Post by Squidetor on Oct 26, 2017 15:57:04 GMT -5
This is going to be a rather strange topic, since it's actually not Nickelodeon-related. If you're disappointed that it's not, then feel free to click away.
Decided to speak out on it considering not only do I have a possible lead, but overall hype has increased ever since the myth was supposedly debunked by "Ahoy", as well as AVGN doing a Halloween episode on the game.
You probably saw the two videos on my channel of a particular game called Polybius. What is Polybius? To put it simply, "Polybius" is a vector arcade game developed by Sinneslochen Inc, that was described by many as a tempest-type game, where some described it as a space shooter, while others described it as a puzzle game. Its existence was questionable, considering there was a lack of evidence online aside from an alleged screencap of the title screen, and a black and white photo of the game cabinet.
Supposedly, the game had a limited run for only a month in Portland, Oregon. The game cabinet was described as rather plain, with no artwork on the machine aside from the logo on the marquee. It was apparently really popular during its run, as long lines would form to be able to play the game, with even fights breaking out just to get a turn to play.
However, soon enough, gamers who played the game started to suffer from major side affects of the game, and not just epilepsy. I'm talking insomnia, amnesia, night terrors, hallucinations, paranoia, and in some reports, even suicide. One player was said to even become a full anti-video game activist, just because of a seemingly simple vector video game.
If that isn't bad enough, supposedly, men in black would occasionally visit the arcade and collect data from the Polybius machines. Very strange.
After only a month of release, the game disappeared without a trace. It wasn't until 2000 when coinop.org featured an article on the game and brought it to attention.
There are many theories that are floating around, such as "Sinnesloschen" being a codename for Atari, who may have been the real developers behind Polybius. One fact that pushes this theory forward is that there are no copyright records for a company named "Sinneslochen" (Fun fact, the name is actually a rough translation for "sensory-deletion"). Another piece of info that supports this theory is a rumor that a man named Edward Rotberg, creator of another game, BattleZone) created the game.
Now, there hasn't been much evidence online at all to prove this game's existence. Sure, there's been arcade cabinet mockups and fangames, but no gameplay of the original game itself. There have been rumors of a ROM floating around online, but I can't seem to find it. (The ROM was supposedly the source of the title screen photo.) However, some ask how there could be a Polybius ROM if it was using vector graphics. I'll get to that later.
Time to give an explanation for my videos. A few days ago, my friend who works for an arcade in New Jersey (will not give out anyone's identity or the name of the arcade) told me that they recently just received a shipment of new used arcade cabinets from a collector. When he was looking through them all, he noticed an arcade cabinet with the marquee reading "Polybius." He wasn't sure if it was real or not, hence why he asked me to check it out for him. He invited me to the storage unit and I checked the cabinet out. I was a bit skeptical at first when I heard about it, but as I saw the cabinet with my very own eyes, it seemed nearly exact to the B&W photo online. There was still a few things we needed to answer though; does it work, and is the game real?
We pulled the cabinet out of the storage unit and we rolled it to his van. We lowered all the backseats and shoved the cabinet inside, and we drove to his house. Fast forward a little bit, we plug the game in, and it works! Looks legitimate enough, although one thing I noticed is that there was a "Lives" board, a scoreboard, and a small Polybius logo above the title screen. We set the game on free play, and I started to play it.
One thing that stuck out is that it wasn't a puzzle game or a space shooter. You're basically just a triangle and you move around different portions of the map, collecting squares. The best comparison I can make is, well... Tempest meets Tiger Handheld games. Nothing too fancy, but it does answer my question before on how a vector game can have its own ROM; it's not a vector game at all. It's similar in graphics, but it's not true vector like Tempest.
It was also really, REALLY buggy. Glitches galore. Occasionally, the game would crash and we would have to reboot the cabinet. I'm glad I managed to get footage of one of the crashes, it seems it's much more prone to crashing when there's more than one square on the screen.
I gotta admit, as simple as it was, it was actually pretty addicting. It's like Flappy Bird in addict-levels; it's unbelievably simple, yet very addicting.
My friend is gonna try and restore the cabinet for the next week or so, considering it wasn't in very good condition when he got it. The marquee's lights were broken for example, so I wish him best of luck on that.
I'm still unsure if it's real or not, but considering there's no fangames similar to what we played, I'm leaning more on the real side. Let's see what happens.
