Support NeoGAF

[DiipuSurotu]

"SaGa Frontier" is sort of a synonym of "Final Fantasy" (frontier<->final, saga<->fantasy). Both series were of course created by SquareSoft.

"Xenogears" is sort of a synonym of "out-of-place artifact", which is a real-world term referring to "an object of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest found in a very unusual or seemingly impossible context that could challenge conventional historical chronology by being "too advanced" for the level of civilization that existed at the time, or showing "human presence" well before humans were supposed to exist." This definition is a perfect fit for the eponymous Xenogears mecha featured in that game.

 

[ReyVGM]

Uhh, no. Saga is not a synonym for fantasy. And in Japan, it's not called Saga, but Sa-Ga.

And Xenogears is not a synonym for any of that either.

It all sounds like you are reaching too much. Are you by any chance a cryptozoologist, proponent of ancient astronaut theories, Young Earth creationists, or paranormal enthusiast?

 

[Trike]

I mean, even in English it's SaGa, so it's not like it should be taken as saga anyway. The only final Fantasy connection is how it used to be localized. Furthermore, Saga was Nintendo's console rival in the early 90's, so that should be the more interesting fact.

Also Xenogears isn't a synonym for anything because it's not a real word. Even if you broke it apart, saying it's a synonym for out of place object would also be incorrect.

 

[Correctomundo]

Furthermore, Saga was Nintendo's console rival in the early 90's, so that should be the more interesting fact.

Uh, what?

 

[Dangerblade]

Uh, what?

You've never played a Saga game? Perhaps one featuring their popular mascot, Sanic?

 

[Correctomundo]

You've never played a Saga game? Perhaps one featuring their popular mascot, Sanic?

'Fraid not. I was always busy playing Dankey Kang.

 

[mclem]

Time to dust off this thread...

I found this image in a directory on one of my really old PC's:

It is original concept art from Remedy that was created in 1996 featuring a character named Alex Casey. If I remember correctly, Alex Casey was one of the original proposed character designs for Max Payne. The character name was reused in the Alan Wake series as a series of books that were created by Alan Wake himself as not so subtle nod to the Max Payne series:

Major Alan Wake story spoilers (including theories about how a sequel storyline might be driven), plus an easter egg in QB:.

Spoiler

One thing I don't see many people having commented on is that in the whatever-it-is (trailer? teaser? Easter egg?) video in the first level of QB - for "Alan Wake Returns" - Sam Lake's character, trying to find Alan, is Alex Casey.

This ties in to the theme of Alan Wake where we start to question whether Alan was actually written into existence by Thomas Zane; is Alan now writing Alex into existence to help find him, as Thomas did previously?

(Plus, of course, Alex Casey being played by Sam Lake ties him in to the 'original plan for Max Payne' factor)

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Is this the Quantum Break thing?

 

[DiipuSurotu]

It's reaching just a bit, but not too much. Xenogears is obviously not a real world, but they had to come up with it somehow. I mean let's look at other etymologies of Japanese game series.

Nintendo officially came up with the series name Metroid as a portmanteau for "metro subway android", because Samus' adventures were mostly set in underground settings. That's what they said in an interview. Yet Samus is neither an "android" nor is "metro subway" a synonym of "undeground setting", so that's kinda laughable, but that's how they came up with the name Metroid. Too bad Gaffers weren't present during the interview to tell them.

Similarly, Sakaguchi's "The Last Story" is a nod to "Final Fantasy" even though "story" and "fantasy" are not perfect synonyms.

So we have examples of Japanese game designers using loose synonyms and/or bending definitions of terms backwards to come up with original names. "Xenogears" being based on "out-of-place artifacts" doesn't seem much more farfetched than the etymology of "Metroid" IMO.

And we like to see Sakaguchi as the one creator of FF nowadays, but Akitoshi Kawazu (SaGa series creator) and Koichi Ishii also had HUGE parts in creating FF1 and the early entries.

And in Japan, it's not called Saga, but Sa-Ga.

Okay and what does the word Sa-Ga mean to you? -_-'

Are you by any chance a cryptozoologist, proponent of ancient astronaut theories, Young Earth creationists, or paranormal enthusiast?

No, but cryptozoology and ancient astronaut theories did influence part of Xenogears (first encounter with Belthazar in his lab for example).

