Round Table: Urban Legends We Believed

This past week, Nintendojo has been looking back on some of our favorite video game urban legends, from the terrifying stories they inspired to the people who shamelessly perpetuated them. Now with our tribute to urban legends drawing to a close, the staff wanted to look back on some of the myths they admit to falling for.

Robert Marrujo

I was surprised by this round table, because when I sat back and thought about it, I realized I HAD been snookered by a gaming urban legend: trying to unlock Sonic and Tails in Super Smash Bros. Melee. EGM had perpetuated the myth back in 2002, claiming that players could unlock the two characters if they defeated 20 opponents in Cruel Melee. I got the living daylights beaten out of me by the computer trying to get those 20 KOs, which I was never able to do.

This was still at a time when the Internet wasn’t quite as ubiquitous as it is today, so there were more than a few people who were legitimately hoodwinked by EGM’s prank. So fooled, in fact, that Nintendo Power had to run a disclaimer letting players know that there was, sadly, no way of unlocking Sonic and Tails because they were never put in the game to begin with. It’s pretty hilarious in hindsight, but man, was I disappointed when I realized how much time I had wasted. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that I vividly remember feeling crushed as I got my behind handed to me, and knew that there was no way I’d ever get anywhere near 20 KOs. When I discovered it was a hoax, a little part of me was almost relieved knowing that I didn’t have to!

Angela Marrujo

I found a part of myself (perhaps a bigger part than I’d like to admit) believing in the urban myth claiming that when Pokémon Red and Green were released in Japan, the song in Lavender Town caused severe headaches in young children or, in 200 cases, terrible things happened to them after listening to it. This became known as “The Lavender Town Incident.” The song contained extremely high frequency notes that are only audible to children and adolescents.

However, the rumor was debunked as merely being a creepypasta that some dude behind a computer in a dark room fandangled onto the Internet to creep people out. If you Google this creepypasta, there’s actually a video of what Lavender Town supposedly (and I emphasize that word because this isn’t true) looked like to kids who received beta copies of Pokémon Red and Green, but since it’s midnight and I’m alone I had no desire to sit and watch what happens in that video. A few seconds in after hearing that tune I got the chills and stopped the video.

Another part of the rumor is that in 2010, special software was used to analyze the Lavender Town tune and, when played, the software created images of Unown near the end of the audio. This is of course controversial because Unown didn’t appear until Gold/Silver/Crystal, and they supposedly spelled out “LEAVE NOW.”

Have I scared you yet? MWAHAHAHA. Or perhaps the evil laugh of Team Rocket members from the early Pokémon games is more fitting: OHOHOHO!

Mel Turnquist

I was usually able to wise up on the urban legends before I made a total fool of myself. Especially with Pikablu and Mewthree. Those were completely silly. Hell, I thought that Mew was just a silly legend until my cousin told me he got Mew and gave it to me back in 2000.

That being said, I did seriously think you could beat the Marathon Man in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and I tried in vain. I felt like a fool when I was corrected by my cousin. Man, the hours I wasted trying to beat him. I mean, he had to be beatable, right? Well, apparently I was wrong unless I did some world class hacking.

Sam Stewart

While I don’t remember ever falling for any of the famous gaming urban legends (like Mew under the truck), I do remember spending hours trying to unlock “secret” characters in the original Super Smash Bros. These were the days when I checked sites like Supercheats and Cheatplanet daily to try and find new unlockables in old games. These were also the days where nobody was moderating these cheat sites, and 90 percent of the content was just people trolling gullible kids (like me!).

The unlockables in question were usually guarded by very difficult tasks, such as “Beat Very Hard Mode with One Life” or “Beat Three Level 9 Computers in a Team Battle.” I specifically remember a cheat claiming I could unlock Gyarados as a playable character if I could knock an enemy out through the skybox of the Saffron City stage and have them land on the Poké Ball in the background. Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but in an era before the popularity of sites like GameFAQs, I was willing to believe a lot of things to try and find new secrets in my favorite games.

What gaming myths did you believe when you first heard them? Let us know in the comments!