In Episode 7 of the TV series adaptation of The Last of Us, Ellie and Riley are seen playing the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II. At one point, Riley uses Mileena's fatality on Ellie's character Raiden, with Riley being heard pressing four buttons to initiate the killing blow. Following the episode's release, a number of fans online claimed this was inaccurate, as one can simply just press and hold the Heavy Kick command during the "Finish Him!" prompt to initiate her Fatality. However, other Mortal Kombat players argued that the show's display of gameplay could possibly be correct, pointing out that there is an alternate way to do the fatality. Specifically, Mileena can perform the Fatality by standing close to the opponent, holding the Block button and tapping the Heavy Kick command.
In 1/92 interview with the game's producer Shigeru Miyamoto published in the edition of Famicom Tsuushin magazine, he was asked if the SNES version of Zelda would be the same as the Super Famicom version. He responded that him and his team thought about making some improvements to the SNES version, including a number of things they could not complete in time for the Super Famicom release. Zelda makes full use of the available 8 MB of ROM space, but they knew they were going to need extra space for the English translation. They initially planned to increase the ROM size by 1 MB to solve this, until the compression routine their programmers wrote actually allowed them to fit everything in the original 8 MB storage. Miyamoto joked that they would save those aforementioned improvements for the next game.
In 1/92 interview with the game's producer Shigeru Miyamoto published in the edition of Famicom Tsuushin magazine, he revealed that him and his team began developing the game at the same time as Super Mario World. Even back when they initially revealed the Super Famicom at the company in July, 1989, their plan had always had been to make and release the game alongside Super Mario World as a launch title for the new system. They were hoping to release the game in March of 1991, but it was delayed into the Summer, until it was finally released on the one-year anniversary of the release of the Super Famicom on November 21, 1991.
In June 2020, Chris Avellone, who helped with the game's writing early in development, was accused by three people of using his status in the video game industry for sexual harrassment and misconduct towards women. On director Stephen Kick's Twitter account, when asked if Avellone was still involved in the game following these allegations, Kick tweeted that he had not been involved with the game since 2017, and that Night Dive took the game's writing in a different direction after restarting development in 2018. The allegations were later retracted by the accusers following a libel lawsuit in 2023.
According to former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, Toshio Iwai was the only person that created Electroplankton due to the easy accessibility of tools at the time that helped people develop games.
The Sewer Crocodiles are based off the titular characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The crocodiles themselves are named Bill, Mark, Steve, and Gabe. These are references to Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates, Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, and Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell, respectively.
On February 7th, 2023, Tighnari's English voice actor Elliot Gindi announced on Twitter that he would be taking a break from his online activity to seek therapy, claiming that the "influx of fans and fame" he gained from his work in the game "really messed [him] up". The following day, two moderators for Gindi's fan Discord servers posted to Twitter alleged evidence of offenses that Gindi had conducted in private, ranging from emotional abuse, blackmail, sexism, and having sexual relations with underage fans, with other users also coming forward to accuse Gindi of further acts. Shortly after these documents were posted, Gindi posted a Twitlonger tweet confirming that most of the allegations were true, although he denied the allegations involving underage fans. On February 16th, the game's developer HoYoverse released an official statement revealing that Gindi would no longer be voicing Tighnari, with the official reason being a "breach of contract". They also confirmed that the character would be recast at a later date, and on April 11th, they revealed he would be replaced by American actor Zachary Gordon.
In a March 2023 interview with the game's director Stig Asmussen published in PLAY magazine, he explained why the game didn't appear on the last-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles:
"Jedi: Fallen Order was a fantastic upgrade that really brought the game into its own. “[That version] was a good proving ground while we were considering how to enhance Survivor…We actually considered ray tracing for the new-gen Fallen Order because we were already building it into Survivor, but we ultimately scrapped it, because the environment art authoring between the generations was pretty different. But the process did help us define how we wanted to approach ray tracing on our modified version of the Unreal 4 engine."
"You’ll experience the benefit of the more powerful hardware throughout Survivor. Bottom line, we learned quickly that we could take advantage of the faster processors, larger/faster memory, better loading times, etc, to create much larger maps, with more detail, greater density, broader enemy/NPC variety, and overall fidelity. These features aligned perfectly with how we wanted to push the game. We didn’t want to break what we did in the first game because it was well received, but we wanted to evolve/enhance the experience. This new generation allowed us to do exactly that, and I believe it translates to a true new-gen experience in the Star Wars universe."
During an interview with Game Informer, co-directors Kazunori Kadoi and Yasuhiro Ampo admitted that Resident Evil 4's status as a "masterpiece" made it difficult to remake. Ampo stated by saying:
"Honestly speaking, I didn't want to do it. Among the RE series and even games in general, the original RE4 has become a legend. I knew that it would be difficult to successfully remake it, and if we made one mistake with any updates we made, we would anger its fans."
Kadoi would later add saying:
"When I first heard about remaking RE4, my first impression was that since the original is a masterpiece, a remake would be difficult. So I didn't want to do it."
