Trivia / ClayFighter

• Acting for Two:
  • Since the Evil Twins were almost the same as their counterparts, the voice actors for the characters are the same for the doppelgangers in C2, with new lines in some cases.
  • Various voice actors for N64 games made more than one character. The most notable case was Dan Castellaneta, who voiced both guest fighters, Earthworm Jim and Boogerman.
• All-Star Cast: The N64 games showcase some of the top American cartoon voice actors from The '90s, such as Jim Cummings, Charlie Adler, Tress MacNeille, Jess Harnell, and Rob Paulsen.
• Creator Backlash: The producer of C2: Judgment Clay was so disappointed with the animation, that he had Tiny (a character from the previous game) put into the game with no changes to his model to show that the previous game's character models were better.
• Development Hell: After Sculptor's Cut, all attempts to revive the franchise have failed. Now that Interplay is selling its properties, Clayfighter included, it may be a while before we get another.
• Dummied Out: The Blob's bomb move in the original game, which proved to be a glitchy mess when used.
• Executive Meddling: The series was hit VERY hard by this during The Fifth Generation of Console Video Games. 63⅓ was originally going to be titled Clayfighter III and appear on a Vapor Ware console called the M2 (an add-on for the 3DO). However, about a year before the M2 was officially cancelled, Interplay abruptly moved development of the game to the Nintendo 64 and retitled it Clayfighter 63⅓. This caused MANY problems during development: character animation needed to be stripped down due to the N64's cartridge limitations^note This was when Nintendo 64 cartridges were thought capable of only holding up to 96 megs of data, several of the game's planned fighters needed to be cut, etc. Adding insult to injury, the game was rushed to be released during the 1997 Holiday Season, resulting in an Obvious Beta with numerous glitches and underdeveloped ideas. The Clayfighter 63⅓ debacle was, in fact, so bad that about six months later Interplay released a rental only update to the game titled Clayfighter: Sculptor's Cut. To make things even MORE messy, a PlayStation game titled Clayfighter Extreme was also in development but scrapped for being behind schedule. These problems, combined with 63⅓'s extremely poor critical and public reception, were what ultimately killed the franchise.
• Fanwork Ban: See Screwed by the Lawyers below.
• He Also Did: Jeremy Airey, one of the creators of the franchise and being part of every game of the series (since designer to producer), left Interplay in the Turn of the Millennium to be producer for Midway Games (Road Kill and Shadow Hearts 2) and later for Konami, being known for producing various of the Silent Hill games (Shattered Memories, Downpour and HD Collection) as well other titles like Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, Skullgirls, Hard Corps: Uprising and Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Good luck finding a copy of the Sculptor's Cut of Clayfighter 63⅓. Even more power to you if you can pay for it. Loose copies of the game regularly run for hundreds of dollars, and complete in box copies (yes, they exist) break $2000 easily. Overall, due to its original rental-only nature, it’s known as the single rarest and most valuable Nintendo 64 game among collectors.
    • Slightly alleviated thanks to game reproductions on sale in Aliexpress (cheaper than the original, of course) as well being emulated in your N64 via flash cartridges.
  • Averted this trope as well Vapor Ware when a copy of Clayfighter Extreme prototype was released in April 2021 by Project Deluge, an initiative that want to release on the internet old and forgotten betas from many consoles, included PlayStation, CD-i and Sega Saturn, Extreme being one of those games.
  • After the Screwed by the Lawyers cases of fangames, it is noticed that with the exception of the compilated SNES games for Evercade's Interplay Colection, there's no legal way to play any of the games in these days, only by Emulation, repro cartridges and casual market.
• Quietly Cancelled: One of the reasons the franchise died. In 2016, Interplay announced a new game with a teaser trailer, which made the video game community hyped for a new release of this franchise. Sadly, some time later it was announced in financial news that Interplay went to bankruptcy and all their franchises were on sale. This inevitably meant that ClayFighter was no more in the works.