 

[MikeOShay]

So we have examples of Japanese game designers using loose synonyms and/or bending definitions of terms backwards to come up with original names. "Xenogears" being based on "out-of-place artifacts" doesn't seem much more farfetched than the etymology of "Metroid" IMO.

I think part of the confusion is that you're not actually breaking down your case for Xenogears, mainly explaining what Xeno means. I was about to argue against your case because "Xeno" wasn't a real word, but it IS a prefix meaning foreign/strange. E.g. "Xenophobic". That works well with the other titles in the overarching franchise as well.

I still think you're stretching a bit, but a connection could be made. In my opinion it's as tenuous as all the "This music sounds like this other music" posts though.

 

[Like the hat?]

My son is playing Pajama Sam on his iPad. Today I learned that the woman who played Bobby Hill's voice also played the voice of Sam.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Nintendo officially came up with the series name Metroid as a portmanteau for "metro subway android", because Samus' adventures were mostly set in underground settings. That's what they said in an interview. Yet Samus is neither an "android" nor is "metro subway" a synonym of "undeground setting", so that's kinda laughable, but that's how they came up with the name Metroid. Too bad Gaffers weren't present during the interview to tell them.

Whoa, didn't know this one.

 

[Small Mailman]

This was one of my first GAF threads Probably the one that made me stick around as long as I have.

 

[Boy Wander]

I was surprised when I found out that who we know as Balrog in the west, was M.Bison in the East, and Capcom switched their names around for the Western release of SF2 fearing a lawsuit from Mike Tyson.

 

[Bedameister]

I was surprised when I found out that who we know as Balrog in the west, was M.Bison in the East, and Capcom switched their names around for the Western release of SF2 fearing a lawsuit from Mike Tyson.

I'm pretty sure he's called M. Bison in my copy of SF2 for my Game Boy (Europe)

 

[Harro]

I was surprised when I found out that who we know as Balrog in the west, was M.Bison in the East, and Capcom switched their names around for the Western release of SF2 fearing a lawsuit from Mike Tyson.

And his real name is Mike Bison
Now we call them Dictator, Claw and Boxer, it much clear.

 

[The Hermit]

In Kirby 64, one of the planets you visit to collect the crystal shards is a frozen world called Shiver Star.

A couple of the levels are more modern and conventional in theme than any of the other stages in the game, such as a shopping mall and a factory. Many of the enemies in the world are machines, and the boss of the world (also a machine) is fought in the heart of an abandoned city with high-rises and skyscrapers visible in the background. All this suggests that there was once advanced life on the planet, and everybody either died out or left the planet when it became too cold to support civilization.

Here's a picture of the planet from the world select screen:

You can clearly make out North and South America under the ice. It even has a moon that is to the same scale as ours.

Shiver Star is a post-apocalyptic planet Earth.

Thats some adventure time shit.

Good one

 

[nintendoman58]

So, I just heard this fact from a Pokemon Let's Play.

If you go to the calculator Poketch app in Pokemon Platinum, and you add, subtract, multiply, or divide numbers, the resulting number will play the cry of the Pokemon assigned to that number in the Pokedex.

Say, if you add 12 + 13 you'll hear Pikachu's cry.

 

[mao2]

Not sure if these are mind-blowing but here goes. The first ever adult game to be released in Japan is "Nightlife" for PC in 1982, and it was made by Koei Tecmo (back then Koei was known as Koey Micom System). Enix, during the 80s and years before their merger with Square, also produced several adult games for PC. Among them is a game called "Lolita Syndrome" which came out in 1983.
http://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw2232757

 

[themagicalkitsune]

I mean, even in English it's SaGa, so it's not like it should be taken as saga anyway. The only final Fantasy connection is how it used to be localized. Furthermore, Saga was Nintendo's console rival in the early 90's, so that should be the more interesting fact.

Also Xenogears isn't a synonym for anything because it's not a real word. Even if you broke it apart, saying it's a synonym for out of place object would also be incorrect.

Maybe root xeno- stems from the greek word &#958;&#941;&#957;&#959;&#962; meaning foreign.

 

[MrSaturn99]

A number of the racer models in Mario Kart DS don't have feet. Or legs.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Chameleon Twist 2 abandoned the original design in the first game in favor of a more realistic chameleon look...

But this was actually a localization change, in the original Japanese version the design remained the same between both games...

The new design was fairly off putting so it's interesting to see it was a weird localization choice, but I never knew that it was something only us Westerners got.

