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World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft (2004)
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Various screen-shots you take in the game have a secret watermark that contains data for your account ID, the time the screenshot was taken, and the IP and data of the server you were playing on. It's speculated that this was mainly used to identify and punish internal leaking of images during development.
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Development, General, Real Life, Suggested, Theory
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda (1986)
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In the game's instruction booklet it states that the Pols Voice hates loud noises. Consequently, many players mistakenly believed this to be a reference to the game's recorder item, and were surprised to find that the instrument had no effect on the creatures. The text only applies to the Japanese version of the game, as the Famicom's (Japanese NES) second controller had a built-in microphone. By talking into this mic you can effectively kill the Pols Voice.
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General, Regional Difference, Version Difference
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Franchise: Earthbound
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Attachment Shigesato Itoi first founded Ape Inc., the company that worked on EarthBound's predecessor Mother / EarthBound: Beginnings. Ape Inc. later reformed as Creatures Inc. with the help of Satoru Iwata. Ape Inc. worked on EarthBound, and later helped Game Freak develop the Pokémon series as the reformed Creatures Inc. Their influence can be seen in Pokémon. The main villain in Mother, Giygas, has a battle sprite that resembles Mewtwo. He also has a mental power called PSI. Additionally, there's an item in EarthBound called "Bag of Dragonite." There is also a Pokémon named Dragonite.
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Development, General, Real Life, Similarities, Theory
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Platform: Atari Jaguar
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Attachment The Atari Jaguar's casing molds were reused for a $5000 dental camera that takes pictures of the inside of a patient's mouth. It retains the expansion slot used to connect the Jaguar's CD-ROM as an optional docking station. It also retained it's cartridge slot, where a removable memory card is now placed for data storage.
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General, Real Life
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System
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The Minnesota state lottery was considering using the NES to let people play the lottery. The player would use a game cartridge made by the company to play the lottery, and a modem that would allow them to communicate with the central computer. The plan eventually fell through due to concerns that minors would illegally purchase tickets.
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Development, Early Idea, General, Real Life
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
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Attachment The box art for the game shows images from earlier stages of the game's development. The image of word 1 has different paths when compared to the final version, and the second image doesn't represent anything seen in the game's final build.
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Development, Early Idea, General, Unused Content, Unused Graphic
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Franchise: Duke Nukem
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Duke Nukem's voice actor Jon St. John also provided the voice for Sonic Adventure's Big the Cat.
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General
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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Sonic's shoes were inspired by Michael Jackson's boots and the color scheme of Santa Claus. Sonic's personality was inspired by Bill Clinton.
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Development, Easter Egg, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Reference
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Platform: Dreamcast
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There was a motion controller planned to release for the Sega Dreamcast. It would have been used for 'Air Nights' a sequel to 'Nights into Dreams' and was also rumored to have involved with the creation of the Sega's Super Monkey Ball series. The motion Sensing technology was eventually used for the maracas in Samba De Amigo.
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Cancelled Release, Development, Early Idea, General
person retrolinkx calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (1981)
subdirectory_arrow_right Kirby (Franchise), King Kong (Franchise)
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When Donkey Kong became popular, Nintendo was sued by American film company Universal Studios over allegations that Donkey Kong was plagiarizing their 1933 film King Kong. Lawyer John Kirby, defending Nintendo, pointed out that Universal was aware of and had previously argued in court that the story of King Kong was in the public domain due to the film's novelization, which came out before the film and marked the first non-promotional appearance of the character, failing to have its copyright notice renewed. As a result, Universal lost the case. Nintendo lavishly awarded Kirby by taking him, his wife and some associates to dinner at a fancy Manhattan restaurant, giving him a sailboat named "Donkey Kong" and the exclusive rights to the name Donkey Kong for sailboats as a strange show of gratitude.

In a 2011 interview with Game Informer, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that "Kirby" was one of many candidates on a list of names that were proposed for the then-in development video game character, and upon seeing it, he recalled John Kirby and felt that a connection between the two would be amusing. However, the name was picked not as a tribute to the lawyer, but rather because the harsh-sounding nature of the name was a comedic contrast to the character's soft, cute design.
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Development, General, Inspiration, Legal Affairs, Real Life
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Original DidYouKnowGaming blog post:
http://didyouknowgaming.com/post/32069456462/donkey-kong

2011 Game Informer interview mentioning Kirby's name origin:
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/06/17/miyamoto-wii-amp-wii-u-are-colored-white-for-all-ages-appeal.aspx

[Below links provided by Rocko & Heffer.]

