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Astro Bot
Astro Bot (2024)
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Three of the game's V.I.P. Bots are not based on video game characters, and are instead references to non-gaming products made by Sony. The Bots in question are "Forgotten Mascot" (based on Polygon Man, the intended mascot of the original PlayStation), "Pup Pal" and "Pup Pal +" (respectively based on the ERS-110 and ERS-1000 from AIBO, a series of robot dogs designed and manufactured by Sony).
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Character Design, Easter Egg, Inspiration, Real Life, Reference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 20, 2024
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Sucker for Love: Date to Die For
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For (2024)
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The game is loosely based on the H. P. Lovecraft novella "The Shadow over Innsmouth". Lead developer Joseph "Akabaka" Hunter struggled to adapt this story as modern scholarly interpretations of Lovecraft's works frequently make accusations of racist and anti-miscegenation allegories in accordance with what is known about his personal views. While the original story (like most of Lovecraft's works) attempts to play into the fear of the unknown, Hunter felt the monsters and creatures used were "just, you know, metaphors for the guy living down the street, which is hardly unknown." Hunter did not want to potentially alienate players, and in order to adapt the story without reproducing these aspects, he took inspiration from "Lovecraft Country", a 2016 horror novel that adapted the Lovecraft mythos by using the controversial themes present in the original works to portray the experiences and threats black people faced in the United States under the Jim Crow laws.
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Adaptation, Development, General, Inspiration, Race, Real Life, Reference, Similarities
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 21, 2024
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Platform: Nintendo DS
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The Nintendo DS having two screens was suggested by former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi to then-current president Satoru Iwata, and was inspired by the Game & Watch LCD game series' clamshell two-screen design. In a 2016 Retro Gamer interview with former Nintendo designer Satoru Okada, he delves into its origins:

"The project was moving forward at a good pace but during the development, something at unexpected happened. President Iwata then came to see me. He was obviously bothered and he said: 'l talked to Yamauchi-san over the phone and he thinks your console should have two screens... A bit like the multi-screen Game & Watch, you see?' [...] at the time, everybody hated this idea, even Iwata himself. We thought it did not make any sense. Back in the Game & Watch days, it was different because a second screen allowed us to double the playing area and the number of graphic elements on display. But with the modern screens, there was no point. We were free to choose the size of our screen, so why bother splitting it into two? Especially considering that it was impossible to look at both screens at the same time. This is why we did not understand his idea."
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Development, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Technology
person Ya Block calendar_month November 19, 2024
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Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing (2024)
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The designs of the Tulpar crew are all loosely based on characters from popular horror media. Two examples that the developers themselves confirmed in a diary post are Daisuke and Anya, who are respectively based on Ryosuke Kawashima from the 2001 Japanese horror film Pulse and Wendy Torrance (as portrayed by Shelley Duvall) in the 1980 film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining.
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Character Design, Development, Easter Egg, General, Inspiration, Reference, Similarities
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 17, 2024
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Banjo-Tooie
Banjo-Tooie (2000)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dream: Land of Giants (Game)
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Attachment Banjo-Tooie's Terrydactyland contains a sub area, dubbed the Stomping Plains, which in turn is home to the Stomponadon, a seemingly theropod dinosaur so enormous in scale that only its foot is visible. It functions as the main obstacle of this area as, hence its name, it will try to stomp on Banjo & Kazooie as they attempt to traverse the plains. The concept behind Stomponadon had its origins from Banjo-Kazooie's earliest prototype game, Dream: Land of Giants; footage of Dream released by Rare for the first time in 2015 showed that Edson (who was replaced by Banjo in the final game) was to have encountered a similarly large dinosaur that would try to crush him with its feet.
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Asset Reuse, Development, Early Idea, Inspiration, Prototype
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 16, 2024
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Rare Revealed: A Rare Look at Dream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w72kj20YNA0

