Unfortunately, misinformation has always been very common in the world. Social media is often blamed for it, but even before all that existed, bad information was everywhere. People who played video games during those times can attest to that. After all, so many video game secrets from those days ended up being fake.
You’d hear about an easter egg from the internet or a friend, and you’d try to replicate it. Even when you failed to do it, you likely just assumed that you’d done it wrong. In reality, these things were usually just myths people made up. Here are a few classic examples.
The Ghost Of CJ’s Mom
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Beverly Johnson, aka CJ’s mom, dies before the events of San Andreas. In fact, her death is the reason that CJ returns to San Andreas. So, she’s important to the plot, even though she never actually makes an appearance in the game, or does she?
For many years, there was a rumor going around that if you entered the Johnsons’ household at night, you could sometimes find her floating around as a ghost. Some would say you’d have to go on a specific day, at a specific time, or during a specific part of the year to see her. In reality, the ghost isn’t actually in the game.
Nude Raider
Tomb Raider
Lara Croft from Tomb Raider is widely regarded as one of the best video game heroes or heroines ever. She was also one of gaming’s first sex symbols. This is why many people were excited in the ’90s when there was a rumor going around that you could make her take off her clothes.
There were a few different theories on how you could achieve this. Most people believed you had to type in a code or follow a specific button sequence. None of these ideas worked, as you couldn’t actually make her undress.
Save Aerith
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 7 has one of the saddest deaths in gaming history, as your companion Aerith is killed by Sephiroth. It is a very heartbreaking moment that many players at the time wanted to undo. This is likely why a rumor was started that you could actually revive Aerith in some way.
One theory was that you had to max out the underwater materia, which would allow you to reach a new area in which you could revive her. An alternate theory was that your dialogue choices during the game impacted whether she lived or died. All of this is untrue, though. The reality is that you must let Aerith go.
Ermac
Mortal Kombat
Ermac is a character that Mortal Kombat fans know very well these days, as he has featured in several entries in the series. However, his existence is nod to a famous myth related to the original Mortal Kombat. Without getting too technical, the original title included a screen that provided you with some stats, such as how many times you’ve beaten certain characters. At the bottom of the list was the word “ERMACS,” which stands for ‘error macro’ and was used to log code errors.
Since this was listed after stats about Reptile, who was a hidden character, people speculated that Ermac was the name of another hidden fighter. Some fans even insisted that they’d fought him and he was a red ninja. That wasn’t true, but Ermac was eventually added to the series in MK3 as a cool reference.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The map in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is very big and filled with secrets. There is a lot to find in the countryside and forest areas, in particular. One example is a large, dark figure known as Bigfoot.
Like Bigfoot in the real world, there have always been disagreements about the GTA one’s existence. Some believe it, others don’t. However, at this point, it has been confirmed that he doesn’t actually exist in San Andreas. Yet, it’s unclear where this rumor first originated.
Herobrine
Minecraft
Minecraft has been around for a long time, as has the myth of Herobrine. He is a figure that looks almost exactly like Minecraft Steve, except with white eyes. The belief was that he would come into your game and start destroying your world.
This urban legend began in 2010 from a post on 4chan. From then on, people would search for and keep an eye out for Herobrine in their Minecraft worlds. Yet, he didn’t actually exist outside of mods. Fans these days know the truth, and Herobrine is more of a meme, but at one time, people believed he was real.
Sheng Long
Street Fighter 2
Mistranslations were common in old video games, but most of them just sounded funny and didn’t create full myths. One that did was from Street Fighter 2. In one of Ryu’s victory quotes, he would say, “You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance.” “Sheng Long” is a mistranslation of ‘Shoryuken,’ which is the name of Ryu’s famous dragon punch move.
Fans thought that Sheng Long was the name of a secret fighter. This myth gained extra attention when the magazine known as Electronic Gaming Monthly included a guide for unlocking Sheng Long as an April Fools’ joke.
Find Mew Under The Truck
Pokemon Red And Blue
While there are a lot of great Pokemon to catch in the games, one of the most sought-after is Mew. Not only is it an adorable little creature, but it’s one of the most powerful in the canon. Therefore, fans were naturally excited when they heard that Mew could be found under a mysterious truck in the first game.
The truck could only be reached by crossing a body of water, which meant you needed the Surf power. Sadly, you only got this ability after you lost access to the area where the truck was. So, you needed to figure out a workaround. Therefore, it was very taxing to reach the vehicle, and Mew wasn’t under it anyway.
