Like film, over the years gaming has provided us with a great many franchises, now-cultural figurehead designers and characters that have become enamoured with entire generations. Most of the time the stories behind each of these things are fairly well documented and celebrated for all to see, but chances are the older the character and the more established the entity in 2014, the more mysterious its origins actually are. Where now we like to delve into every facet of game design surrounding the pre-release, initial launch window and anything that trickles out afterwards, in gaming's furtive few years it was quite the opposite. The games press certainly did their bit to spread the word on our now-favourites, but there's some character origins discovered when putting this list together that have only came to light through more recent interviews with developers and designers. Chances are as gamers we like to think we know all there is to soak up when it comes to our beloved time-sucking hobby, but regardless of whether you're someone who prides themselves on knowing their Solid Snakes from their Liquid Ocelots, there's a bevy of awesome little facts when it comes to gaming's greatest stories and secrets.
