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Memorable Videogame myths: from reviving Aeris to saving Wander

Posted Mar 12, 2007 at 03:04AM by Ian C. Listed in: Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 3, PSP, Xbox 360 Tags: Capcom, Square Enix, Sega, Zelda, Wikipedia, Chrono Trigger

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Videogame Myths - Image 1

In the dark, early days of the Internet, when BBS boards and gaming magazines made of combustible paper still ruled supreme, videogame myths enjoyed a healthier existence. What videogame myths you ask?

Ever heard from a friend of a friend that he had a friend who was able to play Leisure Suit Larry 4? Remember the rumors of the existence of the notorious Cow Level in Diablo I, before the release of Diablo II? Yeah folks, videogame myths - rumors that have passed from mouth to mouth and are now part of gaming lore.

Below are infamous videogame myths that immediately come to mind. The first three are old ones - and legendary ones at that. The last game is a bit more contemporary and stands as an example of how quickly videogame myths get busted nowadays.

Schala - Image 1

Finding Schala

Schala is the older sister of the character Magus (Janus) in Squaresoft's 16-bit RPG classic, Chrono Trigger. During the course of the game, Schala chooses to sacrifice her life to save the heroes of the game from a grim fate. By the end of the game, (well, in most of the many endings of the game) the optional character Magus leaves the party to try and find Schala.

Apparently such is the attachment of fans to this 16 bit lady, that rumors emerged that you can embark on a side quest to go find Schala. A lot of true believers are quick to cite one of the side quest hints given to you by a character in the game, the Guru of Time. It says: "One of you is close to someone who needs help... Find this person... fast." Many assume that this refers to Schala.

Rumors spread that this final quest was removed in the final print of the game, or that hacked versions of the game existed where you'll be able to find schala. The fact that Chrono Trigger had multiple endings only added fuel to the rumor inferno.

The fans were thankful though, that Schala's disappearance was eventually addressed in the Japanese only Radical Dreamers, and then ultimately in the PS sequel Chrono Cross.

Conspiracy theorists are still attached to this issue though, mostly because some fans point out that Schala's hair is blonde in Chrono Cross and not the known blue in her Chrono Trigger incarnation. They speculate that perhaps something is not fully explained or whatnot.

Aeris Gainsborough - Image 1

Reviving Aeris Gainsborough

Yep, another Square game, another dead/lost character. Sigh... Attachment apparently fuels delusions/hope/denial.

The rumor maintained that in some versions of Final Fantasy VII, Aeris could be resurrected. Some maintained that she was actually meant to be resurrected but the option was not implemented or was dropped during later stages of game development. This belief flew blindly against claims from the game's production staff that this was not the case, and that Aeris' death was always intended and was meant to capitalize on the cliche of heroic sacrifice.

To this date there is no found in-game method of resurrecting Aeris, nor is there a discovered alternate ending to the game. Yes, multiple cheats do exist to resurrect the last of the ancients, but most lead to errors and glitches.

Such is the infamy of this supposed resurrection, that a rumored scene is referenced near the end of the Final Fantasy movie expansion, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

It is said that, if a player backtracks to the church in the Midgar slums, a "spirit" of Aeris can be seen in the church tending flowers. However, if you approach the sprite, it will vanish. Wikipedia informs us that this can be seen at anytime from the addition of Aerith to the party onwards.

The rumor is that this is an Easter egg by the developers. Some contend though that this is just likely a glitch. Still, the scene can be observed towards the ending of Final Fantasy VII, when Cloud was in the Lifestream-saturated waters underneath Aeris' church. He glances up to catch a split second ghostly appearance of Aerith and Zack.

Sorry fans, whether they meant it or not, the lady is dead. And given the events that happened in Advent Children, she will likely stay dead, even if Square Enix decides to cash-in on a remake of Final Fantasy VII.

Sheng Long - Image 1

Fighting Sheng Long

Sheng Long came to exist mostly due to the bad English localization of the arcade version of Street Fighter II. Whenever Ryu won he said the following lines: "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance." Players of course thought that Sheng Long was the supposed master of the "Dudley Boys of Street Fighter" - Ryu and Ken.

