Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse was originally pitched to Heavy Iron Studios by Fox as a zombie third-person shooter game titled Family Guy: Road to Death, inspired by Left 4 Dead. Unusually, despite show creator Seth MacFarlane's reputation for violent humor, he was the one who put an end to the project, believing that it was too violent.
The American commercial campaign for Spyro the Dragon, in which a sheep nicknamed Toasty stages a boycott of the game for featuring violence against innocent sheep, used a practical animatronic for the sheep instead of CGI. According to one of the commercial's art directors and TBWA/Chiat/Day marketer Doug Mukai, this was done because it strongly contrasted with the CGI imagery prominent in newer video game graphics and advertising, and brought "more character" to the sheep.
The Nintendo Switch port of Pikmin 2 redesigns the game's treasures to replace all instances of real-world product placement, most likely due to licensing issues. In its place are generic versions of the same or similar goods, with the exact method of alteration varying from treasure to treasure.
Some replace the real-world brands with fictional ones, such as Duracell batteries being rebranded "Super Battery," Skippy peanut butter becoming "Ribbon's," and Tree Top apple juice becoming "Fresh." Others are replaced with unbranded counterparts; some cases, like Kiwi Shoe Polish, Chapstick lip balm, and French's mustard simply scrub the brand names, while others change the product entirely, such as Underwood deviled ham becoming tuna salad, Carmex cold sore ointment becoming hand cream, and Vlasic pickles becoming orange jam. Curiously, the Durable Energy Cell's name goes unchanged despite being a play on the now-excised Duracell brand.
According to senior producer Jeff Gardiner, two minor details for butterflies and ants were removed before the game's release, because they were causing lag. Butterflies were intended to have a mechanic where if they detected flowers in the player's inventory, they would start following the player, but it was not anticipated that since this system affected every butterfly in the game, it would use a significant amount of processing power. Similarly, when artist Mark Teare added ants to the game, every ant was accidentally set to cast a shadow, a feature at the time that was considered "the most expensive thing in the rendering", causing more lag. Gardiner stated these mistakes were an unintended result of the large amount of creative freedom the developers had, allowing them more time to include smaller details after they were finished with assigned tasks.
The placeholder name "Squidward" can be found in the game's data and was used for whichever character wins a round. This name is a leftover asset from SpongeBob SquarePants: Reef Rumble, another Nickelodeon web browser game that was reskinned as The Fairly OddParents: Fairies of Fury.
If you defeat the Guardbots at the beginning of the game with no bazooka ammunition left, you'll see Carltron dusting some boxes in Crustacia as the protagonist washes up on the beach after defeating Magmar in Prehistoria.
A unique interaction between Spider-Man and The Thing has the pair make numerous references to classic Marvel titles, specifically "Marvel Team-Up" (a crossover series that saw Spider-Man teaming up with other Marvel characters), "Marvel Two-in-One" (a series with a similar premise to "Marvel Team-Up" except with the Thing as the primary character), and their respective comic series "Fantastic Four" and "The Amazing Spider-Man".
Originally, the team wanted each character's dark color palette to use different attacks and abilities instead of their normal movesets, but this idea was scrapped, because the team realized they would have to redo every character to implement this feature.
Originally, there were plans for twin sisters Lei-Lei/Hsien-Ko and Lin-Lin to fight together as one unit, similar to Morrigan's Astral Vision ability. This idea was scrapped, because it would be difficult to tell how and which sister the player would control.
Donovan's name was suggested by Capcom USA, as they thought it would be a name that would be well received worldwide. Additionally, several aspects of his design were also shaped by their opinions while trying to make him have "a bit of a Western Gunman vibe."
The Nintendo Entertainment System release of Disney's The Lion King was the last officially licensed game released for the console in any region. The game was released exclusively in Europe on May 25, 1995, around half a year after the North American release of Wario's Woods (the last NES game officially released in that region) and three months before the console's discontinuation on August 14. Meanwhile, it's believed that the last unlicensed NES game to be released before the console's discontinuation is Sunday Funday: The Ride, a Christian-themed reskin of another unlicensed game Menace Beach, but the exact date of this game's release remains unknown beyond the box art having a copyright year of 1995.
Although the game was developed by Capcom, it was published by Nintendo as part of an exclusive deal they made with Disney in 1999 to publish Mickey Mouse titles for the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and the still in-development Nintendo GameCube. As a result, Nintendo has a small section before Capcom in the game's end credits, featuring producer credits for Hiroshi Yamauchi, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Kenji Miki.
