100 Fascinating Facts About Your Most Beloved Video Games

Eleven years after the original launch date, an expansion of Left 4 Dead 2 was released due to the game’s immense popularity.

Do you often reminisce about all the different video games you have played over the years?

When you think of the best video games off the top of your head, only a few come to mind.

However, if you take the time to remember all the great games that make you feel nostalgic – whether they are old or new – you will realize that there are many more than you initially thought!

We have put in the effort to narrow down that extensive list to just 100 fascinating facts about your most beloved video games, and we are excited to share them with you!

So, take a moment and explore these 100 facts about your most treasured gaming moments!

A customized SimCity 2000 demo is showcased at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

In 2012, the Museum of Modern Art added SimCity 2000 to its collection, considering it one of twelve games that represent applied design at its best.

Most of the games on display are playable to some extent.

A demo of SimCity 2000 was designed explicitly for the exhibit because of the game’s vast size.

The dragon Paarthurnax in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is voiced by the same actor who voices Nintendo’s Mario.

It is true; Charles Martinet voices both the Greybeards’ leader, with his deep husky voice, and Nintendo’s iconic character, with his high-pitched Italian accent.

Some other notable voices behind characters in Skyrim include Lynda Carter (Miss World USA 1972), Christopher Plummer (Charles F. Muntz from Pixar’s UP), and Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh from Battlestar Galactica).

Gears of War 2 appeared in AMC’s The Walking Dead.

In the final episode of season ten of The Walking Dead, the season’s antagonist, Negan, is seen playing Gears of War 2 in a flashback.

While Negan is supposedly playing multiplayer with a couple of other players, observant viewers deduced that the gameplay footage was from a point in the game’s campaign, specifically Act 2.

Left 4 Dead 2 was so popular that an expansion was released 11 years after the original launch date.

As far as zombie survival games go, Left 4 Dead 2 found a formula for thrilling yet refreshing gameplay that is incredibly challenging to surpass.

When combined with graphics that were surprisingly good for its time, this is why ten years after its launch, it still had a dedicated following that justified the release of an expansion.

Valve, the game’s producers, initially planned to create a next-gen sequel but instead made The Last Stand Expansion for what is commonly referred to as “the game that refuses to die.”

Real-life gang members were hired by Rockstar Games to voice background characters in Grand Theft Auto V.

To make a game set in a fictional criminal underworld more authentic, the producers decided to avoid using “goofy LA actors” and instead hired genuine gangsters to voice many of the background characters, who belonged to Latino and Black gangs. Some of the gangsters hired even rejected the scripts given to them and recorded their own versions because they believed the original scripts were not “real” enough.

In 2008, Half-Life was recognized as the best-selling first-person shooter of all time (PC) in the Guinness Book of World Records’ gamer’s edition. This game not only redefined the PC first-person shooter genre but also had a mind-bending sci-fi story to support it. By 2008, it had sold over 9.3 million copies at retail alone and was described by IGN as the best shooter since the first Doom game. Critics and reviewers gave it a full ten out of ten, with PC Gamer awarding it the title of Best PC Game Ever in 1999, 2001, and 2005.

The creators of PUBG attempted to sue the makers of Fortnite because they believed that Fortnite copied their battle royale game-style. However, the case was eventually dropped as they realized that the idea had been around for a while in other media formats, such as the Japanese Battle Royale film released in 2000.

Batman: Arkham City contains numerous references to ABC’s hit TV series Lost. Mark Hamill, famous for his role in Star Wars, voices the Joker in the game and managed to sneak in a reference to his favorite show during one of the Joker’s monologues. Additionally, players can hear background crooks wondering about the explanation for the island in Lost if they wander around the game long enough.

Looking Glass Studios, the creators of Thief II: The Metal Age, experienced financial setbacks and eventually closed down in 2000. However, the studio donated their tools to the game’s fans, allowing them to create an unofficial but well-made expansion pack called Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age. This expansion pack included new missions, cut-scenes, more than 3,000 lines of dialogue, and an entirely new playable character.

The expansion took over five years and involved more than 60 people working hard to bring it to fruition.

