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Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows (2024)
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One of the game's dual protagonists Yasuke, an African samurai, is the first main character in the 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, and no known resources from when he was alive that refer to him as a samurai, with the most common conclusion being his title was a retainer.

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 were going against the series' penchant for accurate historical backgrounds and misrepresented Japan, which the series had never covered in-depth, by inflating Yasuke's role in history and not having both protagonists be Japanese (the other protagonist, Naoe, is Japanese), claiming he was not actually a samurai. Fans in support of his role claiming he was actually a samurai called these objections racist and based on narrow-minded arguments and inferences, with some going so far as to claim that Asian samurai protagonists in media were oversaturated and that critics' complaints would be the same if the game was set in Africa and starred an African protagonist. This intense fighting led to an edit war on Yasuke's English Wikipedia article, with administrators publicly calling its Talk page "a complete dumpster fire". As of June 10, the consensus that the Talk page reached appears to be that the available historical resources are inconclusive and do not confirm if Yasuke was or was not a samurai. Reflecting this, the article does not call him a samurai when covering his documented life.

This lack of clarity allows popular media to take creative liberties in adapting him, often depicting him as a high-ranking samurai, and Ubisoft took a similar direction from the outset. A press release at the game's announcement 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 [the game] through his curiosity, openness, respect for values and tradition, valor, warmth, and charisma."

While the quote's header is named "Yasuke: A Real-Life Samurai", the quote is carefully worded to stop short of directly calling him a samurai, with more advertising describing him as a "samurai of historical legend". Game director Charles Benoit later acknowledged his life "is surrounded by mysteries" and that "[Yasuke] told us to tell" his story seen in the game, which was also described by associate narrative director Brooke Davies as fictitious.

Creative director Jonathan Dumont elaborated in a set of interviews with Famitsu on May 15 that they chose Yasuke to fit with the 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 alongside the player, stating that they were "first looking for "our samurai," someone who could be our non-Japanese eyes". The following day, the interviews were edited to remove this quote, and to change quotes either directly or contextually referring to Yasuke as an "outsider" to being a "foreign-born samurai".
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Adaptation, Advertisement/Commercial, Complaint, Corporate Affairs, Development, Early Idea, First, General, Inspiration, Misconception, Press Release, Race, Real Life, Reviews, Social Media, Suggested, Theory, Website
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month May 19, 2024
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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

Ubisoft Forward - June 10, 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/live/zPoJUPrCkkg#t=4602s

IGN Japan interview with Brooke Davies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqwitaREyd0

Ubisoft article with several videos explaining historical backgrounds behind previous Assassin's Creed games:
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/6d4zQXyH0VF6z75Ab7jfss/discover-the-real-history-behind-every-assassins-creed

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

TheGamer article:
https://www.thegamer.com/african-assassins-creed-shadows-controversy/

Time article:
https://time.com/6978997/assassins-creed-shadow-yasuke-controversy/

Forbes article mentioning Wikipedia edit war and international reactions:
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 suggested for and 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
Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)
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In order to conserve memory and ensure as little slowdown as possible, the game only renders what the camera sees, meaning that as the camera moves, large chunks of terrain on the overworld are constantly being loaded in.
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Development, General, Optimization
person raidramon0 calendar_month December 26, 2023
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Concord
Concord (2024)
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Concord is the first video game developed by Firewalk Studios, a company founded in 2018 as a subsidiary of ProbablyMonsters. Concord was originally made in collaboration between the two companies, but this changed in April 2023 after Sony Interactive Entertainment purchased Firewalk Studios, taking over development.
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Acquisition, Corporate Affairs, Development, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 2, 2024
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Deltarune
Deltarune (TBA)
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Attachment In a tweet made a few months after Chapter 2's release, development staff member Samanthuel Gillson shared an early sprite sheet of Hacker featuring a considerably different design compared to the final game, depicting his body as the shaft of a pointer icon rather than making the entire symbol his head. While these were ultimately done away with after Hacker's design was revised, one sprite depicting him pointing forward is still present in the game's code.

