7 Greatest Video Game Urban Legends

We all have heard of them, swore to have done them or know someone whose cousin has. That’s right, I’m talking about Video Game Urban Legends(VGUL). No, I’m not going to talk about the munchkin in the back of“Wizard of Oz” who supposedly hangs himself from the tree. Not alsotalking about how there is a ghost in the window in “3 Men and a Baby”who died in that house. Not Bigfoot or Loch Ness. I’m talking VideoGames…. I’m talking Urban Legends in Video Games.
I have searched high and low to bring to you, our latest installmentof these Urban Legends, and finish up with a wide known but not seenVGUL.

Tomb Raider

The Urban Legend - Lara Croft appearing Nude in Tomb Raider

The System - PSone
This story goes as far back as the game was first launched. It wasalmost like every video gamer wished this one to be true. I’ve heard itall from, “if you go in the water, you’ll see her nude”. Sorry to tellyou folks, this one is a big fat lie.

Street Fighter II

The Urban Legend - Beat every character without losing a round or match let’s you play as the four bosses Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison

The System - SNES

Well, this is an urban Legend that Ibelieve all Street Fighter 2 players have tried. Now, while it isn’tthat impossible, is was very hard. The rumor of playing as one of thebosses, went cross country. It always seemed that the more you wentunbeaten the tougher the opponent got. I recall playing one whole daytrying this one out, and after going unbeaten straight through Balrog,Vega became impossible. He would hang off the fence and “huaaahhh” withhis blades onto my head. Of course, I used Ken and the timing of ashyruken was hard.

No doubt, once I completed the gameunbeaten I realized it was a hoax. With people then saying “You have toperfect every round” back I went to the SNES and 15 years later…

Playstation 2

The Urban Legend - Iraq had purchased 4,000 PS2’s to launch missiles.

The System - PS2

World Net Daily claims that both the FBI and the US Customs Serviceare investigating the transfer of thousands of consoles to Iraq.According to a secret Defence Intelligence Agency report, 4,000 PS2shad been bought in the US and shipped to Iraq in 2000.
Some US military experts believe that several PS2s could be linkedtogether to form a “supercomputer”, which could control a missile or anunmanned aircraft. They fear that the console, which contains a 128-bitCPU, could provide the power for Iraq to launch chemical weapons at itsenemies.
It’s also very unlikely that bundling any number of PS2s togetherwould actually work, as it would be extremely complicated to have anumber of processors accessing shared memory and splitting up thecomputation. The complex software required would take years to develop.Sony refused to say whether it was possible to link PS2s together toform a supercomputer, explaining that it did not comment on speculativestories.

Super Mario Bros.

The Urban Legend - Jumping over the flag pole at the end of the level

The System - NES

In 5th grade, Kevin Diley once told me howhe jumped over the flagpole in Super Mario Bros. I’ve called him on thetelephone while I tried, he came over to try, I even asked him to videotape it on his VHS camcorder. He was never able to reproduce it. Tillthis day, I do not know a single person who was able to jump over theflagpole. I’ve heard of mods, and hacks that allow this. But until Isee this:

Cartridge being blown into the bottom
Popped into an original NES
Original NES controller used to jump over flagpole

This will not hold true to me and Kevin Diley will continue to be a liar!

Legend of Zelda

The Urban Legend - There is a dungeon level in the Legend of Zelda that is a swastika.

The System - NES

Now although this is not completly anurban legend, it is more of a terrible version of the game telephone.It starts off with one person saying what they say, and it gets turnedand twisted into an Urban Legend. So, let me explain. The third dungeonhas the shape of what appears to Western audiences as a left-facingswastika. This shape is actually a “manji”, which is a Buddhist symbolof good fortune. In Japan, where this game was initially released,swastikas and similar shapes are relatively benign, which explains whya symbol so offensive to many Western audiences could be included. Inthe United States, there were surprisingly few complaints about themanji, but years later, when Pokémon became popular in the UnitedStates, Nintendo was forced to alter one of the cards due to complaintsregarding a manji.

So take a chill pill, it’s just some Manji - Word of the Day.

Mortal Kombat

The Urban Legend - A code that enabled the “Blood Code” instead of a grey smokey splat

The System - SNES

This one is fairly easy to explain because it never existed nor was it an Easter Egg.Nintendo was/is very censored so they never allowed blood in theirMortal Kombat game. It was said that the Genesis version of MK soldbetter because of the fatalities and blood. Nintendo then tried usingGenesis’ decision of incorporating blood as a negative, but that neverflew. So now you had those Genesis freaks soaked up to their ankles inHawaiian Punch and it was cool.

Polybius

The Urban Legend - Agovernment run arcade cabinet was used to collect data. Once playedthis game would cause seizures, memory loss and people were brainwashed.

The System - Arcade

This game was out for a very short trialrun of one month in small arcades in Portland Oregon in 1981. Producedby the company Sinnesloschen ( A German term meaning “sense-deleting,” or “Loss of senses.”),the game gave many players nightmares and many who played it completelyswore off all video games afterwards. Others complained of havingblackouts and memory loss. Employees of the manufacturer, in blackcoats came and collected data from the machines as part of a leaseagreement. After only one month, all of the machines were removed.ROM’s of this game are rumored to be in the hands of some collectorsbut at this time they are not generally available. Check out more infohere at Polybius Theory.

Game-play: There are two explainations for game-play.

1:Action/Puzzle game. Rumored to have a rotating 3D Puzzle, along withlogic puzzles, and mazes resembling the playing style of Pac-Man.
2: You were flying througha tunnel and had to dodge things in your path. Lights flashing at rapidrates to heighten the effect. Said to resemble a pro-type for Atari’s“Tempest.” (Which was a shooter game. In an article about Tempest,it was said that the prototype caused motion sickness after a period oftime.) The basis of the game was to get through a maze without beingcaught in a trap or a mine. Apparently, the further the levels went, tomake the game more difficult, the background would start flashing muchlike a strobe light, and the spinning of the mazes.

Polybius Wikipedia Page

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