Games don't incorporate secrets or hacks like they used to, and that's not a knock on them, just a mere acknowledgment of today's trends for that industry. Most gamers today can look back at their childhoods and remember how interesting it was to see what kinds of secrets they could find if they looked and played around enough.

Many of these secrets have gone down in gaming history, but some still slipped under the radar, never having been found until years after their games initially released. Regardless of when they were discovered, the point still stands that there are some little secrets and easter eggs that were incredibly difficult to find (unless you were THAT guy who had a GameShark on hand).

Most of the games that had these secrets are now classified as retro games and are mere echoes of what the industry was like in the past. If you're into retro gaming or like to see what things developers would hide in the old days, then you're going to love learning about 15 hidden secrets in retro games that they didn't want you to find.

15 And You Thought Pierce Brosnan Was The Only One

While this wasn't a secret that could be accessed in the final game, there exists some interesting data leftover from GoldenEye 007. Apparently, Rare had plans to incorporate various versions of James Bond into the multiplayer (i.e. the Sean Connery version and so on). However, they never made it into the game, likely due to time constraints or some weird incident with licensing.

This didn't stop some people from looking around and discovering that there was character artwork for each of these different bonds as well as some crude models to go with it. Fans of the franchise would've been ecstatic if this was included in the final game, yet GoldenEye 007 still went down in history as one of the best first-person shooter games of its time.

14 The Return Of A Faithful Friend

Super Mario 64 is a great game, but many were quick to point out that it doesn't include our favorite green dinosaur, Yoshi. Yet, he's not entirely absent from the game, as there is a way to meet him that takes an excessive amount of play time. The first thing you have to do is beat the third Bowser. The second thing you have to do is collect all 120 stars in the entire game (meaning only completionists will ever get to see Yoshi).

Once you accomplish this, you can go to Peach's Castle, and there will be a cannon outside that is no longer blocked by a grate. If you hop in and launch yourself to the roof of the castle, you will see Yoshi with a special message from Miyamoto himself. Then you'll be rewarded with 100 lives, which is kind of pointless considering you just completely beat the game.

13 This Sounds Like A Kickstarter Reward

Long story short, there was a contest in a magazine where the winner would be featured in the next Legend of Zelda game. That winner was a man named Chris Houlihan and the game was A Link To the Past for the SNES. However, people aware of Houlihan's inclusion were shocked to never come across it during their playthrough. That's because Nintendo carefully hid it in the game.

In order to access the room, you basically have to trick the game when traveling from one room to another by running extremely fast. When it isn't sure where to put you, it will instead send you to the Chris Houlihan room. What's in this place you may ask? A little sign that tells you what the room is and about 40 rupees.

12 Manual Or Automatic?

SEGA had some great games for their consoles, and weren't afraid of getting a good laugh or two at the same time. Take Daytona USA for the SEGA Saturn. While you'll mostly be driving cars, there is a way where you can unlock a horse that can either be ridden manually or automatically.

While you could enter a cheat code to get it from the start, the actual way to unlock it is by beating all of the races on normal difficulty. After that, you'll be rewarded with a playable horse. Some have reported that by beating the beginner track as the horse in 1st place will allow you to play as "Horse 2" in the Saturn Mode. Seeing as Saturns are hard to come by these days, that fact is up in the air.

11 It Would Be Easier To Just Buy Street Fighter

The Mega Man series prides itself on letting the Blue Bomber take the power-ups of all the bosses he defeats. In Mega Man X, Capcom decided to let our protagonist find another way of gaining a new ability. However, if you really want to add it to your repertoire, be prepared to go through a rigorous process.

First off, in order to access this new power, you have to have all of your heart upgrades, all of the sub tanks, and every single other weapon in the game as well as at least 4 lives. You have to dash to a special spot and die three times after defeating Armored Armadillo. It's complex, but as a reward, you Ryu's Hadouken from the Street Fighter series. They really made people grind their days away to get this one.

10 Just Monkeying Around

Earthworm Jim was a quirky platformer that sought to be popular and strange at the same time. While the initial marketing made it seem that it was going to take the industry by storm, that wasn't the case because of a little game called Donkey Kong Country.

Due to the massive success of the latter platform game, Earthworm Jim took a massive hit. As a result, the developers incorporated a mask that seems to be out of spite. By inputting a code in the pause menu, players can unlock a gorilla mask that has an arrow through its head. While this is a petty act on the surface, one can't help but feel bad for a smaller studio competing with the juggernauts, Rare and Nintendo.

9 This Only Seems A Little Out Of Place

When it comes to real-time strategy, there are few games that are as excellent as Age of Empires II. Despite coming out decades ago, the gameplay and mechanics still hold up, making it a go-to game for LAN parties. Like many computer games of that day and age, there were many secrets hidden within its code that shook up the gameplay.

If you go to the chatbox while playing a game and type "how do you turn this on," then you will be met with a blue car with white stripes that shoots bullets. You can imagine the people hitting "Paste" on this function over and over again to have an entire army of these Cobra Cars (as some people came to call them). Most of the time, the cars and any other cheat in the game are heavily frowned on by the community.

