Trivia Browser
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In 2018, Donkey Kong Country designer Gregg Mayles posted a tweet off the heels of King K. Rool's reveal as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate featuring a naming sheet from the former game's development dated to March 8, 1994. This document contains several proposed names for various characters and the game itself, with Monkey Mayhem being listed as a working title. Other differences include the following:
• The names "Blonde Kong" and "Honey Kong" were suggested as alternate names for Candy Kong.
• King K. Rool was originally named "Kommander K. Rool".
• Rock Krock was originally named "Krocrock".
• Slippa was originally going to be called "Mr. Hister". This particular name appeared to be changed late in development, as an unused hint from Cranky Kong mentions Mr. Hister.
• Squidge was originally named "Mr. Squidge".
• Clambo was originally named "Ms. Clamity".
• Cranky Kong and Funky Kong's names were originally spelled "Crankey Kong" and "Funkey Kong".
Additionally, the naming sheet lists several proposed characters absent from the final game:
• An owl Animal Buddy named Hooter. In the replies to his tweet, Mayles stated that Hooter "was going to light the way with its night vision", and that it was eventually replaced by Squawks the parrot.
• A mole Animal Buddy named Miney, likely playing off of the counting rhyme "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe".
• A "Kremling Magician" named Kloak, who would later appear in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.
• A "Statue Kremling" named Krumble.
• A "Green Kremling" named Klanger.
• A "Robot Kremling" named Krocbot.
• A Moray eel enemy named Mobo.
• A fireball enemy named Fizzle.
• A yeti/"Iceman" enemy named Frozone. In the replies to his tweet, Mayles expressed amusement at "Frozone" also being the name of a character from the 2004 American animated film The Incredibles, stating that "We never used or copyrighted the name, so anyone could have used it." Indeed, "Frozone" is one of several entries on the naming sheet that doesn't have a trademark symbol attached to it. Coincidentally, the Donkey Kong Country television series would feature a yeti character of its own, Eddie the Mean Old Yeti.
• Two fish enemies named Bloop and Gloop; the latter would later appear as an enemy in Donkey Kong Land.
• A "nasty beetle" enemy named Veedub, who would later appear in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest under the name Click-Clack.
• The names "Blonde Kong" and "Honey Kong" were suggested as alternate names for Candy Kong.
• King K. Rool was originally named "Kommander K. Rool".
• Rock Krock was originally named "Krocrock".
• Slippa was originally going to be called "Mr. Hister". This particular name appeared to be changed late in development, as an unused hint from Cranky Kong mentions Mr. Hister.
• Squidge was originally named "Mr. Squidge".
• Clambo was originally named "Ms. Clamity".
• Cranky Kong and Funky Kong's names were originally spelled "Crankey Kong" and "Funkey Kong".
Additionally, the naming sheet lists several proposed characters absent from the final game:
• An owl Animal Buddy named Hooter. In the replies to his tweet, Mayles stated that Hooter "was going to light the way with its night vision", and that it was eventually replaced by Squawks the parrot.
• A mole Animal Buddy named Miney, likely playing off of the counting rhyme "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe".
• A "Kremling Magician" named Kloak, who would later appear in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.
• A "Statue Kremling" named Krumble.
• A "Green Kremling" named Klanger.
• A "Robot Kremling" named Krocbot.
• A Moray eel enemy named Mobo.
• A fireball enemy named Fizzle.
• A yeti/"Iceman" enemy named Frozone. In the replies to his tweet, Mayles expressed amusement at "Frozone" also being the name of a character from the 2004 American animated film The Incredibles, stating that "We never used or copyrighted the name, so anyone could have used it." Indeed, "Frozone" is one of several entries on the naming sheet that doesn't have a trademark symbol attached to it. Coincidentally, the Donkey Kong Country television series would feature a yeti character of its own, Eddie the Mean Old Yeti.
• Two fish enemies named Bloop and Gloop; the latter would later appear as an enemy in Donkey Kong Land.