 

[CassSept]

A number of the racer models in Mario Kart DS don't have feet. Or legs.

Cue totally sensible theories.

Are the Karts in Mario Kart going at such speed.... that all Mario characters had to amputate their legs to deal with g-forces?

 

[MrSaturn99]

Cue totally sensible theories.

Are the Karts in Mario Kart going at such speed.... that all Mario characters had to amputate their legs to deal with g-forces?

Are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, DK and Bowser dead in Mario Kart DS?

Chameleon Twist 2 abandoned the original design in the first game in favor of a more realistic chameleon look...

But this was actually a localization change, in the original Japanese version the design remained the same between both games...

The new design was fairly off putting so it's interesting to see it was a weird localization choice, but I never knew that it was something only us Westerners got.

Oh wow! I remember noticing this in game magazine previews (only ever rented the first one) but had no idea about the reason why.

 

[Slightly Live]

A number of the racer models in Mario Kart DS don't have feet. Or legs.

This is the very definition of not mind-blowing. I mean, if not rendering or modelling something that is never intended to be seen is a surprise to you, then you're easily impressed.

 

[MrSaturn99]

This is the very definition of not mind-blowing. I mean, if not rendering or modelling something that is never intended to be seen is a surprise to you, then you're easily impressed.

It was something I took for granted until I saw that while browsing Supper Mario Broth yesterday. Stuff like this really fascinates me.

Regardless, saying I'm easily impressed was rather unnecessary.

 

[Big Nikus]

Uh, yeah. That's still a cool thing to point out. Especiallly since that's not the case in the other MK entries.

 

[BGBW]

It was something I took for granted until I saw that while browsing Supper Mario Broth yesterday. Stuff like this really fascinates me.

Regardless, saying I'm easily impressed was rather unnecessary.

That's a cool website. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

[Version 3.0]

This is why:

Was the shotgun removed from the boxart for censorship reasons? IDK

I gotta go look at all my Doom cases and manuals. I think they're all the 1 gun version, so consider my mind blown if any have 2. I have a big Doom poster that has just 1 gun.

 

[Lupin the Third]

This is why:

Was the shotgun removed from the boxart for censorship reasons? IDK

There's not enough room to show the whole Imp grabbing his arm so they probably added the shotgun to the title screen version to keep it visually balanced.

Edit: everything else about the title screen is different from the box art too: background Is completely new, the addition of the Cacodemon... They obviously messed with the title screen version when they digitized the logo and Doomguy illustration to help it stand in it's own visually.

 

[Mike M]

I think a contributing factor into 2 Gun Doomguy false memories is that the fireball the baron of hell is throwing at him looks a lot like the muzzle flash on the gun he is holding. At a glance, that plus his posture totally looks like 2 guns.

 

[Version 3.0]

There's not enough room to show the whole Imp grabbing his arm so they probably added the shotgun to the title screen version to keep it visually balanced.

Edit: everything else about the title screen is different from the box art too: background Is completely new, the addition of the Cacodemon... They obviously messed with the title screen version when they digitized the logo and Doomguy illustration to help it stand in it's own visually.

Oh, that's a title screen. Okay. I own a bunch of versions of Doom, and I checked all the covers and manuals last night, and all of them have the 1 gun art in various forms, or something else. Couldn't find the 2 gun art anywhere. Now I have to check all the title screens, too.

 

[retroman]

I already mentioned this in a different thread, but this bit of trivia feels right at home here:

Altered Beast features the graves of Stella and Alex.

Here's a game Sega released a few years prior:

* cue ominous music *

 

[doctordoak]

I already mentioned this in a different thread, but this bit of trivia feels right at home here:

Altered Beast features the graves of Stella and Alex.

Here's a game Sega released a few years prior:

* cue ominous music *

Ha, that's actually really cool!

 

[Robin64]

A friend told me this morning that the famous ZELDA code in the original NES Zelda to get the second quest was actually ZELDA*. As in, you could use the code ZELDARSE and it would work. I was like, pft, whatever! So I tried it.

Oh.

Now I can't believe I didn't know this.

 

[woopWOOP]

Chameleon Twist 2 abandoned the original design in the first game in favor of a more realistic chameleon look...

Oh, neat! Never knew this.
I thought the change between the two games was pretty weird, tho I'll be honest that at first I found the weird ball-chameleons of the first to be the odd design of the two.
On second look those dopey ball creatures are way cuter looking.

