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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment In all earlier builds of the game, Neon World featured a radically different layout, matching the open-world structure of the other "main" locations accessible from the Nexus. The sole relic of this in Version 0.10's segmented design is the room that Madotsuki starts in, which is much bigger and features a more spread-out tile pattern compared to the other rooms in Neon World.

One noteworthy casualty from the layout change is the removal of various head-like figures scattered across Neon World in Version 0.09. These figures are not seen anywhere in Version 0.10, making them the only documented "characters" that were outright removed (rather than relocated) in a later update.
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Development, Early Idea, Level Design, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Unused Character, Unused Graphic, Update Difference, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 7, 2024
comment Comment (0) | link Source
Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment Number World was not implemented until Version 0.08; in prior builds, the gray door in the Nexus with a large red circle on it instead lead to an early iteration of Lamp World. Of note is that the earlier version of Lamp World features an alcove full of beds and cupboards. A bloodstain is also present in the bottom-right corner of the room; in Version 0.07, this stain teleports Madotsuki to the Guillotine Room when stepped on. This alcove would be moved to the Number World in Version 0.08 onward, and the bloodstain would be replaced with a Zippertile spewing blood out of its mouth, still acting as a warp to the Guillotine Room.

Additionally, the early version of Lamp World featured background music that is not present anywhere in Version 0.08 onward; this track was also used for the Face Carpet area in Forest World before it was concurrently replaced in Version 0.08 with the background music for the hot springs building in the Wilderness, played at 70% speed.
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Asset Reuse, Development, Early Idea, Level Design, Music, Unused Audio, Update Difference, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 7, 2024
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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment In the earliest available builds of Yume Nikki, the gate on a high ledge in Block World leads to a room colloquially known as the "Toriningen's Bed" event; it is present in Version 0.04, 0.06, and presumably 0.05, but because Versions 0.00 to 0.03 are not publicly available (as is 0.05), it is unknown if the Toriningen's Bed event was added in Version 0.04 or if it was present in prior builds.

This room consists solely of a long walkway leading to a bed. Entering it causes a lunatic Toriningen to spawn at the entrance of the walkway; because the hallway is only one tile wide, there is no way of avoiding it, and once it catches Madotsuki, she is transported to an out of bounds portion of Footprint Path A, rendering her immobile until she wakes up or teleports back to the Nexus with the Eye Palm effect. Version 0.06 revises the area so that it uses Block World's background music, played at 50% speed, instead of Eyeball World's background music.

In Version 0.07, the Toriningen's Bed event is removed, and the gate leading to it now leads to the White Desert; this change is retained in Version 0.10. Discounting the unused "NASU Link" event in Version 0.09, this is the only known event that was removed in a later update.
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Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Removed Feature, Update Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 6, 2024
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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment The earliest builds of the game only contained 20 effects, missing the Witch, Oni, Squish-Squish, and Traffic Light. These four were not added until Version 0.05, as evidenced by the changelog provided in both the game's README file and Kikiyama's official website.

Of particular note is the Squish-Squish effect, which is provided by interacting with an amorphous, blue-gray figure with a single, large eye. In Version 0.06 (the earliest available build to feature all 24 effects), the figure was present in a shack in the Barracks Settlement that Madotsuki could not enter in previous versions. In Version 0.08, the figure is moved to FC World B; however, a copy of it is still present in its original location in the Barracks Settlement, where it is being fed on by the newly added Seahorse. In Version 0.09, the Seahorse's design is updated to change its skin from purple to orange and add four hornlike structures to the top of its head. Version 0.10 removes the version of the figure that the Seahorse fed on.

