So, it’s not surprising to learn some of these programmers over the years have hidden little messages and phrases in their games. Sometimes they can be found in the game world, require some console fiddling, or are placed within the code itself. Here are 10 of the most interesting hidden messages found in games.
10 A Developer Got Angry In Erika To Satoru No Yume Boken
Atlus today are known for producing the Shin Megami Tensei series and its multitude of spin-offs. But back in 1988, they made a simple two-player adventure game about two siblings looking for a magic crown. It was a Japan-only game for the Famicom, and the Japanese didn’t exactly consider it a classic either.
However, if players left the end screen running for 91 minutes (seriously), pressed A+B+Start+Select & Left on Controller 1 and A+B+Right on Controller 2, then B+Select+Right on Controller 1 and B+Right+Down on Controller 2, they’d get a long message from ‘Hidemushi’. It viciously rips into their co-workers for their foibles, wishing one, in particular, would “go back to the Edo period” to “do your riddles over there!”.
9 Pachicom’s Famicom Port Tells Players How To Fix It
Another Japan exclusive was Pachicom, a pachinko sim with a really annoying beeping sound that overpowers the rest of the sound. Not that the 8-bit equivalent of ball bearings clicking about is Uematsu-level quality. But it could be better.
If hackers look into the code, they’ll find a long rant from ‘Y.S’ complaining about a ‘Mr. Gouhara from JPM’ before offering to sell his friend’s art machine and debugger. He also tells the player to change certain hex address values that, if put in place, mute that beeping noise. It ends by telling hackers to check out a similar hidden message in the MSX port, which is just as profane towards ‘Mr. Gouhara’ but much less helpful.
8 Castlevania Chronicles’ Developers Share Some Info
The original Castlevania was a big hit on the NES, but it also got ported to other machines. The MSX got a more exploratory version in Vampire Killer. The Commodore 64 and Amiga got horrendous versions of the NES game. Then the Sharp X68000 got Akumajō Dracula, which later got ported to the Playstation as Castlevania Chronicles.
The original version had some concept art of some enemies hidden in it, which were carried over to the PS1 port. They left the developers’ messages behind though. Thankfully, they’re much more polite, offering some behind-the-scenes trivia on the game. Like Manabu Furuya confirming that one Skull Knight was “doing Chun-Li cosplay”, and character designer Yadabon referring to a “strange phenomenon with the Goddess on the 6th loop”.
7 H2O Really Hated Working On The New Tetris
For something more Stateside, H2O Entertainment developed a Tetris game for the Nintendo 64 and didn’t enjoy making it. The late David ‘Martial Artist’ Pridie was one of a few programmers who decided to do some venting in the ROM Code. After a copyright message saying, “GET OUT OF OUR CODE YOU FILTHY HACKERS”, Pridie calls out his producer for being useless, and the musician for being lazy (while admitting his work is “KICK A$$”).
Then it goes into ‘Lupin’s 50 Most Hated Things’, which lists 56 random pet peeves from “the huge, complex hairdos on African American women”, “junk mail”, “racisist[sic] people and the crap they spew out”, and “Nintendo and everything about them”. Lupin wasn’t found for comment. While Pridie thought his rant wouldn’t be found for years. It ended up being discovered 3 days after the game’s release.
6 A British Developer Coded A Blog Into Final Fight
Richard ‘Mad as a Hatter’ Aplin was famous for his work on microcomputer ports, giving European gamers a chance to play Shinobi and the Double Dragon games at home. He’d also essentially write blogs into the game code, with his Final Fight port being his most infamous piece of work.
It contains a long intro making fun of ‘crackers’ (people who broke copy protection on games), then it went into his resumé, tech (a Video Walkman!), music collection, and the time he got mugged. If that wasn’t enough, if players pressed ‘Help’ 5 times during the intro, they’d get an unskippable cutscene called “the Programmer’s Ego Trip!”. It did give the player infinite lives once it was done, so Aplin wasn’t without mercy.
5 Alex Kidd In Miracle World Was Dedicated To Children
Alex Kidd is largely remembered as the Sega mascot that got booted in favor of Sonic, even by Sega themselves in the Dreamcast RPG Segagaga. Still, his debut outing Alex Kidd in Miracle World was a pretty good platform game. Hard, but enjoyable.
In the Japanese version of the game, if players pressed the 1 button fourteen times on Controller 2, then 1 or 2 on Controller 1 at the ending screen, they’d get a hidden message. It dedicates the game to ‘Kōichi and Emi’ and hopes “children yet to be born be strong and have love and bravery like Alex”. As random as it is, it is rather sweet.
4 Hotel Mario Celebrates The Holidays
The only Mario game on the Philips CD-i flopped alongside its console, then found love over a decade later on YouTube through its goofy cutscenes. It has some hidden placeholder audio and some unused graphics in its code. However, there’s an easier way to see its hidden messages. Set the CD-i’s clock to set dates, and the ‘Here We Go!’ screen will change.
Usually, it’s just holiday-related phrases like “Happy Holidays!” or “Allons Chercher La Feve” (the French have their own holidays too). If it’s set on February 17th, it’ll say “It’s Hollie’s Birthday”. This refers to the game’s ‘Play Consultant’ Hollie S. Lohff, who earned her credit by reminding the team that Mario needed to jump in his games.
3 An Artist Signs Their Work In Resident Evil 3
As games got bigger and more complex, they required more graphic artists to work on different textures for environments. Sure, they might get their name in the credits, but that feels so gauche. Traditional artists put their names on the work itself.
This is what one artist called ‘Yuki’ did in the original Resident Evil 3. They signed their name on two textures in the alleyway and garage sections of the game. The latter stands out the most as it looks like a normal warning sign until the player sees ‘YUKI’ in big letters. While the former has ‘Yuki Vs Kurohyohh!!’, which seems to be advertising a fight for the low price of $510.
2 Rayman’s Developers Loved Their Family And Friends
Despite being more popular on the Playstation, the original Rayman first debuted on the Atari Jaguar. It was one of the few highlights on Atari’s last console. While Ubisoft today isn’t so wholesome today, mid-1990s Ubisoft Montpellier put messages to their family and friends in the game.
Put in the right passwords on the screen, and the screen will display messages (largely in French). Some are funny, like designer Bruno Bouvret asking for a beer and inviting everyone to Euro Disneyland. Others, like one from programmer Christophe Giraud, offer love and kisses to his family. One message even thanks Konami and Nintendo for their games.
1 Donkey Kong Offered Hackers A Job
Today, Nintendo isn’t so big on hackers. Whether it’s shutting down one fan game or another, their decisions are rather notorious. It wasn’t always that way though. Shockingly, if hackers looked into the code for the arcade version of Donkey Kong, they’d find a job listing.
Granted, the position wouldn’t be at Nintendo itself. It was for an electronics company they worked with back in the day called Ikegami Tsushinki. They’re still around too, though they’ve probably changed their phone number in the past 40+ years. It might be best to just send them a resumé instead.
More: Gaming Easter Eggs That Took Years to Find
