Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Character Name Limits

 Character Name Limits
type
FeatureClass
 Character Name Limits
label
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits
page
CharacterNameLimits
 Character Name Limits
comment
Many older video games have limits to how many letters can be provided in text entries. This can lead to a character's name shortened to fit into the allotted space. Sometimes an entirely new name is made for the character, other times letters are dropped from the name to make it fit.
This can be quite prevalent in games translated from Japanese – after all, in the Japanese Writing System, a single kanji or kana character can represent an entire syllable which would need multiple letters in the Latin alphabet.
As computing tech marched on, most newer examples are done intentionally, either for Retraux flavor or for parody's sake.
Compare Serendipity Writes the Plot, for when technical limitations change the creative direction of a work of fiction, and Cap. See also Dub Name Change, as differences between languages may cause this to occur when translations are done.
 Character Name Limits
fetched
2024-02-29T05:15:18Z
 Character Name Limits
parsed
2024-02-29T05:15:18Z
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to AWinnerIsYou: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to CrystalStoryII: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to Deadmau5: Not an Item - IGNORE
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to DummiedOut: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to ObstructiveBureaucrat: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to TakeThat: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Character Name Limits
processingComment
Dropped link to TheEighties: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Character Name Limits
processingUnknown
CrystalStoryII
 Character Name Limits
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Character Name Limits / int_10ddd3d5
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_10ddd3d5
comment
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess allowed the player to name Link's horse, whose default name was Epona. Of course, the amount of characters that could be used was limited. It turned out that the Wii version of the game had a flaw that allowed a hacked save file to use a name longer than the allowed name length. This led to the infamous "Twilight Hack", which used a hacked save file where the namespace for Epona was instead filled with a program that was loaded and executed when the game loaded the save file, allowing the installation of unauthorized software. This led to a revolution in the Wii homebrew scene.
 Character Name Limits / int_10ddd3d5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_10ddd3d5
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_10ddd3d5
 Character Name Limits / int_117edb52
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_117edb52
comment
In Robopon Sun Version for the Game Boy, the player's name was limited to four characters. The character length in the sequel for the Game Boy Advance was an improvement—five characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_117edb52
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_117edb52
featureConfidence
1.0
 Robopon (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_117edb52
 Character Name Limits / int_1a4b3ea2
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_1a4b3ea2
comment
Digimon:
Digimon World: Name input for the Player Character and his Digimon only accepts up to 6 characters.
Digimon World 2: 5-character limit for the Player Character and 6 for his Digi-Beetle. Digimon name can accept far longer characters (13), though some are still forced to be shortened in the English version, leading to names like P-Sukamon (PlatinumSukamon), N-Drimogemon (NiseDrimogemon), D-Tyrannomon (DarkTyrannomon), etc. This also results in MasterTyrannomon and MetalTyrannomon sharing the same name of "M-Tyrannomon" (both also belong to the same evolutionary level, albeit with different attributes).
Digimon World DS and Digimon World Dawn/Dusk also suffer from this in the English version as the character limit is not increased from the original Japanese, causing the player's Digimon to be stuck at 8 characters (nicknames are mandatory, hence this). However, a Digimon's species name is rendered properly without this much restriction, which makes the player's Digimon look jarring against foe Digimon on the turn queue.
For whatever reason, the English version of Digimon Survive abbreviates certain terms under the assumption of this trope despite there being free space available (like Free Bat. for Free Battle).
 Character Name Limits / int_1a4b3ea2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_1a4b3ea2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon (Franchise)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_1a4b3ea2
 Character Name Limits / int_1a7918e3
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_1a7918e3
comment
In Terranigma, an eight-character limit resulted in such obviously mangled place names as "Evegreen," "Sanctuar" and "Grecliff" (which was originally Great Cliff). Crystalholm was truncated to "Crysta," obscuring its connection with the only other town whose name ends in -holm (or -olm, since it loses the H for the same reason). The names of weapons, armors, rings and pins (but not other items) also are limited to eight characters, many of them being CamelCased and/or abbreviated (e.g. RocSpear, BrnzPike).
 Character Name Limits / int_1a7918e3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_1a7918e3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Terranigma (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_1a7918e3
 Character Name Limits / int_20663f23
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_20663f23
comment
Cute Knight series: Multiple:
For both games, Cute Knight and Cute Knight Kingdom, the protagonist's name is limited to being 8 characters long.
Cute Knight Kingdom: The save names are limited to being 15 characters long, although, if the names are altered outside of the game, they will still display, but just not properly.
