Line #25 AsLongAsItSoundsForeign/VideoGames


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7	AsLongAsItSoundsForeign in video games.
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10	* ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' brings us the ever-lovely name of the Yuktobanian prime minister; "Seryozha Viktrovich Nikanor", which is a horribly butchered form of [[UsefulNotes/RussianNamingConvention Russian naming conventions.]][[note]]Realistically, it would be Sergey Viktorovich Nikanorov.[[/note]]
11	* Units in ''VideoGame/{{Age of Empires\|I}}'' answer commands with the same gibberish lines, regardless of culture. Of course, the game is set in Ancient Times, and we have no idea how most of the languages involved were pronounced anyway. ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'', set in Medieval Times, gave civilizations different real languages... except when it couldn't: The Goths use German, and the Huns, Mongolian. Others are more questionable, such as both Byzantines and Italians using Latin, when Greek and Italian would be more accurate.
12	* ''VideoGame/ArcRiseFantasia'' has a handful of very short songs sung by Ryfia and another Diva, which they use for various purposes, including as their attacks in battle. Each one of these is in a significant-sound and very pleasant, but completely gibberish "language."
13	* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' has perfectly well spoken modern Turkish... for the decidedly European and Christian Templars.
14	* The opening song from ''VideoGame/AtelierIris3GrandPhantasm'' Schwarzweiss uses this along with GratuitousGerman and WordSaladLyrics. The German chanting in the beginning and end of the song is just a mash-up of German and German-sounding words with no grammar connecting any of it.
15	* ''VideoGame/BangaiO'' includes a woman who only speaks in childish doodles of happy meadows and underwater scenes.
16	* ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' also features numerous songs in very convincing-sounding nonsense. Specifically, the nonsense is meant to sound "Belgian, with a little Spanish and English mixed in." Even though "Belgian" isn't a language. However, there are songs with ''real'' Spanish and English words mixed in with the gibberish, as well as the game's pseudo-[[ArcWords arc word]], "Shauni."
17	* In ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain'', the towns all have German-sounding names that don't actually mean anything.
18	* In the 1996 adventure game ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice]]'' a Norwegian character is introduced early in the game, but his lines are just barely comprehensible to Norwegian, Danish or Swedish speakers. In one scene he screams "I have never loved anybody" in horribly mispronounced Swedish (even though he is supposed to be Norwegian).
19	* Every Civ leader in ''Sid Meier's VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Revolution'' speaks in themed foreign sounding gibberish... Intentionally.
20	** The same thing happens for every governor in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates''. Notably, it's the '''''same nonsense phrases''''', just inflected differently for the various nationalities.
21	** On the other hand, the only main-line ''Civ'' game to incorporate talking units, ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'', has each of the units respond in the appropriate language. There was a little bit of BlindIdiotTranslation, but the fact that they bothered to come up with good translations--and find native speakers where applicable--is rather touching. On the other hand, it also reinforces--to some degree-this trope: for instance, the Egyptians, who are very clearly based on the ''{{Ancient\|Egypt}}'' Egyptians, speak ''[[UsefulNotes/ModernEgypt modern]]'' Egyptian Arabic. Similar situations are found with the Greeks (whose units speak modern Greek) and Persians (whose units speak modern Persian). The Vikings one-up these: modern Norwegian instead of Old Norse -- and the faction leader, Sveyn Forkbeard, was ''Danish'' (so not only do they speak a modern version of the language, they don't even speak the ''right'' modern version). The Roman units, however, speak actual Latin--and remarkably well-rendered, with all the "c"s and "g"s pronounced hard, the vowel lengths and qualities properly distinguished, and a voice actor who really gave his all to creating a ''living''-sounding Latin (the end result sounded--surprise, surprise--like a particularly energetic Italian).
22	** ''Civilization V'' did away with the talking units. They just grunt now. Instead, they introduced talking leaders. The phrases the leaders say and the subtitles are completely different, even for leaders like UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington and Queen Elizabeth I. There is still the problem of UsefulNotes/RamsesII not using proper Ancient Egyptian (this is justified by ''no one'' knowing what it's supposed to sound like) and other historical characters using modern-day versions of the languages. For example, UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat sounds like a modern Russian woman despite being born in a 18th century German principality (her subjects often complained at not being able to understand her heavily-accented Russian). Washington also sounds like he could be living in the 21st century.
23	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' '''runs''' on this trope, complete with [[BlindIdiotTranslation Perevod Slepovo Idiota]] and What Do You Mean It Does Not Sound Glorious.
