Every so often a video game maker will put secrets in games. These secrets can be a indicator of what is to come in the game, a reference to past games, as a joke, or even an indicator of a future game. These clues have now been dubbed Easter Eggs.

So what is the purpose of Easter Eggs in games. Brenda Rodenberg of KX News Gaming states the following "Easter Eggs are secrets in games that are usually hidden in games until discovered by the player. They are often put in as jokes by the makers of the game. They often are used to reference future points in a game, past games, or even future games" (Easter Eggs Rodenberg).

Indeed, in a lot of games the makers seem to love to give hints in games. Usually these hints are to point to reasons that where mentioned above. I also think their purpose is to keep the player guessing or to get them excited more about the game. In addition, it can be used to announce a sequel or new game.

Over the years I have discovered some Easter Eggs in games. I'm going to list the ones I have discovered and go into why they are there.

Kirby's Adventure World 7-6

This is a nice Easter Egg the stage is like the Game Boy stage is. The purpose of this is to reference Kirby's Dreamland which was the first Kirby Game released on Game Boy.

Kirby's Adventure World 1-3

I will be honest I did not know about this one. Until I saw a video of gamer Pinkkittyrose point it out. This one you have to unlock it. If you have done this correct you can go off screen and you will see blocks that spell out Hall. This is reference to Hall Labs a division of Nintendo which made Kirby. It was the developers way of putting themselves in the game.

Mega Man 4 Skull Man

Skull Man counts as an Easter Egg because its really letting the player know that Dr. Wily is behind the entire plot. Capcom put this in here to hint that it is Wily behind it. Also, its an indicator that you will battle Wily at the end.

Mega Man 5 Crystal Man's Stage

This Easter Egg is so easy to overlook because it can be skipped. In one part of the stage an airborne enemy will drop skull bombs on Mega Man. This is a Wily Easter Egg to let the player know they will be fighting Wily.

Mega Man 7 oh where to begin

Mega Man 7 is one of my favorite video games. The game is infamous for its secrets. It has a lot of Easter Eggs in it.

Opening Stage- You will see a robot in the story line being developed by Wily. That robot turns out to be Bass which in the game you learn Bass was created for Wily. Its not obvious until later in the game. The second time I played through the game it was like oh its an indicator of who you are going to fight later in the game. Nice Job Capcom

Spring Man's Stage- In Spring Man's stage you will see plans for a robot with two spheres orbiting around it. In Mega Man 8 that robot turns out to be Astro Man. Mega Man 7 was giving an Easter Egg about a new character by showing his construction. In an interview Mega Man co-creator Kenji Inafune confirmed this "Yes Astro Man was referenced in Mega Man 7. We had the new characters that would appear in Mega Man 8 designed in 1995/1996. We were finalizing the plot and story line" (Inafune Mega Man interview).

Shade Man's Stage- This is a neat reference. You can change Shade Man's stage to the theme of another Capcom game Ghost and Goblins. This is an unlocked Easter Egg but its a nice touch because Shade Man's stage is haunted so it was the perfect theme to pull this off.


Mega Man Legends

Museum building- You will notice there is a picture of a person in blue armor fighting a tall figurine. This is an Easter Egg of who the final boss is going to be. This was done to show players who they will be fighting late in the game. The person in Armor represents Mega Man. The tall figurine with purple hair is Juno the final boss.

Other Mega Man Games.

After an arcade Game Power Battle Dr. Wily is seen arguing with Bass. Wily reveales he is working on two secret projects. One is a template of Zero from the X series. His other project is revealed in Mega Man 10. In Mega Man 10 Wily's secret project is a computer virus. This turns out to be the proto type to Sigma Virus that would cause the Maverick Wars in the X series. Capcom did this in a way to link the classic series with the X series.

Banjo Kazooie-

All throughout the game there are ways to unlock three colored eggs in the game. The eggs do nothing in the game. However, they appear in Banjo Tooie that hold key items. Rare did this as a way to announce a sequel. They also put it in as a way to get the player interested in the sequel.

Super Mario Bros 2, 3, and Luigi's Mansion

In Super Mario Bros 2 the hidden areas where the mushrooms are play a familiar tune. They play the original Mario Bros theme. In Super Mario 3 secret areas will play the original Mario Bros theme as well. This was done as a reference to the first Mario Brothers game.

Finally in Luigi's Mansion the ghost Melody a pun on the music word spelled close to the same. Will play tunes that Luigi has to name. Some of the tunes are from classic Mario Bros games. Some are referenced include the first Mario Bros theme, and stages from Mario Bros 3. This was done as a throwback.

As we can see a lot of times Easter Eggs reference past games, make references to future events in the games, or are ways to announce a sequel. I am actually a fan of Easter Eggs because they add mystery. Such as when I played Mega Man 7 and saw a robot being constructed I knew oh in a few years we will get Mega Man 8. Again, this was a way to announce a new game. Sometimes Easter Eggs are done to connect to series. A good example is one I gave above is Wily's template for Zero, the secret project and Wily working on a virus, and then Sigma's defeat line after X2 Zero he is the last of the good doctors creations. This was done to connect the two series.

In conclusion, I think Easter Eggs are a great way for developers to make references to themselves, jokes, tie series together, and announce sequels. Easter Eggs have to be done just right as they need to be creative and create mystery. I hope developers keep putting Easter Eggs in games.

I know Nancy Drew games have done Easter eggs themselves, usually they are literal Easter eggs, but most of the time they unlock stuff however I don't normally do them as it would slow down activity if I am recording a gameplay. They do however add callbacks to previous adventures

Nintendo and Capcom are infamous for including Easter Eggs. A lot of game franchises do it. In addition, another company that is known to do it is Disney. Disney seems to do it in their moves as well.