Some console versions eventually changed that translation to "You must defeat my Dragon Punch to stand a chance" but still referred to Sheng Long as the master of Ryu and Ken.

The thing is Sheng Long never existed. At all. "Sheng Long" was a bad translation of Ryu's "Shoryuken."

The reason why Sheng Long persisted in the minds of hopeful gamers though is due to an April Fools joke that Electronic Gaming Magazine ran in 1992. A fake reporter, named W.A. Stokins (waste token), reported that if Ryu did not suffer any damage during the game - once he reaches M. Bison's stage and causes the game to end in a perfect draw (no damage to each combatant) - and the process was repeated for ten consecutive fights with Bison (hence the token wastage), Shen Long will come out and beat the bejesus out of Bison and challenge you to a "fight to the death."

Capcom, those wise-ass corporate folks, increased Street Fighter II token consumption and popularity by neither confirming or denying the existence of Sheng Long. It is believed that the Sheng Long joke inspired Akuma, an assertion that has neither been denied nor confirmed by Capcom. Those shady creeps. Smart of them.

Sheng Long got a revival when Street Fighter III came out. They were slightly more revealing about it being a gag though.

Shadow of the Colossus - Image 1

An alternate ending to Shadow of the Colossus

After you defeat the 16th Colossus - the sorcerer Grandis Supernus Malus, interesting events occur, without being a bit too spoiler-ish, let's just say that Wander got a taste of how it is to be a colossus. Anyway, the ending sequences offered enough limited freedom to cause folks to start thinking that perhaps things could be done to somehow unlock an alternate ending.

Several investigative folks - Ryu Sinclair and David Rodoy - over at GameFaqs have countered this speculation though in their Shadow of the Colossus Plot Theory Analysis, by stating that no, there is no alternate ending. You can't do what you think you could do, and that whatever round-about solutions you can come up with, won't work.

Despite the FAQs assertions, I know a lot of folks who are still trying, and consequently, are still failing miserably.

Of course, given the odd construction of Shadow of the Colossus's story, there's a lot more stuff for folks to speculate, and theorize about other than the existence of an alternate ending.

Having given all of these examples, these videogame myths prove, if anything that videogames are powerful enough to move minds and wrench people's guts. So much so that they go into enough denial, that they hope or wish that certain things were possible.

Some games just cause people end up screaming: "That's that? There's got to be more. I should be able to do more! I could change this right. This has to be possible." You know what? Perhaps that ability to move people in such a manner should be one means by which we judge if a game is good enough. But nah, that's just probably me being a bit too optimistic.

Anyhow, what about you folks? Do you have any videogame hoaxes/myths/rumors you know that you'd like to share? Zelda myths? Nude codes? Unlockable Sega mascots? Use the comments and let us know.

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122 Comments

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by Fishstick (Registered - too lazy to sign in) (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» Yep

lol remember all the good ol' Pokemon ones.
Those suckers drove me mad... until Gameshark etc came out :-P

Re: Zak1392 (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» omg

I still remember trying out so many Pokemon myths.

Re: hunty (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» .

oh yeah, anyone remember the "Mew under the truck next to SS Anne"-myth? :D

Re: hush404 - 2007-03-12

» lol

I remember some of those! If... I remember correctly some of them worked lol.

Re: D: (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» :D

LOL SAME

Re: PSPZorZ - 2007-03-12

» t

Man I spent so long messing around with those pokemon rumors... I read that I had to get past the S.S. Anne without it leaving and then go to the casino and Giovanni (the gym leader) had left his keys there and I had to get them and go to the truck and use the keys to drive the truck out of the way and there would be some stairs and I would eventually fine a mew... I also heard if you had a pokemon that knew strength, you could use it on the truck and it would move... Man I never got the try out the keys thing though... lol I wonder why nintendo put a truck there, I mean it must've been there for a reason...

Re: dado (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» first

dude you deserve a bloody medal for not going first here have one **gives a medal**

Re: CloudySky (Unregistered) - 2007-03-13

» yep yep

looking forward for diamond and pearl for what kind of new myths do they invent again

Re: Advertising -

Re: Me (Unregistered) - 2007-03-16

» lol

"Forbidden Forest" next to Pewter City, where everythin is Lv100, including wild charizards and others...

