In the age of YouTube tutorials, dataminers, and compulsive gambling, it has become increasingly difficult for developers' secrets to remain hidden for long.
That doesn't mean there aren't examples. Here's a selection of the best-kept secrets buried in video games.
The secret credits screen hidden in the Xbox Dashboard for 20 years
The latest addition to this list is acknowledgement of the creators of the first Xbox, thanks to a credits screen hidden in the Xbox Dashboard. After nearly 20 years a developer has revealed the secret, with Kotaku posting a video which shows players just how to unlock it.
Here's what you need to do.
- Turn on your Xbox
- Go to the "Music" section frim the Main Menu
- Insert any audio CD
- From the Audio CD screen, choose "Copy" twice
- Choose "New Soundtrack"
- Call the list "Timmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" (26 of the letter 'y')
- Wait for the CD to finish copying
- Go back to the Main Menu and choose Settings
- Go to the "System Information" screen
- There should be a new screen that lists the "Xbox Dashboard Team"
If you use ">" as a name for the list, the credits will appear directly and after them the console will restart.
GTA: Vice City's most literal Easter egg
Rockstar took the Easter egg literally, hiding one in GTA: Vice City.
To find, it you have to go to the Vice City News building to the north of the city, which is next to a smaller building with a helipad.
To reach this hidden room you have to jump from the helipad to the building, and enter through the nearest window. Typically windows were off-limits in Vice City, but this one is an exception.
In addition, this same location can also be found in GTA: Vice City Stories, although being a prequel, the room is still under construction.
The secret menu in the arcade version of Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat was released in 1992, and it contained a secret that crept into the arcade versions of MK2 and MK3.
A debug menu, it allowed anyone to check how the game was working on each arcade cabinet. It was a smart way to gather information about the game, eventually allowing co-creator Ed Boon to learn which characters were played more often. This data was then used to make roster decisions in subsequent games.
This secret was not made public until 2015, and allows you to see all kinds of statistics, the endings for each character, unlock hidden fighters, and even play a Galaga-style minigame.
For example, the first Mortal Kombat's menu it is unlocked with the following sequence:
- 1P Block (×5), 2P Block (×10), 1P Block (×2), 2P Block, 1P Block (×2), 2P Block (×3) , 1P Lock (×4).
The input sequences for other games can be found through this link .
The Silent HIll 2 save system we all wanted
A "save anywhere" function that lay dormant for more than 17 years, this Silent Hill 2 secret would have made the lives of players much easier.
There was also a secret minimap, too. Both secrets can be unlocked individually, require you to have achieved the Dog Ending.
After that, and in that same saved game, you have to start a new one with the controller type set to 2. Then, you have to enter a series of commands that activate each of them, as soon as you have control of your character:
- Minimap inputs: Start + L2 + Square + L3
- Save anywhere inputs: D-Pad Left + Left Analog Stick Left + Right Analog Stick Left + L2 + L1 + L3
The Dog Ending in Silent Hill 2 requires either all three normal endings, or the Rebirth Ending on a replay,
Beat The End in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The End is one of the most iconic enemies in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear series, and is very possibly one of the most epic boss fights in the history of games -- unless you know this crazy little trick.
To take down this boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 without even firing a shot, all players had to do was wait for a whole calendar year. Then, The End would simply die of old age, giving players free passage.
Even more surprising is that those not willing to wait a year of real time could instigate this effect instantly -- by changing the console's central clock while disconnected from the Internet.
Batman's two secrets
Batman: Arkham Asylum is full of secrets, but the vast majority were discovered soon after the game's release.
However, one secret went undiscovered for three years - the Warden's secret room, unable to be detected with Batman's detective vision.
Once inside, players could see references to Arkham City, a future sequel. To find it, you needed to Warden Sharp's office that can come down with a series of explosives and reveal this location.
Then, in Arkham City, there is a character who holds a very different conversation should you speak to him on a specific date. This secret was also discovered three years after the game's release.
To get this secret, you need to set your console's date to December 13, 2004 (the date Rocksteady was founded), and then speak to the Calendar Man.
He'll then claim that he will be there when the 'end of days' occurs, a supposed nod to the following title in the series, Arkham Knight.
That a mysterious YouTube account revealed it just in time, doesn't sound like a coincidence to us...
Bigfoot vs Teen Wolf in GTA V
Bigfoot and Rockstar go back a long way, with sightings reported in both GTA: San Andreas and Red Dead Redemption.
However, they went further in GTA V, introducing a series of different peyotes (seven in total) that appeared under very specific conditions and locations throughout the game.
By eating them, the user became Bigfoot, and consuming all seven would lead to a confrontation with a werewolf in the purest Michael J. Fox style.
Beating it to death would then unlock the skin to use in GTA V's Director Mode.
Given the scarcity of peyotes, the mystery of the Bigfoot wasn't fully deciphered until 2016. Who knows what other secrets are out there?
The person in the green jacket in Resident Evil 4
Twelve years after the original release of Resident Evil 4, a player discovered that when using the sniper rifle's scope, a silhouette with a kind of green coat could be seen in the mouuntains.
By heading into photo mode and zooming in, you can see that it is a 2D sprite of a person, but their identity has officially remained anonymous.
However, in 2017 a Twitter user pointed out that it was the game's art director, Naoki Katakai. In short, it was a reference point for internal use and a Capcom joke that, finally, was revealed to the general public.
Trials Evolution's 2113 Mystery Box
We could say that this is one of the greatest Easter eggs in the history of video games. Developer RedLynx went one further than usual secrets in Trials Evolution, with one that won't be unlocked until the year 2113.
It is the culmination of a series of some extremely well-hidden riddles in this title released in 2012. First, it was necessary to find a series of inscriptions, then decrypt them, and then a new song was unlocked.
This track hid sound waves in Morse code, which sent players to a website with four sets of coordinates -- San Francisco (USA), Bath (England), Helsinki (Finland), and Sydney (Australia).
At those locations, four small, locked chests were hidden, with keys featuring a keyring of the Eiffel Tower. Why?
Well, at some point in the year 2113, these four keys will open something that will appear under the famous Parisian tower... Meaning we're going to have to wait a LONG time to find out the solution.
Chris Houlihan's room in Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Chris Houlihan was the winner of a Nintendo Power magazine contest, the prize of which was for his name to appear in a future Nintendo release. What the young man didn't know was that title would be The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
However, gossip suggests that Chris Houlihan never really existed... Making this a mystery within a mystery.
In the game, there's a secret room born from a glitch, in which the game doesn't know where to make Link appear. Over the years, five different ways have been discovered to manipulate the game into sending you to this room.
The room contains a whopping 45 blue rupees, so the joy of finding this hidden secret is twofold. Unfortunately, this room can only be found in the English version of the game.
For the rest of the world, it is just a generic secret room...
"Happy Birthday, Lauren!" in Halo 3
This was a secret that Bungie coder Adrian Perez wanted to hide in the game to congratulate his wife.
This simple birthday message can only be activated on December 25 -- although you can change the date on your console to force it. Simply press down both thumbsticks during the loading screen after starting a Campaign mission, with the message displayed on the Halo ring itself.
It only took the general public seven years from the original Halo 3 release to find this secret...
Play as Master Hand in Super Smash Bros. Melee
The mythical main boss of the series turned out to be playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
It was made possible thanks to the "Name Entry Glitch". It was discovered in 2008, just seven years after release in 2001.
Head to the Smash wiki to find out how to pull off the glitch.
It requires some practice, but the result is worth it, especially when it leaves unsuspecting friends with their mouths agape!
A sealed copy of Super Mario 64 has broken records after being sold at auction for $1.5 million.
