Meaningful Name/Video Games: Difference between revisions

** The name of the series itself was a reference to the fact that the very first game in the series was created by Squaresoft as a last ditch effort to save Squaresoft from becoming bankrupt.

*** [[Jossed]] by [[Word of God]]. "Final Fantasy" is an [[Alliterative Name]], not a [[Meaningful Name]].

* The name of the ''[[Dead Space (series)|Dead Space]]'''s protagonist: [[Isaac Asimov]] + [[Arthur C. Clarke]] = Isaac Clarke.

** Plus, his parents are [[Poul Anderson|Poul]] and [[Octavia Butler|Octavia]].

** In both games, she's {{spoiler|[[wikipedia:System shock 2#Plot|everyone you interact with]], including the final boss.}}

** In game it's pronounced "Show-Dan," Yahtzee's pronunciation is due to accent.

** The 2nd game has several, too. Darth Nihilus is an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] poised to devour all life in the galaxy - "nihil" is Latin for "nothing". Atton Rand is a dual reference to [[Ayn Rand]] (he has a similar [[The Social Darwinist|Darwinist]] outlook) and to his current role as [[The Atoner]]. (Counts in-character, too, as it's an assumed name.)

*** Though the "in-character" meaning is lost when we remember that ''[[Star Wars]]'' happened "a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", and KOTOR happened about 4,000 years ''before that''. There's little chance Atton would have heard of or know anything about Ayn Rand's philosophies.

** Ranulf (can shapeshift into a cat) ''Fire Emblem 9 and 10'' has also a subtle one. Ranulf means "raven wolf". When applied to the same system as Beowulf ("bee wolf") mean "bee hunter" or "bear", Ranulf means "raven hunter" or "cat".

* ''[[Rainbow Six]] Vegas'' gives us Gabriel Nowak, Rainbow Operative and {{spoiler|[[The Mole]] (and in the sequel, the [[Big Bad]])}}. Nowak is a common polish surname that is derived from the word for "new" and was originally a nickname for someone new to a profession or village. A [[Flash Back]] shows Gabe making rookie mistakes due to his gung-ho attitude, resulting in the death of a negotiator, a reputation as the team screw-up, and later {{spoiler|his convoluted plot against Rainbow in revenge}}.

* [[The World Ends With You|Joshua's]] family name is "Kiryuu". Which, considering what Neku {{spoiler|(Joshua, Day 2) suspects, (Joshua, Day 3) comes to believe, (Joshua, Day 7) comes to believe is not true, then finally (Beat, Day 7, after beating the Composer) comes to find out really did happen after all}}, is quite appropriate. If you still don't get it, {{spoiler|swap out the "r" for an "l", then say it}}. And as for his first name... {{spoiler|"Joshua" is derived from the same name that "Jesus" comes from. His Japanese name, Yoshiya, is pretty similar to the name "Jesus" is derived from: Yeshu'a. Joshua is The Composer in human form, whose powers are somewhat godlike. And his [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|crucifixion poses]]; an example of which has helped inspire the [[Fan Nickname]] of one of his attacks: Jesus Beams.}}

* ''[[Ikaruga]]'' is the name of a type of bird you see in the credits, the Japanese Grosbeak. In fact every ship in the game except the Sword of Acala (itself and the Stone-Like a reference to Vajrayana Buddism) is named after a bird in Japanese.

* Nearly ''everyone'' in ''[[Punch-Out!!]]'' is like this. Super Macho Man, Bear Hugger, Mr. Sandman, Narcis Prince, Masked Muscle, Disco Kid... One caused by an attempt to dance around copyrights: in the Wii ''[[Punch-Out!!]]'', Piston Honda had his last name changed to "Hondo". A ''hondo'' is the main chamber of a Buddhist temple, and according to [[That Other Wiki]] is an archaic name for Honshu, the main island of Japan, which Piston Hondo's hometown of Tokyo is located on. Now recall that all foreign boxers in ''Punch-Out!!'' are [[Captain Ethnic]]....

** In [[Persona 3]], there is Ryoji Mochizuki, whose family name is written with characters meaning "aspire to/expect/desire" and "moon." Shuji Ikutsuki's family name can be read roughly as "toward the moon." Both of these names are [[Lunacy|very relevant to the plot]]. Shinjiro Aragaki's surname is written with characters meaning [[Jerkass Facade|"rough" or "rude" and "wall."]] Aigis's name is derived from "Aegis," the [[Greek Mythology|mythological shield]], and she is motivated by a strong desire to protect the protagonist.

* About every level in ''[[Chip's Challenge]]'', which gets lampshaded in "Southpole", its hint tile reads "What was the name of this level?". The obvious solution (but surprisingly ''not'' the fastest one) is {{spoiler|keep moving down}}.

* The surname of crimelord Dimitri in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', Rascalov, is likely a pun of 'Rascal', meaning a troublemaker. His business partner, Mikhail Faustin, is named after Mikhail Gorbachev, and his surname evokes [[Faust]].

* Kyrie from ''[[Sands of Destruction]]'' means 'Lord' in Greek, quite fitting due to his nature as the Destruct. For a more obvious one, Morte the "heroine" means "Death" in Italian and she wants to destroy the world.

* Something of a cross between a [[Punny Name]] and a meaningful one, the main characters of ''[[The Path]]'', which is based on ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]'', are six sisters from the family Red. Their first names are Scarlet, Carmen (i.e. carmine), Ruby, Ginger, Rose, and Robin. Red things.

* The bosses of all of the chapters of ''[[Live a Live]]'' {{spoiler|except Oersted's}} all have similar names for a reason. {{spoiler|They are all more or less incarnations of the [[Big Bad]] Demon King Odio throughout the past, present, and future. Odio in Spanish means "I Hate"; indeed, all of the bosses embody hatred in their own way}}.

* In ''[[Double Switch]]'', one character has the name "Brutus". It is a Latin name that can be interpreted as "brute" or "stupid". The character himself proves to be pretty stupid in some ways.

* The name "X" in ''[[Mega Man X]]'' represents infinite possibilities displayed by the titular hero, as Dr. Light has described him. He even has a theme song named [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBQOmnU8bM Variable X].

* All the proper names in ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'' are [[Theme Naming|related to music]], but some stand out:

** A viola is an instrument played with a bow. Viola uses a bow as a weapon.