Banjo Tooie - Stomponadon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coT2A2hzcrg
Super Monkey Ball Adventure
Super Monkey Ball Adventure (2006)
subdirectory_arrow_right Super Monkey Ball Adventure (Game)
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During an interview with Jungle Island (a fan website dedicated to the Super Monkey Ball series), concept artist Keith Webb revealed that the character Future AiAi came about after he came up with an idea for a space monkey that would appear at certain points in the game to give players power-ups (later spells), and was intended to be an homage to the Bomberman series by Hudson Soft. He was originally supposed to wear a white spacesuit, but before Webb could finish coloring in the artwork, the character modeler making the character in 3D chose a red color that ultimately stuck. Webb had later joked about the character being AiAi from the future (the reason why he had the power-ups was because he had gotten them from himself), and the idea stuck as well.
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Artwork/Illustration, Backstory/Lore, Character Design, Development, Inspiration, Model, Real Life, Reference, Similarities, Tribute
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 14, 2024
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Club Penguin
Club Penguin (2005)
subdirectory_arrow_right Experimental Penguins (Game)
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Attachment The design of the penguins in Club Penguin were partially inspired by a panel from the American comic strip "The Far Side" that game designer Lance Priebe had clipped from a newspaper. The comic was originally published on June 8, 1994, and depicts a penguin after it slipped on a banana peel in the middle of the arctic plain. According to Priebe, the comic inspired him to use penguins, because he needed a simple character that he could animate for "an experimental project", that being the browser game Experimental Penguins, the earliest iteration of Club Penguin released in 2000.
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Artwork/Illustration, Character Design, General, Inspiration, Prototype, Sprite/Graphical Animation
person Ya Block calendar_month November 13, 2024
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Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (2023)
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During an interview with GamesHub, it was revealed that Stray Gods was inspired by the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", specifically the season six episode "Once More, With Feeling". While the episode's plot was standard for the show, it was notable for being one of the first "musical TV episodes", combining elements of the musical genre with heavy action and narrative storytelling. Liam Esler, the Managing Director of Summerfall Studios, stated that they wanted to replicate what TV musicals did for television but with video games.
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Development, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Similarities
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 12, 2024
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Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact (2020)
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Some players and game journalists have persistently accused the game's developers HoYoverse of perceived cultural appropriation and discriminating against people with dark skin colors through the game's character designs. This started in April 2021, when it was noted how the only dark-skinned playable characters at the time, Xinyan and Kaeya, were described in-game as "exotic" and "scary" respectively. The release of version 3.0 in August 2022 introduced the Sumeru region, which while being based on cultures from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, depicted many playable characters and NPCs from the region as being light-skinned. In March 2023, the character Dehya was released; while hailing from Sumeru and being one of the few dark-skinned playable characters in the game, she faced similar accusations due to some fans perceiving her abilities as underpowered and dysfunctional. In July 2024, HoYoverse released a trailer announcing they would be adding a new region to the game named Natlan, which was inspired by pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, Africa and Polynesia. The character designs used for Natlan were once again criticized due to the majority of the characters being depicted with light skin despite the darker-skinned native races of its inspirations. The difference this time was that seven of the game's voice actors also joined in the criticism, including Khoi Dao (Albedo), Zeno Robinson (Sethos), Valeria Rodriguez (Sucrose), Jenny Yokobori (Yoimiya), Alejandro Saeb (Cyno), Allegra Clark (Beidou), and Anne Yatco (Raiden Shogun).
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Backstory/Lore, Character Design, Complaint, Development, General, Inspiration, Race, Real Life, Update Difference, Voice Acting
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 8, 2024
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Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
subdirectory_arrow_right Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Game)
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EVA's English voice actress in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was credited under the name Suzetta Miñet. Fans widely assumed that this was a pseudonym as she had no other credits in anything, which sparked years of speculation as to who she could be. One of the most leading theories was that EVA was voiced by Debi Mae West, the voice of Meryl in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. However, while West acknowledged that the characters sounded similar, she denied she was the voice of EVA in 2015. Konami would eventually confirm in a 2024 behind-the-scenes video promoting Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater that the pseudonym belonged to Jodi Benson, who was best known for voicing Ariel in Disney's 1989 adaptation of "The Little Mermaid". Benson explained that she used the pseudonym at the recommendation of the game's English voice director Kris Zimmerman Salter, because of her association with Disney and other family-friendly roles aimed towards younger audiences at the time. The name itself was based on a pet dog Benson owned in her childhood named "Suzette Monet".
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Credits, Development, General, Inspiration, Misconception, Real Life, Regional Difference, Similarities, Theory, Voice Acting
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month November 6, 2024
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SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs (2005)
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Originally, the South Asian area of the game was specified to be Bangladesh, but this was changed due to a complaint from the Bangladeshi government regarding the portrayal of the region, with a Sony spokesperson stating:

