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The Top 7... Mispronounced game names

The most horribly mangled titles in videogame history

Words: Charlie Barratt, GamesRadar US

Not everything can be as simple and straightforward as Pong. Forget the design and the graphics... we're just talking about the title. Pong. So pure. So unadorned. So onomatopoeic. So easy to pronounce, a child or caveman could do it.

Since then, gaming... and the naming of gaming... has only grown more confusing and complicated. Bad translations, bad marketing and sometimes plain old bad education have created a hobby where only the hardcore can make it through a list of new releases without verbally embarrassing themselves.

But perhaps that's just part of the fun. If that's the case, here are the game titles we've had the most fun slaughtering over the years.

Faxanadu

Correct pronunciation: "Fah zan ah doo"
Incorrect pronunciation: "Fax Anna Dew"

The word "Xanadu" has a rich and artistic history. Did you know that it was the name of the ancient Mongolian Empire's capital city? Or that it was the inspiration for English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge's most famous piece of work, Kubla Khan? Did you realize that it was the main character's mansion in one of the greatest films ever made, Citizen Kane?

Of COURSE you didn't. And, even if you did, the children playing videogames back in the late 1980s sure as hell didn't. Labelling your game just Xanadu would have been enough to make their brains hurt. Combining it with the name of the system it appeared on (the Famicom) to form Faxanadu was just cruel. Cute. But cruel.

Above: Those anticipating the magical excitement of office equipment had to make do with daggers and wingboots. Sigh...


 
43 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
reerGssoR  - 1 year 2 months ago 
haha Pokuhmoon
nice
Black_X_1111  - 1 year 2 months ago 
Its po-po-lo-croi
the s is silent, thats all
wertyboy  - 1 year 2 months ago 
hey, dont forget about ninja gaiden, im sick of people calling it gayden, its guyden dammit!
sektor187  - 1 year 2 months ago 
pokey-man
HypherionWing  - 1 year 2 months ago 
PuhkuhMayne
theworldonfire  - 1 year 2 months ago 
ninja gaiden!
Trapped_In_Hiskool  - 1 year 1 month ago 
My mom is constantly calling them pokemans. ITS NOT ENGLISH MOM!
thephntm  - 1 year 26 days ago 
TY the Tasmanian Tiger. People say, "Ooh, it's capitalized! So it's pronounced 'Tee-Why'"!
Gatastrophe  - 11 months 16 days ago 
My uncle called popolocrois "poop lacrosse"
afrosamurai3838  - 11 months 15 days ago 
i just ejactulated
TrippyMan  - 11 months 3 days ago 
Schereherazade... there's an NPC called that in a desert area of this one MMO and I always thought it was "Sch-er-ehe-raz-aid"
pyro9393  - 11 months 2 days ago 
god damn japanese and there complicated language
foarthelulz  - 11 months 2 days ago 
u guys forgot mario and how some ppl pronounce it w/ a short a
riodoku79  - 11 months 1 day ago 
umm..foarthelulz...it IS pronounced with a short a...
ultimate_asswoopin  - 10 months 29 days ago 
how about shaw-ha-razaw-dee
KaylaKaze  - 10 months 25 days ago 
I'm pretty sure it was pronounced "fax zanna dew" on Captain N and the Game Masters, which I'm pretty sure was officially licensed by Nintendo.
AA95mp  - 10 months 6 days ago 
xanadu was also a song done by the elo
AA95mp  - 10 months 6 days ago 
DAY OF SEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
deathrebellion  - 9 months 25 days ago 
Ys????
if they wanted to pronounce it Ease couldn't they just right that....... man i think mispronouncing is becoming a style all by itself..
Well who cares as long as we get something more to laugh at :-)))
deathrebellion  - 9 months 25 days ago 
i willingly wrote 'write' as 'right'
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