Biggest Video Game Secrets?

[jetsetradio4ever]

What do you guys think that the biggest video game secrets have been? (Ex: The Arwing in OoT, The Citadel in Goldeneye or *shudders* Hot Coffee.) I can't really think of any others...

[mr_pollock]

Finding Higins and Rush in Shining Force II: The Sword of Hyaja!!!

[pacmanhat]

I have a vague memory of the mirror match code in Street Fighter II being a really big deal when it happened.

And then, of course, there's the MK blood code. And the Konami code.

[CrimsonNugget]

The discovery of scrapped levels in Sonic 2.

[Sotenga]

That damn ice key in Banjo-Kazooie thought that it would lead players to Banjo-Tooie... turned out to be a full-fledged sequel, which was damn good, but until then, we all worked laboriously to get to that damn key... a code was released much later to access it, but apparently, the key has no use. What a ripoff. :angry:

[pacmanhat]

The discovery of scrapped levels in Sonic 2.

I've never heard of this...how does one find these?

[Haoie]

Hidden room in the VCS Adventure?

The very first 'easter egg', it was called.

[Graham Mitchell]

The discovery of scrapped levels in Sonic 2.

I've never heard of this...how does one find these?

Get a Sonic & Knuckles cart and slam Sonic 2 into it. Use Knuckles. He can climb all around and do...something I don't remember. But it gives you access to areas previously unaccessible to Sonic and Tails.

That reminds me of another classic secret: the hidden areas in Ridley's Hideout in the first Metroid. They're totally vacant, but neat to find. Kind of creepy to run around in, really. They were just areas that were designed but not used, and supposedly sealed-off from the rest of the level. That door-climb trick sure is neat. :D

[Nes]

Probably the ending to the original Metroid.

Beyond that, we all know Eastmost Peninsula is the secret.

[davidbrit2]

That reminds me of another classic secret: the hidden areas in Ridley's Hideout in the first Metroid. They're totally vacant, but neat to find. Kind of creepy to run around in, really. They were just areas that were designed but not used, and supposedly sealed-off from the rest of the level.

WARNING: SHATTERED DREAMS AHEAD ;-)

The way the Metroid engine is designed, any time you pass through a door, the scrolling is changed from horizontal to vertical. Take a look at the map sometime. You never go through a door that leads directly from one horizontal scrolling room to another, or the same with vertical shafts.

So what does that have to do with anything? Basically, what happens is that you start wall climbing in a vertical shaft. Before long, you go off the defined area of the map. Not much longer after that, you move through the dead space, and into other parts of the map above you. However, the areas you've moved into are normally horizontal scrolling areas. Since the game still thinks you're in a vertically scrolling area, pandemonium ensues. If I'm not mistaken, the most well known "hidden area" in Ridley's Hideout involves climbing a shaft near the top of the level, which I believe leads into Norfair map data (but without doing the tile/palette/enemy/etc. swap that the elevator normally triggers).

If you see any doors to enter in these weird areas, it won't make any difference, because the scrolling direction has become desynchronized, and going through a door will just make the game try to horizontally scroll a vertical shaft. And if you drop off the bottom of the screen, you'll be walking around in the off-screen areas which trigger lava damage.

[Vectorman0]

In Perfect Dark you were shown password/username combo by making it to level one in combat simulator. Over five years later and still nothing has become of it. I'm still wondering whether or not Rare is going to make use of it in the upcoming prequel. It's either one really nasty trick, or a well hidden secret.

[norkusa]

Polybius

[GetImOliver]

Maybe not the most phenomenal, but the debug code for the original Genesis Sonics were the most fun for me by far!

[SexyKitten]

The discovery of scrapped levels in Sonic 2.

I've never heard of this...how does one find these?

Get a Sonic & Knuckles cart and slam Sonic 2 into it. Use Knuckles. He can climb all around and do...something I don't remember. But it gives you access to areas previously unaccessible to Sonic and Tails.