"The SOCOM franchise has never depicted any government or country as a terrorist operation, and any depiction of independent terrorist groups is purely from a fictional standpoint. Within the storyline of SOCOM 3, there has never been any reference to Bangladesh supporting, or harboring terrorists and/or other criminal activities."
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Backstory/Lore, Complaint, Development, General, Inspiration, Name Change, Politics, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 5, 2024
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Astro Bot
Astro Bot (2024)
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The description for the V.I.P. Bot "Watermelon Buster" (based on Raiden from the Metal Gear series and specifically his appearance in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance) simply reads "Nanomachines, son!" This is a reference to the final boss fight in that game, where Spoiler:after Raiden asks him why he won't die, Senator Armstrong responds "Nanomachines, son!", with the scene and line becoming an internet meme.
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Cameo, Character Design, Easter Egg, In-Joke, Inspiration, Meme, Reference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 2, 2024
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Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing (2024)
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Mouthwashing uses a visual style inspired by games released on the original PlayStation, with low-poly visuals and a retro style. The game's art designer Johanna Kasurinen was introduced to this style by Puppet Combo, an indie developer that frequently uses it for their games as far back as their debut title Babysitter Bloodbath. While not promoted as "PS1-style", this visual style gained traction over time, with Kasurinan stating:

"I think people may be surprised by how long this [horror] subgenre has been going on, but part of why it is so popular and enduring is the community. I would never have been able to learn how to recreate this style of graphics if it wasn't for many artists before me making videos and tutorials explaining the process."
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Artwork/Illustration, Development, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Sprite/Graphical Animation
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month October 31, 2024
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Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64 (1997)
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Attachment Hidden in the files for Star Fox 64 are what seem to be remnants of an unused first-person turret mode. Several files reference a stage with the initials "SB", with its header file, fox_sb_poly.h, being titled "スター ブレード 擬き" (Sutā burēdo ki). This translates to "Star Blade Imitation", named after the 1991 on-rails space shooter by Namco, where the ship's guns can only be used in first-person. Dylan Cuthbert and other developers of the original Star Fox admitted to being heavily inspired by Star Blade, claiming that one of their main goals was to recreate the experience of the game.

The file, fox_play.h, defines 3 scroll types of levels: corridor, all-range mode, and "JYUZA", or "銃座モード" (Jūza mōdo), which translates to "Gun turret mode". This file also defines five player modes: ARWING, TANK, SUB, HUMAN, and P_JYUZA, While the SB stage is listed with the other corridor stages, it still specifies that it's in the "JYUZA" category. The SB stage itself appears to be a shortened copy of the Area 6 stage devoid of any content except for one Moras enemy, suggesting that it and other stages were meant to be played in the turret mode during development.

In the game's source code, stages such as "SB", "CL" or "Colony", and Area 6 are subtitled "Great Fox", suggesting that the Great Fox mothership was also intended to use the turret mode. It would likely have been about firing lasers and guns from the ship while trying not to take damage, as there is a string for the ship's health bar named gfox_life. The game's levels, such as the Landmaster stages, are organized into overlay groups to save on memory; Area 6 strangely isn't grouped within the turret mode stages, but Sector Y is.

