Easter isn’t just about candy—gamers know it’s about secrets. Hidden rooms, surprise cameos, developer jokes, and things you were never supposed to find. Some are funny. Others are just plain creepy. And a few nearly broke the entire industry.
We’ve dug through decades of game history to bring you ten of the best Easter eggs ever—ranked. From Atari to Elden Ring, these are the secrets that stuck with us, changed games, or just made us yell “Did that really just happen?”
Let’s start with a demon boss… and the developer hiding behind it.
10. Doom II – John Romero’s Head on a Stick
At first, it looks like a typical Doom boss fight: a massive demonic face spitting fireballs at you. But the real target is hidden behind it. If you activate no-clip mode and walk through the wall, you’ll find the actual final boss—a floating head of Doom co-creator John Romero, impaled on a spike.
To finish Doom II, you’re unknowingly blasting Romero in the face through a wall. The game even plays a distorted recording of his voice saying, “To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero.” It’s bizarre, brutal, and peak ‘90s developer humor—equal parts iconic and disturbing.
9. Metroid – Samus Is a Woman
Back in the NES era, gamers assumed Samus Aran was just another armoured space marine. That changed the moment you beat Metroid quickly enough and watched Samus remove her helmet—revealing she was a woman the entire time. If you finished the game even faster, she’d appear in a tank top or a bikini, depending on your clear time.
This reveal blew minds in the 1980s and turned Samus into one of gaming’s first female protagonists. It wasn’t just a twist—it was a message. Sometimes the biggest secrets aren’t hidden behind walls, but right in front of you.
8. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Hidden Arkham City Room
Most Easter eggs are discovered within days. This one, in Batman: Arkham Asylum, took six months, and only after Rocksteady told the press it existed. Deep in the Warden’s office, there’s an unmarked wall you can blow up. Behind it? Blueprints for Arkham City, the sequel that wouldn’t be announced for another year.
No clues. No prompts. Just a huge tease buried so well that no one found it naturally. It’s a rare case where a studio hid something too well—and we love them for it. This one set a new standard for subtle sequel setups in modern games.
7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – Chris Houlihan Room
This hidden room feels more like gaming folklore than a feature. It was created as part of a Nintendo Power contest, and the winner—Chris Houlihan—got his name placed in the game. If you enter the game under specific glitchy conditions or move fast enough through a secret warp tile, you’ll end up in a blue-tiled room with rupees and a message: “My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, okay?”
For years, gamers debated whether it was real or a hoax. Today, it’s one of the weirdest fan tributes in gaming history.
6. Elden Ring – Patches Returns Yet Again
You find a treasure chest. You open it. Boom—you’re trapped in a cave. Minutes later, you meet the guy who did it: Patches. For Elden Ring veterans, it’s not a surprise—it’s tradition. Patches has shown up in nearly every FromSoftware game since Demon’s Souls, always tricking you, always pretending to be sorry afterward.
In Elden Ring, he’s back with his usual tricks—faking surrender, kicking you off cliffs, and offering fake deals. New fans were caught off guard. Old fans just laughed. It’s the longest-running Easter egg in modern gaming, and FromSoftware still isn’t done messing with us.
5. Mortal Kombat II – “Toasty!” and Secret Ninjas
Land a clean uppercut and suddenly a tiny face yells “Toasty!” in the corner. It’s sound designer Dan Forden, and it became one of the most iconic Easter eggs in arcade gaming. It’s funny on its own—but MKII didn’t stop there.
If you’re fighting in the Portal stage and press Down + Start when Toasty appears, you’ll trigger a secret fight with Smoke. To reach Jade, you must win the round before the mystery match using only low kicks—no punches or blocking allowed. Win 50 matches in a row in two-player mode, and you’ll face Noob Saibot. MKII turned secrets into a game of their own. MKII turned secrets into an obsession—and fans chased them for years.
4. Metal Gear Solid 3 – The End Dies of Old Age
Most boss fights test your reflexes. This one tests your patience. In Metal Gear Solid 3, you face The End—a master sniper who turns the battlefield into a slow, tactical hunt. But if you save during the fight and wait a full week before loading your save, The End will die of old age. Literally.
Alternatively, you can just set your console’s clock ahead a week to get the same result. It’s absurd, brilliant, and perfectly Kojima. It’s one of the few Easter eggs that turns the real world into a game mechanic—and it still holds up today.
3. Portal – “The Cake Is a Lie”
At first, Portal feels like a sterile puzzle game. Then you find a hole in the wall, crawl inside, and see it: graffiti, food cans, handprints, and scrawled warnings. The most famous? “The cake is a lie.” It doesn’t do anything mechanically—but it tells you something’s very wrong.
The phrase exploded into gaming culture. It showed up on shirts, memes, and even in non-gaming circles. It’s a perfect example of how subtle storytelling and humor can become iconic. Valve didn’t just leave a joke—they created one of the most famous Easter eggs of all time.
2. Adventure – The First Easter Egg
There wouldn’t be a list without this one. Adventure for the Atari 2600 is home to what’s widely considered the first video game Easter egg. Hidden in the game’s maze is a single invisible object—a “gray dot.” If you carry it to a specific room, a secret screen appears with the developer’s name: “Created by Warren Robinett.”
At the time, Atari didn’t credit developers, so Robinett snuck in his name as a quiet rebellion. Players found it by accident. Developers never looked back. Every hidden joke, reference, and secret door in gaming owes a little something to Adventure.
1. GTA: San Andreas – Hot Coffee Mod
Most Easter eggs are harmless. This one caused an industry meltdown. GTA: San Andreas originally had a disabled mini-game where CJ could take part in a fully interactive sex scene—complete with animations and sound. Rockstar left the code in the game files. Modders found it. And the infamous Hot Coffee mod was born.
Once it hit the internet, lawsuits followed. The ESRB re-rated the game as Adults Only. Stores pulled copies from shelves. Rockstar had to reissue the game to remove the content.
No other Easter egg caused this much chaos. Hot Coffee wasn’t just hidden—it boiled over.
Easter Egg Hunt Complete
From hidden dev credits to full-blown scandals, Easter eggs have always been part of gaming’s weird, wonderful DNA. They’re not just secrets—they’re personality, jokes, inside references, or just ways for developers to mess with us. Whether it’s a mysterious UFO in GTA V or a graffiti joke in Portal, the thrill of finding something unexpected never gets old.
We picked 10 that stood the test of time, changed how we play, or just made us laugh. Did we miss your favorite?
Drop your favourite Easter egg in the comments—bonus points if we’ve never heard of it.
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