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33 Video Game Trivia Tidbits That’ll Get You Halfway Through the First Level

December 03, 2023

They clearly meant Goldeneye to be a four-person multiplayer game from day one, right? No?! How can that be? How can the defining game of many Millennial childhoods be thrown together by some inexperienced designers on a limited budget and timeline?! Well, that’s the biz, kiddos. Wait till you hear that Donkey Kong was meant to be a Popeye game. Oops, we’ve said too much.

33

Taco Bell: Tasty Temple Challenge RELEASED ON: MS-DOS Gasty Temple challenge ©2000 Taco Beil Corp GRACKED COM Despite being released in 2000, the Taco Bell advergame Doom-clone came out for a 19-year-old (at the time) operating system. — Source

32

Chase the Chuck Wagon CHUCK WAGON RELEASED ON: ATARI 2600 VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE CHASE THE CHUCK WAGON CRACKED.COM 0053 Based on a single commercial, the maze game was put together in three days and available with proof of purchase of enough Purina dog food. The promotion failed, and unsold cartridges were destroyed. — Source

31

Mojo Master RELEASED ON: PC how sounsports et up Ice CRACKED.COM Axe Body Spray leaned hard into the appeal to horned-up teenage boys marketing strategy with this seduction game that is just a glorified PG peep show. — Source

30

Harald Hardtooth: Fight of the Clean Teeth 000000 1UP RELEASED ON: COMMODORE 64 CRACKED.COM Released in Denmark, this is Colgate's answer to the question where is an anthropomorphic tooth to fight bacteria in the ramshack town that is my diseased mouth? — Source

29

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial RELEASED ON: ATARI 2600 E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL 9546 CRACKED.COM This infamous movie tie-in, considered the worst game ever made, was rushed out the door in 6 weeks by one guy, with no time to play test - and it shows. — Source

28

Chex Quest RELEASED ON: MS-DOS TO 112% CRACKED.COM 123% This Doom-clone features a humanoid piece of cereal fighting against... goo aliens? As weird as it is, it had no right being this good. — Source

27

Yo! Noid RELEASED ON: NES CRACKED.COM In this game, the mayor of New York needs help stopping evil creatures that are overrunning his city - so of course he calls upon the spastic Domino's gremlin. — Source

26

Captain Novolin RELEASED ON: SUPER NINTENDO CRACKED.COM Funded by insulin maker Novolin, the side-scroller stars the titular (and diabetic) hero as he tries to save Pineville's (also) diabetic mayor, who only has 48 hours worth of insulin. This makes the stakes of the game distressingly realistic. — Source

25

America's Army RELEASED ON: PC CRACKED.COM Predating Call of Duty by one year, this US Army recruitment tool and propaganda vehicle spawned 7 sequels, an arcade port, and an untold number of Ford F-150's with a Punisher skull decal. — Source

24

DIDDY KONG RACING PLAYER SELECT 1 CRACKED.COM When game studio Rare needed more time to develop Banjo-Kazooie to compete with Super Mario 64, they pushed the generic title Pro-Am 64 for a Christmas release. There were concerns the IP wasn't strong enough and may hurt sales, so at the last minute assets were changed to the more familiar Diddy Kong. — Source

23

DONKEY KONG 1UP HIGH SCORE 2UP 000100 L=01 BONUS CRACKED COM Donkey Kong was made to be a Popeye the Sailor game, featuring Bluto, Olive Oil, and the titular Popeye. When Nintendo could not secure the rights, they settled on a King Kong inspired aesthetic with a mustached protagonist that ultimately changed gaming forever. — Source

22

DR. MARIO DR.MARIN TM Dr.MARIO TOP 0010000 SCORE 0003400 LEVEL 10 SPEED MED CRACKED.COM ..Dr Marin Dr. Mario was titled Virus and did not feature the hirsute Italian in its first incarnation. Trying to recreate the success of Tetris, Nintendo needed to use their strongest IP to sell this new puzzle game, so the title was changed and a lab coat wearing Mario was added. — Source

21

DOOM ALIENS - are 43 100% 2 DIS 100% AMAG HEALTH ARMS ARMOR CRACKED.COM The original Doom game was based off of James Cameron's Aliens, where you would presumably fight waves of dangerous Xenomorphs. When negotiations between the developers and 20th Century Fox deteriorated, the setting of the game was changed from space to Hell itself. — Source

20

GRAND THEFT AUTO CRACKED.COM Grand Theft Auto, originally titled Race'n'Chase, struggled to find its identity during development. The game first gave players the option to play as law enforcing police, but after realizing playing as a criminal was more fun, they decided to lean into the mayhem the series became known for. — Source

19

REVEAL OF A CLOSE RELATION IS FORESHADOWED IN FINAL FANTASY V. Greetings, am Siren. I'm afraid your companions' souls now belong to me. CRACKED.COM When the Siren uses visions of loved ones to trick her victims, both Lenna and Faris see King Tycoon, foreshadowing the reveal that they are in fact sisters. — Source

18

METAL GEAR SOLID V GAVE AWAY ITS ENTIRE PLOT WITH THE SONG IN ITS TRAILER. CRACKED.COM The lyrics of Garbage's Not Your Kind of People acts as a huge plot synopsis, including Big Boss rebuilding his army, a plot against English speakers, and Big Boss actually being a medic in disguise. — Source

