History ArtifactTitle / VideoGames

* The title of ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' actually refers to a series of wars which took place before the events of the original game. By the time the player character comes along, they have ended. They make sense in the context of the game since players can form guilds and engage in matched combat against other guilds, but the title is a hangover from the early days of its development when this aspect of the game was the most important. It is even more an example of this when you consider the upcoming sequel, ''GuildWars2'' is set 250 years after the original game, and guild versus guild combat is not a feature that will be included, at least when the game launches.

* Franchise/SuperMarioBros

* Any modern game involving [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] that includes the prefix "Super" is somewhat anachronistic since, outside of the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series, ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', turning from small Mario to "Super Mario" has ceased to be part of the play mechanics.

* ''{{Boktai}}'' is short for the series' Japanese title, ''Bokura no Taiyou'', which means "our sun". This makes sense for a solar-powered series, and it gets a climactic TitleDrop in the first game. The nickname was already established by the time the translation came out, so the translators kept it -- but of course it makes no sense at all in English, so they added a subtitle, "The Sun Is In Your Hand". (Certain manga and anime, such as ''{{Haganai}}'' and ''{{Higurashi}}'', have chosen this approach as a way to give a translation without losing the recognition value of the existing name.) In order to ''de-orphan'' the title slightly, they gave the name "Bok" to a common class of {{Mook}} that goes by "Ghoul" in the original version.
* Nintendo confirmed that TheYearOfLuigi celebration would carry on to 2014, thus, technically making this "The Years of Luigi" instead of "The Year".

* ''{{Boktai}}'' is short for the series' Japanese title, ''Bokura no Taiyou'', which means "our sun". This makes sense for a solar-powered series, and it gets a climactic TitleDrop in the first game. The nickname was already established by the time the translation came out, so the translators kept it -- but of course it makes no sense at all in English, so they added a subtitle, "The Sun Is In Your Hand". (Certain manga and anime, such as ''{{Haganai}}'' and ''{{Higurashi}}'', have chosen this approach as a way to give a translation without losing the recognition value of the existing name.) In order to ''de-orphan'' the title slightly, they gave the name "Bok" to a common class of {{Mook}} that goes by "Ghoul" in the original version.

* This almost occurred in the NES version of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'', but the developers managed to work around it. The original arcade version allowed up to two players simultaneously, taking control of twin martial artists named Billy and Jimmy Lee (hence the game's title). When working on the NES version, the programmers were unable to adapt the arcade's 2-players co-op mode. Since the title wouldn't have made much sense with just one of the Lee brothers, the other one now appears as the final boss after Machine Gun Willy (the final boss from the arcade version) is defeated.

** The arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'' allowed up to three players simultaneously depending on the game's settings. The third player controls a previously-unseen/unmentioned Lee brother named Sonny, meaning that the eponymous duo became a trio. "Triple Dragon" apparently didn't have the same ring to it.

* The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' game, ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', was released in America after the third game in the series (''Gyakuten Saiban 3'') was already out in Japan. When it became obvious that the protagonist in the fourth game was not going to be Phoenix Wright, but a new character, Capcom changed the emphasis of the western logos and branding to make "Ace Attorney" the franchise's title, while keeping the "Phoenix Wright" portion as a supertitle for the first two sequels.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' got its title because its main designer, Hironobu Sakaguchi, contemplated on quitting Square if his next game bombed following up on the failures of his earlier games and he decided that his "final" game would be a "fantasy" RPG. Thus "Final" has technically been an artifact ever since ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''. This goes even further when the title is applied to spin-offs that have no connection to the main ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game and follows a completely different format.
** Still made some sense when each game was singular and unrelated to the rest of the series; it was the final fantasy of that world. That went away with ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 X-2]]'' (and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 XIII-2]]'').

* The ''VideoGame/{{Soul|Series}}'' series begins with ''Soul Edge'', which was then followed by ''Soulcalibur''. All the sequels afterward are titled ''Soulcalibur'' with a number. Technically this isn't an artifact title, because the weapon actually called Soul Calibur is still in the series, but [[SpotlightStealingSquad so much focus is put on Soul Edge that it just doesn't matter]]. In ''Soulcalibur II'', EVERYONE gets a form of Soul Edge as one of their weapons, while you can count Soul Calibur wielders on the fingers of a single hand! This includes the silly {{guest fighter}}s [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], ComicBook/{{Spawn}} and [[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Heihachi]] (who fights bare handed).
** The title change was a result of Namco wanting to avoid legal issues with infamous trademark troll Tim Langdell of Edge Games, who wanted royalties due to the use of the word "Edge." This was also the reason why the PS port of the original ''Soul Edge'' was retitled ''Soul Blade'' overseas.

