8 Retro Gaming Easter Eggs and Secrets! - Erin Plays

Today I'm taking a look at eight awesome easter eggs and secrets found in retro video games. These games include Sword of Sodan, Streets of Rage 4, Star Fox, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Casltevania III Dracula's Curse, Aladdin, McDonald's Treasureland Adventure and Cruis'n USA. Enjoy!!
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#ErinPlays #RetroGames #SegaGenesis

[@Nintendofan-yk4cd]

Hmmm, I played Cruis'n USA for many many years and I never even noticed the woman flipping the birdie before. Never knew about the slot machine boss battle in StarFox either. You always learn something new every day on Erin Plays!

[@totemlordreviews7242]

I think if I had found the McDonalds one as a kid I would've freaked out. That music is creepy lol

[@daytimesky]

The Star Fox one is a classic for just how much detail went into a hidden secret. That 3D bird model, that entire hidden level, all the graphics and music they had to create for it, all for one bizarre hidden secret that most people would never discover. I saw a game developer complain that the high cost of game development results in games containing fewer secrets, and less detailed ones, today, because developers want people to _see_ their secrets. Look at Super Mario Odyssey - while it has a lot of hidden moons, it hints at their existence by telling you how many are in each world, and even lets you see their names. That game's only "true" secrets are the random hidden coin stashes that require tricky jumps to reach.

[@ErinPlays]

That's a great point! And yeah, it's a bummer how a lot of actual secrets seem to be a thing of the past :/

[@Nirwanda001]

@@ErinPlays Have you ever heard of oddheader's channel? He shares all kinds fun easter eggs of games past and modern.

[@gabrielpedroso9460]

1q

[@matngaparalian2916]

​@@ErinPlays❤❤❤AZZr🎉 7😂mn

[@thrillhouse_vanhouten]

Fun fact about the Naval Piranha trick at 5:40 - this trick was brought back in Yoshi's Wooly World, but does not result in skipping the boss fight; just alternate dialogue from Kamek

[@ErinPlays]

Oh really? That's awesome!

[@reinatycoon3644]

did you just say 5:40

[@jeffb.6642]

that mcdonalds one was legit terrifying

[@Moshpitti]

Right? That would've given me some mental scars as a kid haha

[@QJ89]

Eat it, Mode 7!

[@user-jr6ic3xm9y]

Like McDonalds is terrifying.

[@puryono1360]

​@@Moshpitti 😊😊😊zzzz

[@aprilchanel3148]

@@Moshpitti 44

[@acriser15]

also, in cruisn' usa, there's a high score head that appears when you make a new hot time on any stage, now scroll to the bottom of the display and hold left for 30 seconds. a head will come out the rolling conveyer belt and saying 'i love this job'. this guarantees your times will be saved and won't be erased.

[@DF-lk2th]

As an Iowan, I can confirm there are far more ladies standing in corn fields flipping you off than one might expect....

[@Horzzo]

"In Iowa find a cornfield" That shouldn't be hard.

[@KaskelotenZebbe]

If you play Pier Solar with a 32X on your Genesis, a kid in the last town will acknowledge your "mushroom" and give you a Sonic shoe as a reward.

[@sayedistrending]

I never knew drinking potions could have negative consequences. In Final Fantasy, potions are very helpful. I thought cocaine was a hell of a drug, but damn you Sword of Sadan 💊😆⚔

[@kurtmager1626]

I have never seen this one mentioned before, but it's for the SNES MECHWARRIOR. Start by editing your mech so that it has no weapons. Then choose a mission to play. When the mission starts, hold down on the D-pad to run backwards, and hit the fire button. Since you are unarmed, you can't fire anything, but from where your weapons would normally fire from come two ghost mechs. That's the best description I can come up with. Basically they are each just the head and torso of an assault mech, in shades of blue, floating around and blasting the bejeebus out of you. If you manage to survive (either from high armor, or invulnerability code), you can make more.

[@collin88]

Slot machine music in Star Fox is “when the saints go marching in”

[@JohnnyBurnes]

The Yoshi one's the best since you throw an Easter egg to do it!