(FOOTAGE OF GAME)
(Yes, the article and the game footage is fake. Simply trying to get into the Halloween spirit. <3)
Decided to speak out on it considering not only do I have a possible lead, but overall hype has increased ever since the myth was supposedly debunked by "Ahoy", as well as AVGN doing a Halloween episode on the game.
You probably saw the two videos on my channel of a particular game called Polybius. What is Polybius? To put it simply, "Polybius" is a vector arcade game developed by Sinneslochen Inc, that was described by many as a tempest-type game, where some described it as a space shooter, while others described it as a puzzle game. Its existence was questionable, considering there was a lack of evidence online aside from an alleged screencap of the title screen, and a black and white photo of the game cabinet.
Supposedly, the game had a limited run for only a month in Portland, Oregon. The game cabinet was described as rather plain, with no artwork on the machine aside from the logo on the marquee. It was apparently really popular during its run, as long lines would form to be able to play the game, with even fights breaking out just to get a turn to play.
However, soon enough, gamers who played the game started to suffer from major side affects of the game, and not just epilepsy. I'm talking insomnia, amnesia, night terrors, hallucinations, paranoia, and in some reports, even suicide. One player was said to even become a full anti-video game activist, just because of a seemingly simple vector video game.
If that isn't bad enough, supposedly, men in black would occasionally visit the arcade and collect data from the Polybius machines. Very strange.
After only a month of release, the game disappeared without a trace. It wasn't until 2000 when coinop.org featured an article on the game and brought it to attention.
There are many theories that are floating around, such as "Sinnesloschen" being a codename for Atari, who may have been the real developers behind Polybius. One fact that pushes this theory forward is that there are no copyright records for a company named "Sinneslochen" (Fun fact, the name is actually a rough translation for "sensory-deletion"). Another piece of info that supports this theory is a rumor that a man named Edward Rotberg, creator of another game, BattleZone) created the game.
Now, there hasn't been much evidence online at all to prove this game's existence. Sure, there's been arcade cabinet mockups and fangames, but no gameplay of the original game itself. There have been rumors of a ROM floating around online, but I can't seem to find it. (The ROM was supposedly the source of the title screen photo.) However, some ask how there could be a Polybius ROM if it was using vector graphics. I'll get to that later.
Time to give an explanation for my videos. A few days ago, my friend who works for an arcade in New Jersey (will not give out anyone's identity or the name of the arcade) told me that they recently just received a shipment of new used arcade cabinets from a collector. When he was looking through them all, he noticed an arcade cabinet with the marquee reading "Polybius." He wasn't sure if it was real or not, hence why he asked me to check it out for him. He invited me to the storage unit and I checked the cabinet out. I was a bit skeptical at first when I heard about it, but as I saw the cabinet with my very own eyes, it seemed nearly exact to the B&W photo online. There was still a few things we needed to answer though; does it work, and is the game real?
We pulled the cabinet out of the storage unit and we rolled it to his van. We lowered all the backseats and shoved the cabinet inside, and we drove to his house. Fast forward a little bit, we plug the game in, and it works! Looks legitimate enough, although one thing I noticed is that there was a "Lives" board, a scoreboard, and a small Polybius logo above the title screen. We set the game on free play, and I started to play it.
One thing that stuck out is that it wasn't a puzzle game or a space shooter. You're basically just a triangle and you move around different portions of the map, collecting squares. The best comparison I can make is, well... Tempest meets Tiger Handheld games. Nothing too fancy, but it does answer my question before on how a vector game can have its own ROM; it's not a vector game at all. It's similar in graphics, but it's not true vector like Tempest.
It was also really, REALLY buggy. Glitches galore. Occasionally, the game would crash and we would have to reboot the cabinet. I'm glad I managed to get footage of one of the crashes, it seems it's much more prone to crashing when there's more than one square on the screen.
I gotta admit, as simple as it was, it was actually pretty addicting. It's like Flappy Bird in addict-levels; it's unbelievably simple, yet very addicting.
My friend is gonna try and restore the cabinet for the next week or so, considering it wasn't in very good condition when he got it. The marquee's lights were broken for example, so I wish him best of luck on that.
I'm still unsure if it's real or not, but considering there's no fangames similar to what we played, I'm leaning more on the real side. Let's see what happens.
(FOOTAGE OF GAME)
(Yes, the article and the game footage is fake. Simply trying to get into the Halloween spirit. <3)