* In the early games of the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series, a major part of each game's plot involve destroying the brand new Metal Gear tank in the hands of the enemy. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' emphasizes the Patriots conspiracy in which the main characters are involved with, while reducing the role the mecha has in the plot. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', a prequel to the previous games, has no mecha with the Metal Gear name, but a tank that fills its role, as well as a single scene involving the original creator of the Metal Gear itself showing his plans to Naked Snake.

** The meaning of the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'''s title is twofold: it was the third game in the series (following the MSX games ''Metal Gear'' and ''Metal Gear 2'') and it was the first one developed in [=3D=] (produced during the early days of [=3D=] gaming). The former meaning is now rendered nonsensical in light of the numbered sequels released since, while the latter is redundant since [=3D=] is now the norm.

* On a similar note to ''HouseOfTheDead'', due to copyright issues with the original title of ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' (''Biohazard''), the dev team came up with the former as a reference to the mansion that [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil the first game]] was set in. Also like HOTD, no other game later in the series is set in a mansion, with the exception of the mansion holding Umbrella's trainee classrooms in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'' (and the game starts out on a train). The Japanese title, ''Biohazard'', can last because it references the viruses that drive the plot.
* The two ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' games with Richard Miller (the original and the obscure PSX-only Project Titan) have a timer that starts at 60 seconds, [[TimeKeepsOnTicking keeps running in between action scenes]], and every section cleared adds a certain amount of time. The game ends if it runs out. That's where the title comes from, the constant race against time. Every game since (including the companion games Crisis Zone and Razing Storm) has a timer which ''resets'' after a section is cleared, and ''also'' resets if you take a hit. Furthermore, if it runs out, you only lose one life box (and this also resets the timer). Speed is vastly less important now; it's all about recognizing enemy patterns and accuracy, and almost nobody has had time run out on them.

** Quake's Artifact Title goes deeper than that - Quake was the name of the game's original protagonist from the game's planning stages, when the game was being developed as a side-scrolling Action RPG under the title ''Quake: The Fight for Justice'' starring an unstoppable barbarian god.

*** At least in the first game, the title more or less fit the premise, a rootless warrior seeking battles with worthy opponents around the world strictly for the sake of the fight. Ryu hasn't changed much since then, but over the years his simple story has been overshadowed by the great secret evil organization and soul transferences and memory loss and human cloning and DNA scarring and sinister agents with artificial body parts and Dark Hado and competing wrestling leagues and that ''other'' great secret evil organization etc. etc.
*** The ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Alpha]]'' series, ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Third Strike]]'', and ''Super VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' are at least half-subversions as well. While the aforementioned evil organizations were at the center of the plot, there was no actual tournament going on (in the case of the ''3S'', the tournament had mostly wrapped up by the time ''Second Impact'' ended/''Third Strike'' begun, whereas ''SSFIV'' is simultaneously set during ''IV''[='s=] tournament and right after its close); the various cast members were simply touring the world and challenging each other to fights basically everywhere while attempting to get to the bottom of it all.

* The ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games have generally avoided this trope by having all of their protagonists visit Silent Hill at some point within the game - the only exception being ''SilentHill4'', which takes place in South Ashfield ("a few hours' drive away"). While it's revealed that the protagonist ''has'' gone to Silent Hill in the past, he never visits it in the game, only coming as close as the woodlands surrounding the town. There are several references to the town regarding several character backstories, but none really justify the title. In fact it was originally given a completely different title, although still set in the SH universe.

* Later installments of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series have given you much more to do other than stealing cars, so much that car theft doesn't seem that much of a major feature anymore. As time has gone on, you've been able to also steal boats and planes, and engage in other criminal activities that include but not limited to pimping, gang wars, trafficking, assassinations and drug dealing.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' seems to be desperately trying to avoid this:
** By ''Metroid Fusion'', the Metroids have been exterminated by the protagonist, who to justify the game's title is now physically bonded with the last remaining Metroid. Every game since then has been a prequel.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'' trilogy now features at least four female characters in the main cast.
** Samus was a main character in the original, [[SamusIsAGirl and a girl]], so the name wasn't 100% accurate to begin with.

** The japanese games never used coloured carts so it seems unlikely that 'Version' refers to the colour of the cart. It's more likely that they were called 'versions' because, well, they were different versions of the same game.

* The ''SaintsRow'' game have fallen to this - although the eponymous Row was still there in the 2nd game, it was the only territory you couldn't retake. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' doesn't even take place in the same city anymore.

