Think you know your favorite video games? You might know how to play them, but there are probably plenty of strange stories hiding behind the games you’ve played for years.
Some famous gaming characters were created by accident, some popular games started as completely different ideas, and some mechanics that seem carefully designed were actually the result of unexpected decisions.
From Minecraft and Fortnite to Mario and Among Us, these weird video game facts show that even familiar games can have surprisingly strange stories behind some of the games loved by gamers in the USA and around the world.
Here are 15 video game facts that sound fake but are actually true.
1. Minecraft’s Creeper Was a Mistake
The Creeper is one of the most recognizable enemies in Minecraft, but it was never supposed to exist. While creating a pig, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson accidentally mixed up the model’s height and width values. The result was a strange, tall creature instead of a pig.
Rather than deleting the mistake, Notch turned it into the Creeper we know today. One of the game’s most famous enemies was basically born from a modeling error.
Gaming facts you didn’t know can sometimes be hiding in the game’s most familiar characters.
2. Among Us Started as a Real-Life Game
Before Among Us became the game of accusing your friends of being Impostors, its basic idea existed as a real-life party game.
Innersloth says the game was inspired by a Mafia-style game that co-founder Marcus Bromander played with friends. Players secretly received roles while one player tried to eliminate the others without being caught.
The developers essentially turned a classic social game into a colorful space adventure.
3. Fortnite Battle Royale Wasn’t the Original Fortnite
When people hear Fortnite today, they usually think of Battle Royale. But that wasn’t where Fortnite started.
Epic originally built Fortnite around Save the World, a cooperative experience where players build defenses, collect resources, craft weapons, and fight monsters. Battle Royale was added later after Epic experimented with the increasingly popular format.
This is one of those interesting gaming facts that completely changes how you look at the game.
The Fortnite most people know today wasn’t actually the original idea.
4. Fall Guys Had a Completely Different Name
Before becoming Fall Guys, the chaotic bean-filled party game had a much stranger working title: Fool’s Gauntlet.
The early concept was inspired by Japanese game shows and obstacle-course competitions. During development, the game also went through another working title: Stumble Chums.
Thankfully, someone eventually decided that Fall Guys sounded much better.
It’s one of those fun facts about video games that makes you wonder how many other famous game titles started with ridiculous names.
5. Rocket League Had an Almost Impossible Name
Rocket League is one of those game titles that’s simple and instantly recognizable. But its predecessor had a name that sounds like an entire sentence:
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars.
Yes, that was an actual game. Released by Psyonix in 2008, it combined rocket-powered cars with soccer and eventually became the foundation for Rocket League.
Imagine trying to tell your friends, “Let’s play SARPBC.”
6. Mario’s Running Ability Came From a Bug
Mario’s ability to dash across small gaps in the original Super Mario Bros. sounds like something carefully designed by Nintendo.
But according to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, some of the game’s famous movement behavior came from unexpected technical issues during development. Instead of automatically removing the behavior, the developers recognized that it could make the game more enjoyable.
This is one of the weird video game facts that shows how a technical problem can sometimes become part of a game’s design.
Sometimes a bug isn’t something you fix. Sometimes it’s something you keep.
7. The Sims Had a Dark Swimming Pool “Accident” Trick
If you’ve played The Sims, you may know this infamous trick. In the earlier games, players could remove the pool ladder after a Sim entered the swimming pool. Without a way to exit, the Sim could eventually drown once their needs dropped too low.
What makes this strange is that a life simulation game gave players a surprisingly creative (and slightly dark) way to control their Sims’ stories.
8. The Last of Us’ Clickers Were Inspired by a Real Fungus
The terrifying Clickers from The Last of Us aren’t simply traditional zombies with a different look.
Naughty Dog designed the infected around the idea of Cordyceps fungus growing through the human body. The distinctive fungal growth covering a Clicker’s head was designed to make the creatures feel biologically different from ordinary zombies.
The idea is fictional when applied to humans, but Cordyceps itself is very real and can infect insects.
That real-world inspiration helped make the creatures feel much more disturbing.
