In the Dreamcast version, despite having only been released in Japan, the entire English localization is present in the game, even retaining the English title "Puyo Pop Fever", and can be toggled from the Options menu. This hints at a possible Western release of the Dreamcast version that never materialized due to the discontinuation of the console by the time the game was released elsewhere, making it the last Dreamcast game developed by Sonic Team, as well as the last first-party Sega title released on the platform. The Dreamcast version is also the only version of the game to use sprites instead of 3D models.
One of the primary Western influences of Ace Attorney is the American crime drama series "Columbo", of which series creator Shu Takumi is a professed fan, and who based his character profiles on the sharpness and secrecy of Lieutenant Columbo:
"I don't touch upon Phoenix's past in the games, and the players don't even know where his parents are. Fans often ask me about the birthdate of a character, or their bloodtype or favorite food, but I don't talk about them on purpose. On the other hand, my own personality might be shining through my characters... In the game, Phoenix's thoughts are shown as monologue, but those inner monologues are just my own, personal thoughts. So when people say "Phoenix is actually quite sarcastic", they're actually talking about me (laugh)."
In the 2015 interview the above quote came from, Takahiro Ookura, writer of the Japanese crime drama series "Enter Lieutenant Fukuie", commented afterwards:
"I can feel the influence of "Columbo" in "Ace Attorney". For example, there's the thing with the IV drops in "Turnabout Succession", episode 4 of "Ace Attorney 4". I won't go into details, but the part where it goes "the only way you can know about this if you were there at that time", that's a type of logic often used in "Columbo"."
Additionally, the character design for Detective Dick Gumshoe is likely modeled off of Columbo's actor Peter Falk; Gumshoe's squint and uneven eyebrows mirror those of Falk, whose signature squint was the result of using an artificial right eyeball stemming from a childhood eye surgery.
NetherRealm Studios was able to get the likeness rights of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Terminator guest character, but he was not able to provide the voice for the character. Instead, Schwarzenegger himself chose voice actor Chris Cox to be hired to voice the Terminator according to senior UI artist Daanish Syed.
In an interview with RadioSEGA, Sumo Digital executive producer Steve Lycett revealed that a Sakura Wars character was considered for inclusion, but “with the tone of the game we’re making, and considering the type of vehicle it would probably need was already covered elsewhere, we decided against it this time.”
The name of the main boss Kronika may be a reference to Chronos, the personification of time in pre-Socratic philosophy, often mistaken with the ruler of the Titans in Greek Mythology, Cronus. While this is a recurring historical and philosophical mistake, this might have inspired the idea that Kronika is a Titan, much like Cronus. Additionally, the word "Kronika" is a Czech and Slovenian cognate which translated to English means "Chronicle".
In South Korea and Australia, the game was rated their respective equivalents of a Mature rating due to the inclusion of casino banking/gambling games like Blackjack, Texas hold 'em poker, and Riichi mahjong.
The Japanese version contains mostly-finished data for the English localization of the game, which was still unfinished by the time it was released in Japan. By using a hack to trick the game into running in English, most text files and voice lines will be in English, and the controls will change to reflect the NA/PAL standard. However, the cutscenes will still be the uncensored Japanese animations with their respective original lip-syncing, and Roxas will use older voice clips from the original Kingdom Hearts II instead of the final English release which uses voice clips from Ventus from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep instead.
In the Japanese release of the game, there is hidden meaning in the game's ending. Spoiler:Big Boss is portrayed by voice actor Chikao Ōtsuka; father of Spoiler:Solid Snake's voice actor Akio Ōtsuka.
Hideo Kojima has claimed that the two had fallen out years before and had not spoken to one another since, and Kojima intentionally cast Chikao in the game hoping to help patch things up between the two.
According to president and co-founder Sugiura Hirohide, the company was formed after the release of the Squaresoft film "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" proved to be a box-office bomb. With the film losing $94 million at the box office, Squaresoft had very little money left to create a sequel to Xenogears, thus causing Hirohide to leave the company and create Monolith Soft along with Tetsuya Takahashi, also a former employee at Squaresoft.
In Virtua Fighter 3tb, it's possible for the player to summon the train from Sarah's Subway stage in the background of the Desert City stage. In order to do this, the player must play as Jeffry, highlight the Desert City stage, hold Start on a second controller and let the stage select timer count down. When the match starts, perform Jeffry's throw command "Toe Kick of Doom". If done correctly, a train will rise up in the background and fly around the skybox of the stage until the end of the match.
The flying train is most likely a reference to Leiji Matsumoto's manga series Galaxy Express 999.
Prior to the start of 2017, there were 976 known Banana Coins in the game. In early January of that year, a speedrunner discovered a widely undocumented 5-Banana Coin hidden in Fungi Forest while looking at how the game formats its save data. While looking through the stage's flags in the BizHawk emulator, the speedrunner noticed that the flag for 5-Banana Coins was incomplete, and used script analysis tools to reveal a DK Dirt Pile hidden under tall grass located near the Tag Barrel by the exit to the Chunky Minecart. Walking over the pile would cause the player to slightly bob upwards from the grass in an easy-to-miss moment, and slamming it revealed the 5-Banana Coin, bringing the known total to 977 Banana Coins.
Hidden in the background of the song "Adam's Apartment" used in that area, a quiet, distorted sample of dialogue spoken by actress Sean Young from the 1982 film "Blade Runner" can be heard, specifically the scene where Deckard meets Rachael after a replicant owl flies across the room and she asks him "Do you like our owl?"
