The Removed & Lost Easter Eggs of Portal 2

Hey everyone, Ossy Flawol here, and I'm back! That's right, never left. See my previous explanation video as to where I've been these past 7 months. Anyways - I wanted to delve into a fun topic to commemorate my return, being the Easter Eggs in Portal 2 that Valve ended up cutting from the final game! That's right, BETA Easter Eggs, and to seal the deal, I've got a lot of stuff you likely have never heard of. :)
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CHAPTERS
0:00 - Intro
1:42 - Aquarium Core's Lost Cameo
7:36 - The Other Corrupted Cores
11:56 - The Alternate Endings
17:24 - The Rattman Discs
25:40 - Outro
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VIDEO CREDITS
These are being used for their documentative nature, if the uploaders of these videos have a problem with them, please contact me!
GDC - Portal 2 Post Mortem Talk - • Portal 2 - GDC Post Mo...
DidYouKnowGaming - Portal 2's Cut Content [EXCLUSIVE] - • Portal 2's Cut Content...
John Patrick Lowrie - GLaDOS’s Song - • GLaDOS' Song
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Join My Discord! - / discord
Follow My Twitter! - / ossyflawol
Support My Patreon! - / ossyflawol
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Hey everyone, the name's Ossy Flawol!

[@OssyFlawol]

UPDATE ON THE RATTMAN DISCS: It turns out that the Co-Op Disc Sequences were actually BASED OFF THE ENTITY LOGIC for the Rattman Discs, not the other way around! Several of the logic entities that are referenced in sp_a1_intro3’s Trigger that has Dead I/O for the Discs actually still exist in the Co-Op maps that have disc sequences but are not used at all, indicating the Co-Op sequences were directly based on the Rattman Discs!

[@Steve.Matheus]

Hai Ozzyyyyyy

[@nathanj202]

I’m glad they got in somehow, I kind of wish there was more theorizing on the co-op CDs too. Even back when it first came out I thought it was so cool there were other live ‘targets’ GLaDOS was tracking, sane people who wrote on whiteboards meant for other survivors to read. I’m sure most of them weren’t super thought out, just something that she would need the bots to do, but it seems like some really cool story _could’ve_ been there.

[@XeZrunner]

It makes sense to me, as co-op and its disk-related sequences were probably developed later on. The Ratman disks in the early chambers must have been a thing early on.

[@uhohitsace]

I'm fairly certain that the 2 minute ending would have had the player thown out the starting room as Wheatley throws the room around.

[@TerrifiedTrainspotter]

What happened to the portal series beta discord server? i cant find it anywhere.

[@colororb4105]

I wonder if the Ratman disks would've told the same story that the Ratman comic ultimately told

[@Uuan1000]

Actually I have a very inspirful mind, and that is exactly what I was thinking for re-adding this in a mod! Of course however, even though I have several ideas for mods, I have zero ideas on how to make them

[@newwesterngrove]

@@Uuan1000 This video made me tempted to try and re-add these features to the best of my ability, but I also have no experience of how to do it lol

[@Sergonizer]

I prefer to think that Rattman Discs would be showing the videos of "Investment Opportunities". They look like Valve were making them to appear in the game in some way but didn't manage to put them anywhere so just left them as videos released right before the game release with Chell's model as placeholder.

[@UpsideDownCycle]

That was my initial thinking too. The idea for the disks evolved into a comic.

[@nolifenoble1864]

Valves known for their comics so I feel like they'd make some new stuff

[@vrad_exe]

Doug Rattmann forgot to put the CD in his computer.

[@rebel6301]

that's it, you're going to lego island whether you like it or not

[@jbritain]

whoops

[@MacheTheFerret]

whoOoOps you need to put the CD 𝕌ℙ 𝕐𝕆𝕌ℝ 𝔸 𝕊 𝕊

[@dotnask0001]

@@jbritain You forgot to put the disc up your a-

[@no...u]

WHOOOOOOOPPPS You forgot to put the cd into your computer

[@warriorsabe1792]

"We didn't want to show him because that would instantly date the game" *Shows Chell through portals anyways*

[@loctite417]

it's hard to see chell's playermodel upclose. if rattman showed up, we would be in kissing distance and inspecting the skin texture.

