Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Yakuza karaoke lyrics were translated to rhyme
The localization team didn't just subtitle the burly gangsters singing; they painstakingly matched the syllables to the English translation so it rhymes and…
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Fallout's VATS sound effect came from a washing machine
When you enter targeting mode to precisely blow off a super mutant's head, the satisfying chunk-chunk sound is nothing more than a front-loading washing…
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The Mass Effect voice actor who barely played the games
Mark Meer voiced the savior of the galaxy for hundreds of hours of branching dialogue, yet admitted he didn't really play the final products. You poured your…
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Your Dark Souls lore may depend on a translation
Western fans spend hours analyzing the deep lore implications of specific item names, not realizing the English translators often just completely made them…
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In Metal Gear, the snake you eat matters
If you catch and eat a snake, your stamina recovery depends entirely on the specific species of snake you consumed. The ultimate stealth operative is…
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Bloodborne’s terrifying choir sings proper Latin
While most fantasy titles use fake ominous chanting to make boss encounters sound epic, this nightmare simulator went out of its way to write actual,…
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Tracer’s voice actress hates the concept of time travel
The chipper hero who constantly zips back and forth through time is voiced by someone who has publicly stated the concept of time manipulation gives her an…
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Why Persona 5's menus look like ransom notes
The slickest user interface in modern media is fundamentally designed like a serial killer’s letter to the police. The chaotic, mismatched fonts and sharp…
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Animal Crossing villagers used to be surprisingly cruel
In the older titles, your cute animal neighbors would ruthlessly mock your clothes, call you ugly, and demand you leave town. The modern, friendly versions…
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Doom Eternal gives a trophy for punching a specific wall
You get an official achievement for finding a hidden internal joke and violently striking it with your fist. Because in a universe about ripping demons in…
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Animal Crossing voices are sped-up text-to-speech
While 'Animalese' sounds like a cute, proprietary language crafted by linguists, it's just a basic synthesizer reading out the text letters individually at a…
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Pokémon's Ekans is just “snake” backwards
You thought they had a team of linguists crafting mythical creature names? Nope. They literally just reversed the English word 'snake' and called it a day.…
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Why Sims money is called simoleons
The iconic fictional currency isn't just a random assortment of syllables; it's derived from 'simoleon,' an 18th-century slang term for a sixpence coin. Your…
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Snake’s voice actor wrote the original X-Men
David Hayter didn't just spend years grunting into a codec and asking repeating questions. He actually wrote the screenplay for the original X-Men film. He is…
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Reading Skyrim's books takes days
If you actually sit down and read the text of every book required for the achievement, it amounts to reading a full-length fantasy novel on a glowing screen.…
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Doom HUD face gets progressively bloodier as health drops
Long before modern UI overlays, you tracked your vitality by watching the protagonist's pixelated face get increasingly pulverized. It’s a beautifully violent…
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Monster Hunter's village language is scrambled French
The exotic, tribal language spoken by the villagers in some entries is literally just French dialogue run through a heavy audio scrambler. The majestic…
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Why Biohazard became Resident Evil
Because of a copyright dispute with an American rock band, Capcom had to change the perfectly logical Japanese title 'Biohazard' to 'Resident Evil,' a title…
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Halo's shield sound came from a dog rubbing its face
The iconic, futuristic hum of Master Chief’s energy shields regenerating isn't some high-tech synth creation. It's actually the audio of a dog running its…
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In Yakuza, even bicycles become weapons
The fierce, dramatic street brawls of the Japanese mafia are frequently resolved by the protagonist casually picking up a random commuter bicycle and…
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Dishonored's rats turn corpses into clean bones
Instead of dead bodies just quietly vanishing from memory, swarms of rats will actively swarm and eat fallen enemies until nothing but clean bones remain.…
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The video game scream recorded by a real sobbing actress
The terrifying wails of the Witch weren't synthesized or heavily edited to sound unsettling. They just put voice actress Ellen McLain in a booth and had her…
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Half-Life 2's absurd garden-gnome challenge
To get a certain achievement, you must physically carry a fragile lawn ornament across the entire campaign, gently placing it in cars and tossing it over…
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Kratos's voice once belonged to a quiet alien
Christopher Judge, known for furiously shouting 'Boy!' as the God of War, spent years playing Teal'c, an incredibly stoic and quiet alien on television. His…
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