On his blog, Back of the Cereal Box, a student named Drew Mackie has posted an extensive and desultory look at why things are called what they're called in Japanese videogames. The subjects include Nintendo's games, Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter, Final Fight, Chrono Trigger, Metroid, Mega Man, and pretty much every single significant game created in Japan, plus a fair number I've never even heard of. Get comfortable, because it's a long and fascinating read.

For instance, consider the seven children of Bowser, the villain from many Mario games.

In order, the children were Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa, Roy Koopa, Lemmy Koopa and Ludwig von Koopa -- nearly all of whom have names that resemble those of famous musicians. Wendy O. Williams, Iggy Pop, Roy Orbison (whose habit of wearing sunglasses is shared by his Super Mario Bros. counterpart), Lemmy from Motörhead, and Ludwig von Beethoven. Morton would seem to take his name from the talk show host Morton Downey Jr., who was popular around the time Super Mario Bros. 3 was released. And Larry is a bit of a mystery, though I say the apparent reference to Downey has led some to assume his namesake is another talk show host, Larry King.

Even if this stuff is too meticulous for you -- after all, not everyone can endure heavily footnoted points of connection between Final Fantasy and Dante -- it's worth skipping to the end to see Mackie's list of the worst names in videogaming, "with worst meaning poorly thought out, nonsensical, whacked-out, or just plain inappropriate," he explains. For instance, did you know there was a monk named Caffeine Nicotine from the "Cocaine" temple in the game Samurai Showdown?