The Twilight Realms

More (I think) pointless trivia about Pokémon. The Pokémon anime has a bizarre running gag of Jessie's Wobbuffet popping up and saying its name randomly. This made more sense in the Japanese version, where Wobbuffet was named Sonans, a reference to a popular Japanese comedian's catchphrase, "Sou nan su!" roughly meaning "That's how it is!" (Sonans is pronounced Sōnansu in Japanese). This is the case for its baby form, Wynaut, as well, whose name is Sohnano in Japanese, which roughly means "Is that so?" It's mentioned in Wobbuffet's Pokédex entry that it's very protective of its tail. Some fans have theorised this is because the tail is the actual Pokémon, and the body is merely a decoy. The tail does have two white spots on it that look suspiciously like eyes. In the Japanese games and anime, the leader of the Cerulean City Gym is named Kasumi, which means "mist" in Japanese. The English games and anime call her Mist...

Just a lot of things that people, even the media (especially the media) get wrong. Mostly about music. Nine Inch Nails is not a band - it's the stage name of Trent Reznor. And he didn't cover Johnny Cash's song "Hurt" - he wrote and recorded the song "Hurt", which Johnny Cash then covered. Similarly, Meat Loaf is one person, not a band. And it's Meat Loaf, two words, not Meatloaf. Inversely, Jamiroquai is the name of a band, not the name of a person - the lead singer's name is Jay Kay. Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Steely Dan are all also bands, not people (Pink Floyd mocked this in their song "Have a Cigar" with the line "Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?" which is something they apparently got asked a lot). Wolverine's skeleton is only coated in adamantium, not made from it. And it's adamantium, not steel. Further, that's not actually his mutant power (and neither are his claws) - that would be a powerf...

Undertale - Monster Sparing Guide Just because I can. Note: Again, I highly recommend playing Undertale for yourself first before reading this. On with the show. Note that to skip your turn, you can either choose Spare, use an Item, or Fight and miss. Froggit - Compliment (Threat also works, but makes its attacks more frantic) Whimsun - Just Spare Moldsmal - Just Spare (Flirt gets you Gold, but only like 2G, so it's not really worth it) Migosp - Can be Spared if it's the only enemy remaining Vegetoid - Dinner, then touch the green vegetables (green attacks heal you). When it's Sparable, you can choose Devour to recover your HP. Note that in the demo, doing this counted as killing it, impacting a Pacifist run, but in the full game, it still counts as ending the battle peacefully (in the demo, you ate the whole monster, but in the full game you only take a bite out of it). Loox - Don't Pick On. Napstablook - Keep choosing Cheer until h...

Pointless trivia time again. This time, we'll be covering Undertale. WARNING: If you plan to play Undertale, and haven't already done so, I strongly suggest not reading this blog post until you've played it (not that anyone reads this blog anyway). Having played it myself, I can confirm that Undertale really is one of those games that's best played completely blind - i.e. with no prior knowledge of the game whatsoever. Go buy it on Steam, play it, then come back and read this. Okay? Okay, now that they're all gone, let's get on with the trivia. Muffet, Glyde and So Sorry were all designed by Kickstarter backers. So Sorry's backer paid $1000 for his character to be included in the game. Glyde and So Sorry are hidden encounters. To find Glyde, go to the room with the mysterious door in Snowdin and walk non-stop for three minutes to encounter him. You can make this easier by holding a direction, then Alt-Tabbing to a different win...

Roleplay characters I used to use and the weapons they use. Format is Weapon Type/Weapon Name. Jutah Tetra Twin Swords/Slash & Nightraid Keyakku Tetra No-dachi/Tekatan (In his own language, "tekata" means "fire" and "tan" means "sword", so "Tekatan" is essentially "fire sword". However, it's also a pun in that "Tekatan" means "of or from Tekata", the village that Keyakku is the leader of). Ketana Akira Bow/Shooting Star or Crossbow/Celestial Voyager Kawaii Herself/Anything Goes! Rika Akira Energy (Doesn't really have a weapon, she attacks with energy blasts) Sachi Akira Pole/Whirlwind or Black Wind Crystal Tetra Greaves/Bolt of Jupiter and Bolt of Zeus Kata Jheta Sacrificial Knife/Altar of Black Thorns Ita Tenya Morning Star/Kaikiri (Means "Hammer" in his own language) Shadow Jheta Dark Spirit Weapons/Gate of Babylon (The dark spirit possessing him can tra...