This unused game mode was restored via a fanmade patch on October 30, 2024, taking a few liberties to make up for the missing code and assets.
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Controls, Development, Early Idea, Filename, Inspiration, Level Design, Source Code, Suggested, Unused Code
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 31, 2024
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Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing (2024)
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Development, Inspiration, Music, Reference, Similarities, Theory
person VinchVolt calendar_month October 29, 2024
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Franchise: Star Fox
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The Japanese text for Papetoon, the home planet of Fox McCloud, is "パペトゥーン". Amusingly, this is also the Japanese text for Puppetoons, a Hungarian-American puppet and cartoon series created by George Pal. As the Star Fox series was inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto's love of old puppet dramas such as the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson "supermarionation" television series "Thunderbirds", it could be said that this is a joke that Fox originated from this show.
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Backstory/Lore, Etymology, Inspiration, Real Life, Reference, Regional Difference, Suggested
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 28, 2024
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
subdirectory_arrow_right Banjo-Kazooie (Game)
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According to two interviews with Famitsu in 1998, Shigeru Miyamoto cited Rare's exceptional graphical and technical work on Banjo-Kazooie as a factor for why The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was delayed, as Miyamoto and his team felt they needed to compete with it. He thought a 3D action platformer of its kind running that well on Nintendo 64 hardware was "so amazing that we don't want to be outdone", and "if Mario's a makunouchi bento, Banjo's a deluxe makunouchi bento." Some reviews of Ocarina of Time at its release compared its graphics, frame rate and textures with Banjo-Kazooie's, and felt Ocarina of Time did not perform as well in that field.
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Development, Inspiration, Real Life, Release Date, Reviews, Sprite/Graphical Animation, Technology
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 23, 2024
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Political Arena
Political Arena (TBA)
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The game was directed by Eliot Nelson, a former reporter for the Huffington Post who began developing it in 2018 after leaving the company. Although based on his experiences as a journalist, Nelson also drew inspiration from various other video games, namely sports titles such as NBA 2K and Madden NFL as well as other simulation games like SimCity. One particular inspiration was The Oregon Trail, specifically in regards to its structure, with Nelson stating:

"It's that simple formula that we're trying to recreate with Political Arena, Oregon Trail never had any lessons in it. You never just stop and answer a quiz. It was a fun and immersive and - dare I even say? - addictive game that has did [sic] such a successful job of familiarizing tens of millions of people with its relatively arcade corner of American history."
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Development, General, Inspiration, Politics, Real Life, Similarities
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month October 20, 2024
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Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (2024)
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James Marsters, who has voiced Zamasu in the franchise starting with the English dub of "Dragon Ball Super", previously played Piccolo in the infamous 2009 live action film "Dragonball Evolution". Marsters since expressed regret over his performance in the film, and stated he took on the role of Zamasu in an effort to "redeem himself with the Dragon Ball Z community". As a reference to this, at one point when using Fused Zamasu's Divine Hammer rush attack in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, he quotes one of Piccolo's lines in the movie: "Human power has failed before, as it will AGAIN!".
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Easter Egg, Inspiration, Multimedia Adaptation, Reference, Voice Acting
person Kirby Inhales Jotaro calendar_month October 19, 2024
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Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing (2024)
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In a conversation with EIP Gaming writer Dylan Graves, producer Kai Moore cited horror films such as Alien, Event Horizon, Sunshine, The Thing, and Pandorum as influences on the game's bleak, paranoid tone and isolated setting. However, Moore also countered the association of these kinds of horror stories with monsters, stating that he sought to make the player question the definition of "monster," particularly in the context of Jimmy's statement at the start of the game claiming that Curly willingly crashed the Tulpar.
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Development, Inspiration, Real Life
person VinchVolt calendar_month October 17, 2024
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