Innovation of the Week: Easter Eggs/Secrets (Spoilers)

For this week, I'd like to dive into a topic that captivates many players: Easter Eggs and Secrets. An easter egg is a hidden feature in a game or piece of software added as a bonus or joke (I'm excluding cheat codes here unless they're hidden and adding some frivolous feature like big head mode). These hidden gems in games have been around for decades. In fact the first one seems to be from Moonlander, a DEC GT40 graphics terminal game from 1973 which is also an early momentum-based flight game with thrust mechanics.

Flying far enough to the right will lead you to a McDonald's restaurant, and landing near it makes your astronaut avatar walk into it and order a "TWO CHEESEBURGERS AND A BIG MAC TO GO". You can also land on the McDonald's and destroy it, causing the game to call you a clod.

Some Other Notable Easter Eggs and Secrets:

Mortal Kombat (1992) - In the original game, players could unlock Reptile, a hidden opponent which acted like a combination of Sub-Zero and Scorpion, by meeting certain in-game conditions. In later games, Reptile became a full-fledged character with his own moves and personality.

Adventure (1980) - The easter egg here is creator Warren Robinett's secret room. A concealed gray dot, when found and carried to a room with one of the forcefields (along with two more other objects), opened a path through the forcefield to a hidden room to the right of it, where the game revealed the message: "Created by Warren Robinett."

The Legend of Zelda (1986) - In the original game, naming your character "Zelda" will result in the game becoming redesigned as a sort of second playthrough, called the second quest, without having beaten the the game first. This alternate game mode features different, harder dungeons which are placed at new locations. Heart containers and some shops in the overworld are also repositioned.

Maniac Mansion (1987) - In this classic point & click adventure game, players could find a microwave that allowed them to microwave various items, resulting in descriptions and animations. One of the "items" was actually a hamster, which would explode if placed in the microwave.

Doom (1993) - In the first Doom game, level E4M1: Hell Beneath includes the letters "NIИ" in a part of the level. This is a reference to the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails.

Toejam & Earl (1991) - Most people probably know about Present Island/level 0 so here's another one: After reaching the end of the game and returning to the planet Funkotron, you can head to the water and swim all the way to the Southeast of the level. Here you'll find a secret little group of islands with the green mermaid Trixie hanging out.

What are some of your favorite easter eggs or secrets in retro games, and do you have any interesting stories related to their discovery? Share your experiences below!