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Ratings board says no? Cheat code says yes.
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00:00Platformers, shooters, and sandbox titles like Grand Theft Auto 3, Skyrim, and The Last of Us
00:05aren't just touted as classics, but rule-breakers, since they redefined what a game could do.
00:11Having said that, there are a few titles that took breaking the rules way too literally.
00:17I'm Jess from WhatCulture, and here are 10 video games that broke the rules.
00:21Number 10. Hid a rant in the game's code, the new Tetris.
00:26After the unprecedented success of Tetris, the iconic puzzle title was ported to every single system imaginable.
00:33Hoping to milk the property for as long as possible, Nintendo hired H20 Entertainment to work on an N64 game
00:40which captured the spirit of the original.
00:43Although the new Tetris was certainly solid, Nintendo were horrified to learn that the lead programmer, David Pretty, left a
00:50swear-filled rant in the game's code.
00:52In this hidden message, Pretty complains about his co-workers, assuming them of being cowardly, deceitful, and lazy.
00:59He says the game itself sucks, but could be good with another, quote, month to finish this thing off after
01:05all the bugs are fixed.
01:06At the end of this long-winded speech, Pretty warns readers not to publish the text without his consent or
01:12they will, quote, feel my wrath.
01:14Unsurprisingly, readers who found the text did not take this threat seriously and uploaded it online, and it only took
01:21them a mere three days after the new Tetris launched.
01:24Nintendo were so outraged that they recalled every cartridge in the U.S., replacing them with copies that removed the
01:31rant.
01:31It goes without saying that Nintendo never worked with H20 Entertainment ever again.
01:35Number 9. The game is a secret boot disc. Alien Resurrection.
01:41Much like the film of the same name, PlayStation's Alien Resurrection was a bit...
01:45Eh? That noise. It was eh?
01:48In fact, the most interesting aspect about the movie tie-in game isn't the game itself, but the fact that
01:53the disc harbors a cryptic secret that's only come to light recently.
01:58Twenty-three years after its release, one of the developers, Martin Piper, revealed that there's an elaborate cheat code that
02:04lets Alien Resurrection be swapped for any burned PS1 game.
02:09Although this naughty trick can be performed with certain games with a mod chip or a soft mod, Alien Resurrection
02:15didn't need any external devices to do so.
02:18At the time, it might have been the only commercial game with this feature, though it wasn't public.
02:23Piper admitted that he turned the game into a boot disc just to see if he could.
02:27When his little experiment proved successful, he decided not to tell anyone, since it was frowned upon and possibly illegal.
02:35When a game's development is complete, the developers are expected to submit all cheat codes to the publisher.
02:41And wanting to keep his job, Piper decided to keep hush-hush about his little operation.
02:45That said, if Piper's actions were common knowledge during Alien Resurrection's heyday, owners would have had a lot of fun
02:52fooling around with the feature.
02:53Number 8. Creating multiplayer without telling anybody.
02:57GoldenEye 007.
02:58It's hard to believe that there was any cynicism towards Rare's GoldenEye 007, considering it revolutionized the genre, and proved
03:06movie tie-ins didn't have to be crap, even though a lot of them were.
03:10However, Nintendo had no faith in the James Bond shooter whatsoever, believing it was too violent and glitchy.
03:17They were so unhappy with the project that they cut funding for three months, placing GoldenEye 007's future in jeopardy.
03:24Since Rare knew they were on thin ice at this point, it would have been unwise for them to make
03:28drastic changes or additions to the game without keeping their bosses in the loop.
03:33But as GoldenEye 007's development was drawing to a close, one programmer called Steve Ellis decided to implement a multiplayer
03:41option.
03:42Although Rare's management was against the idea, Ellis didn't listen and put it together in six weeks.
03:48Certain that Nintendo would reject the notion, GoldenEye 007 director Martin Hollis didn't mention the multiplayer mode to the higher
03:55-ups until it was fully functional.
03:57If Nintendo had caught wind of Ellis' plan earlier, they could have canned the beloved multiplayer, which would have caused
04:03millions of N64 owners to miss out on what was one of the 90s' greatest gaming experiences.
04:10Number 7. Copying another game, Flappy Bird
04:13Plenty of mobile games have taken the world by storm, including Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and Pokemon Go.