 Character Name Limits / int_20663f23
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_20663f23
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cute Knight (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_20663f23
 Character Name Limits / int_20eec977
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_20eec977
comment
Likewise, Story of Seasons also has six characters per name, at least in the 3DS games. This is far less understandable, given that you'll end up naming a number of farm animals and will likely want to give them less restrictive names.
 Character Name Limits / int_20eec977
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_20eec977
featureConfidence
1.0
 Story of Seasons (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_20eec977
 Character Name Limits / int_237eae2f
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_237eae2f
comment
Parodied in Cthulhu Saves the World's bonus campaign Cthulhu's Angels when Elonalina tries to join October on a quest but can't because her name wouldn't fit in a status box, so she shortens it to "Elona" and joins without trouble.
 Character Name Limits / int_237eae2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_237eae2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cthulhu Saves the World (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_237eae2f
 Character Name Limits / int_261c8d3f
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_261c8d3f
comment
On The Simpsons, Milhouse tries to enter "Thrillhouse" as his name when playing a video game, but it ends up as "THRILLHO" instead. It gets funnier when the viewer realizes that "Milhouse" would have fit the character limit.
 Character Name Limits / int_261c8d3f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_261c8d3f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Simpsons
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_261c8d3f
 Character Name Limits / int_2b0a3ea9
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_2b0a3ea9
comment
Card City Nights 2: The protagonist's name is limited to 14 characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_2b0a3ea9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_2b0a3ea9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Card City Nights (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_2b0a3ea9
 Character Name Limits / int_2cb2e5e0
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_2cb2e5e0
comment
Breath of Fire II is even worse, as it not only suffers the exact same problem as the first, the Translation Trainwreck turned up heavily compressed and at times almost incomprehensible names. Some beauties include "Bleu/Deis's Room=BlueRm", "Circlet"="SokletAR", "Undead Thief" = "Sheef", "Dark Crusader=D.Crsdr", "Mind Blast"="Mindstr" and "Multi-Attack"="Eggbetr".
 Character Name Limits / int_2cb2e5e0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_2cb2e5e0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Breath of Fire II (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_2cb2e5e0
 Character Name Limits / int_32b5564a
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_32b5564a
comment
In Secret of the Stars, item names are limited to eight characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_32b5564a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_32b5564a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Secret of the Stars (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_32b5564a
 Character Name Limits / int_34d22792
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_34d22792
comment
Digimon World 2: 5-character limit for the Player Character and 6 for his Digi-Beetle. Digimon name can accept far longer characters (13), though some are still forced to be shortened in the English version, leading to names like P-Sukamon (PlatinumSukamon), N-Drimogemon (NiseDrimogemon), D-Tyrannomon (DarkTyrannomon), etc. This also results in MasterTyrannomon and MetalTyrannomon sharing the same name of "M-Tyrannomon" (both also belong to the same evolutionary level, albeit with different attributes).
 Character Name Limits / int_34d22792
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_34d22792
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon World 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_34d22792
 Character Name Limits / int_42ef3233
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_42ef3233
comment
The Amazing Digital Circus: In the in-universe game the players live in, Caine can give a new player a randomized name based on a five-character slot machine if the player doesn't name themselves. This is parodied when Pomni's name nearly becomes "XDDCC".
 Character Name Limits / int_42ef3233
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_42ef3233
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Animation)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_42ef3233
 Character Name Limits / int_4be1bdd0
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_4be1bdd0
comment
In Golden Sun, playable characters get this treatment in the English versions of the game because of this trope, leading to name changes from Gerald to Garet, Garcia to Felix, Jasmine to Jenna and Picard to Piers. Character limits are increased in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, with names like Matthew and Tyrell running around.
 Character Name Limits / int_4be1bdd0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_4be1bdd0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Golden Sun (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_4be1bdd0
 Character Name Limits / int_4e8455ab
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_4e8455ab
comment
Artifact Adventure: Party members have a 5-character name limit.
 Character Name Limits / int_4e8455ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_4e8455ab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Artifact Adventure (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_4e8455ab
 Character Name Limits / int_50bcf7a6
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_50bcf7a6
comment
Homestuck:
While not commented upon in-universe, humans and Trolls essential to Sburb/SGRUB have names that fit within certain character limits. Humans have four-character given names and six to seven-character surnames, while Trolls have six-character names for both. Important adult Trolls such as the Ancestors have eight-character names or titles, although some have both. Non-essential people don't have to adhere to the limit (e.g. Colonel Sassacre, Troll Will Smith). This is also true of the 2 Cherubs encountered, both of whom have eight-character given names, but gain names that don't follow that rule when they fill another role (like Caliborn becoming Lord English).
