Nude Raider – Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider gave us the Indiana Jones style gameplay we’d always been looking for and it tasked us with exploring ancient ruins, uncovering mythological treasures and fighting off ancient dinosaurs. The exciting gameplay and sex appeal surrounding Lara Croft quickly led to Tomb Raider’s worldwide acclaim, and fans became enraptured with Sony’s latest hit. Lara Croft was a strong, independent character, but her buxom design naturally led to many suggestive rumours. The most famous being the nude code that supposedly allowed players to see Lara in all her pixelated glory. Fake pictures depicting the titular character in her birthday suit quickly started cropping up online, and everyone and their dog claimed to know the code that revealed all. Of course, the codes never existed and many horny teenagers were left disappointed. Looking at the graphics at the time, it was probably for the best.
The secret arcade game – Polybius
The internet is home to all kinds of conspiracy theories and tinfoil hat aficionados, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t enjoy reading them. However, the Polybius story is one of the most creepy video game hoaxes of all time. Polybius is a fictitious 1981 arcade game that originated from an urban legend created in 2000. The rumour states that the game was part of a government-run crowdsourced psychology experiment, with gameplay said to cause intense psychoactive and addictive effects to those that played it. The original game's actual existence has never been officially proven and the arcade machines were allegedly removed from the market. The lack of evidence certainly makes it easier to debunk this internet legend, but this creepy video game hoax still makes the rounds to this day.