10 Iconic Video Game Features That Were Invented By Accident

10. Easter Eggs

Starting this list off is the phenomenon of “Easter eggs” in gaming: secret features found hidden in the games themselves. The very first one created, however, was not exactly intended to be there.

The Atari 2600's Adventure was relatively popular at the time of its release, but its creator was never given an ounce of credit. That’s right, the entire game was created by one Atari employee, but he never saw recognition for his work! Rough. He wasn’t willing to be forgotten in a hurry, though. Remember the name: Warren Robinett.

Irritated at the lack of credit he would see for his efforts on Adventure, Robinett decided to exact his revenge in an ever-so-subtle way. In 1980, video games often suffered from a glitch known as “sprite flickering” — when too many sprites were loaded onto one screen, they often flashed and flickered in eye-searing ways. Robinett cleverly used this glitch to his advantage.

Hiding one singular-pixel item on one of the level’s floor tiles, Robinett made this item capable of activating a secret room. The room was empty, and served no purpose to the gameplay, but it held a message. Written on the floor of the room were four iconic words:

“CREATED BY WARREN ROBINETT”

Petty or genius? Whatever your opinion on Robinett’s act of defiance — which went unnoticed by Atari until the game was released out into the hands of its players — it went on to accidentally create one of the most famous features of video gaming today: the Easter egg.