POLYBIUS - The Video Game That Doesn't Exist
Ahoy2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2023-2026
10.1M views · 9 years ago · documentary · evergreen
A 69-minute documentary on the Polybius arcade-game legend. It examines visual, physical and anecdotal evidence, traces the story's source, and concludes the game never existed beyond one website entry.
HN rates it among the best gaming video essays and Ahoy as one of the best creators on the platform.
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3 comments from Hacker News
Perhaps my favorite example of a citogenesis-like process is the legendary arcade game Polybius, which originated as an entry on some German guy's web compendium of arcade games (coinop.org), perhaps as a "paper town", or fake entry that acts as a copyright canary when duplicated elsewhere. Gamer news and special-interest blogs and sites, and even print publications like GamePro picked it up, and I think it was even listed on Wikipedia as an urban legend whose actual existence was unknown. Then the retrogaming YouTuber Ahoy did an in-depth documentary ( ▶ this video ) which concluded that Polybius didn't exist and was never even mentioned before the aforementioned coinop.org reference and, for me anyway, that settled it. Polybius, in its urban legend form, never existed. (Norm Macdonald voice) Or so the Germans would have us believe...!
Ahoy is one of the best creators on the platform. I’d would recommend his video about Polybius. Great stuff. ▶ this video
Speaking of Polybius, the best gaming-related video essay produced! ▶ this video Ahoy is top notch in terms of quality on Youtube IMO.