History UrbanLegendOfZelda / RolePlayingGame

** Letting a character's [[SanityMeter Mind]] drop to zero is often thought to make them [[FrightDeathtrap die of fright]], much like how letting their [[HitPoints Body]] or [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly Hunger]] completely deplete will kill them. In reality, hitting zero Mind will just cause them to develop Panophobia; while this is debilitating, as it gives them a permenent debuff against most enemies, it cannot kill anyone on its own and once you have it, you can spend as much time as you want at zero Mind with no further negative effects. In addition, non-human party members cannot develop phobias, and thus suffer no consequences for reaching zero Mind.

** Letting a character's [[SanityMeter Mind]] drop to zero is often thought to make them [[FrightDeathtrap die of fright]], much like how letting their [[HitPoints Body]] or [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly Hunger]] completely deplete will kill them. In reality, hitting zero Mind will just cause them to develop panophobia; while this is debilitating, as it gives them a permenent debuff against all enemies, it cannot kill anyone on its own and once you have it, you can spend as much time as you want at zero Mind with no further negative effects. In addition, non-human party members cannot develop phobias, and thus suffer no consequences for reaching zero Mind.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' had several, including the infamous [[http://goldensunwiki.net/wiki/Wheat_Sword Wheat Sword]] and hoax cheats to enable [[ChineseGirl Feizhi]] or [[CoolOldGuy Kraden]] as player characters.

* ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD has a weapon in the game manual called the Dark Scimitar which is not included in the final release of the game. Many fan communities went wild trying to find out where the Dark Scimitar is located (believing that if it was in the manual, it ''had'' to be hidden in the game somewhere). A fan finally found a way to get it (along with many other unusual items) through a glitch that's created when characters, specifically Lemina (the glitch is called the Lemina Bug for that reason), leave your party.

** In the Japanese-only Platform/PlayStation2 release and all future rereleases, it is commonly believed that using Regal as the party leader when playing the slots will increase the chance - or in some cases, be the only way - of hitting the jackpot, as he's the president of the company that owns the casino. Nothing in the code suggests this is the case.

** In the Japanese-only PS2 release and all future rereleases, it is commonly believed that using Regal as the party leader when playing the slots will increase the chance - or in some cases, be the only way - of hitting the jackpot, as he's the president of the company that owns the casino. Nothing in the code suggests this is the case.

* Much of ''VideoGame/The7thSaga'''s popularity depends on one of these.

* Rumors have abounded for years on how to reverse [[spoiler:Yoshimo's geas (which leads to him dying when he is forced to attack you in Spellhold)]] in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', ranging from all manner of arcane strategies involving his heart (a quest item) that can be optionally turned in for a sidequest, or another method of resurrecting him later on in the game. It doesn't help that there is a line later in the game (in Suldanessellar) that suggests the character was originally planned to stick around through the later acts, as well as a line in ''Throne of Bhaal'' where you can attempt to ask the Fates to resurrect him (but they refuse to do this for plot reasons). There ''is'' a global override variable in the game that allows you to get past this (albeit one so profane and so obscure that it was likely only intended as a developer in-joke) and a manner of exploiting the game to keep him in your party, but no such plot-related reason allows you to keep him past the midway point of the plot.

** In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', erroneous text from a Brady Games guide led players to believe that the Wraith monster will sometimes drop the Ghetz' Shirt, an armor that increases several stats in exchange for giving the wearer several status ailments.

** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', there are various rumors on how to progress through the game without [[PlayerPunch having to kill Sif]]. For example, when Sif's health gets low enough, it starts limping and becomes unable to swing its sword; one rumor claims that during this time, you can hit the sword to break it, allowing you to win the fight while sparing Sif. In fact, no such method exists; you have to kill Sif to complete the game.
** Shortly after ''VideoGame/DarkSouls2'' was released, a rumour spread that there is a form of copy protection present in the game files that, when activated, will throw a ScreamerPrank at the unsuspecting player. Anyone who played the game immediately figured out that it's a hoax, as a certain NPC mentioned in the story doesn't actually exist. [[http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/558754259728970660/ Here's the thread.]]

