At Evo 2009, Capcom community-mans Seth Killian gets cornered about the final undiscovered secret in Mega Man 9 but vows it does indeed exist, and that it is still out there.

“People have found a ton of amazing stuff in the game that I didn’t think would have been dug up for a long time,” Killian says. But the “final secret” isn’t among that. His questioners try to coax more details out of him, but Seth doesn’t budge.

Last October, someone on the Capcom-Unity boards speculated that the last secret was a weapon, specifically a throwing weapon. S-Kill put the splat on that.

What the hell could it be? After nearly a year, we probably stand a better chance of, collectively, blindly guessing what it is rather than actually finding it. I say it’s a Ghosts N Goblins Easter egg.

EVO 2009 – Seth Killian [YouTube via GoNintendo]

Donkey Kong for the Atari 400 and 800 was one of the best early ports of an arcade game, and its writer, Landon Dyer, detailed how he built it practically by himself, with no support, reference code, or anything one would expect in a licensing deal. He also revealed the existence of the Easter egg, but incorrectly described how to get it (”something like: Die on the ’sandpile’ level with 3 lives and the score over 7,000,” he writes.)

Don Hodges, who earlier fixed Pac-Man’s notorious kill screen, set to picking apart the Donkey Kong code and finding the egg. He did. It’s rather underwhelming, but for posterity’s sake, he found the conditions for achieving it.

• Play a game, setting a new high score that is either 37,000, 73,000 or 77,000. The digits for hundred thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones may be anything. • Kill off all of your remaining lives, but your last death must be by falling.

• Then set the game difficulty to 4 (press the option button 3 times.)

• Wait for the game to cycle through the demo screen where Kong jumps across the screen, then at the title screen, the programmer’s initials, LMD, will appear. (Pictured above)

That is a set of conditions so specific I can’t imagine anyone discovering the egg without prying apart the code, much less knowing how to repeat it. Hodges shows how he found it in the code, using an emulator.

I think the only question remaining is why Dyer made the egg so hard to discover. Certainly other Atari-programmed games of the time had Easter eggs that were not only easier to find, their methods were widely known and circulated.

Donkey Kong Lays an Easter Egg [donhodges.com via Game Set Watch]

As a couple of unicorn-loving tipsters with a thirst for sporting news have informed us, inputting the infamous Konami cheat code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, enter) will infest the official ESPN web site with mystical ponies. And they’ll keep spawning if you keep clicking.

Not only do you get an eyeful of unicorn and rainbow, you’ll also get a heaping help of Comic Sans. And every story will become “cute,” “magical” or “sparkly.” Thanks to Ken and CronoX2 for the mystical tip!

It’s become something of a tradition ’round the Tower to observe Easter with, what else, lists of Easter eggs. So here is my dirty half-dozen, from well before the 8-bit days.

If you’ve ever spent any substantial time on a playground, you’re likely to have heard some tall tales, particularly if the topic is video games. Logically, someone’s created a Wiki full of those lies.

The Video Game Lies Wiki is archiving some of the most creative bullshit ever piled upon the video game medium, touching on all things fabricated about Super Mario Bros., Tomb Raider and Street Fighter. It’s a treasure trove of urban legends and impossible-to-prove Easter Eggs—think nude codes, unattainable unlockables, and general nonsense.

One of my faves?

This streak of BS, attributed to Mortal Kombat 3: “There is a special move that allows the character to impregnate one of the female characters. This is said to cause the character to explode after a span of time and make babies appear to come out of the character’s belly.”

Ahh… the wonders of imagination and one-up-manship!

While hardly exhaustive, we’re hoping that others will join in on the fun and expand upon the archived fabrications and falsehoods passed on from annoying acquaintances.

Video Game Lies [Wikia via GameSetWatch]

But there are only nine Team Fortress 2 classes: Pyro, Engineer, Sniper, Spy, Heavy, Demoman, Medic, Scout, and Soldier. Hmmm… Valve’s Robin Walker has hinted at such additions in the past. Maybe they’re coming sooner than we think.

And, by the way, Valve. Put me down for some of those action figures.

To see it yourself, “prototype ammo berserk” needs to be activated. Then check out the Spec Op’s ammo crate. Oh, you might also have to buy Resistance 2. And a PS3.

Resistance 2 Easter Egg Gives Props to MGS4 [PS3 Fanboy]

However, the extreme peculiarity of these discoveries has not diminished my interest in exploring games’ resource files in the least. Seeing the graphics, sounds, and codes neatly grouped in separate sections and finding out how they intermingle to bring the game to life may not be quite as entertaining as playing the game itself, but for those few who have the patience and a lot of free time, it is an interesting experience.

There is always the possibility of discovering an unused background, animation or sound file, or even just an interesting little comment made by a programmer in a script. As small and uncommon as these discoveries that I have made may be, they add a new dimension to the experience of enjoying these adventure games. In a way, they can be compared to the deleted scenes or audio commentary on a DVD release of a movie, and they give the interested gamer some true insights into the games’ design. Since I have only looked at a small portion of the files in just a few adventure games, who knows how many other hidden treasures have yet to be uncovered?