• Role Reprise: The Nintendo 64 games have Dan Castellaneta reprise his role as Earthworm Jim from the animated series. Dan also voiced Boogerman (replacing Michael McConnohie). Both of them are also rivals in this game.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Interplay doesn't seem to take kindly to Clayfighter fan games.
  • In July 2023, ClayFighter: ReSculpted, a new game made under Unity, was abruptly cancelled because Interplay sent a Cease and Desist mail to its creator.
  • In September 2023, M.U.G.E.N fangame ClayFighter: Infinite Clayfare got a C&D as well, with the creator trying (and failing) to negotiate a way out of it.
• Uncredited Role: Subverted. Even though the voice actor lists appear for both games in IMDb, it's not certain who voiced who.
  • Some names would be revealed, such as Michael McConnohie voicing Bad Mr. Frosty and The Narrator, and Richard Epcar playing Tiny as well his Evil Twin Butch.
• Vapor Ware:
  • Clayfighter Extreme was a parallel release for 63⅓ made under PlayStation, but it was cancelled for being behind schedule. The official word was they didn't want PlayStation fans to think their game was "a port of 63⅓" — so they opted to release nothing at all for the console.
  • An installment for the Nintendo DS and Wii titled Clayfighter: Call of Putty. Screenshots suggest it was an Updated Re-release of 63⅓ with remade stages and HD artwork. Interplay eventually stopped talking about it, and it was quietly cancelled later on.
  • A new installment was announced by Interplay in 2015 to be released as a new game in 2016. Sadly in September 2016 Interplay sold the majority of its intellectual property, so the release of a new Clayfighter game (even an Updated Re-release) is totally cancelled.
  • A 3DO Interactive Multiplayer advertisement◊ about an updated version of C2 for the 3DO has been discovered. Of course, that went to nothing since it coincided with the debacle of that console.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Ickybod Clay and a female gorilla called Lucy were planned for C2: Judgment Clay, but were ultimately cut. Ickybod's bio from Clayfighter 63⅓ even hints at this development, stating that he was "exiled" from that game. Dr. Kiln also was supposed to physically appear in the game but was removed and remained in the backstory. A model of him◊ was shown after the cancellation of the 2016 game (see below).
  • A homeless vigilante called HoboCop was planned for Clayfighter 63⅓. Theories over his being cut range from Nintendo saying no due to the alcoholic references, to fears of a lawsuit from Orion Pictures. However, in the leaked Clayfighter Extreme beta for PSX appears him as selectable character, so it's been speculated he was intended to be PSX-exclusive.
  • Some characters' moves were also nixed, including Lockjaw Pooch peeing on the opponent and Zappa Yow Yow Boyz eating the enemy alive.
  • A ported/parallel developed version (it's unclear which) of 63⅓ was planned for the PlayStation entitled Clayfighter Extreme but was cancelled.
  • There was an untitled new Clayfighter game to be released on 2016, but ended up canned. One of ex-Interplay developers revealed what could have been of this game: the reappearance of HoboCop as a selectable character, characters and stages now with high resolution, all characters with new moves from unused sprites from past games and in general would be a megamix of all games in one in a similar way than Mortal Kombat Trilogy (i.e 63⅓ Frosty fighting in C1 Taffy stage◊).
  • This ClayFighter Wiki user discovered more Clayfighter content unveiled until now:
    • A port/updated version of C2 for 3DO Interactive Multiplayer announced in a magazine ad, which would include Claytalities and new features.
    • There's Sculptor's Cut unused content that already is in the game but with unknown commands, like new Claytalities for Zappa Yow Yow Boys and Lady Liberty, as well some Claytalities for returning characters that were supposedly cut (like Earthworm Jim's Cow Drop), but they changed commands instead.
  • Danger Productions, who worked on both the first and third entries, were originally contracted to work on the second one as well. They had worked as far as the design process, having designed some of the fighters that would make it, like Nanaman and Googoo, and even Sumo Santa, who was initially meant for C2.