According to director Tetsu Okano, the spritework for Stage 3: "Astro vs. Atlas" was entirely done by artist Tomoharu Saitō, who worked on stage and character sprites in different capacities. Okano credited him for helping to save the game under a tight schedule and for mediating Hitmaker's professional relationship with Treasure, but his efforts came at a personal cost. One night during dinner towards the end of development, Saitō revealed to his colleagues that his legs had become swollen, numb and white. They told him to immediately go to a doctor, but he insisted that he wanted to continue working and treated it "as if it were no big deal". According to Okano, it was specifically his work creating the graphics for Stage 3 that kept him from going to a hospital sooner.
At the game's launch party, Saitō announced that he had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma and that one of his legs had been amputated and replaced with a prosthetic metal rod, stunning the development team. Despite this, he shrugged it off saying "legs aren't necessary in the [game and illustration industries]." Okano stressed in his recounting of this event that despite the tight schedule, Saitō was one of several "mercenaries" working on the game who could have taken breaks whenever he wanted, and that the development team as a whole were not forced to work. Okano believed that Saitō hid his illness to maintain "his own self-respect as an artist" and that the game "is filled with [Saitō's] soul", but clarified that he did not think that the game was good "because it sacrifices someone's lifespan". Okano felt that he owed a debt to Saitō for the rest of his life for "[robbing] him of his leg", but they would never work on a game together again. Saitō continued to work, but the cancer recurred and metastasized into his lungs, leading to his death in 2006 while working on the game Culdcept Saga.
While the game allows players to enter polyamorous relationships, it is not possible to have multiple people move in with the player or get married to them. According to a comment from developer Andy Korth on the game's official Steam forums, the team had discussed the possibility of allowing this, but was ultimately unable to due to technical problems and complications brought up by the in-game dialogue, most of which was written under the assumption that the player would only be in one relationship.
The "Peace and Tranquility" screen in Death Wish mode and the associated "Smug Dance" taunt (both added in the Seal the Deal DLC) are parodies of "No one's around to help.", a YouTube video by JerryTerry which depicts the Animal Crossing character Bob dancing to a remix of the Animal Crossing: New Leaf title theme. After the taunt was revealed in the announcement trailer for the DLC, JerryTerry responded by posting "No one's around to hat.", a recreation of the original video using the clip of Hat Kid and Bow Kid performing the taunt in the trailer. This video was uploaded only 24 days before the DLC's release, leading some players to mistakenly think that this follow-up video was what the "Peace and Tranquility" screen was referencing.
Among the costumes added in the Seal the Deal DLC is the Virtual Kid costume, which replaces Hat Kid's regular model with a low-poly version as a nod to late 1990s collect-a-thons (which the game is a throwback to). Within the game's code is an unused additional shader for this costume which mimics the distinctive jitter found in titles for the original PlayStation. Reportedly, this additional effect was disabled because director Jonas Kaerlev didn't consider it a good match for the game's "cute" aesthetic.
The cartoon referee who officiates in-game matches is a caricature of Brian Hildebrand, who worked at World Championship Wrestling as a referee under the ring name "Mark Curtis" from 1995 to 1999. The game's manual identifies the referee as such, using his "Mark Curtis" ring name. Hildebrand would pass away from stomach and bowel cancer eleven months after the game's release.
For years, players were puzzled by the inclusion of wrestler Scott "Raven" Levy on the game's cover art, as despite his cult icon status in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Raven wasn't as big of a superstar in World Championship Wrestling compared to the other three wrestlers on the cover: Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Bill Goldberg. In 2020, Raven would clarify on Twitter that he was included on the cover simply because he was THQ producer Sanders Keel's favorite wrestler. Levy also joked that "the Illuminati were recruiting [him]." An interview on the Insider's Edge podcast with Keel confirmed the story, having been a fan of Raven's since his ECW days. Raven's inclusion also helps highlight the game's main four factions: WCW (Goldberg), New World Order White (Hogan), nWo Red/Wolfpac (Nash) and Raven's Flock.
An interview with Sanders Keel by Insider's Edge/Slam Society; I put in the timestamp where Keel is asked about Raven's inclusion on the box and gives his answer in no uncertain terms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zyRrO3kJX0#t=1906s
As part of the Summer Road Trip Quests available between July 23 and August 6, 2024, players could unlock the Tesla Cybertruck Bundle, a set of cosmetics allowing players to drive the titular car in-game. This add-on was criticized due to the car body's large and angular design causing numerous bugs upon its release, and having unique pros and cons compared to other SUV skins (i.e. large windshield exposing players to more gunfire head-on, easier to ram into players and to eliminate stowaway players). These complaints were intensified by prior political and online controversies involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk. A group of players decided to express their dissatisfaction by making a truce that, should they spot a Cybertruck driver during normal gameplay, they would stop what they were doing and take out the player and the vehicle as soon as possible. The truce grew large enough that three known Epic Games developers (Kyle Wynn, Toby Sperring and Robby Williams) also criticized the add-on or encouraged the in-game protests on social media, but emphasized that although they work for Epic Games, the company is still comprised of many people with differing opinions.
