Secret levels and other goodies- what are your favorites?

[Masu]

I got thinking today that secret levels and other hidden extras that used to be in almost every game are not as common these days. Yeah we get the odd one but thats seems to be about it.

The reasons are pretty obvious- "wasting" time on, say, a whole level that most players wont know about can be viewed (bean counters ahoy!) as poor use of the teams time, and managers hate that. Huge development costs are taking their toll in lots of ways.

What are your favorites?

I remember a few, for example in the original Perfect Dark, if you left an engineer alive on Area 51: Infiltration, he allowed you to open a door on the next level and access a hidden area (with some weapons to collect, I seem to remember).

Smaller "extras" can be good too - in Banjo-Tooie, for instance, if you waited outside a toilet door for a while (forgot the level or possibly blanked it from my memory ), you got sound effects playing of someone having a crap, along with the line "Oh no! splashback!"

Little touches CAN make a good game great, and I do miss this kind of thing as it really adds to the replay value (if done well enough and, of course, the game is good to start with!).

So come on peeps- what classic secret bits do you remember? And in newer titles, too!

[Harsin]

The Monkey Island tree stump is still my favourite.

One infamous joke, which many players assumed was a technical error, involved a stump in a forest. When examining the stump, Guybrush proclaims that a hole in it leads to a maze of caverns. If Guybrush tries to climb down into the stump, the game prompts the player to successively insert "disk #23," "disk #47" and "disk #98", though the game was distributed on four or eight floppy disks.

The endgame credits also have an entry for "art and animation for disk #23." Many people did not get the joke, and LucasArts tech support received quite a large number of calls for help with the missing disk. The joke was removed from the CD version of the game. It was, however, mentioned in MI2: Guybrush can call the LucasArts hint line from a phone and ask, "Who thought up that dumb stump joke?", and the annoyed operator answers, "I'm tired of hearing about that damn stump. Do you have any idea how many calls I get a DAY about that?" In CMI, Guybrush briefly sticks his head into an opening, which leads to the very same tree stump rendered in EGA-style graphics. He is then quickly forced to escape back through the hole as he spots a horde of "stunningly rendered rabid jaguars".

The stump joke is also revisited in Tim Schafer's Psychonauts, in which examining a hollow stump causes a similar reply, only this time it really does lead to a system of catacombs. In the Game Grim Fandango Manny Calavera will repeat the line of "Wow! It's a tunnel that opens onto a system of catacombs!", which is what Guybrush says when he examines the log.

[Puck]

That little secret room at the end of Quake II with the big seated Strogg flanked by two reclining female Strogg in a Conan The King style. The walls were bedecked with the mugs of all the developers like trophies as I recall, (been a while). Didn't add anything to the game, but I remember thinking at the time it was just a cool thing to include for no reason.

[allday247]

Chrono trigger's ultimate ending where you beat the game during the beginning funfair section to open up the developer hideout

[Mr Do 71]

Goldeneye's two extra levels, were a great present for finishing the game twice.

[revlob]

ID Software games are full of secrets, although there are less and less these days. I found the secret room in Doom 3, but it's hardly Dopefish.

[therev]

ID Software games are full of secrets, although there are less and less these days. I found the secret room in Doom 3, but it's hardly Dopefish.

I've just finished playing through Quake 2, which was full of secrets. I wasn't even looking too hard and I still managed to find two secret levels as well as lots of secrets in the main levels.

[Not Thread Owner]

My favourites are "Level 0" on ToeJam and Earl, and the secret level on Puggsy for the MegaCD. In the latter, there were a load of letters you could carry and stack, and walking into the exit with assorted combinations of them gave various cheats - like "SHOES" and "CHEAT" and "LIVES".

Also, the Lemmings bit on Leander/Galahad. That was ace.

[angel]

I really liked the secret information-imparting vortigaunt in Half-Life 2.

[mushashi]

The hidden Duck Racing side quest from Shenmue II was probably my most favourite recent secret bit. Your unlikely to get to it without being told it exists

The game has lots of other little hidden extras too

[Rayn]

Finding the computer in Day of the Tentacle allowing you to play the full version of Maniac Mansion was a great touch.

[Rayn]

Oh, Duke Nukem 3D had loads of great little easter eggs, one of my favourites is when you find a secret room where there's a slaughtered player character from Doom and Duke goes "That's one doomed space marine".

[b00dles]

Oh, Duke Nukem 3D had loads of great little easter eggs, one of my favourites is when you find a secret room where there's a slaughtered player character from Doom and Duke goes "That's one doomed space marine".

And the infamous 'I ain't afraid of no Quake' bit where you go past the earthquake zone....

How wrong they were.

[Rayn]

How wrong they were.

Depends on who you are...

Duke Nuke 3D was a far more enjoyable singleplayer experience than Quake imo...I had way more fun with Duke and there was much more variety in it. When it comes to multiplayer though...Duke was kinda without a voice.

[Mr Peckerston]

[meatbin]

Super Mario World, "YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!", end of that super special zone, spelt out in coins

Nothing else comes close.

I spent the next 24 hours walking around going, "That's damn straight actually, I AM a super player! Come ON!!"

Haha so true

I loved the 'Club' level in Doom(2?) - a full on nightclub with dancing skeltons instead of girls!

[Liquid Myth]

On Sonic 2, on the Metropolis Zone, pause the game at the right time, and the 'needle' on the music will scratch off the song.

Noise

[layten]

Super Mario World, "YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!", end of that super special zone, spelt out in coins

Nothing else comes close.

I spent the next 24 hours walking around going, "That's damn straight actually, I AM a super player! Come ON!!"

o/\o

[mechamonkey]

The cow level.

[b00dles]

Although it's a bit of a weird secret, the 'falling behind the background' in Super Mario 3 was the most amazing thing I'd seen in ages, it was like breaking the game somehow and joyous.

[cantonarv]

The cow level.

^_^

[Alex W.]

Although it's a bit of a weird secret, the 'falling behind the background' in Super Mario 3 was the most amazing thing I'd seen in ages, it was like breaking the game somehow and joyous.

I remember seeing that on Gamesmaster. I was like

[b00dles]

I remember seeing that on Gamesmaster. I was like

I was shown it by my crazy Japanese school chum using a proper Famicom (which was amazing enough anyway) but when he did that bit, I didn't know what to do with myself.

[Dandy_Sephy]

The 3d Green Hill Zone hidden level on Sonic Adventure 2 looks aces.

[Shindig]

Silent Hill 2. Dog ending.

Also, vortagaunt in Half-Life 2? Tell me more.

[Alex W.]

There's one hidden in a pipe after a boss battle who will rattle off all of the little Vortigaunt comments, some of which are very revealing. Otherwise you have to interrogate every Vortigaunt you find.

[Davros sock drawer]

I was just about to mention Duke Nukem. I used to love the way they extended the Doom secrets idea, by enabling you to blow up walls to access hidden areas. Some of them led to really quite long and tortuous tunnels, with further secrets leading off, so you really felt like you were exploring somewhere in quite an involved manner.

Isn't that a BFG in that shot, behind the Space Marine?

[Shindig]

Found it!

[MalevolentPanda]

The 3d Green Hill Zone hidden level on Sonic Adventure 2 looks aces.

Yeah, but how many people had the patience to play all of that game's shitty levels enough to unlock it? About 2, I imagine.

[NoVisAnima]

Yeah, but how many people had the patience to play all of that game's shitty levels enough to unlock it? About 2, I imagine.

I did. In my defence i really didn't have anything better to do.