Trivia / Silent Hill

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• Executive Meddling: The CG cutscenes of the game were created single-handedly by Takayoshi Sato, after he learned that he wouldn't be credited for his work otherwise. Konami insisted on assigning a superior staffer to cutscenes, taking credit away from Sato as a result. He did an incredible job, but decided to create his own CGI studio outside Konami for the sequel.
• Killer App: Along with the original Resident Evil trilogy, Silent Hill more or less defined the more mature selection of games for the PlayStation.
• Regional Bonus: Zig-zagged. While the US release had the original Grey Child designs in the school chapter, the game is missing a very important note (it helps explain how Alessa got burned) that could be found in the last chapter in the original Japanese and European releases.
• Manual Misprint: The official strategy guide encourages players to "rely on that lovely sound coming from your radio" to avoid the reptilian creatures infesting the sewers. It'd be great advice if the radio actually worked down there, but the final version of the game disables your radio in the sewer area.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Silent Hill's infamous fog disguised the game's hardware limitations and served a second purpose in better establishing the effect of Surreal Horror. In-universe, the fog is unnatural and signifies to the player that Silent Hill is an Eldritch Location.
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was originally supposed to be a second character to play, almost certainly Cybil. There are objects in the game you can try to interact with that cause Harry to remark "I can't use this right now." You can never take or use them, and they were likely intended for Cybil.
  • Harry and Cheryl were originally planned to have been named Humbert and Dolores (as in, the main characters of Lolita).
  • Alessa was originally called Asia, named after Asia Argento. Since Dahlia got her name from Asia's mother Daria Nicolodi, this was yet another scrappped Meaningful Name.
  • The strategy guide responsible for the Manual Misprint above also revealed that the steel pipe weapon was originally to be found under the collapsed overpass in the northwest corner of the Old Silent Hill map. It presumably got relocated to the alley because this other location made it far too easy to overlook and miss out on obtaining it.
  • Possibly the most intriguing changes are still in the game's files, but remain unused. What are they? Well, an entire catalogue of unused monsters, complete with models, textures, and animations. They are each detailed in this video. These include...
    • A large butterfly monster.
    • A monster resembling a manta ray that has animations associated with swimming and/or floating, possibly being an aquatic monster.
    • A monster resembling what looks like a frog with no head, and is split down the frontal midsection.
    • A quadrupedal monster that resembles a cross between a dog and a monkey with massive claws on each leg, and an elongated face.
    • A bipedal monster resembling a headless ostrich made of a fleshy substance.
    • A small monster resembling a short snake, complete with a thrashing tongue.
    • A massive monster that resembles a plucked, emaciated chicken with malformed wings and an elongated neck. It's theorized that this monster in particular would have been a boss due to its size.
    • The Larval Stalkers originally had an actual texture overlay instead of being translucent and shadowy, looking much like a grotesquely deformed fetal infant.

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