• A "nasty beetle" enemy named Veedub, who would later appear in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest under the name Click-Clack.
Gregg Mayles' original tweet:
https://x.com/Ghoulyboy/status/1027946702270021638
Mayles' confirmation that Squawks replaced Hooter:
https://x.com/Ghoulyboy/status/1028581505566748674
Mayles' remark on the shared name "Frozone":
https://x.com/Ghoulyboy/status/1028884538381004802
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Donkey_Kong_Country_(SNES)#Early_Naming_Sheet
https://x.com/Ghoulyboy/status/1027946702270021638
Mayles' confirmation that Squawks replaced Hooter:
https://x.com/Ghoulyboy/status/1028581505566748674
Mayles' remark on the shared name "Frozone":
https://x.com/Ghoulyboy/status/1028884538381004802
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Donkey_Kong_Country_(SNES)#Early_Naming_Sheet
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According to developer Peter Molyneux in a 2019 interview, the different speed stats for the game's vehicles are entirely for show, and they all drive at the same speed. The lack of different vehicle speeds was due to time constraints stemming from a roughly six and a half week development period, but just seeing supposedly different speed stats when selecting a vehicle seemed to fool critics and players into thinking they were different at the time. Molyneux credits this concession for allowing Bullfrog Productions to focus more time into developing Dungeon Keeper, which would not release until nearly two years after Hi-Octane came out. It's rumored that early builds of Hi-Octane did have different vehicle speeds that were slowly worked on by the development team in their downtime as a side project. Molyneux claimed that this rumor was likely true, but that due to the same time constraints, they could not have made enough progress for the vehicle changes to be implemented into the final game.
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Sometime in 1987-88, Sega and the Japanese magazine "Beep!" held a "Story Recruitment Campaign" to let readers submit ideas to be considered for Phantasy Star II. This contest was held both to set a base for the start of development and to market the game to a wider audience on the name value of Phantasy Star, with the game being heavily advertised in Beep! thereafter. Despite the contest's name, Sega accepted any idea and gave out awards for scenario writing, illustrations, and game mechanics. Out of over 2000 entries, 29 were selected as winners and awarded with individually numbered "Associate Planner" certificates. They were also offered to meet with the game's developers for a planning meeting on March 20, 1988 at Sega's headquarters in Otorii, Tokyo, among other prizes. The events of the planning meeting and the top 7 winners were published in the June 1988 issue of Beep!, including a picture of the full roundtable. Producer/programmer Yuji Naka and artist Rieko Kodama were two of the developers in attendance.
Associate Planner No. 001, the Grand Prize winner, was Fumiko Sato. Of the 29 winners, three of them are known to have gone on to work in the video game industry and returned for work at Sega:
• No. 004 was 17-year old Masahiro Sakurai, who won the "Game System Award". Sakurai often recalled the contest without mentioning the game by name, claiming he came up with "something like the action-focused Active Time Battle system seen in JRPGs" before it existed. It's believed that this meeting was what prompted Sakurai to drop out of vocational school to pursue a full-time career in game design, using the award to advance his professional image until he was hired by HAL Laboratory after graduating high school in 1989. Sakurai became known for his work with them and Nintendo, creating the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series.
• No. 005 was Yukinobu Arikawa, who won the "Game System Special Award" for his entry titled "Those who inherit the legend". While it's not known if he attended the planning meeting, Arikawa would join Sega's AM2 team in 1990 and is still employed at Sega as of 2022. He became known for the comedic touches he adds to the games he works on, having worked as a game designer, writer, localizer and texture artist on different games in the Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Super Monkey Ball, Virtua Fighter, and Daytona USA series.
• No. 011 was middle schooler Keisuke Ōuchi, who described his proposal as being full of "middle school syndrome", but was unable to attend the planning meeting because he lived in the countryside at the time. Ōuchi worked on games as a character designer and graphics artist in various capacities, and created and directed the 1998 visual novel Ojou-sama Express, which similarly to Phantasy Star II held a long-term reader participation contest in the gaming magazine "Dengeki G's Magazine". He also works as a collectors' toy designer under the name Alan Moriguchi, specializing in mechs and robots.