** The Prima guide for ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld2'' hints that a secret Digimon, Kimeramon, can somehow be found in the game, but doesn't give any explicit instructions on how to find him. Data for him exists in the game, and he is fully functional, but the only way anyone knew how to get him was with a VideoGame/GameShark. In the years that followed, various rumors about how he can be obtained surfaced (mostly revolving around the game's BonusDungeon, Tera Domain, and how he has a small chance of spawning on one of its floors), and people posted stories claiming to have found him, but no evidence of it ever surfaced. Years later, it was discovered that, in the Japanese version of the game, he can be obtained via the use of a [=PocketStation=] and a separate game, via an NPC in the Coliseum. Since the [=PocketStation=] was never released outside of Japan, this NPC was cut in the NA version of the game, giving credence to the idea that the Prima guide is mistaken, and that Kimeramon was simply DummiedOut. Some people in the game's small community remained so fixated on the issue despite this that they data-mined the game and found more and more evidence that he really cannot be obtained, such as him being absent from the game's encounter list, which all but debunks the myth.

** For the original ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' on Super Nintendo (which [[NoExportForYou never made it out of Japan]]), there was a persistent rumor that if you choose "wrong" in the LoveTriangle by marrying Nera instead of Bianca, various characters will be hit by the DiabolusExMachina -- Bianca's ill father will succumb to DeathByDespair, Bianca herself will be forced to eke out a living as an abused barmaid, Nera's UnluckyChildhoodFriend Crispin will be miserable, and that Nera is near-useless in battle on top of this. This myth went un-busted until September 2014, when Dragon's Den, the largest English-language ''Dragon Quest'' fan site, tracked down a video of a play-through where the player marries Nera and none of this happens. Dragon's Den proceeded to trace the source of the rumor and found it originated as a [[BlackComedy dark joke]] in one of the first online [=FAQs=] for the game, which predates even the first fan translation; since this FAQ was many Western players' first experience with ''DQV'', it was taken at face value, and thus nobody married Nera to verify the claim.

*** The [[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Jvk1166z.esp "jvk1166z.esp"]] FanFic/rumor refers to a typical video game {{Creepypasta}} about a spooky mod which you really [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame shouldn't play]]. A supposedly legit copy of "jvk1166z.esp" turned up on the Bethesda mod forums and was uploaded to a modding site. It was very quickly debunked as a ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' hair mod (with multiplayer files from a ''Franchise/StarWars'' game), one of the "proof" screenshots of the Assassin was found to be from another (legit) mod, and further discussion proved that making the mod as it was described [[http://www.fliggerty.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5543 was]] [[http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1435303-jv1166zesp-as-an-actual-mod/ impossible.]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'':

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''

* In ''VideoGame/GodEater Burst'', it is rumored that Kanon Daiba has the "God of Rare Drops" skill, which increases the chance of getting rare materials after a mission. Even though it's been proven false, some players will still bring her along for luck when they're hunting for that last item they need for an upgrade.

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', it was rumored that one can unlock King Mickey as a summon by finishing Jiminy's Journal, returning to Disney Castle, and entering a newly-created door/portal in the area. In there, the player will have to clear the entire room of Heartless alongside King Mickey before he gives Sora the King's Charm, which can summon him. According to the myth, the King's Charm costs "four bar of Guard"(?). Interestingly enough, one version of this myth requires the player to beat the Lingering Will to obtain it.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero]]'':

* A bunch for ''VideoGame/Persona5'':

* In a case of a rumor coming true in a later revision of a game, players were finally allowed to legitimately reverse [[spoiler:Nei's death]] in the [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII''. It's [[GuideDangIt extremely hard and time-consuming]] to pull off, and it also requires [[OldSaveBonus a save file from the remake]] of the first ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar''.

* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', there was a rumor that both the Girl and the Sprite can receive another elemental since they only have seven each, and [[MissingSecret there are eight elemental slots]] (when you look at their magic descriptions). However this rumor can easily be dispelled by the fact that while each character only gets seven summons, there are eight ''total'' — only the Sprite gets dark magic, and only the girl gets Light. Naturally, the Girl has an empty space where dark magic would be; likewise the Sprite for light magic.
* In the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries:''
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia,'' there are persistent rumors that [[RareRandomDrop rare enemies]] only spawn when you fight [[PreExistingEncounters large enemy shadows]] that stand perfectly still and don't chase you at all, or that such shadows have higher rates of encountering rare enemies. In reality, all large enemy shadows have an equal chance to have you fight rare enemies--they're just, well, rare.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
** The makers of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' specifically and maliciously started a rumor that made its way into several [=FAQs=] and countless forum discussions, by having some [=NPCs=] claim that you would have gotten 100% completion if you did action X once the game is over.
** Also in ''Fallout 2'', many rumors abounded regarding Sulik's sister Kurisu and methods for actually finding her in game. Such is the frustration at not eventually rescuing her that some mods have placed her in the game. The planned ''[[VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren Van Buren]]'' version of ''Fallout 3'' planned to tie up that dangling plot by including her with an explanatory backstory, but it was never realized due to the project's cancellation. The only way the story can genuinely be given closure is if you download the Restoration Project, which will add a quest where you can find Sulik's sister at a slavers camp and then free her as well as the other slaves.
** Numerous ''Fallout 2'' walkthroughs stated that a street boy named Cody from New Reno will show you the crashed alien ship location like in ''Fallout 1'', and give you the Alien Blaster — a powerful beam weapon. They came with photoshopped screenshots. There is no such location, but the Alien Blaster is available elsewhere. It is possible to talk to Cody and give him food, but he is very easy to scare off, making this rumor hard to disprove.
** Because of New Reno residents remarking that the Chosen One should have used his mutated toe on Horrigan after the end of the game, many ''Fallout 2'' fans believed that the mutated toe could be used as a device to kill the FinalBoss instantly. In the game, the toe is not enough to kill Horrigan or bring any serious harm to him, though it lowers his HP (like it does to any other creature, including the Chosen One) from 999 to 996. Chris Avellone {{Jossed}} the rumor several times in ''Fallout Bible'' and confirmed that the remark of New Reno residents was merely a bad joke.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' had the "Barking Lasers" hoax, which is a patently obvious joke, but took on a life of its own and spread netwide through fansites and Wikia. The origin is a two-frame animated gif which shows Dogmeat shooting lasers from his mouth, and this encouraged fans to expend hours of time and go to great lengths -- up to and including killing Dogmeat -- in an attempt to get him to use the Wazer Wifle.
** Also from ''Fallout 3'', rumors claimed that under the right circumstances, Galaxy News Radio would turn into a [[NumbersStations number station]] that would diffuse both dates and messages in Morse code refering to several events in the real world. Such events include an unknown man confessing the murder of Abraham Lincoln and framing of John Wilkes Booth, Britney Spears winning an Oscar in 2023 and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt after a failed scientific experiment in 2027. Datamining of the game files returned nothing and Bethesda themselves confirmed that the theory was fun, but false.
** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has the Lone Wolf Radio trailer. A trailer full of radio equipment which holds little to no interest (the location designer confirmed it was added only as a nod to a personal anecdote) but unproved rumors about either a unique NPC wearing wolf pelts appearing there or the radio equipment diffusing children's screams, starting a quest to track and stop a SerialKiller, exist. Likewise, a rumor about a ghost at Nellis AFB (allegedly inspired by the story of a servicewoman who commited suicide while on duty there) or spooky noises and whispers in the Goodsprings Cemetery are not unheard of.
** There was once a rumor that the canon ending of ''New Vegas'' was confirmed by ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' to be the ending where the New California Republic wins. The rumor was so prevalent that even people on this site were making entries based on it. The main supporting evidence for the rumor was Conrad Kellogg's memory sequence, which mentions a rapidly-expanding NCR. Many players took this to mean that the NCR has defeated Caesar's Legion and is expanding unopposed. However, what these players forgot was that Kellogg is way too old to have been a child around the time of ''New Vegas''. Plus, since Kellogg is revealed to be a 100-year-old cyborg, his memory actually takes place all the way back in ''Fallout 2'', when the NCR was indeed expanding rapidly. No actual mention to the NCR by the time of ''New Vegas'' is made in the game. Another supporting evidence for the rumor is some alleged dialogue from western traders that states the NCR wins, but said dialogue is never found.