That reminds me of another classic secret: the hidden areas in Ridley's Hideout in the first Metroid. They're totally vacant, but neat to find. Kind of creepy to run around in, really. They were just areas that were designed but not used, and supposedly sealed-off from the rest of the level. That door-climb trick sure is neat. :D

HAHA good effort yet it provides NOOOO helpful information on the question asked. PLay sonic 2 as knuckles and do something.... :eek 2:

[jajaja]

Remember when we found some extra life and warpzones in Super Mario Bros. That was big then :)

[MarkMan]

All of the Reptile/Ermac hoo ha from Mortal Kombat I/II from way back in the day was really huge...

[THATinkjar]

Get a Sonic & Knuckles cart and slam Sonic 2 into it. Use Knuckles. He can climb all around and do...something I don't remember. But it gives you access to areas previously unaccessible to Sonic and Tails.

HAHA good effort yet it provides NOOOO helpful information on the question asked. PLay sonic 2 as knuckles and do something.... :eek 2:

LOL

Doesn't he just mean using Knuckles' gliding/climbing ability to access the odd platform Sonic couldn't?

Nothing to see here, move along people...

[Goodwill Hunter]

This weekend Dangerboy told me about the uncensored South Park pilot episode hidden on certain copies of PSX Tiger Woods 99. There is a hidden mpg file on the first production run titled ZZDUMMY.DAT. DB said that it would play on a PC if you dragged it onto Windows Media Player.

I checked out my copy, and it was the version with the hidden file. I have a Mac, copied the file to my desktop, changed the .DAT to .mpg, and it played in Quicktime just by double clicking it. Very crude and funny!

Rich

[Jumpman Jr.]

What about that guy that figured out you can get past level -1 on Super Mario Bros? Was that ever tried out.
Just getting to level -1 was a pretty big secret, imagine if you could get past it X_x

[jdc]

The rarest secret that I've ever heard of is the thousand coins secret in Mario 64. It takes FOREVER to do it because you can die so easily. The majority of self-professed "hardcore" Mario 64 fans don't even know this one exists.

I don't like to give it away.......1000 coins, think about it a second. If you're a Mario 64 fan, you'll know there's something "wrong". It involves 100% file completion, Mario, Yoshi and Bowser. The greatest thing is that it's not published anywhere on the internet, so it hasn't been ruined.

[Jumpman Jr.]

I don't like to give it away.......1000 coins, think about it a second. If you're a Mario 64 fan, you'll know there's something "wrong". It involves 100% file completion, Mario, Yoshi and Bowser. The greatest thing is that it's not published anywhere on the internet, so it hasn't been ruined.

Hmm.. The only way I could think of getting 1000 coins is if you were fighting against Bowser because he continuously drops coins as you fight him. It would take a long time though.

[Gigadeath]

The discovery of scrapped levels in Sonic 2.

I've never heard of this...how does one find these?

Get a Sonic & Knuckles cart and slam Sonic 2 into it. Use Knuckles. He can climb all around and do...something I don't remember. But it gives you access to areas previously unaccessible to Sonic and Tails.

That reminds me of another classic secret: the hidden areas in Ridley's Hideout in the first Metroid. They're totally vacant, but neat to find. Kind of creepy to run around in, really. They were just areas that were designed but not used, and supposedly sealed-off from the rest of the level. That door-climb trick sure is neat. :D

HAHA good effort yet it provides NOOOO helpful information on the question asked. PLay sonic 2 as knuckles and do something.... :eek 2:


If you want to see those areas, check out Sonic 2 Beta, it has a few stages which weren't included in the final revision (parts of the proto code can be found in the final version itself, though)

Wikipedia page explains it all http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_2

[poloplayr]

Best secret : That chap from Halo is a flaming homo.

[THATinkjar]

Biggest secret? People still think Grand Theft Auto is the only game in existence. I have proof to the contrary!

And, of course, what is the secret of Monkey Island?

[jajaja]

There is also a secret map in Medal of Honor for PC, or maybe I shall say unused. If you write in console a command to list all maps, the list that pops up contains some contryside village map that isnt in the game, not even in multiplayer.

[jetsetradio4ever]

Wow, those are...interesting...especially that south park one. I'm sorry but I can't think of any others.

[rbudrick]

The rarest secret that I've ever heard of is the thousand coins secret in Mario 64. It takes FOREVER to do it because you can die so easily. The majority of self-professed "hardcore" Mario 64 fans don't even know this one exists.