The original designs for Little Sisters in BioShock were extremely terrifying.

Initially known as “gatherers,” the purpose of Little Sisters was to collect ADAM, a rare chemical found in the corpses scattered throughout the game.

Some of the initial concepts for BioShock’s gatherers were equally disturbing, including a Doberman in a wheelchair and a frog with a funnel protruding from its behind.

Thankfully, the game developers decided to go with an eerie-looking little girl to evoke sympathy from the player.

The background noises in Silent Hill 2 were randomized to keep players on edge.

In many games, paying attention to and identifying sounds can mean the difference between life and death.

Through randomizing the order and timing of sounds like footsteps, breathing, shattering glass, and even pig squeals, the developers of Silent Hill 2 kept players on edge and unable to anticipate what might come next.

From a development standpoint, it was an ingenious move, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive them!

The 2018 version of God of War plays out like a movie shot in a single take, with no cuts or loading screens.

In the film industry, filming anything without multiple cuts is nearly impossible, which has influenced how we tell stories in movies and most video games.

The creators of God of War (2018) wanted to try something different to shift the player’s focus to Kratos and his experiences.

This allowed players to become more immersed in the game than ever before!

Counter-Strike initially started as a custom mod for Half-Life.

In 1999, Minh Le and Jess Cliffe developed the first version of Counter-Strike as a custom map in Half-Life.

By 2000, the duo had gone through five beta releases and created a website, which caught the attention of Half-Life’s developers who bought them out and hired them to create a full version of Counter-Strike.

Counter-Strike became one of the most influential first-person shooter games, pioneering many of the FPS game mechanics found in nearly all modern shooters!

Divinity: Original Sin 2 was not originally intended to have voiced dialogue.

One of the many great things about DOS2 is the witty and refreshingly unique dialogue heard throughout the game.

At times, it provides insight into what the player is doing, while at other times, it’s the player’s character being a sarcastic jerk. Either way, it hooks you into the game!

Interestingly, DOS2’s developers decided to include dialogue in the game only after the original launch date was postponed. They spent countless hours going through millions of lines of scripts before finally releasing the game in 2017.

The developers of Terraria attempted to cancel further updates to the game in 2012.

Lead developer Andrew “Redigit” Spinks announced in February 2012 that there would be no more updates to Terraria. He felt that it was time to move on from the game and spend more time with his family. However, the game was ported to Xbox 360 and PS3 in September of the same year, renewing interest in the game and leading to even more updates to the PC version.

X-COM: UFO Defense was almost canceled twice!

The Gollop brothers initially pitched their idea for the first X-COM game to Microprose in 1991. However, their initial game design document was so flawed and lacked detail that the publishers almost rejected it. They only gave the brothers a contract when they were able to explain the game in person. Later, in 1993, Microprose was acquired by Spectrum Holobyte, who nearly canceled X-COM. Microprose ignored the official cancellation and continued to work on the game, successfully re-pitching the finished version to Spectrum in 1994.

Baldur’s Gate was created by Bioware, the same company behind the Mass Effect series.

Bioware was founded by three medical graduates who shared a love for medicine, video games and role-playing games in 1995. Three years later, they released their most famous game, Baldur’s Gate, for which they obtained a Dungeons & Dragons license, using the 2nd edition rules. Creating Baldur’s Gate took so much time and effort that two of the three founders gave up medicine entirely to focus solely on their new careers as video game developers.

Released in 1991, Neverwinter Nights was the first MMORPG to achieve success.

While some argue that there were previous games that were the first MMORPG, Neverwinter Nights was the first to follow a similar format to what would later become the standard MMORPG format. When the game first came out, the cost of connecting to the internet was so high that playing for just an hour would cost six dollars. By 1995, the game had reached its peak popularity and its servers could host up to 500 players at a time.

The creators of Rock Band also created the first two Guitar Hero games.

Harmonix Music Systems were responsible for both Guitar Hero I and II.

