Kids like to lie. But in a time where anything you say can be fact-checked simply by whipping out your phone, the lies are not quite what they used to be.
In the pre-internet time, you could convince your friends of anything if you sounded believable, and lies about video games were one of the most common ones that went around.
In our first list of video game rumors from the 90s, we looked at some of the most popular and talked about myths in the schoolyard.
But there were more. So many in fact that I wanted to revisit the subject and give you
6 More Video Game Rumors From The 90s Schoolyard
Beat the Running Man in Ocarina of Time
Ocarina of Time had some added fun with lots of extra side quests and mini-games. One of the most popular was the running man.
It is a simple race, but a difficult one. Actually an impossible one, but that didn’t stop some school kids from trying to impress their friends by saying they beat him. They lied.
The most famous method was to start the race and use the ocarina to go back in time then wait 7 years (in-game) so you can be at the finish line when the race starts.
Nintendo claims he was added to train the players. One can never beat him; he is always a second ahead and there is no cheat/passcode to beat him as well.
Modern tools allow us to confirm Nintendo’s statement. The game is configured so that the running man always wins by one second no matter what.
Ermac in Mortal Kombat
Next to Reptile, Ermac was the most mysterious and rumored character of the Mortal Kombat series at the time.
The rumor started based on some text displayed on the original games audit screen. It was basically a counter that was put in place to catch coding errors.
However, on the audit screen, it was directly below the counter for the number of times Shang Tsung had been beaten and later appeared below the number of times Reptile had been fought.
This placement lead many to believe that Ermac was another hidden character when in fact it stood for “error macro”.
Of course Midway has a reputation for going with the flow and Ermac made his debut a few games later in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 with abilities like telekinesis, and teleportation suitable for his reputation of being elusive in the previous games.
The Ice Key in Banjo Kazooie
Banjo Kazooie on the N64 was a wacky game that revolved around a bear Banjo and his bird buddy Kazooie who are on a quest to stop a witch’s spell.
The big rumor here revolved around the “Ice Key”. The ice key itself was not a rumor. It was there in the game for everyone to see, but how do you get it and what does it do?
The key was placed in a cave room blocked by an Ice wall which was impossible to break, making the key inaccessible through regular gameplay.
However, there are two methods to actually get the ice key. One is to use a GameShark and activate the moon jump to land on the other side of the wall. The other method is to use the following code:
“CHEAT NOW YOU CAN SEE A NICE ICE KEY WHICH YOU CAN HAVE FOR FREE”
What did it do? Nobody knew.
Well, the answer was nothing. But that didn’t stop the fair share of rumors from spreading.
Moving the Truck in Pokémon Red and Blue
Anyone who played the original Pokémon Red or Blue would definitely remember the truck next to the SS Anne.
And if you could move the truck you can get to Mew, right? But you can’t move the truck, so no Mew for you.
Just about every player has tried but it does not move.
There were many theories on how one might be able to move the truck. The most widely spread one was that you require strength. Once you move it, a Mew would appear from underneath.
Well, none of it was true, of course. If you are still trying, you can stop now.
The Cow Level in Diablo
Next on the list is the secret cow level in Diablo. Like most rumors, the secret was only unlocked after jumping through a series of random and convoluted hoops.
But if you did everything right, a red portal would open up in Tristram next to the cows.
It would take you to a cave-themed level with blue water and populated with cows. These weren’t any cows, they were angry killer cows. Were you good enough to survive the onslaught and defeat the “Cow King”?
When I was younger I manually went through the source files of the Diablo 1 disk (yes I was a geek) and I can assure you there is no cow level. There is however a ton of other removed content, some of which have sparked other rumors of their own (Map of the Stars).
Blizzard of course could not let a good prank go to waste and introduced the cow level in Diablo 2. So now technically it is a thing, just not in Diablo 1.
Saving or Resurrecting Aeris In Final Fantasy VII
Spoiler Alert: Aries dies. If I spoiled that for you, I am sorry but you have had 25 years to play the game.
But what if she didn’t have to die. What if there was a way to save her. That was the rumor and it remained a very popular one for several years.
The rumors themselves vary, everything from Cloud sacrificing himself to being able to resurrect her. Like other rumors, to pull this off you must follow a list of very specific steps.
The reason this rumor continued for so long is there are technically some glitches in the game that allow you to keep Aeris alive.
These glitches are of course unintentional and it does not change any other aspects of the game.
What were your favorite video game rumors of the 90s?
