Games with confusing or misleading titles

[skykiii]

Anyone but me ever run into this?

For example:

Recently I was on GOG.com and saw that there was something called "Montezuma's Revenge: Director's Cut." Which I assumed was a re-release but with extra rooms and game modes and such. But what confused me is they also sell another Montezuma's Revenge. And then I look and "Director's Cut" is actually a sequel. So why isn't it called "Montezuma's Revenge 2" or something?

It reminds me of the Sega Genesis, and how there was a game called "Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition," which sounds like its just an update, but once again, its actually a completely different game.

There's also Halo 3: ODST. For a long time I was confused and wondered if this was an expansion pack or some sort of "Game of the Year Edition" type deal, but one of my friends says no, its actually a new game.

You people ever run into this crap? Any I missed?

And what is up with devs and confusing titles?

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

None of the themes or characters from "Asses on Fire 11" returned in the sequel, which was a bummer.

 

[Testacles Maximus]

Goldeneye 007. The fucking gall.

 

[BigFatSweatyMan]

>Call your game Final Fantasy
>make a bajillion of them

 

[Squawking Macaw]

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. Spyro has no relevance to the plot at all.

 

[The Last Stand]

There's also Halo 3: ODST. For a long time I was confused and wondered if this was an expansion pack or some sort of "Game of the Year Edition" type deal, but one of my friends says no, its actually a new game.

They're half right. All retail copies of Halo 3: ODST include a multiplayer disc for Halo 3's multiplayer with all the DLC maps. The "why" was because ODST's campaign was originally pitched as an expansion before evolving into its own thing, so Bungie or MS pitched for a multiplayer disc to justify its $60 price point.

>Call your game Final Fantasy
>make a bajillion of them

Actually, it was believed to be Sakaguchi's last game. If it didn't do well, it would've been his swan song before going back to college. And the rest is history.

Thread tax: hmm... I cannot think of anything at the moment. Exactly what it says on the tin.

 

[Grub]

>Call your game Final Fantasy
>make a bajillion of them

>Call your game Final Fantasy
>game set in modern era with minimal fantasy elements

 

[NH-8340]

It's called Quake 2 but it doesn't feel anything like the original, if anything it comes off as a bargain bin version of Half-Life.

 

[eDove]

Oh my gosh, PETZ: CATZ 2 or however it's officially titled. Does this count?

I've been wanting to talk about this game for years. It's the most bizarre case of false advertizing I've experienced firsthand.

We had a Wii growing up. My dad saw this game on a shelf somewhere and bought it thinking it was a cute cat raising game for us kids to play.



This was the cover. When I finally booted it up, it was an RPG and had nothing to do with what the image suggests.

You play as a cat on this island inhabited by cats. You wear clothes and stuff. There's a magic hat that's stolen by an evil wolf and he sends the world into darkness/chaos, Ganondorf style. You, the plucky protagonist cat (with the help of a talking companion thing?) must take down the evil wolf.

The thing is, ths game was super fun and cozy. I've debated tracking it down and emulating it just to experience it one more time. But yeah, very confusing for a young kid to process.

 

[satorrotas]

Nobody Lives Under The Lighthouse.

 

[TATE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODE!!]

Silent Hill. Where is the hill that's quiet???

Actually, it was believed to be Sakaguchi's last game. If it didn't do well, it would've been his swan song before going back to college. And the rest is history.

That's just some bullshit history revisionism he's done. He wanted the initials FF no matter what and the original title was Fighting Fantasy but that was already taken.

 

[Observotron]

Halo 5: Guardians. There's barely any guardians and barely any Halo. Honestly, its weird to even think about it as a mainline entry for various reasons.

I very rarely see the game's full title mentioned anywhere the game is discussed.

 

[Nicholas Gur]

Black ops apparently being on 7 makes me feel like I missed windows 9 somewhere in their yearly release schedule.

 

[Judge Dredd]

It's called Quake 2 but it doesn't feel anything like the original, if anything it comes off as a bargain bin version of Half-Life.

What will really upset you is Doom 64 is it's own game, and Quake 2 on N64 is a different game as well. It's a completely different campaign.

Related to that, all the weird Sims spin offs that either play nothing like the sims, or are otherwise different. eg. The Sims Bustin Out is a different game to the PC game of the same name.

Also, the PS2 version of Quantum of Solace is different from the next gen (ie. Xbox 360) versions. Some people even say the PS2 game is a better game.

