Trivia Browser
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Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights features many similarities to the Professor Layton franchise by Level-5, namely in regards to the aesthetics and story. Noriaki Okamura, the game's designer, admitted that he was inspired by the series when making the game.
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In the original release of the game, the monster that the player could summon to attack the city was a thinly veiled parody of Godzilla, right down to using the character's iconic roar from the film series; the sound effect is even named "God" in the game's files, furthering the reference. The Godzilla parody is also depicted on the game's box art, gleefully waving at the viewer.According to programmer Don Hopkins, who notably ported SimCity to numerous versions of Unix, Maxis ended up getting sued by Toho, the owners of the Godzilla franchise; additional details were recounted to him by Maxis CEO Jeff Braun:
"We never referred to the name Godzilla, our monster on the box cover was a T-Rex looking character, but... a few magazine reviews called the monster, Godzilla. That was all it took. Toho called it "confusion in the marketplace". We paid $50k for Godzilla to go away. In all honesty, Toho liked Maxis, they said $50k was the minimum they take for Godzilla infringement."
As a result of this suit, the monster was redesigned in the v1.2 release to resemble a giant orange salamander. The creature's roar is also changed and the game's box art is redesigned to replace the Godzilla parody with a tornado. In the v1.3 release, the salamander is given a slightly larger and more detailed sprite to fit the revised art style, but its roar (now internally renamed "Monster") is corrupted.
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/SimCity_(Mac_OS_Classic)#Godzilla_vs._Notzilla
Don Hopkins testimony in a Hacker News post:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40050799
MobyGames gallery showcasing the different box art designs:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/848/simcity/covers/
https://tcrf.net/SimCity_(Mac_OS_Classic)#Godzilla_vs._Notzilla
Don Hopkins testimony in a Hacker News post:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40050799
MobyGames gallery showcasing the different box art designs:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/848/simcity/covers/
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According to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled art director Jason Godbout, when the Crash Nitro Kart bosses were being redesigned, extra care was given to Nash the Shark so he would be "so awesome" that he becomes "the character that everyone's gonna want to play [as]". Godbout believed that Nash went from being "okay, but unappealing" in his Nitro Kart iteration to being his personal favorite character in Nitro-Fueled due to the redesign efforts.
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According to animator PhantomArcade, Nene's redesign for the game went through numerous changes that ultimately did not go through. Additionally, he was the only person on the team involved with Nene's redesign.
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Concept art for the 2001 build of the cancelled Foodfight! game developed by Midway Games West was released on artist Jason Leong's website, showing a set of character concepts and game scenarios with various fictional and real-life product mascots. The character concepts shown include:• The red, yellow, and blue M&M's carrying vitamin supplement boxes with muscular hammer-wielding arms coming out of them.
• The Keebler Elves firing bows and arrows with flaming Tootsie Pops.
• A team-up of the Green Giant, a muscular version of Poppin' Fresh the Pillsbury Doughboy, and a jacket-wearing Kool-Aid Man.
• Mr. Clean commanding an army of Scrubbing Bubbles.
• Cap'n Crunch shooting a bazooka made out of a Pringles can.
• Hawaiian Punch's mascot Punchy punching a soup can made by Brand X, a fictional brand from the movie.
The game scenarios seem to feature various mini-games among main game missions, including:
• An early human version of Dex Dogtective swinging with a grappling hook, finding shortcuts between products, being launched from Hamburger Helper's mascot Lefty in platforming sections.
• What appears to be a mini-game where Dex and a Brand X mascot would bump into one another on shopping trolleys.
• A mission where fictional mascot Daredevil Dan flies above the supermarket in his plane.
• The Green Giant rolling over tiny Brand X bots with either a barrel or a mango bowling ball. This mini-game has two pieces of concept art, one that presents it as akin to the game Tempest and another that shows the Green Giant stepping on robots.
• Dex commanding the M&M's in a shooting mini-game.
• A platforming mini-game with Cap'n Crunch jumping off of barrels.
• A mini-game where fictional mascot Polar Penguin must destroy pillars on the ice.
• A cow-herding mini-game featuring Twinkie the Kid.
• A food-fighting mini-game, like the climax of the movie, specifically themed around Chef Boyardee.
• A mini-game where Dex throws Lucky Charms at Brand X drones.
Of the licensed characters featured in this concept art, only Mr. Clean, Punchy, Chef Boyardee, and Twinkie the Kid would appear in the film when it eventually released in 2012.
subdirectory_arrow_right Dance Dance Revolution II (Game), Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 5 (Game)
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Dance Dance Revolution X3 VS 2ndMix's interface and background music strongly resemble that which appeared in Dance Dance Revolution II/Hottest Party 5. This connection may possibly stem from both games releasing within a month of each other, suggesting they were developed simultaneously and shared development assets.
