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Final Fantasy X (2001)

subdirectory_arrow_right Final Fantasy X-2 (Game), Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (Game), Final Fantasy (Franchise)

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In 2013, Square Enix published a novella titled "Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~" ("Price of Eternity"), to commemorate the release of the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD remasters that year. It was written by both games' scenario writer Kazushige Nojima and never received an official English release. The only existing fan translation as of 2024 was translated from Japanese to French to English. The book was heavily criticized worldwide for its vague writing style, introducing violent and sexual elements uncommon to the Final Fantasy series, and weakening the impact of both games' endings. For context, X's plot builds up to Spoiler:a negative ending where Tidus dies and Yuna has to accept his death and move on, while X-2 turns it back around to Spoiler:a positive ending where Tidus is brought back to life. What X-2.5 does to weaken this is Spoiler:immediately kill Tidus and just as quickly resurrect him for the express purpose of setting up future stories, removing the emotional weight and finality from him being truly dead or alive.

X-2.5's plot takes place between the first ending of X-2 and its secret ending. It has two sections written from Tidus and Yuna's own perspectives and a third section with both perspectives. After reuniting, Yuna briefly leaves to address recent developments on Besaid Island. Tidus later goes sailing to look for her, falls asleep, and wakes up finding her in the boat. On their way back to Besaid, Spoiler:they get lost in a storm and are marooned on an island resembling Besaid, having transported 1000 years back in time. While there, Tidus inexplicably gets hit in the head with an object resembling a Blitzball that is actually a bomb. When he goes to pick it up, it explodes, decapitating Tidus and sending his head flying near Yuna with a surprised expression on his face. She faints and sees a vision of a god-like figure who helps her resurrect a ghost-like version of Tidus through Beckoning, where someone thinks of a person they knew who died, summoning an illusion of them from the Farplane made of Pyreflies, but if the illusion learns they are not actually alive, they will fade away.

The rest of the story involves Yuna Spoiler:going back and forth from the past to present trying to keep Tidus' spirit from vanishing by interacting with new characters. These include Briar and Kush, who also turn out to be Beckoned spirits from the past and vanish at the end of the book, and Ifarnal, a summoner who tells Yuna that Tidus must kill Kush if they want to return to the present together and later gets killed by another bomb. Through the subplot with the new characters, it's established that one way to create "cores" used to summon Aeons (these Aeon Cores are said to be very similar to Faytes but have differences) is implied to be through consensual sex in two scenes. One where Yuna is transferred the knowledge on how to create them and blushes in embarrassment, and one where Briar discovers Ifarnal and a half-naked Kush in bed together. At the end of the book, there is a small time-skip to the secret ending of X-2, shown in a different context now knowing the events of X-2.5, and ends on a "To Be Continued" cliffhanger.

Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission takes place after X-2.5. Since it was released years before, it does not acknowledge the events of X-2.5, but the HD remaster does include a continuation that is relevant to both. It is a 30-minute audio drama that was dubbed internationally called "Final Fantasy X -Will-" and was also written by Nojima. The story follows two summoners, Chuami and her assistant Kurgum, who gradually meet the cast of X/X-2. During this, Yuna discovers Spoiler:that Sin is among a horde of souls being beckoned back from the Farplane. In what seems to be an effort to prevent the still undead Tidus from sacrificing himself to kill Sin again, she breaks up with him by lying about being in love with another man, and the summoners go to fight Sin, appearing to set up the plot for a potential Final Fantasy X-III.

