History Misblamed / VideoGames

* Multiple games (Such as a few ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' games) have listed a "Gorgon" as a rather bovine like monster that can [[TakenForGranite petrify you]]. SadlyMythtaken, as ''everyone'' knows that a "Gorgon" is Medusa, right? Actually, even ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' depicts a "Gorgon" as a rather bovine like monster that is closer to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catoblepas Catoblepas]] than a more serpentine gorgon. Actually, this comes from a 1981 Rand [=McNally=] encyclopaedia which described a Catoblepas as an african version of the "Gorgon", along with multiple translations which compared them as similar. This also is another case of CommonKnowledge since a [[BrownNote petrifying gaze]] is something that only ''Medusa'' had - her sisters Stheno and Euryale were also gorgons but did not turn people to stone.

** The WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd addressed the publishing issue in Episode 121: "Beetlejuice".

** Fans often blame Natsume, who are simply the localizers and translators in the Americans, for certain problems that were present in the Japanese versions. However Natsume has such a bad rep because they've caused so many glitches with the games, they change parts of the games, and their translations are often butchered.
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonLightOfHope'' received a lot of criticism for being inferior to past console ''Harvest Moon'' titles. However, much of the blame was put on Marvelous, despite the fact they have nothing to do with the title. Starting in 2014, Marvelous decided to translate the series with a different translator as ''Story of Seasons''. The last "true" ''Harvest Moon'' game at the time of ''Light of Hope'''s release was ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsTrioOfTowns''. ''Light of Hope'' is done in-house by Natsume (the previous translators) and is, in essence, as much of a SpiritualSuccessor as ''VideoGame/StardewValley''.

* If you can't play [X] game on [Y] system, it isn't simply the case of the publisher or hardware manufacturers being "lazy". There are many reasons why one game or another can't simply be dragged and dropped onto another piece of hardware; the most common being licensing/ownership agreements (especially for older titles) and the game itself just not being programmed for system in question. The latter is precisely why UsefulNotes/BackwardsCompatibility for older titles is more often than not done via emulation: each new platform a game is developed for often needs to be tweaked for that specific platform, and this was especially the case prior to MediaNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, where each console had ''vastly'' different hardware specifications.

* Why aren't UsefulNotes/{{arcade|Game}}s really a thing anymore? A lot of people who grew up with [[TheNineties 90s]] arcades are quick to blame rising costs of credits (with the most notable increase being from 25 US cents to 50) or the proliferation of [[ArcadePerfectPort Arcade-Perfect Ports]]. The actual reasons are a bit more complicated than that:

** In the mid-90s, advancements in video game console technology allowed for developers to make more long-format games with extensive stories beyond [[ExcusePlot "the bad guys are doing things, the good guys must stop them!"]] and more cinematic storytelling. Games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' demonstrated that games could be used to tell stories in a manner reminiscent of big-budget films; you're not going to be seeing someone sit at an arcade for a 30-hour story-heavy adventure. These became the sort of games that many gamers began to seek out rather than just gameplay-focused games that are all about [[ScoringPoints getting points]] or just discovering and beating the next level; furthermore, these games often feature lower difficulty than arcade games' infamous [[NintendoHard "quarter-muncher"]] difficulty, making them palatable to a wider audience. As a consequence, the demand for arcade-style experiences diminished, to the point where even when arcade games did get perfect ports on consoles, they generally ended up being passed over and not selling as much as those AAA heavy-narrative games, with {{Fighting Game}}s being the exception due to their competitive scene (now the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity can have setups at homes and non-arcade public venues, and later the introduction of online play allowed players to have matches any time they want).

** The liberties taken with early translations of Japanese games are frequently assumed to have just been a case of publishers thinking that ViewersAreMorons. This isn't completely the case; many of the choices that were made, in addition to [[{{Woolseyism}} attempts to make it work better for the new audience]], were often the result of storage space limitations. Japanese text just takes up far less space than Latin script, so even if translators wanted to be as faithful as possible to the source material, they simply couldn't due to the game's UI or even the cartridge itself not having the necessary room. And that's without getting into how little time translators had to do their jobs even up to MediaNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, meaning some alterations could also be simple mistakes they didn't have time to correct.

** The liberties taken with early translations of Japanese games are frequently assumed to have just been a case of publishers thinking that ViewersAreMorons. This isn't completely the case; many of the choices that were made, in addition to [[{{Woolseyism}} attempts to make it work better for the new audience]], were often the result of storage space limitations. Japanese text just takes up far less space than Latin script, so even if translators wanted to be as faithful as possible to the source material, they simply couldn't due to the game's UI or even the cartridge itself not having the necessary room. And that's without getting into how little time translators had to do their jobs even up to UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, meaning some alterations could also be simple mistakes they didn't have time to correct.

* If you can't play [X] game on [Y] system, it isn't simply the case of the publisher or hardware manufacturers being "lazy". There are many reasons why one game or another can't simply be dragged and dropped onto another piece of hardware; the most common being licensing/ownership agreements (especially for older titles) and the game itself just not being programmed for system in question. The latter is precisely why UsefulNotes/BackwardsCompatibility for older titles is more often than not done via emulation: each new platform a game is developed for often needs to be tweaked for that specific platform, and this was especially the case prior to UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, where each console had ''vastly'' different hardware specifications.

* ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' often gets single-handed blame for UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Often pointing to the game's quality blaming it for poor sales evidenced by the massive returns and subsequent dumping of copies in a desert landfill. This was more due to an issue with quantity. The game actually was one of the best selling games on the 2600, selling a million copies which for the time was pretty good. However, Atari vastly overestimated the expected sales and produced more copies than the number of [=2600s=] that had been sold resulting in retailers sending back a massive amount of unsold copies. ''E.T.'' wasn't the only game as well. The ''Pac-Man'' port itself was one of the games dumped into the landfill again because Atari vastly overestimated the sales, despite selling an impressive 7 million copies, Atari still was stuck with millions more copies that were unsold. While Atari was a big factor in the crash, overall it had to do with other factors such as an over-saturation of poor titles flooding the market, competition with home computers, inflation, and loss of publishing control. To sum up: While ''E.T.'' certainly was a contributing factor to the crash, it was quite far from being ''the'' reason.

* The fact that ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' (amongst other demanded games) isn't on the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole seems to lead to people pointing fingers at Nintendo. One would honestly think that fans would actually be bothered to ''look'' at the developer ''and'' publishers for the Nintendo 64 game... Creator/{{Rare}}. Sure, they were second-party at the time of ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'', but in 2002, they were bought out by Microsoft. Which is why there is a ''Conker'' game on the Xbox, not to mention ''VideoGame/KameoElementsOfPower'' and ''VideoGame/PerfectDark Zero'' as launch titles, and the original ''Perfect Dark'' later rereleased on Xbox Live Arcade. Nintendo had no involvement with ''Conker's Bad Fur Day''.

* Xbox Live's userbase has been misblamed for the creation of the "juvenile and unfriendly" gamer. Within UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade, games like ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' get disproportionately blamed for this. Apparently people haven't heard of the theory of [[ForumSpeak G.I.F.T]], which has been in existence long before the Xbox. Live just brought the issue to light if anything. And when it's not Xbox Live that gets all the criticism for this, it's always something like ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'' or ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

* The one-time online [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement DRM]] for pairing the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 slim model's disc drive (together or seprate) is not Sony's doing. It turns out, they are forced by the [=DMCA=]'s 17 U.S. Code § 1201 which is illegal to "circumvent a technological measure that controls access to a copyrighted work". Meaning the disc drive must be an official one, not the unlicensed third-party drives as an unauthorized usage.

* ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'': There was a long-standing urban legend that the ''Trials'' English localization was scrapped in favor of creating ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'' for North American audiences, which resulted in the latter becoming a source of disdain. ''Secret of Evermore'' had nothing to do with that decision, being created by an American team of developers hired specifically for that game. The actual reason for ''Trials'' not being localized was simply because of hardware limitations; there wasn't enough room left on the cartridge for English text. Not to mention that the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 was right around the corner; by the time they'd be able to get all the localization issues sorted out, the newer console would already be on the market, hurting the game's potential sales.
* When [[VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII first]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendIII three]] ''VideoGame/SaGa'' games were rereleased as "Collection of [=SaGa=]", some translation errors were fixed, but the "Colt" weapon was replaced with a "Pistol" weapon. Gamers cried {{Bowdlerisation}}, but it was actually due to legal concerns. "Colt" is actually the name of a RealLife firearm manufacturer, subject to BrandNameTakeover.

* The North American version of the ''VideoGame/DeathSmiles'' UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}} port got a lot of flak for [[DifficultyByRegion having less slowdown than the Japanese versions]], and some decided to point fingers at Aksys Games, who did the localization. In a [[http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732 forum post on the official Aksys website]], an Aksys employee clarified that all of the programming for the North American version--the reduced slowdown included--was Creator/{{Cave}}'s doing.

* Many people talk about the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast as though it single-handedly killed Sega's console business, or at least was the biggest individual factor in them pulling out of that market. In actuality, the [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn Saturn]] was far more culpable for that, thanks to its huge production costs and abysmal first-party software sales (largely thanks to ''VideoGame/SonicXTreme'' dying in DevelopmentHell; the American launch was even worse, between both being released four months earlier than anyone expected [thus ensuring there wasn't really ''anything'' to play at launch] and hiring Bernie Stolar as head of Sega of America [thus ensuring that anything ''good'' probably wouldn't make it to America anyway). The Dreamcast, by comparison, actually sold respectably well: 11 million in just over two years, compared to 9 million in four years for the Saturn. The console's only real failing was not being able to rescue Sega from the financial hole the Saturn and their various other mid-90s blunders (including the 32X, the Nomad, the Neptune and at least two other aborted consoles) put them in.

* After the enormous PortingDisaster that was the PC version of VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight, many fans and PC players blamed Rocksteady for the terrible port, but actually, they didn't work on the PC version initially, it was ported by Iron Galaxy Studios, only 12 people worked on the port and they had a two-month deadline, the real fault is that studio and the publisher, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.

* ''Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute'', a CompilationRerelease of two ''VideoGame/{{Cotton}}'' games and ''VideoGame/GuardianForce'', is widely regarded as a PortingDisaster for having ''10 frames'' of input lag, and the developer of the port, City Connection, was quickly blamed for those 10 frames. However, that's only roughly ''half'' correct. The three games already have about 6 frames of lag on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, and 6 frames is already a lot for many players. Barring emulation techniques like [[https://docs.libretro.com/guides/runahead/ runahead]] that may require very strong hardware due to their reliance on rapidly creating and loading savestates, it would not have been possible for City Connection to port the games to have input response that would please most players.

* Because Nintendo is the co-publisher for the non-Japanese releases of ''VideoGame/Bravely Second'', some people blamed them for the changes made to the localization. Nintendo themselves later came out and said the changes to things like how side quests play out were actually made by Square-Enix, and it was because ''Japanese'' players complained about the way the side quests played out in the original release. Some people also used Nintendo of America's Treehouse division as an easy scapegoat in light of controversy surrounding the localization of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', but the localization company for ''Bravely Second'' is actually an ''Italian'' company named Binari Sonori.