This sequence of events gives the impression that the Seahorse's development was a direct result of feeding on the figure, thus providing the only known instance of the game's updates appearing to convey a narrative within the Dream World.
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Development, Easter Egg, Update Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 6, 2024
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Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy (2023)
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Hogwarts Legacy is notable for introducing the first transgender character in the Harry Potter franchise in the form of Sirona Ryan, the owner of the Three Broomsticks pub who outright tells the player that it took her classmates "a second to realize I was actually a witch, not a wizard". This drew attention as the creator of the Harry Potter franchise, J.K. Rowling, has generated controversy over the years by making comments that many have criticized as transphobic. It is worth noting that while she would receive profits from the game's sales leading many fans to boycott the game, she had no involvement in its development. In regards to the inclusion, the developers stated:

"The team felt that it was very important to create a game that is representative of the rich and diverse world of Harry Potter as well as the groups of people who play games, which includes the LGBTQIA+ community. We have a diverse cast of characters that players will encounter throughout the game.”

However, after the character was revealed, several fans further complained that the name Sirona Ryan rendered the inclusion of a transgender character tone deaf and continued promoting the boycott. The name "Sirona" originates from the Celtic goddess of healing and rebirth and is symbolized with imagery of snakes (animals that shed their skin) and eggs (where many birds, fish and reptiles among other animals emerge from after incubating). Despite being a feminine name, they claimed to perceive it as a male-presenting name due to that variant of the name containing and potentially being shortened to "Sir", while also pointing out that the surname "Ryan" was a masculine name and an anglicized form that was used instead of the less common authentic Gaelic name "Riain". This set up the name to appear as an unintentional pun: "Sir Ryan". Despite these complaints, the boycott turned out to be a failure as Hogwarts Legacy became commercially successful, selling over 12 million copies in its first two weeks of release and going on to sell double that amount by the end of 2023.
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Adaptation, Backstory/Lore, Complaint, Development, First, General, LGBTQ+, Mistake, Politics, Real Life, Sales
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 5, 2024
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Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999)
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The game is notable for two puzzles considered by fans and critics to respectively be one of the best and worst ever made for an adventure game.

The puzzle "Le Serpent Rouge" ("The Red Snake") involves decoding torn-up poem stanzas by hunting for information during the game and solving geometric mapping puzzles. This puzzle was widely praised for its overarching complexity and intriguing nature regardless of the player's interest in the real-life mysteries of Rennes-le-Château, a Southern French commune crucial to the game's plot that has been covered in various books and conspiracy theories. The poem was originally included in the "Secret Files of Henri Lobineau", a 1967 dossier about the fraternal organization the Priory of Sion, and was modified to make the puzzle solvable. Lead designer Jane Jensen named it her favorite and most challenging puzzle, designing it around the game's fully controllable 3D camera.

Meanwhile, a puzzle designed by producer Steven Hill was disliked internally and was meant to be replaced with a puzzle by Jensen, but they were forced to leave it in the game due to time constraints. It starts with Gabriel Knight finding that his friend Detective Mosely arrived in France the night before in a tour group and is scheduled to rent a motorcycle that day, so he goes to rent one himself. The nearsighted rental stand clerk requires a passport to confirm arrivals, revealing that the only rides he has left are a bike saved for Mosely and a cheap scooter. To get the bike, Knight plans to disguise as Mosely by Spoiler:stealing his coat and passport, and hiding his long blonde hair in a hat, despite putting it in a visible ponytail. He then draws a mustache on Mosely's passport photo to obscure their facial differences, goes to a shed, puts masking tape on a hole in the shed door, sprays a nearby cat with water causing it to run into the tape and stick fur to it, and applies it to his face with some maple syrup from breakfast to make a fake mustache. The disguise inexplicably works, and Knight gets the bike.

