History IAmNotShazam / VideoGames

** Since the "Solid" in ''Metal Gear Solid'' is also a reference to protagonist Solid Snake, you would naturally assume that the protagonist in ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid'' is "Acid Snake", but not quite. The main character in the first ''Acid'' is still Solid Snake (or at least an AU version of Solid Snake) and while the protagonist of ''Metal Gear Acid 2'' is a different Snake (specifically a clone of the Solid Snake from the first ''Acid''), he's simply called "Snake" throughout the game and never "Acid Snake".

* There is nothing and no one in ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' named Genshin. It's not the name of any of the characters, nor is it the name of the world it takes place in - the world is called Teyvat, and the two player characters are officially named (in the English localisation at least) Aether (the boy) and Lumine (the girl). "Genshin" is just the Japanese reading of the Chinese word "Yuánshén", which means "primordial god" or "original god". In its native China, the game is simply called ''Yuánshén'' - the "Impact" was added to the English title to make a parallel with ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', the developers' previous game.

* Subverted with ''VideoGame/NieR''. [[WordOfGod According to Yoko Taro]], "Nier" was originally supposed to be a WordPureeTitle rather than the name of the protagonist. However, thanks to the ExecutiveMeddling the protagonist was eventually named 'Nier' in the official side materials related to the game (inadvertently turning it into an ArtifactTitle since the future entries in the series don't feature him as a protagonist). The reasoning for this was that the protagonist couldn't have stayed completely nameless in these types of media, though the follow-up games VideoGame/NierAutomata and VideoGame/NierReincarnation still avoid mentioning him by name, instead referring him as [[spoiler: "the Destroyer"]] or [[spoiler: "the man who destroyed the world"]].

* In the NES game ''VideoGame/NutsAndMilk'', the hero is Milk, not Nuts; that the player's number of lives is labeled "MILK" should be a clue. The WaddlingHead with TertiarySexualCharacteristics is neither of the title characters; her name is Yogurt. Nuts is the enemy.

* Subverted with ''VideoGame/NieR''. [[WordOfGod According to Yoko Taro]] Nier was originally supposed to be a WordPureeTitle rather than the name of the protagonist. However, thanks to the ExecutiveMeddling the protagonist was eventually named "Nier" in the official side materials related to the game (inadvertently turning it into an ArtifactTitle since the future entries in the series don't feature him as a protagonist). The reasoning for this was that the protagonist couldn't have stayed completely nameless in these types of media, though the follow-up games VideoGame/NierAutomata and VideoGame/NierReincarnation still avoid mentioning him by name, instead referring him as [[spoiler: "the Destroyer"]] or [[spoiler: "the man who destroyed the world"]].

* [[WordOfGod Yoko Taro said]] that the protagonist of ''VideoGame/NieR'' is NOT named Nier. Nier is a word that means "curse" or "to deny", hence why the title fits with ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' which (aside from few references) does not contain the protagonist whatsoever. This has caused a lot of confusion, since before this announcement most of the official side material (most notably Drama CD's and the novella ''Grimoire Nier'') had in fact used the name "Nier" for the protagonist. This was apparently done as a compromise, because the protagonist couldn't have stayed completely nameless in these types of media.

* ''Frachise/{{Splatoon}}'' is the name of the series, but it isn't the name of the arena-inking game the Inklings and Octolings play in the context of the Splatoon universe. The name of that main game mode is "Turf War". "Splatoon" is what the teams of four are called in-universe (though it would probably be more accurate to call them [[JustForPun splire teams]]), with the New Squidbeak Splatoon also being the name of the militia you join in each game's story mode.

* In a rare video game company example, LJN has this happen. In their Enteractive Video Games, some people have mistook Enteractive ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused with the company]]) for a separate gaming company. Enteractive was a brand label LJN used on some of their games during 1987-1990.