24	** The [[http://lurkmore.so/images/9/91/%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4_%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0_2364151_capture_11052006_213452.jpg most popular example]] in Russia is the БРЭТ ЖОПА one. In the first Red Alert, Soviet briefing often include some encyclopedias drawn into the frame. Their backs all invariably show БРЭТ ЖОПА in uppercase - loosely translated as "BULLSHIT ASSCRACK".
25	** Another cutscene example has a notification on a computer screen that says something like: "Dungir. Dungir. Atomec elictrods everhetid and the momant came. Time to tuntrum: 15:00"[[note]]"Апосно. Апосно. Ядернии електроди пиригрилис и наступил момант. Время для срива 15:00."[[/note]].
26	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Y6cVQUJb0&feature=player_detailpage#t=6m57s One of the examples:]] АПОСНО! НЕ ВИХОА! [[note]]Pure gibberish. They meant "Danger! Keep out!", but wouldn't it be more accurate to say "Опасная зона! Посторонним вход запрещён!"? If that would have been, then this cutscene would be a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome to these who knows the language.[[/note]]
27	** ''Red Alert 3'' trailer also throws this one for a second. A rebel board that says "Изменение". [[note]] They got it wrong on FOUR letters. "Изменение" is directly translated "changing", while for the current context (betrayal), "Измена" would go better.[[/note]]
28	** Good luck understanding the pseudo-Soviet hymn played at the menu screen. Apparently, they did try to use real Russian words, but none of the people who actually sang it spoke the language. The music does, however, make it sound like something similar to the Red Army Choir.
29	** However, they are the first to correctly use the phrase "do svidania", which is normally used in movies to mean "good bye". To be fair, that is what it means, but more in the context of "see you later" (it literally means "until (our) meeting") and not "something you'd say [[PreMortemOneLiner to a guy you're about to shoot]]" (unless you mean SeeYouInHell). The proper word in this case would be "proshchai" (a final goodbye). [[Creator/TimCurry Premier Cherdenko]] uses it correctly.
30	--> '''Cherdenko''': I will not say "do svidania", commander, for I can assure you... we will never meet... again!
31	* ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' has this before you even install the game. The front cover features two prominent Japanese characters 大刀. This can in fact be pronounced ''daikatana'', but no one in Japan would pronounce it that way. 大刀 is properly pronounced ''daitō'', and simply means "long sword".
32	* Being one big AffectionateParody to ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', all of Kung Pao's voice clips from ''VideoGame/{{Divekick}}'' are Creator/BruceLee-sounding gibberish, being a reference to Liu Kang.
33	* ''VideoGame/DragonMaster'': While some characters in this South Korean made knockoff of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' have names that are common and passable in certain parts of the world (e.g. Baekun, Jackie, Joey, Gloria, and Garner), others are odd mashups of various foreign and/or made-up names/words such as "Klaus Garcia", "Jedi Ryan",[[note]](though the ''Franchise/StarWars'' originating word "Jedi" is thought by some to be loosely based on the Japanese word "Jidaigeki" referring to Edo era Period dramas)[[/note]] and "Mozard".
34	* Done with the name of the protagonist of the Russian campaign of ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth''. The name Grigor Illyanich Stoyanovich is ''not'' a proper Russian name, although it's easy enough to correct: Grigoriy Ilyich (presumably, they were going for the "son of Ilya" patronymic) Stoyanov.
35	* The tribals in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas: Honest Hearts'' speak a pidgin that sounds like a mix of English, Spanish, and Native American tongues.[[FridgeBrilliance Which is exactly the language which would be spoken in southern Utah after three-hundred years of cultural intermingling, isolation and linguistic drift.]]
36	* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
37	** Mash Kyrielight's last name appears to be completely made up. Kyrielight is made up of the Greek word kyrie, meaning lord, with the English word light shoved onto the end. Mash on the other hand is a real name, albeit a rather ill-fitting one. It means bitter in Hebrew, which doesn't describe [[NiceGirl her]] at all. Although, given that Mash is simply the name the localization team decided on, it's likely that the translators were just trying to make something of Mashu, the Japanese pronunciation of her name, without turning it into [[GenderBlenderName Matthew]].
38	** The Crypters/Team A in ''Cosmos of the Lostbelt'' take this trope [[ExaggeratedTrope even further]]. The only character with a real name is the Japanese girl. The rest of them all having ridiculous sounding fake European names, like Kirschtaria Wodime, Daybit Sem Void, and ''Scandinavia Peperoncino''. That last one is so [[JustForFun/{{Egregious}} egregious]] that it's acknowledged InUniverse as likely being fake. [[spoiler:Ironically, the Japanese girl is actually ''Chinese'' and was using a fake name (that means "garbage", by the by), while the one with the egregious alias is the actual Japanese member of the group.]]