[@ErinPlays]

Ha! I never thought about it that way, good point! XD

[@thomaslight3457]

Not sure if they count as Easter Eggs, but I've always loved the hadoken in Mega Man X and Link & Samus' cameos in Super Mario RPG.

[@JforJeff]

I had no idea about the lightning thing in Castlevania 3. Really neat stuff!

[@ESLTeacherTom]

You're the best, Erin! :)

[@genghisbunny]

That Cruisin' Easter egg is nuts!

[@hayabusa8314]

Starfox: In the Asteroid Belt level, sometimes there's a blue creature that flies towards you as if it was ejected from it's ship. Castlevania Symphony of the Night: Put the game disc in a CD player and you'll hear Alucard say something then plays a song. LoZ A Link to the Past: Chris Houlihan room.

[@willashwood7803]

Great video!! I really appreciate the shorter 10 minute type videos. I just don't often have time to watch 2 hour let's play, so this is awesome

[@lchambers56]

Erin battle strategy: Stab enemy repeatedly in the crotch.

[@ErinPlays]

Hey it's usually effective :p

[@tearfulsmiles9901]

Remind me never to piss Erin off.

[@lchambers56]

@@tearfulsmiles9901 I've only ever seen her get angry during a stream, and it was a terrifying sight to behold.

[@tearfulsmiles9901]

@@lchambers56 did she go all stabby?

[@lchambers56]

@@tearfulsmiles9901 lol no. But she has such a sweet demeanor, that when I saw her angry and frustrated, it made me scared to think of how'd she'd be if she was in a rage.

[@WickedGamerCollector]

This was a really awesome video. Did not know about that Star Fox part 🙄

[@7sshare]

My favorite easter egg is in Super Mario RPG, when you can go behind the curtain in Booster's Tower and turn into 8-bit Mario for a minute. So cool!

[@KarmaJolt]

Hey I just posted a short about that Lightning trick in Castlevania III and I gave you a shoutout, so thanks for the info!

[@demoh2o]

I didn't know the majority of these! Great video! Subscribed!

[@Mirokuofnite]

One of the songs in the slot machine level is Johann Strauss II - Voices of Spring Waltz

[@PetProjects2011]

The Metal Gear series all have some neat easter eggs. One of the funniest ones I can think of, is you can have lots of fun with the directional microphone.

[@darthrizzen9349]

I didn’t know any of these! Nice. 😁 Also the Georges Méliès reference means an instant like! 👍🙏

[@ErinPlays]

Cool, thanks! 😄

[@redmist78]

Wow that Castlevania three thing was a WTF moment for me I thought I knew everything about that game.

[@pygmalion0451]

4:14 "Voices of Spring" by Johann Strauss and "When The Saints Go Marching In" *not* by Louis Armstrong, for those wondering.

[@MockingjayYT]

That woman giving the bird in Cruisin' USA is tired of all the speeders flying past her farm. 😂

[@ErinPlays]

lol maybe that's the reason!

[@hungrygoriya]

I didn't know about any of these! The Sword of Sodan one is so silly even though it's a good message about not mixing medicines... I also need to try the Star Fox one sometime. I'm always glad to learn something new!

[@Sandman_Slim]

Did you ever try the Star Fox secret?

[@elvisrobotbeta3299]

Awesome Easter Eggs Erin!!! ^_^ I remember that I did that of CastleVania III by casualty once and at that time I was shocked. It's cool that they programmed the dagger for conduct the lightning electricity. And in Aladdin I tried a lot to find a secret in the section of Mickey's clothes but never found anything. Never thought to do that. I'll try it. Thanks!!! By the way, that one from McDonald's Treasureland Adventure is reeeeally creepy :O

[@lessthankate]

This would be a fun subject to do more videos on. The Castlevania 3 secret makes me want to pop the game into the NES and try it out.

[@gregramirez7337]

I have beat Star Fox dozens of times and never knew about this cheat! Thanks Erin!❤️

[@ErinPlays]

That's awesome! I've never been able to beat it, lol.

[@bigdrew002]

Uhhhh that McDonald’s one along with the music is oddly scary, disturbing.

[@entertainmentwizard2703]

Awesome video, I can't remember if I ever faced the slot machine in Star Fox!

[@richie404]

That's such a nice secret in Castlevania 3.