* Ryu Hayabusa is not "''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''" - gaiden means "side story," or "anecdote" - a title which is [[GratuitousJapanese nonsensical in Japanese]] and was only chosen because someone at Creator/{{Tecmo}} believed that the [[MarketBasedTitle Japanese title]] of ''Ninja Ryukenden'' (which loosely translates to the "Ninja Dragon Sword Tale") was difficult for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, due to how commonly the Japanese word/name Ryu gets mispronounced as "Rye-you". Unfortunately, that still didn't prevent people from [[NoPronunciationGuide butchering the pronunciation]] of ''gaiden'' (hint: it rhymes with "guy", not "gay").

* [[WordOfGod Yoko Taro said]] that the protagonist of ''VideoGame/NieR'' is NOT named Nier. Nier is a word that means "curse" or "to deny", hence why the title fits with VideoGame/NierAutomata which (aside from few references) does not contain the protagonist whatsoever. This has caused a lot of confusion, since before this announcement most of the official side material (most notably Drama CD's and the novella ''Grimoire Nier'') had in fact used the name "Nier" for the protagonist. This was apparently done as a compromise, because the protagonist couldn't have stayed completely nameless in these types of media.

* The manual for ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfRadGravity'' says "An item you picked up on Sauria will help you defeat the deadly Trogs." Do they mean the rock-throwing reptilian creatures, or the twin robots that are the boss of the level (which require the Saurian Crystals to defeat)?

** The ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card game, also developed by Creator/{{Konami}}, features cards based on ''Gradius'' fighters/ships, but erroneously refer to the ship itself as "Gradius" in early iterations; later variants of the card correctly refer to it as the Vic Viper.

* ''VideoGame/BerserkAndTheBandOfTheHawk'' is the English title of what is otherwise known as ''Berserk Musou'', ''Musou'' (無双, literally "unparalleled") being the brand name used by ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''(''Sangoku Musou'') and all of its spinoffs in Japan (e.g. ''Sengoku Musou'', ''Gundam Musou'', ''Kaizoku Musou''). The English title implies that "Berserk" is the name of the game's protagonist, as it follows the common CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase title format, nevermind that the protagonist's name is actually Guts. "Berserk: Guts and the Band of the Hawk", or simply "Berserk: The Band of the Hawk" would have made more sense.

* Not about a person, making it a close one between this and CowboyBebopAtHisComputer, but Alpha Centauri in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' is the name of the sun. (It isn't something the designers came up with; it exists in real life as a binary star system; see Wiki/ThatOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri for details]]) The planet's name is Chiron (aka Planet).

* ''Xenoblade'' series:
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'': The big red sword on the cover is ''not'' the "Xenoblade". The game's name certainly refers to it, but the sword's actual name is the "Monado".
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Likewise, the sword is not the "Xenoblade", but rather the Aegis sword. The "blade" in the name refers to Blades, a race of {{Mon}}s, to one of which the sword belongs.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros4'' brings this up when [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Pit]] talks about [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] in his Smash Taunt. Viridi snarkily calls Samus "Metroid", but Pit corrects this. Palutena then goes on to say that [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Link isn't "Zelda"]], and then Viridi chimes in with how Pit himself isn't "Icarus".

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' is the name of the game, but it isn't the name of the arena-inking game the Inklings and Octolings play in the context of the Splatoon universe; its name is "Turf War".

* In ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'' people call Yatterman-1 simply Anime/{{Yatterman}}. Yatterman is actually the name of the team, and Yatterman-1 and Yatterman-2 are the aliases. Similarly with Anime/{{Karas}}; that's closer to his title or even his race than to his name (Karas are humans empowered by making a contract with the "Will of the City", giving them jurisdiction over a particular city on Earth; the Karas in ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom''-- the main character of the OVA -- is actually named Otoha).

** Nor is he called Music/FalloutBoy. That's someone else entirely.

* Out of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters in ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'', not one of them is named "Senran" or "Kagura". The first word isn't even a real Japanese word.

* No ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' character falls victim to this individually, but they do all get plastered with it collectively, overseas at least. [[JustifiedTrope To be fair]], there's no canonical collective name for all the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, but what else do you call the entire FantasyKitchenSink?

