The 10 Weirdest Video Game Hoaxes

10 Weirdest Video Game Hoaxes

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at the 10 strangest hoaxes in video game history.

Ratman

“Grand Theft Auto IV” (2008)

GTA has had quite a number of myths enter its sphere like Bigfoot and Leatherface. Ratman, on the other hand, kind of just came out of nowhere. When a blurry photo surfaced online, players were immediately stricken in shock and began investigating. All that’s been uncovered are oil stains and a character mentioning a rat infestation in Liberty City’s subways. No hard proof of the character’s existence has come up even after all this time. The few who still believe claim that Ratman shows up when you least expect it. That’s a coincidental explanation for a character that has apparently only been seen once…in a blurry photo.

Bowser’s Prisoner

“Mario Kart 64” (1997)

We would have never expected a bizarre anomaly such as this to be in “Mario Kart 64” of all Nintendo games. But fans have not been able to let go of what they call “Marty the Thwomp”. For years, fans have wondered why Bowser has a green Thwomp locked up in his castle. While some speculated on Marty having a dark past, others took it a step further and began spreading rumors that this green Thwomp could be freed and unlocked as a playable character. Funny thing is that none of the doctored footage showed Marty being playable and would often be cut off as his cage was unlocked. Also, none of the code in MK64 remotely suggests that Marty was planned to be playable. He is simply a blue Thwomp under yellow lighting.

Moo Moo Farm (Not That One)

“Diablo” (1996)

In the world of gaming hoaxes, “Diablo’s” cow level is perhaps the most famous. It only started as a rumor with players claiming that clicking on a bunch of cows would open a portal to a world filled with nothing but cows. Alas, the image that was floating around was nothing more than Photoshop shenanigans…though it wasn’t for long. The rumor came true when “Diablo II” rolled around as Blizzard took the rumor and cranked it up a notch. “Diablo II” hides a secret cow level where you will fight a horde of Hell Bovines before taking on the satanic Cow King!

Turning White Into Purple

“Super Mario 64 DS” (2004)

Despite being a remake of the 1996 “Super Mario 64”, this DS title held plenty of secrets of its own, the biggest one being a white door in Princess Peach’s room. Many began speculating what the purpose of this door was. That’s when someone began spreading what appeared to be an article from an unpublished gaming magazine. This piece claimed that the mysterious door was where Waluigi was waiting to make his playable debut in a mainline Mario game. All you had to do was attain a 100% completion rate, catch a purple rabbit, and defeat the Rabbit King. Unfortunately, there is no purple rabbit, and there is no Rabbit King. The white door was simply a white door hiding a single Power Star. Nothing else.

A Familiar Corpse

“Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony” (2017)

When rumors spread about certain characters appearing in a game, it usually comes with the claim of “they’re playable” or “they’re a hidden boss”. This one was simply claiming to be an Easter egg. One fabricated image of “Danganronpa V3” was making its rounds within the “Danganronpa” subreddit showing a hanged body dangling from Tenko’s dojo. Fans quickly identified the body as Ibuki Mioda who suffered the same fate in “Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair”. They were swiftly deflated and a tad upset when booting up V3 only to find her remains were nowhere to be seen. Admittedly, this would have been a cool Easter egg, but…why lie about something like this?

Reversing Course

“Final Fantasy VII” (1997)

“Final Fantasy VII” traumatized a lot of us when we played it back in 1997. Aerith’s death was so upsetting that it made some of us stop playing for a day or two…or maybe a week. For others, it was as if they actually lost someone, and they began their first step in dealing with grief. There was so much denial that Aerith was gone that fans started delusional rumors that there was a way to prevent Aerith from dying in a subsequent playthrough. Every one invented some absurd method building off of other rumors. In the end, what happened happened, and you know we’re going to relive some of this when the remake trilogy ends.

Boob Raider

“Tomb Raider” (1996)

Funny part about this hoax was that it was all started by the developers themselves. The team at Core Design knew that with their buxom badass babe, some questionable players were going to try and get the clothing removed just to see naked polygons. And so, Core Design published a list of codes on the internet that were to remove each article of clothing. Inputting any of the codes did no such thing and instead caused Lara to instantly explode. Your perversion only caused pain, you sickos!

A Meat Shield No More

“Super Smash Bros. Melee” (2001)

While the “Sonic & Tails” hoax is more widely known, the Toad hoax is the weirdest. Roughly a year after “Melee” released, a Geocities website stated that Toad could be unlocked as a playable fighter if you managed to shoot every name in the credits. Two problems with this. First of all, shooting every name in the credits is next to impossible for most people to do without tool-assisted software. Second, those who already unlocked the entire roster could immediately tell this was fake…because the game tells you when you’ve unlocked all of the secret characters. Guys…who were you tryin’ to fool?

Resident Demon

“Resident Evil 2” (1998)

Once upon a time, EGM was the king of video game hoaxes, and this one had so many people fooled. For EGM2’s April ‘98 issue, the magazine published a small article about how to unlock “Street Fighter’s” Akuma in “Resident Evil 2”. Supposedly, players would have to complete all four scenarios with an A rank six times using only the handgun and knife. In the seventh playthrough, type in “AKUMA” into the computer console, and you’ll be able to play as the demon himself. Imagine how many people attempted this and found nothing. Oh, the disappointment must have been immeasurable.

Super Wonka Bros.?

“Super Mario Bros.” (1985)

The closest we ever got to a chocolate-themed world in a Mario game was Chocolate Island in “Super Mario World”. Although, there is nothing sweet about that tumultuous world. But back in the old days, some players believed there was a secret chocolate factory hidden in “Super Mario Bros.”. Sounds cool, but this was a lie fabricated to protect one author’s works. Jeff Rovin was known for writing a series of guidebooks called “How to Win at Nintendo Games”, and in one of them, he included a piece about an alleged chocolate factory level. Those who worked with Rovin say that this bit was either a joke or a means to catch any potential plagiarizers from stealing his work.