Moreso than Le Serpent Rouge was praised, the disguise puzzle was roundly criticized for its lack of hints, the impossibility of Knight convincingly impersonating Mosely, and the cartoonish roundabout way of Spoiler:making the mustache clashing with the game's serious tone. Critics felt that while it was not the most difficult puzzle, the solution was too absurd for the average player to think it would work. The most scathing review came from future Valve writer Eric Wolpaw, who blamed Jensen for the poor design (it was not known at the time that she did not design it), and called the process of Spoiler:making the mustache "deranged", controversially declaring it was proof that adventure games "committed suicide". While Jensen disliked the puzzle, she thought it being the death of adventure games was "kinda overblown", and the "length of the sequence and the lack of hints" was what made it bad.
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Backstory/Lore, Complaint, Corporate Affairs, Development, Early Idea, General, Level Design, Misconception, Mistake, Politics, Real Life, Reference, Religion, Reviews
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month June 5, 2024
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Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned - Le Serpent Rouge poem and walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7b47CJrnyc
https://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=39&title=gabriel-knight-3&fld=walkthrough&pid=101

Hunting Shadows: The Making of Gabriel Knight - Chapter 5:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200513021453/https://episodiccontentmag.com/2015/11/20/hunting-shadows-the-making-of-gabriel-knight-chapter-5-of-5/

Anastasia Salter - "Jane Jensen: Gabriel Knight, Adventure Games, Hidden Objects" (2017) - Influential Video Game Designers. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1501327452. (Pages 58-60):
https://books.google.com/books?id=cPEkDgAAQBAJ

Jane Jensen Adventure Gamers interview:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190715214638/https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18170

Le Serpent Rouge real poem article:
https://www.renneslechateau.nl/2012/01/13/the-red-serpent/

Le Serpent Rouge puzzle miscellaneous Adventure Gamers acclaim:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210715000329/https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18643/page/page4/page7/page10/N100/page15
https://web.archive.org/web/20170428013712/http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17459
https://web.archive.org/web/20170311222718/http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18586

Computer Gaming World - Issue #179, June 1999 (Page 63 in magazine):
https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_179/page/n66/mode/1up?q=serpent

The Games Machine - No. 6, March 2008 (Page 68 in magazine):
https://archive.org/details/the-games-machine-italia-speciali-06/page/n67/mode/1up?q=serpent

Detective Mosely tour group context just before the puzzle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hjzZ0z4b5E

Disguise puzzle footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hpcmJLrseI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3D9xb_sFg

Kotaku interview snippet:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200619041238/https://kotaku.com/how-we-survived-adventure-gamings-most-hair-tearingly-r-5903932

Computer Gaming World - Issue #189, April 2000 (Pages 74-75):
https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_189

Old Man Murray (Eric Wolpaw) - Death of Adventure Games:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200405052244/http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/79.html

Gamasutra interview mentioning impact of Old Man Murray blog post:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200618200402/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134850/spyparty_and_the_indie_ethos_.php?page=3

GamesRadar+ article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200603224407/https://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-stupidest-puzzles/4/

InVisible Culture article (counterargument about the "death of adventure games"):
https://web.archive.org/web/20200622204402/http://ivc.lib.rochester.edu/the-kinesthetic-index-video-games-and-the-body-of-motion-capture/
Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment The game contains data for a second party member, despite the fact that Madotsuki is alone in standard gameplay. Using RPG Maker 2003's debugging tools to add this figure to Madotsuki's party shows that it does not have any sprites or even a name. However, various changes occur to the game's world, indicating that Kikiyama most likely used this for testing purposes:

• Almost all Toriningen are despawned; the only exceptions are the one in the Mall who changes the menu's palette when spoken to and the group throwing a party in the wilderness.
• The top-left cupboard in both versions of the Guillotine Room disappears. However, it can still be interacted with: pressing Z or Enter when standing where it normally would be transports Madotsuki to a random cupboard in the Number World, as if she had used one of the randomly generated exit cupboards. Returning to the Guillotine Room restores the top-left cupboard to its normal position.
• Movement is disabled upon waking up.
• The Witch's Flight event can be accessed by walking off the top-right corner of the Mall's rooftop, regardless of whether or not Madotsuki has the Witch effect equipped and active.
• An unused parallax background (named ネオン背景.xyz in the game's files) is enabled in Neon World, which normally has a solid black backdrop in Version 0.10 and all available early builds. This background, which depicts a series of ripples distorting a group of red, blue, and green lights, does not scroll correctly, only showing the top-left corner of it. Notably, this is the only unused background in the final game.