[@georged7627]

Thank you beautiful Erin, still discovering secrets from years ago...Great work 😊👍🏾

[@DannyDeVoid]

The best Easter eggs are the spooky ones, like you've found some forbidden secret the developers tried to hide 😳

[@jamierose9095]

In Bart vs. The Space Mutants if you hit the E in Kwik-E-Mart with a rocket you unlock Sound Test and get 3 extra lives.

[@ErinPlays]

Nice!

[@joemerkel20]

I didn’t know about any of these. Very well done Erin!

[@boilerfan18]

Wow, I didn’t know about any of these. The only hidden Easter egg I know of is in Super Metroid you can rescue the other creatures on Zebes before the planet explodes.

[@buhgingo2933]

I always do that every play through

[@DoubleBeast]

That polygonal bird looks cool. Reminds me of Arael, the 15th Angel in Evangelion.

[@nostartia]

Awesome video Erin! Happy it's doing as good as it deserves ;) Glad to see you back!!

[@ErinPlays]

Thank you!! 😊

[@fredskull1618]

So the Star Fox bird is LSD? I half expected Fox to defeat the slot machine and then wake up in his cockpit back at the base. “You were asleep for 3 days, Fox!” 😂

[@senshifuriouz1828]

Hi Erin. thanks alot ^^ I've always been and I still am interested to secrets in old Video Games :) best wishes -Senshi

[@maltdisneymadeit]

I played the McDonalds game soo many times for some reason as a kid and that Easter egg is soo weird and glad I never found it lol

[@petros6013]

Genie and Aladdin could have have taken an awesome selfie with their Mickey and Goofy hats.

[@MotherKojiro]

I remember finding that Star Fox one back in the day; up to that point, I'd thought that the hidden black hole stage was crazy... Before I knew it, I was shooting the letters in The End to some circus-themed version of When the Saints go Marching in that sounded like it was right out of a Parodius game. And I thought THAT was crazy intil that McDonald's one; that sounds like some kind of CreepyPasta that was made up in the last 10 years or so! Didn't know about the Cruis'n USA one, either; I thought you were going to show the severed developer head trick, but I think this one might be stranger.

[@ErinPlays]

Lol yeah I thought the McDonald’s one was a joke until I tried it myself. And I’ve seen footage of the severed head in cruisin USA but never tried it myself.

[@maxcool123456789]

Glad I found this channel. This is refreshing

[@FyreJams]

The fact that you referenced "touch fuzzy get dizzy"... fxkin golden Additionally.. i had no idea about the yoshis island piranha flower boss.. WTF

[@lukedougan7908]

What a great video thanks Erin 😁👍

[@stephenmalovski313]

This is more of a glitch than an Easter Egg but in the SNES Prince Of Persia if you jump at the right time during the gauntlet boss fight the bosses will appear from slightly higher and fall to their death

[@joewhite4730]

I didnt know the streets of rage one. Ima try it now know thanks erin

[@Redstar19791979]

Thank you for the Streets of Rage 4 Easter egg. Pretty cool stuff.

[@TheAbsoluteJay]

can't wait to try a couple of these!

[@P1983sche]

Cornfields are just creepy on their own. Someone randomly flipping you off in the middle of one would be next level freaky.

[@hhectorlector]

3:35 that secret Star Fox boss was a huge influence on the game design of World of Warcraft. True story.

[@JSPUFC]

I always freakin wondered how to do the star fox one when I was a kid. Thanks to James Rolfe for leasing me to this channel. I had no idea about the castlevania as well. Good video

[@ErinPlays]

Thanks so much for watching :)

[@adrianrastopsoff9171]

The starfox thing the circus music is from circus circus in Vegas it plays during their shows

[@mrbigjonstud]

cool video, definitely never heard of any of these secrets till now. About the only easter eggs I remember back in the day was stretching mario's face in mario 64 title screen and finding some of the hidden fights in mortal kombat.

[@steelcurtain187]

Nice list, this was fun

[@danielespeziari5545]

I knew the Star Fox secret area, since I saw it in videogame magazines back in the day, but didn't know the others, especially the ones in Castlevania 3 and Yoshi's Island. Naval Piranha is actually my least favorite boss in the game, since I always dread accidentally touching it and losing stars (if I'm going for a perfect score), so skipping the fight would be fine for me.

