30 of the Worst Video Game Names That Make No Sense
There are very few titles that make less sense than Infinite Undiscovery. First of all, what does that even have to do with your game, and second what does it mean. Undiscovery isn’t even a word, but if it was how could it be infinite?
El Shaddai is actually Hebrew and one of the names of the God of Israel, also generally translated into God Almighty. The video game is rife with religious tones and references, and is even inspired by the ancient Jewish religious work known as the Book of Enoch. Of course unless you really dive into learning all of this you have no idea what this game title means. It’s as confusing as the game’s story itself.
Kingdom Hearts is certainly known for having some questionable titles, but the next entry in the series takes the cake. Let’s get the fact out of the way that this is Kingdom Hearts 2.8 which is bad enough, but Final Chapter Prologue? So it’s the prologue to the final part of the Kingdom Hearts series? Let’s not forget the games that are included in this package too, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage – and Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover. Sigh.
Danganronpa is a long and confusing title already, but boy does this one make it worse. If you don’t know anything about the game, what do you think another episode exactly is? A prequel? A spinoff? A sequel? Who knows, and just what the heck does Ultra Despair Girls mean?
WinBack is a really bad sounding name, one that just doesn’t roll of the tongue at all. It’s hard to say if they were going for some abstract name here, or merely just combing the words win and back to try something fun. We sincerely hope it’s the former.
You know what almost never works? Putting a number directly in your sequels title. Yeah, naming the new Fantastic Four movie Fant4stic looked dumb, and naming the third F.E.A.R game F.3.A.R isn’t much better.
Superhot is a name you’re going to hear a lot in the is games, especially because sections of the game repeat it over and over. The more you hear it the more you’ll start to think, just what does Superhot really mean? Why is it one word and not two? We may never know.
You can put this one in two categories, titles that don’t make sense and titles that you don’t know how to pronounce. This popular RPG series features some hilarious writing, with Demon forces usually having to work with their angelic counterparts. The name though, feels as awkward as you do saying it.
he Zero Escape games are filled with dramatic stories and fantastic characters. As weird as 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors may be, at least that title made sense with the game. Virtue’s Last Reward not so much. There’s a crazy story about time travel and alternate timelines, but nothing in the game really has anything to do with “Virtue’s Last Reward.” So what does?
Space Station Silicon Valley is an incredibly strange game. You take control of Evo – a robot who becomes a tiny microchip because of a crash. To survive you have to take control of animals in various environments and solve puzzles, beat enemies and more to advance. The thing is, the game actually takes place on a space station…. called Silicon Valley. It still begs the question, why?
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Infinite Undiscovery
There are very few titles that make less sense than Infinite Undiscovery. First of all, what does that even have to do with your game? And second what does it even mean? Undiscovery isn't even a word, but if it was how could it be infinite?
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
El Shaddai is actually Hebrew and one of the names of the God of Israel, also generally translated into God Almighty. The video game is rife with religious tones and references, and is even inspired by the ancient Jewish religious work known as the Book of Enoch. Of course unless you really dive into learning all of this, you'll have no idea what this game title means. It's as confusing as the game's story itself.
Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue
Kingdom Hearts is certainly known for having some questionable titles, but the next entry in the series takes the cake. Let's get the fact out of the way that this is Kingdom Hearts 2.8 which is bad enough, but Final Chapter Prologue? So it's the prologue to the final part of the Kingdom Hearts series? Let's not forget the games that are included in this package too, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - and Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover. Sigh.
Dragon Fin Soup
Dragon Fin Soup is not an appealing name, and really just conjures up images of water gross soups filled with fleshy bits of dragon. The game is a procedurally generated roguelike, and the title never quite seems to match what it's about.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Tokyo Mirage Sessions is about an anime as a JRPG can get, and that includes its ridiculous name. The Persona-like beings that you can summon in the game are known as Mirages, so okay, Tokyo Mirage Sessions can kinda maybe make sense. But the #FE just looks and sounds weird to the title, even if it is supposed to represent the Fire Emblem influences.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Danganronpa is a long and confusing title already, but boy does this one make it worse. If you don't know anything about the game, what do you think another episode exactly is? A prequel? A spinoff? A sequel? Who knows, and just what the heck does Ultra Despair Girls mean?
.hack//G.U. Volume 1 Rebirth
The .hack games are great RPGs, but boy are their titles the epitome of bad naming. Looking at the case shows a title that just looks like a jumble of numbers and letters, and seems like something with a lot of story and lore that you're going to have to learn about.
htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary
If you want a completely nonsensical video game title here it is. The Firefly Diary bit is all well and good, and even kind of intriguing. But add on htoL#NiQ, and you've got a complete head scratcher.
Steins;Gate
Steins Gate does have a meaning within the world of the game, but when you find out what it is, it's so convoluted with time travel theory that you're still confused. Not to mention the awkward semicolon dropped right in the middle of the two words.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth1
Hyperdimension Neptunia is another one of those JRPG series that started off with a strange name, and just made it worse. After the series established itself, we could deal with the strange main name, but then it had to go and add on Re:Birth1. It can't be simple and just say rebirth, no it has to be Re:Birth and you should also know that of course there's no space in between that Birth and 1.