The notion that this invisible party member was used as a debugging tool is further bolstered by the presence of three similar extra party members (which also have no graphics or names) in Version 0.06. In that earlier build, Madotsuki is internally listed as the fourth party member; enabling the first one adds NASU to the game's debug map, though both that version and the one in Madotsuki's room will not progress past the title screen.
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Debug, Development, Early Build, Unused Character, Unused Content, Unused Graphic
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 5, 2024
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Scribblenauts Showdown
Scribblenauts Showdown (2018)
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Scribblenauts Showdown is the first game in the series to not be developed by 5th Cell, the creators of the series. Instead, it was developed by Shiver Entertainment, and is notable for being the only original game developed by the company, with their other releases being Scribblenauts Mega Pack (a compilation consisting of Scribblenauts Unlimited and Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure) and the Nintendo Switch ports of Mortal Kombat 11, Mortal Kombat 1, and Hogwarts Legacy.
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Development, First, General
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 5, 2024
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Article about Scribblenauts Showdown:
https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/16/16748756/scribblenauts-showdown-release-date-trailer-nintendo-switch

Shiver Entertainment website (includes games worked on):
https://www.shiver.net/
Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment In all recovered early builds of the game, the Fatten effect was provided by a funhouse mirror hidden in the large red maze (colloquially known as Hell). In Version 0.10, the mirror is removed and the effect is instead obtained by interacting with a tall, flashing humanoid (colloquially known as Strober) in the Docks B, and the portion of Hell where the mirror was once located is now empty. Incidentally, the Docks B is only accessible through Hell, preserving the association between the latter area and the effect.

Despite the mirror being removed from the normal course of play in the final build, it is still present in a debug room hidden in the game's code, functioning as it did in earlier versions. However, in the official English release, the text that appears when interacting with it, "★ふとる★", is corrupted due to it not being translated.
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Debug, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Inaccessible Area, Mistake, Removed Feature, Unused Content, Unused Items, Update Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 4, 2024
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Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki (2004)
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Attachment Within the files for the Version 0.04 build are cached thumbnails depicting screenshots from a cut soccer minigame called Severed Head PK, which, per its name, would've used severed heads as balls. Despite their small size, the thumbnails are legible enough to understand what they depict: one shows a title screen, one shows a player select screen, and one shows actual gameplay. Additionally, all three images feature a much cruder art style than either the main game or NASU, the minigame ultimately added in Version 0.05. Of note is that like Severed Head PK, NASU takes place in a green field beneath a black sky and prominently features bright red assets (hills, text, and the title logo in Severed Head PK; the player character, clouds, and a strobe effect in NASU).

Given that NASU is preceded by a game selection menu with only two options present – "NASU" and "Quit Game" (the latter of which simply closes the menu) – it is unknown if Kikiyama intended to reincorporate Severed Head PK as an additional option.
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Development, Early Idea, Removed Feature, Unsolved Mystery, Unused Content, Unused Graphic
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 4, 2024
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Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise (2008)
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When asked if there had always been plans to make a Viva Piñata game for the Nintendo DS, producer Paul Machacek stated:

"No, and yes, erm, in that order. In discussions for a follow-on project for DKR DS it became a greater focal point, and in hindsight, seeing what we came up with, it's proven to be a complete no-brainer. We love it."
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Development, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 2, 2024
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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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Collection: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
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Following the release of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan, development started on a fourth entry in the series titled "Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Gunyip!". According to series co-creator Steve Stamatiadis, this game would have expanded upon the aerial combat sections featured in Ty 3, featuring a variety of Bunyip-inspired aircraft and factions, as well as both new and returning characters. It was ultimately cancelled around 2007 due to Krome Studios focusing their resources on developing ports for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Stamatiadis would later release a test reel of the game on his Tumblr page, which was later included as a piece of bonus content for Ty 3's PC remaster.
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Bonus Content, Cancelled Release, Corporate Affairs, Development, Early Idea, General, Pitch Bible/Proposal, Real Life, Social Media
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month June 1, 2024
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The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993)
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In an Iwata Asks interview conducted to promote the release of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Takashi Tezuka revealed that the world of Link's Awakening was strongly inspired by the 1990 TV series Twin Peaks. According to Tezuka, he was fascinated by how the show was able to mine drama out of a small cast of "suspicious types" confined to a single town and sought to replicate that approach with Link's Awakening, stating that "while it would be small enough in scope to easily understand, it would have deep and distinctive characteristics."
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Development, Inspiration
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 1, 2024
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Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.
Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. (2020)
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Attachment One of the Sleep Mode screens, which depicts Mario and Luigi having a picnic in World 4-3, is based on a piece of concept art originally drawn for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and was included in this Game & Watch over two years before the film's 2023 release. The original image is showcased in one of the bonus features on the film's home media release, "Meet the Cast: Charlie Day as Luigi". Among other differences, the concept art features Mario & Luigi sitting on mushrooms instead of blocks and wearing their modern outfits instead of ones matching their in-game sprites.
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Artwork/Illustration, Development, Easter Egg, Inspiration, Multimedia Adaptation, Reference
person VinchVolt calendar_month June 1, 2024
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Gal Guardians: Demon Purge
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge (2023)
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Originally, the game was going to be titled "Grim Guardians: Demon Purge", but had to have its name changed due to disputes regarding the trademarked term "Grimguard".
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Copyright, Development, General, Name Change, Real Life, Similarities
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month May 31, 2024
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Street Combat
Street Combat (1993)
subdirectory_arrow_right Ranma ½: Chounai Gekitou-hen (Game)
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Attachment Street Combat was originally released in Japan as Ranma ½: Chounai Gekitou Hen, a tie-in with the anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's 1987 manga Ranma ½. The American release stripped out all references to the source material due to its obscurity in the United States at the time, though the in-game sprites for Street Combat's cast are visibly traced over their Ranma ½ counterparts. Additionally, Happosai and Cologne are merged into a single character, Happy, in Street Combat.
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Character Design, Development, Multimedia Adaptation, Regional Difference, Release Difference, Reskin, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Version Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month May 31, 2024
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The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Street_Combat

Hardcore Gaming 101 article:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/street-combat-ranma-%C2%BD-chounai-gekitouhen/

YouTube video comparing the Japanese and US versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pttH2daFIjM
Deltarune
Deltarune (TBA)
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Attachment Within the data for Chapter 2 is a placeholder graphic for Queen's arcade cabinet that depicts it with green paneling and the word "XBOX" crudely written on the marquee. Despite the fact that it was never intended to be featured in the normal course of play, the sprite was altered in the version 1.06 update to remove the "XBOX" text, presumably to avoid potential trademark issues.
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Development, Legal Affairs, Placeholder, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Unused Graphic, Update Difference
person VinchVolt calendar_month May 27, 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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Garten of Banban
Garten of Banban (2023)
subdirectory_arrow_right Indigo Park (Game), Reincarnated (Game)
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In 2023, after seeing online backlash towards Garten of Banban for its barebones quality and gameplay, YouTuber UniqueGeese (real name Mason Myers) decided to try recreating the game in a single week to see if game development could be that easy. He would go on to do so over his spring break, and showed the results of his work in a video titled "I Recreated Garten of Banban in One Week", which would go on to become his most popular video. He released the game as "Garten of Banban: Reincarnated", but would later change the name to simply "Reincarnated" per the request of Garten of Banban developers the Euphoric Brothers in order to avoid confusion regarding the original games. The popularity of Reincarnated inspired Myers to create his own unique horror game, resulting in the development of Indigo Park.
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Development, Fan Works, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Similarities, Social Media
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month May 26, 2024
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"I Recreated Garten of Banban in One Week" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34HLlRRd2XQ

Q&A video about Indigo Park development:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdR6iTbPgHU
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