After being bought out by Activision, the producers of Guitar Hero were unable to create any new games. However, when Harmonix was bought out by MTV, the two companies found the perfect combination. Harmonix had ideas for a more musically sophisticated game, while MTV had connections in the music industry to secure all the necessary record deals. In the first 24 hours of its release, more than a million people logged into Xbox Live to play Halo 3, which set a new precedent for the series by earning $300 million during its first week of sales. Animal Crossing: New Horizons became a tool for democracy activists to spread messages criticizing China’s rule of Hong Kong. Even though the game wasn’t released for sale in China, players could access foreign copies online. Some activists created custom anti-Chinese Communist Party messages on their in-game islands to call for the freedom of Hong Kong. The author of The Witcher novels, Andrzej Sapkowski, tried to sue the developers of The Witcher 3 for more royalty payments. Initially, Sapkowski was paid up-front for the rights to the series instead of taking a percentage of total sales. After the success of The Witcher 3, he demanded an extra $16 million just for that title. The developers made a new private agreement with Sapkowski in 2019. FIFA 11 was the first game in the FIFA series to allow players to control the goalkeeper. Released in late 2010, it allowed teams of eleven players to work together, each with a fixed role in online games against other teams of eleven. The Red Annihilation multiplayer Quake event in 1997 was the first gaming event in the US to be held at a national level. About 2,000 competitors from across the US participated, and sixteen finalists battled it out in Atlanta, Georgia.

The reward? A 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS convertible – something the winner wasn’t insured to drive!

MissingNo. can take on five different forms in the original Pokémon GameBoy games.

If you played Pokémon Red or Blue in the past, you probably knew about the glitch that allowed you to catch MissingNo., a distorted Pokémon.

It turns out that MissingNo. could appear in various forms depending on the placement of specific letters in your character’s name.

The five forms of MissingNo. were the “normal” form with a distorted sprite, and three forms with Kabutops, Aerodactyl, and ghost sprites from the Pokémon Tower.

The final form is actually found in Pokémon Yellow and has a distorted red and yellow sprite.

The Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus do not have official names.

Although all the Colossi have names, they are unofficial nicknames given to them by the game developers and fans over time.

For example, the first Colossus you encounter was nicknamed by the developers as “Minotaur A,” while fans called it “Valus.”

Fun Fact: There are only sixteen boss-fight level Colossi in the entire game!

The first playable demo of Starcraft was essentially a space version of Warcraft.

In fact, the studio referred to it as “orcs in space” as it was meant to be a quick game that would capitalize on Warcraft’s huge success.

Blizzard received a lot of criticism for their demo, which came from an uninspired background.

The team behind Starcraft underwent some changes, and they decided to essentially redo the entire game.

I, for one, am incredibly glad they did!

The two characters seen fighting in the intro to Street Fighter II have names.

For years, players wondered about the identities of the two mysterious characters seen during the intro of Street Fighter II.

Capcom finally identified the fighters in 2016 with the release of Street Fighter V, although they are still not playable characters.

It turns out that they are Scott, who enjoys going to the lake but dislikes caterpillars, and Max, who likes sparkly things and gambling.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert was one of the first video games to be banned in China.

Since the game allowed players to battle their army against Communist armies, it was not the kind of game China would have wanted circulating.

Someone alerted the Chinese government to this, resulting in the banning of Red Alert and its subsequent sequels.

Other Command & Conquer games that did not focus on the total destruction of Communism have been legally sold in China over the years with no issues.

Assassin’s Creed was originally intended to be a spin-off of Prince of Persia.

In 2003, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was incredibly popular. Ubisoft, the studio behind the game, assigned its developers to create a game that would revolutionize the genre and utilize the full potential of the next generation of video game consoles. The studio initially pitched the game as Prince of Persia: Assassins. However, as they began building the game, they realized that it was an entirely new creation and would have to be a completely different game!

Snoop Dogg produced an exclusive track for Need For Speed: Underground 2.

But wait, there’s more – Snoop Dogg collaborated with the surviving members of The Doors to create a new remix of Riders on the Storm. They also incorporated many elements of the original recording by The Doors, including Jim Morrison’s voice samples. Apart from a large sum of money, we are unsure how EA Games persuaded musicians such as The Doors or Snoop Dogg to participate, but we are certainly not complaining!

The creator of Dota also created League of Legends.

