Do You Still Call Them by Their Old Names Even When They Change?

[Nz17]

Final Fantasy II is IV.
Final Fantasy III is VI.
Super C is Super Contra.
Squall Leonhart is Leon.
Bowser is King Koopa.
Peach is Princess Toadstool.
Dr. Robotnik is Dr. Eggman.
Dragon Warrior is Dragon Quest.
PlayStation is PSX is PS is PS1 is PSOne.

Companies put us and their characters, consoles, and games through a lot of name changes. But it is difficult to forget the old name when it is woven into your mind. For those whose names have changed over the years, do you still call them by their old names or do you go by their new names? And for you, what is what?

For myself, Aeris will always be Aeris, not Aerith.

[Steven]

Raiden from Mortal Kombat was changed to Rayden (with a y instead of an i) when ported to the Genesis and SNES. Probably because of Raiden the shooting games? Raiden from Fatal Fury? Not sure why it was an issue for the home consoles when it didn't matter in the arcade? Anyway, he's back to Raiden nowadays, but I've always preferred it as Rayden. Looks cooler even if it sounds the same, lol. Plus, childhood memories of playing the SNES ports to death and seeing it spelled as Rayden!

[The 1 2 P]

I don't know about name change but I still spell Soul Calibur like that. I refuse to use the new spelling of SoulCalibur that Bandai Namco want us to start using. When it started as Soul Edge it separated the two words so I continued doing that for all the Soul games.

[Aussie2B]

Depends on what specifically I'm talking about. I'll go along with the changes most of the time, but I don't really like to apply them retroactively since I think that just muddles things. So if I'm, say, talking about the US NES localizations of the Famicom Dragon Quest games, I'm going to call them what's on the label, so Dragon Warrior. But if I'm talking about the remake of IV on DS, then I'm going to say Dragon Quest IV regardless of if I'm talking about the US or Japanese release because that's what's on that label.

The one area where I can be really stubborn and refuse to go along with what's official is when I play a Japanese version of a game first, get used to the names of characters/items/places/moves/etc., and the localization changes them to stuff that I hate. Like I can't stand the localization of Star Ocean: First Departure, and I refuse to call, to name a few, Ratix "Roddick", Joshua "Ioshua", and Tinek "T'nique" (that last one is particularly barf-worthy; the first few times I saw it, I honestly thought it was a bizarre abbreviation of "technique"). Well, I guess it's not so much that I refuse to use the official names in these scenarios, but rather I refuse to use the official names for the region I reside in and prefer to stick with the official Japanese names.

[Guntz]

I still call the NES Earth Bound prototype by its original name, I'm not a fan of EarthBound Zero or EarthBound Beginnings.

[ccovell]

The one that gets me is mibibytes, kibibits, etc. instead of megabytes and kilobits. I'm never going to use some dumb-sounding new expressions when we already understand what the old ones represent.

[celerystalker]

I tend to use whatever I've been saying for years. The SNES Final Fantasies I still call by what's on the label and title screen. I still mispronounce Gaiden (gay-den) and Ryu (Rye-you) even though I know better. If I'm talking to someone I don't know, I bother to clarify, but if it's just me and friends, I just say it how I always have.

[Tanooki]

Final Fantasy II is IV.
Final Fantasy III is VI.
Super C is Super Contra.
Squall Leonhart is Leon.
Bowser is King Koopa.
Peach is Princess Toadstool.
Dr. Robotnik is Dr. Eggman.
Dragon Warrior is Dragon Quest.
PlayStation is PSX is PS is PS1 is PSOne.


I go between, it just existed to me as what they first called it, and some people get whiny and upset over it too like I'm trying to be cool/annoying throwing stuff around. Sometime because it wasn't just a one off change but got muddled and then continued down that path despite discussion still existing I'll try and be more concise since things update other than the name. I'll call it FF2 or FF3 SNES and some will get dickish with me for not just saying they're FF4 and 6 which they know I know. But if I'm talking about a specific release, screw you I'm doing it, especially when there was also FF2 and 3 (famicom) still released in the US on the GBA/PS and the FF3 game hit DS then mobile later.