It's unknown if or how any of the winners' ideas were used in the final game, as all of the developers used pseudonyms in the credits and no Associate Planners were credited.
Associate Planner No. 001, the Grand Prize winner, was Fumiko Sato. Of the 29 winners, three of them are known to have gone on to work in the video game industry and returned for work at Sega:
• No. 004 was 17-year old Masahiro Sakurai, who won the "Game System Award". Sakurai often recalled the contest without mentioning the game by name, claiming he came up with "something like the action-focused Active Time Battle system seen in JRPGs" before it existed. It's believed that this meeting was what prompted Sakurai to drop out of vocational school to pursue a full-time career in game design, using the award to advance his professional image until he was hired by HAL Laboratory after graduating high school in 1989. Sakurai became known for his work with them and Nintendo, creating the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series.
• No. 005 was Yukinobu Arikawa, who won the "Game System Special Award" for his entry titled "Those who inherit the legend". While it's not known if he attended the planning meeting, Arikawa would join Sega's AM2 team in 1990 and is still employed at Sega as of 2022. He became known for the comedic touches he adds to the games he works on, having worked as a game designer, writer, localizer and texture artist on different games in the Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Super Monkey Ball, Virtua Fighter, and Daytona USA series.
• No. 011 was middle schooler Keisuke Ōuchi, who described his proposal as being full of "middle school syndrome", but was unable to attend the planning meeting because he lived in the countryside at the time. Ōuchi worked on games as a character designer and graphics artist in various capacities, and created and directed the 1998 visual novel Ojou-sama Express, which similarly to Phantasy Star II held a long-term reader participation contest in the gaming magazine "Dengeki G's Magazine". He also works as a collectors' toy designer under the name Alan Moriguchi, specializing in mechs and robots.
It's unknown if or how any of the winners' ideas were used in the final game, as all of the developers used pseudonyms in the credits and no Associate Planners were credited.
Beep! - screenshots of March 1988 issue (in Japanese; it's believed that this issue is where the full list of winners were first published, but no full scan of the issue is available online):
https://retoge-mag.websa.jp/archives/215
Beep! - June 1988 issue (in Japanese; Page 86 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/beep-1988-06/page/86/mode/2up
Beep! - September 1989 issue translated developer interview:
https://shmuplations.com/psiirelease/
Masahiro Sakurai (No. 004) on Creating Games video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk8WsbCQXGc#t=194s
Sakurai translated magazine column on school/early work experience:
https://sourcegaming.info/2015/07/06/school-work-and-specialists-sakurais-famitsu-column-vol-3334/
Sakurai - The Guardian interview:
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/08/super-smash-bros-ultimate-masahiro-sakurai-35-years-gaming-history-nintendo
A conversation between gamers and game journalists about the future of computer games, held on August 15, 1989 at Dempa Publications, Inc. (19-year old Sakurai partook in this, and is credited with winning the Game System Award in the Phantasy Star II contest) [published in "CHALLENGE!! Personal Computer AVG & RPG 5 JP Book"] (Pages 341-355 in the book, Sakurai only appears on page 348 and did not participate in the rest of the conversation):
https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d5/CHALLENGE%21%21_Personal_Computer_AVG_%26_RPG_5_JP_Book.pdf
Yukinobu Arikawa (No. 005) career history:
https://segaretro.org/Yukinobu_Arikawa
https://www.mobygames.com/person/69425/yukinobu-arikawa/credits/
Keisuke Ōuchi (No. 011) tweets:
https://x.com/AlanMoriguchi/status/1320302751096553472
https://x.com/AlanMoriguchi/status/1321068321450553347
Alan Moriguchi (Ōuchi) revealing his identity in 2014:
https://x.com/AlanMoriguchi/status/520581151493070849
Ōuchi MobyGames page:
https://www.mobygames.com/person/456584/keisuke-ouchi/
Dengeki G's Magazine - August 1998 issue (Pages 49-61 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/dengeki-gs-magazine-013-august-1998/page/48/mode/2up
Japanese Wikipedia article on Ojou-sama Express with magazine citations (including the above issue):
