Haunted Video Games: Urban Legends or Genuine Mysteries from Gaming's Past?

It's 2018, and technology has become deeply embedded in our daily lives. Life today is nearly inconceivable without the modern tech we rely on, particularly video games. For over three decades, gaming has shaped our culture. It began with classics like Pong (1972) and Space Invaders (1978), sparking a cultural shift. In 1981, Donkey Kong emerged as a true masterpiece, not only for its main character but for Mario, who later became Nintendo's iconic mascot. Other milestones include Pokémon, which skyrocketed to fame in 1999, and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog in 1992. This brings us to the present, where multiplayer online shooters like Counter-Strike, Fortnite, and PUBG dominate, driven by professional players, eSports tournaments, and live streams on Twitch and YouTube. Yet, the last thing one might associate with video games is the notion of a curse. After all, they're meant to be entertainment—an escape from real-world tensions and the unknown. However, the gaming world is also filled with strange, cursed, and inexplicable tales. From the obscure to probable urban legends, the following stories defy comprehension.

Polybius

We begin our journey through cursed video games with Polybius. As we previously shared on Esoteric and Paranormal World, in 1981 a peculiar game called Polybius appeared out of nowhere in arcades in Portland, Oregon, USA. It was from a German company named Sinneslöschen and involved solving puzzles, shooting games, and mazes. Though the machine was plain and modest compared to the colorful cabinets of the time—a black unit with a simple logo—it became extremely popular, with children lining up to play. However, many claim the game could induce various mental and physical disturbances in players, including headaches, amnesia, epileptic seizures, nausea, nightmares, hallucinations, paranoia, and suicidal tendencies. Some players even reportedly committed suicide shortly after playing. Even stranger, every night mysterious men in dark clothing would open the machine, apparently downloading data for unknown purposes. A month after installation, the machine vanished without explanation from the distributor.

From then on, the Polybius story became an urban legend, even appearing in an episode of The Simpsons. Conspiracy theorists believe it was a secret government experiment to collect data on psychological effects of visual stimuli, specifically designed with stroboscopic effects to induce particular responses, and the men in black were agents collecting data.

Pokémon Red and Green

Another strange tale involves the Japanese version of Nintendo Gameboy's Pokémon Red and Green. Although the game launched in 1996 with global popularity and acclaim, in Japan it was different. Shortly after release, there were reportedly about 200 suicides among children aged 7 to 12, all after playing. Additionally, many others experienced dizziness, migraines, nausea, and hallucinations while playing, leading to talk of a curse. The culprit was said to be a level called 'Lavender Town,' where everything had a strange purple hue, creating a spooky atmosphere. Combined with a disturbing soundtrack at a frequency only children could hear, it supposedly caused strong suicidal impulses. The negative effects only activated when players reached Lavender Town. Nintendo denied hidden frequencies, but the Western version removed that soundtrack, freeing players elsewhere from the 'curse.' Some theories suggested the game was truly cursed or had mysterious code. A video of the original Lavender Town is below, but we've warned you about possible effects.

Minecraft

Other cases involve supernatural entities. Minecraft is extremely popular for its simple concept and open-ended design. Players extract resources and use them to build structures and anything they imagine. It's amazing in its simplicity and creative freedom. However, some players report inexplicable phenomena: random objects, unexplained tunnels in rocks leading nowhere, trees stripped of leaves, and mysterious structures like pyramids in the ocean, as if not part of the game. Some claim to have seen the cause—a white-eyed specter. The figure stays far enough that no real detail is visible. Interestingly, the creator Markus Persson (known as 'Notch') had a brother who died tragically. The rational explanation is a glitch, but some believe it could be the ghost of his brother or an intentional programming choice by Notch to honor him.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

A truly terrifying story involves Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It originates from a reportedly haunted cartridge. An unknown user claimed to have been possessed after buying a blank N64 cartridge with 'Majora's Mask' written on a black background. The user said they inserted the cartridge and found a saved game named 'Ben.' Ignoring it and starting a new game, they noticed all characters referred to them as Ben, which they thought was a glitch. Deleting the 'Ben' file and restarting only led to distorted landscapes, a soundtrack with shrieks and reversed sounds, and a twisted avatar of the main character following them in shadows. Restarting again revealed the 'Ben' file was restored, plus a new file named 'drowned.' Any attempt to play a new game resulted in the character dying abruptly with a message: 'You have met a terrible fate, right?' Nothing more is known about the cartridge, though several screenshots supposedly show the haunted game.

Fallout 3

Beyond curses, some mysterious games have other enigmatic powers. For instance, the well-known RPG Fallout 3 is said to predict the future. In the game, players wander a vast open apocalyptic Washington D.C. Throughout missions, they receive ghostly radio transmissions that are part of the game, including dramatized broadcasts and music to alert objectives and create atmosphere. However, some claim another purpose: predicting the future. Players have reportedly picked up numbers in Morse code representing prophetic dates. Some disasters, like the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, were supposedly predicted by this code. Developer Obsidian Entertainment has denied hidden messages. So, are these stories simple urban legends? All that can be said is these are very strange cases where video games become more than pixels and music. It seems some games cross into the unknown. Do you dare to play any? Explain your experience, if you can.

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