[@plaguis369]

@@loctite417 it isn't hard to see her PM up close though, just plop a 2nd portal besides the first one and you can get a nice look at her

[@SourGummyes]

@@plaguis369it’s more, having focus on a human character can date the game due to having to watch and look at characters. Yes you can see Chell, even up close if you wish, but it’s never forced onto you as a focus and as such the quality of Chell doesn’t particularly date the game due to it’s overall underuse. If she was a focus, espically up close and fully cutscene animated, it would date the visuals of the game very quickly.

[@ST1TCH916]

​@@SourGummyesHalf life 2:

[@SourGummyes]

@@ST1TCH916 Half Life 2 still looks visually dated, you can’t tell me the character models in the game haven’t aged pretty bad. A lot of what makes HL2 still really good looking is its incredibly good use of detailed animation, but even then that can’t help the now low quality of these models.

[@DessDragon]

in addition to co-op, the lost discs sound like a similar thing to the radio secrets added in Portal 1 too, so I guess this sort of concept is something they liked enough to do it in other places when they couldn't make it work how they wanted originally

[@ToothpasteVixen]

Some of the map logic for the disc stuff in trust flings was actually repurposed for the final transmission achievement, so there's definitely a link

[@Margen67]

Dragons need HUGS

[@joshuawilliams9247]

He said that in the video

[@impulse_76]

@@ToothpasteVixen Furry

[@FunzeeTime]

Why did the portal 2 radios not have the red light?

[@WinterGamesYT]

"this piece of logic does not have the frankenturret anywhere in it... IT HAS A PERSONALITY CORE *BOM BOM BOM BOMMMM*

[@VAdaPEGA]

I love the instant replay for core8_display, in my head I was thinking like "hold up, you can't just mention there's an 8th core without going in-depth about it" and sure enough, there it is.

[@mrnoname98]

your intro made me realize that if someone made a portal iceberg meme they could just use a depiction of portals current and previous testing facilities through the ages instead of the iceberg image

[@Larry]

It's a shame about the Rattman discs, If they were worried about them aging, they should have gone for FMV clips, kind of like how Control did it.

[@Cont0rt]

Holy shit its larry bundy jr

[@buscadiamantes1232]

hearing "core" and "cores" so frequently I end up mixing course and courses into the equation lmao

[@AmBush2048]

Given that up until the literal end of the game, wheatley is the only personality core you get to meet, I bet that players confused the Aquarium Core for Wheatley, given how long it's visible in the gag

[@natalie-chanistrash7214]

Seeing how Wheatley would've been in charge of Aperture at that point, doesn't seem likely to me

[@WhiterunGuard50]

@@natalie-chanistrash7214 Yeah idk how you would confuse wheatley with the core since it's literally the last chapter before finale.

[@gugoluna]

There is moon in almost every rattman's mural, not just the ceiling one. This (and also the comic and the ARG) really hints that he became somewhat obsessed with the moon.

[@NiphanosTheLost]

Something of a LUNAtic you might say

[@loctite417]

I think he's totally right that showing a human character instantly dates the game. Human characters are so easy to tell when things are wrong. They will always look like a video game character and we will likely be able to tell when that character was made based on its quality. Look at hl1 scientists and hl2 civilians. They look so dated. Characters from elder scrolls that came out in the same year look outdated now. Also, rattman only being in the comics really adds mystery to him.

[@minerman60101]

Yeah, I was watching a friend play Alien: Isolation and everything in the game looked great despite it being a decade old... except the humans, who absolutely felt dated.

[@genyakozlov1316]

Portal 2 looks dated now anyway, human or not.

[@loctite417]

@@genyakozlov1316 good custom maps can still stand pretty well. Valve maps however do feel dated.

[@Forklift_Enthusiast12]

This is why I think it would have been cool if the rattman discs had live action videos like in Control. Though unlike Control, maybe it would have looked out of place compared to the graphics

[@ChumGrondis]

I really couldn't care less if I tried about the humans in games not being photorealistic. With that logic let's release the next Half Life game with no human nPCS at all as to not date it.

[@legendfinder]

Dang, really surprising how many easter eggs I never knew about. Amazing video! 2 Really love not being in the loop of any of these beyond-surface-level tidbits. Like, ah yes, the famous Aquarium Core, that we all know about. Whaat, their eye is a different color from what we all of course associated it with? What a revelation that is! May you live on in your flashlight form, Aquarium Core, you were like a(n estranged) brother to me.