Re: xche78x - 2007-03-16

» did you remember akuma in resident evil 2?

egm pblished an aprils fools joke that took out half a year of my friends life trying to see akuma in resident evil 2. but hey he mastered the game and can finish any of the the disc in less than 1 and a half hour without usage of any medicines and just knife and handgun.

Re: well (Unregistered) - 2007-03-25

» poop

if only u could reply reply's

Re: FRESH (Unregistered) - 2007-03-31

» Pokemon truck?

Anybody ever hear the myth for Pokemon, not the myth about Mew under the truck but that you could drive the truck, and it would replace your bike.... anybody?

by kaneda (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» weee

what a crappy "article"

Re: . (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» .

and you read it woho :D

you are a winner!

Re: WEE WOO WEE WOO (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» Grammar Police !!!

Corrections:

"...and you read it."

"Woho. :D"

"You are a Weiner!"

Re: BUSTED! (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» REE REE

A _WIENER_ is you!

Re: The Teej (Unregistered) - 2007-03-13

» Please...

In the spirit of poorly translated games, you should clearly of said "YOU ARE WINNER"

by Advertising -

by cruel.Angel (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» FF6

Yeah... same in FF6... how to revive General Leo. Fight thousands of battle in a tiny lil spot on the worldmap and you'll get a fancy magic potion that gives back Leo.

i wonder if every heroic death in rpgs are sorrounded by rumors.

Hey... maybe in .hack//INFECTION there's a totaly alternate storyline if you manage to stop Orca from falling into a coma XD

Re: Playero_LF (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» WHOA!!

Ok, the FF3 (U.S. 6) THAT was a rumor that I hoped for to be TRUE. I admit that I DID try to look for a rumoured potion to bring him "back from the dead" but, when I found out that it was a hoaX I cursed the person that made it up AND their mother!

Re: KirbySS (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» .

You know what's funny? When you can play as a major character who dies.

Phantasy Star 2. When Nei dies in the fight with Neifirst, you can bring her back to life for that battle with a Moondew. But after the battle, she's gone for good.

Re: kefka12 (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» you can get leo

With a gameshark. XD
he's really good but you can't equip him with weapons/armor/relics/espers. kefka is also obtainable, but he often freezes the game.

by Blade - 2007-03-12

» Not bad...

I usually don't care much for Ian's articles but this one was kinda cool and brought back memorys of the games I used to play. I still remember the Street Fighter although I was never familiar with that rumor. We had it at our pizza king.

by EmuChicken (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» stuuppid

man, Chrono Cross has NOTHING to do with Trigger except the title. . . in a way that final fantasy uses the same names,... similar thing

Re: meh (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» ....

you are the stupid one.....
and kid is schala >.>

Re: Ryu - 2007-03-12

» Chrono Cross has stuff to do with Trigger

1)U SAVE Schala form Lavos to beat the game RIGHT
2)Lucca found Kid
3)Marle, Lucca, Chrono are in Chrono Cross as NPC

Re: Clasick wit Da B Fit (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» ...

Chrono Trigger has everything to do with Chrono Cross

Re: someon (Unregistered) - 2007-03-20

» lolz

lol someone didn't play Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross *cough*EmuChicken*cough*

Re: Advertising -

Re: dark420bishop - 2007-03-23

» still unequal by far

Sorry to say it but Chrono Cross sucked compared to Chrono Trigger. there may be some small similarities between the games but they they did not feel connected to me either then i played them.

by sandworm (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» Jumping over the flag?

How about the original Super Mario Bros. where you could supposedly jump over the flag?

Re: crapster... (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» flag jumping.

It is possible to jump over the flag, though you will need a famicom to do it, besides, you'll only end up with a never ending corridor (well, until you run out of time that is)

Re: blazeking (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» memories

speaking of SMB's. remember when you had to use the trampoline thingy to jump accross the gap and you almost failed everytime, trying to move the controller thinking that would help? can you say the innovation of sixaxis?

Re: mookie stick (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» It really was possible.

I remember doing this in one of the later levels, and running to the right in hopes that I'd found something special and great, and ending up at a warp pipe back to world 1-1. I've also never been able to do it again.

