The most enduring video game hoaxes

These rumors just never go away.

Unlocking Sheng Long – Street Fighter II

© Capcom

Street Fighter taught us that inviting our friends round and beating the living snot out them is perfectly ok, especially when you get to showcase the shiny new character you’ve unlocked. Unfortunately, our time playing through Street Fighter 2’s tournament without taking a single hit, and then waiting for time to run out against M. Bison only resulted in furious frustration. A mistranslation from Japanese to English in Street Fighter 2 led many fans to believe there was a secret character named Sheng Long. As a result, Street Fighter enthusiasts began to speculate how they could unlock this hidden fighter, which led to one of the lengthiest and most difficult challenges of all time. Fan appeal for the character ended up affecting later Capcom titles, with many requesting for his inclusion in subsequent games. Sheng Long went from mistranslation to video game legend, and the missing fighter reminds us just how influential video game hoaxes can be.

Playable Luigi – Super Mario 64

© Nintendo

A hoax is only good when it’s believable and many fans believed that they could unlock Mario’s younger brother Luigi in this N64 classic. After all, both the brothers appeared in previous titles prior to Super Mario 64, so it wasn’t a stretch to believe we’d see Luigi make an appearance. Speculation started when fans found a statue in the courtyard that read "L is real 2401." Many fans assumed that this was a hint about unlocking Luigi, and that the 2401 was somehow related to unlocking him. This led to the belief that players needed to collect 2401 coins in the game, while other theories stated the player needed to capture the rabbit MIPS and jump into the entrance to Hazy Maze Cave. The hoax became so big that on November 20th 1996 N64.com placed a $100 dollar bounty on the plumber. We still don’t know what this mystery message means and nor has Luigi ever been found.

Writer

James is a journalist who has written for the likes of PC Gamer, Games Radar, Kotaku, LoL Esports, and many more. If you’d like to get in touch with James you can contact him via email at james.busby@allgamers.com or by following him on Twitter

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