Parodied with the names of "kind abstracta"◊ (weapon proficiencies) which are limited to 8 characters + "kind", leading to "fncysntakind" if you wield a fancy Santa as a bludgeon.
 Character Name Limits / int_50bcf7a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_50bcf7a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Homestuck (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_50bcf7a6
 Character Name Limits / int_5137fa74
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_5137fa74
comment
TV Tropes itself has a 64 characters limit for page names, not including spaces or punctuation that would be included in custom titles. This is due to the underlying software being limited in this way. Any attempt to create a page with a name longer than that will just fail outright.
 Character Name Limits / int_5137fa74
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_5137fa74
featureConfidence
1.0
 TV Tropes (Website)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_5137fa74
 Character Name Limits / int_55226230
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_55226230
comment
A constant bane in the Breath of Fire series, specially in its early days.
Breath of Fire I has to change or truncate most of the main character's names due to a 4-letter limit, such as changing Gilliam into Bo, Builder into Ox or rendering "Zorgon" and "Carla" as "Zog" and "Cerl". Every single item name was also struck with this, often ending up with confusing names ("A.Ptn" for Agility Potion, "Antdt" for Antidote) or heavily compressed ones with two uppercase letters to indicate type (BronzSD=Bronze Sword, SilverDR=Silver Dagger, etc.). Enemy and town names are not exempt, either.
Breath of Fire II is even worse, as it not only suffers the exact same problem as the first, the Translation Trainwreck turned up heavily compressed and at times almost incomprehensible names. Some beauties include "Bleu/Deis's Room=BlueRm", "Circlet"="SokletAR", "Undead Thief" = "Sheef", "Dark Crusader=D.Crsdr", "Mind Blast"="Mindstr" and "Multi-Attack"="Eggbetr".
Breath of Fire III increased the character limit for everything (probably due to being the first one on a 32-bit console), but it still couldn't save two of its main characters, as "Garland" and "Pecoros" got truncated into "Garr" and "Peco". A few enemies were also affected, such as the ZombieDr (Zombie Doctor) and Berserkr (Berserker), too.
 Character Name Limits / int_55226230
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_55226230
featureConfidence
1.0
 Breath of Fire (Franchise)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_55226230
 Character Name Limits / int_567ec199
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_567ec199
comment
Bumper Stumpers exploited the limits of Vanity License Plates to make puzzles out of them.
 Character Name Limits / int_567ec199
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_567ec199
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bumper Stumpers
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_567ec199
 Character Name Limits / int_5afbc0cb
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_5afbc0cb
comment
Undertale CamelCases item names in encounter screens and scrunches them down to eight or nine letters, for no apparent reason other than Retraux flavor. For example, butterscotch pie becomes the less appetizing ButtsPie. When you use a SpidrDont (Spider Donut) in battle, it says, "Don't worry, the spider didn't." Certain boss fights remove jokes in the abbreviations; for instance, SpidrDont becomes SpdrDonut. The name you input at the beginning of the game is also limited to six letters, which is why Papyrus allows you to name your character after him, unlike the other major characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_5afbc0cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_5afbc0cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Undertale (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_5afbc0cb
 Character Name Limits / int_6572cd2f
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_6572cd2f
comment
Digimon World DS and Digimon World Dawn/Dusk also suffer from this in the English version as the character limit is not increased from the original Japanese, causing the player's Digimon to be stuck at 8 characters (nicknames are mandatory, hence this). However, a Digimon's species name is rendered properly without this much restriction, which makes the player's Digimon look jarring against foe Digimon on the turn queue.
 Character Name Limits / int_6572cd2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_6572cd2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon World DS (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_6572cd2f
 Character Name Limits / int_69a9d669
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_69a9d669
comment
Breath of Fire III increased the character limit for everything (probably due to being the first one on a 32-bit console), but it still couldn't save two of its main characters, as "Garland" and "Pecoros" got truncated into "Garr" and "Peco". A few enemies were also affected, such as the ZombieDr (Zombie Doctor) and Berserkr (Berserker), too.
 Character Name Limits / int_69a9d669
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_69a9d669
featureConfidence
1.0
 Breath of Fire III (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_69a9d669
 Character Name Limits / int_754dc5c1
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_754dc5c1
comment
The NES version of The Hollywood Squares limited players' and panelists' names to four letters.