39	* Given that these are series based around a worldwide fighting tournament, it's expected that ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' would have some of these. Originally Kim Kaphwan was going to be called Kim Haifon, which is not a legitimate Korean name. Some others include Americans named Lucky Glauber, Mignon Beart, Duck King, Geese Howard and Heavy D!, a Frenchwoman named Shermie, two Germans named Alba and Soiree Meira, Italians named Robert Garcia and Fiolina Germi[[note]]should be Fiorina[[/note]], and an Irishman named Krizalid.
40	* ''VideoGame/FightingBaseball'', the Japanese localization of ''VideoGame/MLBPABaseball'', did not get a license to use the names of MLBPA players, and instead infamously used made-up "American-sounding" names like "Sleve [=McDichael=]", "Mario [=McRlwain=]", "Mike Truk" and the immortal "Bobson Dugnutt". WebVideo/ProZD reads out the whole list [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oymWAeqv_-c here]].
41	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
42	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' gives most of its characters vaguely German-looking names, but the results — such as "Faris Scherwiz" and "Galuf Halm Baldesion" — are borderline nonsensical.
43	** Many aspects of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' were inspired by European culture — a fact which is reflected in the names of its characters. However, it freely intermixes names from English, French, German, Italian and Latin without any apparent desire for authenticity. For example, "Setzer Gabbiani" combines a German surname with an Italian surname. And then there are names like "Relm Arrowny" which seem to be completely made-up.
44	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': Although the names sound like Sanskrit, the locales of the Great Crystal fall into this trope. According to the [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Crystal_(Final_Fantasy_XII) Final Fantasy wiki]], they are actually well-faked bastardizations of English and scientific terms (e.g. Dha = Down, Kabonii = Carboniferous, Jilaam = Xylem).
45	** Admitted by WordOfGod for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. When a fan asked what the lyrics were to a boss' theme music, the game's sound director admitted the company has a software program that generates "sounds that resemble vocals," and that's what was used for that song. The preset that was selected was to make lyrics based on Latin, so "the language used is probably Latin."
46	* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' have the Ancient Language, which the Herons use to sing their galdr. The language is just Japanese being reversed. The written version of that in the game is also a [[CypherLanguage cipher of English]], and is [[http://serenesforest.net/fe9/galldr.html translatable]].
47	** A mild case of this occurs in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates''. Scarlet's name in the Japanese version was Crimson. While both are shades of red, "Crimson" [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude isn't really used as a name]] while Scarlet can be, making the translated version seem [[TranslationCorrection more correct]].
48	* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', the runic version of location names appear to be complete nonsense; the runes shown in the trailer when disovering Dauthamunni actually spell out lthrjbiotwog gthhfrllngu.
49	* ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'''s ending theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhruIbjXSI "Canção do Povo"]] (Portuguese for "Song of the People"). This goes beyond merely singing with a Japanese accent, the singer doesn't even try to sound Portuguese, it's as if the lyrics had been converted to kana for her to read.
50	* All the spoken dialogue in the ''VideoGame/GravityRush'' games, including "Jeuchalais Evule Plelat" and other songs, is just a French-sounding {{Conlang}}, not actual French.
51	* The events of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' take place in an unspecified Eastern European location, so the game features quite a few inscriptions in Cyrillic. However, they are often misplaced (these inscriptions are mostly written in Russian, even though City 17 is loosely based on the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia), misspelled, and sometimes just spell complete gibberish.
52	** One of the common poster decals seen throughout the game has the sentence "...ЅҶ ТФŞ ИУЕŞТ ПАЙЮК ЕНҪАћТ". In addition to the letters that are actually used in Russian and Bulgarian, it features glyphs that are found only in Serbian, Macedonian, and various Cyrillic-written non-Slavic languages; "Ş" isn't even a Cyrillic letter. If you couldn't tell already, this is pure nonsense. The only "word" in there that exclusively uses letters found in Slavic languages is "ПАЙЮК", and that still isn't a real word in any language.
53	** Bizarrely, though, despite the otherwise Eastern European theme, some signs are written in Romanian and (mangled) Greek, and the gas pumps along the outskirts of City 17 are labeled in ''Swedish''. As long as the texture reference photos look foreign...
54	* The protagonist's official name in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonSaveTheHomeland'' is "Toy". [[{{Fanon}} Fans prefer to opt with "Tony"]], but that was his grandfather's name.
