History Myth / Polybius

* SubliminalAdvertising / SubliminalSeduction: Sometimes ''Polybius'' wants to mess with your mind, implanting [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal]] (or [[AxeCrazy homicidal]]) thoughts into your subconscious. Other times it just wants you to [[TheSimpsons join the navy]].

* ContentWarnings: as quoted above in the Llamasoft version, and in the README file explaining how to activate the "higher functions" of the Rogue Synapse version. Add another page of warnings if you play with the VR headset. Could be scary, but could also prove how authentic it is..

* CreatorThumbprint: the Llamasoft version contains rather more oxen that were mentioned in the original.

More recently, the story has spread to a [[{{Creepypasta}} new generation of storytellers]]. These newer iterations include being developed by a man named Ed Rotberg[[note]]In RealLife, a programmer at {{Atari}} who developed the arcade game ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|1980}}''[[/note]] and being published by the shadowy Sinneslöschen [[note]]German for "Sense-Deletion" or "Sensory-Extinguishing"[[/note]] corporation, and specific locations for its existence (usually nondescript, Midwestern-y sounding towns in Oregon or Ohio). NightmareDreams, [[DrivenToSuicide suicides]], and [[NightmareFuel other scariness]] ensue.

* LifeImitatesArt: The Rogue Synapse can most definitely cause significant discomfort if its full visual effects are enabled; and the Playstation VR version was specifically designed to have psychological effects - just positive ones.
** In addition, it is suspected that the rumors of ''Polybius'' were based on versions of ''Tempest''. The co-author of the PSVR version is Jeff Minter, who wrote several ''Tempest'' sequels - although his version of ''Polybius'' is quite different from ''Tempest''.

A couple of websites have flash games based on ''Polybius'', and some claim to have [=ROMs=] of the game. Given the popularity of the legend, at least [[AscendedMeme three real implementations]] have been created - one for the Atari 2600, one [[LifeImitatesArt actual arcade machine]] by the arcade mock-up builder Rogue Synapse, and one commercial release for the Playstation 4 and Playstation VR. But fear not, Tropers! The original game is almost definitely fictional ... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDXSr8jjpVk unless it's not.]]

* VectorGame: a frequent claim about the legendary arcade machine was that it used both raster and vector graphics at the same time. The Rogue Synapse implementation simulates a vector display running the game with raster effect loops underneath, which would have been the only reasonable way of doing this in 1981.

''Polybius'' is a hopefully fictional arcade game depicted in an {{urban legend|s}} possibly started as a hoax that has [[MemeticMutation spread]] amongst the video game community since the early [[TheNineties 1990s]].

* SensoryOverload: What most implementations aim for, in a positive sense. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGi_1V6DZFg&t=982s This clip]] shows a YouTuber playing the VR version reporting that "they can't feel the controller" and that they "drooled a little".

* NoPlotNoProblem: We never learn of the game's plot in any of the legends, so it presumably doesn't need one.

* ShootEmUp: According to most versions.

* VectorGame

* ShoutOut
** The "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E3PleaseHomerDontHammerEm Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em]]" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' included ''Polybius'' in an arcade of "bad games", portrayed as property of the U.S. Government.
** In "The Age of Darkness" episode of ''Series/TheGoldbergs'', some girls can be seen staring into a Polybius machine next to a freshly installed ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' game in the arcade.
** Believe it or not, ''VideoGame/FarmingSimulator 17'' has a broken Polybius cabinet tucked away in the woods of Goldcrest Valley.
** ''Literature/{{Armada}}'' is based around the premise that video games are secretly government training tools to prepare the world for an alien invasion. ''Polybius'' itself is mentioned as being part of this program.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Many "Haunted Game" type {{Creepypasta}} stories share a lot of common traits with the Polybius legend. In particular is the [[{{Pokemon}} Lavender Town Syndrome]] story which is also about a video game containing sounds/images that is said to drive anyone who plays it to insanity or even suicide.

A couple of websites have flash games based on ''Polybius'', and some claim to have [=ROMs=] of the game, but fear not, Tropers! The game is almost definitely fictional ... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDXSr8jjpVk unless it's not.]]