04:20But in 2013, it was all about Dong Nguyen's Flappy Bird.
04:24In this mobile title, the player needs to tap the on-screen bird to maintain his flight.
04:29If the bird collides with any of the pipes surrounding the stage, it's game over.
04:34When summarized like that, it doesn't sound great.
04:36And, well, to be honest, it wasn't.
04:38Nevertheless, Flappy Bird was the most downloaded free game on the App Store in January of 2014, earning $50,000
04:45daily from ads.
04:47That's why it was bewildering when Nguyen removed it from online stores while it was still raking in money.
04:53According to the creator, he had Flappy Bird pulled after learning that young gamers were becoming dangerously addicted to it.
05:00However, it's more likely that he pulled the plug to avoid legal trouble, since his creation is a clone of
05:06Pew Pew vs. Cactus, released the previous year.
05:09Side by side, it's obvious that the pair have the same premise, design, and mechanics.
05:14The only thing about Flappy Bird is the titular character navigates around pipes instead of cacti.
05:20But since the pipe's aesthetic was also ripped off from Mario, it does make the potential plagiarism more apparent.
05:27Number 6.
05:28The first gaming secret.
05:29Adventure.
05:30As has been explained in Ready Player One, 1980's Adventure for the Atari 2600 was the first video game that
05:38ever harbored an easter egg.
05:39If the square-shaped hero makes its way into a supposedly inaccessible room, they'll find text that reads,
05:46Created by Warren Robinette, which is the name of the lead designer.
05:50This room is so well hidden that Atari didn't know about it until Adventure was released.
05:55Although the secret itself seems pretty simple, it's origins or anything but.
05:59In the early days of gaming, publishers rarely credited their employees to ensure that they couldn't be recruited by competitors.
06:06When Atari refused to credit Adventure's creators or pay them royalties, many of them walked away and formed their own
06:13company, Activision.
06:14Just before Robinette stormed out, he decided to embed his name into Adventure without his superior's knowledge.
06:21When Atari discovered Robinette's cipher a year later, they realized it would cost a small fortune to have it removed.
06:28One of the company's directors, Steve Wright, believed secrets like this would encourage players to play more and thought it
06:34was best to leave the Defiant signature in.
06:37Sadly, this was not the last time that publishers refused to acknowledge the developer's work.
06:42Which leads us to the next entry.
06:45Number 5. Snuck in credits. Sonic the Hedgehog.
06:48Even though Sega's mascot isn't as popular as he once was, 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog is still one of the
06:54most celebrated games of all time.
06:56Due to the legacy the blue-furred speedster has maintained over the last 30-plus years, you'd think that working
07:02on the original would have been a blast.
07:04But the development on the original Sonic the Hedgehog was heartbreaking, according to its creator, Yuji Naka.
07:10As was standard policy at the time, the developers weren't allowed to be credited for their work.
07:15Naka found this policy so disrespectful that he left Sega of America immediately after the development of Sonic the Hedgehog
07:23wrapped.
07:23Similar to Adventure, the legendary programmer defied his employer's wishes and inserted the development team's names in the opening screen
07:31before it reads Sonic Team Presents.
07:34The credits are written in black text on a black background, so it's impossible to see them without using a
07:40code.
07:40Since Naka flagrantly disobeyed Sega's rules, he could have found himself in legal trouble.
07:45But due to Sonic the Hedgehog's astounding success, Sega of America rehired Naka, gave him a promotion, and credited his
07:53team in all future projects.
07:56Number 4. Nudalities. The Apprentice.
07:59Thanks to the woeful Legend of Zelda games on the Philips CD-i, the doomed console has never had a
08:05great reputation.
08:07With that said, the system did have a few solid titles, including The Apprentice.
08:11The 2D side-scroller follows a young wizard called Marvin, who needs to perform a series of magical trials for
08:17his master.
08:18Due to the kid-friendly aesthetic, The Apprentice looks like the last game that would be considered controversial.
08:24But just before release, the creators decided to do something a little bit, well, cheeky.
08:29Literally.
08:30During development, there were rumors surrounding Mortal Kombat suggesting that fighters could perform nudalities.
