Widely believed gaming myths and misconceptions

King of Posters
1

What gaming myths are widely accepted as true but are actually totally bogus?

I’m not talking about playground rumors like Mew under the truck or the Tomb Raider nude code or unlocking Sheng Long in SFII, I’m talking about things that people still believe today about games and gaming hardware.

Some examples to kick this off:

  • Belief: Doom was installed on a pregnancy test.
  • Reality: Foone, the creator of the Doom pregnancy test, simply put a screen and microcontroller inside a pregnancy test’s plastic shell. Notably, this was not intended to be taken seriously, and was done as a bit of a shitpost.

I think this one is really fun to believe. It leans into the whole “Doom runs on everything” mythos.

  • Belief: The original PS3 model is the only one that can play PS1 discs through backwards compatibility.
  • Reality: All PS3 models are capable of playing PS1 discs.

Not sure where this one comes from but every time I point out that all PS3 models can play PS1 discs someone gets mind-blown.

  • Belief: The Video Game Crash of 1983 affected the games industry worldwide.
  • Reality: It only affected the games industry in North America.

Europe carried on as normal and Japan’s home game industry was just getting started.

  • Belief: GameCube discs spin counterclockwise.
  • Reality: GameCube discs spin clockwise.

I think this stems from the fact that they aren’t readable by normal disc drives but checking this is trivial.

  • Belief: Luigi was found in the files for Super Mario 64 in 2018, solving the mystery behind the famous “L is Real 2401” texture exactly 24 years, one month and two days after the game’s original release.
  • Reality: An untextured and uncolored 3D model of Luigi was found in a leaked batch of Nintendo files and was completed and ported into the game by fans. Luigi was not found within the game’s source code, he was simply found as a WIP file leaked from Nintendo.

This is another one that’s fun to believe but simply is overblown, like the Doom pregnancy test. There’s a grain of truth to it but a twisted game of telephone has led a lot of people to believe that Luigi is in the final game’s files or even unlockable.

9 Likes
2

Though not very well which I think explains the myth. I think the same is true for PS2. Certain games basically crash half the time e.g. MGS3.

A common one I see amongst students is not realising From Software have been making games since the 90s and haven’t only made Souls stuff.

A slightly flippant one, but one I also see amongst younger populations every year, is
Belief: If you just make a good game it will sell well.
Reality: lol

Another is the myth of games being developed by just one person. Almost always a small team and support network has facilitated the game being made.

6 Likes
3

Actually, believe it or not the PS1 on PS3 experience is identical no matter the model.

The PS2 experience can be iffy on the ones that don’t have PS2 hardware inside.

2 Likes
4

Blowing on cartridge contacts

8 Likes
5

I do it for good luck like right before you roll some dice at the craps table

3 Likes
6

more of a gaming superstition: pressing the A/B buttons/rotating the control pad during the catch animations in Pokémon games supposedly to increase your chances of making the catch

…i still do this sometimes

5 Likes