Trivia Browser


Tagsarrow_right
Filter:
Platformsarrow_right
Filter:
Yearsarrow_right
Filter:

Genresarrow_right
Filter:
Collectionsarrow_right
Filter:
Franchisesarrow_right
Filter:
Companiesarrow_right
Filter:

Franchise: Animal Crossing
1
K.K. Slider is based on the game's sound designer Kazumi Totaka. K.K. Slider's Japanese name "Totakeke" is taken from the fact that in Japan, last names are written first, so it would be Totaka Kazumi. That can be shortened to "Totaka K" very similar to "Totakeke". Totaka has also hidden music in every Animal Crossing game, and at least twelve other games. People now search for the hidden music in his games, which is known as "Totaka's Song".
Franchise: Assassin's Creed
1
In every Assassin's Creed game, the main characters you assassinate were real people, and the time and location of their death is accurate.
Franchise: Animal Crossing
1
The Gyroids bear a strong resemblance to Haniwa; clay figures made for ritual use and buried with the dead. This explains why Gyroids can only be obtained by digging, and also implies that you have just dug up someone's grave. This likeness is referenced in the Japanese version of Animal Crossing: City Folk, where the auction house owner Lloid is named "Haniwa-Kun".
Dark Souls
1
When originally announced, the game was titled "Dark Ring". The name was changed to Dark Souls because "Dark Ring" can be seen as a euphemism for an anus.

This was the second time the name changed. The first time was also unintentionally risque; "Dark Race".
Snatcher
1
While Hideo Kojima was developing Snatcher, he wanted to coat the game's floppy discs in a chemical that, when heated in the computer, would give off the smell of blood. This was to "give the stench of a murder scene".
Mortal Kombat
1
Johnny Cage is based on Jean-Claude Van Damme. The creators wanted Van Damme to be in the first Mortal Kombat, but Van Damme was unable to due to his busy work schedule. Johnny Cage's clothes in this game are almost identical to the clothes Van Damme wore in the last match in the movie "Bloodsport", and his Split Punch is taken directly from a move done by Van Damme in Bloodsport. Cage's Nutcracker Split Punch was also inspired by Bloodsport.
Ms. Pac-Man
1
Attachment Ms. Pac-Man originally started out as an unlawfully modified version of the Pac-Man arcade game called "Crazy Otto". Crazy Otto was bought by Pac-Man's North American distributor Midway, and rebranded as Ms. Pac-Man.
Metroid
1
Yoshio Sakamoto, co-creator of the Metroid series, has stated that Metroid was influenced by the 1979 sci-fi movie "Alien". This is evident when considering the following:
• Both Metroid and Alien feature a female lead protagonist.
• The Nostromo's computer is referred to as "Mother" and the antagonist of Metroid is Mother Brain.
• The Xenomorph aliens and Metroids both have multiple stages of development, and the first stage of both species latch on to other creatures.
• The boss "Ridley" is likely named after Alien's director Ridley Scott.
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
1
Attachment The character portraits were copied from famous films and icons.
Donkey Kong 64
1
Attachment The Kong's weapons were originally real guns, as opposed to the comical fruit and nut based weaponry seen in the final game. This was changed in response to Shigeru Miyamoto being horrified by them upon paying a visit to the Rare headquarters to check on the game's development. He then sketched out and offered a replacement that would be more fitting to the world of Donkey Kong, which would ensure that the game would receive a child friendly rating.
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month February 25, 2013
Portal 2
1
Early in development, Portal 2 was planned to feature no portals at all. Valve focused on a new gameplay mechanic called "F-Stop", and though the new mechanic received some positive feedback, every single play tester was disappointed with the absence of portals. Valve then revised the game to include portals.
Shadow of the Colossus
2
Shadow of the Colossus was originally going to have 48 Colossi, but that number was cut down to 24, and finally to 16. Some of the designs were fully fleshed out.
Angry Birds
1
During development, Rovio got the idea to make the enemies pigs because of the Swine Flu epidemic. The pig's sickly green color is a reference to this.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
subdirectory_arrow_right Donkey Kong Country (Game)
2
In May 1995, an interview with series creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Rare co-founder Tim Stamper about the development of Donkey Kong Country (DKC) was published in the magazine Electronic Games, conducted by game journalist Steven L. Kent. Kent later claimed on an episode of G4's docuseries "Icons" that Miyamoto was angry during this interview, channelling it into bitter criticisms of DKC's gameplay and the Western market's praise of its pre-rendered graphics, and that Stamper "sat there and took it, even though really the anger wasn't meant to be at Stamper". Miyamoto clarified in a 2010 interview with IGN that he did like the game despite these rumored criticisms, and that he worked closely with Rare and Stamper during development.