Steve “Guinsoo” Feak initially developed Defense of the Ancients (Dota) as a modification for Warcraft III, prior to it becoming a game in its own right. Riot Games later hired Feak to be the mastermind behind their new operation: League of Legends. Feak’s influence on the games can be seen in a variety of items and characters, such as Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse in Dota and Guinsoo’s Rageblade in League of Legends.

If you click on the units in Warcraft III enough times, they will get irritated and talk back to you.

Warcraft III was unquestionably one of the best strategy games ever created, and it was features like this that, in our opinion, made it a little bit more special. For example, if you click on a peasant too many times, it may start giving you lip or even yell, “Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!” – a direct reference to Monty Python’s The Holy Grail.

Donkey Kong 64‘s DK Rap was originally a joke between the game designers.

Let’s be honest, the DK Rap itself is a bit of a joke – but not in a good way. When it was composed and recorded, the DK Rap was simply a fun little track where monkeys rapped about grapes and bananas, and it was never intended to be taken too seriously. That being said, critics of the game immediately berated it for its foolish efforts to create anything of substance – but who cares what the critics think, right?

Dogmeat, the canine companion in Fallout 3, was modeled after the dog in Mad Max 2.

In the second movie of Mad Max, Mel Gibson’s character is accompanied by an Australian cattle dog in the barren wasteland. The creators of Fallout were fans of Mad Max, as evidenced by the similarities between the playable character in Fallout 3 and Max. Interestingly, Dogmeat from Fallout is named after the dog in the 1975 post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog.

Nintendo’s American branch had to offer fingerless gloves to customers who purchased Mario Party due to complaints about hand injuries and damaged controllers. Although no severe injuries occurred, over 90 official complaints were made to the New York State Attorney’s office. Nintendo eventually settled the lawsuit by offering four sets of gloves to each household that owned the game.

Mass Effect was originally called Science Fiction X, shortened as SFX, during development. The developers initially considered using Science Fiction X or SFX as the official name, not realizing how terrible it would sound. Luckily, the game was ultimately named after the powerful energy source used within the game’s universe.

Leonard Nimoy, famous for his role as Spock in Star Trek, provided the voiceover for much of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. Players were surprised to hear his voice when they first researched a technology in the game.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, upon its release, became the largest crossover game in history with over 80 playable characters from various game franchises, including Banjo and Kazooie from rival platforms. It took Nintendo 20 years to create such an expansive game.

When Space Invaders was first released in Japan in 1978, it grossed over $600 million in its first year alone. Although it was rumored that Japan ran out of 100 Yen coins due to the popularity of the game, this was never proven. By 1981, Space Invaders had earned over $1 billion from arcades worldwide.

Did you know? Space Invaders holds the record for being the first video game to feature a high score list!

The Pinkerton Detective Agency attempted to sue Rockstar Games after the release of Red Dead Redemption 2.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency was a real-life detective agency during the Wild West era in the United States. While it is unclear whether they were actually as villainous as portrayed in Red Dead Redemption 2, the agency’s parent company took issue with their negative portrayal and attempted to sue Rockstar Games. The lawsuit was eventually dropped and resolved privately.

The Super Mario Kart manual actually encouraged cheating by allowing players to look at each other’s screens for an advantage!

Due to the limitations of CRT televisions at the time, it was nearly impossible not to see what the other player was doing. However, the act of “screen cheating” has since been frowned upon by gamers in multiplayer games.

Despite this, Nintendo decided to embrace the concept and even encouraged it in their manual for Super Mario Kart.

There are over 17 million usable weapons in Borderlands 2.

Despite the game’s claim of having 87 bazillion guns, only 17,750,000 weapons were actually included in Borderlands 2. Nevertheless, the vast number of weapons in the game continues to attract players to the Borderlands series.

The Sims was originally designed as an architecture simulator.

The game was intended to allow players to see how the houses they built would function. However, the developers soon realized that the Sims themselves were the more interesting aspect of the game. The focus of the game shifted to the Sims, resulting in the beloved simulation game we all know today.

The English translation of the manual for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 oversimplified the game’s story upon its US release.