[@Mhrtxn_]

You the guy from that moon thingie ARG from Minecraft? I know this may just be you using your account to watch youtube, but it's surprising you appear in a portal video

[@Gsn1vy]

oh hey there! genuinely didn't expect to see you appear in this video at all, though it is quite the pleasant surprise

[@MrGermandeutsch]

Agreed.

[@galaxxy_foxx2583]

@@Mhrtxn_ LegendFinder is everywhere. At all times. Keep your head on a swivel. He might be right behind you.

[@cutedragon2303]

6:27 Wait, is the implication he gets dropped into the murky water? And like the space core, goes to where he's always wanted?

[@Ben_19M]

shoutout to ozzy flawol gotta be one of my favorite genders

[@SoullessManiac]

Curse you Ossy, making me re-hyperfixate on Portal again!! Jokes aside this video is fucking peak. I said this on your return video but I'm glad you're back, unironically one of my favourite channels that cover Valve-related stuff. Hyped to see what you've got cooking up for the future!

[@Pezut-ob6mu]

I'm very surprised about how many remnants of unused things are in the map files

[@jimjim7616]

Fascinating stuff! Kinda wanna include those laser discs in a Portal mod now

[@Uuan1000]

BRO LEGIT MY IDEA! Great minds think alike. I was thinking that they would play a short episode format explaining the ratman comic in game.

[@zOOpygOOpert]

0:49 what the hell its the minecraft moon arg guy

[@legendfinder]

what's the minecraft moon arg?

[@zOOpygOOpert]

@@legendfinder idk, its this weird video series about a guy going crazy over the minecraft moon. Not sure if its real or not, you wouldn't be interested.

[@legendfinder]

@@zOOpygOOpert Oh, yeah, that sounds boring. I'll pass.

[@Salithin]

I HATE moon arg guy!! I hope he isn’t here without me knowing.

[@zikiardani7277]

@@legendfinder yo no way it's the minecraft moon arg guy

[@Action35]

...everyone's favourite Easter egg character, "Hoopy the Hoop" Doug Rattman "Oh..."

[@psychodiva336]

I THOUGHT THE SAME THING

[@Action35]

@@psychodiva336 lmao

[@LnyMts]

I've noticed something I haven't really seen people talk about, when we play through portal 2 we go through levels designed during Cave Johnson's time, and those levels usually were standard warehouse-looking levels, wooden walls, having to go through backway staircases to get to the next test chamber etc, while during GladOS's time all the test chambers are made out of clean white tiles and futuristic lights. Is there any lore that explains this design choice? I feel like it has to mean something rather than artistic choice

[@casaleiasallet1176]

It's to show the progression of technology, both in aperture and the world as a whole. In Old Aperture the company looks like how you would expect a mad science laboratory in a salt mine during the 1960's to look. Then in modern aperture it looks like a modern tech store full of high tech and futuristic equipment. Look up frutiger aero and apple stores in the 2010s.

[@Pantz09.]

Well the clean white tiles are used because they found out moon rocks are great portal conductors, as for the other futuristic stuff, it’s probably just that they got a bigger budget, and were able to make those things

[@lenship2]

innovations in more efficient technology; mostly the inventions of panels and integration of ai into more modular test chambers

[@LnyMts]

​@@Pantz09. Very fair point, but if Cave was as good as bankrupt when he died, where did the finances come from to rebuild his whole facility into futuristic A.I. stuff? That'd cost a whole bunch of money which Aperture clearly didn't have (they had to lower their standards from test subjects with big payouts to homeless people and pay 60$)

[@Isabel-hatherell]

@@LnyMts the sudden increase in funds can be explained by aperture being run by a hyper-efficient supercomputer, I feel. cave was running aperture as just a person, glados literally IS the facility. that's how I saw it, at least.

[@andresbravo2003]

Man I love Easter eggs in Video Games. Welcome back man.

[@johnreich1878]

@OssyFlawol My suggestions for the aquarium core sequence: have the beam smash through the roof but not land on the ground. the beam holds the pincer arm which slides off onto the ground, dropping the aquarium core. the core speaks with intermittent shaking as the weight of the beam causes the bridge to shake before finally collapsing, through the floor. this sequence should last about 10-15 seconds. you could use an "env_shake" entity and put the bridge collapsing on its own sequence, so timing can't be interrupted by that part.

[@OssyFlawol]

This would go beyond the scope of what I had wanted to do - adding on top of the sequence would be making up stuff. I wanted to restore what the original sequence would have been, even if broken.

