Not all things were meant to be found. To find some of the best hidden secret requires some sleuthing. Thanks to the internet, we can all share our findings on a forum or Reddit thread near you.
Many years ago, the first ever hidden thing in a video game came in the form of a secret room containing a message from Warren Robinett, the creator of the game named Adventure for the Atari 2600 in 1979. This secret was the first instance of an in-game Easter egg, a hidden secret that didn't necessarily have anything to do with the gameplay or plot of the game. Usually these hidden things break the fourth-wall and give insight that would only be decipherable to the target audience. Take it as a geeky, nerdy inside joke.
There are all types of hidden things in console games throughout the years. Some of them are silly, while some are just plain inappropriate. Still, it is hard to imagine our lives without some well-placed and well-hidden meta messages from the creators.
Now, that the introduction is near its conclusion, let's talk about 25 of the most interesting hidden things in the history of console games. How did these things go noticed?
25 A Super Cameo
Given that each series' characters appear in so many crossover games such as Super Smash Bros, I have always wondered if Zelda was in the same universe as the Super Mario series. As two of Nintendo's most popular properties, The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario have saved the console maker on many of occasions. Even they aren't a part of the same universe, there are plenty of references littered in the two franchises due to their mutual creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. In the hugely-popular Nintendo 64 game, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the player can go to the Courtyard area of Hyrule Castle and peek into one of the room, which features the portraits of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, and Bowser posted on the wall.
24 The Fate Of Jar Jar
With Battlefront 2 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, have you gotten enough of your Star Wars fix, yet? For me, I cannot wait for all of the references to “Kylo Was Right” to finally end. This particular Easter Egg was featured in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a game that followed the adventures of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, who spent most of his time holding his lightsaber in a particularly cool way and tossing a bunch of Stormtroopers with the usage of The Force. Stuck on the wall of one of the levels is a particular character frozen in Carbonite, but it isn't Han Solo. Yes, your eyes didn't deceive you. It is Jar Jar Binks frozen in Carbonite. Well, we all know what happened to this annoying dude.
23 That Looks Like...
Despite being a game that somehow got an E for Everyone rating from the ESRB, Rare took it to the proverbial limit in their classic, Banjo Tooie, the second title in the Banjo series. While the game was filled to the brim with grown-up innuendo, the one Easter egg that everyone remembered came in the form of a very familiar and obvious rock formation, especially if you were a man and often look down at the urinal. A rock formation located in Terrydactland looked unmistakably similar to a piece of male genitalia. It didn't even seem like the developers tried to hide this shape. Many years later, it seems amazing that a game filled with unsavory and inappropriate material was fine for children consumption.
22 Pool Time Fun
Do you want to channel your inner Indiana Jones or Lara Croft? Well, you can always play the Uncharted series and follow the amazing adventures of Nathan Drake, a terrible father and even worse husband. In Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, by allowing Nathan to swim at the pool located at the top of Hotel Shangri-La, he can play a game of Marco Polo with Chloe, who doesn't seem to want to. Doing so successful will give the player a medal called “Marco!” That is worth $5,000. Repeating the game will give a second medal called “Polo!” In future installments of Uncharted 3 and 4, the player can once again play Marco Polo at various points of each game.
21 Mein Secret
With a new Wolfenstein title recently released for your gaming pleasure, let's take a look at one of the original incarnations of this series. As a gamer who started his education with Wolfenstein 3D, I made it a priority to get my copy of the Collector's Edition during a nice sale during Black Friday shopping. Wolfenstein 3D was one of those classics that everyone should play at least once, as it was one of those games that expanded upon a genre that was still in its infancy, the First-Person Shooter. Similar to those old superheroes comics during this time period, the game made it cool to actually hunt down the Furher and his minions. While the game was filled with World War II-era Germans soldiers and party paraphernalia, the game's Easter Egg is predictably contains the likeness of their leader, more specifically, his already departed form. For some reason, the specter of the Furher ends up being an enemy in one of the levels, looking very similar to an angel topping a Christmas tree. Then who is that jerk in the mech suit you fight at the end?