55	* TheMafia of Cooks in ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' are vaguely Italian and vaguely Russian, but definitely foreign.
56	* In ''VideoGame/Haven2020'', the books in the abandoned library that houses the Illustrated Erotica Handbook have pseudo-German names like "Uff Glishden Tär", "Gorgnemuld", "Flurm Gliffen", and "Flurm Gliffen: Ostruisï", though the last one's subtitle is a legitimate [[GratuitousItalian Italian]] word meaning "clogged" or "obstructed". Likewise, the names of Source's islets and many of its creatures are either Japanese-sounding gibberish or GratuitousJapanese.
57	* Maybe this is a common theme in Creator/TomClancy games, but in the air combat game ''HAWX'', the game opens with the squad facing a set of Bolivarian insurgents named "Las Trinidad" attacking Brazil. The problem with that is that Las Trinidad does not mean "the trinity" (that's la trinidad), but Trinidad. As in Trinidad and Tobago.
58	* ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIII'' has an expansion "Dies Irae: Götterdämmerung". That's a linguistic triple whammy! "Day of Wrath" (Latin): "Dusk of the Gods" (German), which is itself a ''supposed'' German translation of Ragnarök, but which actually means something more like "Doom (as in ultimate fate) of the Gods." And it's a content expansion for playing as Nazi Germany. Is the title supposed to be Latin? Is it supposed to be German? Is the player supposed to lose?
59	* The creators of ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'', to facilitate the important gameplay/plot point of the two main characters being unable to verbally communicate or (in Yorda's case) be understood by the player, came up with not one, but two fictional languages for their protagonists. Yorda speaks something vaguely reminiscent of French, and Ico's language sounds a bit like Korean. [[spoiler: The Queen speaks both tongues fluently, a talent she [[EvilGloating puts to good use]] in her little chats with Ico.]]
60	* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'' features a sequence on a German submarine. The controls on the boat are labeled with terms like "Flugeldufel", "Krauskefarben" und "Ausgeschnitzel". All these 'words' are actually gibberish that sounds like German.
61	** "Ausgeschnitzel" looks suspiciously like it may have been intended to be a BlindIdiotTranslation of "cut it out", and "Krauskefarben" looks something like the button you should press if you want a rainbow afro.
62	* ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' does this with its ''own'' ConLang. Rather than being assigned to particular lines of text the sound bites are chosen at random, and [[BilingualBonus 90% of the recorded lines]] are actually cow jokes.
63	* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' is a notable exception. The demo has characters Gasket (a moron), and Ivan (a Russian with little patience). When Gasket displays his stupidity, Ivan finally says "I've never worked with such an idiot before" in perfect Russian, AND the game correctly displays what he said in text as well. Considering that excluding Ivan is the only exception to a game fully in English, it's impressive they took the effort to get it right.
64	** He speaks plenty of Russian during the entire (full) version of the game as well, with occasional "bouts" of broken English. Amusingly, whenever Russian is used, the English subtitles are followed by Russian subtitles which don't always match Ivan's speech.
65	** In the original ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance'' Ivan only spoke Russian.
66	*** He was also subtitled only in Russian. The new Nintendo DS version of the game has his subtitles (unfortunately?) only in English.
67	** Ivan is the not the only character who speaks his native language, although most foreigner characters (there are many, from different nationalities) simply use the customary PoirotSpeak.
68	* The aliens which do not speak English (or "Basic") in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' actually just repeat the same few stock phrases for audio. The subtitles claim a completely different story. This is a somewhat clever way of saving disk space and money on recorded speech, but you quickly notice the repetition. Here's a drinking game: Take a shot every time an aliens starts a line with something that sounds like "nonda tiihuu tongaa" or "choko-laka-baka". You'll be sloshed within an hour.
69	** Interestingly averted and yet played straight in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''. They hired an actual linguist to create Tho Fan, a ConLang, and then, for the same reasons as the above, they had most of the lines be jokes about cows.
70	* ''VideoGame/KnuckleHeads'': While most characters' names in this fighting game are passable, but in the case of two of the fighters the names would not be credible. It is unlikely any real-life Norwegian would have the surname "Darrell" (of which is of French origin) and then more blatantly unbelievable is the case of Blat Vaike of Greece who has a name that is not only not Greek in origin, but also composed of names from another part of Europe a long distance away from Greece, that being the Baltic countries and Russia.
