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Videogame facts that blow your mind (SuperMarioBros. SHOCKING SECRET INSIDE p #70)

V

VegaNine

Member
Here's a few Dreamcast facts I remember. Shocking? Maybe not. But then again, maybe!


  • The Dreamcast start-up jingle was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who won both an Grammy and an Academy Award for scoring The Last Emperor (1987).

  • Michael Jackson appears in three Dreamcast games: Space Channel 5, Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2.

  • Shigeru Miyamoto was an unpaid, uncredited consultant on Seaman.

  • Seaman's creator, Yoot Saito, used trickery and tabloid magazines to convince the Japanese public that Seaman was a real living creature (and the missing link in human evolution). When the hoax was revealed, Seaman sold over 400,000 copies—nearly becoming the best-selling Dreamcast game.

  • "Spawn: In the Demon's Hand" and "Seaman." Can you guess what these names have in common? Hint: a third game, D2, contains an enemy that was censored in the U.S. version—a phallic, ooze-spewing tentacle.

  • If you live in the west and are fan of either Sega Rally 2 or Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, this may piss you off: the Japanese versions supported online play.

  • The Dreamcast's life was short, yet several developers left their entire legacy with it. Among them: Climax Graphics/Crazy Games (Blue Stinger, Illbleed), No Cliche (Toy Commander, Toy Racer), and Carmel Pot (The Lost Golem). None of their games have been ported to other platforms.

  • MYTH BUSTED: Contrary to popular belief, Napple Tale was not developed by an all-woman staff.

  • FACT BUSTED: This one's a doozy, and I don't think anyone has told the whole story. (I'm not sure anyone has it!) But this is what I've learned from first and second hand research. Grain of salt and all that.
In 2007, Dreamcast fans got word that Sega had ceased GD-ROM production, so they started a petition to reverse the action. But in fact, Sega hadn't yet killed the GD-ROM, and had no apparent plans to; GD-ROMs were still able to be pressed for new NAOMI-based arcade titles, and potentially, for new Dreamcast games. Yet the bogus news of the Dreamcast's death spread to Japan, and developers of NAOMI/Dreamcast games heard of the petition—believed it—and begged Sega to bring back the GD-ROM. Sega, incredulous, thought there was a manufacturing problem and told them that they'd look into it... essentially, validating the hearsay! While Sega "looked into it," developers resolved to go back to using cartridges for their NAOMI arcade games. In Sega's eyes, this made the GD-ROM moot. They ended its production.

Yes, you read that right: your petition to save the Dreamcast actually killed it.

/shyamalama!​
 
F

fenners

Member
Melchiah said:
Perhaps their own vision was so close they needed the patent, or take a risk of getting sued? I remember reading an interview at the time of PS2 launch with the chief designer, and he quite clearly told where his inspiration came for the look. Don't remember after 12 years what it was exactly though. EDIT: I think it was partly something about sea/sky (the blue logo & light), and space (the black).
Click to expand...

After the Jaguar era, Atari's patents were sold to patent-troll companies. It doesn't surprise me that Sony paid out for a patent instead of getting sued.

(former Falcon owner here!)
 
S

Smellycat

Member
Mista Koo said:
OzGGm.png


jnRuT.jpg


5mfZy.jpg


UFSEz.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh wow, SMH.
 
M

Markster

Member
VegaNine said:
The Dreamcast's life was short, yet several developers left their entire legacy with it. Among them: Climax Graphics/Crazy Games (Blue Stinger, Illbleed), No Cliche (Toy Commander, Toy Racer), and Carmel Pot (The Lost Golem). None of their games have been ported to other platforms.
Click to expand...
This makes me so sad.
 
H

HylianScribe

Member
Ugh, DYKG. Seriously, that Zelda video...eck.

While I'm glad they covered the Deku Butler's son theory, I wish they would have made a mention of the manga which actually tried to explain the Deku Mask's origins.