Need for Speed has a bunch of. There are a bunch of games called "hot pursuit". Hot pursuit 2 is the same game with different physics depending on the console (PS2 is considered the best). There's also a couple of Most Wanted games, but none are related to each other. Then there's Undercover. The same plot, but different games depending on system.

 

[BiggestKai]

Nobody Lives Under The Lighthouse.

>Game is called Look Outside
>look outside
>game over

 

[XL xQgg?QcQCaTYDMjqoDnYpG]

Funny you open such a thread, it was just this week I mentioned how I found the title of the Tokyo Extreme Racing games fraudulent

Extreme racing... against a singular opponent, on a mostly linear paved road with no runoff area and with less traffic in the way than in Grand Theft Auto III. The only word in the title that seems accurate to me is "Tokyo"

However, an explanation was provided

The franchise's English title was made in a time when using words like "extreme" or "radical" was in vogue, around 1999 with the original on the Dreamcast. Because extreme sports was simultaneously on the rise, this was their attempt to cater to the American market.

If it means anything, Europe did have the first two games labeled Tokyo Highway Challenge and does make more sense with what you're doing in that game: challenging opponents on the highway. But they didn't keep it named like that for long and resorted to using the American titles afterwards. Japan, meanwhile, has always set it up as 首都高バトル, or Shutokō Battle since the Super Famicom original.

So the main reason for why it is named as such is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

 

[Squawking Macaw]

Oh my gosh, PETZ: CATZ 2 or however it's officially titled. Does this count?

I've been wanting to talk about this game for years. It's the most bizarre case of false advertizing I've experienced firsthand.

We had a Wii growing up. My dad saw this game on a shelf somewhere and bought it thinking it was a cute cat raising game for us kids to play.

View attachment 7825016

This was the cover. When I finally booted it up, it was an RPG and had nothing to do with what the image suggests.

You play as a cat on this island inhabited by cats. You wear clothes and stuff. There's a magic hat that's stolen by an evil wolf and he sends the world into darkness/chaos, Ganondorf style. You, the plucky protagonist cat (with the help of a talking companion thing?) must take down the evil wolf.

The thing is, ths game was super fun and cozy. I've debated tracking it down and emulating it just to experience it one more time. But yeah, very confusing for a young kid to process.

I wanted to mention this game but I was embarrassed to admit I play this on the Farms lmao. I asked my mom to buy the Dogz version as a kid thinking it was gonna be a pet simulator and then it turns out it's an action adventure game where you play as the dog. It was one of my favorite games, though.

The backstory is that Petz used to make pet simulators for PC, but at some point (ETA: after Ubisoft bought the brand) they stopped making their own games and instead picked random Japanese pet games to localize, and this game was among them. The Japanese title translates to "The Puppy/Kitten and the Magic Hat" and the cover paints a better picture of the game:


Ubisoft also released The DOG Island and it plays almost exactly like this game. I played it not long ago just for the nostalgia.

 

[graywolf88]

Horizon: Zero Dawn

 

[eDove]

The backstory is that the company, Petz, used to make pet simulators for PC, but at some point they stopped making their own games and instead picked random Japanese pet games to localize, and this game was among them. The Japanese title translates to "The Puppy/Kitten and the Magic Hat" and the cover paints a better picture of the game:

Lol, thank you for the explanation. I was certain something like this had to be the case. It didn't necessarily reek of malicious, deceptive marketing… more like IDGAF marketing, just throw it out there, whatever.

Which is a shame because I think the games easily could've found an audience for what they were. I was embarrassed the whole time I played it, but it sucked me in and I had fun. I'd replay it as an adult with zero shame. My kids might even enjoy it too.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I wanted to mention this game but I was embarrassed to admit I play this on the Farms lmao.

It's fascinating to me that people played these. I always saw them everywhere in shops at the time and wondered who buys this stuff. It's not just pets, but games about babies and horses and stuff like that.

Funny you open such a thread, it was just this week I mentioned how I found the title of the Tokyo Extreme Racing games fraudulent

It gets even better. One of the games had the name "Import Tuner Challenge". The game is set in Japan, so the cars are domestic.

On that topic, the Simple Series games (a string of budget games in Japan) is difficult to navigate as a westerner because many of the halfway decent ones got a release in the west under different names. Onechambra got released as Zombie Zone, for example.