8 This Zoo Just Got A Bit More Magical

Zoo Tycoon used to be the pinnacle of simulation games, but the series has since fallen off the map. Part of the reason it was so successful was because of the sheer variety of animals and attractions one could put in their zoo. Those who had the Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection could likely play for days just getting everything in order for the ultimate zoo.

If you ever play this game and, despite all its options, feel like you're lacking some kind of mythical creatures, then don't worry! If you name an exhibit "Xanadu," then you'll instantly gain access to the Unicorn. It is one of the most expensive animals in the game, but the satisfaction of having a black unicorn and a white unicorn in the same exhibit is just too much to ignore.

7 This Has So Much Crossover Potential

Ocarina of Time is game packed to the brim with little details to make Hyrule feel complete. However, one piece of code that went undiscovered for a long time was an Arwing boss (Star Fox series). It could only be accessed by hacking the game with a GameShark, but the results were undeniable. This was an enemy that had an AI that attacked Link and fought until it died.

While there were many rumors as to why this was in the game, Nintendo eventually revealed that it was because the Arwing's movements were the same as the boss Volvagia. They simply imported an enemy Arwing from Star Fox 64 as a placeholder until they could create a model for their dragon boss.

6 Card Collecting Is Hard

Each Final Fantasy game nowadays introduces some sort of side quest to break up the traditional gameplay. In the case of Final Fantasy VIII, it was the Triple Triad card game. This introduced an added mechanic in the game that allowed you to go on the hunt for rare cards that were better to use during play. That said, many of these cards were difficult to find without a guide, leaving many players scratching their heads in wonder.

What makes this worse is that once you get close to the end of the game, where Ultimicia compresses time, the environments you could go to are no longer accessible, meaning you couldn't get cards you missed. However, there is one docking station where you can find a lone person who will use any rare cards you don't already have in a game of Triple Triad. Collectors will be thrilled to hear this.

5 Isn't He A Bit Cold, Though?

In the days of Crash Bandicoot and Mario dominating the gaming market, SEGA needed their own 3D platformer to strike the industry. Instead of bringing Sonic over first, they created Nights Into Dreams, featuring the character known as Nights. However, they didn't promote the game the way you'd think. They actually had a promotional disc called Christmas Nights Into Dreams that served as a demo for the final game.

At some point in the game, you could unlock a minigame that had people playing as Sonic the Hedgehog. It was drastically different from playing as Nights, but still fun all the same. It even culminated with a boss battle who had a striking resemblance to a certain doctor. It was also Sonic's first appearance in a full 3D game.

4  This Photographer's Got Your Back

One of the opponents in Punch-Out!! was the burly man named Bald Bull. He would swing fast and hard, making sure that Little Mac wouldn't have ample time to take him out. The main strategy was to wait for him to do his uppercuts and Bull Charge, all the while defending and dodging, then going in for a few hits.

Long after the game came out, though, Nintendo revealed that there was a better way to take down this brute. There is one audience member who will take a picture of the fight, showcasing a flash of the camera. Every time that camera flashes, you can go in for a jab to knock Bald Bull down to the ground. That certainly makes speedruns a lot easier.

3 You'll Probably Have To Write This One Down

Metroid on the NES is famous for a lot of reasons (and equally infamous), but the one facet that has us still gawking is the password system. Apparently, there was a bit of code you could enter into the game, but it was extremely difficult to crack. It took years before any hack was discovered and it was never intended to be let out.

By entering the code NARPAS SWORD0:000000000000, players could unlock infinite health and just about every other ability in the game. Clearly, this isn't the kind of thing that Nintendo would want outed so easily, but there's no denying that it came in handy for some players who couldn't quite figure the game out. Kudos to the people who discovered what this code was.

2 Don't Mess With The Hand

While Super Smash Bros. Melee came out in 2001 and is one of the newest games on this list, it's still old enough that we're going to include it here. For the longest time, there were many rumors as to unlocking new characters for the game (such as Raichu, Toad, and Sonic the Hedgehog). However, one special hack allows players to join the melee as Master Hand itself.

This glitch isn't an easy one and requires that you delete all of the names that you put in the game, but it might just be worth it. By having another person cooperate with you during the Character Select screen, you can glitch the game into going straight to the stage select (while trying to exit the menu) and then you'll get to play as the main antagonist.

1 We Still Hate The Dog, Though

Duck Hunt set the tone for what shooter games could be. The NES Zapper was a gimmicky yet fun peripheral, and the overall game was a memorable time (that dog just about ruined it for us, though). Most people just go through the game as normal, shooting ducks and trying to get the highest score possible. What most of them don't know is that you can do more than just shoot the ducks: you can control them.

The trick is really easy as well. If player 2 plugs in a second controller into the NES, they can move the ducks around by pressing on the directional pad. It's such a simple addition that most people wouldn't even think to attempt it.