Within the game's data is code for Kirby to change his skin color upon acquiring certain copy abilities, a trait which was previously seen in past Kirby games before being completely phased out from Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward. This feature appears to have been abandoned relatively early into development, as it is nonfunctional when in the world map and when using Mouthful Mode (both of which use different parameters from typical in-level gameplay). Additionally, the game contains code for displaying a yellow-skinned Kirby. Parameter names associated with this skin indicate that it was intended for a two-player mode, similarly to various other Kirby titles.
The American commercial campaign for Spyro the Dragon, in which a sheep nicknamed Toasty stages a boycott of the game for featuring violence against innocent sheep, used a practical animatronic for the sheep instead of CGI. According to one of the commercial's art directors and TBWA/Chiat/Day marketer Doug Mukai, this was done because it strongly contrasted with the CGI imagery prominent in newer video game graphics and advertising, and brought "more character" to the sheep.
The Nintendo Switch port of Pikmin 2 redesigns the game's treasures to replace all instances of real-world product placement, most likely due to licensing issues. In its place are generic versions of the same or similar goods, with the exact method of alteration varying from treasure to treasure.
Although the game was developed by Capcom, it was published by Nintendo as part of an exclusive deal they made with Disney in 1999 to publish Mickey Mouse titles for the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and the still in-development Nintendo GameCube. As a result, Nintendo has a small section before Capcom in the game's end credits, featuring producer credits for Hiroshi Yamauchi, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Kenji Miki.
According to director Tetsu Okano, the spritework for Stage 3: "Astro vs. Atlas" was entirely done by artist Tomoharu Saitō, who worked on stage and character sprites in different capacities. Okano credited him for helping to save the game under a tight schedule and for mediating Hitmaker's professional relationship with Treasure, but his efforts came at a personal cost. One night during dinner towards the end of development, Saitō revealed to his colleagues that his legs had become swollen, numb and white. They told him to immediately go to a doctor, but he insisted that he wanted to continue working and treated it "as if it were no big deal". According to Okano, it was specifically his work creating the graphics for Stage 3 that kept him from going to a hospital sooner.
Among the costumes added in the Seal the Deal DLC is the Virtual Kid costume, which replaces Hat Kid's regular model with a low-poly version as a nod to late 1990s collect-a-thons (which the game is a throwback to). Within the game's code is an unused additional shader for this costume which mimics the distinctive jitter found in titles for the original PlayStation. Reportedly, this additional effect was disabled because director Jonas Kaerlev didn't consider it a good match for the game's "cute" aesthetic.
The cartoon referee who officiates in-game matches is a caricature of Brian Hildebrand, who worked at World Championship Wrestling as a referee under the ring name "Mark Curtis" from 1995 to 1999. The game's manual identifies the referee as such, using his "Mark Curtis" ring name. Hildebrand would pass away from stomach and bowel cancer eleven months after the game's release.
As part of the Summer Road Trip Quests available between July 23 and August 6, 2024, players could unlock the Tesla Cybertruck Bundle, a set of cosmetics allowing players to drive the titular car in-game. This add-on was criticized due to the car body's large and angular design causing numerous bugs upon its release, and having unique pros and cons compared to other SUV skins (i.e. large windshield exposing players to more gunfire head-on, easier to ram into players and to eliminate stowaway players). These complaints were intensified by prior political and online controversies involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk. A group of players decided to express their dissatisfaction by making a truce that, should they spot a Cybertruck driver during normal gameplay, they would stop what they were doing and take out the player and the vehicle as soon as possible. The truce grew large enough that three known Epic Games developers (Kyle Wynn, Toby Sperring and Robby Williams) also criticized the add-on or encouraged the in-game protests on social media, but emphasized that although they work for Epic Games, the company is still comprised of many people with differing opinions.
Within the game's data is code for Kirby to change his skin color upon acquiring certain copy abilities, a trait which was previously seen in past Kirby games before being completely phased out from Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward. This feature appears to have been abandoned relatively early into development, as it is nonfunctional when in the world map and when using Mouthful Mode (both of which use different parameters from typical in-level gameplay). Additionally, the game contains code for displaying a yellow-skinned Kirby. Parameter names associated with this skin indicate that it was intended for a two-player mode, similarly to various other Kirby titles.