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/お嬢様特急
Sega Associate Planner No. 017 tweet:
https://x.com/suginov/status/1321062605033664513
Sega Associate Planner No. 019 tweet:
https://x.com/unlucky_numbers/status/1539132578120486912
1988 contest materials were reportedly republished in the reprint mook " Beep(ビープ) 復刻版―特別付録 音楽CD2枚組 ":
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Beep-%E5%BE%A9%E5%88%BB%E7%89%88%E2%80%95%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5%E4%BB%98%E9%8C%B2-%E9%9F%B3%E6%A5%BDCD2%E6%9E%9A%E7%B5%84-Softbank-mook/dp/4797326239
Tweets that served as a starting point for researching this submission:
https://x.com/gosokkyu/status/1585114095329898496
https://x.com/gosokkyu/status/1705220228828045506
https://retoge-mag.websa.jp/archives/215
Beep! - June 1988 issue (in Japanese; Page 86 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/beep-1988-06/page/86/mode/2up
Beep! - September 1989 issue translated developer interview:
https://shmuplations.com/psiirelease/
Masahiro Sakurai (No. 004) on Creating Games video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk8WsbCQXGc#t=194s
Sakurai translated magazine column on school/early work experience:
https://sourcegaming.info/2015/07/06/school-work-and-specialists-sakurais-famitsu-column-vol-3334/
Sakurai - The Guardian interview:
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/08/super-smash-bros-ultimate-masahiro-sakurai-35-years-gaming-history-nintendo
A conversation between gamers and game journalists about the future of computer games, held on August 15, 1989 at Dempa Publications, Inc. (19-year old Sakurai partook in this, and is credited with winning the Game System Award in the Phantasy Star II contest) [published in "CHALLENGE!! Personal Computer AVG & RPG 5 JP Book"] (Pages 341-355 in the book, Sakurai only appears on page 348 and did not participate in the rest of the conversation):
https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d5/CHALLENGE%21%21_Personal_Computer_AVG_%26_RPG_5_JP_Book.pdf
Yukinobu Arikawa (No. 005) career history:
https://segaretro.org/Yukinobu_Arikawa
https://www.mobygames.com/person/69425/yukinobu-arikawa/credits/
Keisuke Ōuchi (No. 011) tweets:
https://x.com/AlanMoriguchi/status/1320302751096553472
https://x.com/AlanMoriguchi/status/1321068321450553347
Alan Moriguchi (Ōuchi) revealing his identity in 2014:
https://x.com/AlanMoriguchi/status/520581151493070849
Ōuchi MobyGames page:
https://www.mobygames.com/person/456584/keisuke-ouchi/
Dengeki G's Magazine - August 1998 issue (Pages 49-61 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/dengeki-gs-magazine-013-august-1998/page/48/mode/2up
Japanese Wikipedia article on Ojou-sama Express with magazine citations (including the above issue):
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/お嬢様特急
Sega Associate Planner No. 017 tweet:
https://x.com/suginov/status/1321062605033664513
Sega Associate Planner No. 019 tweet:
https://x.com/unlucky_numbers/status/1539132578120486912
1988 contest materials were reportedly republished in the reprint mook " Beep(ビープ) 復刻版―特別付録 音楽CD2枚組 ":
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Beep-%E5%BE%A9%E5%88%BB%E7%89%88%E2%80%95%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5%E4%BB%98%E9%8C%B2-%E9%9F%B3%E6%A5%BDCD2%E6%9E%9A%E7%B5%84-Softbank-mook/dp/4797326239
Tweets that served as a starting point for researching this submission:
https://x.com/gosokkyu/status/1585114095329898496
https://x.com/gosokkyu/status/1705220228828045506
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The existence of a faction tentatively referred to as "Virtual Idols" was first leaked by an unknown party through illegal means of obtaining development data, including character design concept drafts. Rather than cover it up, however, the official Zenless Zone Zero bilibili account opted to reveal the group in a blog post and explain details about it. The idea first came about from students on the production team who had a fondness for idol culture and how they believe it can give people strength, giving descriptions on the individual members: "a lead singer who wants to ignite everyone's enthusiasm with her singing, an artist who is born to be the focus of the stage, and a creator with delicate emotions and great talent." They also expressed interest in making real virtual idols based on the group once the designs were finalized, and creating related projects such as character songs around them.