17

16

DEUS EX HINTS AT A CHARACTER'S ULTERIOR MOTIVES. CRACKED.COM The character of Paul Denton is a double agent, a fact that is hinted at in the password of his personal computer: Chameleon. — Source

15

A BIBLICAL FIGURE SPOILS THE HERO'S FATE IN RED DEAD REDEMPTION. CRACKED COM A mysterious man in a stovepipe hat, who many players consider to be God or another otherworldly presence, tells Marston that the unremarkable patch of grass they are standing on will make a fine spot. At the end of the game, this is where Marston is buried. — Source

14

STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON SHOWS OFF PHANTOM MENACE SHIPS BEFORE THE MOVIE RELEASE. SELECT YOUR CRAFT NABOO STARFIGHTER SECONDARY WEAPON SEEKER TORPEDOES CRACKED.COM By entering a cheat code, players could select a Naboo Starfighter to pilot in the Nintendo 64's Rogue Squadron. It would be six months until this class of ship was revealed in The Phantom Menace. — Source

13

DEAD SPACE CHAPTER TITLES LITERALLY SPELL OUT THE GAME'S ENDING. Chapters E Edit Chapter 1: New Arrivals Chapter 2: intensive Care Chapter 3 Course Correction Chapter 4: Obliteration Imminent Chapter 5c Lethal Devotion Chapter 6 Environmental Hazard Chapter 7 Into the Void Chapter 8 Search and Rescue Chapter و Dead on Arrival Chapter 10 End of Days Chapter 11: Alternate Solutions Chapter 12: Dead Space CRACKED.COM The first letter of each chapter title spells out Nicole is dead, spoiling the twist that Nicole was a hallucination in Isaac's mind all along. — Source

12

ARCADE GAME RAD MOBILE REVEALS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. 19 RANK Round GRAGKED COM 41 Half a year before Sonic hit the Sega Genesis in North America, he could be seen dangling from the rearview mirror of a Ferrari 330 P4 Type in the coin-operated Rad Mobile. — Source

11

GOLDENEYE 007 MAGNUM ECESE - 63 148 CRACKED.COM Since the team working on GoldenEye 007 was inexperienced and stretched thin, the game was initially intended to be a simple rail-shooter, lacking the immensely popular 4-person multiplayer that eventually made the game a bestseller on the Nintendo64. — Source

10

SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 GRACKED.COM Super Mario Bros. 2 was originally more similar to the first game, although much harder. So hard, in fact, that developers didn't think Americans could play it, so they reskinned the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic with familiar Mario characters. — Source

9

HALF-LIFE CRACKED.COM The early prototype for Half-Life's protagonist was a burly-bearded, strung out looking mad-man nicknamed by the designers as Ivan the Space Biker. As game production advanced, they changed Ivan into Gordon Freeman, with his iconic goatee and glasses. — Source

8

PAC-MAN PAB-MAN READY! CRACKED COM Pac-Man was originally titled Puck-Man, based off of the character's disk-like shape, but the creators feared the impish Americans would turn the P into an F on arcade cabinets. — Source

7

MORTAL KOMBAT CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER FREE PLAY CRACKED.COM Mortal Kombat was originally supposed to star Jean-Claude Van Damme, who would fight a cadre of digitized enemies. When Midway Games couldn't afford the rights to Van Damme's likeness, his character was renamed Johnny Cage and joined the lineup of other fighters. — Source

6

HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED CRACKED.COM Halo: Combat Evolved was almost a top-down, real time strategy game, a la StarCraft. It wasn't until Microsoft bought the developing studio, Bungie, and launched Halo as their flagship XBox title that it became the first person shooter we know. — Source

5

SPLATOON THE M CRACKED.COM Splatoon was going to feature familiar faces from the Mario games before Miyamoto settled on creating new characters, the Inklings, for the company's first foray into the competitive shooter genre. — Source

4

Hackers discovered where all the children are in Elden Ring. Parry Grafted Scion One of the first tough enemies players encounter, the disgusting homunculus Grafted Scion, is a terrible assemblement of body parts under a cloak. Upon closer inspection, players discovered that it's the result of stitching a bunch of kids together. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

One woman is the voice of tons of your favorite video game heroes. TWiTE Ashly Burch got her start all the way back in 2008 with a show she and her brother made called Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'? Since then, she's lent her voice to huge games like Life is Strange, Valorant, and Horizon Zero Dawn. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

There is a mysterious, human-sized statue of Sonic The Hedgehog sitting in the woods. The Sega World Kadoma theme park in Takao, Japan closed in 2005, and the park auctioned off whatever people could carry away. A homeowner named Mr. Kadeo bought the statue to serve as a landmark guiding visitors to his house from the road. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Space Invaders had its own term for repetitive strain injuries in the '80s. Snacks WIN . UP TO Space Invaders Wrist was coined by one writer to the New England Medical Journal in 1981. By the following year, BBC was reporting that each family doctor typically now saw one new case of Space Invaders Wrist every month. CRACKED.COM — Source

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