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
What would you imagine a game called Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom to be about? Well, this NES title has you playing as Sir Cucumber, who is assigned by King Broccoli to go and save Princes Tomato from the evil Minister Pumpkin. Yeah, that's not a joke.
ZombiU
Zombies have become all the rage in video games, so of course when the Wii U released it'd need its own zombie killing game. Ubisoft took the reigns on this one and what did they decide to call it? Not something clever like Left 4 Dead, but just the fact that it is a zombie game and it's on Wii U. Yep, ZombiU.
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
Japanese RPGs have a bit of a running trend for ridiculous names, and Tri-Ace's latest title is no exception. The Other Side of the Sky makes perfect sense as you play the game, since its heroes are basically transported to another world parallel to earth. The Exist Archive bit, though, never really makes much sense.
Final Fantasy Artniks Dive
Ah Final Fantasy, well renowned for its ludicrous titles. When Square Enix decided to make its very own free-to-play card name they couldn't have chosen a more baffling title for it, as no one really knows what Artniks is or what it means. But when Square made a follow-up to the game, what would they call it? Artniks 2? Nope, Artniks Drive. Great.
Jet Force Gemini
Jet Force Gemini. A beloved Nintendo 64 title, with an utterly absurd name. We all wondered why the elite team known as Jet Force Gemini in the game, chose their name. There had to be better options after all.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
This game's title is a bit confusing. Goemon is the main character right? But it's Mystical Ninja starring Goemon? Wouldn't it be easier to just say Goemon the Mystical Ninja, or should we start putting starring after all of our titles?
WinBack
WinBack is a really bad sounding name, one that just doesn't roll of the tongue at all. It's hard to say if they were going for some abstract name here, or merely just combing the words win and back to try something fun. We sincerely hope it's the former.
ClayFighter 63⅓
Yes ClayFighter 63⅓ is actually parodying all of the other Nintendo 64 games that release with a 64 attached to their names. However, it's a parody that comes off as more awkward than anything. Just don't put fractions in your titles, please.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Metal Gear is no stranger to strange names with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, but Raiden's latest outing went a step above. Not only is this an offshoot of the series, but it creates an entirely new word that sounds ridiculous. Can't decide if Raiden wants revenge or vengeance? Well let's just say he wants Revengeance.
F3AR
You know what almost never works? Putting a number directly in your sequels title. Yeah, naming the new Fantastic Four movie Fant4stic looked dumb, and naming the third F.E.A.R game F.3.A.R isn't much better.
Buck Bumble
Buck Bumble is basically a Bumblebee superhero, but he certainly doesn't sound like a cool one. First off, you probably could have chosen a better name than Buck. Secondly, yeah he's a bumble bee but using that word just makes him sound like a bumbling hero.
Space Station Silicon Valley
Space Station Silicon Valley is an incredibly strange game. You take control of Evo - a robot who becomes a tiny microchip because of a crash. To survive, you have to take control of animals in various environments and solve puzzles, beat enemies and more to advance. The thing is, the game actually takes place on a space station.... called Silicon Valley. It still begs the question, why?
Superhot
Superhot is a name you're going to hear a lot in the is games, especially because sections of the game repeat it over and over. The more you hear it the more you'll start to think, just what does Superhot really mean? Why is it one word and not two? We may never know.
Bishi Bashi Special
If you're going for a title that sounds like a ridiculous Japanese game show, then you succeeded with Bishi Bashi Special. Maybe that's the whole point though, as each game in this series features a compilation of minigames to play similarly to a WarioWare game.
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino
Saying No One Can Stop Mr. Domino seems a little strange, when Dominoes are literally made to be lined up and knocked down. Maybe this hero and game should try thinking up a new tagline.
Magna Carta
Naming your newest JRPG after a famous historical document may not be the best idea. Sure, it sounds cool, but what does an English charter issued in 1215, that made peace between an unpopular Kind and rebellious Barons have to do with the game? Pretty much nothing, as you might have guessed.
Disgaea
You can put this one in two categories: titles that don't make sense and titles that you don't know how to pronounce. This popular RPG series features some hilarious writing, with Demon forces usually having to work with their angelic counterparts. The name, though, feels as awkward as you do saying it.
Grandia
Like so many other JRPGs, Grandia is an iconic series with a name that just doesn't really make sense when you think about it. What does Grandia mean, or what is a Grandia? It's never really brought up, so you're just left to wonder at this weird word.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
The Zero Escape games are filled with dramatic stories and fantastic characters. As weird as 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors may be, at least that title made sense with the game. Virtue's Last Reward? Not so much. There's a crazy story about time travel and alternate timelines, but nothing in the game really has anything to do with "Virtue's Last Reward." So what does?
Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy
Once again Final Fantasy shows its naming abilities. The fighting game Dissidia was already a nonsense made up word, but Square just made it all the worse when they added on 012 [Duodecim], forcing everyone to look it up on Google.
About the author
Hayes Madsen
A connoisseur of all things RPG related, and always looking for the artistic expression in gaming. His love of Gundam is only matched by his love of Pizza. Playing Games Since: 1991 Favorite Genres: RPGs, JRPGs, Strategy,