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Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy V (1992)
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The reason the original Final Fantasy V was never released internationally was because, as translator Ted Woolsey stated in a 1994 interview, "it's just not accessible enough to the average gamer". Plans were made to release the game in 1995 as Final Fantasy Extreme, targeting it at "the more experienced gamers who loved the complex character building". For unknown reasons, however, Final Fantasy Extreme never materialized.
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Cancelled Release, Development, Early Idea, General, Real Life
person GorgonBull35 calendar_month April 11, 2013
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Mega Man Zero 4
Mega Man Zero 4 (2005)
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The main bosses of the game, the Einherjar Eight Warriors, are all based on mythological creatures. These include a fairy, a Mandragora, a Minotaur, a cockatrice, a Pegasus, a Kraken, the Norse Fenrir and the Black Tortise Genbu.

Another mythological connection is that Einherjar in Norse myth are warriors brought to Valhalla to await Ragnarok, when they would join in an immense battle. In Mega Man Zero 4, the Einherjar are engaging in an operation called Ragnarok to eliminate the human settlement Zero aims to protect.
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Development, Easter Egg, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Reference
person TomGuycott calendar_month April 11, 2013
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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
subdirectory_arrow_right Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Game)
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Attachment The gender identity of the party member Vivian is inconsistent between different language translations of the original game. In the Japanese version, Vivian identifies and presents as female, but is described by other characters in the game as actually being an effeminate-looking male, aligning with common media depictions of transgender or gender non-conforming characters at the time, but not explicitly referring to Vivian as such. A rough translation of the Japanese text for Vivian as a party member reads:

"カゲ三人組の一人だった　オンナのコのようで　ホントは　オトコのコ"
"One of the shadow group, Vivian appears to be a girl but is really a boy."

The French version directly carries this over and additionally describes Vivian as a boy pretending to be a girl, while the Spanish version describes Vivian as a boy who looks like a girl. However, according to former Nintendo of Europe translator Pol Roca, Vivian's Spanish name "Bibiana" was intended to be a reference to the Spanish transgender actress Bibiana Fernández, who starred in the 1977 film Cambio de Sexo (or Sex Change).

The English and German versions remove any references to being transgender or gender non-conforming, implicitly portraying Vivian as a cisgender woman with "a bit of an inferiority complex". Instead of being bullied over her biological sex, her sisters instead belittle her for her appearance.

The Italian version of the game on the other hand explicitly depicts Vivian as an openly proud transgender woman, with the localization reconfiguring her relationships with gender identity and her sisters by having Marilyn and Bedlam's bullying being rooted in jealousy, traits which are absent in the Japanese script:

Vivian: "We'll defeat that Mario guy! 'Cause we are 'The three shadow sisters'!"
Marilyn: "How can you define us as 'The three shadow sisters'? You are a man! A MAN!"
Vivian: "That’s true, you are two sisters… But I am a woman too now, and I'm proud to have turned into a woman!"
Marilyn: "Hmph. And you surely think you are more beautiful than we are, huh? You deserve a punishment for that!"

The English release of the Nintendo Switch remake follows the Italian version of the original game in unambiguously describing Vivian as a transgender woman, most prominently featuring a line where Vivian states that "it took me a while to realize that I was [Marilyn and Beldam's] sister... not their brother." It's currently unknown if Vivian's portrayal in other translations of the remake has changed from the original release.
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Censorship, Development, General, In-Joke, LGBTQ+, Male/Female Gender, Name Change, Reference, Regional Difference, Release Difference, Version Difference
person gaiages calendar_month April 11, 2013
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The Cutting Room Floor article on original GameCube release differences:
https://tcrf.net/Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door/Regional_Differences#Vivian

Japanese script example of Vivian's original portrayal:
http://themushroomkingdom.net/pmttyd_j2e.shtml#vivian

"Transgender in Games: A Comparative Study of Transgender Characters in Games" by Emil Christenson and Danielle Unéus:
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1146698/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Article about Italian localization in video games by Francesca Di Marco, a former localization specialist for Square Enix, including a section on Vivian's portrayal:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210607111528/http://www.fti.uab.es/tradumatica/revista/num5/articles/06/06central.htm

Pol Roca tweet and Bibiana name in the Spanish version [info and links provided by Rocko & Heffer]:
https://www.twitter.com/polroc/status/1702660171737059808
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fumoIEFxjKU#t=1102s

My Nintendo review which discusses the restoration of Vivian's transgender identity in the English release of the Switch version:
https://mynintendonews.com/2024/05/21/review-paper-mario-the-thousand-year-door-for-nintendo-switch/


Attachment sources for "Looking for a gal!" Trouble Center mission Vivian interactions in the original game. Footage of the Vivian interaction in the French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations could not be found at this time:

English version ("Whoa! You sure are cute... But, um... That whole goth shadow thing is a bit... Creepy! There, I said it!"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI_xG-knJE8#t=39s