 Character Name Limits / int_754dc5c1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_754dc5c1
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hollywood Squares
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_754dc5c1
 Character Name Limits / int_7a670577
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_7a670577
comment
The notorious bootleg Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal is made even more nonsensical by retaining character limits obviously not designed for a Western language.
 Character Name Limits / int_7a670577
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_7a670577
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_7a670577
 Character Name Limits / int_7c19a801
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_7c19a801
comment
In FTL: Faster Than Light, with certain preparations you can defeat a legendary thief KazaaakplethKilik and get him to join your crew as... Kazaaak. A crewmate's name can be longer than that, but the limit is still not enough for the thief's full name.
 Character Name Limits / int_7c19a801
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_7c19a801
featureConfidence
1.0
 FTL: Faster Than Light (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_7c19a801
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cc3
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cc3
comment
Final Fantasy II changes several characters' names due to space limits. Frionel became Firion, Leonhart became Leon, and Richard Highwind (eventually) became Ricard Highwind.
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cc3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cc3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy II (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_86814cc3
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cd0
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cd0
comment
In Final Fantasy IV, the Four Fiends take their names from The Divine Comedy: Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia and Rubicante; these became "Milon," "Kainazzo," "Valvalis" and "Rubicant" in the original Super NES release and the PlayStation port. In the same releases, the summons Leviathan and Bahamut appear in the menu as Levia and Baham. In addition, due to the six-character limit on party member names, Gilbart was renamed Edward. On the status screen, a ten-character limit caused Kain's class to be changed from "Dragon Knight" to "Dragoon," which has stuck as The Artifact for other spear-using knights in the series.
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cd0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_86814cd0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_86814cd0
 Character Name Limits / int_86814e56
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_86814e56
comment
In Final Fantasy VI:
Strago drops the "s" from the end of his Japanese name. Cyan is similarly a simplified version of his Japanese name, Cayenne. These names are still kept in the Advance port despite the extended character limit.
The boss Poltrgeist omits an "e", and the Ultima Weapon drops the space and is renamed AtmaWeapon. Both are only in the Super NES and PS1 releases; later releases restore Poltrgeist's name to the Japanese name, Demon, and AtmaWeapon reverted to Ultima Weapon. Also of note in this context is the restoration of the Dummied Out boss CzarDragon as Kaiser Dragon.
Some enemy names were simply shortened to be a crunched version of the original name. For example, the boss monster Dirt Dragon is spelled Dirt Drgn.
 Character Name Limits / int_86814e56
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_86814e56
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_86814e56
 Character Name Limits / int_8d318bad
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_8d318bad
comment
In Super Mario RPG, the mini-boss Belome creates clones of party members which are called "X Clone", except for Princess Toadstool (now known as Peach), whose clone is called "Toadstool 2".
 Character Name Limits / int_8d318bad
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_8d318bad
featureConfidence
1.0
 Super Mario RPG (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_8d318bad
 Character Name Limits / int_8e93a13d
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_8e93a13d
comment
The mainline Phantasy Star games, just like Final Fantasy above, give you a whopping four letters to work with. Of course, only the second game lets you rename anyone. Likewise, techniques only had five letters available, so you were left with cryptic spell names like Tsu/Githu/Nathu, Shinb, or Vol/Savol.
 Character Name Limits / int_8e93a13d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_8e93a13d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Phantasy Star (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_8e93a13d
 Character Name Limits / int_91684031
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_91684031
comment
This is why the feather items introduced in Pokémon Black and White are called "Wings" in English and Paralyze Heal is called "Parlyz Heal". Both were lengthened in later games.
 Character Name Limits / int_91684031
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_91684031
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pokémon Black and White (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_91684031
 Character Name Limits / int_921a667d
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_921a667d
comment
In the English version of Pokémon Stadium, Giovanni's name is spelled "Giovani" due to Trainer names being limited to seven characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_921a667d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_921a667d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pokémon Stadium (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_921a667d
 Character Name Limits / int_978ca9a8
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_978ca9a8
comment
Cute Knight Kingdom: The save names are limited to being 15 characters long, although, if the names are altered outside of the game, they will still display, but just not properly.
 Character Name Limits / int_978ca9a8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_978ca9a8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cute Knight Kingdom (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_978ca9a8
 Character Name Limits / int_9b530c26
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_9b530c26
comment
In an Archie Comics strip, Archie once asked Jughead to buy him a Vanity License Plate that read SUPERDUDE. It turned out that only the first eight letters would fit on the plate.