However, that Great Deku Tree connection to Level 1 of Zelda 1 is ridiculous as pointed out earlier. For starters, Hyrule in OoT and Hyrule in Zelda 1 don't match up. You'd actually need to flip one or the other horizontally to get a better match. Assuming you can explain why the map/world was flipped and slightly rotated, here's some cool fan theories I just cooked up (IF YOU PILFER THIS SHIT, YOU BETTER CREDIT ME DYKG else I will troll you in the next Pop Fiction).

The remains of the Deku Tree are actually in the bottom left corner of Zelda 1's map, where you see a few stumps left. The Lost Woods are just above that area, just like in OoT. Also above that is a mass graveyard, which is where Kakariko Village should be. That means at some point the village was completely destroyed (probably burned down in this timeline since Link died), and that's all that's left. The grave where you get the Magical Sword is actually Dampe's Grave. Of course, above that is Death Mountain, like it was in Ocarina of Time. Where Level 1 is - that's actually Lake Hylia. The tree to Level 1 is actually the stump above the Water Temple, and Level 1 is actually the ruins of the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time. Level 4 is actually where the Lakeside Laboratory was in Ocarina of Time. The small grave yard near Level 6 is actually the remains of Lon Lon Ranch, which was also destroyed in this timeline. Those graves are actually for Malon, Talon, Ingo, and others. Finally, the desert area in the north east of Zelda 1 Hyrule is Gerudo Desert. The rock formation where you get the heart container is the Desert Colossus weathered down over the centuries, while Level 5 is actually the ruins of the Gerudo's Fortress. Next to them is the waterfall where the carpenters tent was in Ocarina of Time, and that water flows right into Lake Hylia. The rest of Zelda 1's map, the South Eastern parts, are covered up by clouds in Ocarina of Time's map.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
RockXLight said:
Is it? They both have a U-shaped indention. And that's about it. The Atari Jaguar seems flatter than the dental tool shown.

nvm, I see it now.
Click to expand...

My favorite part is how the dental camera uses the Atari Jaguar cartridges:

jaguar.jpg


But yeah, this and the Microbox Falcon are examples of Atari Computers liquidating all their old patents after the company went bankrupt. Pretty sure that Sony scooped up the Microbox patent and recycled it into the PS2. Pretty amazing that the most influential case design from the last decade was designed by Atari in 1992.

VegaNine said:
In 2007, Dreamcast fans got word that Sega had ceased GD-ROM production, so they started a petition to reverse the action. But in fact, Sega hadn't yet killed the GD-ROM, and had no apparent plans to; GD-ROMs were still able to be pressed for new NAOMI-based arcade titles, and potentially, for new Dreamcast games. Yet the bogus news of the Dreamcast's death spread to Japan, and developers of NAOMI/Dreamcast games heard of the petition—believed it—and begged Sega to bring back the GD-ROM. Sega, incredulous, thought there was a manufacturing problem and told them that they'd look into it... essentially, validating the hearsay! While Sega "looked into it," developers resolved to go back to using cartridges for their NAOMI arcade games. In Sega's eyes, this made the GD-ROM moot. They ended its production.

Yes, you read that right: your petition to save the Dreamcast actually killed it.

/shyamalama!​
Click to expand...

This is why I never sign petitions. Amazing if true, though. :p

Also, I posted this in another thread, and someone might have already posted it here... but another amazing Dreamcast fact is that the fishing controller could be used as a sword in Soul Calibur:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybmCZ669Od4

As well as a Tennis racket in Virtua Tennis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sslphF3BD4c

The Dreamcast had motion controls in 1999 :p

Sega-Dreamcast-Fishing-Rod.jpg
 
V

Version 3.0

Member
MrCunningham said:
The Dreamcast had motion controls in 1999 :p
Click to expand...

