8 Video Game Easter Eggs That Smashed The Fourth Wall

6. Joker Crashing Batman: Arkham Asylum

Bats is wandering down a dark, industrial corridor deep within the bowels of Arkham Asylum, when the screen suddenly goes garbled and the game crashes; cue nightmarish flashbacks to 1990 when your NES games would crash three hours into a session with no hope of reloading. Alternatively, you think that maybe your Xbox 360 has fallen victim to the red ring of death, or your PS3 its yellow light equivalent. Is this it for your console? Is everything screwed forever? The game restarts, with the familiar intro of the Batmobile speeding through the woods. Initially, you think your solitary save-game might be gone forever, but then notice a sign by the road pointing to 'Madhouse'. Then we cut to Joker behind the wheel of the Batmobile, and suddenly it all becomes clear. Batman's been intoxicated by Fear Gas and this is just his hallucination. The game is playing a big heart-stopping joke on us! What's brilliant about this harrowing little aside is that the level of fear you feel at that moment pretty much matches that felt by poor, fear-gassed Bats - as he gets tied up, carted through the asylum and shot in the face by the Joker before waking up. It's like you yourself are on the receiving end of Joker's cruel humour, and it's... well, ingenious!