I have nothing for Squall, lame game so I don't discuss it. Koopa/Bowser I use both again depending on game, same with Peach, Robotnik, and anything else period set. Dragon Quest I slip and call it Warrior enough as I still mess with the old carts for the NES. And as for Sony trying to bury the name they used it's still the PSX to me most the time, but sometimes I do use PS1. It's not my fault they decided to be dumb and name some offbeat obscure box a PSX years later which almost no one has.

Guntz -- Same here, it's Earthbound, Nintendo said so, not some people buying a stolen prototype and hacking it in there makes it fact as it's not. Ccovell mibiwhat now? Megabits/bytes, kilobits/kilobytes, no idea what that crap is so not going to use it.

[XYXZYZ]

The one that gets me is mibibytes, kibibits, etc. instead of megabytes and kilobits.

I've never heard of mibibytes or kibibytes, where do they come from?


I've found the best way to avoid the conversational problem with the name changes is to not talk about video games at all. :monkey: But if I must, I call the 1991 Final Fantasy game with Cecil and Kain FF4, because if I say FF2 I can be talking about the original Famicom FF2, or the US SNES FF2. Whereas if I say FF4 there's only one game I can be talking about. Beyond that I have no consistency about what I call multi-named things, I just go with my own preference. Street Fighter is full of this mess with the M.Bison/Vega/Balrog swaps, the SF community just calls them "dictator", "claw", and "boxer".


Princess Peachstool

[SparTonberry]

I thought Bowser was only ever called King Koopa (in English media) in the SMB cartoons and the movie, neither of which would be canon.
Last I hear, they were actually trying to introduce the name Bowser INTO Japan (the opposite of Peach and Eggman, where they pushed the Japanese name onto the rest of the world).

[ccovell]

I've never heard of mibibytes or kibibytes, where do they come from?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibibyte

"These prefixes are now part of the International System of Quantities. The IEC further specified that the kilobyte should only be used to refer to 1000 bytes..."

[kupomogli]

Depends on the game. Final Fantasy 2 and 3 I call Final Fantasy 4 and 6. Dragon Warrior 1-7 though I still call them Dragon Warrior 1-7.

I've always called Aeris Aerith even before they later changed the name in the US.

I'll try to use PSOne when talking about PSX games, but I almost always use the term PSX.

[FoxNtd]

I always use original names for everything whether it's products, their titles, or even character names. Foreign releases that bear rebranding or renaming is completely disregarded because I don't care about marketing/censorship/etc. From time to time I don't even know what the foreign name is for something anyway.


The one that gets me is mibibytes, kibibits, etc. instead of megabytes and kilobits. I'm never going to use some dumb-sounding new expressions when we already understand what the old ones represent.

They're not just dumb-sounding they're different. One is for base 10 the other base 2. e.g. 1MB = 1000KB, 1MiB = 1024KiB. Hard drive manufacturers sure love to use the base 10 numbers since it allows them to put a bigger number on the box telling you the capacity when it's not as big as you think once you install it and have the computer report how much space it offers... It's in the fine print confirming they use base 10 by the way so they really can get away with it.

[ccovell]

They're not just dumb-sounding they're different. One is for base 10 the other base 2. e.g. 1MB = 1000KB, 1MiB = 1024KiB. Hard drive manufacturers sure love to use the base 10 numbers...

I'm well aware that it's dumb-sounding as well as different. I'm just quite annoyed that it's rewarding the deceivers and punishing the rest of the people: "OK, you hard drive guys keep using "mega"; we'll invent our own term so as not to keep confusing people (even though it was your fault...)"

