We remember fondly the games we played in years gone by, the stories we explored with such wonder in our eyes. Some were just generic playthroughs that didn’t stick with us, but provided a few hours of entertainment. But a select few were so touching, so moving, that they remained in our memories to this day. These memories changed bit by bit until the game itself became a representation of our nostalgia, and etched in our minds as a permanent cornerstone. Some have retained their unique charm, and we still play them to this day.
However, some people have taken to re-examining these games in a new, more matured light. The first playthrough rarely ever tells the whole story; it takes time and research to analyze each detail and character to truly see the hidden message behind certain aspects of our favorite games. With a bit of digging, we’ve curated this list of theories from some iconic past games that will almost obligate you to replay them, and see them with a fresh, new perspective. Whether you choose to believe the theories, or the reality that’s easier to believe, is entirely up to you.
15 The Animals Kidnapped You
The core gameplay of Animal Crossing involves a child roaming around a town of animals, earning rewards by performing mundane tasks for the populace. To explain the theory, we must first explain The Kappa, a monster from Japanese mythology. This creature, with frog-like characteristics, was a mischievous trickster responsible for various pranks ranging from mildly annoying to disturbingly violent. One of the latter was kidnapping children.
At the start of Animal Crossing, you are driven into town by The Kapp’n, a frog. You then proceed to do chores for the other animals in order to pay off the dull house you are given, all under the watchful eye of a creepy mayor. Essentially, as the theory goes, you were kidnapped by the Kappa and forced to do child labor.
14 Majora’s Mask Chronicles The Five Stages Of Grief
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. These are the five stages of grief developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, emotions felt immediately following a traumatic event.
Link first arrives in Clock Town, where the people are happily going about their daily lives and setting up for the Carnival of Time. They are in complete denial that the moon above them is in danger of falling. Next, Link meets the Deku King at the Deku Palace, who is enraged by the kidnapping of the Deku princess. In his anger, he’s ready to execute a perfectly innocent monkey. At his next destination on the snow-capped peaks of Snowhead, he meets the Gorons and the ghost of their leader, Darmani. This spirit begs to be revived with magic, bargaining for life. Afterwards, Link meets Lulu, a woman in grief over her lover’s death. She reflects depression in her isolation. And finally, Link arrives in Ikana Valley where he is finally able to reflect on his own life. Through victory in a final battle, internal and external, he embodies the final stage: acceptance. Link is able to bring peace to each troubled soul he encounters on his journey, and eventually to himself.
13 Tails Works For Dr. Eggman
Another common fan theory is that Tails, one of the protagonists of the Sonic franchise, is actually working for Dr. Eggman, the main antagonist. The first bit of evidence comes from Sonic 2, in which Tails is introduced and begins to follow Sonic around. In the same game, we meet Metal Sonic, a robotic doppelganger of Sonic himself possessing the same speed and abilities. The only way this is possible is if someone was giving Dr. Eggman detailed information on Sonic. Later, Eggman created a sub-par Tails robot to throw off suspicion. In Sonic Heroes, the game starts with Tails giving Sonic a letter detailing Eggman’s plans to take over the world. How Tails got the letter, and why he gave it to Sonic, is still a mystery. More evidence has been collected here.
12 Kirby Has Seen A Post-Apocalyptic Earth
Kirby has always been the happy, chubby, pink blob of fluff in the Nintendo Universe. Those innocent eyes don’t seem to reflect any dark thoughts or negative emotions. The game Kirby 64 itself is a totally family-friendly and light-hearted adventure. However, one world does break away from the game’s aesthetic, and that world is the Shiver Star. At first glance it looks like a moon. Further inspection of the surface reveals that it looks almost exactly like Earth (you can see Europe/Africa in the photo above). On the surface are broken down buildings and a decrepit factory, reminiscent of human design. A clear conclusion is that Shiver Star is actually Earth, ravaged by a nuclear winter or Ice Age.