20 Bad Boy Sketches
Unsurprisingly, here is another creatively hidden item in the Grand Theft Auto series. Featured in Grand Theft Auto 3, the franchise's first foray into the 3D open-world, this little Easter Egg seems to embody all of the bad taste and vulgarity that the series is known for. No, this is not the “Hot Coffee” mod, but it is almost as terrible. Located around the Liberty Campus area, several notebooks on the ground contains drawings of men below the belt. Reminds me of that fixation that Seth had in the film Superbad. For those who like words rather than images, the crowd at Stunton Island Football Stadium spell out the word for anyone who wants to read. Hint for you: It is highly-inappropriate to say in public.
19 An Ode To Homer
An updated, stand-alone version of the hugely-popular Duke Nuken 3D called the Atomic Edition featured all of the fun and humor with an even better Easter Egg that made this particular life-long The Simpsons fan very happy. The second-to-last level features a secret room that is opened through a super-secret switch. Enter the room, and it appears to be a control console littered with boxes of donuts with a sign that reads: “Sector 7-G”. For those who watch animated series called The Simpsons, this is the area of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant where the protagonist Homer Simpson is stationed at, and donuts are his favorite food. Unfortunately, Homer is nowhere to be found.
18 Kirby's Pink Lady
Perhaps one of the main reasons to get the Super Nintendo Classic is because the retro console includes Kirby Super Star, which includes a rehashed version of the original Kirby's Dreamland. For those who want to expand upon that fun and nostalgia, picking up a copy of its sequel, Kirby's Dreamland 2, should be of highest priority. Because of the childish and child-friendly nature of Kirby video games, it almost seemed impossible that this next Easter Egg should be real, but does exist. From the warped minds of the people who created this sequel, was one of the most inappropriate inclusions in any Nintendo game. In the secret stage of 5-5, several clouds and purposely-positioned blocks end up making a silhouette of a female in her birthday suit. Apparently, staring at that much pink just took its toll on the developers.
17 Perfect Cheese
As a fan of the original Goldeneye 64, it was sad not to see an actual James Bond sequel developed by Rare. Still, the company did create a spiritual sequel in the form of the game Perfect Dark. As we have seen with the folks at Rare, they tend to leave certain “eliminated” features included in the final version of the game rather than spend the time to take it out. This was the case for this title, as well. For some strange reason, every level of the game features a triangle block of cheese that cannot be touched or accessed. This was actually supposed to be a collectible item within the gameplay, but its function was taken out of the commercial release. Still, the graphical remnants stayed in place.
16 Seeing The Whole Page
While this hidden feature was not actually intended by the developers, it almost landed Sony in a world of legal trouble. The secret in question was featured in Beyond: Two Souls, a game featuring the likenesses of Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, both prominent Hollywood actors who also lent their voice, as well. Through the usage of the debug mode, a free-camera feature could be accessed. Because the developers created full-body renders for the characters, including Page's Jodie, there were full-body screen-shots of her while in the shower. These images spread around the internet like wild fire. While this was not really Page's actual body, she contemplated suing Sony for this little incident. Who knew that developers were so thorough with their renderings.
15 Jumping For Jugs
Ratchet & Clank is a series filled with a lot of innuendo and dirty puns, which can be seen in the titling of their games. It is a wonder how these games ended up with an E for Everyone rating with such questionable material in their games. In Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, an alien woman has her chest actually grow a few sizes too large. If the player ends up jumping around the area around this character, her breast size will continue to increase to a hilarious level. Take cover, they are going to blow! For those who cannot located the original copy of this game, this Easter egg is also included in the HD re-release of the game. Jump for joy.
14 A Terrible Apprentice
During the console boom in the early to mid-1990s, every major electronics manufacturer wanted to be a part of the gaming business, and this included Philips and their ill-fated console called the CD-i. Known for somehow getting the license to develop some really terrible Legend of Zelda games, their most infamous title was a 2D platform game called The Apprentice, which has nothing to do with our current president's former television show. While the game wasn't memorable for its gameplay, it certainly gained notoriety with its various “Game Over” screens that featured an homage to Mortal Kombat. Included with the Fatalities and Animalities parodies was one called Nudality, which featured a youthful female in her birthday suit. Certainly, inappropriate.
13 Dolls For All
Spoiler alert: Crono from Chrono Trigger is destroyed by the boss character, Lavos. In order to save him from demise, the player can obtain a clone version of Crono at the Tent of Horrors at Kingdom Fair in Crono's hometown. Did you know that you can also win clones of the other character in the party, as well? If you change the leader of the party when you win at the Simon-Says game, you can win a clone of that particular character. These characters could be found at the following locations in their native time periods: Crono at his house, Marle at Guardia Castle, Lucca at her house, Robo at the Proto Dome, Frog at Cursed Woods, Magus at North Cape, and Ayla at Chief's Hut.
