Tell Me Something I Don't Know...what really? Didn't know that...

[Cynical skeptic]

Donkey Kong came about because Shigeru miyamoto was too lazy to make a new game so he just changed the look of the characters. They were Popeye (Mario), Olive Oyl (Princess Peach) and Bluto (Donkey Kong) but the company that held the rights said "Video based gaming? Piffle!".

huh.

I played 'popeye,' It exists. Its similarities to 'donkey kong' are not significant beyond the limitations of the format. You, popeye, climb up a series of levels, but bluto chaces you around and will fuck you up if you don't get the spinach at the right time. Its closer to pac-man than mario bros.

 

[manythings]

Donkey Kong came about because Shigeru miyamoto was too lazy to make a new game so he just changed the look of the characters. They were Popeye (Mario), Olive Oyl (Princess Peach) and Bluto (Donkey Kong) but the company that held the rights said "Video based gaming? Piffle!".

huh.

I played 'popeye,' It exists. Its similarities to 'donkey kong' are not significant beyond the limitations of the format. You, popeye, climb up a series of levels, but bluto chaces you around and will fuck you up if you don't get the spinach at the right time. Its closer to pac-man than mario bros.

Yes and then it became donkey kong because they weren't allowed to use popeye.

 

[Altorin]

Donkey Kong came about because Shigeru miyamoto was too lazy to make a new game so he just changed the look of the characters. They were Popeye (Mario), Olive Oyl (Princess Peach) and Bluto (Donkey Kong) but the company that held the rights said "Video based gaming? Piffle!".

huh.

I played 'popeye,' It exists. Its similarities to 'donkey kong' are not significant beyond the limitations of the format. You, popeye, climb up a series of levels, but bluto chaces you around and will fuck you up if you don't get the spinach at the right time. Its closer to pac-man than mario bros.

that is a different game. what he said is basically true, Donkey Kong was originally going to be a Popeye game. I wouldn't say it was due to laziness though.. he had built the Popeye game, and then the Popeye people backed out, so he just redrew the sprites.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Yes and then it became donkey kong because they weren't allowed to use popeye.

I mean an arcade game, "popeye," exists, is older than donkey kong, wasn't made by nintendo, and the entire "DONKEY KONG IS RESKINNED POPEYE!!" thing is urban legend.

 

[migo]

Sega's original Mario killer was going to be Ristar, but Sonic was developed instead. Fortunately, Ristar still was made as a game.

Huh. I always thought they pegged that hope on Alex Kidd.

That was the hope, but they knew it wouldn't stick so they put together a team to make a mascot to compete with Mario.

 

[Irridium]

Fallout 3 was originally supposed to take place only 20 years after the bombs dropped. Which would explain a lot of things.

They made it 200 years in order to get Harold in the game apparently.

'Tis an internet rumor though, so yeah. But it would still explain a lot. Like how the boxed foods are still edible after 200 freaking years.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

No one will ever love you.

In all seriousness, here's one from Dale Carnegie: if you smile at someone, their subconscious reaction would be to smile back.

If you don't like that one, here's a historical one: Theodore Roosevelt often manipulated reporters into publishing articles favoring his policies through a mix of gift giving, fear, and strict rules. He would let reporters into places they usually weren't allowed, but if you published something he didn't approve, you never saw him ever again.

 

[Skeleton Jelly]

Valve didn't come up with the idea for Portal or Team Fortress 2. And I'm not sure if Counter Strike was their idea either, but I know the other two weren't their ideas.

 

[Steppin Razor]

Fallout 3 was originally supposed to take place only 20 years after the bombs dropped. Which would explain a lot of things.

They made it 200 years in order to get Harold in the game apparently.

'Tis an internet rumor though, so yeah. But it would still explain a lot. Like how the boxed foods are still edible after 200 freaking years.

Either that or all food in the future is like a twinkie.

That was the hope, but they knew it wouldn't stick so they put together a team to make a mascot to compete with Mario.