The manual claimed that the game’s events took place on the same island as the previous game, when in reality Sonic flew to a new island. Additionally, Tails’ backstory was changed to suggest that he had always looked up to Sonic, even though they had just met for the first time on the island where the game takes place.

These discrepancies were later cleared up with the release of Sonic Adventure in 1999.

Pac-Man was almost named Puck-Man in the US.

The name was changed to Pac-Man at the last minute because there were concerns that the letter “P” could be easily scratched off, resulting in an inappropriate name. Some people believe that the name Puck-man was chosen for international audiences because of its resemblance to a hockey puck, but it actually sounds like “paku paku,” which means “chomp chomp” in Japanese.

The first Battlefield game was made by a team of fourteen people.

Although video games today have thousands of people working on them, Battlefield 1942, which was released in 2002, was created by a small team. Despite its simplicity compared to modern versions, many fans consider it the best game in the series. Interestingly, the game was originally pitched as a GameCube exclusive to Nintendo, but the company turned it down because they had no plans for online play at the time.

Fun Fact: Carrie Fisher, also known as Princess Leia, provided some of the voice acting for Dishonored, but it was hidden as an Easter egg.

The movie adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is so bad that it’s best to forget it.

Jake Gyllenhaal starred in the film, which unfortunately did not meet the hype surrounding it. It was also criticized for having no Middle-Eastern actors and for its inaccurate portrayal of medieval Iran. The movie tarnished the reputation of one of the best games of the early 2000s.

Hideo Kojima’s team used Lego bricks to build Metal Gear Solid.

When Metal Gear Solid was released in 1998, it was a groundbreaking game. However, the team had difficulty visualizing the camera angles required for the game’s 3D design. To solve this problem, they built various game levels out of Lego bricks and filmed them to create more realistic perspectives.

Age of Empires II was also released for PlayStation 2.

Real-time strategy (RTS) games that are ported to consoles often have poor controls when played using joysticks.

This was unfortunately the case for Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, which was only released in European and Japanese markets.

The PlayStation 2 version of the game was considered unplayable by many due to the counterintuitive cursor movement and excessive zooming.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was the first game in the series to feature a playable Marvel character.

While most players chose to skate as Tony Hawk, there were 21 other playable characters in different versions of the game released worldwide.

Some characters were only available after meeting certain conditions, like completing 100% of the career mode with a created skater to unlock Spider-Man.

Deus Ex may have predicted the Twin Towers’ destruction.

Released in 2000 when video game graphics were limited, the Twin Towers were removed from the New York skyline in the game due to technical difficulties and replaced with a terrorist attack.

Less than a year later, the Twin Towers were destroyed in reality, raising questions about whether it was coincidence or not.

The 250th two-player game in Mortal Kombat II launched an older arcade classic, Pong.

The game’s developers added fun Easter eggs to the dark game, and playing 250 two-player games unlocked Pong, one of the first arcade games ever created.

Originally, Samus Aran from Metroid was meant to be a man.

However, halfway through the game’s development, the designers thought it would be cool if Samus was a girl inside her power suit.

Her character design was adjusted to reflect her femininity, and while some cheat codes allowed players to see her in her underwear, it was done tastefully.

The working title of Doom was “Attack of the Attackers.”

The creators realized the name was too tongue in cheek and changed it.

The name Doom was inspired by Tom Cruise in the end.

In the movie “The Color of Money” from 1986, Tom Cruise’s character referred to his pool cue case as “Doom,” foreshadowing his opponent’s impending defeat. This quote seems fitting for a game about destroying aliens. The lead developer for “Dota 2” goes by the pseudonym “IceFrog.” He took over development of the game after the original creators left to work on “League of Legends.” Despite rumors that his real name is Abdul Ismael, little is known about him. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of games such as “Mario” and “Legend of Zelda,” considers “Super Mario World” his favorite game. Many characters in “Undertale” are named after fonts, including the popular character Sans who speaks in Comic Sans. “Among Us” was originally called “SpaceMafia,” a nod to the party game “Mafia” but set in space. Finally, “Bloodborne” is notoriously difficult, and even Sony’s head of worldwide game development emailed the developers for tips. If you play “Rise of the Tomb Raider” on February 14, you’ll receive a special message.