Of note is that Hacker's head turning into a click icon is present in the sprite sheet in Gillson's tweet, indicating that this component of Spamton's sidequest (in which the click icon indicates an area that Kris must check in order to access the mansion basement) was already conceived by this point. Consequently, it is unknown what the leftover pointing sprite was made for.
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, Leftover, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Unused Graphic
person VinchVolt calendar_month May 26, 2024
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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During the reboot of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, several characters and aspects adapted into the comic from the 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon (commonly referred to as "Sonic SatAM") were noticeably altered for a variety of factors:

• Ixis Naugus (referred to simply as Naugus in the show) was changed to "Walter Naugus". His species (which was never actually stated in the show, though the pre-reboot comics depicted him as a rhino-bat-lobster hybrid) was changed to that of a troll, with a tail being added to his design to help make him look as such, alongside his attire being updated to more resemble a warlock. Additionally, despite what was initially believed, the term "Ixis" was originally applied to Naugus' cartoon production materials, and was not invented by former writer Ken Penders. This meant it was still usable in the comics, and was later given to the deity worshipped by the troll species.
• Muttski was changed to "Ben "Mutt" Muttski", and was changed from a non-anthropomorphic dog to an anthropomorphic one. Notably, his new name was given in honor of Ben Hurst, the main writer of "Sonic SatAM" who sadly passed away in 2010.
• Snively Robotnik (referred to simply as Snively in the show) was changed to "Doctor Julian Snively", with his first name being a nod to "Sonic SatAM", as Dr. Robotnik's original name in the show was Julian. According to Ian Flynn, he is no longer related to Dr. Eggman in the reboot due to Sega's mandates not allowing other media to invent family members for the main "SegaSonic" cast. Ironically, while his half-sister Hope Kintobor was removed from the reboot, Snively inherited her position as G.U.N.'s R&D Specialist.
• Maximillian Acorn (referred to simply as "The King" in the show) was changed to "King Nigel Acorn". His name was most likely changed due to being coined by former writer Ken Penders. Notably, his new name, speech pattern and mannerisms are shared with Nigel Thornberry from the animated series "The Wild Thornberrys": Nigel was voiced by British actor Tim Curry, who also voiced the King in "Sonic SatAM".
• Nicole the Holo-Lynx's new backstory in the reboot has her being created by Dr. Ellidy in an attempt to digitize the consciousness of his dying daughter Nikki. This may have been loosely inspired by Ben Hurst's plans for the cancelled third season of "Sonic SatAM", where it would have been revealed that Nicole was originally a normal girl until she was tricked by Dr. Robotnik into having her entire personality transferred into a computer satellite.
• Although the Wolf Pack originated from "Sonic SatAM", the only member of the group who was not created by Ken Penders was their leader Lupe the Wolf, who also originated from the show. As such, when the comic was rebooted, she was the only member of the group to be carried over.
• Aside from King Acorn, the only parent of a "Sonic SatAM" character to make it into the reboot was Sabina, the mother of Dulcy the Dragon and herself a character from the show. However, while Ian Flynn did confirm that she was still Dulcy's mother in the reboot, she never actually appeared in the comic prior to its cancellation. Additionally, given that Dulcy refers to her with present tense, it's likely that Sabina is still alive in the reboot, whereas she had died in the original continuity.
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Backstory/Lore, Character Design, Development, General, Inspiration, Multimedia Adaptation, Name Change, Passed Away, Real Life, Reference, Retcon, Similarities, Theory, Tribute
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month January 7, 2024
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Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie (1998)
subdirectory_arrow_right Banjo-Tooie (Game)
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Attachment A few of Banjo-Tooie's worlds were originally planned for its predecessor, Banjo-Kazooie, such as the fire side of Hailfire Peaks and Glitter Gulch Mine. Many of these were cut primarily because of time constraints.