 

[PSqueak]

Chameleon Twist 2 abandoned the original design in the first game in favor of a more realistic chameleon look...

But this was actually a localization change, in the original Japanese version the design remained the same between both games...

The new design was fairly off putting so it's interesting to see it was a weird localization choice, but I never knew that it was something only us Westerners got.

What an unnecessary change, didn't the very first cutscene of the first game show that the chameleon was a normal ass realistic chameleon and magic shenanigans turned it into the cute eyed, round headed thing?

 

[Zubz]

What an unnecessary change, didn't the very first cutscene of the first game show that the chameleon was a normal ass realistic chameleon and magic shenanigans turned it into the cute eyed, round headed thing?

I only played the US version of the second game, but I thought it was kids that were turned into chameloens?

 

[Version 3.0]

A friend told me this morning that the famous ZELDA code in the original NES Zelda to get the second quest was actually ZELDA*. As in, you could use the code ZELDARSE and it would work. I was like, pft, whatever! So I tried it.

Oh.

Now I can't believe I didn't know this.

That's cool. Gonna do a playthrough as "ZELDASBF".

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

So people in the "Best DKC Levels" Thread were surprised when I told them you can skip the majority of Stop and Go Station simply by walking back through the door at the beginning of the level...

Turns out in the Japanese version, and the GBA remake, you can actually kill the clay monsters by slamming the ground when they're in their dormant pose.

 

[PSqueak]

I only played the US version of the second game, but I thought it was kids that were turned into chameloens?

here's the intro to the first game.

It's a normal chameleon (well, unless you want to get picky about it being blue) and jumps into the pot, then when the playable part starts the chameleon realizes it has turned into the playable character.

 

[Meffer]

Wrong thread. DERP

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

It was something I took for granted until I saw that while browsing Supper Mario Broth yesterday. Stuff like this really fascinates me.

Regardless, saying I'm easily impressed was rather unnecessary.

One the one hand I hate stuff like this because it ruins the magic, but on the other it's pretty hilarious.

 

[Talladega Knight]

This is so stupid, but after 30 years of playing Super Mario Bros, just yesterday I realized that the sound of going down a pipe is the same sound that plays when Mario/Luigi is powered down after getting hit by something. What a weird and obvious thing to have never realized.

 

[SpeedBeatz]

I might be the only one whose mind this blew, but this is something I just realized today:

This is not a weird frowning creature seen from the front with one giant bulbous blue eye. It's a not-that-weird lizard-like creature seen from the side with an orb in its mouth.
Anyone else ever see it the way I used to, or am I alone?

 

[BocoDragon]

I instantly see it the way it was meant to be seen. I can bend my perspective to see what you were seeing but nope... it seems stronger as a lizard with an orb.

 

[Zubz]

I might be the only one whose mind this blew, but this is something I just realized today:

This is not a weird frowning creature seen from the front with one giant bulbous blue eye. It's a not-that-weird lizard-like creature seen from the side with an orb in its mouth.
Anyone else ever see it the way I used to, or am I alone?

I've always seen it as the lizard, but I can see your way, as well.

 

[ReyVGM]

Someone sent me this:

"Just wanted to let you know, there are "multiple" endings for Zelda: A Link to the Past.
There are various minor things that you can do in the game that will effect the credits. I forget what they all are, but the one that comes to mind at is the old lady who's sweeping in Kakariko Village. If you sprinkle her with Magic Powder, she'll turn into a fairy and this'll be reflected when the screen scrolls by her house during the credits."

Has anyone ever tried this? I tried it, but by the time you can get to the last boss, everyone in the village is gone since it's full of guards. And I doubt that even if you do it before everyone is gone, it wouldn't work since the game would just reset any changes you've made once you leave the village.
My guess is that it's fake.

 

[SuomiDude]

Has anyone ever tried this? I tried it, but by the time you can get to the last boss, everyone in the village is gone since it's full of guards. And I doubt that even if you do it before everyone is gone, it wouldn't work since the game would just reset any changes you've made once you leave the village.
My guess is that it's fake.

Well I do remember that some characters do show up different in the credits depending what you did in the game. The credits show the village alive again afterall and show different characters but maybe I'm remembering wrong. It's been a while since I beat the game.

 

[ReyVGM]

What exactly?

I've beaten the game over 100 times and those scenes have always been the same.