Trivia / Quake II

• Artifact Title: id Software had other titles in mind for the game such as WOR. They later decided to stick to Quake II when the game’s fast-paced, tactile feel felt closer to a Quake game than a new franchise, and it worked.
• Author's Saving Throw: The 2023 remaster addressed several long-standing gripes with the original game:
  • Quake 2 for the Nintendo 64 was included as an additional episode. The notable thing is that this isn't a direct port, but the levels transferred to the id Tech 2 engine in their entirety, adding several features that the game never had (such as the ability to use the Compass), and also upgrading the assets to match the game it was based on.
  • Muzzle flashes have been added to every weapon; a long-standing complaint about the game since its original release.
  • In addition to a radial weapon wheel, a similar wheel was been included for inventory items, while also keeping the original list interface as an alternative option.
  • An infinite-use Compass item is included across all campaigns as a navigational aid, pointing the player to switches/items/destinations required for progression and greatly mitigating the game's oft-criticized maze-like level design.
• Dolled-Up Installment: The game was originally supposed to be entirely unrelated to the Quake series, and was only given the Quake name when the original name Id wanted to give the game turned out to be unusable for trademark reasons. Since then, the Quake name has mostly come to be associated with the Strogg story arc, but that's not surprisingly given the disjointed, random events Excuse Plot that was the original Quake. Quake III: Arena would incorporate characters from both games, which at least placed them all in the same universe, even if they otherwise had nothing to do with each other.
• Dummied Out:
  • The Power Screen is a Power Shield that only reduces damage from shots that hit you in front (the Brains and Daedalus enemies from Ground Zero have these). It isn't found anywhere in the game, but it can be summoned by using the console and is fully functional, with some third-party levels featuring it.
  • The original Ground Zero had a gamemode buried in the code called "Deathball", with entities present on it (and its maps using said entities) but was left unfinished before the expansion was released. The 2023 remaster deleted all code mentions to this gamemode as well as the Tag gamemode that actually made it.
  • Among the help files there are five pictures (six by counting the Power Screen, also present) of non-present items in the game; Invisibility, Goggles, Cloaker, Scope and Sights. The first two items eventually found their way into the game, Invisibility as a Nintendo 64 item (also included in the 2023 remastered edition of the game), and the Goggles as the IR Goggles item for Ground Zero.
  • There are several unused monster attack animations, most of which didn't even make the cut for the 2023 remaster:
    • Barracuda Sharks have a tail whip.
    • Berserkers have a less aggressive spike attack, a less aggressive and much slower version of the club attack, two versions of a running club attack (one of which eventually made it into the 2023 remaster), and a non-jumping version of their Ground Pound. It also had a ducking animation, and a tripping animation (possibly where the player shoots its legs).
    • Brains have hidden animations for a tentacle attack while walking (in the final game, it stops before attacking), as well as a defence animation.
    • Enforcers could cover their faces.
    • Flyers could stop mid-air, lean left and right, roll left and right and defend themselves.
    • Gunners could throw grenades while running and their Machinegun attack had an extended animation.
    • Icari could brake mid-air, take off from the ground, and hover backwards.
    • Mutants could stand up on their two back legs.
    • Technicians would be initially inactive (emulating an exploding barrels), and then they would activate, plus they had a non-exploding death animation.
    • Super Tanks could be able to fire rockets at targets behind them, drive backwards, and turn left and right.
  • In the 2023 remaster, single-player maps from the original campaigns cannot be selected in the multiplayer menu. However they still can be played in this mode by using the console, and the improved maps even have new item distributions.
• Fandom Nod: The 2023 remaster's bio for the Shambler acknowledges the fan debate over whether or not it has fur, or leathery skin by stating that both are true.
• Hey, It's That Sound!: Several sounds were recycled from the first Quake game:
  • The Nailgun firing sound was reused first for the original incarnation of the ETF Rifle in Ground Zero^note In the 2023 reamstered edition, the ETF Rifle got a new firing sound, closer to the Super Nailgun, and then in the 2023 remaster as the Shotgun's firing sound.
  • The player jump sound was reused as well.
  • The Prox Launcher sounds from Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon were reused for the Prox Launcher in Ground Zero.
• Prop Recycling: The PSX version recycles the opening and ending cutscene of Ground Zero.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • There's an unfinished "Flare Gun" model. It was repurposed into Threewave CTF's Grappling Hook.
  • Ground Zero repurposes the unfinished Nuke model into the A-M Bomb, the unfinished Googles into the IR Goggles, and the left/right unused Flyer rolling animation into the Carrier's Kamikaze Flyer attack.
  • Ground Zero features an item called Compass that was never implemented, but would later be realised in the 2023 Remaster as a default, universal inventory item.
  • Two of the five items considered for the main game but ultimately cut include Invisibility and Goggles. The Goggles were added in the Ground Zero expansion, where they were retextured and called "IR Goggles", and the Invisibility is present in the Nintendo 64 version, with its intended model being implemented in the 2023 remaster version of the campaign.
  • There's a cut weapon in Ground Zero called the Disruptor, a player-usable version of the Black Widow Guardian's unique weapon. The game's maps still feature entity spawn points for both the weapon and its ammo packs (and in certain source ports such as Yamagi Quake II or KMQuake2 both the weapon and its ammo can be enabled), but the weapon itself won't spawn at all. The weapon was finally added to the arsenal in the 2023 remaster and even appears halfway through the remastered Ground Zero and during Call of the Machine's Operation: Firewall as an end-game secret.
  • There are several unused monster attack animations, several of which were added for the 2023 remaster:
    • Berserkers gained a jumping Ground Pound (with an obscene range, to boot), and they can hit their enemies while running with their club.
    • Parasites could be stuck/caged. This attack made its way as the "attack missed" animation where hitting a wall with their tongue would immobilize them for some seconds.
    • Weapon Guards could trip. This made it for easier difficulty levels.
    • Super Tanks (and their Heat-Seeking/Beta Class variant) had hull-mounted guns that could fire projectiles. In the 2023 remaster, they fire grenades.
  • Thanks to the Id Vault allowing players to play development versions of some levels, we've discovered many areas that were eventually repurposed:
    • The E3 dev version of Pumping Station 1 began with a slime pit with a rotating mixer acting as a platform. This section was repurposed in the main game for the level "Inner Hangar", with the slime being replaced with water.
    • Also from the E3 demos is a space level which, for the most part, was repurposed as the path between the Red Key door and the Core portion of "The Reactor".
    • A level from the E3 demos that was completely cut featured the previously mentioned Disruptor as a pickupable weapon.
  • The PSX campaign didn't made the cut for the game nor its sole update, so instead it's being released as a free addon on ModDB.
• Re-Release Soundtrack: The Microsoft Store release of the game completely lacks the Sascha Dikiciyan (known professionally as Sonic Mayhem) composed OST. The reasons are unknown but likely stem from simple oversight more than anything (the original CD release used Redbook audio tracks for the music, which aren't encoded in the software itself, but are separate tracks that can be played in a CD audio player), as the GOG release retains it. The same was true for the Steam version, until the 2023 remaster addressed this oversight.
• Schedule Slip: A minor example. The PSX campaign was meant to be included in the 2023 remaster at launch, but it wasn't ready on time for release, so it had to be delayed. There's a beta version for testing at Nightdive's Discord channel, with the full version being included in the future via an update.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The 2023 remaster version lacks the Threewave CTF maps "q2ctf6: Borders Canyon", "q2ctf7: Boxed In" and "q2ctf8: The Hangar Scenario" due to legal reasons, as those maps belong to Threewave rather than Id.
• Technology Marches On:
  • The original game required a 3dfx Voodoo graphics card at launch. The 2023 remaster can be run on the Nintendo Switch at a better resolution than the last Voodoo graphics chipset ever made.
  • In the game proper, one of the items you often have to retrieve are data CDs (DVDs and USB drives were in their infancy when the game was released).
• Working Title: WOR.

---