Today, with all the wikis out there, you can learn about the details of video game franchises pretty easily. But back in the 80s and 90s, that wasn't so easy.
So, I often assumed certain things about video games, especially their plots, that turned out to be completely false later on.
Some examples:
When "Pokémon Gold" and "Silver" came out, I wasn't aware of the concept of the silent protagonist. So, when you go to fight Red, his pre- and post-fight dialog simply consists of "..."
When I saw this, I said to my brother: "Man, Ash has become really arrogant."
For a long time, I was under the assumption that Princess Daisy is Mario's love interest.
The reason: I only knew the "Super Mario Land" Game Boy games and the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show". And Mario and Princess Toadstool never had any romantic feelings for each other in the show. But in "Super Mario Land", you see a heart floating up when Mario rescues Princess Daisy.
Funnily, this assumption wouldn't even have changed if I had known the NES games. Because you won't find any romance between Mario and Princess Toadstool there either. Only with "Super Mario World" and "Super Mario All-Stars" was this made obvious in-game.
I also thought that King Koopa from the TV show and Bowser were two separate characters. After all, that guy from the games that I've seen in the magazines has red hair and is overall more yellow than green.
In "Street Fighter II", I always thought that M. Bison was the winner of the previous year's tournament, with Sagat having lost to M. Bison in the final, and Vega being on place 3 and Balrog on place 4.
The idea that Ryu is the champion at the start of the game never came to my attention. I knew about Ryu having given Sagat his scar, but I thought that was some private out-of-torunament battle that happened long ago.
Even when I found out the story, I couldn't wrap my head around it: If Ryu is the champion, why is M. Bison the final opponent?
Only many years later did I find out that M. Bison is actually supposed to be the host of the tournament. I knew this concept from "Mortal Kombat" where Shang Tsung hosts the tournament and is therefore the final opponent, but I never figured that this applies to "Street Fighter II" as well.
Did you experience similar things as well? Let's hear them.
Oh yeah, and another one about Mario: When I finished "Yoshi's Island" and the stork delivers Mario to his parents into that Smurf-like mushroom village, I asked myself: "Do they have mushroom houses somewhere in Rome?"
So, I often assumed certain things about video games, especially their plots, that turned out to be completely false later on.
Some examples:
When "Pokémon Gold" and "Silver" came out, I wasn't aware of the concept of the silent protagonist. So, when you go to fight Red, his pre- and post-fight dialog simply consists of "..."
When I saw this, I said to my brother: "Man, Ash has become really arrogant."
For a long time, I was under the assumption that Princess Daisy is Mario's love interest.
The reason: I only knew the "Super Mario Land" Game Boy games and the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show". And Mario and Princess Toadstool never had any romantic feelings for each other in the show. But in "Super Mario Land", you see a heart floating up when Mario rescues Princess Daisy.
Funnily, this assumption wouldn't even have changed if I had known the NES games. Because you won't find any romance between Mario and Princess Toadstool there either. Only with "Super Mario World" and "Super Mario All-Stars" was this made obvious in-game.
I also thought that King Koopa from the TV show and Bowser were two separate characters. After all, that guy from the games that I've seen in the magazines has red hair and is overall more yellow than green.
In "Street Fighter II", I always thought that M. Bison was the winner of the previous year's tournament, with Sagat having lost to M. Bison in the final, and Vega being on place 3 and Balrog on place 4.
The idea that Ryu is the champion at the start of the game never came to my attention. I knew about Ryu having given Sagat his scar, but I thought that was some private out-of-torunament battle that happened long ago.
Even when I found out the story, I couldn't wrap my head around it: If Ryu is the champion, why is M. Bison the final opponent?
Only many years later did I find out that M. Bison is actually supposed to be the host of the tournament. I knew this concept from "Mortal Kombat" where Shang Tsung hosts the tournament and is therefore the final opponent, but I never figured that this applies to "Street Fighter II" as well.
Did you experience similar things as well? Let's hear them.
Oh yeah, and another one about Mario: When I finished "Yoshi's Island" and the stork delivers Mario to his parents into that Smurf-like mushroom village, I asked myself: "Do they have mushroom houses somewhere in Rome?"