Pointless trivia about Chrono Trigger. Spoiler warning! The game is a spiritual successor to a Japan-only SNES RPG called Live A Live (both "lives" in the title are pronounced to rhyme with "five"). Its first sequel was also a Japan-only release called Radical Dreamers, though Chrono Cross, the sequel that was released internationally, retconned and contradicted many of the events in Radical Dreamers. A mistranslated line in the original SNES version led many players to believe there was one more sidequest in the game to be completed, most often believed to be a quest to save Schala from her fate (which is not possible, despite many rumours to the contrary, though it does later turn out that she survived anyway). The line was supposed to say something like "Talk to your party members for help", but was rendered as "One of you is close to someone who needs help. Find this person... fast." It was fixed for the DS remake, along with many other t...

I'm gonna see if I can explain the etymology behind the names of the first 151 Pokémon. This is all my doing, I'm not looking anything other than the Pokémon's names up here. So here we go! 1. Bulbasaur - From "bulb" (in the plant sense, not in the light sense) and "dinosaur". 2. Ivysaur - From "ivy" (a plant) and "dinosaur". 3. Venusaur - Venus from Venus flytrap, a plant that eats insects, and saur from dinosaur. 4. Charmander - Char meaning to scorch or burn, and mander from salamander, a type of lizard associated with fire in folklore. 5. Charmeleon - Char + chameleon. 6. Charizard - Char + lizard. 7. Squirtle - From "squirt" (to shoot liquids at high speed, referencing its status as a Water-type) and "turtle". 8. Wartortle - From "war", "tortoise" and "turtle". 9. Blastoise - From "blast" (referencing its water guns) and "tortoise". 10. Caterpie - Mo...

I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite mondegreens (look it up if you don't know what it means). Song: "One" by Metallica Misheard line: For my breakfast I wish for tea Actual line: Hold my breath as I wish for death Song: "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix Misheard line: Excuse me while I kiss this guy Actual line: Excuse me while I kiss the sky Notes: Everyone knows this one, including Jimi himself. He used to poke fun at the mishearing when performing the song live, by singing "excuse me while I kiss this guy" or "that guy" and pointing to or kissing one of his male band members. Song: "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival Misheard line: There's a bathroom on the right Actual line: There's a bad moon on the rise Notes: Another mondegreen that the performers would make fun of in live performances, by singing "There's a bathroom on the right/left" and pointing in the general...

Ten Actual Video Game Secrets You Thought Were Hoaxes 1. The Princess Heart costume and "Sexy Beam" attack in Silent Hill 3 To unlock the Princess Heart costume, which is a magical girl-parody outfit that seems very out of place in the psychological horror setting of Silent Hill, complete the game on any difficulty setting and an option called "Extra New Game" will appear on the menu. Select this and complete the game again, obtaining any ending, making sure to defeat the majority of enemies with melee attacks rather than shooting. At the end, you will unlock the Princess Heart costume and the Beam Sabre. Equip the costume and the Beam Sabre will change into the Sexy Beam. 2. Unlocking Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy Tactics Yes, Cloud Strife, the massive-sword-wielding badass protagonist from Final Fantasy VII, is an optional unlockable character in Final Fantasy Tactics. Here's how to unlock him. This must be done with Ramza's party. 1. Make sure yo...

Pointless trivia about everyone's favourite pink puffball, Kirby. Kirby's character design was initially a placeholder, but developers liked it so much that it was made into the final design for the character. Initially there was disagreement over what colour Kirby should be - series creator Masahiro Sakurai thought he should be pink, while Nintendo thought he should be yellow. (Or the other way around, I'm going off memory here). Since the first game was released on the Game Boy, which doesn't use colour graphics, the box art designers compromised by making Kirby white on the box art, which is the colour he appears in the game. Kirby is the trope namer for American Kirby Is Hardcore, which is when something portrayed as cute and innocent in Japan gets an "attitude boost" in the US, named for the fact that, while in Japan the box art for Kirby games portrayed him as smiling and happy, the US versions made him look angry and serious. Another trope, know...