[@allenspence3924]

Glad your bk its been a minute

[@Coffeeandacigarette]

That Dracula's curse secret is something else

[@StarForceBelmont321]

My favorite Easter eggs in games Super Mario Sunshine Noki Bay book inside Bottle Eight Red Coins Mega Man Star Force on DS Easter Egg with a Gba slot putting in any Battle Network cart will award you new cards Sonic & Knuckles Blue Sphere stage by pressing A B C when locking on a not compatible cartridge causing it to say NO WAY! NO WAY? gives you over 1 BILLION different Blue Sphere Courses. Metal Gear Solids memory card reading with Psycho Mantis But my all time favorite Easter Egg is when playing Super Mario 64 finding Yoshi on top of Peaches Castle after 150 stars. He gives you 100 lives and a Triple jump immune to fall damage. Hope you like my Easter Eggs Erin 😊

[@michaelsullivan007]

Thank you so much , Erin. I appreciate all of the content.

[@ErinPlays]

Thanks for continuing to watch my videos!

[@canzer1692]

You earned have yourself a sub lady .1 for mentioning sor and 2 for not begging for subs.

[@jasonshouseoffunandvideoga7169]

I can remember pulling that extra life trick in Aladdin but once and by accident. I thought it was a glitch and I was crazy but apparently it's a real thing. Great job with the vid 👍

[@Awprod2000]

In James Pond 2 (the game Mike secretly loves) , at the very beginning, if you grab the items on the little rooftop in a spesific order, you get unlimited lives

[@josedeluna2245]

Man the super Mario games always had the best secrets ! Especially the first one where you can warp to world 8 if I remember

[@segaoldschoolsega925]

On the Sonic 3D blast if you smack it with a hammer you get the Level select code

[@danielzelpher7335]

Wow I was gonna mention touch fuzzy get dizzy but you already did. Awesome possum

[@freiteez]

Used to play cruisin USA as a kid. Not sure how I would’ve felt being given the bird at a young age. Awesome Easter eggs!

[@juiceala]

-Contra Hard Corps: in level 3 if you climb the wall right before the boss area you reach a secret area with a boss gauntlet with Castlvania music playing in the background and an alternate ending. -Mega Man VII: if you hold start as you enter Shade Man stage the music for that level with change to Gouls N Goblins. -Uprising Hard Corps: if you enter the konami code at the loading screen before the first level music will change to the one from Contra NES. -Dynamite Headdy: if you beat the bonus levels and write down the digits they reward you in order, after you beat the game and credits roll is over you can enter that serial number to fight a secret boss. -Penguin Adventure: in typical classic Konami style this game is filled with easter eggs, here are a couple... If you press F1 (pause/map) only once during the game, only then you can get the good ending as you beat the game, anything more or less grants you the bad ending. Also if you come by a crack on the floor that’s on the “other” side from you, if you manage to fall in the crack and then press down you’re taken to a secret warp area. It took me about two decades to finally understand how I triggered both of those as a kid since info about this game was a bit harder to find on the internet back then due to it not releasing in the US, you guys missed out on some gems. Edit: bonus... -Virtua Cop 2 on Dreamcast: if you hold start during the loading screen you get to play as the female cop instead.

[@N8doggamer]

There's a cool Easter egg in this ninja game on commodore 64 where when on the window sills outside if you wait around for awhile a bird flies by, then a plane and finally Superman.

[@jyoder1]

Sword of Sodan looks like a game featured in a movie from writers who know nothing of video games.

[@JustinEvitable80]

I had Final Fantasy on NES for over 25 years and only a few years ago realized one corner of Earth Cave had Earth battles every step. Not much an Easter Egg, but it's always interesting to discover new things.

[@DavidScotton]

If I remember correctly, the Nintendo Power strategy guide recommended using that spot to level up your team.

[@JustinEvitable80]

@@DavidScotton I can't find that info. The guide lists the hallway of Giants though.

[@DavidScotton]

@@JustinEvitable80 oh, I thought that's what you meant. I never knew about the earth battles either! What level is that on?

[@JustinEvitable80]

@@DavidScotton Floor 3. Top left corner room has just has a few bats flying inside. Top two lines of tiles have Earth encounters every step.