11 Dr. Wiley Wasn’t The Bad Guy
In the Mega Man series, Dr. Light and Dr. Wiley are pioneers in the field of robotics. They worked to improve autonomous machines and artificial intelligence for the betterment of mankind. However, Dr. Wiley believed robots should have a clear, programmed purpose, acting as nothing more than advanced tools. However, Dr. Light (the apparent protagonist) envisioned a future in which man and machine lived together in harmony, in which artificial intelligence could rise to work alongside humans as their equals. This eventually led to the creation of Mega Man. Wiley knew this had the potential to go horribly wrong, and his endeavors throughout the series are aimed at stopping Dr. Light from unintentionally ending the human race by creating an overpowered race of AI.
10 Donkey Kong Country Was Anti-USA
In Donkey Kong Country, a group of dapper gorillas traverse many levels to reclaim their bananas which are scattered across an island, stolen by an evil monarch. How is this anti-American propaganda? Let me introduce you a little history, specifically The Banana Wars. Around the 1900s, the U.S. gained a foothold in the Caribbean after the Spanish-American War. They used their power to shut down local business and gain control of the banana trade on behalf of the United Fruit Company. They stole bananas from the Caribbean states and enforced their rule with naval ships. Coincidentally (or as planned), several levels in the game take place on various ships as you fight to reclaim your bananas in Donkey Kong Country. Sound familiar?
9 Companion Cubes Have People Inside Them
The companion cube is a cute little inanimate(?) object from Portal, a revolutionary puzzle game created by Valve Inc. Somehow, we found comfort and friendship in the cube, our passion fostering a wide array of merch and fan art. But a dark theory has been posited about the origin of this enigmatically charming object.
When you drop the companion cube into an incinerator, you get an achievement called ‘Fratercide’, a word which here means “to kill one’s brother or sister.” A quote by GlaDOS is as follows: “I think that one was about to say ‘I love you.’ They are sentient, of course. We just have a lot of them.” At one point she also calls the cubes “worthless,” a word she only uses when describing humans. Also, there’s the Material Emancipation Grid, a force field standing at the exit of testing chambers, that prevents the exit of inanimate objects while allowing organic material to go through. This has no effect on companion cubes, but dematerializes any other type of cube.
Conclusion? Companion cubes are actually people, either acting as containers with bodies inside, or somehow machines interfacing with human brains. For more details, check out this video.
8 Skyrim And Fallout Take Place In The Same Universe
Both games were developed by Bethesda Softworks, so it’s plausible that they’d include easter eggs with references to the other game. However, they could actually be part of a much bigger scheme. The most significant clue is the “experimental plant” found in a research station in Fallout 4. It can actually heal you if used, and bears a resemblance to Nirnroot from Skyrim. Inspection of a nearby computer reveals notes on the plant further supporting the theory.
It actually suggests that the events in the Fallout games took place before those in The Elder Scrolls, despite technological evidence to the contrary. Perhaps the magic in Skyrim results from nanotechnology. Maybe the strange creatures such as dragons, giants, elementals, and even other races all evolved as a result of radiation. And just maybe, the survivors in the new world resorted back to more primitive practices of living, refusing to rebuild the deadly technology that nearly led to their extinction.
If you’re still curious for more, check out the research done on other theories from Fallout.
7 The War-Torn Pokémon Universe
Even one of the world’s most beloved franchises isn’t an exception from a dark fan theory. This world of monsters and adventures was and still is a common escape for people of all ages. However, the Pokémon universe was not always as it is now. A well-known fan theory suggests it is currently recovering from an event called the Great Pokémon War, in which Pokémon were used alongside man-made weaponry in bloody combat. Why? Probably along the same lines as our real-life World Wars.
Why are all the adults in the Pokémon universe super young? Older people are veterans of the war, and therefore a rare sight. They have the best knowledge of Pokémon and so they are leaders of the various gyms. Pokémon Rangers also fought in the war but for independence and the right to tame Pokemon in their own way. This led to the establishment of regions such as Johto and Sinnoh. There’s a plethora of other evidence that goes along with the theory, and you can read the full details here. More Pokémon theories have been collected here.
6 The Science Behind Post-Assassination Conversations
Every time you complete a major assassination, since the first Assassin’s Creed game, the world around you deconstructs and leaves you and your victim in a cyberspace-like limbo. Here, your character explains their motivation and comforts the victim. But how is it possible that time just stands still and allows this conversation to happen? The technology behind the Animus is somewhat hazy, but it basically allows a user to re-experience the memories of an ancestor. But there is no logical way these conversations could’ve happened. The theory is that they didn’t, and that these scenes are actually just the assassin assimilating and reconstructing the memories of the victim in their mind, which is then experienced by the user of the Animus. They’re like footnotes; not part of the actual text, but still readable. Check out the whole theory, with some discussion, here.