Bilibili blog post (Note: source is in Chinese):
https://www.bilibili.com/opus/931089295663431683?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0
Pre-release livestream showing concept art for the Virtual Idols:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uACgiN-216s#t=495s
https://www.bilibili.com/opus/931089295663431683?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0
Pre-release livestream showing concept art for the Virtual Idols:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uACgiN-216s#t=495s
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This game, also referred to by the shorthand title "Those Games", is a parody of mobile game advertisements, specifically those that depict fake minigames that are not representative of the actual game once it is downloaded. The game's producer Maya Ito stated at its release that it was developed in just eight months, and came about about from her own desire to play those minigames "thoroughly and to my heart's content!" She described the process of balancing each minigame and trying to turn them into fully realized games as being particularly challenging, and felt that she "could've done some things a little differently" after noticing that players at launch had found many different ways to play the minigames.
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At the start of Bayonetta, a funeral is held for a notorious criminal known as "Eggman the Destroyer". This, to a Western audience, seems like a very obvious reference to Sonic the Hedgehog's main antagonist Dr. Eggman, as Bayonetta was published by Sega. However, series creator Hideki Kamiya claimed that he randomly chose the name Eggman and was not aware that there existed a popular Sega character with the name, choosing to leave it as is in the hopes that fans would "get a kick out of that".
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The "Sausage" and "Legendary Sausage" weapons in Holocure: Save the Fans! are based on the mobile games Sausage Legend and Sausage Legend 2, which are known for being played on livestreams by Hololive talent Oozora Subaru and her viewers. According to developer Kay Yu, he was granted permission by the Sausage Legend developers to reference the game via these weapons and its collaborations. In 2023, the references culminated in Hololive working with the Sausage Legend developers to release special skins for Sausage Legend 2 based on Subaru and fellow member Hakui Koyori.
Holocure Fandom wiki pages for the Sausage and Legendary Sausage weapons:
https://holocure.fandom.com/wiki/Sausage
https://holocure.fandom.com/wiki/Legendary_Sausage
Article about Sausage Legend 2 Hololive collaboration:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000947.000030268.html
Sausage Legend 2 - Oozura Subaru "Legendary Sausage" weapon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0zw-fplbc0
Compilation of Subaru playing Sausage Legend with viewers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8_8Wp2HR_M
Kay Yu confirming permission to use references:
https://x.com/kaynimatic/status/1667361461977649152
https://holocure.fandom.com/wiki/Sausage
https://holocure.fandom.com/wiki/Legendary_Sausage
Article about Sausage Legend 2 Hololive collaboration:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000947.000030268.html
Sausage Legend 2 - Oozura Subaru "Legendary Sausage" weapon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0zw-fplbc0
Compilation of Subaru playing Sausage Legend with viewers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8_8Wp2HR_M
Kay Yu confirming permission to use references:
https://x.com/kaynimatic/status/1667361461977649152
Collection: jubeat
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The jubeat series utilizes a scoring system to determine its ranks and whether a player clears or fails a song, with notes scoring points depending on how close they are to a Perfect timing. At least 700,000 points are required to get the lowest passing grade of C. This means it is possible to obtain a full combo yet still fail a song through lack of points by intentionally hitting all notes early/late enough to still register as a Good.
