Gamers have conceived fan theories about their favorite series since the arcade days. Though games focused more on action than story in those days, rumors circulated about the industry and developers themselves. Many retro fans can remember rumors of the arcade game Polybius that ran like wildfire but was never confirmed.
Fan theories and rumors continue on today. The audience for these rumors had only grown larger over the years thanks to the cross-platform release of games. Both PlayStation and Xbox fans can now enjoy over-analyzing their favorite games, no matter how they play. Many fan theories are reasonable, based off of evidence found throughout a game. Other fans, especially those who ship characters together, will latch onto thoughts that two characters must be in love because they spoke to each other on screen for mere seconds.
While opinions on games range from fluff to frightening, there’s no doubt that fans are a creative bunch. Developers and publishers often stay quiet on verifying rumors, but sometimes they can’t confirm rumors from facts. Though fans often get it wrong, it’s even worse when the game’s staff can’t decide on canon events, either.
Our list compiles some fan theories that were confirmed by the hard-working staff that worked on some of our favorite games. Be warned that there are some spoilers throughout, so continue if you’re ready to be informed.
20 Point Of Origin
Commander Shepard in Mass Effect has pre-set backgrounds you can choose from, but there are still some freedoms you can take with their character. You can make him a Renegade or Paragon and choose which companion you'd like to romance. Fans began to speculate about the background of a Shepard born on Earth. There are a few subtle references that place Shepard's country of residency as what's left of Canada. Earth still exists, just not in the way we're used to in present day. The countries are divided among nation-states. Both the female and male voice actors are originally from Canada, which gives Shepard a slight accent that native-born Canadians may not pick up. This theory is confirmed with the prologue taking place in Canada and during dialogues with love interests during Mass Effect 3. Shepard offers to bring their potential mate back to what's left of Vancouver.
19 Now We Understand Why He Was So Angry
Every Pokémon game features a rival that may have been your best friend or a bully that's following you around. Silver becomes your rival in Pokémon Gold and Silver. Fans didn't think much of the character until they check the Fame Checker in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Under the entry for Giovanni, it states his son has red hair. Fans immediately believed his son to be Silver. Through all the speculation, many fans refused to accept it because it was such a small reference. It was officially confirmed in the Pokémon Adventures manga that Silver was Giovanni's son. The games also establish the family bond in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. By going back in time during an event with Celebi, you can watch as Giovanni abandons his son to go into seclusion after being defeated by Red.
18 A Cruel Joke?
GoldenEye 007 was one of the most popular Nintendo 64 games. The only playable character throughout the game is Bond, portrayed by Pierce Brosnan. Through Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine rumors, fans believed that there were multiple playable Bonds in the game, including Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton. By using a GameShark to access multiplayer mode, fans found the portraits of all four Bonds. Fans believed that since the developer, Rare, didn't add it in, devious gamers hacked the game to trick players. Rare finally cleared up the theory and admitted: "Yes, it was the hope of the team that [all Bonds] would be available to play, but for various reasons they weren't." The various reasons were never disclosed, but fans believe Rare was unable to secure the rights to use the other three Bonds.
17 It’s Not Real Violence If Toys Are Fighting, Right?
When Super Smash Bros. was first released, fans weren’t sure why the Nintendo characters were fighting. As players began to view all of the side content more, they believed that the game was about toys fighting a giant battle. In the intro, a character named Mister Hand takes different toys and makes them fight. It did seem odd that family-friendly characters would be trying to destroy each other.
In a Time magazine article in 2015, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata confirmed they're just toys, which makes it okay for the characters to fight. He stated "That has to do with a very serious debate that we had within the company back then," he said, when the idea of having Nintendo characters battle one another was discussed internally. The team wondered "is it okay for Mario to be hitting Pikachu?"
16 A Super Confusing Super Mutant
In Fallout 3, you first meet Fawkes in Vault 87. Fawkes is a Super Mutant, and when humans are put through the experimentation, any trace of gender is removed. It explains why Super Mutants cannot breed and can only be created by artificial means. Before turning into one of these gross creatures, the humans do have genders. Many fans believed that Fawkes was female because you find him in cell D624. Check out a nearby terminal, and it states that Specimen D624 was female. One Bethesda employee even confirmed Fawkes was female. Within the cut content, we learn that Fawkes was a former Security Guard in Vault 87, named Shelton Delacroix. Bethesda's lead designer Emil Pagliarulo finally put the rumor to rest by stating in an interview "Trust me, Fawkes is and was male."
15 Now We Understand His Hatred For Mages
Dragon Age II had many gameplay issues that angered fans, but many still grew attached to the characters. Bioware often excelled at creating in-depth characters that we wanted to fall in love with, which kept us playing. Fenris is a recruitable companion and romanceable. The elf was formerly the slave of a Tevinter magister named Danarius. He was treated poorly by his master, including his body being used for various magical experiments. Fans started believing that his master took advantage of his slave by violating him. When theories spread about Fenris' slavery, many believed it was just obscene fanfiction. Bioware surprised everyone by confirming that Denarius also had relations with Fenris against his will. Now you can understand why Fenris hated mages so much.