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Unofficial Japanese to French to English translation of Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~ (3 page forum thread):
https://ffx3chat.createaforum.com/general-discussion/~eternal-cost~-french-to-english-translation-47/

Final Fantasy -Will- (links include Japanese audio, English subtitles, and English audio):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpWZ4bli70Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJd3Tfu5ulY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXf2RqR3lM4

Amazon link to the novella with mixed user reviews:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/FINAL-FANTASY-X-2-5-~永遠の代償~-ノベルズ/dp/4757541570

Article about novella criticism:
https://gamerescape.com/2014/01/03/final-fantasy-x-novella-causing-a-stir-among-japanese-fans/

Satirical article criticizing the novella:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150325022124/https://www.p4rgaming.com/square-enix-accidentally-publishes-fanfiction-for-the-final-fantasy-x-2-5-novel/

Videos covering X-2.5 and Will:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbELoIdX7Hg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDb7hsrcZUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT7Qr0oG1SA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ecZEPkemE

Blog posts discussing the plots of X-2.5 and Will:
https://marathonrecaps.wordpress.com/2021/03/18/final-fantasy-x-2-5-price-of-eternity-big-bad-book/
https://marathonrecaps.wordpress.com/2021/03/25/final-fantasy-x-2-5-price-of-eternity-violence-in-sports/
https://marathonrecaps.wordpress.com/2021/04/01/final-fantasy-x-2-5-price-of-eternity-kick-the-puppy-love/
https://marathonrecaps.wordpress.com/2021/05/13/final-fantasy-x-will-literally-listen-to-my-story/
https://marathonrecaps.wordpress.com/2021/05/20/final-fantasy-x-will-alls-well-that-ends-under-a-giant-whale/

Golf (1984)

subdirectory_arrow_right Nintendo Switch (Platform)

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Within the Nintendo Switch firmware prior to Version 4.0.0 (for Japanese, US and European systems only), there is a hidden NES emulator stub called "flog" that can be unlocked under very specific conditions. flog can only be unlocked on the Home Screen and when the console's internal clock is set to July 11th (if the date is changed in System Settings, but the console is connected to the internet and can see the actual date, this method will not work). The method to unlock it involves detaching the Joy-Cons from the console, holding them pointing forwards/downwards, then moving them to a vertical position and holding it for a few seconds. This gesture may take some time to hone due to it being a specific movement tracked by the Joy-Cons, but when it is matched, the system will check to see if flog is installed. When checked, an audio clip of a man saying "chokusetsu" ("直接"), the Japanese word for "direct", will play and the screen will cut to black and launch the 1984 NES title Golf. This emulator is unique in that it includes specific instructions in English and Japanese on how to play depending on how the Joy-Cons are held, and has a more stripped-down and simplistic appearance than the emulators that would be used for NES games on Nintendo Switch Online. Pressing the Home button while playing Golf will return you to the Home Screen without any visible software running there.

With Version 4.0.0, Nintendo removed all of the code required to launch flog and play Golf, but the company seemed unusually hesitant to even acknowledge its existence when asked by news outlets. One month before its removal, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie released two statements regarding it when asked by Kotaku:

"So, two comments on this. It was identified by folks playing around in the firmware. We've got nothing officially to announce for that content or what the plans are for that content. So that's that. Certainly anything that pays respect to my friend Mr. Iwata is something that is near and dear to me personally, but in terms of that execution and what it was meant to do or what the plans are, we've got nothing to announce."

"I'm struck whenever I go back to Kyoto and spend time in our headquarters and spend time in the offices where Mr. Iwata, myself and others would be meeting. It's always personally touching. And so, again, no comment on that particular execution."

While this seems to allude that the secret emulator and Golf's inclusion were not authorized within Nintendo, this all but confirms that their purpose was to act as a tribute to Nintendo's late CEO Satoru Iwata. Iwata, who programmed Golf and previously hosted the company's Nintendo Direct showcase series, passed away on July 11th, 2015, with the method to unlock the emulator mimicking a gesture he used during Nintendo Directs. Japanese fans on social media referred to the Easter egg as an "omamori", an amulet purchased at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan that if kept close are said to protect the bearer and bring good luck, speculating that Golf was included by Iwata as a secret charm to watch over every Nintendo Switch unit after his death.