Video of player getting Full Combo, yet still failing the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQJJJYk3D-w
RemyWiki section explaining jubeat’s scoring system:
https://remywiki.com/What_is_jubeat#Scoring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQJJJYk3D-w
RemyWiki section explaining jubeat’s scoring system:
https://remywiki.com/What_is_jubeat#Scoring
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In a 2018 Syfy Wire interview with writers Christos Gage and Jon Paquette, they revealed that Silver Sable and Sable International were included in the game because they felt that there needed to be a presence or force in the overworld that added more stakes and tension to the game once the story events "became dire".
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To promote the release of Zenless Zone Zero, publisher HoYoverse collaborated with several graffiti artists to create graffiti based on the game across nineteen different cities in Indonesia.
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While Samurai Deeper Kyo received a formal release in Japan in 2002, it was never actually released in stores on its own in North America, instead being included as a bonus in the source material's complete series DVD box set in 2008. This made the North American version of the game the last officially licensed game released for the Game Boy Advance.
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According to programmer Dylan Cuthbert (who reportedly help named the original pilots from the first Star Fox), one of the new pilots in Star Fox 2, Fay, was named after his childhood crush, a girl who lived next door to his grandparents' house. Although Fay, as well as Miyu, were never officially given proper surnames, Cuthbert has stated that in his head, he's always considered their full names to be Fay Sinclair and Miyu Swift respectively.
Dylan Cuthbert Reddit AMA comments:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/8mu1pp/comment/dzqfnhr/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/8mu1pp/comment/dzqe1ra/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/8mu1pp/comment/dzqfnhr/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/8mu1pp/comment/dzqe1ra/
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In September 2020, it was announced that the game's original director and series creator Michel Ancel would be retiring from the video game industry to focus on working for a wildlife sanctuary, but it was assured that development would continue without him. Later that month, the French newspaper "Libération" reported that several members of his team at Ubisoft Montpellier had accused him of acting abusive and unorganized, resulting in numerous delays and restarts since the game's announcement in 2008. This behavior was allegedly worsened by his simultaneous work on Wild (a big-budget game announced in 2014), preventing him from working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 with its team full-time. Although reports were submitted to company leadership as early as 2017, it was alleged that Ancel's relationship with Ubisoft co-founder Yves Guillemot prevented any major corrections from occurring until June and July 2020, when employees from all over the company came forward with sexual abuse and other misconduct allegations against high-ranking executives. Ubisoft would later comment that Ancel had not been directly involved in the game's development for "some time now" before his departure.
Ancel was interviewed as part of Libération's investigation. He claimed that Guillemot informed him that Ubisoft was investigating him in early August 2020, but claimed he was unaware that numerous team members blamed him for the game's development issues, and believed they were actually caused by long-term stress and burnout. He claimed to have resigned on his own accord and that his only regret was not finishing the game sooner. The newspaper claimed that the interview took place on September 18th, the same day that Ancel and Ubisoft's statements about the departure were released. One week later when the report and interview were published, Ancel denied all of the allegations in an Instagram post, calling the articles "fake news" and accusing the newspaper of publishing them as soon as possible to conflate them with the earlier Ubisoft allegations in June and July, over a month before Ubisoft's investigation into him allegedly began.
Ancel was interviewed as part of Libération's investigation. He claimed that Guillemot informed him that Ubisoft was investigating him in early August 2020, but claimed he was unaware that numerous team members blamed him for the game's development issues, and believed they were actually caused by long-term stress and burnout. He claimed to have resigned on his own accord and that his only regret was not finishing the game sooner. The newspaper claimed that the interview took place on September 18th, the same day that Ancel and Ubisoft's statements about the departure were released. One week later when the report and interview were published, Ancel denied all of the allegations in an Instagram post, calling the articles "fake news" and accusing the newspaper of publishing them as soon as possible to conflate them with the earlier Ubisoft allegations in June and July, over a month before Ubisoft's investigation into him allegedly began.