* One of the empty treasure chest messages added for the English-language localization of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero]]'' parodies this by stating "Psst. I've heard if you interact with this chest 100 times while syncing your button presses perfectly to the [=BGM=] and having your entire party's levels be prime numbers, you'll unlock Arios as a permanent party member..."

** [[GameplayAndStorySegregation According to the storyline]], the other characters are actively searching for the Runes at the same time you are. It was commonly believed that, if you're too slow, it's possible for someone to beat you to one of the Runes. However, this only happens twice, with the Star Rune and Sky Rune, and no matter how fast you are you can't stop a randomly-selected character from stealing the Rune. ''Nintendo Power'' even claimed in its review that it's possible to get to the Sky Rune before it was stolen.

** There were some rumors revolving around how to get the "true ending", due to [[VideoGame/Persona4 the last game in the franchise]] having a "normal ending"/"true ending" split. Most involve [[spoiler: Goro Akechi, with the original theory saying you needed to [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 max his Confidant]] to save him from his BolivianArmyEnding.]] This one was jossed after players verified that [[spoiler: his Confidant ranks up automatically, and you cannot hang out with him.]] The next theory involved maxing out ''all'' Confidants and visiting the protagonist's school on the last day after giving your notebook to Sojiro, which will unlock [[spoiler: Goro's Palace.]] While this was ultimately proven false, DummiedOut shadow negotiation dialogue implies that [[spoiler:Goro was planned to have a palace]].

** A few rumours about the bad endings of certain palaces also became widespread after the game was released, with the most notable one being that failing to complete [[spoiler:Futaba's Palace on time would result in her commiting suicide, and her family suing both Sojiro and the protagonist over it, as well as Haru's fiance Sugimura personally suing the Phantom Thieves should Okumura's Palace not be completed on time as well]]. After the game was released in English, some fans began claiming these bad endings were changed for the localization. In actuality, the bad ending for [[spoiler:Futaba's Palace]] has the protagonist arrested for coercion, blackmail, and suspicion for being a phantom thief, while [[spoiler:Okumura's Palace]] has the protagonist being arrested after an anonymous tip is sent in claiming he is the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and both of these are identical between the English and Japanese versions.

** Shortly after ''VideoGame/DarkSouls2'' was released, a rumour spread that there is a form of copy protection present in the game files that, when activated, will throw a JumpScare at the unsuspecting player. Anyone who played the game immediately figured out that it's a hoax, as a certain NPC mentioned in the story doesn't actually exist. [[http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/558754259728970660/ Here's the thread.]]

