Video Game Myths We Believed As A Child

Intro

Back in the days when you had to buy whole books to get cheat codes, the world of video games was a minefield of rumors and lies. And when the internet came along, nobody knew what was true and what was false. A bit like Beyond Belief, only with games.

In this gallery, we dig a few of these old myths out of the box of time. This is not a ranking list, but rather a colorful mix. Let us know in the comments which stories have been told among your friends! | ©ScottGames, Mojang

1. Mew Under The Truck - Pokémon Red & Blue

Near the ship S.S. Anne in Vermillion City, there is a secret ledge where a single pick-up truck of unknown origin stands. The only way to reach this small piece of land is for a Pokémon to use the attack "Surf", which allows you to... surf and use it to move over water. While this does get you to the truck, unfortunately, under normal circumstances, the ship, and with it access to the water, disappears forever before you even get Surf. Why is the truck interesting? Mew is supposed to be underneath it!

However, when players found a way to get Surf in front of it (by trading), the disappointment was great when the rumor turned out to be nothing more than hot air.

On the bright side, the following Pokémon titles have picked up on this myth and keep hiding little surprises, either under the same truck in Kanto remakes, or similar mysterious vehicles. | ©Nintendo

2. Brutus The Bulldog - Animal Crossing

Pretty much every part of the Animal Crossing series comes with its own rumors. But the myth that never left players minds has been Brutus the Bulldog.

When the original Animal Crossing was released for the Gamecube, the rumor spread about Brutus, an evil villager who moves in if you haven't played in too long (others report that he appears if you play too late at night). After Brutus, who is said to be a purple and black bulldog, moves in, some bizarre things are said to happen: He speaks in binary language, chops down every tree and can even delete your save.

But when the only existing "screenshot" turned out to be fake, it was clear that it was all just a fairy tale. | ©CabbageSnacks via Reddit

3. Luigi As Playable Character - Super Mario 64

L is Real 2401. For some, this is the real text on the statue in the courtyard of Princess Peach's castle in Super Mario 64, and many players believed it to be a reference to Luigi who allegedly becomes playable in some way.

The most common method mentioned was that you have to collect every coin in the game, return to the statue, where you will then find Luigi. However, the whole thing was made more difficult by the fact that two coins are hidden in the level geometry. But even after collecting them using cheats, Luigi does not appear.

But what nobody would have thought: Previously unknown files from the production of Mario 64 were found in a major Nintendo leak and lo and behold, Luigi is real! The whole thing is still a bit creepy, as the leak happened exactly 24 years and one month (2401?) after the release of SM64. Coincidence? | ©Nintendo

4. Pokéball A Spam - Pokémon

Old habits die hard. And so this isn't actually one myth, but several that fall into the same category: whether you pressed A until your fingers cramped or you stomped on the button to the beat of the Pokéball wobble, it was all here – all in the hopes of having a better chance to actually catch the desired Pokémon. Everyone had their own method, but in the end none of them worked. But we still do it today! | ©Nintendo

5. Resetti Suffering A Stroke - Animal Crossing

The fear you felt when your Gamecube had a loose connection, you bumped into the Nintendo DS cartridge or the 3DS ran out of battery, and we knew what was coming in Animal Crossing, was definitely real.

Resetti, the choleric mole who explained to us (not very kindly) why you should save your game, often talks about health problems himself. And so it was not surprising that some players assumed that Resetti could suffer a heart attack if he was summoned too often.

Fortunately, Mr. Resetti is still alive and well today! | ©Nintendo

6. Herobrine - Minecraft

Herobrine needs no introduction. Is there anything creepier than thinking you're alone, only to be stalked out of the fog? Yet this figure was doubly creepy as it looked almost like our default character, Steve, but with glowing white eyes. Players who are said to have “seen” him report round buildings and trees that were stripped of leaves. Worse still, to play along with us, the change log for many updates jokingly stated “Herobrine removed”, meaning he keeps reappearing no matter how many times Mojang tries to remove him.

Players claimed that Herobrine was the ghost of Notch's (Minecraft's creator) deceased brother. That's interesting, because Markus Persson doesn't have a brother! | ©Mojang

7. Master Hand and As Playable Character - Super Smash Bros. Melee

The Master Hand that you fight at the end of the story mode in Super Smash Bros. Melee has sparked a few rumors. One of them promises that if you make a complicated input, you can play the character that is supposed to be extremely strong. We've heard that before, right? But what if this absurd story was actually true? After years, a glitch has emerged that is supposed to make exactly that possible.

