Gaming Urban Legends: Lavender Town Syndrome

<p>Everyone on Earth knows about Pokemon&period; They know of the cute&comma; cuddly creatures that fight for Ash&&num;8217&semi;s amusement and his quest to become a Pokemon Master&period; But what many people and gamers don&&num;8217&semi;t know is that in 1996 things were spooky in <a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Pokémon regions" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Pok&percnt;C3&percnt;A9mon&lowbar;regions" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">Lavender Town<&sol;a>&comma; and not just the tower filled with the ghosts of dead Pokemon&period; In Japan&comma; <em>Pokemon Red&sol;Green<&sol;em> was released and much to the surprise of Nintendo has a few hidden notes in Lavender Town music&comma; ones that adults couldn&&num;8217&semi;t hear&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;02&sol;05131611&sol;lavender&lowbar;town&lowbar;recolored&lowbar;v2&lowbar;by&lowbar;creepypasta81691-d5h9cmy&period;png"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-57292" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;02&sol;05131611&sol;lavender&lowbar;town&lowbar;recolored&lowbar;v2&lowbar;by&lowbar;creepypasta81691-d5h9cmy&period;png" alt&equals;"Lavender Town" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This &&num;8220&semi;tone&&num;8221&semi; only affected children between the ages of ten and fifteen&comma; and what it made them do was even more terrifying that any Pokemon ever faced&period; Soon after the release of the game hundreds of Japanese children committed suicide by hanging themselves and jumping to their deaths&period; Others mutilated themselves or complained of headaches and nausea&comma; all of these being reported just days after the game&&num;8217&semi;s release in Japan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After studying the game&comma; they discovered that the children had begun to hurt themselves or got headaches after listening to the Lavender Town music&comma; they area of the game is unskippable and must be completed to finish the game&comma; so the children were bound to hear the music&period;  They found that there was a high pitched note hidden in the music that caused the children to go insane&period; Seeing as all playtesters were adults&comma; they were not affected by the sound due to the fact that our ability to hear high pitched sounds decreases as we age&period; However&comma; the age demographic for this game was perfect for the sound to wreak havoc on the youngsters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are some rumors as to why this sound was found in the game&comma; and why Nintendo may have covered it up&period; One story states that the game&&num;8217&semi;s director&comma; Satoshi Tajiri&comma; demanded that the sound be put into the Red version of the game to annoy children who chose that color&period; Tajiri had a clear disdain for the color red due to some trauma in his youth and wanted to punish people who didn&&num;8217&semi;t purchase the Green version&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another rumor that propagates the legend is the fact that Nintendo changed the music for the North American release&period; The music now being less harsh and shrill for the discerning American gamer&comma; and less likely to cause young Americans to go insane&period; It is true though that most music is changed during the localization process&comma; but this fact did fuel the fire to the legend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Almost two decades have passed since this legend began&comma; and some people have debunked the rumor as a hoax&period; Some still believe and won&&num;8217&semi;t fire up the original Pokemon games for fear of insanity or suicide&period; Personally&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve already past that point in the game and I&&num;8217&semi;m perfectly fine&comma; but do you courageous reader have the guts to listen&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe src&equals;"&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;dClGvfdctJk" width&equals;"420" height&equals;"315" frameborder&equals;"0" allowfullscreen&equals;"allowfullscreen"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"zemanta-pixie" style&equals;"margin-top&colon; 10px&semi; height&colon; 15px&semi;"><strong>Lavender Town is just one of many urban legends&period; Read the rest of the ever growing <a title&equals;"Read the rest of the Gaming Urban Legends series&excl;" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;tag&sol;gaming-urban-legends&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Gaming Urban Legends series<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<img class&equals;"zemanta-pixie-img" style&equals;"border&colon; none&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;img&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;pixy&period;gif&quest;x-id&equals;e276f742-0225-47cb-b617-8e8988dd3bd9" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine;