10 Genius Ways Video Games Fixed Their Own Mistakes

3. Gandhi's Accidental Bloodlust Became A Running Franchise Gag - Civilization

Surely the greatest running gag in the beloved turn-based strategy franchise Civilization is the fact that, despite his real-life reputation being that of a strident pacifist, Gandhi is one of the most blood-thirsty playable leaders in the Civ games, with a greater penchant for firing nukes than anyone else.

And while many fans no doubt accepted this as an ever-intended, playful gag sending-up Gandhi's peaceful nature, in the original 1991 Civilization game, it was actually a mistake that developer MicroProse transformed into a feature that's pervaded throughout the franchise ever since.

Gandhi was originally supposed to be coded as the least-aggressive leader in the game, with a rating of just 1, while the highest possible aggression rating was a possible 255.

But when the player achieves Democracy, a leader's aggression rating drops by 2 points, resulting in Gandhi's rating looping back around to 255, rather than -1, making him by far the most aggressive entity in the entire game.

Though Gandhi's aggression wasn't anywhere near as cartoonish as this in future Civ games, the devs nevertheless maintained his fondness for dropping nukes well above the norm as a cute little enduring reference to their initial screw-up.