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The Joke’s On You! Ten of Our Favorite Hoaxes

The Joke’s On You! Ten of Our Favorite Hoaxes

It never fails. There is some glitch in a game that leads one gamer or a small group of them to some secret that exists. The next thing you know the entire gaming community is buzzing over this new hidden thing. Game sales spike, people play countless hours to try and find it, and tons of free word-of-mouth advertising ensues. Then eventually it comes to light that the elusive object was nothing more than an elaborate hoax by the developer, publisher or media outlet. Sometimes, the hoax is completely dreamed up by gamers that just really want whatever it is to be true. So in no particular order, here we go.

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation

Way back in 1992, there was this rumor circulating around that there was a hidden character buried deep within the Street Fighter arcade game. This rumor popped up after gamers saw the words, “You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance,” on one of Ryu’s victory screens. Trouble is that Ryu’s Rising Dragon Punch (Shoryuken) is actually Sheng Long in Pinyin Chinese. But gamers started writing the source for info at the time, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and they fabricated the whole thing that Sheng Long was actually a hidden character that could be fought, but only if you took no damage the entire game and then ran the clock out while fighting M. Bison without getting hit or hitting him either. That’s when Sheng Long would reveal himself and the battle would ensue. I know I fell for it.

Take it Off!

Take it Off!

So when the initial Tomb Raider craze was at its zenith, a rumor started to circulate that EIDOS had embedded a code deep within the Tomb Raider series that would allow you to play the game with a nude Lara Croft. It started out as an elusive cheat code that could only be unlocked under the most precise of circumstances that were, of course, not at all possible. But the rumor persisted and there were even photos of the elusive cheat being used that surfaced all over, propagating the nightmare. EIDOS came forward and told us all that there was no, and would never be, a code within their games that would allow a nude Lara to be used.

Don’t Mess With Sasquatch

Don’t Mess With Sasquatch

So there was this rumor going around that in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , that you could find the sasquatch if you completed “Back O Beyond,” and, “Mt. Chilliad,” at night. The claim was that if you completed these mission at night that you could potentially (not definitely) see the Sasquatch roaming around the forest. But Rockstar’s co-founder, Terry Donovan, went on record saying that there was no Sasquatch in San Andreas and that the Sasquatch in the game was as real as the Sasquatch in the real world–a myth. But a funny caveat to this story is that in Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare you go hunting for none other than Sasquatches.

Bring Her Back

Bring Her Back

If you are a fan of Final Fantasy VII , then you have most likely heard that there is a way to revive Aeris after Sephiroth kills her. Well, sorry folks but she’s dead as David Caruso’s acting career. What started it all is that there were some pictures that started to circulate of Aeris fighting in a main party near the end of the game’s story. So people started talking and it eventually led to a huge ordeal that led gamers to believe that if you did the exact right things at the exact right times BEFORE Aeris is killed AND you raised the level of Revive material after it’s already been mastered, that you would be able to bring her back and use her in your party once again. But honestly why would you want to do that? Her death is one of the most important moments of the game. Why mess with it. As for me? I’m sad she’s gone for good, but I am really glad this one wasn’t real.

Make Mine Gold

Make Mine Gold

In Halo 2 , there was a billboard showcasing a golden, non-military version of the warthog–much like there are pimped-out versions of non-military Hummers in the real world. So then the speculation began as to whether or not the golden warthog actually existed and whether or not you could drive it when you found it. Then an even stranger thing happened. Gameplay videos of people driving a golden warthog started to surface on the internet and then the frenzy went into overdrive. People spent countless hours playing the game and trying to reach out to people on blogs and forums to find the ever elusive vehicle. This went on for some time before it was finally outed that the golden warthog videos had been doctored from normal gameplay footage.

Sony PS4 “Leaked Unveil” Trailer

Sony PS4 “Leaked Unveil” Trailer

Way back in 2010 gamers started to hear rumors that Sony’s R&D department had a leak that showed a preliminary commercial for the upcoming Playstation 4. Soon, game stores and blogs of all kinds were buzzing about it. Then the link for it started showing up on game sites and Facebook pages everywhere. The funniest part about it all was how long it took Sony to come forward and slam the lid on the hoax. I mean, I know it was free advertising and it generated the very kind of buzz that Sony was looking for. As it turns out, it was actually a media student who created the video for a school project, but most of us bought it, at least a little.

They’re After Me Lucky Charms

They’re After Me Lucky Charms

When the media industry started pressuring Nintendo for screenshots of the upcoming Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , they needed something fast. So Nintendo released a photo of the completed Triforce within a stone room in an undisclosed location. Simply enough, readers and viewers saw the image and believed that there must be a way to find the completed Triforce within the Ocarina of Time game. So thousands of hours were spent and strategies were theorized to reach this lofty goal. Bombs were tossed, swords were broken and a myriad of crazy ideas about how to do it emerged. But alas, finding the Triforce whole is kind of like finding Atlantis…impossible.

L is Real 2041

L is Real 2041

If you played Mario 64 and you went to the statue in the center of the Princess’ castle, you saw the somewhat illegible and cryptic engraving that said, “L is real 2041.” Now the addition of the vast amount of Easter eggs in this game, as well as the cryptic writing, left a whole bunch of gamers believing that Luigi was actually in the game and was waiting for you to unlock him. Hell, there was even a Yoshi cameo in the game. So why not Luigi? The rumor started when someone interpreted the statue engraving to mean that if you collected every coin in the game (which was around, but not exactly 2,041) then you could unlock a playable Luigi. Sadly, this is just not the case. I know, it’s sad that Yoshi made it in but not Mario’s own brother. It just goes to show that you always hurt those closest to you, by leaving them out of your game completely.

Unleash the Demon

Unleash the Demon

If you were as hardcore a Resident Evil fan as I was back in the day, you gobbled up any info and news on the games that you could. New stuff to find, things that other people were doing and how to get more out of your nightmarish gaming experience. Now let me say first that I was a huge fan of EGM magazine (Electronic Gaming Monthly) back in the day. It was the repository for all things video game at the time. But they also knew that gamers like me wanted there to always be some unachievable thing that we would fight to the death for. So they fabricated one of my favorite hoaxes ever. They started this hoax that you could unlock Akuma from Street Fighter , but only if you beat the game six times on both scenarios. Good luck with that one.

Once More With Feeling

Once More With Feeling

The fact that FFVII has been in this list twice makes me realize that there really is no reason why this entry should be a hoax. It should be real and in production right now. But it isn’t. Let’s go back to E3 in 2005. Square Enix, in their infinite wisdom, decided it would be a fun idea to unveil a remade FFVII intro to thousands of gamers present. They claimed it was only a tech demo, but we all thought we knew better. FFVII was undoubtedly the most revered and popular of all the Final Fantasy titles. But for whatever reason, Square Enix just refuses to believe that it would make a bajillion dollars if they released it on current gen consoles. After playing FFX and FFX-2 on the PS3, I have no doubt that if FFVII was released–redone in its totality–for the PS4, that it would be the highest grossing Final Fantasy ever. Heck, it may be the highest grossing RPG ever. Are you listening Square Enix?

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