Gobi mentions leaving for the "Lava World" in Click Clock Woods, which adds up as Gregg Mayles' concept art for the cut lava world shows that Gobi would have been present. Gobi would eventually live up to his promise by appearing in the fire side of Hailfire Peaks in Banjo-Tooie, after being freed in Witchyworld.
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Artwork/Illustration, Development, Early Idea, General, Reference, Unused Content
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 28, 2023
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Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023)
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During Summer Game Fest 2023, the game's creative director Brian Intihar revealed that the Venom featured in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 would not be based on the origin story of Eddie Brock. Instead, Intihar stated:

"…our goal was to tell an original story something you haven't seen in the comics and the movies yet. Obviously, we love Venom for a reason… all those things you love about the character are going to be there, but how the story plays out, who is Venom, you'll have to play the game to see."
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, General, Real Life
person ProtoSnake calendar_month October 22, 2023
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Five Nights at Candy's
Five Nights at Candy's (TBA)
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According to Emil Macko, the remastered version of Five Nights at Candy's took the shortest amount of time to make among the original FNaC trilogy games, being made in a little under a month.
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Development, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month September 4, 2023
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Skullgirls
Skullgirls (2012)
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Censorship, Development, Release Difference, Removed Feature, Unused Content, Unused Graphic, Update Difference, Version Difference
person ZpaceJ0ck0 calendar_month October 28, 2022
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (2022)
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At the 2022 PAX East during an interview with the game's composer Tiago "Tee" Lopes from Mega Visions, he was asked what was his personal history with the TMNT series was and why was he apart of the project. He responded:

"So I was always a very big fan of TMNT since I was a very small kid, I remember it being the first cartoon I ever watched on TV, and them being my first favorite superheroes... and also I had the opportunity to work with these wonderful teams. Dotemu is the second game I do with them. And it's my first time working with Tribute, and they did such an amazing game and I'm just so glad to be apart of this project."
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Development, General, Music, Real Life
person ProtoSnake calendar_month June 12, 2022
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Skullgirls
Skullgirls (2012)
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Valentine's design was officially changed on May 13th, 2014 via a patch update. The update changed all parts of her design that involve a red cross against a white background to be altered so the cross is colored pink instead. This was done in order to prevent legal action by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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Censorship, Development, General, Real Life, Release Difference, Update Difference, Version Difference
person ZpaceJ0ck0 calendar_month May 24, 2022
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Sonic Riders
Sonic Riders (2006)
subdirectory_arrow_right Sonic Riders (Game)
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A version of Sonic Riders was also being developed for the Game Boy Advance, but SEGA wanted to make the game "more 3D", resulting in the GBA version being scrapped entirely.
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Cancelled Release, Development
person Boyobmas calendar_month January 6, 2015
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Mega Man X: Command Mission
Mega Man X: Command Mission (2004)
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Attachment Concept art for the original Mega Man, as well as Cut Man, was created. It is unknown if they were ever intended to appear in the final game.
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Development, Early Idea
person SonicNicholas1995 calendar_month August 21, 2014
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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007)
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Attachment Phantom Hourglass contains a an island called "Dee Ess Island" - an island in the shape of the DS Lite when shown from the sea and an original DS when shown from the island itself. This concept was almost carried forward into a GameCube Island for Wind Waker but was scrapped before making it into the final game.
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Development, Early Idea, Easter Egg, Reference
person Petie calendar_month March 19, 2013
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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment Prior to Version 0.07, the guillotine NPC that provides the Severed Head effect when interacted with was located in Block World rather than the Guillotine Room (the latter of which is commonly known as such due to the guillotine's presence there in later builds). Instead, the latter area only features the lunatic Toriningen and cupboards.