 Character Name Limits / int_9b530c26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_9b530c26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Archie Comics (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_9b530c26
 Character Name Limits / int_9c1b9880
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_9c1b9880
comment
For whatever reason, the English version of Digimon Survive abbreviates certain terms under the assumption of this trope despite there being free space available (like Free Bat. for Free Battle).
 Character Name Limits / int_9c1b9880
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_9c1b9880
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon Survive (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_9c1b9880
 Character Name Limits / int_9d34190a
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_9d34190a
comment
Most games in The Elder Scrolls series have 15 character limits for names. The Elder Scrolls Online ups it to 25.
 Character Name Limits / int_9d34190a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_9d34190a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Elder Scrolls (Franchise)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_9d34190a
 Character Name Limits / int_9e9b6ca0
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_9e9b6ca0
comment
Digimon World: Name input for the Player Character and his Digimon only accepts up to 6 characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_9e9b6ca0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_9e9b6ca0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon World (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_9e9b6ca0
 Character Name Limits / int_9ec0556a
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_9ec0556a
comment
I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC featured a phone number example that Deadpool tried to set up to sell "Team Wade" T-shirts.
 Character Name Limits / int_9ec0556a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_9ec0556a
featureConfidence
1.0
 I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC (Web Video)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_9ec0556a
 Character Name Limits / int_9f89a5f0
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_9f89a5f0
comment
Pokémon was full of this, until later games expanded the character limit:
Among Pokémon species, we have Feraligatr and Victreebel, as there's a limit of 10 letters for their names. Victreebel is particularly noticeable as its pre-evolution Weepinbell has both L's. The name limit was increased to 12 for Pokémon X and Y, but the abbreviated names remain.
In the beta versions of the original games, Gyarados was called "Skulkraken" due to the same problem.
Moves were often abbreviated this way thanks to a 12-character limit (for example, ThunderPunch and ExtremeSpeed). X and Y expanded the limit to 16, so many moves abbreviated this way were expanded up to take advantage of this (e.g. Thunder Punch and Extreme Speed).
For human characters, the name limit was seven until Pokémon X and Y, where it was increased to eight.
In the English version of Pokémon Stadium, Giovanni's name is spelled "Giovani" due to Trainer names being limited to seven characters.
This is why the feather items introduced in Pokémon Black and White are called "Wings" in English and Paralyze Heal is called "Parlyz Heal". Both were lengthened in later games.
The notorious bootleg Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal is made even more nonsensical by retaining character limits obviously not designed for a Western language.
"Pokémon" is sometimes shortened to "Pkmn" within the early games. To drive the point even further home, the P and K were often combined into one special character, while the M and N were combined into another.
 Character Name Limits / int_9f89a5f0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_9f89a5f0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pokémon (Franchise)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_9f89a5f0
 Character Name Limits / int_a4c8f35d
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_a4c8f35d
comment
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and its sequel Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth only have room for six characters, which is tiny for a 3DS game. This means that Yu Narukami and Ren Amamiya can't be given their canon surnames.
 Character Name Limits / int_a4c8f35d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_a4c8f35d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_a4c8f35d
 Character Name Limits / int_a4ff8e01
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_a4ff8e01
comment
Fate/Grand Order: You message under your name has a limit of 29 characters. This is Played for Laughs in the 2016 (or 2018) English version of the Nerofest, because Ozymandias' title is "There is no limit to the pha-".
 Character Name Limits / int_a4ff8e01
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_a4ff8e01
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fate/Grand Order (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_a4ff8e01
 Character Name Limits / int_a606596a
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_a606596a
comment
Chrono Cross has a six letter limit instead. A few of the characters had a Dub Name Change for it (Mamacha to Macha, Marcella to Marcy, Lucky Dan to Mojo, Spriggan to Sprigg).
 Character Name Limits / int_a606596a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_a606596a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Chrono Cross (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_a606596a
 Character Name Limits / int_a81325d3
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_a81325d3
comment
Final Fantasy:
Final Fantasy is filled with these, both with enemies (such as PEDE, as opposed to Centipede, or BLUE D for Blue Dragon) and with spells (such as HRM, LIT). These became especially evident in subsequent re-releases of the game, which had less constrictive character limits and changed many names to be more faithful to their full intended names (example: MADPONY became Crazy Horse, and for a boss, KARY was now Marilith).
