subdirectory_arrow_right Cube Quest (Game)
▲
2
▼
Video game researcher Patrick Kellogg posited that Cube Quest was likely the inspiration for Polybius, an urban legend in which US government operatives create a Tempest-esque shoot-em-up of the same name that has lasting psychoactive effects on those who play it. In Kellogg's analysis, he notes that Cube Quest features similar Tempest-style gameplay and sports vibrant, surreal backgrounds like the kind described in the urban legend. The backgrounds in Cube Quest were reproduced by running a LaserDisc player installed in the game's cabinet; because LaserDisc technology is much less reliable than solid state media, the cabinet required constant maintenance from technicians, which Kellogg cited as the likely inspiration for the government agents who periodically harvest data from Polybius in the urban legend.
▲
1
▼
The earliest known mention of the mythical video game Polybius was an article on the otherwise legitimate arcade gaming fan site Coinop.org posted on August 3, 1998.
The article was edited on May 16, 2009, after the "game" had achieved viral popularity, to inform readers that the site hosts had received new information about the game and were flying to Kyiv, Ukraine to investigate the title, which they would update the page on when they found out. No news has been recorded on Polybius since, but the website would have new games added to its database up to 2021.
Kurt Koller, the webmaster for coinop.org, would later claim in 2021 that he planned to go to Kyiv in 2009 to see Chernobyl, but his friend from Ukraine refused because he was expecting a child, meaning that the "Polybius update" may have just been an in-joke related to this visit.
The article was edited on May 16, 2009, after the "game" had achieved viral popularity, to inform readers that the site hosts had received new information about the game and were flying to Kyiv, Ukraine to investigate the title, which they would update the page on when they found out. No news has been recorded on Polybius since, but the website would have new games added to its database up to 2021.
Kurt Koller, the webmaster for coinop.org, would later claim in 2021 that he planned to go to Kyiv in 2009 to see Chernobyl, but his friend from Ukraine refused because he was expecting a child, meaning that the "Polybius update" may have just been an in-joke related to this visit.
Coin-Op article on Polybius:
https://www.coinop.org/Game/103223/Polybius
Koller's Ukraine Tweet:
https://twitter.com/InsidiousForce/status/1391675104799510531
https://www.coinop.org/Game/103223/Polybius
Koller's Ukraine Tweet:
https://twitter.com/InsidiousForce/status/1391675104799510531
Related Games
Cannon Spike
Radar Scope
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
The Last Blade
Daytona USA
Line of Fire
Arm Wrestling
Blades of Steel
Virtua Fighter
Tank
Soul Blade
The King of Fighters '95
Robotron: 2084
BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
Pac & Pal
Street Fighter III: New Generation
Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy
Crazy Taxi
Magician Lord
X-Men vs. Street Fighter
Flicky
Renegade
Vulcan Venture
War: Final Assault
SoulCalibur II
The King of Fighters '97
Offroad Thunder
Virtua Fighter 3tb
Cliff Hanger
Beatmania IIDX 3rd style
Yo! Noid
The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle
The King of Fighters 2000
Lemmings
World Heroes 2 Jet
Virtua Fighter 4
F-Zero AX
Spelunker
Rad Mobile
Alien Front Online
Beatmania IIDX 2nd style
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
Pong
Vulgus
Tekken 4
Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II
BlazBlue: Central Fiction
Mortal Kombat 4
Super Spike V'Ball
The Legend of Valkyrie