“All your base are belong to us” remains the gold standard for that joyous disconnect that occurs when translating a piece of art from one language to another, but it’s certainly not the only example of such comedic serendipity. Just look at this list of names that some Japanese guy conjured up when working on the 1994 Super Famicom game Fighting Baseball.
What’s so great about them is that they’re almost believable, like names that were dreamt up by neural network and not some guy behind a computer. And while Sleve McDichael and Bobson Dugnutt are obvious standouts for being completely goddamned insane, it’s the subtle curiosities that offer the biggest chuckles, if only for the way they trick the brain. “Bonzalez” and “Sernandez” are so close, yet sound so completely foreign. And then there’s Scott Dourque, whose genius is only revealed when it’s said out loud.
As the Telegraph pointed out, one Reddit user managed to pinpoint the dude’s process, which involved conjuring up first names while subtly changing the last names of known baseballers. And when the game was released in the U.S. under the name MLBPA Baseball, it did have the names of real players. But really, who cares about John Kruk when you can play as a guy named Mike Truk. Fantasy trumps reality any day.