I don't like to give it away.......1000 coins, think about it a second. If you're a Mario 64 fan, you'll know there's something "wrong". It involves 100% file completion, Mario, Yoshi and Bowser. The greatest thing is that it's not published anywhere on the internet, so it hasn't been ruined.

I've seen that trick listed on more than one site before.

-Rob

[SexyKitten]

We are forgetting 2 big ones here. The black hole secret in Star Fox and the White ship/White house In Mario 3. Oh and the other black and and nebula in star fox 64.

Biggest non secret of star fox. Slippy is a flaming homo/imbecile. All my gay friends think slippy is a negative homosexual stereotype

[alec006]

The Sonic 2 Hidden Palace,Goldeneye Citadel, those are mostly the ones ive been looking at for a long time of corse much more in Goldeneye hince the Dams island or the Silos Vent,or every other thing that game that is "beta"

[anagrama]

Hidden room in the VCS Adventure?

The very first 'easter egg', it was called.

Not quite true - it was thought to be the first for a long time, but a couple of Channel F easter eggs were found in Video Pinball & the demo cart a while back, both of which pre-date Adventure.
Details here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=44963

[Daltone]

Finding the pinball game in MS Word 97 and the crazy flight thing in Excel .. or was that the other way around?

Edit: Yep, right way around. Check out this site - http://www.eggheaven2000.com/Games/

[SexyKitten]

Finding the pinball game in MS Word and the crazy flight thing in Excel .. or was that the other way around?
Explain? O_O

[Daltone]

Finding the pinball game in MS Word and the crazy flight thing in Excel .. or was that the other way around?
Explain? O_O

Nicked off some website...

Word 97

1. Open a new document
2. Type "Blue"
3. Select word
4. Go to Format -> Font
5. Choose Font Style Bold, Color Blue
6. Type " " (space) after word "Blue"
7. Go to Help -> About
8. Ctrl-Shift-Left click the Word icon/banner
9. Use Z for left flipper, M for right flipper, and ESC to exit
10. Discover what Microsoft means by "Productivity Application"

Excel 97

1: Open a new Worksheet and Press F5.
2: Type "X97:L97" and press Enter.
3: Press the Tab key, Hold down Ctrl & Shift and left click the Chart Wizard toolbar icon.
4: Use the mouse to move around - Left button reverse thrust, Right button forward thrust.
5: Look around carefully to find the Shrine with the programmers messages and the Blue Lagoon !

[dreamcaster]

The discovery of scrapped levels in Sonic 2.

I've never heard of this...how does one find these?

Get a Sonic & Knuckles cart and slam Sonic 2 into it. Use Knuckles. He can climb all around and do...something I don't remember. But it gives you access to areas previously unaccessible to Sonic and Tails.

That reminds me of another classic secret: the hidden areas in Ridley's Hideout in the first Metroid. They're totally vacant, but neat to find. Kind of creepy to run around in, really. They were just areas that were designed but not used, and supposedly sealed-off from the rest of the level. That door-climb trick sure is neat. :D

HAHA good effort yet it provides NOOOO helpful information on the question asked. PLay sonic 2 as knuckles and do something.... :eek 2:


If you want to see those areas, check out Sonic 2 Beta, it has a few stages which weren't included in the final revision (parts of the proto code can be found in the final version itself, though)

Wikipedia page explains it all http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_2

I just spent a good hour tracking down the Sonic 2 beta and exploring all the levels. Great fun! Hidden Palace Zone is especially pretty.

[DJ_DEEM]

just out of curiousity what eppisode of south park is it thats on that tiger woods?

[Queen Of The Felines]

just out of curiousity what eppisode of south park is it thats on that tiger woods?

The "Jesus vs. Santa" one that was the very, very first SP experiment.

Speaking of the Citadel level in Goldeneye, go to http://www.rarewitchproject.com and check it out...they've managed to hack out the Citadel level so you can play it on an emulator! :eek 2:

Kristine

[mills]

"Maybe not the most phenomenal, but the debug code for the original Genesis Sonics were the most fun for me by far!"

I loved using the debug codes for Sonic, also Jurassic park for sega had a really sick debug mode.

Another one not mentioned would be the "Chris Houlihan" room in zelda lttp.


