Trivia / Celeste

The Video Game:

• Approval of God: Maddy is a supporter of fangames, mods and ROM hacks, and has given permission to a crossover called Celeste.smc that has Mario explore a similar mountain to the one in Celeste.
• Dummied Out:
  • The code contains a "golden block" which rushes up from the bottom of the screen if the player enters its room while carrying a Golden Strawberry. The obvious intent is to make the player take an even harder path on an already-difficult challenge, but the game as released accomplishes this by adding an entire extra room with established blocks, and these special blocks go unused.
  • The "nega block" is very unfinished (its graphic is literally solid red with no texture). If implemented, it would work like a normal block except that it doesn't refresh Madeline's dash when standing on it.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The game received a physical Collector's Edition for the Switch and PS4 versions, courtesy of Limited Run Games. Along with the game, it includes a steelbook case, the soundtrack on a cassette tape, a patch, a postcard, a poster, a sticker sheet, a stuffed winged strawberry, and a strawberry pie recipe.
• Meaningful Release Date: Chapter 9 (Farewell) was released on 9/9/19.
• What Could Have Been:
  • An old development outline for the game shows that Chapter 8 was originally going to be set in space, as opposed to in the core of the mountain, and that there would have been a Hot Springs Episode between Chapters 3 and 4 (the conversation Madeline has with the old woman in Chapter 4 is a remnant of this).
  • According to Maddy Thorson, had she known that she was trans before starting development on Celeste, she would've depicted Madeline (whose identity as a trans woman is only alluded to in the final game) much differently, though didn't give any specifics beyond this.
  • There used to be a mechanic that let you dash forever in the air, but it was scrapped because it "wasn't really that fun".
  • Chapter 6 was originally going to be a water level, but it didn't work out◊. Some water does show up in the finished game, but it's almost entirely for decoration.
• Word of Gay: In November 2020, the developers confirmed that Madeline is a transgender woman, which already was heavily implied in the game. Maddy Thorson discussed it in-depth in an article on November 6, 2020.
• Word of God: The monsters that chase and attack Madeline in Chapter 5 are unnamed in the game, but were officially named "Seekers" during a speedrun of the game at SGDQ 2018 that was commented on by the development team.
• Write What You Know: According to Maddy Thorson, much of the game (especially Madeline's portrayal) was designed as an allegory for her experiences coming to terms with her gender identity.

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