Trivia Browser

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Company: THQ
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THQ stands for "Toy Head-Quarters", as THQ worked in the toy business from its founding in 1990 up until 1994.
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Etymology, General
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 17, 2023
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Star Fox Command
Star Fox Command (2006)
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Attachment One of the Anglar Army's commanders in Star Fox Command is a hammerhead shark looking character named "Zako", who's also a subordinate of Octoman.

His Japanese name, however, is シャーマン (Shāman), which can either translate to just "Shaman" or even "Sherman". Looking at the English text provided in the official Japanese Star Fox Command guidebook, it seems the intended name is "Sharman". It's fairly obvious that his name is combination of "Shark" and "Man", and that it's also meant to complement and mirror Octoman's name.
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Etymology, General, Manual, Regional Difference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 15, 2023
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Company: Too Kyo Games
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Following the completion of the anime series "Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School" and the video game Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Danganronpa series writer Kazutaka Kodaka started thinking about how he wanted to create his own development company where he can do new things. He discussed the idea with composer Masafumi Takada and character designer Rui Komatsuzaki, who were also interested in the idea: Takada would be the one to found Too Kyo Games, due to having been involved in the launch of other companies.

Kodaka also invited other people to join the company, including Kotaro Uchikoshi (director and scenario writer of the Zero Escape series), Shimadoriru (Danganronpa illustrator), Takumi Nakazawa (director and co-writer of the Infinity series), and Yoichirou Koizumi (Danganronpa novelist). Kodaka, Takada, Komatsuzaki and Uchikoshi each serve as the core members of the company, with Kodaka serving as both its representative and CEO.

Additionally, the company's name is a wordplay on "Tokyo", where the company is based, and "kyo", the Japanese word for crazy: hence, the company's name literally means "Too Crazy Games".
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Corporate Affairs, Etymology, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 12, 2023
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Yars' Revenge
Yars' Revenge (1982)
subdirectory_arrow_right Atari (Company)
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The fly species in Yars' Revenge, the yar, and their home planet, Razak, are reversals of then-Atari CEO Ray Kassar's name. Creator Howard Scott Warshaw told a marketing executive this was the name's origin, but did not inform them that Kassar was unaware of the name's origins, leading them to believe the name was coined by Kassar and preventing them from informing him and getting the name changed.
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Backstory/Lore, Corporate Affairs, Development, Etymology, Title
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 9, 2023
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Company: HAL Laboratory
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In a 2012 Iwata Asks discussion, Nintendo president and HAL Laboratory alum Satoru Iwata revealed that HAL's name was intended as a riff on IBM, an American computer company who were omnipresent in the tech industry when HAL was founded in 1980. According to Iwata, the idea was that each of the letters in "HAL" were just before each of the letters in "IBM" in the Latin alphabet, thus conveying the fact that HAL were always "one step ahead of IBM."
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Etymology, Inspiration, Real Life
person VinchVolt calendar_month November 2, 2023
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Star Fox Zero
Star Fox Zero (2016)
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Attachment Androsa, the weaponized flying fortress that appears as Star Fox Zero's first boss, is modeled after the Rafflesia arnoldii, or corpse flower, the largest (and also smelliest) known flower in the world.

This reference becomes much more clear when you consider its Japanese name, サルレシア (Sarureshia), a mashup of サル (Saru) and ラフレシア (Rafureshia), the Japanese words for Monkey and Rafflesia respectively.
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Etymology, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Reference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 31, 2023
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Star Fox Command
Star Fox Command (2006)
subdirectory_arrow_right Q-Games Ltd. (Company)
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Attachment In the "Star Wolf Returns!" ending of Star Fox Command, it is said that after Krystal gained a new life as a bounty hunter named "Kursed" ("Krazoa" in the Japanese version) in another galaxy, she eventually came across Fox again on a planet named "Kew", although it's said that Fox doesn't recognize her.

The Japanese name for Kew is "キュー" (Kyū), which is essentially how "Q" is written in Japanese. This makes it more clear that Kew was actually named after Q-Games, Dylan Cuthbert's company that assisted in Star Fox Command's development.
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Development, Etymology, General, Reference, Regional Difference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 30, 2023
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Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (2021)
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Attachment Competitive players of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl nickname Rocko's grounded neutral strong attack, "Scream!", "Joe Biden" after a mondegreen interpreting Rocko's scream of "You're fired!" (a reference to the episode Power Trip, where he gets promoted to the boss of the comic book shop he works at and becomes mad with power) as "Joe Biden!"