This makes me happy. Scissors, paper rock makes for the lamest final boss fight of all time.

 

[Lenny Magic]

Most of the game Dungeon Keeper was developed at Peter Molyneux's house.

 

[The Ambrosian]

Dead Space started as System Shock 3.

Wait...Really?!

 

[Colonel Alzheimer's]

Irrational Games (i.e. Ken Levine's company) was working on a game that was basically Left 4 Dead years before Left 4 Dead came out, but it never came to be.

 

[HT_Black]

Starcraft was originally intended to be a Warhammer 40K RTS, but the contract fell through. Not wanting all their hard work to go to waste, Blizz tweaked a bit here and there (Eldar became Protoss, Tyranids became Zerg, Marines became...Marines, etc.) and resold it as their own. They then proceeded to make more money than The Beatles.

Bob Dylan, Yahtzee, Queen Victoria of England, and I were born on the same calender date.

 

[Julianking93]

Here's some interesting ones I happened upon earlier:

There is a difference between the Japanese and US versions of Resident Evil 4. It occurs whenever Leon is killed by Mr Chainsaw. In the US version, his head is chopped off by the ?saw. However, in the Japanese version, it cuts off part of Leon's face, exposing half of the front of Leon's skull and a single eyeball.

Final Fantasy VII was originally designed for the Nintendo 64, but Square cancelled the project and moved to the PSone because of the lack of space in the console's game cartridges. FFVII would've filled 13 cartridges.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, a scene was removed from the final game where Snake is chased through the sinking tanker by a rush of water. Kojima said it looked good, but wasn't fun to play. Footage still exists of this in early trailers.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

Zombies Ate My Neighbors has a boss fight against a gigantic mutant baby.

 

[Dango]

That Daisuke Ishiwatari, the man who made the kick-ass music for all of the Guilty Guilty and BlazBlue games, is also responsible for tons of the artwork in the both series. Truly a talented man.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Starcraft was originally intended to be a Warhammer 40K RTS

Well actually that's not true. Blizzard did inspire themselves from the Warhammer series, that much is true, but they never worked together. There's no evidence of that.

OT: The World of Warcraft "blood plague" was used as a real world model of research due to the plagues similarity with an outbreak of SARS and Avian Influenza.

 

[teh_Canape]

Valve didn't come up with the idea for Portal or Team Fortress 2. And I'm not sure if Counter Strike was their idea either, but I know the other two weren't their ideas.

yeah, Counter Strike was originally a Half Life mod, then Valve hired Gooseman (original co-creator, cant remember the other one tho) and from there on CS became an official game on it's own

now On Topic:
the original Pokemon Stadium on the N64 is actually Pokemon Stadium 2 (therefore Pokemon Stadium 2 is 3) in Japan, since the original one only had 49 pokemons out of the 150, and it was Japan exclusive, and it was released only for the N64 Disc Drive


the original Japanese Famicom had both controllers hardwired into the system, controller one had pause and select buttons, while controller two had a microphone built in and a volume meter, the mic was actually used in a special edition of Legend of Zelda to kill the (aptly named) Pols Voice's, since their weakness was loud sounds, that you could produce in the mic to kill them

Edit: Left 4 Dead team Turtle Rock Studios was also a third party company hired by Valve

 

[Hiphophippo]

Starcraft was originally intended to be a Warhammer 40K RTS, but the contract fell through. Not wanting all their hard work to go to waste, Blizz tweaked a bit here and there (Eldar became Protoss, Tyranids became Zerg, Marines became...Marines, etc.) and resold it as their own. They then proceeded to make more money than The Beatles.

Bob Dylan, Yahtzee, Queen Victoria of England, and I were born on the same calender date.

Close. Actually the games in question were Warcraft 1 and Warhammer. I guess it could have been both, but quite a few years separated Warcraft 1 and Starcraft 1.


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Side note: this is my favorite thing in quite some time.