14 Quite The Error
The Mortal Kombat developers love fan feedback. It's not uncommon to see a fan suggestion, such as fatalities, being added to the game. When fans first noticed the red-ninja Ermac in a glitch, the developers weren't so fast to confirm his existence. In the first arcade machines of the game, there was a listing for "ERMACS." Since it was placed under another secret character battle for Reptile, fans assumed that ERMAC was another character. ERMAC stands for Error Macro, which was used to catch coding errors. At first, developers denied his existence, going so far as to add an anagram of "Ermac does not exist" in Mortal Kombat II. The developers finally turned rumor into truth. Ermac was finally confirmed as a playable character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
13 Shippers End Up With Nothing But Disappointment
Place any two characters together in any medium, and there will be someone who ships them together. The long-running King of the Fighters game is no stranger to shipping. Fans began to ship Athena Asamiya and Kyo Kusanagi together since they interacted with each other in some instances of the game. The pairing became so popular that fans believed Athena had feelings for him. Years later in Japanese drama CDs, where voice actors tell audio stories, it was confirmed that Athena had feelings for Kyo. Her love interest already had a girlfriend named Yuki. She was a close friend of Athena. Instead of ruining the relationship, Athena kept her feelings to herself. It's unknown if Kyo returned her feelings, but he seemed content with Yuki.
12 Bringing Truth To The Legend Of The Landfill
When video games don't sell well, they usually hit the clearance bin online or in your local Gamestop. In 1983, things were different. Atari buried a significant amount of unsold merchandise, including consoles, computers, and video game cartridges. Rumors spread that it was uncovered in a landfill in New Mexico. Eager gamers heard the news and discovered copies of E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Defender, and Berzerk. To stop kids from breaking into the landfill, and potentially hurting themselves, concrete was poured over the buried goods.
Years passed, and some gamers thought the landfill was just a fan rumor to mock Atari. Workers dug up the remaining Atari goods in 2013, proving disbelievers wrong. Many of the goods that were still in decent condition have been sold for over $100 thousand, which continues to rise today.
11 Reusing Character Designs Can Change Everything
When Borderlands was first in development, Gearbox Software revised their playable characters several times. The playable Siren, Lilith went through several changes throughout her development. She initially had a more alien appearance with ashen skin, yellow pupils, and white hair. Her final appearance was entirely different, as Lilith now has fire red hair with matching lipstick, and slightly darker amber eyes. When Commander Steele appeared on screen, fans instantly noticed she looked similar to Lilith during her initial reveal. Not much was changed about Steele from Lilith, including the tattoos that cover her body. Fans theorized that Commander Steele must be a Siren, just like Lilith. Randy Pitchford, CEO and President of Gearbox, confirmed in a tweet that he officially considers her a Siren.
10 Did Mojang Keep Characters Ambiguous On Purpose?
Minecraft update 1.8 was first released in September 2014. For years, fans could play as Steve, who was canonically male. Many fans were already creating custom Minecraft skins, so they were surprised to see the release of Alex. Fans speculated that the skin was male, but looked female with pink lips and long, red hair. Others argued that the name Alex is ambiguous and could be used by anyone. Owen Hill of Mojang put the argument to rest. In an interview, Hill confirmed Alex was female. With his goatee and blue shirt, Steve didn't represent the growing Minecraft fanbase. Mojang decided to create a new character for fans who didn't play with mods but also didn't want to play as Steve. Alex is referred to using feminine pronouns and has a modified body model with slimmer arms.
9 Don’t Believe Everything You’ve Learned
In many FPS games, your standard firearm is often the weakest. Your primary goal is to obtain the most powerful weapon in-game, which is usually a ridiculous laser beam rifle that decimates everything on screen. When fans began to play Halo, they noticed that Master Chief's M6D pistol was extremely powerful. They were unsure if it was on purpose, or a set of requirements had to be met to increase its stats. It turns out Bungie co-founder Jason Jones increased the firepower on purpose. He felt that there was a balancing issue with the pistol. Since the game was meant for solo and multiplayer play, it needed to be fixed. They didn't want to modify the data, so he changed some code around. When a map was loaded, the pistol's stats change. It's a small detail, but fans took notice.
8 High School Adventures
The Persona series has only increased in popularity with the release of Persona 5. There are six main titles in the game. All of them share common elements, such as high school students discovering supernatural elements within their city while strengthening their bonds of friendship. Fans began to wonder if the Persona games all take place in the same universe since they all use Igor and the Velvet Room as a connection. Those who doubted the connection argued they may share common themes (they're all different universes). According to an interview with the Persona 4 developers, they confirmed that fans who connected the series were right. The games all take place in the same universe. Even the blue butterflies in Persona 3 and 4 are the same reoccurring character, Philemon.