08:37That is, causing their opponents to take off their clothes.
08:40Although this rumor was debunked, it incentivized the developers behind The Apprentice to implement the idea into their own game.
08:48If the player punches in a certain code just before the game over screen, it'll play a secret scene that
08:54depicts Marvin using magic to undress a woman.
08:57If that wasn't inappropriate enough, then one of the secret scenes is of Marvin decapitating a monkey.
09:03Just to remind you, this was a children's game.
09:07Even though The Apprentice is still remembered by fans, it's not for the gameplay.
09:12Number 3. Releasing the same game under four different names.
09:16Ninja Red Man.
09:17During the millennium, Data Design Interactive were tasked with creating a sequel to the Amiga series Zool.
09:23When this plan fell through, the developers retooled the project into a new IP called Ninja Bread Man.
09:30Due to the sporadic camera, clunky controls, and the insultingly short campaign mode, this buggy mess was deservingly eviscerated by
09:38critics.
09:39When a sequel was cancelled, it looked like this abomination was gone for good.
09:43Though that marked the end of Ninja Bread Man, its software lived on.
09:47Rather than making new games from scratch, Data Design tweaked the art and character design of Ninja Bread Man and
09:54just repackaged it as three separate games.
09:57Anubis 2, Rock and Roll Adventures, and Myth Makers Trivia in Toyland.
10:02This means these games are a repackage of a repackage.
10:06Though these duds look different on the surface, the awful gameplay and level layout was identical.
10:12Although this practice isn't illegal, it's a deceitful way to encourage innocent consumers to spend their money, not just on
10:19garbage, but on the same garbage they may have already bought.
10:22Due to Date Design's reliance on asset flipping, it was no surprise when the infamous company went out of business
10:29soon after.
10:30Number 2. Not getting the rights to make your game.
10:33Liquid Kids. Commodore Amiga.
10:36Taito's adorable platformer centers around a heroic platypus, erroneously referred to as a hippo,
10:42who must use an endless supply of water balloons to save the land of Woody Lake.
10:46Okay, the plot isn't exactly Shakespeare, but Liquid Kids was a lot of fun.
10:51Too bad most gamers never got a chance to experience it, since its initial release was extremely limited.
10:57Although Liquid Kids could have been available on the Commodore Amiga, it hit a major snag.
11:02The game was considered a pseudo-sequel to The New Zealand Story, which was ported by Ocean Software.
11:09When Liquid Kids was being ported from the arcade, Ocean had their French subsidiary work on the Amiga version.
11:15There was just one issue with that.
11:17In the 10 months it took to port Liquid Kids, none of the developers double-checked if they actually had
11:22the rights for the Taito title.
11:24This means Ocean France spent almost a year making a game, despite the fact nobody okayed the deal.
11:30Even though Liquid Kids has been released on multiple systems since, including the PS4 and Switch,
11:35it never saw the light of day on the Amiga.
11:38Number 1. The Blood Code. Mortal Kombat. Genesis Version.
11:42Even though Mortal Kombat popularized digital sprites and secret characters, it's been immortalized for over-the-top violence.
11:50Ed Boon and John Tobias' fighting title may be tame by today's standards, but the excessive blood and finishing moves
11:57were shocking back in the day.
11:59Since MK depicted combatants ripping out hearts and pulling out spines, there were concerns that the content could negatively affect
12:06players, especially children.
12:08Ed Boon himself thought the outrage was somewhat justified, saying,
12:13I wouldn't want my 10-year-old kid playing a game like that.
12:16Due to Nintendo's family-friendly policy, the SNES port of Mortal Kombat toned down the finishes and had the blood
12:23replaced with sweat.
12:25Sega, on the other hand, relied on a sneakier tactic to avoid controversy.
12:29When Mortal Kombat was released for the Genesis, the blood and fatalities were seemingly absent.
12:35However, all the gore became accessible by punching in A-B-A-C-A-B-B in the opening screen.
12:42This crafty trick worked, since the Genesis port outsold the SNES version exponentially, proving to some degree that violence makes
12:50money.
12:51To maximize their profits, Nintendo and Sega left the gore uncensored in the sequels.
12:56I have no idea what kind of message or moral takeaway we have there, but it's definitely something.
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