71	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' zig-zags this with Midna's spoken language. Half the time, it's legitimately just random gibberish that sounds like some strange merge of Japanese and French, while employing neither the grammar rules nor words of either language. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfoBWjUNYQw We think it's gibberish, anyway]]. The rest of the time, [[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZKi3so02RVk a decent chunk of her dialogue]] is actually broken-up and scrambled clips of English that, when put back together, succinctly sum up or directly relate to whatever she just said.
72	* The soundtrack of the game ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'' is composed of happy singing in complete and utter nonsense that nonetheless sounds very much like a real language. If, you know, you don't listen to closely. This was done intentionally, so the lyrics "wouldn't have to be translated" for foreign audiences.
73	** The songs specific to each variation of [=LocoRoco=] tend to also pull from specific languages. For example, Pink sounds vaguely French.
74	* In ''VideoGame/{{Magicka}}'', everyone speaks in a made-up language that sounds like a mix of German, Russian and Turkish words. Well, Turkish might be pushing it, but some words sound suspiciously like it. In fact, the language is so well made that many people think they have accidentaly installed the non-English version of the game.
75	* The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series often has the eponymous brothers speak to each other (and to others) in Italian-sounding gibberish.
76	** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', the New Donkers' voice clips consist of American English-sounding gibberish.
77	* This [[http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9596/megamarvel.jpg promotional poster]] for ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfTheSuperheroes'' doubles as a parody of the ''Videogame/MegaManClassic'' series. Several of the ''Marvel vs. Capcom'' characters are featured as Robot Masters and some of their names have even been changed to follow the Robot Master naming scheme (aka "[insert word here] Man"). The problem is [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan]], who is referred to as "オイロケマン", which reads "Oiroke ''Man''" ("oiroke" is Japanese for "sexy"). It should be "オイロケウーマン" (Oiroke ''Wo''man). Thankfully, they didn't make the same mistake with Splash Woman from ''VideoGame/MegaMan9''.
78	* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' averts this trope. Russian characters speak real Russian, while the African mercenaries encountered later speak authentic Afrikaans, with all the voice actors involved being native speakers of those languages. Code Talker and, later in the game, [[spoiler:Quiet]] can also be heard speaking actual Navajo at times.
79	* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' features Arabic graffiti in some levels, of varying accuracy. In one particularly amusing case, "Infinity Ward", the game's developer, is spelled out phonetically.
80	** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' mostly gets it right for the VC speaking Vietnamese, except for the one over the loudspeaker in "The Defector", who, when not speaking accented English at the US soldiers, is shouting one-syllable gibberish that kinda-sorta sounds Vietnamese, and, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-mW5TNR1I some of the multiplayer voices]], which sounds more like Chinese. Naturally, many Vietnamese-speakers doesn't understand them.
81	** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareII'' introduces a Polish operator codenamed "Gromsko". The word doesn't mean anything in Polish or any other language.
82	* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
83	** ''Mortal Kombat'' is known for this trope, starting with Raiden's [[FunnyBruceLeeNoises bizarre scream]] when performing his Superman move in the very first game. With the exceptions of "Get over here!" and "Gotcha!" most of what the kombatants say [[SpeakingSimlish is gibberish shouted very loudly]]. ''Especially'' in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4''.
84	** The creators also admitted that Bo' Rai Cho is simply a PunnyName ("Borracho" is Spanish for drunk) that sounds vaguely Chinese.
85	** Also Kitana. As per WordOfGod, her name is a deliberate merging of the Japanese words "Kitsune" (her original name in concept; once someone pointed a Japanese name was too contrasting to adoptive father Shao Kahn having a Chinese one, it was changed) and "Katana". They were satisfied as long as it sounded "generically Asian enough".
86	** Raiden is a real name...except that even in modern games, it's still pronounced "Ray-din" instead of "rye-den".
87	** Scorpion's surname, "Hasashi", isn't even a real Japanese word. While one could pronounce it with a hard "S" that results in sounding like "Hizashi", which ''is'' a real Japanese surname, modern games usually don't opt into it.
88	** Kenshi is a credible Japanese given name (albeit very, very rare). His son, Takeda, however, is not, primarily because it's a ''surname''.
89	* Averted in ''Never Alone'' as the narrator speaks in the actual language of the Iñupiat people, who contributed heavily to the game's development.
90	* ''VideoGame/NieR'':
91	** The soundtrack has lots of indeterminately-foreign sounding gibberish, most prominently in the recurring theme "Song of the Ancients". Devola, who sings it around the village, says that it's in a language that has been long forgotten otherwise and no one knows what the lyrics actually mean, since the song is so old. This is continued in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata''.
92	*** Impressively, there's several languages As Long As It Sounds Foreign'd, the end credits theme alone having variations in fake Japanese, French, and German.
