8 Video Games That Pushed Petty Feuds
5. Apology Mode - Jazz Jackrabbit
Published by Epic in 1994, Jazz Jackrabbit was a pastiche of many platforming mascots of the time - and though it didn't reach nearly the same level of recognition, it has enjoyed some cult status over the years. Despite their fairly low profile at the time, Epic weren't afraid to take a swipe at other, much larger studios.
One such target they had in their sights was Apogee Software - at the time a leading studio responsible for successful titles like Rise Of The Triad and Crystal Caves, and publisher of Wolfenstein 3D and the Commander Keen series.
Pausing Jazz Jackrabbit and typing in the cheat code "APOGEE" would activate "apology mode", which reduced the graphics to a 16-colour EGA palette and dropped the frame rate significantly. This was a clear dig at Apogee's use of EGA graphic modes, when the industry standard by this point was the superior 256 colour palette.
At the time, this could have been seen as Epic punching massively above their own weight, but they went on to pioneer technology such as the Unreal engine and spearhead franchises such as Gears Of War and Fortnite.
Apogee, on the other hand, was rebranded as 3D Realms, and we all know how that story ends.