Fun details and easter eggs in video games

AtheriShadow

I was playing through Half-Life 2 again this week and during a scene in one of the labs, I was poking around at the stuff on one of the counters and found something I had never noticed before: a miniature, fully functional version of the teleporters used by the characters that you could play with using books and other small things. I thought it was a cool little extra bit of detail in an already highly-detailed game. It got me wondering: has anyone else here come across little things like this or other easter egg-type features in a game that you found interesting or fun?

Apreche

I was playing through Half-Life 2 again this week and during a scene in one of the labs, I was poking around at the stuff on one of the counters and found something I had never noticed before: a miniature, fully functional version of the teleporters used by the characters that you could play with using books and other small things. I thought it was a cool little extra bit of detail in an already highly-detailed game. It got me wondering: has anyone else here come across little things like this or other easter egg-type features in a game that you found interesting or fun?

You really never came across that before? I noticed that on the first play through. It's really obvious. It's there so that you can occupy yourself during the waiting period while the doctor, Barney, and Alyx are bullshitting. It definitely does not qualify as easter egg material.

If you're talking about easter eggs, you've got to talk about shit like secret developer rooms (SNES Shadowrun, right?) or at least Romero's face in Doom 2.

AtheriShadow

You really never came across that before? I noticed that on the first play through. It's really obvious. It's there so that you can occupy yourself during the waiting period while the doctor, Barney, and Alyx are bullshitting. It definitely does not qualify as easter egg material.

If you're talking about easter eggs, you've got to talk about shit like secret developer rooms (SNES Shadowrun, right?) or at least Romero's face in Doom 2.

Well, I didn't consider it an easter egg, I just wanted to use that term to broaden the topic.

I must've occupied myself with other stuff during that scene before - or zoned out, just as likely. It comes kinda late in the game and the best things you have to occupy your attention in such scenes until then are the less interactive model of the HL1 experiment and the physics engine in general, so I was a little more impressed by the thing when I finally noticed.

Developer rooms and Romero's head are also along the lines of what I was going for, but I'm fascinated by little touches that are out in the open too.

Omnutia

I also discovered that on my most recent play-through of HL2, I then proceeded to put an object at both ends and broke it.

Rym

I then proceeded to put an object at both ends and broke it.

That gave me a great idea for a game.

Nine Boomer

What I find most interesting are glitches which are strange, mysterious, and perhaps dangerous. Missingno from the early pokemon games is a good example. Missingno was a pokemon that doesn't exist, had a really weird icon when you fought it as well as a weird name,and it could be above the level limit. Then there is the L shaped pokemon, which was rumored to destroy your saved game permanently, added much more to the mystique of the glitch. I also find it interesting when you get "outside" the game world of old games and find a strange, corrupt, and scary place. There was one that existed also in the pokemon game, and also the zero level Mario levels as I think they are called.

Diddgery

The City Trial mode of Kirby Air Ride had a lot of strange little things hidden around. I particularly remember a scale model of the city hidden in an underground cave accessible from Whispy Woods- it doesn't serve any purpose, it's just kind of there.

Axel

The City Trial mode of Kirby Air Ride had a lot of strange little things hidden around. I particularly remember a scale model of the city hidden in an underground cave accessible from Whispy Woods- it doesn't serve any purpose, it's just kind of there.

That's a fun little game. Unfortunately, it was actually an N64 game from long ago that was delayed, and was neglected, so it never got the love it deserved. So sad.

Relevant to topic: All the hidden Nintendo stuff back in Ocarina of Time. The Mario character portraits that you can see through the window of the castle in Zelda's courtyard, the Bowser pendants on Malon and Talon, and lots of other fun easter eggs.