In the world of Tomb Raider, February 14 marks Lara Croft’s birthday, and a special message wishing her a happy birthday appears in the loading screen on this day. Despite being considered one of the greatest NES games of all time, Mega Man 3 was a rushed project that the development team felt needed more time to polish. Unfortunately, Capcom demanded that they release it as soon as possible. Heroes of Might and Magic III, which is widely regarded as the best in the series, received an HD remake in 2014, but its expansions were not remade because the source code had been lost. Rare, the studio behind the iconic Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007, attempted to release a remastered version in 2008, but the project was ultimately canceled due to licensing issues. World of Warcraft is a massive game with over 5.5 million lines of code written by just 51 dedicated programmers. Finally, a 2014 study found that playing Portal 2 can enhance problem-solving skills, spatial awareness, and the ability to stick to a task.

Shouting at the other player to place the portal “over there on the wall, no not that wall, over on the other wall for God’s sake!” may not seem like it would improve your communication skills, but we won’t argue with that. The developers of Dark Souls played a complete prank on the game’s players by including a pendant as one of the starting items for your character, which had no apparent effect on the game. This led players on a wild goose chase trying to find a use for it, until the developers finally confessed that it was simply a joke to drive players crazy.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which is now known as Nintendo’s most adult-themed cult classic, was originally intended to be a boring PG-rated 3D platformer called Conker’s Quest. It was then rebranded as Twelve Tales: Conker 64, described as equally childish with “infuriatingly happy music,” before finally being developed into its lewd themes.

The idea for The Secret Cow Level in Diablo II came from a hoax in the first Diablo game, where players started spreading rumors of a secret level that could only be accessed by interacting with one of the cows. Although this was not true, the game developers found it hilarious and integrated it into Diablo II.

LittleBigPlanet, which was originally called Craftworld, featured a simple character with a square yellow head in its prototype. Even though it took a long time to develop into the game we know today, Sony was on board from the beginning. You can even unlock a Mr. Yellowhead costume by completing the last level of story mode without losing any lives.

The first Worms game was created by Andy Davidson as an entry into a game development competition. Initially called Artillery, Davidson later submitted the game as Total Wormage. Although it was unsuccessful in the competition, Davidson pitched his ideas to Team17, who loved it and helped develop and publish the game.

Final Fantasy VI Contains a Hidden Star Wars Reference

Many fans consider Final Fantasy VI as the best game in the series due to its incredible storytelling moments. However, the game also includes a reference to Star Wars.

If Locke is wearing an Imperial Soldier disguise when he rescues Celes, she will ask, “Aren’t you a little short for an Imperial Soldier?” This line is a clear nod to Princess Leia’s line in Star Wars: Episode IV.

Obsidian Entertainment Missed Out on a Bonus for Fallout: New Vegas

Obsidian Entertainment proposed to develop Fallout: New Vegas for Bethesda to publish. However, they agreed to a straight payment instead of taking royalties and a bonus if the game got a Metascore rating of 85 or higher, which they missed by just one point. As a result, they missed out on a huge bonus from Bethesda.

Monster Hunter: World is Capcom’s Best-Selling Game

Capcom, known for developing world-class titles like Mega Man and Resident Evil, has sold over 12 million copies of Monster Hunter: World in just two years for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. This makes it their best-selling game to date, surpassing the sales of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which has over 9 million sales.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Was Banned in South Korea

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was banned in South Korea due to its focus on a fictional war between North and South Korea. The government feared that it would escalate tensions between the two countries further. Ironically, the ban was lifted in 2007, the same year the game is set.

The Fortune Hunter Edition of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was Not Sold in Stores

The Fortune Hunter edition of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was truly special, as it included a replica dagger from the game, an art book, and a collector’s case signed by Naughty Dog. However, players were not able to buy it in stores. Instead, they had to earn it through various competitions held on the PlayStation blog, the game demo, and other unpublished places.

Lawn of the Dead was the original title for Plants Vs. Zombies.