This early iteration consequently made Block World one of only two areas in the game that featured more than one effect (the second being the Hat & Scarf effect, which is obtainable from Block World in all known builds). From Version 0.07 onward, this distinction is only held by Mural World (which features both the Blonde and Long Hair effects).
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Development, Early Idea, Level Design, Release Difference, Update Difference, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 15, 2024
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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment In the earliest builds of Yume Nikki, in-game text was not given windows outside of the game's menus; this feature was not added until Version 0.05. Curiously, while overworld text is generally sparse, Version 0.10 features data for a three-line window, far more than what is normally needed. This appears to line up with a text prompt in Version 0.04 – but not Version 0.06 onward – that appears when Madotsuki attempts to return the swivel chair to her desk in the dream world version of her apartment.

Because Version 0.05 is not currently available to the public, it is unknown if this window was indeed used for the prompt in that build or if the text was removed before the idea could be implemented.
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Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Release Difference, Removed Feature, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Theory, Unused Graphic, Update Difference, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 15, 2024
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Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy (2023)
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The plot of Hogwarts Legacy was purposefully set in a time period where many pre-established characters from the Harry Potter franchise (such as Newton Scamander or Harry Potter himself) are not around. According to lead writer Moira Squier, this was done in order to provide the player with a unique world. As part of this, the writing team focused on creating a diverse collection of characters for players to potentially identify with:

"All the writing team got together and would pitch ideas. We wanted a diverse collection of professors, students, vendors in the shop, etc. People called upon their own experiences. Hopefully you play the game and see a character and go "That's like my sister", or an uncle, or anything like that. And we really wanted to tie it to the familiar world – so you'll hear there's a Weasley, a Rookwood… Professor Black is a known character as a portrait in the books, so fleshing him out, we really loved."

However, while main characters from across the franchise are not present, selected minor characters (such as Nearly Headless Nick and Peeves the Poltergeist) are still present in the game.
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Adaptation, Backstory/Lore, Development, Easter Egg, General, Inspiration, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 15, 2024
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Star Fox Command
Star Fox Command (2006)
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Attachment An early working title for Star Fox Command was merely "Star Fox DS".
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Development, Early Idea, Name Change, Placeholder
person Dinoman96 calendar_month June 14, 2024
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Dark Deception
Dark Deception (2018)
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According to the game's creator Vincent Livings, the script for the game's first four chapters made up only ten pages, while the fifth chapter had at least eighty-nine pages that only consisted of dialogue strings in the game.
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Development, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 10, 2024
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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment Version 0.09 updated the Witch effect so that a unique sound plays when moving around while riding the broom, rather than simply reusing the regular footstep sounds. This is accomplished by giving every map two copies of the same tileset: one for regular mobility and one for the broom, with the game swapping between the two as needed. While this is retained in Version 0.10, the code is simplified in the later build so that a copy of the full string is not needed on every map.

However, three areas of the game were not properly accounted for during the conversion process: the second room in Neon Tile Path, the room full of beds in Number World, and the Pink Sea all play the regular footstep sound regardless of whether or not Madotsuki has the Witch effect equipped and active. Additionally, these areas still contain leftover event data from Version 0.09's method of swapping between the two tilesets. Because the indexes for the game's tiles were altered concurrently with the streamlining of the broom code, triggering these leftover events with cheats instead swaps out the maps' graphics with ones from other areas:

• The pyramids in the second room of Neon Tile Path are replaced with Henkei Shita heads from Footprint Path A, and sitting down changes the entire tileset to that of Snow World, with the background additionally changing from solid black to solid white. It reverts back to the mostly complete Neon Tile Path tileset when Madotsuki sits back up.
• The tileset for the room full of beds in Number World is replaced with that of Forest World, temporarily reverting back to the proper visuals whenever Madotsuki sits down. The background, however, is unaffected.
• The Pink Sea is completely blacked out, as the game attempts to call blank divider tiles when in this state.
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Cheat, Debug, Development, Early Build, Glitch, Leftover, Level Design, Mistake, Optimization, Release Difference, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Unused Code, Update Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 9, 2024
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