7 Breaking Kris Kringle’s Heart
We all know that Big Boss has led a hard life. Why deny him the small joys in this world, such as believing in fictional characters? In a fan game, Merry Gear Solid 2: Ghosts of Christmas Past, Cold Snake must stop the evil ghosts from gaining full control of the Spirit of Christmas system. He still mourns the sudden assassination of Saint Nick from the previous game. Fans started believing that Big Boss and Snake also held the spirit of old Saint Nick dear, and believed in Santa.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker confirmed this theory. Santa has always been part of Big Boss' life, from bringing him presents and tracking his movements on NORAD. Unfortunately, Big Boss also carries the heavy burden that Santa no longer brings him gifts because he killed The Boss in Metal Gear Solid III: Snake Eater.
6 We Can Only Assume The Car Runs On Nightmare Fuel
In Silent Hill II, James Sunderland is struggling to understand how his deceased wife, Mary, sent him a letter. The letter leads him to Silent Hill where they previously vacationed together years ago. Mary suffered from an incurable disease. Though she was a kind woman, her condition made her lash out. James was on the receiving end of Mary's emotional abuse. Unable to cope, he murdered her.
Many wondered what happened to Mary's body. Fans believed it was still in the car with James, which turned out to be right. Video game artist Masahiro Ito confirmed this theory on Twitter "Mary's body is on the back seat of James's car, not in the trunk if I remember correctly." In one ending her body in the car as he drives the pair into Toluca Lake.
5 Not The Final Shinra You’ll Face
Each Final Fantasy game shared similar traits, such as Summoned monsters and a character named Cid. Fans believed that there was an even stronger connection between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X-2. Both games contain a "Shinra." FFVII contains a company of the same name while X-2 contains a single character. Fans wondered if the two would be connected down the line, but there was little confirmation from Square Enix. During a September 2017 with Kotaku, Square Enix's Executive Producer Yoshinori Kitase confirmed the fan theory. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima, who created X-2's Shinra, imagined that when he grew up, he would later form the Shinra Company. If you're wondering if the games take place within the same timeline, Kitase didn't confirm it at this time.
4 BFG: Bringing Families Together Through Space And Time
It's not uncommon for a video game developer to include Easter eggs referencing to other games they've created. Both Wolfenstein and Doom were long-running series from iD Software before being obtained by Bethesda. Fans noticed some similarities between Wolfenstein's B.J. Blazkowicz and Doom's Space Marine, or commonly known as Doomguy. In the Wolfenstein RPG, their connection is confirmed. The RPG is the first appearance of the Harbinger of Doom. After his defeat, he tells B.J. he would continue to battle against his descendants in the future. We now know the Harbinger was the first Cyberdemon, which would later be an enemy in the Doom series. Space Marine would later battle this creature in the Doom series, all the way to the most current version in 2016, proving Doomguy is a descendant of B.J.
3 Sonic Was Hit By A Smooth Criminal
The late Michael Jackson has a significant impact on music. During the rising popularity of console games, fans noticed a similarity between his music and the tracks in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Sega didn't confirm the theory for years, which led fans to continue building up evidence. Many of the tracks sounded just like something the famous musician would create, but he wasn't credited in the game. In 1993, it was confirmed by Sega that Jackson did work on tracks for the game, but due to the rising allegations made against the artist, they were removed from the game. Other developers working on the game confirmed that Jackson didn't just make a few tracks, he finished the entire soundtrack. He was unhappy with how the Sega Genesis console processed the sound quality and opted to be left off the ending credits.
2 Getting Banished Transports You To A Different Game
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask brought a different tone to the long-running Nintendo series. When Twilight Princess was released in 2006 on the Wii, it was received well by fans. For those who played both games, they noticed similarities between both stories. Both of the maps were similar, which was unusual since Zelda games often contain widely different environments. What connected both games the most were the Twili, who descended from Interlopers that were banished to the Twilight Realm. Fans believed this realm was about Majora Mask's Termina, making Twilight Princess a sequel. This theory was confirmed in Nintendo's Hyrule Historia, which listed the official timeline of the series. Though Majora's Mask is a spin-off, it is still an important part of the series.
1 Miyamoto Was Pulling The Strings All Along
As soon as you turn on Super Mario Bros. 3, you’ll notice the cast and characters running around on a stage. A red curtain occasionally drops as the scenes change. Even the levels themselves look as though they were put together by a stage crew. When you reach the end of the level, the backdrop disappears, and you exit stage right. For years, fans wondered if the game took place on a stage. Super Mario Bros. 2 duped everyone by turning out to be a dream. Players feared the same ending for Super Mario Bros. 3. Those who believed it was all an act were correct.
In 2015, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed the popular theory. In an interview with Nintendo UK, when asked: “Was Super Mario Bros. 3 all just a performance?” His gave a simple, one worded response: "Yes."