Famous Video Game Mandela Effects

In recent years, the Mandela Effect has exploded in popularity, becoming one of the most fascinating phenomena to ever circulate on the internet. In a nutshell, the Mandela Effect is a collective trick of the mind, where masses of people remember something completely different from what it actually is. The ever-growing popularity of this effect can be largely attributed to the fact that it applies to practically everything one can think of, from movies and cartoons to TV shows, music, and even video games.

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Almost everyone experiences this effect at least once in their life, even if they don’t know what to call it at the time. While most of the talk online about the Mandela Effect revolves around niche things like brand logos and mascot designs, the world of gaming is an untapped goldmine for finding instances of this effect. From the iconic levels of Super MarioBros. to the legendary maps of Call of Duty, the gaming world is full of examples of the Mandela Effect.

1 Super Mario Bros. (1985): The Piranha Plant

The Piranha Plant Was Never In The First Level

Super Mario Bros. is widely regarded as one of the most legendary games of all time. Since its release in 1985, this game has maintained an extremely loyal fanbase, with a dedicated speedrunning community that spends countless hours trying to beat its speedrun records. Keeping the game’s popularity in mind, it’s all the more surprising that a very famous instance of the Mandela Effect exists in Super Mario Bros., and it even manages to baffle the most veteran players.

When going down the pipes in Super Mario Bros., players’ biggest fear is encountering a Piranha Plant, as it can knock a life off of Mario. But while many players remember dealing with Piranha Plants in Level 1-1 (the game’s first level), it turns out that they were never part of the level to begin with. These plants have absolutely nothing to do with the first level, but for some reason, many seasoned Super Mario Bros. players remember having to deal with these pesky plants right at the start of the game, making this a perfect example of the Mandela Effect in gaming.

2 Mario Kart 64: The Rainbow Road Rails

Rainbow Road Isn’t As Challenging As People Remember

Rainbow Road is notorious for being one of the most difficult tracks to race on in the Mario Kart franchise – mostly because of how easy it is to fall off of it. There are no protective barriers along the sides of the track, so one bad maneuver and the player’s character falls to their demise. Seasoned Mario Kart players have memories of falling off of this track that date back to the SNES and N64 era. However, recent discussions in the Mario Kart community have led to a shocking revelation.

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Mario Kart players are starting to realize that the N64 version of the game had rails along the sides of its Rainbow Road track, meaning it was impossible to fall off. This has left many players perplexed as they have distinct memories of struggling to stay on this track while playing Mario Kart 64. Yet, somehow, these memories are all false, as the track in this game had protective railings all along.

3 Call Of Duty Black Ops 2: The Sign

The Sign Was Always There

Standoff was a fan-favorite map in Call of Duty Black Ops 2, so when news got out that the map would be returning in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, players were ecstatic. Upon Black Ops Cold War‘s release, players eagerly explored the map, scrutinizing every detail to find differences from the original. But to their surprise, everything about the map seemed to be the same – until they stumbled upon a strange new addition: a sign.

While the sign itself was insignificant, players were left confused, wondering why the developers chose to add this random sign despite the rest of the map being a carbon copy. This confusion persisted until fans booted up Black Ops 2 and loaded the original Standoff map, only to find that the sign was there the whole time. This blew everyone’s minds, including professional players who had devoted thousands of hours to Black Ops 2, making this one of the best examples of the Mandela Effect in recent times.

4 Overwatch: The Reaper & Mercy Dialogue Interaction

Reaper’s Backstory Isn’t What People Believe

There’s considerable depth to the characters in Overwatch, as each hero has a well-crafted backstory that’s partly revealed to players through in-game dialogue interactions. Among all the characters, Reaper stands out with his captivating lore, which details how he gained his “molecular cleansing” abilities through scientific experiments on his body.

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During the game’s beta phase, when people were hearing the characters’ dialogue interactions for the first time, one exchange that caught everyone’s attention was between Reaper and Mercy. In this interaction, Mercy says, “This isn’t what I intended for you, Reyes,” to which Reaper responds, “You knew exactly what you were doing.” These lines resonated with players as they cleverly added layers of depth to both characters’ backstories, making this one of the most memorable interactions in the game. Now, imagine the shockwave that hit the Overwatch community when the game’s former lead writer, Michael Chu, revealed that this dialogue exchange never actually existed.

This interaction was never written or recorded, nor was it part of the game’s story in any way… ever. This was confirmed after fans looked through the game’s files and found no evidence of its existence, even in the beta version. It’s mind-boggling that, despite this dialogue never actually existing, thousands of players somehow vividly remember hearing it in the game.

5 Pokemon: Pikachu’s Tail

Pikachu’s Tail Never Had A Black Tip

Pikachu’s tail is perhaps the most iconic example of the Mandela Effect in video game history. Few characters in pop culture rival Pikachu’s level of popularity, as this character has been the face of the Pokemon series for decades. Pikachu’s character design is quite simple, making it very easy to remember. He has a yellow body with red cheeks and black-tipped ears.

But what about Pikachu’s tail? Is it completely yellow or does it have a black tip? Most Pokemon fans insist that Pikachu has always had a black tip at the end of his tail, but surprisingly, that’s never been the case. Pikachu’s tail is yellow without any black tip, and it’s always been that way. This simple misremembering of Pikachu’s character design has become arguably the most famous example of the Mandela Effect in gaming, and it continues to fool people to this day.

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