The game developer, George Fan, initially created a concept that featured aliens instead of zombies. This led to the temporary title Plants Vs. Zombies. However, Fan’s preferred title was Lawn of the Dead, paying homage to the classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead. Unfortunately, the filmmakers rejected the idea.

The Last of Us started as a reboot of Naughty Dog’s Jak and Daxter series.

Although it may seem unlikely, the survival horror game The Last of Us began as an action platformer reboot. Both games share common themes, such as characters searching for a cure for a deadly disease and using a dynamic duo of characters to achieve a common goal.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has held the highest ranking since its 1998 release.

The game reviewers at IGN played through Ocarina of Time in 17 hours without any guides and awarded it a perfect score of 10/10. This score was mirrored by other reviewers and earned the game the highest-ranking title. It remains the top-rated game on review aggregate website Metacritic.

Several Fortnite: Battle Royale players have been sued for cheating.

Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite, issued a lawsuit against a 14-year-old YouTuber who cheated and publicized his actions in 2017. The case was settled out of court, and numerous other players have been caught cheating and faced similar consequences.

The developers of CyberPunk 2077 worked long, brutal hours in the final months before its release.

Despite their promise to be a “no crunch studio,” CD Projekt Red required their staff to work at least six days a week for long hours to perfect the game before its release. This practice is common in game development studios and is known as “crunch.”

And what was all of that for? A game that was full of bugs and almost unplayable, failing to live up to the hype.

The popular Tetris theme song actually originated as a folk song from the 1900s.

When playing Tetris, many find themselves humming along to the catchy tune known as “Type-A,” which was developed by the creators of the game.

However, it turns out that this tune has been around since the late 19th century in Russia, where it was a popular folk song titled Korobeiniki. The song was originally a poem published by Nikolay Nekrasov in 1861.

In the first 24 hours on the Android Market, Angry Birds was downloaded by over one million people.

When Angry Birds was first released on the iOS App Store in 2009, it exceeded all expectations and became an instant success. By the time it was released on Android a year later, the hype around the game was at an all-time high. In fact, the site hosting the downloads even crashed due to the overwhelming demand for the game!

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first game in the franchise to feature killstreaks.

Although Call of Duty had already been through three iterations, it wasn’t until Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that the franchise gained massive success. One of the many new features that made the game special was the introduction of killstreaks, which have since become synonymous with the series.

If you’re a fan of Call of Duty, you may also enjoy these facts about Modern Warfare II.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is full of references to David Bowie.

Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, is a huge fan of David Bowie, especially during his Major Tom days. The game is filled with references to Bowie, including Snake’s direct quote from “Space Oddity” when he asks Major Zero over the radio, “Can you hear me, Major Tom?”

Initially, Kojima had planned to include some of Bowie’s songs in the end-game credits, but he ultimately decided against it as the theme of the game shifted over time.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is banned in Australia.

When Disco Elysium was first released in 2019, it was only available on PC and was able to make its way into Australia with less stringent regulations. However, the game’s popularity led to a ban in Australia due to its mature content.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut was released in 2021 with new features and the ability to play on consoles. Due to this, the Australian Classification Board had to be involved, and they refused to classify it.

Dragon Age: Origins has an impressive 900,000 words of dialogue.

Bioware, known for their wordy games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, has outdone themselves with Dragon Age: Origins. Playing it is equivalent to reading nine books, with the average novel being around 100,000 words.

Whoever said video games were bad for your brain couldn’t be more wrong!

A hidden piece of cheese in every level of Perfect Dark was originally intended to unlock cheats.

Easter eggs were a common occurrence in games, and Perfect Dark was no exception. The developers hid pieces of yellow cheese throughout the game, intending to use them to unlock cheats. However, they changed their minds and opted to unlock cheats by completing missions within certain time limits instead.

It’s probably a good thing they did; getting distracted looking for cheese would make completing missions on time a challenge!

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time.

Released in 2004, GTA: San Andreas quickly became a benchmark for all other games of its kind. It was the seventh game in the series, but it stood out from the rest. In 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records listed it as the most successful PlayStation 2 game, with 17 million copies sold for the PS2 alone.

The first version of Minecraft was created in only six days.

Inspired by Dwarf Fortress and Infiniminer, Markus Persson began work on Cave Game on May 10, 2009. After four days, he renamed it Minecraft: Order of the Stone. On May 16, he had a finished copy of the game’s Alpha version and released it to private testers. The game was released publicly the next day with the title Minecraft.

The developers of Journey removed voice communication to encourage players to cooperate more.

Thatgamecompany, the developers of Journey, tested various ways for players to communicate with each other. They found that players used the thumbs down button more often than the thumbs up button when given just those options. To avoid players being cursed at by teenagers, they removed voice chat entirely and encouraged cooperative gameplay instead.

The game developers reduced player communication in the game to just a ping, adding a new challenge to interpret the other players’ messages. The first American to catch all 142 Pokémon in the US was awarded round-the-world plane tickets. Every building in Fable 2 can be purchased, and owning enough properties unlocks new titles and ultimately the title of king. Some of the characters in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic were inspired by characters the developers created in their tabletop RPG games. Overwatch has a professional e-sports league where players are paid a minimum salary of $50,000 and can negotiate for higher wages. The original Soulcalibur was the only game in the series not released on PlayStation and was highly ranked on Metacritic.

The game developers tried to transfer the game to PlayStation, but the console’s performance was not good enough for certain animations in the game.

The actress who voiced Ashley Graham in Resident Evil 4 also provided voice work for SpongeBob SquarePants.

It’s widely known that Ashley Graham is one of the most irritating companions in video game history, but Carolyn Lawrence, the actress who voiced her, gets some redemption.

Lawrence didn’t just voice any character in SpongeBob SquarePants, but Sandy Cheeks, one of the main characters!

The number 16 is a recurring theme in No Man’s Sky.

Many game developers enjoy hiding Easter eggs in their games to reward players for exploring every inch, and Hello Games is no exception.

The number sixteen can be found everywhere in the universe and is connected to it, as each galaxy has 1616 planets.

The game also includes 16 portal glyphs and was released in 2016.

Does this hold any significance, or is it a reference to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

The world record score in Doodle Jump is more than 20 million.

Aaron W. Prince is an extremely persistent person, which is necessary to play one of the first smartphone games ever released, Doodle Jump.

Aaron discovered Doodle Jump in 2010, a year after its release.

Despite the million-point world record at the time, he continued to play the game and eventually surpassed the record with a score of 11.3 million. He then went on to beat his own record and achieve a staggering score of 24.2 million!

If you’ve managed to read this entire list without feeling the urge to play at least ten of these games, you might want to seek help.

Many of these games were the pinnacle of gaming back in the day and have consistently been ranked among the best games ever since!

All I can say is that I’m ready to play some games!

FAQ

1. What was the first video game ever created?

The first video game ever created was called “Tennis for Two” and it was developed by physicist William Higinbotham in 1958. The game was played on an oscilloscope and consisted of a dot representing the ball and two lines representing the tennis rackets. It was a primitive version of what we now know as video games.

2. What is the best-selling video game of all time?

The best-selling video game of all time is Minecraft, which has sold over 200 million copies as of May 2020. The game was first released in 2011 and has since become a cultural phenomenon, with players building and exploring virtual worlds using blocks and other materials.

3. What is the most expensive video game ever made?

The most expensive video game ever made is reportedly Grand Theft Auto V, which cost over $265 million to develop and market. The game was released in 2013 and has gone on to become one of the best-selling video games of all time.

4. What was the first video game console?

The first video game console was the Magnavox Odyssey, which was released in 1972. The console came with a set of plastic overlays that could be placed on the TV screen to create different game environments. The games themselves were very simple, but the console paved the way for the video game industry we know today.

5. What is the most popular video game genre?

The most popular video game genre is action/adventure, which includes games like Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, and Uncharted. These games typically involve exploring a virtual world, completing missions and quests, and engaging in combat.

6. What is the oldest video game still in existence?

The oldest video game still in existence is a game called “Spacewar!”, which was created in 1962 by a group of students at MIT. The game was played on a DEC PDP-1 computer and involved two players controlling spaceships and trying to destroy each other.