NASB community manager Thaddeus Crews responded to a now-deleted tweet about the mondegreen with "canon", and later posted a stock render of Rocko with the caption "Joe Biden".
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Competitive, Etymology, Meme, Mistake, Politics, Reference, Voice Acting
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month October 20, 2023
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Crazy Frog Racer
Crazy Frog Racer (2006)
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Puschel the Squirrel is named after Puschel, das Eichhorn, the German title for the anime Bannertail: The Story of Gray Squirrel, and her character design resembles a squirrel character from the series named Sue.
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Character Design, Console Difference, Etymology, Inspiration, Reference, Regional Difference, Version Difference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 21, 2023
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Mappy
Mappy (1983)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mappy (Collection)
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The name "Mappy" is likely derived from the early 20th century Japanese slang term "マッポ" (mappo), used in criminal circles to refer to a police officer.
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Character Design, Development, Etymology, Inspiration, Real Life
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 20, 2023
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“まっぽ”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) (in Japanese)‎, 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, ISBN: 4-09-521001-X
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001)
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Attachment According to page 74 of the official Nintendo Power Player's Guide, Conker refers to Rodent as "Private Milquetoast". Whether this is Rodent's actual surname or not, Milquetoast is slang for a meek or timid person, which describes Rodent’s personality.
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Backstory/Lore, Etymology, Suggested, Theory
person NintendOtaku calendar_month September 11, 2023
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Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima (2020)
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Attachment Located in the Southwest region of Iki Island is a rocky island called "Saruiwa", which translates to "monkey rock", the word 'saru' meaning monkey and the word 'iwa' meaning rock. It is named as such because the rock formation resembles a monkey. This island is also named after and based on the Saruiwa rock formation found on the real Iki Island in Japan, though it should be noted that the in-game location and real-life location do not match up geographically.
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Easter Egg, Etymology, Inspiration, Real Life, Reference
person Wolfen50 calendar_month September 4, 2023
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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
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)
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Attachment In the Japanese release, an enemy that looks strikingly similar to Donkey Kong named Guerilla in the English release is named ドソキーユング, or "Dosokī Yungu" when Romanized. This character's Japanese name is a joke based on the Katakana writing system, as Dosokī Yungu's Katakana is visually similar to Donkey Kong's Katakana ドンキーコング, but actually has two different, yet similar-looking characters that are swapped out to make Dosokī Yungu (the first ン is changed to ソ, and コ is changed to ユ). Just like how the enemy resembles Donkey Kong, but is not actually him, the name resembles "Donkey Kong", but is not actually read that way.

"Dosokī Yungu" itself could possibly be a reference to the 1949 film Mighty Joe Young, which was produced by the same creative team that made the 1933 film King Kong, one of the main influences for the creation of Donkey Kong.
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Easter Egg, Etymology, Reference, Regional Difference, Version Difference
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month August 24, 2021
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Katamari Damacy
Katamari Damacy (2004)
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Attachment The title Katamari Damacy is a transliteration of "Katamari Tamashii" (塊魂). "Katamari" is japanese for "lump/clump" or a "mass", and "Tamashii" is "soul/spirit", which roughly translates the game's title as "clump of souls", in a context of "team spirit." The two kanji-letters also look similar, using similar right-side letters (akin to 鬼).
When asked about the title, Keita Takahashi (director and producer for the first game and following sequels) said in an interview with Dengeki Online "It just popped into my head suddenly, and this is what it has been from the beginning."
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Etymology, General, Title
person G-Haven calendar_month April 2, 2015
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Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64 (1997)
subdirectory_arrow_right Family Computer Disk System (Platform), Family Computer (Platform)
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Attachment The robot boss of Sector X, dubbed "Spyborg" in the English version of Star Fox 64, is known as HVC-09 in the Japanese version.

HVC (Home Video Computer) was the model number that was used for Famicom (the Japanese equivalent to the Nintendo Entertainment System) hardware and peripherals. For example, the model number for R.O.B. (who in Japan was called Family Computer Robot) was HVC-012. Likewise, the model number for the NES Zapper (known as the Famicom Light Gun in Japan) was HVC-005. The model number for the Famicom itself was HVC-001.

Funny enough, in real life, there never was any NES related hardware whose model number was HVC-09.
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Etymology, Real Life, Reference, Regional Difference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 19, 2023
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User's English translation of an official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/y8cwc9/finally_got_around_to_doing_translations/

Famicom Robot model number promotional materials:
https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20110524_famicom_robo/

Famicom model number catalog:
https://maru-chang.com/hard/hvc/english.htm
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