Libération report (first two articles in French):
https://www.liberation.fr/images/2020/09/25/jeu-video-les-coulisses-effarantes-d-un-blockbuster-geant_1800522/
Libération Michel Ancel interview:
https://www.liberation.fr/images/2020/09/25/michel-ancel-si-j-etais-reste-il-n-y-aurait-pas-eu-de-beyond-good-and-evil-2_1800385/
Michel Ancel departure article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/rayman-creator-michel-ancel-quits-video-games-industry-to-work-on-wildlife-sanctuary
Ancel departure Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFRbPpnqCxu
Accusations against Ancel:
https://www.vg247.com/report-michel-ancel-accused-of-abusive-disruptive-practices-on-beyond-good-evil-2
Ubisoft comment about Ancel's departure:
https://www.pcgamer.com/beyond-good-and-evil-creator-michel-ancel-quits-videogames-to-work-in-an-animal-sanctuary/
Kotaku article:
https://kotaku.com/report-beyond-good-evil-2-director-michel-ancel-left-1845184216
Ancel allegations denial Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFkrhX3KXu6/
Bloomberg article detailing roots of Ubisoft developer allegations before Ancel:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-26/metoo-in-gaming-two-ubisoft-executives-placed-on-leave
https://www.liberation.fr/images/2020/09/25/jeu-video-les-coulisses-effarantes-d-un-blockbuster-geant_1800522/
Libération Michel Ancel interview:
https://www.liberation.fr/images/2020/09/25/michel-ancel-si-j-etais-reste-il-n-y-aurait-pas-eu-de-beyond-good-and-evil-2_1800385/
Michel Ancel departure article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/rayman-creator-michel-ancel-quits-video-games-industry-to-work-on-wildlife-sanctuary
Ancel departure Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFRbPpnqCxu
Accusations against Ancel:
https://www.vg247.com/report-michel-ancel-accused-of-abusive-disruptive-practices-on-beyond-good-evil-2
Ubisoft comment about Ancel's departure:
https://www.pcgamer.com/beyond-good-and-evil-creator-michel-ancel-quits-videogames-to-work-in-an-animal-sanctuary/
Kotaku article:
https://kotaku.com/report-beyond-good-evil-2-director-michel-ancel-left-1845184216
Ancel allegations denial Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFkrhX3KXu6/
Bloomberg article detailing roots of Ubisoft developer allegations before Ancel:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-26/metoo-in-gaming-two-ubisoft-executives-placed-on-leave
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Several additional characters were planned to appear in the game, but were scrapped in order to keep the game's plot easier to understand. This includes the presence of a "Space Broadcasting Censorship Bureau", who would interrupt broadcasts that were deemed unsuitable (and whom Pine was originally going to be a member of alongside her backups Sexy 1 and 2, taking issue with Ulala's exposing outfit), a narcissistic reporter from Channel 777 named "Gold Kinpicano", and a different main antagonist tentatively referred to as the "Dark Dancing Demon Lord", whose goal was to invade the entire universe with dance.
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Kien was originally developed between 2002 and 2004 by AgeOfGames, a group of five Italian developers who had no prior experience making video games, aiming to be the first company in their country to develop a game for the Game Boy Advance. The game's release would end up being cancelled three separate times when multiple publishers picked up the game and then decided that releasing it would be too risky for sales. At the time, the game was completed and sent to gaming publications, with one known review appearing in the American magazine Nintendo Power in 2003. The game remained unreleased for over 20 years, but a prototype ROM of it did leak online at one point. Game designer Fabio Belsanti would be the only member of the game's original development team to remain at AgeOfGames, who had shifted to developing educational games to stay afloat. Eventually, with the rising popularity in retro games and lowered cost to produce GBA cartridges, AgeOfGames was able to release Kien in 2024 both digitally and on physical cartridges through retro game publisher Incube8 Games. The game's release garnered attention for it possibly having taken the record for the longest delayed video game release in history, surpassing Duke Nukem Forever and Beyond Good & Evil 2 by taking 22 years to release.