Perhaps of note, the developers of Tempest are on record as saying that early versions of the game featured the tunnel spinning while the player's ship/lane remained in place, rather than the other way around as it was in the final release game. This was changed due to the spinning tunnel causing vertigo and motion sickness in some playtesters. If any test units of the early game were ever in public, or if talk of a "game that makes you sick when you play it" were to emerge from playtesting, this could be the kernel of mundane truth on which the wild stories were based. In such a scenario, the "men in black" / government agents would be nothing more than the game developers getting reporting data from the cabinets and feedback from the players for their game in testing. It's a lot less interesting story, but much more likely. Of course, the chances of any definitive answer after all these years is virtually nil.

* TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames: Although the legend itself began being told in the early [[TheNineties Nineties]], the events themselves are usually stated to have happened in 1981.

The legend of ''Polybius'' is, as legends tend to be, rather amorphous, and there are many different versions of the tale. The main ingredient is the game itself, a seemingly-innocent cabinet that popped up and hides sinister motives, from [[SubliminalSeduction subliminal messages]] to more [[GhostInTheMachine supernatural]] activities. Often, the game is described as playing like the 1980 classic ''{{Tempest}}'', but sometimes [[TheUnreveal the gameplay itself isn't actually described]].

* ArcadeGame

** There's also a very brief shot of it during the time-lapse montage at the beginning of ''Disney/WreckItRalph'', because [[ReferenceOverdosed of course there is]].

''Polybius'' is a hopefully fictional arcade game depicted in an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] possibly started as a hoax that has [[MemeticMutation spread]] amongst the video game community since the early [[TheNineties 1990s]].

* GovernmentConspiracy: [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Assuming]] the MenInBlack work for the government, mind you.

* ShoutOut: ''TheSimpsons'' included ''Polybius'' in an arcade of "bad games", portrayed as property of the U.S. Government. There's also a very brief shot of it during the time-lapse montage at the beginning of ''Disney/WreckItRalph'', because [[ReferenceOverdosed of course there is]].

* ShoutOut: ''TheSimpsons'' included ''Polybius'' in an arcade of "bad games", portrayed as property of the U.S. Government.

* {{Defictionalization}}: [[http://www.sinnesloschen.com Uh-oh...]]

* NoExportForYou: Needless to say, this is mostly an American UrbanLegend, but, due to the EaglelandOsmosis and the WeirdAlEffect, some parts of this legend went abroad, albeit not as a game, but as normally as anti-videogame propaganda, especially in Latin America.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Played with; in this case, the game ''is'' the [[UrbanLegends legend]].

''Polybius'' is, hopefully, just a fictional arcade game depicted in an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] possibly started as a hoax that has [[MemeticMutation spread]] amongst the video game community since the early 1990s.

Early versions depict ''Polybius'' as a vague [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories government experiment]], presumably mind-control related in the same vein as MKULTRA and its ilk. Kids lined up to play the strange game, with [[TheMenInBlack mysterious men in black suits]] either standing by and taking notes on clipboards, or coming by after hours to collect the data direct from the console.

More recently, the story has spread to a [[{{Creepypasta}} new generation of storytellers]]. These newer iterations include being developed by a man named Ed Rotberg[[note]]In RealLife, a programmer at {{Atari}} who developed the arcade game ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|1980}}''[[/note]] and being published by the shadowy Sinneslöschen [[note]](German for "Sense-Deletion" or "Sensory-Extinguishing")[[/note]] corporation, and specific locations for its existence (usually nondescript Midwestern-y towns in Oregon and Ohio). NightmareDreams, [[DrivenToSuicide suicides]], and [[NightmareFuel other scariness]] ensue.

* TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames: Although the legend itself popped up [[TheNineties a while later]].
* GovernmentConspiracy
* ManchurianAgent: One implied purpose of the game's mind-controllery.

''Polybius'' is, hopefully, just a fictional arcade game depicted in an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] that has [[MemeticMutation spread]] amongst the video game community since the early 1990s.