[@johnnyblu84]

I find hidden gems in games a added bonus to a game.

[@htyeung48]

There is a lot of 1up trick in SMB 3 but here is the easiest one to get is on world 3 level 9 in the water world 1st you grab the first turtle and carry past the plant pass the standing cannon pass the two bomb walkers once you see the first ground cannon on the floor while holding on to the turtle kick it pass the first cannon and let the shell roll back and forth and leave it there and just jump to the top and walk down a little bit and chill out until you get 99 lives just try it

[@MM12684]

I like in sword of sodan when you hack that really tall dudes head off

[@makaveli4205]

Streets of Rage has best music. My favorite one is part 2. That Star Fox secret is really cool. Magic mushrooms 🍄 world 🌎

[@matthewmerican]

Great video. Didn't know about a bunch of those. A few that I know of includes Pilotwings 64, if you shoot the Mario face on Mt. Rushmore, it turns into Wario. You can unlock Ryu's Hadouken fireball in Mega Man X. Also, similar to Streets of Rage 4, in Doom (2016) there are secret areas that become the pixelated classic Doom.

[@Bradfangled]

Great video, Erin 😊

[@thetrophysystem3697]

How have I never heard of that McDonalds one... so creepy

[@seanfeld-]

It was just found recently months ago.

[@JohnnySilverwrench]

Hell yeah my type gamer!! Lol no stone leaves unturned all Easter eggs must be found!! 🤘🤘🍻💯

[@JohnnySilverwrench]

Cruises through the USA "Fuck you you ain't taking this here dirt road it's my cornfield!"😂

[@jase7474]

The lightning trick was cool. Always heard about the Starfox level. Have a SNES Mini so I will have to try for it. The McDonald game reminds of the trip in Starfox especially seeing the Ship thing you can make. I thought the Cruisin USA was interesting and wonder if it was a disgruntled employee that put themselves in the code giving the bird. lol

[@Omniblade_Gaming]

That star fox one I believe I did that once and that creeped me out lol. That aladin one, that was in a game pro I remember lol

[@mikeengland80]

As someone from Iowa, I can verify this is real. Every cornfield has one. 🖕

[@ErinPlays]

😂

[@groovatron3k454]

The music in the McDonalds Easter egg sounds like something from Silent Hill if it was made in the SNES era. Soooo creepy

[@minakohiashi8882]

I remember doing that once in Yoshi's Island

[@longplaylegends]

Nice to see Streets of Rage 4 get a mention here. Very fun and glad they finally released another game. Also, you can do that IIRC at least two other times in other levels, but those segments are hard as hell, not gonna' lie.

[@Thievishaura]

The drinking all potions at once was pretty brutal. i wouldve been scared as a kid. That should be a mod for skyrim! To many magics or to many potions will dwindle your character in different ways. or just straight up kill you like Sword of Sodan.

[@jamierose9095]

That pissed me off in SoS so much that I stopped playing it.

[@jesselee5835]

IIRC, the woman in Crusin' USA is named Dawn because the street sign says Dawn Ln. or something like that. If anyone wants to play it on a CRT and verify, the sign is less pixelated.

[@MellowGaming]

Was trying to remember how to do that Starfox one a little while back. All I could remember was that it had something to do with the asteroids.

[@Justin-TPG]

You may be misremembering or combining two memories into one. There are actually two secret stages in the game, the totally hidden one Erin shows here, and the Black Hole on the map that you can access from the Asteroid stage on route 1. You have to shoot the three spinning lines of asteroids when they're very close and fly through where the centre brown rocks were, then you'll get an asteroid with a face on. Shoot it a lot to access the Black Hole warp zone that has three exits to Sector Y, Sector Z and Venom.

[@shawn_530]

“We all know this game sucks…” 🤣🤣

[@chrisclem2069]

LMAO.. i was just going to make this same comment 🤣

[@matthewsisk]

Congrats on your AVGN shoutout

[@DeathByFrenchFry]

Eggs huh? Now that I can get into

[@NelsonWin]

Easter Eggs!!! ❤❤❤ Sword of Sodan tho...

[@nufi20]

Thanks, I guess that starfox one flew over my head