** Not that ''Call of Duty'' could ever really become an artifact anyway (unless they changed the game to being about surviving being stranded on an alien planet or something weird). The role of the player character is ''always'' to answer the "call of duty", whatever it may be.
* Recent installments of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series have given you much more to do other than stealing cars, so much that car theft doesn't seem that much of a major feature anymore. As time has gone on, you've been able to also steal boats and planes, and engage in other criminal activities that include but not limited to pimping, gang wars, trafficking, assassinations and drug dealing.

* Recent installments of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series have given you much more to do other than stealing cars, so much that car theft doesn't seem that much of a major feature anymore. As time has gone on, you've been able to also steal boats and planes, and engage in other criminal activities including pimping, gang wars, trafficking, murder and drug dealing.

* The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series, which (named after a term for motor vehicle theft) although does indeed allow you to steal any car you want, that is only one of many things that you've been able to do in the series along with blowing stuff up, riding planes and boats, shooting/killing people as well as doing missions involving all kinds of criminal activity.

** Similarly, ''Soulcalibur V'' director Daishi Odashima wanted to name the game ''Soul Edge 2'' in attempt to do away with this, [[PublisherChosenTitle but was shot down]]. The only feasible way ''SCV'', the ''sixth'' game in [[VideoGameLongRunners a series running since 1995]], could get away with that would be if the game was titled "''Soulcalibur V: Soul Edge 2''", like how ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]'' was ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld 2'' (or even how ''Super Mario World'' was given the subtitle ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros 4'' in Japan). In all fairness, Soul Calibur's emphasis in the story, while still eclipsed by its sibling sword, has been on a bit of an upturn recently, thanks to [[spoiler:its NotSoDifferent KnightTemplar tendencies]] in ''SCIV'' and ''SCV''. The number of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur wielders, canonical or not, has also balanced out more evenly since ''SCII'' and not everyone is able to obtain a version of Soul Edge starting in ''SCIII''. [[note]]''III'': Soul Edge goes to Nightmare, Mitsurugi, and Tira; Siegfried, Kilik, Xianghua, and Talim get Soul Calibur; ''IV'': Soul Edge goes to Nightmare, Sophitia, Voldo, Cervantes, Maxi, Astaroth, Yun-seong, Tira, and Amy, whereas Siegfried, Seong Mi-na, Xianghua, Ivy, Yoshimitsu, Cassandra, and Setsuka receive Soul Calibur; meanwhile, Talim and Algol get ''[[YinYangBomb both swords]]'', and Kilik's Embrace of Souls is the end result of absorbing the energies of the soul swords into his Kali-Yuga (Zasalamel's Irkalla in ''III'' and ''IV'' is something similar); ''Broken Destiny'' (the PSP port of ''IV'') also gives Siegfried and Nightmare the [[TitleDrop Broken Destiny]], a fusion of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur similar to the Soul Embrace in ''III''.[[/note]]

** Similarly, ''Soulcalibur V'' director Daishi Odashima wanted to name the game ''Soul Edge 2'' in attempt to do away with this, but was shot down. The only feasible way ''SCV'', the ''sixth'' game in [[VideoGameLongRunners a series running since 1995]], could get away with that would be if the game was titled "''Soulcalibur V: Soul Edge 2''", like how ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]'' was ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld 2'' (or even how ''Super Mario World'' was given the subtitle ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros 4'' in Japan). In all fairness, Soul Calibur's emphasis in the story, while still eclipsed by its sibling sword, has been on a bit of an upturn recently, thanks to [[spoiler:its NotSoDifferent KnightTemplar tendencies]] in ''SCIV'' and ''SCV''. The number of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur wielders, canonical or not, has also balanced out more evenly since ''SCII'' and not everyone is able to obtain a version of Soul Edge starting in ''SCIII''.

** Another attempted handwave claimed that the title creatures were named after the Chozo word for a great warrior, meaning the term can be applied to Samus as well.
*** Actually, it means "Ultimate Warrior."

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity: Override'' is a case of this happening to the subtitle of a specific game in the series during development -- the game began development as a total conversion to the previous game, and as a placeholder name the mod was literally named for what it was to do, namely override the previous game data (this being 1996, the term total conversion was not yet as common). The placeholder never found a replacement even when ''Override'' became the official ''[[ThematicSeries sequel]]'' to ''Escape Velocity''.

* Any modern game involving [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] that includes the prefix "Super" is somewhat anachronistic since, outside of the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros.'' series, ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', turning from small Mario to "Super Mario" has ceased to be part of the play mechanics.