Years after the interview's publication, Kent would print an alleged portion of a later interview with Miyamoto in his 2001 book "The Ultimate History of Video Games", claiming that the anger had stemmed from "touchy" internal discussions regarding Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The hand-drawn crayon art style of that game was said to be a result of the alleged anger over DKC's graphics causing him to rebel against Nintendo's internal evaluation committee, who wanted Yoshi's Island to use pre-rendered graphics. Part of the Miyamoto quote reads:

"In comparison with the graphics of [DKC], there was not enough punch to Yoshi's Island. That was what I was told by the marketing people. I intensified my hand-drawn touch on Yoshi's Island from the initial part of the program. Everybody else was saying that they wanted better hardware and more beautiful graphics instead of this art."

Yoshi's Island director Takashi Tezuka would deliver a less angered statement that may be related to these claims in a September 1995 interview with the magazine Dengeki Super Famicom. He claimed that the choice in art style was done for sentimental reasons, as the developers believed that all video games from that point on would likely utilize 3D graphics, and wanted Yoshi's Island to be a bow-out for 2D graphics:

"We deliberately chose not to go for realistic graphics like [DKC]: we wanted take a chance and do the opposite. Probably every game from here on out is going to look more like [DKC]… that being the case, we decided to go against the trend one last time and make something with a heartwarming, handmade visual style."
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month February 25, 2013
Electronic Games Issue #32 (Volume 3, Issue #8) - May 1995 (pages 48-52 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/electronic-games-1995-05/page/48/mode/1up

G4 "Icons" (Season 3, Episode 8) on Donkey Kong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2EOpDWKOrI#t=819s

"The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon–The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World" by Steven L. Kent (page 518 in the book):
https://retrocdn.net/images/9/9c/UltimateHistoryofVideoGames_Book_US.pdf

Dengeki Super Famicom 09/1995 developer interview [link and info provided by Rocko & Heffer]:
https://shmuplations.com/yoshi/

Original DidYouKnowGaming blog post:
http://didyouknowgaming.com/post/41895525229/yoshis-island-and-donkey-kong-country-source
God of War
1
During development, the Cyclopes had visible penises. This matched up with other creatures having bare breasts and nipples. The reason behind this was the game's creator, David Jaffe, wanted the creatures to come across as wild animals.
Pokémon Gold Version
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon Silver Version (Game)
1
The original starting town in Gold and Silver was called "Silent Hills". It's not known why the location changed, but it could have been to avoid comparisons to the horror game Silent Hill, which was released during Gold and Silver's development.
Mind Quiz
1
Attachment Your Brain Coach was voluntarily pulled from stores in the United Kingdom after release due to complaints that the word "spastic" was triggered when a player didn't perform well. The game was never re-released, but is still sold with the European English language in Australia, as it isn't considered particularly offensive there.

A similar incident occurred with Mario Party 8 just one month later.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
1
Attachment Concept Art for A Link to the Past shows Zelda in futuristic attire. The original Legend of Zelda was planned to be set in both the past and the future. This art could be an indication that Nintendo considered reusing the concept for A Link to the Past.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
1
According to Shigeru Miyamoto, once Nintendo had finished developing Twilight Princess, the team decided to have fun with the game and put Miis across Hyrule. It was their way of relaxing once the project was done.
Company: Capcom
1
The word "Capcom" was created from taking the first 3 letters from each word in "Capsule Computers" (from the subsidiary Japan Capsule Computer Co).
keyboard_double_arrow_leftFirst keyboard_arrow_leftPrev Page of 312 Nextkeyboard_arrow_right Lastkeyboard_double_arrow_right