Top 20 Things Gamers Were NEVER Meant to See
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the obscure things in video games that are tough to find.
#20: Final Rainbow Coin
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“Donkey Kong 64” (1999)
3D platformers with a ton of items to collect were everywhere on the Nintendo 64, and “Donkey Kong 64” has the most of them all - seriously, it holds the Guinness World Record. While fans were certain they’d found every collectible in the massive game for almost two decades, 18 years after its release in 2017, a new Rainbow Coin was discovered. Rainbow Coins, also called 5-Banana Coins, are found by using a shockwave attack on a dirt pile and most levels only have 1. However, speedrunner Isotarge discovered a previously unknown Coin in Fungi Forest. It took so long to “unearth” because the dirt pile is hidden underneath tall grass.
#19: “I Suck at Making Maps”
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“Doom 64” (1997)
Game development can be difficult, and mistakes are bound to happen. But sometimes, internal messages remain in the finished product. In “Doom 64,” creating a texture error on various maps will cause some textures to display a bright green surface with the words “I Suck at Making Maps” appear in red on them. This was first seen in “Main Engineering,” by jumping on the pedestal where the blue key is generated, but it can also be found on other levels, including some of the lost levels, like “Evil Sacrifice.” It’s probably just a way for developers to point out errors in textures, but it’s a fun Easter egg nonetheless.
#18: Going Inside a GameCube
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“Shrek: Extra Large” (2002)
A “Shrek” tie-in game may not seem like it would have any major secrets, but that’s where you’d be wrong! In the “Extra Large” version of this game, If the player manages to make their way out of bounds in a level, they’ll find themselves in a room designed to look like the inner workings of the Gamecube. The game will soft-lock once you’re in there though, so the only way out is to reset the console.
#17: “Metroidvania Test Stay Calm”
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“Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” (2019)
Fans have constantly been discovering new hidden secrets, glitches, and ways to skip ahead in this “Star Wars” game. Inspired by Metroidvania games with the way its map gradually opens up as you increase your abilities, the developers paid tribute to the genre that inspired them in an object hidden within the game. By going out of bounds, enterprising players were able to discover a green object with the legend “Metroidvania Test Stay Calm” written on it. Perhaps “Doom 64” was also an inspiration, given their similar green, text-based Easter eggs.
#16: The Lord of the Pies
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“Dragon Age: Inquisition” (2014)
Players of this action RPG discovered that sometimes what lies beneath can be delicious and delightful. If you manage to fall through the floor of Skyhold, you’ll find yourself in a glitched piece of flat ground where some tinkling music will play. But you’re not alone! Also there is what appears to be a large pie wearing a top hat. According to BioWare artist Graham Kelly, the so-called “Lord of the Pies” was placed there intentionally, even if he didn’t intend for players to be able to fall through the floor to find it. That’s pie on his face then.
#15: Test Level
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“Sonic Adventure 2” (2001)
Every game needs testing before it’s done, and sometimes a game’s physics are best examined in a safe environment. To that end, test levels are often located in games’ codes. In “Sonic Adventure 2” though, players found ways to access the brightly colored area for themselves. The simplest way is through using action replay devices. However, the test level can also be accessed from within the game by collecting a Chao key out of range of the camera. It can be done with any character, but some are easier to accomplish it with than others.
#14: First Easter Egg
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“Adventure” (1980)
Gaming Easter eggs have been around for a long time. And while this famous Easter egg was not technically the first, it did help popularize the concept. Developer Warren Robinett was upset at receiving no credit for making “Adventure” by Atari. So, he hid his own name within the game’s code. By following a certain series of actions, players discovered a room with “created by Warren Robinett” in flashing letters. The Easter egg has become more famous in recent years, thanks to its prominence in the book and film “Ready Player One,” where it’s a major plot point.
#13: Netherspace
“World of Warcraft” (2004)
While the name may sound like something you’re supposed to journey through in “World of Warcraft,” Netherspace is actually a hidden area made by the developers. Reached through the walls of Karazhan via a variety of methods (that have changed over time, due to the developers trying and failing to patch it), Netherspace is a shadowy area within or between Karazhan that is home to a number of Easter Eggs, such as a Nightbane that’s asleep and an undead gryphon. The developers have integrated it into the lore of the game, though, citing it as the place Karazhan connects to the Twisting Nether.
#12: Loch Ness Monster
“Watch Dogs” (2014)
Some Easter eggs are hidden in games, while others are removed from them entirely. This is one of the latter. It’s no wonder it took 6 years for fans to find it! In an unauthorized earlier build of “Watch Dogs,” a fan known as Galaxy managed to find that if you use the free camera mode in the Pawnee area of the game to go underwater, you can view a blurry version of the Loch Ness Monster as seen in this clip from oddheader. Nessie was intentionally taken out of the final game, but the legend lives on in this unofficial release.
#11: Dismemberment
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“Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy” (2003)
If there’s one thing the lightsabers in “Star Wars” are famous for, it’s literally disarming people. However, video games have shied away from this feature, partly due to hardware limitations but mostly because of censorship. “Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy” can buck this trend though, as, with a few mods, players can use lightsabers with realistic effects, including blood and dismemberment; making for a much more realistic experience in battle. The blood may not be accurate, since lightsabers cause cauterization, but fans of “Star Wars” and gore still seem to like it.
