The mysterious Pokémon song that provoked suicides in children
Over the last few years, it has been relatively frequent to attribute certain damages to video games in the education of children. Alienation, trivialization of violence, and even epileptic attacks.
Is the legend that Pokemon caused suicide true?
However, these epileptic symptoms have existed only in a timely manner and no deaths derived from them have been documented. From the companies of entertainment it has been wanted to minimize the social alarm of these cases, because well is certain, they argue, that the television, the lights of midnight and other luminance circumstances can trigger those attacks.
While the general concern about video games was intense in the 90s, there is a case that caused a huge stir. In 1995, Game Freak commercialized its first Pokémon video game , the famous Red and Green versions.
- Related article: "Suicides: data, statistics and associated mental disorders"
The reality exceeds fiction
Output had an acceptable sales reach, surpassing the one million cartridges sold in a year, but far from the magnitude that in later years reached the phenomenon. The game was released in February, and that same summer had already been posted 107 cases of suicide in young people between 6 and 12 years of age .
The inquiries about each of the deaths led to a common circumstance that pointed to the Pokémon videogame as responsible. In each and every one of the registered cases, the parents of the deceased children pointed out that their children played Pokémon day and night.
Once the cartridges were analyzed, the police noticed that the last town where the children played was the Lavender Village, whose lands were enlivened by a very characteristic sound. The song of Pueblo Lavanda contained moments of high intensity in tones that could only be heard by children. Strident and crushing sounds that caused headaches that led to severe migraines , followed by insomnia and irritability. Despite the raw symptoms, his addiction to the video game did not stop. The inability to fall asleep led to pictures of nasal bleeding, nausea and vomiting, and finally depressive symptoms.
The culprit, a double tone that caused headaches and anxiety
Alerted by these cases, Game Freak corrected the melody, preventing the following versions sold in Europe and the United States containing the dangerous song. Sources of Game Freak assured that the later song is almost identical to the original one.
They just removed a few chirps that they caused double-tone melodies in the original music , sounds that could only be perceived by children because of its high spectrum.