Final Fantasy II changes several characters' names due to space limits. Frionel became Firion, Leonhart became Leon, and Richard Highwind (eventually) became Ricard Highwind.
In Final Fantasy IV, the Four Fiends take their names from The Divine Comedy: Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia and Rubicante; these became "Milon," "Kainazzo," "Valvalis" and "Rubicant" in the original Super NES release and the PlayStation port. In the same releases, the summons Leviathan and Bahamut appear in the menu as Levia and Baham. In addition, due to the six-character limit on party member names, Gilbart was renamed Edward. On the status screen, a ten-character limit caused Kain's class to be changed from "Dragon Knight" to "Dragoon," which has stuck as The Artifact for other spear-using knights in the series.
In Final Fantasy VI:
Strago drops the "s" from the end of his Japanese name. Cyan is similarly a simplified version of his Japanese name, Cayenne. These names are still kept in the Advance port despite the extended character limit.
The boss Poltrgeist omits an "e", and the Ultima Weapon drops the space and is renamed AtmaWeapon. Both are only in the Super NES and PS1 releases; later releases restore Poltrgeist's name to the Japanese name, Demon, and AtmaWeapon reverted to Ultima Weapon. Also of note in this context is the restoration of the Dummied Out boss CzarDragon as Kaiser Dragon.
Some enemy names were simply shortened to be a crunched version of the original name. For example, the boss monster Dirt Dragon is spelled Dirt Drgn.
In Final Fantasy VIII, the name of Guardian Force Quetzalcoatl has to be shortened to "Quezacotl."
 Character Name Limits / int_a81325d3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_a81325d3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy (Franchise)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_a81325d3
 Character Name Limits / int_a825da3e
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_a825da3e
comment
In Magic: The Gathering, the card name Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar was so long that it would not fit unless the designers removed the mana symbols which would go next to the name.
 Character Name Limits / int_a825da3e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_a825da3e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Magic: The Gathering (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_a825da3e
 Character Name Limits / int_aa519f08
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_aa519f08
comment
Obliquely touched on in MS Paint Masterpieces. The author renamed one of the Robot Masters from Elec Man to Electric Man—because he reasoned/assumed that the character would have been named Electric Man originally if Mega Man hadn't had an eight-character name limit.
 Character Name Limits / int_aa519f08
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_aa519f08
featureConfidence
1.0
 MS Paint Masterpieces (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_aa519f08
 Character Name Limits / int_abd5699
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_abd5699
comment
Plague Inc.: The plague's name is limited to 20 characters.
 Character Name Limits / int_abd5699
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_abd5699
featureConfidence
1.0
 Plague Inc. (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_abd5699
 Character Name Limits / int_aca7b22d
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_aca7b22d
comment
In the episode "The Name" from The Amazing World of Gumball when Gumball beats a game of beating a monster in a arcade machine, he is prompted to write his three character limit name which it can be either "GUM" or "BAL". The Gumball's name resulted to be changed to "ZAC" from Zach. Near in the end of the episode, he expands the three character limit in the arcade game in order to change to his original name.
 Character Name Limits / int_aca7b22d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_aca7b22d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Amazing World of Gumball
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_aca7b22d
 Character Name Limits / int_b0b22636
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_b0b22636
comment
The Game Boy ports of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! had five-letter limits.
 Character Name Limits / int_b0b22636
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_b0b22636
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wheel of Fortune
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_b0b22636
 Character Name Limits / int_b71e8b89
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_b71e8b89
comment
Breath of Fire I has to change or truncate most of the main character's names due to a 4-letter limit, such as changing Gilliam into Bo, Builder into Ox or rendering "Zorgon" and "Carla" as "Zog" and "Cerl". Every single item name was also struck with this, often ending up with confusing names ("A.Ptn" for Agility Potion, "Antdt" for Antidote) or heavily compressed ones with two uppercase letters to indicate type (BronzSD=Bronze Sword, SilverDR=Silver Dagger, etc.). Enemy and town names are not exempt, either.
 Character Name Limits / int_b71e8b89
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_b71e8b89
featureConfidence
1.0
 Breath of Fire I (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_b71e8b89
 Character Name Limits / int_ba6cc3a1
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_ba6cc3a1
comment
While it is the first time you name your captain in Granblue Fantasy, you can spell their names as however long as you want (due to it being based on your Mobage account username), However, subsequent renames are limited to six characters without the use of a glitch.
