Hidden secrets in video games

Remembering the games of yesteryear.

Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Silver_Surfer1 » Wed Jun 18, '14, 8:00 pm

It's always fun to find a secret, especially in a video game you are playing. Look at this secret that was found in the old classic Super Mario Brothers video game:

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/old-game-new ... 60849.html

Totally awesome!!! However, it makes me a little sad that I missed it way back years ago when I was playing this game. Might have to give it another go sometime. :D

Can anyone remember any other hidden secrets in any other video games that you may have found while playing them or perhaps you found out some other way?
Good Friday ~ March 29, 2024


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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby myau56 » Wed Jun 18, '14, 8:29 pm

The most impressive things that I've "discovered" (but not by myself) is about. Phantasy Star ! It's the different hidden doors ! In the first one...I can't remember how many there are but during many years I haven't heard about it at all and thanks to the net.. i have discovered them ! That was so great to find this ! In one of my favourite games of all times :)
Phantasy Star Forever

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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Aeroprism » Thu Jun 19, '14, 12:33 am

SS1, that "hidden secret" is a bug. It's cute to see the guy do the infinite lives trick with it but not only does it require two players, you need to be on the second play through (otherwise those Busy Beetles would be Goombas, the trick would not work). That trick works in world 3-1, first play through, no second player needed, it's as old as the world :)
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Snorb » Thu Jun 19, '14, 1:57 am

Every so often, I get the urge to go through some games-- PC games, video game roms-- with a hex editor and see if there's anything. Usually, I get a bunch of garbled code, but sometimes I strike gold.

Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday for the Genesis is one of those instances of gold. For example, what I found:

*The game's name is misspelled in the ROM header as "BUCK RODGERS COUNTDOWN TO DOOMSD", probably because of size limitations.
*There's a lot of subroutine names in plain text (such as ADDCORPSE, ADDFIGURE, SPACECOMBAT, and so on.)
*The game's entire credits are in plain text-- Tony Van, the lead developer of the Genesis version of Shadowrun, was also the lead developer for this game.
*Some weapons are dummied out of the game-- knives, monoknives, swords, bolt guns, any kind of rifles (rocket or laser), sonic stunners, and polearms; each of these was in the PC version as well as the pen and paper game.
*There's mention in the code of "and you record . as logbook entry .", leftovers from the PC version's copy protection.
*Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday was worked on September 5, 1991.
*There's a complete list of ship names in plain text: Maelstrom Rider (your ship), Van Allen, Hubble, Copernicus, Kepler, Goddard, Adder, Viper, Anaconda, Sidewinder, Boomslang, Mojave, Sahara, Gobi, Outback, Kalihari, Flare, Corona, Hermes, Osiris, Apollo, Liberator, Eclipse, Daisy, Gambit, Dervish. I think these might be grouped by where you encounter the ships (scientists near Mars, snakes near Venus...) and someone on the programming team was a Blake's 7 fan, apparently.

The Cutting Room Floor (at tcrf.net) has a lot of stuff dummied out of games, including the Phantasy Star series! (WARNING: Some of the stuff may have salty language, so ye be warned.)
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Aeroprism » Thu Jun 19, '14, 3:42 am

Snorb, because of you, I will waste tens and tens of hours reading that website.

And it will be awesome.


Thank you !!
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Thoul » Fri Jun 20, '14, 1:16 am

I was kind of surprised to read about this new Mario glitch being found after all this time, at least until I read a description of it. That was crazy complex, so with that in mind I understand why it slipped under the radar for so long.

As for little secrets I've found, the only one I can claim as an original discoverer is a glitch in Zelda: A Link to the Past that I stumbled across way back in the day (20 years or so ago). Here's a decent video about it. I didn't make the video, but it references my work and findings pretty well.
http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episod ... isery-mire
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Wolf Bird » Fri Jun 20, '14, 2:17 am

Earthbound has a few good ones. One of my favorites (and I've used this…) is getting infinite uses out of the Rock Candy item, which is basically a random stat booster. If you put a condiment on it and give it to a member of your party other than the person holding it, only the condiment disappears from your inventory, while the Rock Candy stays.

Okay, that's a glitch, but still.

The other is a way to walk through stairs and explore the game's cohesive map. Description here.

Ok, also a glitch. But still, hidden stuff, and sometimes I feel like anymore, secrets and glitches overlap to a considerable degree.
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Flames of Yagami » Fri Jun 20, '14, 3:55 am

While not a retro game, Arkham Asylum has one of my favorite secrets:

Last edited by Flames of Yagami on Fri Jun 20, '14, 3:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby Aeroprism » Fri Jun 20, '14, 2:19 pm

@Thoul: That was awesome! You're an internet celebrity!!

I love stuff like this!

The most famous bugs I know are all well known here since they originate from Phantasy Star 2: The cake bug, for example in which you kill off all your characters but Nei by making them eat the rotten cake and then use SAK with Nei. Since the game will only acknowledge a game over flag is it's registered in combat when it's the player's turn, you can effectively play with all dead characters. Discovered that on my own when I was a kid but my pride was short lived: when the internet came, I soon learned that I wasn't the only one ;-)

Oh right, I also discovered how to move through ceilings when playing Metroid as a kid. Good times.
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Re: Hidden secrets in video games

Postby myau56 » Fri Jun 20, '14, 6:29 pm

Very nice to have an Internet celebrity here ! :clap:
Phantasy Star Forever

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