8 Video Game Easter Eggs That Will Make You Sweat
The most punishing rewards in gaming history.
Everybody loves Easter Eggs right? Both the delicious, chocolaty seasonal treat, and the kind that pop up in videogames to make you smile as they throw a cheeky bonus your way. For the most part, they’re good fun, a heart-warming reference to a fellow videogame, or a bonus room full of coins/rings/bananas.
Whether you come across Link asleep at an Inn, or Mario refereeing a boxing match, Easter Eggs are meant to be our friends, reassuring us that all of these little videogame worlds and characters are connected in some way- a comforting thought in a world dictated by chaos and random chance (not that comforting though).
Unfortunately, sometimes developers have the nerve to make gamers work harder than they should for a mere egg or secret. From the time to time, the people behind the games we love simply ask too much of us. Yet we oblige, happy to do their bidding and master the game just to lay eyes on a kooky visual gag that occasionally lasts seconds.
Why do we do it? Well... because it’s actually kind of fun. And even when the game makes you work like a dog, that's the kind of reward experience that keeps you coming back to games.
8. Metroid's Secret Scene - Metroid Fusion
As any Metroid fan worth their salt will know, shinesparking is a special “secret” technique in the 2D Metroid titles that involves activating Samus Aran’s speed boost ability, and then utilising a series of perfectly timed button presses and jumps to reach secret areas. Frankly, it’s a pain to do.
Hidden deep within Metroid Fusion for the Gameboy Advance is a bonus cutscene that reveals a little more about the shady antagonists of the story. To get to the room that activates this sequence, the player must take Samus through what can only be described as a gauntlet of perfectly performed shinesparking.
It’s enough to make all but the most seasoned of Metroid players want to boil their Gameboy and eat it.
Perversely, making it to the secret cutscene offers no reward beyond the viewing of the cutscene... Presumably you’re meant to feel some sense of pride or something.