Motion control is nothing new. Other systems had motion controls well before that. The PS1 had a tilt-sensitive controller, and the Game Boy had tilt-sensitive games. There was even a motion-sensitive NES controller, specifically marketed to the weirdos (like my sister) who would move their controller to the right to try and help Mario extend his jumps. And the Power Glove, the Genesis Activator, the Uforce, etc. And the arcade games. Not to mention the forgotten non-mass market games/systems. The Kentia room at E3 used to house that sort of thing, I saw (really awful) motion-sensing boxing gloves and bats down there before the Wii was around.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
Leondexter said:
Motion control is nothing new. Other systems had motion controls well before that. The PS1 had a tilt-sensitive controller, and the Game Boy had tilt-sensitive games. There was even a motion-sensitive NES controller, specifically marketed to the weirdos (like my sister) who would move their controller to the right to try and help Mario extend his jumps. And the Power Glove, the Genesis Activator, the Uforce, etc. And the arcade games. Not to mention the forgotten non-mass market games/systems. The Kentia room at E3 used to house that sort of thing, I saw (really awful) motion-sensing boxing gloves and bats down there before the Wii was around.
Click to expand...

Oh I know. I had a Power Glove for my NES when I was 9 And it was also one of the worst gaming related Christmas presents I ever received. :p

But it is neat. I actually owned the Sega Fishing controller way back in the day, along with SoulCalibur and Virtua Tennis. So it kind of blew my mind when I found videos on Youtube over a decade later showcasing that the fishing controller could be used for more than just fishing games.
 
G

Gagaman

Member
I

IAmABeliver

Neo Member
RobotHaus said:
Yep, I was doing some research, USB was invented in 1994, two years after. On the front of that machine is two audio ports, one for in, one for out, and two serial ports. I forgot what the last one is at the bottom.
Click to expand...

But usually serial ports protrude like this:

250px-Serial_port.jpg


They also look to be too big to be USB ports anyway.
 
R

RobotHaus

Unconfirmed Member
IAmABeliver said:
But usually serial ports protrude like this:

250px-Serial_port.jpg


They also look to be too big to be USB ports anyway.
Click to expand...

They don't have to, look at the Sega Genesis. The ports go in the machine.
cscUT.jpg


Plus, the shape of the ports, plus the relative size make them appear to look like USB due to the same area on the PS2 and the fact that USB is on everything nowadays.

Ok, so I'm not sure if this has been brought up and it's tough to search for, but I'll try and see if this is anything neat.

So the Seattle Mariners are a baseball team located near NoA headquarters. Now they've been a team since 1977. But back in 1992, due to his appreciation for baseball, as well as how great the general Seattle area had treated Nintendo, then President Hiroshi Yamauchi decided to buy the team.

Now the old logo looked something like this:
HxKZq.gif


But in 1993, when Nintendo had officially owned the Mariners, the logo changed to this:
LKGj3.gif


Look a bit familiar?

Well just think back to something that came out just a few years prior:
XwN2l.jpg


Neat, huh?
 
B

bjork

Member
My least favorite part of this thread, aside from music that doesn't sound like other music 99% of the time, are the far-reaching stretches like this one.
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
I think the font thing is pretty neat. Maybe you gotta appreciate them or something. Is it a Nintendo developed font?
 
R

RobotHaus

Unconfirmed Member
Teetris said:
I think the font thing is pretty neat. Maybe you gotta appreciate them or something. Is it a Nintendo developed font?
Click to expand...

To my knowledge it is. I've seen a few fan made versions of it, but no dedicated typefont for it outside of what Nintendo uses.
 
V

Valjean Lafitte

Banned
RobotHaus said:
Now the old logo looked something like this:
HxKZq.gif


But in 1993, when Nintendo had officially owned the Mariners, the logo changed to this:
LKGj3.gif


Look a bit familiar?

Well just think back to something that came out just a few years prior:
XwN2l.jpg


Neat, huh?
Click to expand...


That might have been the designer's intention (to make it resemble the Zelda logo), but there are some differences between the Zelda and the Mariner's font. For one, Zelda's is noticeable thicker, though. I never would have noticed how similar they are, though. Good eye!


In Mario Golf, when Luigi sinks a birdie, he poses and does this:

9tEAF.jpg


Which is ASL for the word "lesbian".
 
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