93	** The residents of Facade also speak in a language that was apparently created by shuffling hiragana around, which sometimes makes it sound like actual Japanese.
94	* The Austrian guards in ''{{VideoGame/Nightfire}}'' speak gibberish that sounds ''vaguely'' German. Similarly, the Yakuza substitute high pitched yells for Japanese.
95	* The video games titled ''Ninja Ryukenden'' (''Legend of the Ninja Dragon Sword'') in Japan would be [[MarketBasedTitle given a new name in America]]: ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''. Those with knowledge of the Japanese language may be puzzled by the title, as "Gaiden" is Japanese for "side story", and at the time of its release, ''Ninja Gaiden'' was its own self-contained story, ''not'' a side story. This would later become HilariousInHindsight with protagonist Ryu Hayabusa's prominent appearance in the ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' series, with the modern ''Ninja Gaiden'' titles being side-stories to ''DOA'', an idea solidified by the Japanese versions of the games adopting the ''Ninja Gaiden'' name.
96	* The ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' series has the so-called "Panzerese," which is a combination of Japanese, German, English, and either Latin or Italian. Example: One song of the Panzer Dragoon Saga Soundtrack is called "Ecce Valde Glorious Ale." Make of that what you will. (does not qualify for {{Fictionary}} because it uses actual words from other languages)
97	* ''VideoGame/Persona3Reload:'' When having a conversation with Chihiro outside the cinema, there may be film posters in English:
98	** '''Friday in a certain day'''\
99	[-Fans of a Dutch soccer team-]\
100	[-Americans heading off to war are facing-]
101	** '''The more than dreamin''' (not dreaming or dreamin', dreamin)
102	** '''Detonator'''\
103	[-A troubling trend for a Dutch-]
104	* PikáGame, a ''[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]''-[[DolledUpInstallment themed]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct clone]] is taglined with randomly inserted Japanese characters in the box art. "ぁどきおウか" should mean something if it wasn't the small kana as the first character, and "ウ" being the only katakana alongside the rest of the characters that are hiragana.
105	* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'' have characters whose names go from just slightly off normal names to a random string of letters. (Then again, with such a large cast the series may have ran out of "normal" names by then.)
106	* Whenever Konami's ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' cannot use a player or a team (or has to make one up), they will resort to entirely made-up words. For the teams, initially, it made sense as it indicated their procedence (except for Stoke City, which is funnily but correctly called "The Potteries"), but as the series went on it seems the imagination of the people responsible for the database went off the rails. Just look at this lineup for a fictional Australian team: Adelmonth, Hughvich, Teldanstey, Fendymery and Cerkusnyder; Mcmalough, Jakonglow and Purkertone; Sirklark, Garetolden and Hornormant. Scaled back since ''PES 2016'', where they started using correct, but completely unrelated, names with initials, although the Master League default players still have gibberish names.
107	* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
108	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' is set in [[WordOfGod a nameless fictional European country]] apparently placed in the middle of Spain. Despite this, all the Ganados speak Spanish [[{{Spexico}} with a Mexican accent]]. "Ganados" is itself an example as well: ''Ganado'' means "Livestock" in Spanish and it is rarely pluralized.
109	** Early games don't quite get Russian naming conventions: The de-facto BigBad of ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles The Umbrella Chronicles]]'' is named "Sergei Vladimir", and two of the U.B.C.S. members from ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis RE3: Nemesis]]'' are "Nicholai Ginovaef" and "Mikhail Victor". While Ginovaef's name can at least be justified by [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor translation]][[labelnote:*]]A better rendering would be "Nikolai Zinoviev"[[/labelnote]], ''anyone'' with even a passing knowledge of Russia will realize that the other two are rather nonsensical (but they can have a last name derived from Viktor or Vladimir, such as Viktorov or Vladimirov).
110	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilSurvivor'' has two child characters by the names of Lott (male) and Lilyrungo.
111	** From ''VideoGame/BiohazardMarhawaDesire'' we have... [[http://residentevil.wikia.com/Merah_Biji Merah Biji]]. Sure, "merah" [[labelnote: Translation]] meaning "red" [[/labelnote]] and "biji" [[labelnote: Translation]] meaning "plant's seed" or "balls" as in "testicles" [[/labelnote]] are legitimate words in Indonesia. Thing is, they probably thought '''every''' languages in the world uses ''adjective noun'' word order like English and Japanese. Indonesia uses ''noun adjective'' word order. Maybe they were just looking up on Japanese-Indonesian dictionary without bothering to learn the grammar.
