One aspect of gaming that most people often overlook is a game’s title. Ideally, a title should be distinctive, memorable, and give an idea of what the game is ultimately about. Titles can be poetic, alliterative, catchy, descriptive, and much more. However, one common rule of thumb for titles, is that they should ultimately make sense within the context of the game in question.
Related:Pokémon Evolutions That Don’t Make Sense
This is not always the case, for whatever reason throughout the course of video game history publishers have insisted on a number of bewildering titles. Whether they be misnumbered sequels, incorrect statements, or just have nothing to do with the content of the game at all, these are titles that cause gamers everywhere toscratch their heads in confusion.
9Nuts And Milk
Without a doubt one of the strangest titles of any game ever made,Nuts & Milkis a somewhat obscure game originally released for Japanese home computers, before eventually becoming the first 3rd part title released for theFamicom. Aside from the fact that a game was named after food and drink, what makes this title especially odd is the fact that neither of these two things are at all present in the game itself.
Apparently, the blob-like protagonist of the game is named Milk, an odd name to be sure. However, despite featuring many collectible fruits there are no nuts in the game whatsoever.
8Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
TheSonic seriesis no stranger to nonsensical decisions, and while the title is the least ofSonic 06’sproblems it is still very confusing. It isn’t too uncommon for a game in a series to have the same name as the original, however, this is almost always a reboot or remake. But sometimes an ordinary sequel will just receive the name of the original game for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Such was the case withSonic the Hedgehogreleased in 2006, this was done to try and establish Sonic for thenew generation.
This is laughable when one considers thatSonic 06is one of the most widely derided games of all time and Sega seems to be doing their best to pretend that it never existed. Besides the game isn’t really a reboot and has more in common with theSonic Adventure titlesthan it does with the originalGenesisgame. A few other games would also use this same naming scheme, much to everyone’s confusion, perhaps the most notable of which beingCastlevaniafor theNintendo 64.
7Power Punch 2
At first glance, this one seems fairly reasonable until one realizes that there was noPower Punch 1and the game is therefore a sequel to nothing. This is because the game started development as a sequel toMike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!and would have presumably been calledPunch-Out!! 2. However,Nintendodid not have much confidence in the game’s quality and decided to withdraw their support and took the Punch-Out IP with them. D
eveloper American Softworks then decided to rename the main character from Mike Tyson to Mark Tyler and rechristened the gamePower Punch II, again despite there having never been aPower Punch 1. A couple of other examples of games that started with the second entry despite not having a first include:Strip Fighter IIfor the TurboGrafix-CD and Super Puzzle Fighter II for arcades byCapcom.
6Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does A Little Undercover Work
At first glance, the title of the 5th entry of the classic Sierra graphic adventure series doesn’t seem all that unusual. However, a look at the series history will reveal that there was noLeisure Suit Larry 4and that the series skipped from 3 to 5. This was apparently intended as ajokewith fans referring to the hypothetical 4th entry in the series asLeisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies.
Nonetheless, this unconventional numbering no doubt confused many adventure game fans back in the day, it also means thatLeisure Suit Larry 5is technically the 4th game in the series.
5Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Likely one of the most heavily mocked titles of any game in history,Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Daysis truly baffling to those who have not played the game and even to many that have. The name is intended to refer to the fact that it takes place over the course of 358 days and is shown from the point of view of two characters.
Related:Genshin Impact: Things That Don’t Make Sense About the Characters
To most people, however, this looks more like a math equation, and that the title should actually beKingdom Hearts 179 Days. TheKingdom Heartsseries is notorious for itsnonsensicaltitles with numbers that include decimals like; 1.5, 1.8, 2.5, 2.8, and 0.2 as well as subtitles like Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance.
4Infinite Undiscovery
The title of this 2008 JRPG is extremely confusing to anyone with the slightest grasp of the English language. First is the fact that Undiscovery is not a real word, and even if it where it wouldn’t make any sense after all, how could you un-discover something? For that matter how can such a thing be infinite?
To make matters even more confusing is the fact that this title is completely meaningless even within the context of the game. It is as though the developers or publishers mashed together two random words that sounded vaguely epic.
3Dissidia 012[Duodecim] Final Fantasy
The sequel to the popularPSPFinal Fantasycrossover fighterDissidia 012[Duodecim]Final Fantasy is a mess of a title. First is the wordDissidiawhich is apparently a Latin term meaning to tear or cleave. Then there is the 012 in the title, some might easily assume that this is to indicate that this is the 12th entry in the Dissidia series when in fact it is only the second entry.
It is apparently a reference to the fact that the game’s story takes place during the 12th cycle of the war between the gods Chaos and Cosmos. This still does not explain why they felt the need to include an unnecessary 0 at the start of the number. Next is the word Duodecim, which inLatinmeans 12. Why did the developers feel the need to include the number 12 again this time in Latin, and for that matter why is it enclosed in brackets? The literal meaning of this title is “To Cleave 12 [12] Final Fantasy.”
2Disgaea
Disgaeais the name of acult classicseries of tactical role-playing games byNippon Ichi Software. It also tells us absolutely nothing about what the game is actually about. A rough Latin translation gives us the meaning “against the earth” however this has absolutely nothing to do with what actually occurs within the games which are generally about wars fought for control of the netherworld.
Apparently, the developers did not intend for it to mean anything and chose the name just because they thought that it sounded cool.
1SuperHot
Having not encountered it before, it is easy to imagine that when most people are told about a game called SuperHot, the last thing they would guess is that it is a game about shooting red polygon men in an otherwise white and gray world.
According to the developer, the title is meant to represent how the experience of playing the game is both “positive” and “intense.” This doesn’t prevent the title from being incredibly confusing to the uninitiated.