Article on List of North American Console DDR Games:
https://remywiki.com/North_American_DanceDanceRevolution_Games#Nintendo_Wii
RemyWiki articles on DDR X3 VS 2ndMix and DDRII/HP5:
https://remywiki.com/AC_DDR_X3
https://remywiki.com/CS_DDR_II
Video of DDR II Interface:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbOi1uCYtko?t=36
Video of DDR X3 VS 2ndMix Interface:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=676PuAyLAts
https://remywiki.com/North_American_DanceDanceRevolution_Games#Nintendo_Wii
RemyWiki articles on DDR X3 VS 2ndMix and DDRII/HP5:
https://remywiki.com/AC_DDR_X3
https://remywiki.com/CS_DDR_II
Video of DDR II Interface:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbOi1uCYtko?t=36
Video of DDR X3 VS 2ndMix Interface:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=676PuAyLAts
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In regards to the game's visuals, director Ryan Vandendyck opted to avoid using a style that was considered common among indie games, stating:
"Basically we felt that the retro pixilated look and the anime-look in RPGs were way over-done, especially in the realm of indie RPGs. Plus, we felt neither of those two really fit a modern setting that well. So we went with a more cartoony style that we think fits the modern, Westernized setting, as well as being something quite unique. As you may guess by the fact that I made Waveform, I like making things not seen in other games! And as soon as we saw Robin’s character designs and the characters brought to life through animation, everyone on the team was sold."
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The hand-operated puppets utilized in Japanese promotional material for the first Star Fox game, as well as the cover of one of its guidebooks, were created by Takashi Yamazaki, a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor best known internationally for his 2023 film "Godzilla Minus One".
Star Fox - Japanese promo store video featuring puppets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hR4G8BK59c?t=130
Time Extenstion article:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/05/seems-like-godzilla-minus-ones-director-worked-on-star-foxs-puppets
Takashi Yamazaki interview featuring attached image (text in Japanese):
https://cgworld.jp/interview/1502-entry010-admiration.html
Star Fox - Japanese guidebook cover with puppets:
https://twitter.com/ayano_harumaki/status/1790292102796153093
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hR4G8BK59c?t=130
Time Extenstion article:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/05/seems-like-godzilla-minus-ones-director-worked-on-star-foxs-puppets
Takashi Yamazaki interview featuring attached image (text in Japanese):
https://cgworld.jp/interview/1502-entry010-admiration.html
Star Fox - Japanese guidebook cover with puppets:
https://twitter.com/ayano_harumaki/status/1790292102796153093
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MultiVersus lead writer Eric Stirpē has stated that he writes each fighter as a "Multiversus version" by picking a point in a franchise's history for them to be chosen from by Reindog, in an effort to keep their dialogue in line with the source material. Some fighters from a single franchise are chosen from different time periods within it, but the points when they are chosen are not canon to the source material or the game's plot. It's unknown how every fighter fits into this writing guide, but it creates some inconsistencies with their designs in the game:
• Stripe and Gizmo were chosen just before Stripe's death in the first Gremlins film.
• Finn and Jake were chosen during the events of Adventure Time: Islands, though the lack of Finn's prosthetic arm is not explained, and Fern was chosen before he became a villain in Season 9 of Adventure Time.
• Steven and Garnet were chosen during Season 2 of Steven Universe.
• Bugs Bunny was not chosen, but rather emerged from hiding since the 1940s through a hole in his animation cel or film reel, with him being referred to as a "timeline hopper".
• Taz is from the 1990s (presumably tying him in to Taz-Mania).
• Marvin was chosen during the events of Space Jam: A New Legacy, and LeBron James was chosen two days after the end of the film.
• Tom and Jerry are from the 1960s, but are portrayed with a modern art style that does not resemble either the Gene Deitch or Chuck Jones runs of theatrical shorts from that time.
• Shaggy was chosen one year after the end of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, while Velma was chosen from an unspecified "cancelled 2000s reboot".
• The Iron Giant was chosen while returning to America after he re-assembles himself at the end of the film.
• Arya Stark was chosen during either Season 6 or 7 of the Game of Thrones TV series.
• Stirpē considers the DC Comics heroes and villains to all be original interpretations of the characters created for Multiversus.
• Stripe and Gizmo were chosen just before Stripe's death in the first Gremlins film.
• Finn and Jake were chosen during the events of Adventure Time: Islands, though the lack of Finn's prosthetic arm is not explained, and Fern was chosen before he became a villain in Season 9 of Adventure Time.
• Steven and Garnet were chosen during Season 2 of Steven Universe.
• Bugs Bunny was not chosen, but rather emerged from hiding since the 1940s through a hole in his animation cel or film reel, with him being referred to as a "timeline hopper".
• Taz is from the 1990s (presumably tying him in to Taz-Mania).
• Marvin was chosen during the events of Space Jam: A New Legacy, and LeBron James was chosen two days after the end of the film.
• Tom and Jerry are from the 1960s, but are portrayed with a modern art style that does not resemble either the Gene Deitch or Chuck Jones runs of theatrical shorts from that time.
• Shaggy was chosen one year after the end of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, while Velma was chosen from an unspecified "cancelled 2000s reboot".
• The Iron Giant was chosen while returning to America after he re-assembles himself at the end of the film.
• Arya Stark was chosen during either Season 6 or 7 of the Game of Thrones TV series.
• Stirpē considers the DC Comics heroes and villains to all be original interpretations of the characters created for Multiversus.