10 Times Creators Sneakily Inserted Themselves Into Video Games

Chrono Trigger was a game-changer for the RPG genre because of the number of innovative mechanics it introduced at the time. It was also one of the earliest games that contained a developer cameo that broke the fourth wall.

The cameo was one of the many secret endings in the game. Called the "Programmer Ending," it allowed the player to meet with the developers of the game and become an honorary member of their "Dream Team."

To reach this ending, the player had to do the impossible. Either have defeated the final boss of the game, Lavos, in the Ocean Palace fight, which you were expected to lose, or challenge him at the very beginning of the story.

In either case, the game would recognize that you did something you weren't supposed to and reward you with access to the developers' room. Comprised of RPG royalty, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akira Toriyama, Nobuo Uematsu, Yūji Horii and Kazuhiko Aoki make self-aware jokes, ask you questions about your life, and, in general, have a great time messing with the fourth wall.

Overall this sequence encapsulated a point in RPG history, and was really well made. It's one of the most sought after Chrono Trigger endings and one of the most creative developer cameos in all of gaming.