12 A Literal Easter Egg
Oh how Rockstar always manages to entertain us gamers with vulgarity and political-incorrectness. As GTA fans eagerly await the release of the next juicy title, let's take a look at one of the classics of the franchise, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. When it came to Easter Eggs, the people who created this GTA installment decided to take this terminology quite literally. While in Downtown Vice City, a player can find hidden room in the vicinity of the Vice City News building. Find the correct window to go through and you are treated to the “Easter Egg Room” where there is actually an Easter Egg sitting atop a pedestal. It appears to be a chocolate Easter Egg with the words “Happy Easter” written on it. Happy holidays, indeed.
11 Unwelcome Anime Female Wanted
From the people who brought you Duke Nukem comes Shadow Warrior, an extremely-weird first-person shooter that featured one very bizarre hidden Easter Egg that didn't make a whole lot of sense. If you were a connoisseur of gory and bloody video games, this title should be on your gaming bucket list. Featured throughout the game is a pixelated anime female who is taking a bath wearing nothing except a smile. Placed in the oddest of places in various levels, the “Bathing Girl” greets gamers with the most serene of giggles and a guilty conscience. Many years after the fact, the presence of this secret Easter egg was never ever explained by the developers. Perhaps, it was just there to make you uncomfortable, or visually-violated.
10 Symphony Fit For A Discman
Who would have thought that the Easter Egg for a Castlevania game would be this hidden? No, the Konami code wouldn't work in this instance. For the few of us who often mistakenly place their game discs and DVDs in their CD players, we might have stumbled across one of the lesser-known features of this game. While you will never find this Easter Egg during the gameplay, placing a copy of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in your CD player would allow you to hear the main theme that is located on the second track of the disc. Perhaps, the programmers and designers at Konami had this in mind the entire time? By the way, who still has a functioning CD Player lying around in their room?
9 Grab A Sandwich
This one might be a nice call back to those who actually played the original Resident Evil. If you love to slay zombies and legions of the undead, you probably also played Dead Rising and its numerous sequels. While the game often didn't take things too seriously, it still didn't stop the folks at Capcom from referencing one of their most major franchises. The creator of Dead Rising, Keiji Inafune, also worked as a producer for various Resident Evil games. Within the mall that the protagonist, Frank West, is stuck in, a restaurant in the building is named “Jill's Sandwiches”, which references the dialog in the first Resident Evil: “You were almost a Jill Sandwich”. What a delicious reference, indeed.
8 Heart Of The City
I never quite got what the folks at Rockstar were referencing in this particular hidden secret featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, but it seemed really unnerving to say the least. If one were to enter the door with the contents of “No Hidden Content This Way” to get into the Statue of Happiness, there exists a ladder to discover this particular Easter Egg, which pretty much consists of a gigantic heart with a bunch of chains holding it up and is correctly named “The Heart of Liberty City.” This heart does not respond to any attack as it pretty much acts as part of the undisruptable environment. This area is actually needed to get a 100 percent completion of the game.
7 Royal Players
As one of the most popular arcade games of all-time, NBA Jam was a series that didn't take itself too seriously. With outlandish dunks that would have a player jump twenty feet in the air, accuracy was the further thing from Midway's mind. In the improved version of the original game called NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, the title was loaded with a whole lot of secret unlockable characters, including former-President Bill Clinton, the “Fresh Prince” Will Smith, Prince Charles, and Midway legend Mark Turmell. There were nearly 40 more characters featured in the game's expansive roster. Cameos would be a lasting feature for all subsequent NBA Jam releases.
6 Naughty Doggies
Naughty Dog is known for creating some of the greatest games of all-time, including the Uncharted and Crash Bandicoot series. However, the company didn't always cater to projects of the utmost taste, as seen with their Mortal Kombat-clone, Way of the Warrior, and the universally-panned Rings of Power. The latter was released for the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s, and consisted of extremely-difficult gameplay that was similar to Dungeon Master. One of their most infamous Easter Egg came in the form of a ludicrously-titillating title screen where a correct input of a secret code would reward the gamer with an animated female with a complete lack of clothing as the new logo. This might go down in gaming history as one of the most inappropriate and unexpected display of skin in 16-bit gaming.