#10: “South Park” Pilot
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“Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf” (1998)
Tiger Woods and “South Park” may seem like they’d only be connected through a parody on the show, but they had an unusual link in this late 90s game. Early copies of the PlayStation version of “Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf” had the short pilot episode of “South Park” included on them as a dummy file to fill out space. The pilot could not be watched on a PlayStation, although inserting the disc into a computer allowed it to be accessed. Naturally, once parents learned of the profane cartoon’s presence in the game, there was an outcry and a recall.
#9: Colossal Demo Creatures
“Final Fantasy XV” (2016)
Game demos are rarely known for being complete and bug free experiences, the fifteenth main “Final Fantasy” game is no exception. By exploiting several glitches, players could access off-limits areas of the game, where several massive beings could be found. One of them was a huge dinosaur-like creature with a long neck. The other major hidden landmark is a huge figure similar to the Greek Titan Atlas, who is holding aloft an even larger piece of stone. While it’s clear the developers meant for both to remain hidden, they should’ve known better than to try to keep things so big a secret.
#8: Hidden Items Trove
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“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” (2011)
Hunting down items in open world games can be a pain, particularly if you’re looking for something rare or need to beat a difficult quest to attain it. But PC players of “Skyrim” have a very handy shortcut. Typing “coc qasmoke” will take the player to a room preloaded with every item and weapon in the game like something out of “The Matrix.” The room is likely used by developers when playtesting to try out different items quickly, wherever or whenever they need them. Bethesda clearly uses this for all their games, as the same code can achieve a similar result in “Fallout 4.”
#7: Chris Houlihan’s Room
“The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” (1991)
Top secret rooms are basically “The Legend of Zelda” franchise’s bread and butter. However, one room in particular is especially hard to find unless you know how to reach it. While the methods of getting to this room vary, all of them involve creating corrupt location data while falling down a hole. The room itself, dubbed Chris Houlihan’s room, after a contest winner in Nintendo Power magazine, has water on the floor, along with 45 blue rupees and a plaque mentioning Houlihan. The room is essentially a failsafe to prevent game breaking glitches. It may have been intended as “a secret to everybody,” but gamers always find a way.
#6: Mew
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“Pokémon Red and Blue” (1998) & “Pokémon Yellow” (1999)
The near-mythical 151st Pokémon, Mew is a very powerful and elusive pocket monster. Although intended to only be attained via special events, Mew’s code is in the game and it can be caught by fulfilling a very specific glitch, much like the famous glitch Pokémon, MissingNo. However, unlike that bizarre bit of living code, Mew is meant to be in the game. By teleporting or flying before and after fighting certain trainers, the player can glitch the game into allowing you to fight and catch a Mew to use legally; albeit in an unorthodox fashion. Oh, and that whole truck thing is a myth!
#5: The Dam
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“Shadow of the Colossus” (2005)
This beloved PS2 game is notable for its expansive environments and stark landscapes, but there’s actually even more of it to explore than most people know. The grid-like overworld map has several areas that are inaccessible normally, but through glitching or manipulating the data, the player can reach several areas, including a large, impressive-looking dam that would’ve been one of the biggest structures in the game. The area is speculated to have been intended as an arena to fight one of the game’s titular colossi, but ultimately scrapped during development.
#4: Hot Coffee
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“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” (2004)
Coffee has long been a euphemism for intercourse, but video games have also adopted it for gameplay involving it. “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” includes in its code the ability to play a minigame nicknamed Hot Coffee, featuring poorly rendered acts between the protagonist and their chosen love interest. However, to access it, modding or cheats are necessary. Nevertheless, the discovery of the “hot coffee mod” led to a great deal of controversy among parents, politicians, and other people overly concerned with video game content. Considering the mod led to lawsuits and recalls, the developers probably never intended for it to be seen.
#3: Eddie Eats Luther
“Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds” (1994)
A children’s point-and-click adventure game series from the 1990s, the “Freddi Fish” games are about as kid-friendly as you can get for the most part, but this particular installment contains a surprisingly dark secret. In one scene, Freddi and his friend Luther question Eddie, an eel, who threatens to eat them. By changing the game’s configuration files, the player can access an alternate scene, where Freddi fantasizes about feeding Luther to Eddie, who devours the little fish. Most kids probably wouldn’t have had the technical skills to find it, thus explaining its inclusion.
#2: All Bonds
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“GoldenEye 007” (1997)
Arguably one of the most influential movie tie-in games and multiplayer shooters of the 1990s, “GoldenEye 007” features a variety of playable characters in its multiplayer, but only consisting of those from the film it’s based on… or, maybe not. It was long rumored that a cheat called “All Bonds” would allow players to play as every Bond actor and promotional images supported this myth. However, it wasn’t until modding came around that it was discovered that the skins to play as every Bond until that point were part of the game… except George Lazenby. Huh. Developers probably couldn’t secure the rights, which is why they were omitted from the final version.
#1: Minus World
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“Super Mario Bros.” (1985)
The original “Super Mario” game has plenty of secrets that players turned into gaming folklore. And while the Warp Zone was tempting to talk about, far more unintentional is the Minus World. [xref] By glitching through the wall in World 1-2, the player reaches the aforementioned Warp Zone. By going through the pipe on the right or the left, you’ll reach a level that appears onscreen as World -1, also known as the Minus World. It’s actually World 7-2, but because of the nature of the glitch, the level loops, which makes it inescapable except through a reset or a game over. There are technically more “minus worlds” but this is the most well-known. It’s one of the most famous gaming glitches of all time.
What gaming secrets have you discovered? Let us know in the comments!