Japanese version ("おお! これは かわいい。。。 ってキミ。。。 どっちゃなの?。。。 オトコ。。。 だよね。。。
ようするに オスじゃん!"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIFTyRFZJO4#t=86s
Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Snap (1999)
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Attachment 63 of the then 151 Pokemon appear in the game. Ekans can be seen in pre-release screenshots, indicating the number may have originally been 64 instead of 63, as a reference to the Nintendo 64.
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Development, Early Idea
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month April 11, 2013
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Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (2007)
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During the production of the game, the Insomniac Games employee and level designer, Dan Johnson, had passed away. Both this and the next game, Tools of Destruction, had his name in the credits for a memorial.
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Cameo, Development, Easter Egg, General, Real Life, Reference
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month April 10, 2013
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Franchise: Mega Man
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Attachment There were plans for a first-person shooter in the Mega Man universe. Codenamed "Maverick Hunter", it was being developed by Armature Studio and was cancelled after six months of development during the first half of 2010.
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Cancelled Release, Development, Early Idea
person pkmngmr calendar_month April 10, 2013
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Fire Emblem Awakening
Fire Emblem Awakening (2012)
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In an interview with Iwata, it was revealed by the developers that one of the suggested settings for the game was Mars but the idea was quickly shot down as it was too drastic a change.
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Development, Early Idea
person Berry calendar_month April 9, 2013
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Mario Bros.
Mario Bros. (1983)
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Attachment Luigi's design was partly due to the result of memory limitations. Mario was duplicated to create the second player, Luigi, and unable to produce any additional colors, the color palette of the Shellcreeper was reused resulting in Luigi's iconic green appearance.
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Development, General
person KnowledgeBase calendar_month April 9, 2013
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GoldenEye 007
GoldenEye 007 (2010)
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Free Radical, now Crytek UK, were originally approached by Activision to develop the GoldenEye 007 remake, mainly due to many of Rare's former staff working there, some of whom had worked on the original GoldenEye. However the deal was never finalized and Free Radical never received a proper explanation from Activision as to why the opportunity disappeared.
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Development, General, Real Life
person KnowledgeBase calendar_month April 9, 2013
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Secret of Evermore
Secret of Evermore (1995)
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Attachment In the starting town of Podunk, a "Doughead Software" store can be seen in the background. This appears to be a nod to both Egghead Software, a computer software retail company from 1984-2001, as well as the executive producer (and Lode Runner creator) Doug Smith.

Doug Smith may also be credited with the conception of Secret of Evermore, according to lead programmer Brian Fehdrau, who states that Squaresoft hired Smith based on his suggestion for an RPG with an "American-motif." Squaresoft liked this idea, and told the development team to make "a game like [Secret of Mana] with western themes."
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Development, Easter Egg, Inspiration, Reference
person Vorpal calendar_month April 9, 2013
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Splatterhouse
Splatterhouse (1988)
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Attachment In the TurboGrafx-16 version of the game, the Terror Mask is red instead of White. This change was because the mask looked like a hockey mask and it made Rick look like Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th.
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Console Difference, Development, General, Inspiration, Version Difference
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month April 9, 2013
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)
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Tails was originally designed as two different Animals before being turned into a fox. First, he was designed to be a flying squirrel. His design was later used for Ray the Squirrel (who would only appear in SegaSonic Arcade). He was than redesigned as a Tanuki, but this idea was scraped since Mario already had a Tanooki suit that made him able to fly.
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Development, Early Idea
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month April 9, 2013
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Snatcher
Snatcher (1988)
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The initial versions of Snatcher on the MSX2 and PC-88 ended on Act 2. The developers originally planned to add Act 3 found in the later ports, but they had already went over the planned development time.
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Bonus Content, Console Difference, Development, Early Idea, General, Release Difference, Version Difference
person Antwan calendar_month April 8, 2013
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Jet Force Gemini
Jet Force Gemini (1999)
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According to the Lead Programmer, Paul Mountain, the entire game took elements from different games. It had Super Mario 64's open world and free-roaming nature for scale, Quake-style "attack and cover" mechanics, and Super Metriod's collecting and upgrading of weapons.
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Development, Inspiration
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month April 8, 2013
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Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 (2007)
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Attachment In early development, Team Fortress 2 contained grenades. The commentary for the game states that they didn't use grenades in the end because they were afraid that players would just spam them, so they were removed from the game entirely.
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Development, Early Idea
person The PUNisher calendar_month April 8, 2013
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The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)
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Attachment It was originally intended for Spiffy the Dog to have a close-up, but it was cut from the game due to space restrictions, however it was shown on the back of the game's box. He would eventually receive a close-up in "The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition".
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Development, Early Idea
person KnowledgeBase calendar_month April 8, 2013
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Portal
Portal (2007)
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Attachment Portal started out as a student project called "Narbacular Drop." The game was about a princess navigating a dungeon by placing portals in order to escape. The game caught Valve developer Robin Walker's attention, who hired the students to rework the project as Portal.
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Development, Early Idea
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month April 8, 2013
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Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
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Attachment Instead of keeping track of how many times each character contributed, Super Mario Bros. 2's prototype originally had a "monetary reward" for beating the game. The amount of cash awarded depended on how many times the player died and the deaths of each character were tallied. The unused money tiles can still be found in the final version of the game.
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Development
person Antwan calendar_month April 8, 2013
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ZombiU
ZombiU (2012)
subdirectory_arrow_right Killer Freaks From Outer Space (Game)
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Attachment Originally, ZombiU was supposed to be a Raving Rabbids Playstation 3/Xbox 360 game called "Attack of the Killer Rabbids from Outer Space". It was then changed again to an arcade-style FPS Wii U game called simply "Killer Freaks from Outer Space" before becoming the re-imagining of the first Ubisoft game ever released called "Zombi".
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Development, Early Idea
person Clamanath calendar_month April 8, 2013
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Resident Evil Zero
Resident Evil Zero (2002)
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Attachment Resident Evil Zero was originally planned for the Nintendo 64 in the year 2000. Rebecca is shown to wear a beret similar to Jill Valentine from Resident Evil 1, and Billy's facial features were totally different from his final design.

Most of the characters and settings from the Gamecube version are in the N64 version, like the opening fight on a moving train. It was in development during the last years of the N64, so instead of finishing it, Capcom scrapped the build and developed it for the GameCube.
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Development, Early Idea
person Pogue-Mahone calendar_month April 8, 2013
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