Retro Gaming Urban Legends, Hoaxes And Lies

[thesubcon3]

Turning your console on and off repeatedly will wipe your gamesaves

This one sprung from Nintendo being over carful in there SNES manuals. I can remember spending 5 mins as a kid turning my snes on/off rapidly to see what happened. Nothing. The most that will happen is you'll break the switch or burn out the SNES internal fuses (if your really unlucky) but you game saves will be intact


So anybody got any they would like to share?

Actually this one happened to me just the other day. It isn't caused by turning your SNES on and off by the switch but by the power to the system. I have a SNES Kiosk and when I turn the Kiosk off it powers off the SNES. The first time I did this with Super Mario All-Stars + World powered on, my save got wiped!

As for a hoax, I remember the Resident Evil 2 Akuma Hoax in PSM years back. I actually went through and beat the entire game with the handgun and nothing! A month or 2 later they posted an apology that it was an April Fools joke.

[FatTrucker]

As for a hoax, I remember the Resident Evil 2 Akuma Hoax in PSM years back. I actually went through and beat the entire game with the handgun and nothing! A month or 2 later they posted an apology that it was an April Fools joke.

A bit like an early form of Achievements/Trophies then, encouraging people to play through a game deliberately undertaking pointless tasks and actions for no tangible reward.

[Liamh1982]

A bit like an early form of Achievements/Trophies then, encouraging people to play through a game deliberately undertaking pointless tasks and actions for no tangible reward.

I don't care about achievements or trophies, but then I don't have a 360 or PS3.

[Fishsta]

EGM's article about Fighting Ermac and Purple Rain in Mortal Kombat

Now this is where things get interesting... these must be one of the few instances where an urban legend/hoax/lie has been picked up on by the relevant software company and made into reality.

"Ermac" was in fact code for "Error Macro", but someone picked up on this reference and assumed there was a secret character called Ermac. I think it was from the Audits menu, there's a flag for number of Reptile fights, and one for "ERMACs". In Mortal Kombat II, to fuel the rumour, there was a scrambled message: CEAMR ODSE NTO EXITS (anagram of "Ermac Does Not Exist") It wasn't until UMK3 he appeared (although since he's actually a load of souls joined together, you should say "they" appeared).

Rain WAS a genuine character, but with a joke reference.

From The Mortal Kombat Wikia:

"Rain was originally meant to appear in Mortal Kombat 3, but didn't actually appear until Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Rain was originally a red herring inserted by the game developers; a character shown in the game's intro sequence who did not actually exist within the game itself. Many MK fans searched for him in vain, with the eventual realization of his status as a joke character (named after a Prince song, Purple Rain) dawning. The joke expands further when it is revealed that Rain is a "prince" himself. He would however, soon make an actual appearance in the console versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy as a full-fledged character with his own history (that of a traitor to his realm) and move set, to the delight of many fans, as well as the chagrin of others. His popularity is mixed within the MK fanbase."

He's in the attract mode of MK3, but not the game itself. It was only with UMK3 that he finally appeared for real.

[delbert_trout]

I remember getting an issue of Amstrad Action (must have been 1992) with Street Fighter 2 splashed all over the cover and a big feature on a supposed up-and-coming CPC conversion spanning several pages. As far as I know though, this version never actually materialised. Is that right or does anyone know differently? Was it a deliberate hoax/p*sstake?

After reading in GamesTM's recent 'Retro' bookazine about what an utter pile of w*nk the Commodore version was, though, it's probably a good thing I didn't end up getting an opportunity to blow a load of birthday or Christmas money on an Amstrad version.

[Liamh1982]

I remember getting an issue of Amstrad Action (must have been 1992) with Street Fighter 2 splashed all over the cover and a big feature on a supposed up-and-coming CPC conversion spanning several pages. As far as I know though, this version never actually materialised. Is that right or does anyone know differently? Was it a deliberate hoax/p*sstake?

After reading in GamesTM's recent 'Retro' bookazine about what an utter pile of w*nk the Commodore version was, though, it's probably a good thing I didn't end up getting an opportunity to blow a load of birthday or Christmas money on an Amstrad version.

This can't be real, surely?
Street Fighter II CPC edition

[chewy]

Heh, that would've been awesome if it was real! You only need to look at the other 8-bit versions to think, "Nah, hoax!"

[scunny]

Elijah? Well known child star. Back to the Future II, Avalon (critically acclaimed), Radio Flyer, Adventures of Huck Finn, Flipper, The Ice Storm (cricitcally acclaimed), Deep Impact....

To be fair, he wouldnt have really got him from back to the future 2, he was not remotely famous then and his blink-and-you-miss-it appearance did nothing to change that.

[Liamh1982]

Heh, that would've been awesome if it was real! You only need to look at the other 8-bit versions to think, "Nah, hoax!"

The other 8-bit versions... apart from the PC Engine, obviously.

[Mootown]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miH6SZIxGGs

Amstrad SFII

Hoax or not? You decide

[Liamh1982]

Repost of my link, mate. It's just that I now know how to link to another site and hide the URL.

[delbert_trout]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miH6SZIxGGs

Amstrad SFII

Hoax or not? You decide

Nah
Genuine? More chance of shoving butter up a porcupine's arse with a red-hot needle.

Even if that sort of quality (sprites, speech and sound effects taken directly from the arcade cab) were believable on the CPC (errr....), a game that sort of size and quality would have taken upwards of an hour to load from cassette. If it even fit on one.
That looked closer to the arcade than the Megadrive version!

[Liamh1982]

Still not as bizarre as the Master System version though!

[Negative Creep]

Doom on the Atari 2600 was another good one




http://uk.gamespot.com/news/2463197.html?q=april

[Antiriad2097]

The Amstrad CPC as a games system fooled a lot of people