To trigger the glitch, you need to have a controller in slot 3. With the controller of player 3, you must then place the hand cursor over the name input on the character selection screen. If you now press the A and B buttons simultaneously, the name selection will be displayed. Then release A while holding down B, move the cursor over the name field and press A again. If you have done everything correctly, you should be taken to the stage select screen, and as soon as you load into the game, you will be playing Master Hand. It's all down to the character select code, but we still can't believe it's possible. | ©Nintendo

8. ERMAC - Mortal Kombat

If you play Mortal Kombat these days, you might ask yourself: Why is this a myth? Because everyone now knows the powerful fighter Ermac.

In the very first Mortal Kombat, the name "ERMAC" was found in a hidden menu, directly under the “Reptile Battles”. Since these actually unlock a new character, players assumed that Ermac must also be a rare fighter. Countless rumors arose that Ermac appears in a red outfit, and red costumes are a test mode for developers to make motion-capture actors stand out from the green screen.

In reality, "ERMAC" is the abbreviation for "Error Macros". It all turned out to be complete nonsense, as there is no naturally occurring standard character palette that would allow a full palette swap for Ermac. The Ermac we know now made his debut in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (three years later), as fans just couldn't stop fantasizing about the mysterious figure. Thankfully! | ©Midway Games

9. Sonic As An April Fools Joke - Super Smash Bros. Melee

As an April Fool's joke, Electronic Gaming Monthly published a short article claiming that Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower can be unlocked as secret characters by SEGA. According to the article, players must play through 20 enemies in the game's Cruel Melee mode. As a result, Sonic and Tails are said to appear and fight together against the player.

Of course, this rumor did not come true. What you may not have known: Sonic's creator, Yuji Naka, confirmed in an interview that Sonic really was originally planned for Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the inclusion was canceled due to time constraints. Luckily, fans didn't have to wait forever, because as we know, Sonic then rolled into Brawl. | ©EGM

10. Bigfoot - GTA: San Andreas

It is rumored that the legendary creature Bigfoot, (also known as Sasquatch), can be found in the Mount Chiliad and Back O' Beyond areas of Flint County. It was one of the first known myths surrounding Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and a legend that persists to this day. It is said that players who roam the woods at night can encounter Bigfoot, but no one knows how he behaves.

Such myths are often either confirmed or denied by the developers themselves. But here Rockstar is having fun with it: In a 2005 interview, one of the founders of Rockstar Games, Terry Donovan, stated, "There is no Bigfoot, just like in real life!" However, Vice President of Rockstar Games, Dan Houser, claims that Bigfoot is actually in the game and that the chance of encountering him is 1 in 10. Way to keep a legend alive! | ©Rockstar

11. Flag Jump - Super Mario Bros.

A legend so old that it was the first video game myth for many players and has been forgotten by others: Rumors once claimed that something very special would happen in the first Super Mario Bros. if you managed to jump over the flagpole at the end of a level. These rumors usually promised you additional worlds or a similar special prize.

While it is possible to skip the flagpole in World 3-3 using cheats or the elevators at the end of the level, you won't get anything great for doing so, in fact, it will destroy the level as the screen won't scroll backwards and you won't be able to complete the level. What a disappointment! | ©Nintendo

12. Cake Room And Alternative Ending - Portal 2

Throughout the game, the GLaDOS AI tempts you with a chocolate cake if you complete its tests thoroughly. At the end of the game, the cake is finally shown to you, but that's not enough for us! This in turn led to rumors that you can enter the room where this ending scene takes place beforehand to unlock an alternate ending. While the room can be accessed through cheats and certain mechanics of the portal gun, you've been set up in a nasty way.

True, tutorials showed that another ending can be unlocked by placing a Companion Cube on the cake, the room of which can be accessed with cheats and tricks. What happens, however, is that there is no alternative scene and so you can't even complete the game and it's all for nothing. | ©Valve

13. Cow Level - Diablo

The secret cow level in Diablo is probably one of the most famous video game myths of all time! It was claimed that clicking on a certain cow in Tristam would unlock a “secret cow level” after a certain number of clicks. Unfortunately, there is no such level in the game's code (yet).

However, Blizzard was well aware of the rumor and not only included numerous references to it in subsequent parts of the series, but in Diablo II there is indeed a cow level that can be reached by combining Wirt's leg and a tome of the city portal in the Horadric cube. In Diablo III, one of the loading screens says: “The cow level is a lie”, which refers to the portal meme “The cake is a lie”. Funny that both now exist! | ©Blizzard

14. Savin Aerith - Final Fantasy 7

The death of Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 was one of the biggest gut punches of the Playstation 1 era. So it's absolutely no surprise that players have come up with all sorts of ideas to bring Aerith back. The rumor was first spread by a Squaresoft employee, but there have been countless attempts to change the horrible scene. One of them was frankly pretty nasty:

One approach said that if you were always nice to Aerith and instead as nasty as possible to Tifa, she would die instead of Aerith. But we have to disappoint you. There is also a rumor that Aerith's death was added later, but nothing can change the reality here. Sorry! | ©Square Enix

15. Sparky the Dog - Five Nights At Freddys

In the early days of the game, someone in particular started spreading rumors about a hidden sixth animatronic called “Sparky the Dog”. Shortly thereafter, screenshots actually appeared on Tumblr. Allegedly Sparky, the one-armed dog, was not violent towards you and never attacked the player, but only appeared in the backstage door from time to time.

