Polybius (Video Game)

This article refers to the video game created by Polybius, rather than Polybius himself.
Polybius is a mythical arcade cabinet found in Professor Proxy's Wild Ride. Found in Portland, Oregon for a brief stint in 1981, Billy Mitchell became addicted to the game, getting his consciousness sucked into the world of the game alongside Driving Guy.
== History ==
=== The Urban Legend ===
Polybius is an anomaly, an arcade cabinet made by the Greek historian Polybius, though how he did it is unknown. Perhaps the cabinet and Polybius himself were whisked through time to end up in Portland as they did. Whatever the origin, Men in Black began to take data from the obscure machine, further perplexing denizens of the area. Those who played the game would suffer from addiction to it, stomach pain, and epileptic seizures, eventually getting their consciousness absorbed into the machine, fueling Polybius' power. This might explain the manifestations of Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and the Space Invaders from the games of the same name in Polybius. It was allegedly created by Sinneslöschen Incorporated, though who they are is unknown. Polybius' gameplay is that of an arcade space shooter, though it has esoteric graphics that project subliminal messages.
=== Professor Proxy's Wild Ride ===
Polybius was spotted when Professor Proxy wanted the cabinet, and Billy Mitchell was hogging the machine. Driving Guy beat him up to get a turn, causing them both to have their consciousnesses merged together. Proxy notes the brain viruses, and gets the rest of the party inside of Driving Guy's brain to cure them.
Inside, the party encounters a brightly colored landscape and fights off various video game characters before finding Polybius himself, manifesting as a marble statue of himself with many arms. After he was killed, Polybius' game world began to collapse, and with it, the party and Billy Mitchell were freed, with the cabinet beginning to bleed as the Men in Black take it away. Professor Proxy and Billy Mitchell both shared the sentiment that the other could have the game.
== Trivia ==
* Polybius was inspired by the real-life urban legend of the same name.
* Polybius' depiction as a partly organic machine was inspired by the Lemon Demon song "Cabinet Man."
* Chris believes that the Polybius cabinet is a character in its own right.
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