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' is named after [[AntagonistTitle the parasitic aliens]] that appear throughout the series. The main character is Samus Aran, whose goal in the [[VideoGame/Metroid1 first]] [[VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus two]] games was to exterminate the species. Because the weapon-equipped suit of armor Samus wears makes her resemble a humanoid robot, and "Metroid" sounding like a portmanteau "metal android", Samus is often erroneously referred to as being named Metroid.[[note]]The reasoning with the name isn't too far off. The name really is a portmanteau, with the second word being android (either referring to her suited appearance or the EarlyInstallmentWeirdness her being a cyborg rather than a [[BioAugmentation bio-augmented human]]). However, the first word is "metro"; as in a metro or subway system, referring to the labyrinthine, underground world Samus explores in that first game (and in many to follow).[[/note]] Compounding the issue is that Samus technically ''is'' a Metroid: she biologically becomes part-Metroid later on in the series' chronology (''VideoGame/MetroidFusion''), and both that game's manual and the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' established that "Metroid" is a Chozo word meaning "ultimate warrior", which nicely doubles as a descriptor for what the [[InterspeciesAdoption human child they raised]] grew up to become as well as the monstrous creatures they created). [[spoiler:And come ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', Samus has now mutated into becoming a full-on humanoid Metroid, even getting the nickname "Ultimate Metroid", making the game have a ProtagonistTitle with her being the last Metroid alive]].

* [[WordOfGod Yoko Taro said]] that the protagonist of ''VideoGame/NieR'' is NOT named Nier. Nier is a word that means "curse", hence why the title fits with VideoGame/NierAutomata which (aside from few references) does not contain the protagonist whatsoever. This has caused a lot of confusion, since before this announcement most of the official side material (most notably Drama CD's and the novella ''Grimoire Nier'') had in fact used the name "Nier" for the protagonist. This was apparently done as a compromise, because the protagonist couldn't have stayed completely nameless in these types of media.

* Ryu Hayabusa is not ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' - gaiden means "side story," or "anecdote" - a title which is [[GratuitousJapanese nonsensical in Japanese]] and was only chosen because someone at Creator/{{Tecmo}} believed that the [[MarketBasedTitle Japanese title]] of ''Ninja Ryukenden'' (which loosely translates to the "Ninja Dragon Sword Tale") was difficult for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, due to how commonly the Japanese word/name Ryu gets mispronounced as "Rye-you". Unfortunately, that still didn't prevent people from [[NoPronunciationGuide butchering the pronunciation]] of ''gaiden'' (hint: it rhymes with "guy", not "gay").

* [[WordOfGod Yoko Taro said]] that the protagonist of VideoGame/NieR is NOT named Nier. Nier is a word that means "curse", hence why the title fits with VideoGame/NierAutomata which (aside from few references) does not contain the protagonist whatsoever. This has caused a lot of confusion, since before this announcement most of the official side material (most notably Drama CD's and Grimoire Nier) had in fact used the name "Nier" for the protagonist.
* Ryu Hayabusa is not "VideoGame/NinjaGaiden" - gaiden means "side story," or "anecdote" - a title which is [[GratuitousJapanese nonsensical in Japanese]] and was only chosen because someone at Creator/{{Tecmo}} believed that the [[MarketBasedTitle Japanese title]] of ''Ninja Ryukenden'' (which loosely translates to the "Ninja Dragon Sword Tale") was difficult for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, due to how commonly the Japanese word/name Ryu gets mispronounced as "Rye-you". Unfortunately, that still didn't prevent people from [[NoPronunciationGuide butchering the pronunciation]] of ''gaiden'' (hint: it rhymes with "guy", not "gay").

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'': You see the big red sword on the cover? That's ''not'' "Xenoblade". The game's name certainly refers to it, but the sword's actual name is "Monado".
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Likewise, the sword is not "Xenoblade", but rather the Aegis sword. The "blade" in the name refers to Blades, a race of {{Mon}}s, to one of which the sword belongs.