112	* Parodied in ''VideoGame/RisingZanTheSamuraiGunman''. Said game is made in Japan but set in the Wild West; Western characters speak semi-decent English, while Japanese characters will utter the same phrase ad nauseum. The geisha enemies, for instance, utters "kimono, kimono, kimono" while the Sumo enemies will spout "chanko, chanko" [[note]]''chankonabe'', a Japanese broth meant to help sumo wrestlers gain weight[[/note]].
113	* "Divinitus", the Roman faction map theme in ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'' is just a collection of random Latin words (or gibberish that sounds Latin-esque) that don't add up to meaningful lyrics.
114	* The [[ButNotTooForeign Half-Japanese, Half-Russian]] male lead of the first two ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games had the name "Urnmaf" or "Urmnaf"--depending on who you ask--in the original JP releases. For the US and EU releases, it was changed to Yuri, which is genuinely a name in both languages--although usually a girl's name in Japanese. It could be meant as "Yuuri" (or "Yūri") in Japanese (as well as "Yuri" in Russian)- which ''is'' a legitimate male name. Japanese names usually tend to have their long vowels omitted when romanized.
115	* "Simlish", the language of the characters in ''VideoGame/TheSims'' and its sequels is meant to be ''English'' foreign-sounding gibberish. Apparently the company that makes the games frequently receives calls from customers who think they've gotten the game in the wrong language. ''VideoGame/{{Simcopter}}'' was the first game to feature it. In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'' Simlish includes (correct, but irrelevant) phrases in French, Spanish and German. It also features licensed music from various bands... "translated" to Simlish. The cadance and intonation of the nonsense words follows the actual lyrics, and sometimes, the gibberish sounds ''almost'' like actual words.
116	* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'':
117	** "Cervantes de Leon". Umm...no Hispanic, east or west of the pond would have that as a full name, unless it's just the surnames, which are what the names supposed to be. There's also no acute accent above the "o" in "Leon", but that goes to nitpicking territory.
118	** Patroklos' full name is initially written as Patroklos Alexand''ra''. Greek surnames are like Slavic surnames; they would change according to the person's gender. It should be Patroklos Alexand''ros''. A patch eventually fixed it to "Alexander", which is still incorrect, but is a much better alternative.
119	** Names aside, the fourth game features several German phrases to fit the theme of Hilde's kingdom, most of which are typos at best and plain gibberish at worst.
120	** Siegfried Schtauffen. His first name is fine, but his last name has no real-life record in Germany or elsewhere.
121	*** Well there is the last name Staufer/Stauffer, and a Mr. Stauffenberg became famous for failing to assassinate Adolf Hitler. But "Scht" is not a combination of letters you'll find in (modern) German
122	* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'', the player has an option to have the [=NPCs=] speak with their native language of whatever country the mission is set in. Anyone who speaks Spanish will instantly recognise the (supposedly Peruvian) guards' accent in the first two levels as being European.
123	* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' manages to do this with two of ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s {{Con Lang}}s.
124	** The game borrowed bits of the worldbuilding done by Creator/DianeDuane for her ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}'' novel series for the Romulan Republic in the ''Legacy of Romulus'' expansion. Unfortunately, [[http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=884961 Rihan language geeks have noted]] that "''Mol'Rihan''", the in-game Romulan translation of "New Romulus", is grammatically incorrect: they just slapped "mol'" ("new", but it's supposed to be a ''suffix'') onto ch'Rihan (Romulus in Romulan, literally "of the Declared"). Among the more accurate translations would be "''ch'Rihan'mollais''" (though the Rihan geeks in the fanbase have largely adopted "''ch'Mol'Rihan''". They also frequently try to use Romulan words for {{Meaningful Name}}s, only to misuse or misspell them (e.g. getting the 'a' and the 'e' backwards when they tried to use "laehval" ["shadow"] for Sela's flagship IRW ''Leahval''), and forgetting that Romulans don't name ships or people after abstract ideas (RRW ''Lleiset'', meaning "freedom").
125	** Their ''tlhIngan Hol'' is equally bad. A particularly common mistake is forgetting that Romanized Klingonese is capitalization-sensitive ('q' and 'Q' represent different sounds). For example, there's a ship in the backstory named the IKS ''Quv''. They were presumably going for ''quv'' (personal honor) rather than ''Quv'' (spatial coordinates).
126	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsMastersOfTerasKasi'' features the martial art "Teräs Käsi" that's inexplicably and ungrammatically Finnish. It means something like "steel, hand". If you must have a Finnish title, try "Teräskäsi" for "hand of steel".