DidYouKnowGaming video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RuAKtb2too#t=2128s
Assorted pre-release gameplay of Kien from the early 2000's on IGN's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPijGVE9G1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-opVqCKlYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfRViZPwHAM
Incube8 Games trailers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti1Ul0y6ZcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuuIAX-N2SQ
Nintendo Power Issue #173 (November 2003) (Page 154 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/nintendo-power-issue-173-november-2003/page/154/mode/2up
Destructoid article:
https://www.destructoid.com/thrice-canceled-gba-game-kien-is-finally-getting-released-22-years-after-completion/
Engadget article:
https://www.engadget.com/possibly-the-most-delayed-video-game-in-history-is-finally-available-on-the-game-boy-advance-205150837.html
RPGGamer article:
https://rpgamer.com/2024/06/game-boy-advance-title-kien-released/
The Guardian article:
https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/jul/04/kein-the-most-delayed-video-game-in-history-released-after-22-years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RuAKtb2too#t=2128s
Assorted pre-release gameplay of Kien from the early 2000's on IGN's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPijGVE9G1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-opVqCKlYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfRViZPwHAM
Incube8 Games trailers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti1Ul0y6ZcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuuIAX-N2SQ
Nintendo Power Issue #173 (November 2003) (Page 154 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/nintendo-power-issue-173-november-2003/page/154/mode/2up
Destructoid article:
https://www.destructoid.com/thrice-canceled-gba-game-kien-is-finally-getting-released-22-years-after-completion/
Engadget article:
https://www.engadget.com/possibly-the-most-delayed-video-game-in-history-is-finally-available-on-the-game-boy-advance-205150837.html
RPGGamer article:
https://rpgamer.com/2024/06/game-boy-advance-title-kien-released/
The Guardian article:
https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/jul/04/kein-the-most-delayed-video-game-in-history-released-after-22-years
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The character of NiGHTS was inspired by director Naoto Ohshima's travels across Europe and western Asia. In order to give his design as much universal appeal as possible, various regional styles were incorporated into it, namely Japanese, European, and American. In the context of the game, NiGHTS is part of every person's subconscious, and as such was designed to have an androgynous "dual male/female" appearance, but has been referred to with male pronouns in the same breath by Sonic Team.
Official Sega Saturn Magazine Issue #11 (Pages 38-41 in the magazine):
https://archive.org/details/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_011/page/n37/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_011/page/n37/mode/2up
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The existence of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was accidentally leaked ahead of its official announcement by the ESRB website on May 3, 2024.
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In 2023, the game's official Twitter account hosted a poll to decide the name of a character set to be added to a future "Beach Bash" event (the character was tentatively named "Crab-chan" on account of her being "literally a crab turned into a waifu"). The options given were all crab-based puns: "Crabitha" (a portmanteau of "crab" and "Tabitha"), "Shelly" (a reference to how many species of crab have shells), "Pearl" (a nod to how crabs are capable of creating "pearl sacs"), and "Crabigail" (a portmanteau of "crab" and "Abigail"). The name "Shelly" ultimately won, and she was added to the game as part of the Beach Bash Event 2024.
Initial poll:
https://twitter.com/CrushCrush/status/1685453078953361408
Shelly's addition:
https://twitter.com/CrushCrush/status/1806417216025538853
https://twitter.com/CrushCrush/status/1685453078953361408
Shelly's addition:
https://twitter.com/CrushCrush/status/1806417216025538853
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Much of the game's development was spent balancing the gameplay between Danganronpa S's various modes. One part of this was by making it so that the different characters and their rarities did not affect the core gameplay too much, as which characters players unlocked was heavily luck-based. According to director Shun Sasaki, balancing wasn't finished until much later in development, on account of it being improved bit by bit with new features implemented. Supposedly, the game's microtransactions were added in order to prevent frustration from players being unable to get their preferred characters.