Legal files:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/615/838/1515073/

Sail boat:
David Sheff - "Game Over: Press Start to Continue: The Maturing of Mario" (1999). Wilton, Connecticut: GamePress. (Page 126 in the book):
https://archive.org/details/0966961706/page/26/mode/1up
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993)
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Attachment Part of the trading sidequest involves returning a fishook to a fisherman in exchange for a mermaid's necklace. The player then returns the necklace to the mermaid who gives Link a scale from her tail in return. In the Japanese and some European versions of the game however, Link receives a pink bra instead of a necklace. This explains the mermaid's shy and anxious behavior around Link. The pink bra, most likely deemed inappropriate, was changed to the necklace in the American version and later European versions of the game.
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Bonus Content, Censorship, Development, General, Regional Difference, Version Difference
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Wii Sports
Wii Sports (2006)
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Attachment All of the golf courses in Wii Sports are remakes of levels from the NES game "Golf". Both games were launch titles for their respective systems.
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Easter Egg, General, Reference, Secret
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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EarthBound
EarthBound (1994)
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Attachment In Mother 2 (the Japanese version of EarthBound), the cultists of Happy Happyism appear with the letters HH on their forehead (for Happy Happyism). In EarthBound, a pom pom was added and the HH was removed, presumably to try to make the cultists look less like members of the Klu Klux Klan. Also, possibly because HH on an already Klan-like sprite could be construed to mean "Heil Hitler". The city "Threek" was renamed "Threed" in EarthBound. Like the cultists, this may also be to avoid any link to the Klan, as Threek could be seen as Three K's, or KKK.
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Censorship, Development, General, Real Life, Regional Difference, Similarities, Theory, Version Difference
person Berry calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Platform: Sega Pico
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Attachment Nintendo and Gamefreak designed a special edition Pico system for SEGA. The SEGA Pico was also the only SEGA console to have Nintendo licensed games on it.
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General
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
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The weapon Fat Man and its mod Little Boy are named after two atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima (August 6th) and Nagasaki (August 9th) in Japan during the end of the World War II. In the Japanese version, the name Fat Man is changed to "Nuka Launcher," yet the Little Boy Kit kept its name. The changes were made to avoid offending the people of Japan, though Japanese gamers generally didn't approve of the change.
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Censorship, Development, General, Real Life, Regional Difference, Version Difference
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007)
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Angeal's hair is a remnant of an initial design for Cloud. Cloud was originally planned to have slicked back black hair in Final Fantasy VII to contrast Sephiroph's long white hair.
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Development, Early Idea, Easter Egg, General, Reference
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII (1997)
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Cloud's hair was originally supposed to be black and slicked back to contrast with Sephiroth's long white hair. The developers also thought it would be a good way to render less polygons on screen. The idea was eventually ditched for his iconic spiky hair. The idea was later used for Angeal, the original wielder of the Buster Sword and Sephiroph's close friend in Crisis Core.
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Development, Early Idea, General, Unused Content, Unused Graphic
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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WarioWare: Touched!
WarioWare: Touched! (2004)
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Playing Ashley's music on the record turntable fast enough will speak the words "I have granted kids to hell!" However, in Nintendo Power issue 193, Nintendo stated that it was an accident, and the words come out like that due to the turntable skipping over parts of the song, and only playing certain pieces of the track.
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General, Mistake, Music, Real Life, Rumor, Suggested, Theory
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Franchise: Mario
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Shigeru Miyamoto wanted Mario to have a dinosaur companion ever since Super Mario Bros. but it wasn't thought possible at the time due to the limitations of the NES. He wanted to implement Yoshi in Super Mario Bros. 3 but again could not. Two power-ups were created to fill the gap - raccoon and frog Mario. Co-worker Takashi Tezuka once speculated that Miyamoto's love of horse riding had influenced Yoshi's creation.
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Development, Early Idea, General, Inspiration, Real Life, Removed Feature, Unused Character, Unused Content, Unused Graphic, Unused Items
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
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In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the Cobra Unit member "The Fear" uses a crossbow in battle and coats his bolts in the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider. Snake is hit with a bolt in a cutscene and The Fear describes the effects of the venom. However, one effect wasn't described by The Fear and wasn't displayed in the game at all. As well as causing intense pain, the venom has similar properties to Viagra, giving the victim an erection.
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Easter Egg, General, Secret
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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