In the Super Mario World official guidebook interview, the game's composer Koji Kondo was asked how he came up with Mario's main theme, and revealed that it was originally very different, and went through multiple iterations. He commented:
"My first image was of “walking around an open grassy field.” That got me thinking about how carefree it must feel, and I wrote a relaxed, light melody to match. However, when I played it back alongside the actual game, it didn’t match the speed of the game or its rhythm at all! I tried adding a swing feel to it, but many people told me this made the melody sound weird, so that was out too. After trying this and that, I came up with the idea of a “cha cha cha” melody, and it all expanded from there."
A potential stage based on Super Mario Land was considered for the Nintendo 3DS version to represent the Game Boy. However, a stage based on Kirby's Dream Land was used instead for unknown reasons (the stage was renamed to Dream Land GB in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to avoid confusion with another stage already named Dream Land).
A reversal of this kind also happened in the Wii U version, where a stage based on Kirby's Epic Yarn was considered, but was revamped into a stage based on The Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Super Star after the development team heard about the then-upcoming Wii U game Yoshi's Woolly World.
According to the PlayStation Blogcast with Seth Killian, Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series nearly got in the game.
He commented: “We were committed to try and provide some extra content to Sony and we were excited about looking at the different roster and seeing who was out there, and you know you’ve got all sort of cool characters like Nathan Drake, but you know Nathan Drake has kind of a nice Han Solo kind of everyman and he’s a comical guy but the Japanese team got really excited about Cole and the flexibility of his powers, projectiles, grabs, and all sorts of cool stuff.”
The original Xbox release of Shrek is noted as being the first commercial game to use "deferred shading," a technique where light is only calculated for the pixels it actually interacts with, meaning multiple light sources can be used at a lower cost than standard shading techniques and allowing the game to better imitate the ambient lighting of the original film. This technique would later be seen in Battlefield 1942, another game developed by DICE and released the following year.
In The PlayStation magazine interview with the game's art designer Kazuma Kaneko, he was asked about how the game's title 'Sin' (Persona 2: Innocent Sin) and the main theme of 'rumors' tied together in the game's story. He responded:
"My definition of “rumor” is when a person makes a judgment based on their own preconceptions and prejudices, and then recklessly disseminates that to the wider world. When that stuff circulates and circulates, you know… it could eventually become a sin. Even though we never intentionally think we’re committing a sin, I bet in our everyday lives this kind of thing happens a lot. A careless comment you make could have a major impact on someone else’s life. Those ideas are intertwined with the story of Persona 2."
The Pokemon Audino's design was created for the Pokemon Anime first and foremost. Artist Ken Sugimori stated he wanted a Pokémon that would look good alongside the series' Nurse Joy just like Chansey did, as he knew the Anime would go the same route as Black and White, and would feature an entirely new roster of Pokemon.
In Operation 002-C, if you fail Wonder Pink's quick-time event near the end of the mission, Wonder Pink will pull out her phone and start having a sped up conversation. Failing this event 10 times in a row will actually play the conversation in normal speed and reveal that she is talking to Wonder-Cheerleader.
Wonder Pink: Oh my god! What's happening girl? Wonder-Cheerleader: Nothing, girl. Wonder Pink: How's Joe? Wonder-Cheerleader: He's good, but he stood me up last night! Said something about the last movie in a red hot trilogy! Wonder Pink: He did what? Tell him to quit going to the movies all the time. Such a deadbeat! Wonder-Cheerleader: I know. Wonder Pink: No, I do not think he is red hot... You are a crazy girl.
This conversation heavily implies that beyond physical similarities, Wonder-Cheerleader is actually Silvia from another Hideki Kamiya directed series Viewtiful Joe (both characters are voiced by Christina Pucelli), and that “Silvianne Lumiere“ is just an alias. This is also referencing the unmade third game in the intended Viewtiful Joe trilogy.
There are unused strings of text in The Lost And Damned referencing a cut mission for Stubbs. In the mission, Johnny had to blow up a truck with a bike armed with a bomb that would arm itself at 88mph, but would explode if your speed dropped below 88mph.
The mission may be a reference to the movie "Speed", which features a bus armed with a bomb that detonates if dropping to a certain speed. A mission with a similar concept was present in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
One of the primary Western influences of Ace Attorney is the American crime drama series "Columbo", of which series creator Shu Takumi is a professed fan, and who based his character profiles on the sharpness and secrecy of Lieutenant Columbo:
In Virtua Fighter 3tb, it's possible for the player to summon the train from Sarah's Subway stage in the background of the Desert City stage. In order to do this, the player must play as Jeffry, highlight the Desert City stage, hold Start on a second controller and let the stage select timer count down. When the match starts, perform Jeffry's throw command "Toe Kick of Doom". If done correctly, a train will rise up in the background and fly around the skybox of the stage until the end of the match.
Prior to the start of 2017, there were 976 known Banana Coins in the game. In early January of that year, a speedrunner discovered a widely undocumented 5-Banana Coin hidden in Fungi Forest while looking at how the game formats its save data. While looking through the stage's flags in the BizHawk emulator, the speedrunner noticed that the flag for 5-Banana Coins was incomplete, and used script analysis tools to reveal a DK Dirt Pile hidden under tall grass located near the Tag Barrel by the exit to the Chunky Minecart. Walking over the pile would cause the player to slightly bob upwards from the grass in an easy-to-miss moment, and slamming it revealed the 5-Banana Coin, bringing the known total to 977 Banana Coins.
The Pokemon Audino's design was created for the Pokemon Anime first and foremost. Artist Ken Sugimori stated he wanted a Pokémon that would look good alongside the series' Nurse Joy just like Chansey did, as he knew the Anime would go the same route as Black and White, and would feature an entirely new roster of Pokemon.
In Operation 002-C, if you fail Wonder Pink's quick-time event near the end of the mission, Wonder Pink will pull out her phone and start having a sped up conversation. Failing this event 10 times in a row will actually play the conversation in normal speed and reveal that she is talking to Wonder-Cheerleader.