Both directors would later get on board with remaking Resident Evil 4, and decided to approach the game differently compared to other remakes they have worked on. The team first decided to not "capture lightning in a bottle", noting that the original had such a massive impact and that the best thing to do was to stay faithful to the original and try and evolve it in smaller ways by replaying the original game to see what can be changed or evolved, which resulted in the removal of quick-time events and other gameplay changes to Ashley such as climbing ladders and getting less in the player's way.
In a post on the 2019 Valkyrie Profile Official Message Board, scenario planner Miho Akabane revealed that the inspiration for the story concept of the game came to him from watching a commercial for the original Valkyrie Profile, which showed Lenneth retrieving a man's soul as his aged mother grieved over the body. Akabane wondered that if the woman could see Valkyrie, if she would see her as a goddess of salvation, or of death.
On September 8, 2022, the United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II died, starting a national mourning period of ten days. In that time, rumors began to circulate that Nintendo had postponed a planned Nintendo Direct in response to the news. On September 12, the Direct was formally revealed to air worldwide the next day, although it was not livestreamed in the UK. Instead, it was published as an on-demand video on Nintendo UK's YouTube channel at a later time. This Direct featured the full title reveal for the then-untitled Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, revealing the game's subtitle to be "Tears of the Kingdom". This lead to even more speculation that the poor timing of this subtitle being the name of one of Nintendo's most anticipated games at the time coinciding with the Queen's death was what resulted in the Direct being delayed, rather than doing so purely out of respect. It wouldn't be until October 3 for Nintendo UK to begin their own promotion of the game, long after the mourning period ended.
Gunner Wright, Isaac Clarke's voice actor in Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3, returned to reprise his role in the remake of the original Dead Space. Isaac was given more dialogue compared to the original game where his only lines were grunts and screams, although his speech is still limited. He only speaks when he is spoken to, and in situations where the developers thought "it would feel weird if he remained silent", most commonly being instances involving his engineering experience like repairing the ship or detonating something, or finding a new objective. This decision was made to flesh out Isaac's character and personality to keep it in line with changes made in the last two games. Motive Studios clarified however that outside of these moments, Isaac would remain silent, as they wished to stay true to the isolated atmosphere the series was known for.
In October of 2022, NASCAR driver Ross Chastain performed a "wall-riding" trick during an official race, a move that he learned from performing it a lot in NASCAR 2005. The move had him slam the car into the track's outer wall causing him to continue speeding without having to slow down on a turn, enabling him to instantly move from 10th to 5th place of the race and enter the next stage of the Championship. Chastain explained that as a kid he "played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube" and often performed the move but wasn't sure if it would work in real-life. Despite the move being widely applauded by fans for its creativity, he later stated that he would never perform the move again, because he still did not know how it worked in real-life and that performing it was "not pleasant".
On January 31st, 2023, NASCAR officially announced that performing the move would not be tolerated due to safety concerns, citing existing rule 10.5.2.6.A which addresses safety concerns on a case-by-case basis.
Nightmare in Dream Land was the last game to credit Shinichi Shimomura, who co-directed the game with series creator Masahiro Sakurai, as a staff member. Shimomura previously served as a regular map designer for the Kirby series and directed Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Exactly what became of Shimomura after Nightmare in Dream Land is unknown, with many fans speculating that he retired from the video game industry and/or passed away.
In 2009, Justin McElroy, reviews editor for the now-defunct gaming blog Joystiq, contacted Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford asking the story of how Gearbox got its name for a puff piece series about different companies' names. Pitchford proceeded to tell an extraordinary story about how he and Valve co-founder Gabe Newell mistakenly boarded a cruising river boat together in New Orleans instead of a crossing ferry, and ended up getting into a high stakes Texas Hold 'Em poker game.
The stakes in particular were over the name "Gearbox", which he claimed came about from him and Newell discussing potential names for their up-and-coming game studios, and "realizing that something cool for a video game studio would have something to do with engines and machinery." Pitchford thought that the name was "sticky and simple and gears are cool things that have both an art and a precision to them and it's generally a nice, short but really cool word." Whoever knocked the other player out of the game or ended up with the biggest stack would win the Gearbox name. The stakes were higher for Pitchford, because according to him the other co-founders would have ditched him and shuttered the game studio entirely if he lost.
After four or five hours of play, Pitchford, being an avid poker player while Newell was not, found the right opportunity to turn the odds in his favor, leading to him winning the match, and Gabe Newell had to settle with Valve. Pitchford assured McElroy there were no hard feelings between the two as Gearbox would later work with them on future expansions for Half-Life, and the article was published and further corroborated by fellow outlet Kotaku.
However, later that day, McElroy was contacted by a spokesperson from Valve, who informed him that Newell and Pitchford first met after Valve shipped Half-Life, making the story impossible. Upon this discovery, both outlets later contacted Gearbox, and a spokesperson confirmed to them that the story was fake. Pitchford then explained to a reporter at Kotaku that the intent of his "Tall Tale" was to entertain and not to mislead, and promoted the original articles on his Twitter account as such.
It's currently unknown how Gearbox actually got its name, or if the inspiration for the name featured in the story is true while the poker game surrounding it is fabricated.