9. Minecraft’s Creeper Was Born From a Pig Model
The Creeper fact gets even stranger when you look at the original design. The accidental model wasn’t simply a random mistake; it happened because the dimensions of a pig model were entered incorrectly.
That means one of Minecraft’s most dangerous mobs essentially began life as a badly shaped farm animal.
It’s hard to imagine Minecraft without the Creeper now, which makes its accidental origin even more surprising.
10. Among Us Was Made by Only Three People
It’s easy to assume a globally recognized multiplayer game must have started with a huge development team.
It didn’t.
Innersloth says the original 2018 version of Among Us was made by only three people: Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and artist Amy Liu.
The game initially launched with local multiplayer before later updates expanded its online experience and popularity.
Considering how enormous Among Us became, its tiny original development team is one of the most impressive video game facts on this list.
11. Fortnite’s Battle Royale Mode Was Built Very Quickly
Epic didn’t spend years building Fortnite Battle Royale as a completely separate game. The company experimented with the mode while the original Fortnite team continued developing the main game.
Epic announced Fortnite Battle Royale in September 2017, featuring support for 100 players on one map.
The experiment turned into the version of Fortnite that would eventually become a global gaming phenomenon.
It’s a good reminder that some of the biggest gaming successes can come from ideas that weren’t part of the original plan.
12. Fall Guys Was Originally Much More Serious
The colorful Fall Guys we know today looks like a silly party game, but its early concept was considerably more competitive.
The original pitch imagined around 100 players competing through a brutal obstacle-course battle royale. The development team later moved toward the playful, chaotic experience that made the game famous.
Those adorable little beans could have been much less forgiving.
This is exactly the kind of gaming facts you didn’t know that makes looking into a game’s development history so entertaining.
13. Rocket League Came From an Older Car-Soccer Game
If Rocket League feels like a completely original idea, there’s a good reason it works so well: its core concept had already been tested.
Psyonix previously released Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars on PlayStation 3. The game already featured rocket-powered vehicles playing soccer, and Rocket League eventually became its much more successful successor.
So the famous car-soccer formula wasn’t created from scratch in 2015.
14. The Last of Us’ Original Story Was Almost Completely Different
The original concept for The Last of Us went through major changes during development. Naughty Dog explored different ideas before settling on Joel and Ellie’s emotional survival story.
This gives readers a new perspective instead of repeating the Clicker fact.
15. Super Mario Bros. Was Made by a Surprisingly Small Team
One of the most famous games in history was created by a very small team. The original Super Mario Bros. was developed by just five people, including Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, programmers Toshihiko Nakago and Kazuaki Morita, and composer Koji Kondo.
Considering how much influence the game had on the entire gaming industry, its small development team makes its success even more impressive.
Final Thoughts
These interesting gaming facts prove that even games we think we know inside and out can hide some surprisingly strange stories.
Minecraft’s Creeper came from a modeling mistake. Among Us grew from a real-life party game. Fortnite became famous for a mode that wasn’t part of its original concept. And Rocket League had a predecessor with a name that sounds like someone kept adding words until they ran out of breath.
That’s what makes gaming history so interesting. Behind the games we play are unexpected ideas, accidents, experiments and decisions that can completely change a game’s history.
If you enjoy discovering new games as much as learning the stories behind them, keep exploring OnlineKheladda for more free browser games, gaming guides and entertaining gaming content.
You never know what surprising fact you might discover next.
Sources & Further Reading
- Minecraft — Meet the Creeper (Fact 1 & 9)
- Innersloth — Among Us Press Kit (Fact 2 & 10)
- Epic Games — Fortnite Battle Royale (Fact 3 & 11)
- PC Gamer — Fall Guys origin story (Fact 4 & 12)
- Liquipedia — Rocket League (Fact 5 & 13)
- GamesRadar — Super Mario Bros. development (Fact 6 & 15)
- The Sims Wiki — Drowning & Death Mechanics (Fact 7)
- Naughty Dog — The Last of Us Clickers (Fact 8 & 14)