 Character Name Limits / int_ba6cc3a1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_ba6cc3a1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_ba6cc3a1
 Character Name Limits / int_bd310eaa
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_bd310eaa
comment
In El Goonish Shive, when Grace is playing Chrono Trigger, she tries to find a way of naming Robo "Toaster" within the five-character limit (rejecting "Toast" because "he's not bread!"). After rejecting all options because they look more like "Taster" or "Tester", she names him "Bread".
 Character Name Limits / int_bd310eaa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_bd310eaa
featureConfidence
1.0
 El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_bd310eaa
 Character Name Limits / int_bdb9f01b
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_bdb9f01b
comment
Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories for Game Boy Color has an eighteen-character limit for all card names and the rest is cut. So, "Air Marmot of Nefariousness" is written as "Air Marmot of Nefa", and so on. On the deckbuilding screen it's even worse, with a limit of 8 characters, so "The Unhappy Maiden" only appears as "The Unha" for instance.
 Character Name Limits / int_bdb9f01b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_bdb9f01b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_bdb9f01b
 Character Name Limits / int_c0c57462
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_c0c57462
comment
Chrono Trigger has the protagonist named "Crono" as there's a limit to five letters to character names. Item names are limited to ten letters, e.g. "SilverErng" (Silver Earring), "Lumin Robe" (Luminous Robe).
Chrono Cross has a six letter limit instead. A few of the characters had a Dub Name Change for it (Mamacha to Macha, Marcella to Marcy, Lucky Dan to Mojo, Spriggan to Sprigg).
 Character Name Limits / int_c0c57462
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_c0c57462
featureConfidence
1.0
 Chrono Trigger (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_c0c57462
 Character Name Limits / int_c2463c46
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_c2463c46
comment
Final Fantasy is filled with these, both with enemies (such as PEDE, as opposed to Centipede, or BLUE D for Blue Dragon) and with spells (such as HRM, LIT). These became especially evident in subsequent re-releases of the game, which had less constrictive character limits and changed many names to be more faithful to their full intended names (example: MADPONY became Crazy Horse, and for a boss, KARY was now Marilith).
 Character Name Limits / int_c2463c46
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_c2463c46
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_c2463c46
 Character Name Limits / int_c51b8d7a
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_c51b8d7a
comment
In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, there's an eight-character limit for naming characters. Since Chiaki's original surname was Tachibana she had to receive a small Dub Name Change to Hayasaka, which was reverted for the HD remaster. In addition, many choices for the localization of demon race names can be attributed to a seven-character limit for them (though some get around them by using lowercase Ls, which take up less space).
 Character Name Limits / int_c51b8d7a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_c51b8d7a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_c51b8d7a
 Character Name Limits / int_d0da5095
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_d0da5095
comment
In the first Dragon Quest Monsters game you only had room for four letters, but the main character's default name was Terry. To solve this problem, the name entry screen starts with "Terry" written in a completely different font than the rest of the game, and you can just play through the game with his name spelled like that. But it's not possible to spell "Terry" yourself if you erase it.
 Character Name Limits / int_d0da5095
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_d0da5095
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dragon Quest Monsters (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_d0da5095
 Character Name Limits / int_d148f51d
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_d148f51d
comment
The Looney Tunes Show: In "To Bowl or Not to Bowl", Daffy is typing in nicknames for his bowling team: The Porkinator, The Peteinator, and The Marvinator. However, due to the scoreboard's character limits, everyone's name shows up as "THE". When he names himself (the fourth player) "Poobah the Grand", the name comes up as "POO". Daffy then decides Porky will be player four instead of him.
 Character Name Limits / int_d148f51d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_d148f51d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Looney Tunes Show
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_d148f51d
 Character Name Limits / int_d29994ae
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_d29994ae
comment
Live A Live is notable (at least in one English translation) in that several player character names exceed the six-character limit. This means that if you erase the names to input something else, you can't put them back in.
 Character Name Limits / int_d29994ae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_d29994ae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Live A Live (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_d29994ae
 Character Name Limits / int_d3c4a6ce
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_d3c4a6ce
comment
One of the reasons Trials of Mana for the SNES was never localized was due to the game's technical problems, including a nasty issue with the game's code where increasing the character limit broke the game in several ways, and would've needed too much time to fix on time for an already late entry in the console's lifespan. The Fan Translation worked around this by renaming Charlotte to Carlie and shortening Hawkeye to Hawk.
