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Long before Peach, Mario's very first damsel to rescue in 1981's Donkey Kong was a woman named Pauline. She gets a quick, easy to overlook cameo in the movie, a nod to fans who remember her as the original Mario girl before she got sidelined for decades.
When the team first approached J.K. Simmons, they actually had him in mind for Cecil Stedman, the shady government fixer. Simmons read the script and told them he'd rather play Omni-Man instead. Kirkman and the writers agreed on the spot, and Walton Goggins ended up taking the Cecil role instead.
This was the movie that proved the whole 'shared universe' gamble had actually paid off. It became the first Marvel Studios release to break the billion dollar mark, overtaking The Dark Knight's record in the process and becoming the highest grossing comic book movie ever made at the time.
When Blizzard revealed Diablo Immortal at BlizzCon 2018, the crowd wanted Diablo IV and let their disappointment be known. A fan asked if it was coming to PC, and the developer's exasperated reply, 'Don't you guys have phones?', instantly became one of gaming's most infamous PR moments.
The PC version of Assassin's Creed II had infuriated players by demanding a constant internet connection just to play offline. Ubisoft quietly scrapped that for Brotherhood's PC release, settling for a single login instead, which was a genuine relief for anyone with an unreliable connection.
Pay attention during the Rebirth Island mission and you'll notice Reznov is wearing the exact same outfit as Mason. It ties into the reveal that Mason believed, on some level, that he actually was Reznov, and it's a nice bit of visual foreshadowing that only really clicks once you already know the twist and go back looking for it.
The directors were keen for Peach to feel like an actual ruler rather than someone waiting to be saved, and pulled a lot of that energy from her portrayal in Super Mario 3D World. Anya Taylor-Joy apparently leaned all the way into the role too, spending time playing through the games to get a feel for the character before recording.
Elite Tauren Chieftain isn't just a joke band that shows up in-game, it's a real group made up of actual Blizzard staff, including art director Samwise Didier on vocals and former company president Mike Morhaime on bass. Their song 'Power of the Horde' plays hourly at the Darkmoon Faire, and the band has genuinely performed it live at BlizzCon in full costume.
Nuketown is dotted with mannequins standing around in the yards, and if you and your team manage to headshot every single one within about fifteen seconds, the map rewards you by blasting 'Sympathy for the Devil' over the loudspeakers. It's genuinely tough to pull off solo since the mannequins are spread across both sides of the map, so it usually takes a coordinated effort from the whole lobby.
The gloriously nostalgic Starcourt Mall in Season 3 wasn't built from scratch. The crew filmed inside Atlanta's real Gwinnett Place Mall, which actually opened in 1984, just a year before the season is set. The production designer described the location as still holding onto 'echoes' of its original 80s showpiece glory, even with half its stores long abandoned.
