020 AMA on Limited Run Games' Discord server. In response to another question about Shantae's age, Bozon clarified his remarks from five years prior, stating that he and the other developers consider Shantae an adult of ambiguous age throughout the series.
2015 Tweet by the Shantae series' account:
https://twitter.com/wayforward/status/588883107912122370
2015 Tweet by Matt Bozon:
https://twitter.com/MrBozon/status/620411784512442368
Screencap of the deleted Reddit post about Montagna's statements:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/515/977/2f8
Intact comments section for the Reddit post above:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WayForward/comments/chh2w0/wayforward_dev_on_shantaes_age/
Reddit post about the 2020 AMA:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Shantae/comments/n2ynkq/matt_bozon_answered_my_question_during_wfama/
https://twitter.com/wayforward/status/588883107912122370
2015 Tweet by Matt Bozon:
https://twitter.com/MrBozon/status/620411784512442368
Screencap of the deleted Reddit post about Montagna's statements:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/515/977/2f8
Intact comments section for the Reddit post above:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WayForward/comments/chh2w0/wayforward_dev_on_shantaes_age/
Reddit post about the 2020 AMA:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Shantae/comments/n2ynkq/matt_bozon_answered_my_question_during_wfama/
subdirectory_arrow_right Kingdom Hearts (Franchise)
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In each Dive to the Heart segment in almost every game in the series, there is a disembodied voice that can only speak through text that guides the characters (and thus the player as well) through the tutorial of each game. The identity of these voices has been unidentified in every game but Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (where it is obviously child Sora) and the first Kingdom Hearts. For the latter, in the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania, Nomura was asked who the voice is for the opening of the first game and he finally gave it's identity as being none other than King Mickey. However, this interview was done in the early 2000's before most of the sequels were produced, so it's unknown if this explanation was retconned or not.
subdirectory_arrow_right Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love (Game), The Legend of Zelda (Franchise), Tingle (Collection)
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Tingle's effeminate mannerisms have caused many fans to assume the character is supposed to be gay, and so much so that in 2006, GayGamer named Tingle as gaming's #1 "gayest character". The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma would say to Kotaku in 2015: "He's not gay. He's just an odd person." The Tingle spin-off games very overtly portray Tingle as a heterosexual man, with Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love being a combination of a dating simulator and point-and-click adventure where every date is female, while in Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, part of Tingle's motivation is that he wants to be with beautiful women.
Eiji Aonuma confirming that Tingle is not gay:
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-explains-where-tingle-came-from-1686538751
List of Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love characters, including the dates:
https://zeldawiki.wiki/wiki/Characters_in_Ripened_Tingle%27s_Balloon_Trip_of_Love
Tingle being tempted by beautiful women in Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdYPxI-REgI#t=199
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-explains-where-tingle-came-from-1686538751
List of Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love characters, including the dates:
https://zeldawiki.wiki/wiki/Characters_in_Ripened_Tingle%27s_Balloon_Trip_of_Love
Tingle being tempted by beautiful women in Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdYPxI-REgI#t=199
Franchise: PaRappa the Rapper
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It has been claimed in interviews that the name "PaRappa" is a pun on "parappa", a supposed Japanese word meaning "flat" or "paper-thin", and the English word "rapper". This appears to be a slight mistranslation, as the word "parappa" does not exist within Japanese, but the word "パラパラ" (para para) seems to be a more likely origin, a Japanese term for flipping through a book, which would have flat pages. The term is also used for a Japanese form of disco dancing, which could also be seen as part of a pun, given that the series takes influence from a lot of different genres as opposed to just rap, with PaRappa the Rapper 2 having a noticeable disco influence.
Example of a press release where PaRappa is said to mean "paper thin":
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/12/technology/game-theory-the-japanese-embrace-hip-hop-and-parappa-is-born.html
Para Para definition 1: disco:
https://jisho.org/word/%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9-1
Para Para definition 2: flipping:
https://jisho.org/word/%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/12/technology/game-theory-the-japanese-embrace-hip-hop-and-parappa-is-born.html
Para Para definition 1: disco:
https://jisho.org/word/%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9-1
Para Para definition 2: flipping:
https://jisho.org/word/%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9
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