Just looked this up, its in the japanese version only so what's the big deal? How many people here actually have it anyway?


Mario 64, 1000 Coin Cheat (Japanese only)

Notice the magical 'M' after you get 1000 coins.

NOTE: This trick only works on the Japanese version. The American version stops at 999 coins.

When you're fighting Bowser for the first time, keep avoiding him and collect the coins that his flame attack leaves. After you collect 1000 coins, a 'M' appears next to your lives. Now when you lose a life, your number of lives actually goes up. And when you collect a life the number goes down. Don't let your number of lives get down to zero, or you lose the 'M'. A word of warning: If you have 120 stars, do NOT talk to Yoshi because he will give you 100 lives and make the 'M' go away.

Notice how you lose a life by picking up extra guys.

Even though the 1000 coin trick does not work in the American version of Super Mario 64, it is still VERY useful. In Bowser stage #1 or #2 (in #3, it seems sort of ridiculous), get all the course coins you can. Then, when facing Bowser, avoid grabbing and throwing him. Instead, let his fire become coins. Collect as many as you can! (1000 is not infinite lives in the American version, but when you defeat Bowser, the coins will become about five or six extra lives.)

[zerohero]

We are forgetting 2 big ones here. The black hole secret in Star Fox and the White ship/White house In Mario 3. Oh and the other black and and nebula in star fox 64.

Biggest non secret of star fox. Slippy is a flaming homo/imbecile. All my gay friends think slippy is a negative homosexual stereotype

I knew about the black hole secret forever. In an old Game pro mag, the gave away a mini strategy guide that listed the secret. I knew this at like age 7 or 8 I think.

[zerohero]

What about the code that let you see Samus naked LOL

[pacmanhat]

Finding the pinball game in MS Word 97 and the crazy flight thing in Excel .. or was that the other way around?

Edit: Yep, right way around. Check out this site - http://www.eggheaven2000.com/Games/

That reminds me of another one...In certain versions of Windows, there's a way to get a "mine detector" in Minesweeper that tells you when your cursor goes over a mine. It totally defeats the purpose of the game, but it's an interesting trick.

[Slimedog]

Finding the pinball game in MS Word 97 and the crazy flight thing in Excel .. or was that the other way around?

Edit: Yep, right way around. Check out this site - http://www.eggheaven2000.com/Games/

That reminds me of another one...In certain versions of Windows, there's a way to get a "mine detector" in Minesweeper that tells you when your cursor goes over a mine. It totally defeats the purpose of the game, but it's an interesting trick.

I made $16 off that trick and got back on a guy who was being a real jerk. I turned it on and bet the guy a quarter that the first space I picked would not be a mine. Then I kept doing it going double or nothing. Since the "detector" is just a pixle in the top corner, you don't see it unless you are looking for it.

Almost forgot, the Naboo Starfighter in Rouge Squadron was classic. People were ravenous for info about Ep.1 (ah, hindsight) and the fact that the top-secret starfighters from the movie were sitting under our noses months before the film release was a pretty increadible thing.

[donkeykong1]

...the White ship/White house In Mario 3.
Can someone explain this one? I don't seem to recall it.

[Dr. Morbis]

...the White ship/White house In Mario 3.
Can someone explain this one? I don't seem to recall it.
White House: You have to collect a minimum number of coins on specific levels in the game. The only one I know by memory is 1-4. Get every coin you see plus the multi-coin boxes and you'll get the white house for sure.

Coin Ship: I don't remember the details exactly, but you had to have a certain digit in your score match the number of coins you had, which also had to be a multiple of 11. And I think the time clock was involved and it maybe only certain levels. If you want specifics, I'm sure gamefaqs and a zillion other places on the net have all this documented.

[zerohero]

...the White ship/White house In Mario 3.
Can someone explain this one? I don't seem to recall it.
White House: You have to collect a minimum number of coins on specific levels in the game. The only one I know by memory is 1-4. Get every coin you see plus the multi-coin boxes and you'll get the white house for sure.

Coin Ship: I don't remember the details exactly, but you had to have a certain digit in your score match the number of coins you had, which also had to be a multiple of 11. And I think the time clock was involved and it maybe only certain levels. If you want specifics, I'm sure gamefaqs and a zillion other places on the net have all this documented.