* Any modern game involving [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] that includes the prefix "Super" is somewhat anachronistic since, outside of the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros.'' series, turning from small Mario to "Super Mario" has ceased to be part of the play mechanics.

* While the sequel ''{{VideoGame/Riven}}'' and odd-game-out ''Uru: Ages Beyond Myst'' avoided this, the island of ''{{Myst}}'' was not seen in ''Myst [=III=]: Exile'' or ''Myst [=IV=]: Revelation''.

* While the sequel ''{{Riven}}'' and odd-game-out ''Uru: Ages Beyond Myst'' avoided this, the island of ''{{Myst}}'' was not seen in ''Myst [=III=]: Exile'' or ''Myst [=IV=]: Revelation''.

* ''TheSpiritEngine2'' is an InNameOnly sequel to the original. It has a completely different setting -- the only things connecting it to the original are the battle system and the "choose-your-own-characters" feature, making it a SpiritualSuccessor.

** The original ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' itself lacked the 2-player co-op mode from the original ''VideoGame/MarioBros.'', which is the reason why the preceding game was titled ''Mario Bros.'' in the first place. While ''Super'' has a 2-Player mode, it is of the alternating type, which reduces Luigi's role in the game to a mere afterthought (since there's no point of having a separate Player 2 character if both players have to take turn). The Japanese version of ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' would try to justify Luigi's inclusion in the game by removing the 2-Player mode and making Luigi [[DivergentCharacterEvolution an alternate character with his own characteristics]], while the 2-Player mode in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 SMB3]]'' allows both players to split the stages among themselves rather than having separate playthroughs for each one.

** The latter two thirds of the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' trilogy ''just'' avoids falling into this. Dark Samus, the main antagonist of ''2'' and ''3'', is in fact the eponymous Metroid Prime, bonded with the Phazon Suit after the battle at the end of the first game. It's very easy to miss this, however, as it's never explicitly mentioned anywhere, and the only real hint (seeing Dark Samus' hand emerge from the puddle of Phazon) is only shown after the credits of the first game--IF you've found every last secret in the game.
*** ''Hunters'' is indeed devoid of Metroids.
*** Except for the demo version.

* At no point in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' do any of the characters set foot on Monkey Island, although it is referenced several times. The island also was not featured in ''VideoGame/{{Monkey Island 2|Le Chucks Revenge}}'', although ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'' later retconned this.
** Only to be expected when the first game "The Secret of Monkey Island", neither mentioned nor revealed the title's secret. A fact repeatedly lampshaded throughout the series.

** This is somewhat debatable since Kratos loses his godly powers in the beginning of ''God of War II'' and doesn't regain them in either that game or the sequel. ''God of War: Chains Of Olympus'', is set before the first game and doesn't even feature Ares. The only game featuring Kratos as the God of War from start to finish is ''God of War: Ghost of Sparta''.

* Most unofficial fan sequels to the popular [[NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] game ''VideoGame/DuckHunt'' actually do not involve shooting any ducks at all, since there aren't any there - you now instead shoot dogs! [[TheScrappy Probably for the better]].
* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' features a protagonist named Zero, not Mega Man. Ironically, the manga adaptation of ''MMZ'' made this mistake about Zero, among many other errors/deviations. It was so notable that, years later, Zero's ending in ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' specifically made a point of [[LampshadeHanging poking fun at this]].
** Averted in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', but Mega Man is now a ''[[LegacyCharacter title]]'' referring to people who can use the Biometal UpgradeArtifact, rather than an individual.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series can sometimes dabble into this trope, as there are a games where Zelda has little to no role in the story. However, she is still very much a central character to the series overall.
** While Zelda herself doesn't physically appear in a select few games, she still plays some sort of role overall due to [[spoiler:''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'' revealing that Zelda is actually the goddess Hylia reborn in human form. This explains Zelda's powers throughout the series and why nearly every evil character kidnaps her.]]

* The word "Version" in each of the main ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games. Originally, it referred to differently-colored game paks, and until ''Yellow'' came out, ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Red and Blue]]'' (or ''Red'' and ''Green'' in Japan) were ''just'' called "Pokemon", rather than actually being part of the title of each version of each game (minus "Version"). ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Diamond and Pearl]]'' were the first pair of games not to have color-coded cards, and each game's version name from there on referred only to the cover art.
** Fixed with ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', which don't use the word Version in their names.

* Now that the updated PC version of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'' is available as a digital download, and even on systems such as the {{Ouya}} which don't even have any disc drives at all, its title no longer makes sense.