It’s a neat, nostalgic (if sort of odd) look at some of those classic adventure games.

Resource Quest: hidden treasures in Sierra’s adventure games [Adventure Classic Gaming via GameSetWatch]

Reader Bahamut sends the above Easter Egg, which is Spore creator Will Wright’s head floating over the galaxy in the main menu screen. How’d he do it? By tinkering around. “Before I quit out of the entire game I try just randomly clicking around the main menu ..”. Bahamut explains. Methinks he would have been among the first fishies crawling out of the ocean to breathe gas and not water. (”Before spawning and dying, I decided to randomly swim up this rock to see how far it was to the water’s surface ..”.)

Bahamut shows how he did it after the jump. Since this precedes the official demo release, can we call this a zero-day Easter Egg?

Okay, so I was screwing around with the (leaked) Spore Creature Creator demo late this evening, and right before I quit out of the entire game I try just randomly clicking around the main menu (the galaxy). If you click the centre of the galaxy, the menu buttons for “Load Creature”, etc. disappear, which allows you to view the galaxy unhindered. While in this view, if you hold down the left mouse button move left or right you can give the galaxy a “spin”. If you spin the galaxy fast enough, this pops up in the centre of your screen.

Alright everybody, go give it a try!

Adventure – Atari 2600
In the beginning…
In the early days of Atari, programmers weren’t given credit for the games they designed for fear of other companies trying to steal them away, but Adventure designer Warren Robinett felt that credit was due. He included a hidden object in the game that lead to a secret room that displayed the words, “”Created by Warren Robinett,” which was the first known video game Easter egg. Not exactly the most exciting example, but the first deserves credit.

Final Fantasy VII – PlayStation
The Debug Room
While completing Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation was a joy, once the credits rolled I felt a certain sadness, knowing that the game was at an end. Then I discovered the debug room, a place generally open only to programmers to allow them to test certain areas of the game. While it required a Game Shark to access, what was found within the room was worth the shame of being seen in public purchasing a cheat device. You could access key scenes in the game, play through the mini-games, add the invincible Sephiroth to your party or even resurrect the poor little dead flower girl Aeris.

SiN – PC
Rub-A-Dub-Dub
Activision and Ritual Entertainment’s PC shooter SiN was chock full of Easter eggs, but none quite as intriguing as a surveillance camera that showed a slightly more human side of chilly SiNtek CEO Elexis Sinclaire. Before you click play be warned – definitely not safe for work!

Diablo II – PC
The Secret Cow Level
“There is no cow level.” Perhaps this was true in the first Diablo and in Starcraft, where the phrase was featured as a code, but persistent rumours and speculation led Blizzard to finally included a secret cow level in Diablo II.

The Secret Cow Level can be very easy or very hard depending on your class, and what skills you use. The first thing you will notice is there are a LOT of cows. Exploring is not a wise idea, as you will quickly have an unbelievable number of Cows on your trail. Try to avoid being surrounded by the Cows at all costs.

Incidentally, “avoid being surrounded by the Cows at all costs” is sound advice in any situation.

World of Warcraft – PC
Chicken Dancing In Westfall
Yeah yeah, two Blizzard games make the list. What can I say? The people know their eggs. Case in point, the Alliance-specific (boo!) quest in Westfall, which involved you spamming /chicken with an actual chicken targeted. Eventually the chicken will look at you, and clicking upon it gives you a quest for some special feed, which Farmer Saldean just happens to have for sale. Feed the chicken, /cheer it, and it’ll lay an egg containing your own pet chicken. It’s an actual egg Easter egg!

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes – GC
Panties, Panties, Panties
Metal Gear Solid and its remake on the Gamecube was chock full of Easter eggs, from posters for other games to funny character reactions, to Meryl in her underwear not once, but twice! After seeing Meryl working out in her cell while in the ventilation shafts you can exit the shafts, return, and she’ll be pantsless! If voyeurism isn’t your thing, if you follow Meryl into the restroom later in the game fast enough, you’ll get the entire Snake flirting cutscene with her in her skivvies, as seen below.

Of course for every half dozen great Easter eggs, there’s always a few rotten ones laying around. The worst?

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas – Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Oh My God There’s An Axe In My Game
Ridiculous product placement is one thing, but tie in a little in-game blooper reel to a conspicuously placed container of Axe deodorant and you’ve got by far the most rotten Easter egg around. It’s an adver-egg!

There’s a lovely set of six and one bad egg to get you folks in the Easter spirit. Now it’s your turn to share your favourite gaming Easter eggs. Is it the Mortal Kombat Reptile fight? Good old Hot Coffee? Is it a secret to everyone? Feel free to post your picks in the comments section. Happy Easter everyone!