Re: ryusazbooyaa (Unregistered) - 2007-03-14

» Re:memories

reply to blazeking, sixaxis is PS3, and it is only tilt sensitive...Mario is Nintendo, Wiimote can sense the jolts...get your system and controllers right

Re: Ryusucksbootyass (Unregistered) - 2007-03-26

» Re:Memories

Blazeking was simply stating how some people used to wave the pad/joystick around as if it would help, where as now it actually will do ;)
Nothing to do with which controllers go with which systems...Leave your fanboy arguments at home.

Re: FRESH (Unregistered) - 2007-03-31

» jumping over the flag?

It is possable to jump over the flag in mario bros for NES, I myself have never been able to, but I did wach my older sister get lil 8bit mario over the flag..... and you just keep walking endlessly until time runs out.

PS: It was on good ol' NES not Famicon

by Zzap64 (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» FFS! Do you research anything!

Wander???? Its Wanda!!!

How can you even attempt to write an article such as this, dealing with a topic thats been done to death by numerous sites (and researched correctly I might add).

It shows a clear lack of imagination and talent that the best you could do was a poor cut and paste from wiki and any gamer worth there salt would have spotted the Wander typo!

Not only is it a slow news day but your writers need a lesson in integrity!

Hackish and slung together at best, I guess thats all you need when your readerbase is 99% under the age of 15 though..

Re: Lloyd (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» Word to your mother

Seconded

Re: wander (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» hmm

Im sure that its wander in the japanese version, i have the sound track and its says wander.

Re: blazeking (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» right

Usually the American counterpart of a japanese game has translated names.

Japanese+ Wander American+ Wanda

You gotta remember Japanese pronunciation

Re: someone (Unregistered) - 2007-03-20

» Wanda

lol a guy named Wanda

by SupraDoom (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» FFVII

Anyone got the aeiths ghost showing up glitch on tape?

Re: Kishin (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» tis' not a glitch

its even in the FFVII strategy guide.. you just go there at the end of the game way after aeris is dead somwhere in disc 3. She will appear birefly picking up flowers as some form of ghost than dissapeares forever... cant be repeated and its not a glitch.

by Effinboy (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» OMGZORZ!

I remember when Nintendo Power made a funny and in an April issue, released a few screenshots in which Link could purchase the Entire Triforce (and as the article stated only after unlocking certain things within the game) in Kokori Village back in the Ocarina of Time. I must've looked HIGH AND LOW for YEARS for that thing before realizing it was a joke.

Second one I can recall is supposedly being able to unlock Luigi as a playable character in Mario 64. You had to of course do really hard to impossible things within the game to unlock this as well.

I look back now and regret ever listening to those two rumors. Who knows, maybe all the electricity I used to play those games longer and for hours on end, could have powered that small angry village Glod in Romania for a week.

Re: FRESH (Unregistered) - 2007-03-31

» and then?

Heh I never heard that Zelda 64 myth, but I did hear the one aout there being a myth that like the original Zelda for NES there is supposedly a second quest in ocarina of time where you play as shiek, plus I have hear many many variations on this myth... and I acctually roamed every freaking inch of that game for the second quest.

And I also have heard the myth about Luigi, I also heard that he is in the game when you rocket to the top to see yoshi, apparently there is a way to see Luigi in the sun and he speeks in japanese though. probably a HUGE myth.

but the biggest myth I think I ever heard was that there is a code and when entered the whole world of Zelda 64 is replaced with the mushroom kingdome, so link is now mario and Ganon is now Bowser and so on.

by Mehdi (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» Cheers

keep posting articles like these. I enjoy them. Just please make them a bit longer because I just can't get enough after reading the first few paragraphs.

by fredum (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» aeris ghost

The Aeris ghost thingy is very real. When on disc 2 or 3, go to midgar and talk to the guy standing outside the doors, head to bone village and dig up the key and head back to the church.

It's nothing really, but a fun detail.

I could try to get it on tape/some kind of media, but i don't have the time..

by Zak1392 (Unregistered) - 2007-03-12

» Anybody...

Remember the truck in Pokemon Red and Blue?