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Video demonstrations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGN6QXv7sfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmkAvnnFICE

Polygon articles covering the discovery and removal of Golf:
https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/17/16323452/nintendo-switch-golf-emulator
https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch/2017/9/20/16338508/nintendo-switch-golf-iwata-theory
https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/27/16822340/nintendo-switch-golf-game-hidden-removed

Reggie Fils-Amie statements:
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-is-still-oddly-tight-lipped-about-the-switch-s-1820050815

The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Nintendo_Switch#Golf

Chokusetsu definition:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ちょくせつ#Japanese

Skull and Bones (2024)

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Despite incorporating several elements common in a live-service game (i.e. an in-game store, a battle pass, seasonal events, and premium currency), Skull and Bones was given a price tag of $70. Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, justified this during an investors call before the game's release, stating:

"It's a very big game and we feel that people will really see how vast and complete that game is. So it's a really full triple-A, quadruple-A game that will deliver in the long run."

It's worth noting, however, that the game cost $200 million due to its decade-long development, with Ubisoft admitting that they did not think they would be able to break even due to its poor launch. Knowing this, it can be inferred that Ubisoft insisted on referring to Skull and Bones as a "quadruple-A" title not because of the scope of the project, but for how abnormally long it took to produce and raised the price to recoup costs, because this was not the first or only game they called a AAAA title in the past. It was discovered as far back as 2020 on the LinkedIn pages of several Ubisoft employees that they referred to Skull and Bones, the also long-delayed Beyond Good & Evil 2, and later Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, all games with development times lasting at least six years, as AAAA titles in their work experience.

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Quote source:
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-ceo-defends-skull-and-bones-dollar60-price-tag-says-its-a-quadruple-a-game/

Game budget:
https://insider-gaming.com/skull-and-bones-players-total/

2020 LinkedIn page mentions:
https://screenrant.com/ubisoft-beyond-good-evil-skull-bones-aaaa-games/

2022 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora AAAA game label:
https://tech4gamers.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora/

City Life DS (2008)

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In 2022, the English rock band Arctic Monkeys released a song titled "Sculptures of Anything Goes", featuring the following lyric in the last verse of the song:

"The simulation cartridge for City Life '09 is pretty tricky to come by."

This lyric became the subject of news articles when fans on the music lyrics website Genius initially determined that it was referencing the obscure Nintendo DS game City Life DS, which only released in France in 2008 and the United Kingdom in 2009, and did not sell as well as previous games in the City Life series. Fans theorized that the difficulty in finding a copy of the game referenced in the lyric stemmed from Nintendo eventually discontinuing the DS family of systems to support future consoles. They also cited the closure of the Nintendo 3DS/Wii U versions of the Nintendo eShop as another possibility, but this was unfounded as City Life DS was only officially released as a physical cartridge and not part of the Wii U Virtual Console's Nintendo DS library.

However, it was confirmed in an interview with the band's frontman Alex Turner by Rolling Stone Germany on the day the song released that the lyric was not about City Life DS. He attributed the lyric to the works of author David Foster Wallace, most likely as a reference to his book "Infinite Jest" where the characters consume entertainment in the form of cartridges, which could also be referring to Turner's growing struggle to appeal and relate to Arctic Monkeys' audience from their earlier years as their sound and image changed later on.

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Arctic Monkeys - Sculptures of Anything Goes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQsrIxyoJdE

City Life DS release dates:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180109182552/https://www.gamespot.com/city-life-ds/

Alex Turner Rolling Stone Germany interview:
https://www.rollingstone.de/arctic-monkeys-alex-turner-im-grossen-interview-zum-neuen-album-the-car-2508705/

Speculation news coverage:
https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/arctic-monkeys-sneak-an-obscure-nintendo-reference-into-the-car-3333593
https://www.gamesradar.com/an-obscure-nintendo-city-builder-has-resurfaced-on-the-new-arctic-monkeys-album/
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/10/random-arctic-monkeys-song-potentially-makes-obscure-ds-city-builder-reference
https://indigomusic.com/pop-cultures/arctic-monkeys-made-a-subtle-nintendo-reference-in-their-track-the-car?amp=1

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