Video game urban myths are difficult to come by these days, with the internet immediately disproving these rumors as soon as they start gaining traction. However, before we were always online, there was always that one kid who would tell everyone they’d discovered some top-secret easter egg in the latest major release, and for some reason that lie would travel around the world until people on the other side of the globe believed it.
So what video game urban myths did you believe back in the day? We’ve listed our below, and now we want to read yours in the comments section!
Video game urban myths we actually believed
Finding Manhunt‘s Piggsy in GTA: San Andreas
Paul Tamburro, executive editor: “I spent a significant amount of time trying to hunt down Piggsy in GTA: San Andreas after a barefaced liar of a schoolmate told me the Manhunt villain was in the game. The same friend duped me by confirming that Bigfoot wasn’t in the game, therefore securing my trust, before sending me off on a futile mission trying to get Piggsy to mow me down with his chainsaw. A good while later, a gaming magazine featured Piggsy’s GTA cameo in a list of video game urban myths, and my whole world came crashing down.”
Bringing Aeris back from the dead Final Fantasy 7
Jason Faulkner, senior editor: “For years I believed that there must be a way to revive Aeris (#NotAerith) in Final Fantasy 7. In disc 3 of the game, you can return to Midgar and visit the church in Sector 5 where you meet her the first time. There, you’ll see her in spectral form, and when you approach, she quickly disappears.
I thought her ghost must be a clue that there was some way to revive her. Even if the method wasn’t still in the game, I figured that maybe it had been there at some point. Twenty years later, people have put FF7‘s code under a microscope, and while there is plenty of interesting cut content, it doesn’t seem like reviving Aeris was ever planned.
As an adult, I think to let players revive her would have cheapened the plot. After all, this was one of the first times I remember such a huge game dramatically killing off a leading cast member. Her sacrifice ends up saving the planet, and it would have taken a lot of the emotional charge out of the story if you could just bring her back. However, because it’s such a meme, I’d be a bit disappointed if Square Enix didn’t put some incredibly complex side quest in the remake that lets you bring her back.”
Press A to win in Pokemon Red and Blue
Mack Ashworth, lead editor: “I used to believe that holding A + Down would give you a better chance at capturing Pokemon. I think one of my school friends told me about it, so I held A + Down for the rest of my Pokemon capturing career!”
Racing as Nitros Oxide in Crash Team Racing
Michael Leri, features editor: “Since around 1999, I believed that you could race as Nitros Oxide in Crash Team Racing. I never wanted to put in the time to beat all his time trials so I never got to actually race as him myself. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I saw that it was just a GameShark hack and that he wasn’t actually in the game. I’m glad I never wasted my time on those time trials because that wouldn’t have been worth it to have a wet fart of nothing to greet me at the end. He is playable in the Nitro-Fueled version and that’s good enough for me.”