127	* Averted in an example of RealityIsUnrealistic in ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. Although Zangief's name sounds odd to a Russian ear and has no meaning in the Russian language, it is [[FamousNamedForeigner borrowed from an actual Soviet wrestler]]: Real-life Victor Zangiev, who was Ossetian. This is lampshaded in the Russian dub of ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', where Zangief is voiced with a heavy North Caucasian accent.
128	** It happened again in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'': The Thailand stage, set at a Buddhist temple, contains Islamic chanting in Arabic.[[note]]While Thailand has a sizable Islamic population due to geographical proximity to Myanmar and Indonesia, the country is overwhelmingly Buddhist.[[/note]] [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2017-05-02/street-fighter-v-dlc-stage-temporarily-pulled-to-remove-islamic-chant-in-bgm/.115546 The people at Capcom quickly removed the music when they found out.]]
129	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Appears here, most likely due to StylisticSuck. The European mercenaries have exaggerated accents and sometimes say foreign-sounding words that don't actually exist in their own language, and the map Kong King contains some very bungled Chinese. There's also this bit from the [[HerrDoktor German]] Medic in Mann vs. Machine mode:
130	-->'''Medic:''' Uppengraden, everyone!
131	* There's one example in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' with Baek Doo San. It wouldn't work out as anyone's name, because, while it's a proper name, it's a proper ''place''name, referring to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paektu_Mountain Paektusan]], the sacred Korean mountain straddling the Chinese and North Korean border. The homage is deliberate, though.
132	* ''VideoGame/TotalCarnage'': As a parody of the (first) Gulf War, General Akhboob gives various rants in pseudo-Arabic gibberish and even has the battle cry "Allbahyu faradallah!"[[note]]I'll buy YOU for a dollar!, a CallBack to ''VideoGame/SmashTV''.[[/note]]
133	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' has this with the character Maribel Hearn: Her first name is written in Katakana as マエリベリー (Maeriberī), which could be rendered a number of ways, including "Merryberry", and doesn't seem to come from any recognized language; "Maribel" is simply the spelling that most of the fandom has agreed upon. The franchise's creator ZUN seemingly picked the name because it sounded foreign and was difficult to pronounce as evidence in-universe with Renko just calling her Mary because she has no idea how to pronounce her name, and when asked point-blank even admitted that he had no idea what the proper romanization should be. However, since [[Music/TouhouZUNsMusicCollection Maribel's portion of the franchise]] is set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture far enough into the future]] that [[FutureFoodIsArtificial the only edible plants are synthetic]] ([[CrapsackWorld among other things]]), it's possible that language drift is in effect.
134	* ''Wachenröder'', a Japan-exclusive TurnBasedStrategy game for the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, has a title that sounds German but doesn't really mean anything.
135	** Supposedly, it could mean something like "he who eliminates guards", from Wache (guard) + roden (to clear a forest). In any case, though, it's not a word that sees any serious usage in real German.
136	** It's actually a reference to Wilhelm Heirich Wackenroder, a German poet of Romanticism. It's written in katakana as "Bakkenroda" (the umlaut is only cosmetic), which fits the German pronunciation of the poet's name.
137	* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'': Medivh's name is probably meant to sound like Gaelic, even though the letter V isn't used in Gaelic at all (an understandable change, as they probably realized noone would say his name right if it was spelled Medimh.)
138	* In the GBA version of ''VideoGame/{{Wings}}'', fake propaganda posters displayed between mission sets demonstrate a ''creative'' approach to German syntax and vocabulary.
139	* ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'' has a downplayed example: in the recent games (starting with ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'') there are several advanced weapons with "kraftwerk" in the name (E.G laserkrafwerk) , likely as a ShoutOut to [[Music/{{Kraftwerk}} the band.]] While "kraftwerk" is a real German word, it means "power station", and is thus an odd name for weapons (laser power station?) Especially odd is in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'' where there is both a laserkraftwerk and a lasergewehr (meaning laser ''gun'', which seems like a much more appropriate name.)
140	* ''VideoGame/{{X}}'' has a problem with coming up with Japanese names. The man who worked out the core principle behind FTL jump gates was a Japanese man named "Kazuko Ashizava". Two problems: the "v" sound does not exist in Japanese (indeed, the Japanese tend to have a lot of difficulty pronouncing it), and [[GenderBlenderName "Kazuko" is a girl's name]]. Another background character is named "Dr. Akira Desu", which would mean "Dr. I am Akira".
141

Context AsLongAsItSoundsForeign / VideoGames