We sometimes say "mega-tired" or "mega hot" and nobody thinks it means 1,000,000x (or 1,048,576x) fatigue. The same term can be understood in separate domains.

[Cloud121]

I do, but it depends on what it is

Genesis = MegaDrive
Sega CD = Mega CD
Super Nintendo = Super Famicom
Turbo Grafx 16 = PC-Engine
PlayStation = PSX
PSX = PlayStation 2 DVR
PlayStation 4 = Orbis
Xbox One = Durango
Dragon Warrior = Dragon Quest

Despite calling the majority of the fourth gen consoles by their Japanese names, I still call the NES, the NES (instead of Famicom), and the Master System, the Master System (instead of Mark III). I just think the Japanese names sound better.

As for Orbis and Durango, I got so used to calling them by their codenames, they just stuck. I also feel they are better names than what they ended up with.

[SparTonberry]

If SI wants to change the definition to avoid confusion for the customer, about you go ban ISPs from advertising the speed in bits. (although I haven't really watched TV in awhile so I haven't seen commercials to see if they're still advertising access speeds)
Because most people who don't know about programming don't know the difference.

[theclaw]

I'm sure I could go on and on here.

Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, and the old Dragon Quest games are rightfully the Japanese names. Still, Dragon Warrior Monsters has a ring to it.

Peach sounds much cuter than Toadstool. Not that I'm fond of her being TOO blonde.
Keep Robotnik his actual name. Eggman better suits the character as either a playful jab, or embraced to further his megalomania.
I prefer King Koopa, but it's too generic sounding to work today. There's so many Koopa species.
Though Squall lacks personality in his own way, a cooler name and fighting skills give him the edge over Leon. (sorry, fans of the 'generic nice guy' KH1 incarnation)

NES or Famicom depends on context. I will credit the full name of Family Computer as unintentional humor, with its keyboard and BASIC long forgotten in most people's eyes.
Genesis or Megadrive doesn't really matter. But Mega CD sounds awkward.
Master System over Mark III. It's nice how well the name connection to SG-1000 described its original design, yet Master System looks more creative and deserves being the historically recognized version. Mark III suffered even worse from lack of killer apps.
PSX is the DVR.

[Edmond Dantes]

Final Fantasy II is IV.
Final Fantasy III is VI.
Super C is Super Contra.
Squall Leonhart is Leon.
Bowser is King Koopa.
Peach is Princess Toadstool.
Dr. Robotnik is Dr. Eggman.
Dragon Warrior is Dragon Quest.
PlayStation is PSX is PS is PS1 is PSOne.

I love how your list starts out [American Name] is [Japanese Name] but for certain entries flip-flops and lists the Japanese name first.

Personally, for me it.... well, I still say "Dr. Robotnik" and "Princess Toadstool," but "Bowser" I use interchangably with "King Koopa."

Like I've said before, I like clarity of communication so for cases like Final Fantasy IV, I call it IV, since there's a completely different game called Final Fantasy II and continuing to use that number to refer to the game with Cecil the Paladin when most people will expect you to mean the Famicom game with Min-Wu and the "using a skill levels it up" system is just silly, and even borderline douchey since all it leads to is you having to post an explanation when people get confused. Dragon Quest and Warrior I'm more interchangeable on since there's (for the most part) only one game either title could refer to.

I've never heard of Squall being called Leon. Unless we're not talking about the Squall from FF8...

[Gentlegamer]

The one that gets me is mibibytes, kibibits, etc. instead of megabytes and kilobits. I'm never going to use some dumb-sounding new expressions when we already understand what the old ones represent.

This post has twice the Mega power!

I'm with you.

Bowser and Peach are their respective names, and their titles King Koopa and Princess Toadstool.

I still use Bowser and Princess Toadstool, because that's what they were when debuted and I played them over 25 years ago.

[FieryReign]

Whatever's on the damn box or in the in-game text.