More Kingdom Hearts stuff. I noticed that some of the Unversed in Birth by Sleep behave similarly to the Heartless from the rest of the series, so I've decided to catalogue some of the similarities between the two species. Floods attack and hide in the ground just like Shadows do. Their movements are also similar to that of the Dusk Nobodies. Bruisers use attacks identical to those of Large Bodies, including a double-punch, a jump which creates a shockwave, and a charging attack when they get low on HP. However, Bruisers are quite a bit more aggressive than Large Bodies. Buckle Bruisers and Irritable Tanks only being vulnerable from behind echoes the Large Body and Fat Bandit Heartless. Scrappers are similar to Soldiers and their variants, being aggressive enemies that attack with flurries of attacks. Red Hot Chili, Blue Sea Salt and Yellow Mustard bear similarities to the Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody and Yellow Opera respectively, in that they are small enemies that attack w...

Pointless trivia time about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Before they settled on Twilight Sparkle's name, she was originally going to be just named Twilight. However, considering there was already a book and movie series by that name, it had to be changed. Twilight Twinkle was also considered. When asked about the name, all Lauren Faust said was "It passed legal." The Season One episode "Applebuck Season" has Applejack, sleep-deprived and exhausted from trying to clear all the apples from Sweet Apple Acres herself, acting in increasingly bizarre, ditzy and klutzy ways. This was actually a nod to G1 Applejack, whose defining trait was her klutziness. In the episode "Too Many Pinkie Pies", at one point, one of the Pinkie Pie clones adopts the face of G3 Pinkie Pie, prompting a horrified reaction from the other ponies. Pinkie herself is more of a take on G1's Surprise, with some elements of G3 Pinkie Pie thrown in. The episode "Dra...

As many of you don't know, I speak reasonably good (read: really bad) Finnish. It has a reputation for being unlike any other language - a reputation that is quite well-founded. However, there are a few words in Finnish that, while they may look and/or sound similar to English words, mean something completely different. Here are just a few of them. Note that these words are not pronounced the same as the English words they resemble. In most cases, Finnish pronunciation is entirely phonetic. I'll try to give a "pronunciation guide" as best as I can. Tie - Road (TEE-eh) Vain - Only (Pronounced like "vine") Korea - Pretty/Beautiful (KOR-ay-a) (Can also mean the country) (Note: Most Finns would say kaunis to mean beautiful) Ale - Sale (AH-leh) Home (HOM-eh) - Mould/fungus No - An interjection. With a question mark, it means "Really?", without a question mark, it means "Well..." (as a hesitation for starting a sentence). It's pron...

Pointless trivia time about everyone's favourite indie horror game, Five Nights at Freddy's. The game's creator, Scott Cawthon, took inspiration for the game from criticisms towards one of his earlier games, a family-friendly game called Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. Internet reviewers claimed that the game's characters looked like creepy animatronics. This initially caused Scott to go into a deep depression, and he almost quit making games entirely, but then he decided that he could make something a lot scarier, and so Five Nights at Freddy's was born. Scott has said that the only animatronic in the game he truly finds scary is Bonnie. He apparently had several nightmares about Bonnie while creating the game. Chica is actually a chicken, despite many people referring to her as a duck. The disturbing laugh that plays whenever Freddy moves from one room to another is the slowed down recording of a little girl giggling. The unedited sound clip can be heard if ...

And now that song is in your head. Pointless trivia time about Pokémon. Everyone knows this already, but the title of the show is an abbreviation for Pocket Monsters. In Japanese, it's common practice to shorten an English-borrowed phrase into something easier to pronounce, such as shortening "paasonaru konpyutaa" (personal computer) to "pasokon", or "sutaatingu menbaa" (starting member) to "sutamen". Shortening "Poketto Monsutaa" to "Pokemon" was just following this trend. The "Pokémon" title (with an accent added over the e to stop people pronouncing it "poke-mon") was used outside of Japan to avoid conflicting with another work called Monster in my Pocket. Pikachu's name comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia words "pikapika", the sound of sparkling, and "chuchu", the sound of a mouse squeaking. The Pokémon names Gastly and Ninetales are often misspelled as Ghastly and N...