5 In Limbo, You Are The Villain
One of the most iconic recent indie games, Limbo was well-known for its minimalist visual design and mildly disturbing aesthetic. In the game, you play as a young boy traversing a nightmarish world towards some uncertain end. The original backstory is that you’re looking for your sister, who has likely died. Along the way you battle bad guys, most notably a giant spider. In Christian lore, Limbo is actually synonymous with Purgatory, a place between Heaven and Hell, a place for those who cannot yet be fully judged. While many theories surround the game, a more interesting one is that the boy is actually the villain. He killed his sister, possibly by pushing her out of the treehouse from the start screen (and ending). He was then damned to Purgatory for his sin. They other children he battles were actually trying to stop him but failed in real life. The spider and other creatures are guardians, keeping him from reaching his sister, or even getting out of Limbo itself.
4 James Killed His Own Wife
In Silent Hill 2, you play as James Sunderland. He is grieving from the loss of his wife, who died, at least canonically, from a terminal illness. When James goes to Silent Hill at the request of a letter she left behind, and is met with a gloomy, foggy nightmare. Two main figures stand out during the game: Pyramid Head and Maria. The former represents James himself, while the latter represents Mary, or rather, everything James wanted Mary to be. She follows James, who in his delusion, believes that she is his actual wife. She torments him with hallucinations of her death and even attempts to seduce him.
The theory is that James killed his wife, Mary. Whether this was out of mercy or selfishness is unclear. However, his physical battle with Pyramid Head and mental one with Maria symbolize him coming to terms with his crime and his wife’s death, respectively. His fate is left ambiguous, but in a certain ending scene called ‘In Water’, he drives his car into the lake and commits suicide.
3 Squall Is Dead
At the end of disc one of Final Fantasy VIII, Squall and his party battle against Edea. Just when she looks like she’s been defeated, she materializes an ice shard and launches it at Squall. It pierces him through his chest, throwing him off the platform he’s standing on. He then shuts his eyes and virtually dies. Disc two doesn’t reference this at all, Squall miraculously returns to life and continues his adventures. There is no wound nor any dialogue referencing how quickly he healed. This leads many to believe the entire second disc is Squall’s dream, or his time in a purgatory-like dimension.
The image above is actually fan-made, representing Squall trapped in this alternate reality. When he eventually accepts his fate, he begins to dematerialize as his mental and physical form cease to exist. An alternate theory involves some time travel and healing magic, so you’re free to choose the version you like best.
2 Abortion In Earthbound
Basically, Earthbound (1994) chronicles the journey of a young boy called Ness who uses his psychic powers to stop an alien evil from condemning reality to eternal darkness. This main antagonist is called Giygas, and is meant to be the living embodiment of pure evil, of incomparable terror. He eventually becomes too powerful, and the final battle actually takes place in the past. Whether just Ness goes back in time, or whether he follows Giygas back in time is unclear, though a comment by Dr. Andonuts suggests the latter. The visual design of the battle itself resembles a fetus, leading many to believe the player is symbolically aborting a premature Giygas. Whether this strange choice of imagery was intentional or not… has actually been answered by the creator, who denies the theory.
1 The Origin Of Minecraft’s Sun
We’d hate to a ruin this perfectly innocent game, an iconic masterpiece of our generation that’s spawned some mind-blowing creations. But we have to, because there’s something off about the sun. The main thing is that the sun is always positioned opposite to the moon, even though orbital patterns dictate that the moon should come between the Earth and sun at some point.
The theory that emerged from this observation involves the threat of an extinction event. The people of the old Earth, realizing their sun was dying out, found a way to destroy their planet and use the afterburn to ignite a new sun. Then, they terraformed the old sun which had cooled down enough to make that possible, and is now the world you walk upon in the game. This explains the positions of the celestial bodies, as well as the reason you’ll find rock if you mine deep enough; it’s just the cold, hardened surface of the old sun. An elaborate theory, to be sure, especially for such a minor astrological error, but still something to think about.