Yea, I've gotton this like every other time I've played the game.

[Jorpho]

I thought it was pretty nifty that you could defeat Bowser in SMB3 using hammers... but that's probably pretty well documented too at this point.

Oh, and let's not forget the huge tract of inflammatory text that was quietly buried in the N64 New Tetris ROM.

[hu6800]

All of the Reptile/Ermac hoo ha from Mortal Kombat I/II from way back in the day was really huge...

PLAYING as Reptile in the SNES version of mortal kombat.
You have to force it with a PAR.
Ive done it.

[hu6800]

The TECHNO LEVEL in "Final Doom" for the playstation.

The hidden Rooms in Dracula X SCD and the hidden rooms
in Castlevania 4.

Has anybody even beaten or done good in "Kriss Kross Make My Video" or the Marky Mark game for the Sega CD?

Knowing about the unlimited ships code in DownLoad 2 before the cheats were revealed in america.

the fake codes (pressing the coin return button, shaking the machine, yata yata yata ) in Mortal Kombat II arcade machines... People really tried to make that stuff work lol.

The Nudity code for the xbox version of BMX XXX.

[blissfulnoise]

That reminds me of another classic secret: the hidden areas in Ridley's Hideout in the first Metroid. They're totally vacant, but neat to find. Kind of creepy to run around in, really. They were just areas that were designed but not used, and supposedly sealed-off from the rest of the level. That door-climb trick sure is neat. :D

You hit the nail on the head with that one. One of the few things to really freak me out in gaming.

Running around in all that empty space, not knowing if it was intentional or you were onto some Cloak and Dagger thing.

The minus world in SMB disturbed me quite a bit too.

[hu6800]

Area 51 (the arcade shooter)
Shooting at aliens while they are peeing in urinals lol.

[rbudrick]

I thought it was pretty nifty that you could defeat Bowser in SMB3 using hammers... but that's probably pretty well documented too at this point.

Oh, and let's not forget the huge tract of inflammatory text that was quietly buried in the N64 New Tetris ROM.

How many hammers does it take?

And what was this text in the Tetis game?

-Rob

[anagrama]

You mean these? ;)

http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/cf.htm


Heh, yeah - didn't realise they were here too ;) I stumbled across it on AA recently when I was looking for Channel F info...

And it's pretty widely known really that Columbus wasn't the first - after all, he used a map to get there! ;) [/sidetrack]

[Daltone]

Oh, and let's not forget the huge tract of inflammatory text that was quietly buried in the N64 New Tetris ROM.

I'd like to know about that too. Did a google search and didn't find anything =(

Hmm, what about the original Pitfall hidden in the Mega Drive version? A scene from Monkey Island 1 in Escape From Monkey Island ? Using the No Clipping cheat to go inside the head of the final boss in Doom?

[SegaAges]

I totally didn't know about that south park ep inside of tiger woods 99. I am totally going to get that game when I goto ebgames and see if I get a copy of that disc with the show on it

[Jorpho]

How many hammers does it take?

Just one, although I think you need to aim it correctly. (This doesn't mean that it's at all difficult to do, just that it's quite possible to "miss".) You score a hundred points (!) and Bowser flips upside down, falling off the screen.

Given the rarity of Hammer Brothers suits and the moderate difficulty of Bowser's Castle, it's definitely not something that everyone would try.


And what was this text in the Tetis game?

I did a google for "Tetrisphere rom hidden text" and turned up http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=11002 (but note that the text is actually in the New Tetris ROM, not Tetrisphere). Lots of nifty bits in that thread, actually.

[ice1605]

I think that one of the biggest secrets is the SMB3 Lost Levels. I have played them before, and they were pretty cool. Just my $.02, 2.3094 yen, etc. etc.

Ice

[Graham Mitchell]

Do you guys remember Guile's "handcuffs" and "freeze" moves in the original colin-op Street Fighter II? Every thug at my local arcade knew those. My friend used to use them all the time to piss people off.

I also remember EGM's big April Fool's hoax about fighting Sheng Long. The "tip" was sent in by "W.A. Stokins", or "waste tokens". I guess that falls more under the category of "Greatest Videogame Secrets that turned out ot be BS".