[SparTonberry]

I've never heard of Squall being called Leon. Unless we're not talking about the Squall from FF8...
Squall was called Leon in Kingdom Hearts. At least the first one, which I only played random parts of.

[Edmond Dantes]

Was that some sort of translation error, or did KH give a hint that he may have been going under another name for some reason?

Cuz on the PS2, it seems odd that they'd just randomly give a well-known character a different name. Might as well call Donald Duck "Gorky Goopenhymer."

[ColecoFan1981]

It's the same as debating over what to call certain countries (and their cities) around the world; you know, like:
Burma or Myanmar?
Peking or Beijing?
Bombay or Mumbai?
Siam or Thailand?
Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City?
Tanganyika and Zanzibar, or Tanzania?

~Ben

[Nz17]

It's the same as debating over what to call certain countries (and their cities) around the world.

You're right. So then, everybody, which do you prefer: New York or New Amsterdam? ;)

[Daria]

It's the same as debating over what to call certain countries (and their cities) around the world; you know, like:
Burma or Myanmar?
Peking or Beijing?
Bombay or Mumbai?
Siam or Thailand?
Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City?
Tanganyika and Zanzibar, or Tanzania?

~Ben

No Istanbul or Constantinople?

Or do you feel that's nobody's business but the Turks?

[Ozzy_98]

No Istanbul or Constantinople?

Or do you feel that's nobody's business but the Turks?

No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople

[BlastProcessing402]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibibyte

"These prefixes are now part of the International System of Quantities. The IEC further specified that the kilobyte should only be used to refer to 1000 bytes..."

Then the IEC can suck it, because these stupid ibi bibi nonsense terms didn't even exist until stuff like KB = 1024B had been around for decades.


I don't mind if someone calls Mario's lady Peach when talking about recent games, but when you're talking about SMB2 or something, you best be callin her Toadstool.

Bowser is always Bowser, he's the King of the Koopas, not King Koopa


The FF games get the old number if talking about the original US release, the other number if talking about a later release. So it's FFII if you're talking SNES, but FFIV for PSX, GBA, DS, etc. If somehow that gets ambiguous, add a j or something to clarify, like FFIVj.

Super C is a weird one. It was Super Contra in the arcade, wasn't it, and just changed for the home because of that Iran Contra stuff in the news at the time, right? I would just say Super Contra, probably.

I will always abbreviate Playstation as PSX, that was in use in magazines even before the system launched (and one magazine even used it as their title!). I will only use PS1 if talking about the PSone redesigned system model.

Dragon Warrior sadly I pretty much have entirely converted to Dragon Quest. I really wish they would have called the Dragon Quest Heroes game, based on Dynasty Warriors, Hyrule Warriors type gameplay, Dragon Quest Warriors. Would have kept in line with the type of game it is, and also been a nice wink to the old American name of the game. Oh well, at least the translations went back to using Erdrick instead of that abominable Loto/Roto garbage that sounds nothing like a proper legendary hero's name.

[Flamzeron]

Raiden from Mortal Kombat was changed to Rayden (with a y instead of an i) when ported to the Genesis and SNES. Probably because of Raiden the shooting games? Raiden from Fatal Fury? Not sure why it was an issue for the home consoles when it didn't matter in the arcade? Anyway, he's back to Raiden nowadays, but I've always preferred it as Rayden. Looks cooler even if it sounds the same, lol. Plus, childhood memories of playing the SNES ports to death and seeing it spelled as Rayden!

I agree, especially since they pronounce it more like Ray-den anyway.


I don't know about name change but I still spell Soul Calibur like that. I refuse to use the new spelling of SoulCalibur that Bandai Namco want us to start using. When it started as Soul Edge it separated the two words so I continued doing that for all the Soul games.

Same here. I still find it weird to spell it otherwise.

I still occasionally call Bowser "King Koopa" as well. I switched over from Toadstool to Peach pretty easily, though. Not sure why lol.