However, the creators of this rumor, Tumblr users kodiabear and nguyen, later admitted that they had made it all up and that all the screenshots were created using Photoshop. But they were super convincing! Because the myth tricked some players, who were driven mad by the game anyway, in a perfidious way. | ©ScottGames

16. Lara Croft Pool - Tomb Raider

Since the release of Tomb Raider, the heroine Lara Croft has been a symbol of... femininity in the video game industry, and this was also an important part of the series' marketing. This soon led to rumors of a secret cheat code that would allow players to undress Lara Croft during the game. The game's developers, meanwhile, attempted to troll players with several codes that would supposedly allow Lara to strip her of her clothes, only to blow them up.

In the game, upon exiting the pool, Lara says, "Now I better get these wet clothes off." This moment and a few other ambiguous references in the game didn't necessarily help gamers let this myth go easily, but in the end it was all fiction. We're all adults now and can thankfully look past it, right? | ©Aspyr

17. Lavander Town Syndrome - Pokémon Red & Blue

The so-called “Lavender Town Syndrome” is so well known that you've probably heard of it outside of video game circles. And as believable as some of the details sound, as far as we know today, none of it happened.

It is rumored that the creepy music heard in Lavender Town, specifically in Pokémon Red & Blue, had a strong negative impact on those who listen to it, specifically children, when the game was released. According to the rumors, a number of "real-life game overs" were reported among children in Japan shortly after the game's release. The track allegedly contained "harmful frequencies", sounds that had a psychologically damaging effect on children and caused them to take their own lives.

The fact that these events are said to have only taken place in Japan makes fact-checking a little more difficult, as it is likely that only Japanese sources reported them, but all the evidence available to us suggests that these claims are simply false. | ©Nintendo

18. Beating The Running Man - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Running Man is a recurring character in The Legend of Zelda series, but his most famous appearance is definitely in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He runs laps around the field and the player can approach him to compete with him. In the end, he can always be found on the bridge in the Lost Forests. The aim of competing against this Usain Bolt of Hyrule is actually to beat a certain time. But who hasn't tried to get there before him? Time and time again you think you have the perfect time, but it's like he just teleports there.

Of course, that hasn't stopped players from looking for ways to win the race against him. Cheating, such as giving us extreme speed and even teleporting directly to the finish line themselves, have done nothing – as the runner doesn't even have any dialog in case the player wins the race. This means that no matter what we try, the marathon runner will always win by at least one second. Maybe he should just become a speedrunner. | ©Nintendo

19. Blowing In Cartridges

Back then, when we were still playing with thick blocks, which were the cartridges of the time, it sometimes happened that one of the games wouldn't start immediately. Until the Game Boy Advanced, smaller versions of these cartridges were also used. If you constantly changed these modules or left them in the drawer for a long time, where they slowly gathered dust, it could happen that a game wouldn't start when you wanted to play it. The typical trick to solve the problem was to simply blow into the bottom of the cartridge and behold: the game usually started again.

But as it turned out, blowing does not help at all. Simply removing the game and reinserting it into the console is actually enough, because if the game doesn't start, the contacts were usually simply not aligned correctly. Blowing into the cartridge can actually do more harm than good, at least according to Nintendo.

The whole thing is called confirmation bias: It worked once, maybe several times, and then you did it again and again. Perhaps also out of rebellion towards Nintendo, I will probably never break this habit. | ©Nintendo

20. Anti Piracy Screens

Not only is it forbidden to copy video games, as a child you sometimes felt really criminal. And so it was always a bit creepy when the game seemed to know that we were doing something illegal. Some games show you a warning that it's a criminal offense to steal video games. This has led to some very credible anti-piracy warnings. The most famous is a supposed warning from Mario Party DS that tells you "Piracy is not a party!", along with some scary music. This led some fans to search for unknown warnings of the same kind themselves – often unsuccessfully.

After all, the Mario Party screen is just a very believable fake. As we now have a better understanding of the technology behind it, it quickly became clear that we were being fooled. However, that didn't stop the original creator from posting more fakes on the Internet. Maybe this is some kind of art? | ©Joey Perleoni, Nintendo

Outro

How many of these myths did you know? Which ones did you firmly believe in that we've forgotten?

Sometimes there are video game collaborations that are so bizarre they almost seem like a joke. But some of them are real and really cool. Interested in what we think are the best collabs of popular franchises? Then take a look at our other gallery:

20 Best Video Game Collaborations Since 2000

| ©Psyonix