 Character Name Limits / int_d3c4a6ce
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_d3c4a6ce
featureConfidence
1.0
 Trials of Mana (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_d3c4a6ce
 Character Name Limits / int_d557c9a2
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_d557c9a2
comment
In the Lufia series, "Selene" was shortened to "Selan" and "Heidecker" became "Dekar". Lufia: The Legend Returns averted this by allowing other party members' names to be longer than five characters (The Hero is limited to five, but his canon name merely went from "Wein" to "Wain").
 Character Name Limits / int_d557c9a2
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_d557c9a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Lufia (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_d557c9a2
 Character Name Limits / int_e22c949c
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_e22c949c
comment
The Dragon Quest series often had name entries with enough room for the length of an average name, and it would appear that way in dialogue, but it would be truncated to just the first four letters whenever it needed to fit in menu screens.
In the first Dragon Quest Monsters game you only had room for four letters, but the main character's default name was Terry. To solve this problem, the name entry screen starts with "Terry" written in a completely different font than the rest of the game, and you can just play through the game with his name spelled like that. But it's not possible to spell "Terry" yourself if you erase it.
 Character Name Limits / int_e22c949c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_e22c949c
featureConfidence
1.0
 DragonQuest
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_e22c949c
 Character Name Limits / int_e863cc41
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_e863cc41
comment
The Mega Man Battle Network games follow this trope for the names of NetNavis, which might be an intentional throwback to the older games that had less memorynote It may also be a throwback to DOS limiting filenames to 8 characters, which is another example of this trope.. This leads to Navis named FlamMan (FlameMan), the American football-themed FootMan/GridMan and JapanMan (originally YamatoMan.)
 Character Name Limits / int_e863cc41
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_e863cc41
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mega Man Battle Network (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_e863cc41
 Character Name Limits / int_eb6719f6
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_eb6719f6
comment
In Final Fantasy VIII, the name of Guardian Force Quetzalcoatl has to be shortened to "Quezacotl."
 Character Name Limits / int_eb6719f6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_eb6719f6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_eb6719f6
 Character Name Limits / int_ec61a56e
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_ec61a56e
comment
For both games, Cute Knight and Cute Knight Kingdom, the protagonist's name is limited to being 8 characters long.
 Character Name Limits / int_ec61a56e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_ec61a56e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cute Knight (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_ec61a56e
 Character Name Limits / int_f6e2c23d
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_f6e2c23d
comment
The English version of EarthBound Beginnings often removes letters and spaces in enemy, object and PSI names because of this, which is why we get things like "SuprHealing" instead of "Super Healing," "Def.Down" instead of "Defense Down," and "G.G.F's Diary" instead of "Great-Grandfather's Diary."
 Character Name Limits / int_f6e2c23d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_f6e2c23d
featureConfidence
1.0
 EarthBound Beginnings (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_f6e2c23d
 Character Name Limits / int_f858847a
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_f858847a
comment
Among Pokémon species, we have Feraligatr and Victreebel, as there's a limit of 10 letters for their names. Victreebel is particularly noticeable as its pre-evolution Weepinbell has both L's. The name limit was increased to 12 for Pokémon X and Y, but the abbreviated names remain.
 Character Name Limits / int_f858847a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_f858847a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pokémon X and Y (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_f858847a
 Character Name Limits / int_fb0bfff3
type
Character Name Limits
 Character Name Limits / int_fb0bfff3
comment
In Arc Style: Baseball!! 3D, your custom characters can have a 9-letter name; but pre-created teams have names longer than that, like Rivertorrent (12 letters).
 Character Name Limits / int_fb0bfff3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Character Name Limits / int_fb0bfff3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Arc Style: Baseball!! 3D (Video Game)
hasFeature
Character Name Limits / int_fb0bfff3

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Character Name Limits
processingCategory2
Self-Demonstrating Article
 Marapets
seeAlso
Character Name Limits
 Beyond the Beyond (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Brave Hero Yuusha (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Card City Nights (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Crystal Story (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Cute Knight (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Digimon Survive (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Digimon World -next 0rder- (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 EarthBound Beginnings (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 EquestriaBound (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Etrian Odyssey (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Mega Man Battle Network (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Phantasy Star (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Pokémon Clover (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Pokemon Quarantine Crystal (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Pokémon Unbound (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Pokémon X and Y (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Princess Maker (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Princess Maker 5 (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Star Control (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Super Mario RPG (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Tamagotchi (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 The Sword of Hope (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Titan Quest (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Unearthed (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Yo-kai Watch 3 (Video Game) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits
 Adventurers! (Webcomic) / int_19ff0887
type
Character Name Limits