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'':
** Lots of rumors surround Giygas, the final boss -- specifically, that it's meant to represent a fetus. It was claimed that you can see an image of a fetus if you look in the background at a very specific time, and that you can hear Giygas crying for help when you defeat him (busted [[http://herbaldrink.deviantart.com/art/VGMythBusters-Giygas-67655728 by this guy]], and that sort of thing is beyond the SNES's sound capability anyway). It doesn't help that the boss arena resembles a WombLevel, and that the battle takes place in the past. ''VideoGame/Mother3'' didn't help matters when it revealed that [[spoiler:the world of ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' was destroyed, and you are living in a different world with all the survivors]]; this led to another theory suggesting that this happened because killing Giygas in the past causes a TemporalParadox.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has the Lone Wolf Radio trailer. A trailer full of radio equipment which holds little to no interest (the location designer confirmed it was added only as a nod to a personal anecdote) but unproved rumors about either a unique NPC wearing wolf pelts appearing there or the radio equipment diffusing children's screams, starting a quest to track and stop a serial killer, exist. Likewise, a rumor about a ghost at Nellis AFB (allegedly inspired by the story of a servicewoman who commited suicide while on duty there) or spooky noises and whispers in the Goodsprings Cemetery are not unheard of.
** There was once a rumor that the canon ending of ''New Vegas'' was confirmed by ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' to be the NCR ending. The rumor was so prevalent that even people on this site were making entries based on it. The main supporting evidence for the rumor was the Kellogg's memory sequence, which mentions a rapidly-expanding NCR. Many players took this to mean that the NCR has defeated the Legion and is expanding unopposed. However, what these players forgot was that Kellogg is way too old to have been a child around the time of New Vegas. Plus, since Kellogg is revealed to be a 100-year-old cyborg, his memory actually takes place all the way back in ''Fallout 2'', when the NCR was indeed expanding rapidly. No actual mention to the NCR by the time of New Vegas is made in the game. Another supporting evidence for the rumor is some alleged dialogue from western traders that states the NCR wins, but said dialogue is never found.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'''s [=GameFAQs=] board started a minor rumor about getting into Estelle's room. You can't, except in the PS3 version/Definitive Edition.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'': Many theories have popped up on methods to legitimately obtaining the three secret monsters ingame in Dragon Quest Monsters 2. As per typical for the trope, the proposed methods have ridiculous requirements, such as breeding an Orligon and Divinegon together who are both level 99, +99, and with maxed stats, while only having a 1/3 of working to get a Dimensaur, or some variation of the most popular "feed multiples of every possible item to a Dream Egg and then get only a miniscule chance of getting one of the three monsters when you finally hatch the egg". All of these theories have been debunked nor shown any proof of; in particular the popular Dream Egg myth was debunked when it has been figured out that the egg would get "full" (and thus would not accept any more items) before you could give it just 2 of every possible item.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'': Many theories have popped up on methods to legitimately obtaining the three secret monsters ingame in DQM2. As per typical for the trope, the proposed methods have ridiculous requirements, such as breeding an Orligon and Divinegon together who are both level 99, +99, and with maxed stats, while only having a 1/3 of working to get a Dimensaur, or some variation of the most popular "feed multiples of every possible item to a Dream Egg and then get only a miniscule chance of getting one of the three monsters when you finally hatch the egg". All of these theories have been debunked nor shown any proof of; in particular the popular Dream Egg myth was debunked when it has been figured out that the egg would get "full" (and thus would not accept any more items) before you could give it just 2 of every possible item.

* Lots of rumors surround Giygas, the final boss of ''Mother 2'' (''a.k.a.'' ''VideoGame/EarthBound'') -- specifically, that it's meant to represent a fetus. It was claimed that you can see an image of a fetus if you look in the background at a very specific time, and that you can hear Giygas crying for help when you defeat him (busted [[http://herbaldrink.deviantart.com/art/VGMythBusters-Giygas-67655728 by this guy]], and that sort of thing is beyond the SNES's sound capability anyway). It doesn't help that the boss arena resembles a WombLevel, and that the battle takes place in the past. ''VideoGame/Mother3'' didn't help matters when it revealed that [[spoiler:the world of ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' was destroyed, and you are living in a different world with all the survivors]]; this led to another theory suggesting that this happened because killing Giygas in the past causes a TemporalParadox.