In a Japan-exclusive Shogakukan Wonder Life Special guidebook authored by Nintendo and Ape Inc., there is artwork depicting Link praying before a Crucifix, contrasting the game's origin story of the three Golden Goddesses, but also fitting with the Japanese version of the game calling the Sanctuary a Church. The Church's name was changed to the Sanctuary outside of Japan, presumably due to Nintendo's international policy on religious imagery, although this artwork and the rest featured in this guidebook were never republished internationally as other publishers released their own guides instead.
In a 2020 interview with IGN, series creator Toru Iwatani revealed that the ghosts Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, were inspired by the Japanese manga "Little Ghost Q-Taro" and the American cartoon character "Casper the Friendly Ghost". More interestingly, he revealed that the ghosts were conceived to always be ghosts, meaning that they never died to become ghosts, and are more akin to Yōkai in Japanese culture as "ethereal beings and concepts that reside among nature that were simply 'there' from the very beginning."
In the spawn area of the Zombies map "Der Eisendrache", there is a complicated Easter egg first discovered in 2019 that can be executed. When you spawn in, do not open any doors and allow the Zombies to break down the five barriers in the spawn area and enter the map. Once most or all of the Zombies are in the map, kill them for points. This should be done by the start of Round 2 and it is important to leave one or two Zombies alive and roaming the map so that you do not progress to Round 3. Once Round 2 starts, you need to go to every barrier and attach exactly two boards to each one, then go purchase the RK5 pistol. Next, you need to go back to every barrier and add two more boards to each for a total of four boards on each barrier, then go purchase the Shieva assault rifle, replacing the RK5. After that, you need to go back to every barrier one more time to attach one more board to each for a total of five boards on each barrier, then go and purchase the RK5 again replacing the Shieva. From the moment you purchase the RK5 again, you need to race to the fenced-off door to the east of where you first spawned in under five seconds. If you get there in time, you can walk out onto the deck and find a heart-shaped arch spinning on a platform in mid-air. Inside that arch is a picture of developer Drew Marlowe and his family.
In a 1994 interview with the game's director Takashi Tokita published in Famicom Tsuushin magazine, he was asked what made him want to make the game? He responded that the idea for the World Select featuring the game's several smaller worlds was the biggest motivator for him, as Square had made many different games with grand stories, like the Final Fantasy and Hanjuku Hero series, that take dozens of hours to complete. Tokita figured that in that sense, they were all the same, so he thought that if he could change that formula, it could breathe some fresh air into the team's development process and possibly enlarge the scope of the gameplay.
The Sewer Crocodiles are based off the titular characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The crocodiles themselves are named Bill, Mark, Steve, and Gabe. These are references to Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates, Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, and Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell, respectively.
In October of 2022, NASCAR driver Ross Chastain performed a "wall-riding" trick during an official race, a move that he learned from performing it a lot in NASCAR 2005. The move had him slam the car into the track's outer wall causing him to continue speeding without having to slow down on a turn, enabling him to instantly move from 10th to 5th place of the race and enter the next stage of the Championship. Chastain explained that as a kid he "played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube" and often performed the move but wasn't sure if it would work in real-life. Despite the move being widely applauded by fans for its creativity, he later stated that he would never perform the move again, because he still did not know how it worked in real-life and that performing it was "not pleasant".
Nightmare in Dream Land was the last game to credit Shinichi Shimomura, who co-directed the game with series creator Masahiro Sakurai, as a staff member. Shimomura previously served as a regular map designer for the Kirby series and directed Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Exactly what became of Shimomura after Nightmare in Dream Land is unknown, with many fans speculating that he retired from the video game industry and/or passed away.
In a Japan-exclusive Shogakukan Wonder Life Special guidebook authored by Nintendo and Ape Inc., there is artwork depicting Link praying before a Crucifix, contrasting the game's origin story of the three Golden Goddesses, but also fitting with the Japanese version of the game calling the Sanctuary a Church. The Church's name was changed to the Sanctuary outside of Japan, presumably due to Nintendo's international policy on religious imagery, although this artwork and the rest featured in this guidebook were never republished internationally as other publishers released their own guides instead.
In the spawn area of the Zombies map "Der Eisendrache", there is a complicated Easter egg first discovered in 2019 that can be executed. When you spawn in, do not open any doors and allow the Zombies to break down the five barriers in the spawn area and enter the map. Once most or all of the Zombies are in the map, kill them for points. This should be done by the start of Round 2 and it is important to leave one or two Zombies alive and roaming the map so that you do not progress to Round 3. Once Round 2 starts, you need to go to every barrier and attach exactly two boards to each one, then go purchase the RK5 pistol. Next, you need to go back to every barrier and add two more boards to each for a total of four boards on each barrier, then go purchase the Shieva assault rifle, replacing the RK5. After that, you need to go back to every barrier one more time to attach one more board to each for a total of five boards on each barrier, then go and purchase the RK5 again replacing the Shieva. From the moment you purchase the RK5 again, you need to race to the fenced-off door to the east of where you first spawned in under five seconds. If you get there in time, you can walk out onto the deck and find a heart-shaped arch spinning on a platform in mid-air. Inside that arch is a picture of developer Drew Marlowe and his family.