[@Azzy2935]

man its been a good what 10 years or so? we are STILL rapidly learning more and more about this game. AND NICE VID!

[@Pnezyx2056]

25:19 i was fully expecting you to say "but hey, thats just a theory, a GAME theory!"

[@AshlynsAegis]

Happy to see your back! your content is honestly insanely comforting/ re watchable for me. I used to watch a lot of these kinds of videos when i was first learning about valve stuff especially back in like 2015? which probably explains a lot of why i enjoy your content so much aside from just general quality and presentation. either way its nice to see your back and i hope your doing ok,.

[@captainhades1583]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. I feel like I'm actually learning something with each video, not just about portal but game design itself. You can tell Ossy has the utmost respect and passion for Portal and Portal 2.

[@Ty_Th3Guy]

I love the custom captions! (and the video as well lol)

[@Agpicklefeet]

Great documentation of all of the findings here, I agree I think the disks make the most sense as the appearance for Ratman- I don’t think they would have opted to show him in person ever and that would be fitting for his character.

[@TheFourthTower]

6:54 YES! I've always wondered what or who was that core and it was moving so...

[@JerryCan101]

The banner and pfp redesign looks great! Good work!

[@Jase00]

I loved every second of this video, especially towards the end, so much anticipation build up. Thank you for your effort!

[@l-l]

Spectacular video as always. Glad to see you're back!

[@LimeMaxx]

I'm shocked how I never stop learning new things about this game.

[@isofaux7570]

Love the video as always, and really appreciate the subtitles! Thank you so much!

[@Traystigo]

Amazing video! I thought I had seen it all when it comes to Portal content, but boy was I wrong. Keep it up!

[@ARealLemonLime]

Welcome back! Can't wait for everyone to see this !!

[@naturalnova69]

great video dude! i remember readding the core sequence back in a few months ago on a old channel of mine, all these were interesting and some stuff i didnt know!!!

[@Bortalis4053]

Love the video! Great to always learn more about one of my favourite games

[@zenerstorm95]

Oh my god. I've played through this game SO many times and I've ONLY just learnt about the moon drawings under the portal gun 😅

[@Napkin_story]

these would be fire things to add to a portal 2 remake mod/game

[@babbygremlin]

this may be one of the only videos ive ever seen about gaming cut content that isnt from some sort of non developer perspective and weird half-true simplified explanations of gaming stuff. I wish *every* gaming related video was like this.

[@tvhead408]

Loved the video, keep up the good work!

[@heberb]

congrats on getting this behemoth of a video out!

[@4m0d]

I love how you got the colored subtitles from the game on youtube as well!

[@bradyhem]

ahhhh im so happy you're back

[@melvinschrab505]

Glad to see you back! :D

[@insertnamehere2062]

love the colored subtitles!!

[@lackedpuppet9022]

Speaking of Portal and Aussies: did you know there's a Portal Easter egg in the show Bluey? It appears for about ten frames at the end of the episode Daddy Dropoff! You can find it online, but the whole episode is worth a watch.

[@npc_citizen9276]

I found it and its pretty cool. Thats a reference to the potato battery project from portal 2. You can see the square aperture logo and the two portal colors.

[@ApologeticPyro]

Oh my god. I always wondered what the cd was for in the rattman radio level!

[@zoetbh6048]

portals 2.

[@ElPreservador]

"We didn't want to show him because that would instantly date the game" Maybe this is not that much of nonsense, but actually a clue as to what we could find in the videos. I think the video format was intended to show live-action footage, with Rattman played by an actor, similar to Red Alert cinematics. That way, the game would continue in a 'timeless' manner as they intended. This would have been consistent with, for instance, Cave and Caroline's portraits, which depict them as real, 'live-action' people. Ultimately, they may have concluded that including live-action videos of Rattman would have disrupted the game's atmosphere too much, and decided not to include that aspect, therefore discarding that entire gameplay dynamic.

[@Berfelheimer]

I love seeing your vids They are always so interesting

[@KevinTheFluffyWolfy]

Portal 2’s secrets and Easter eggs are pretty cool! Portal 2 is an amazing game too! Also, finally someone who talks about scrapped stuff that is basically unheard of!

[@Jacksaur_]

The Rattman discs are an extremely interesting thing to hear about. I love just how deep you can go into Portal 2, I can't imagine any other game where people would be finding *Cut easter eggs* of all things.

[@user-oz7ib1ch8g]

I cant believe it, for the first time in years I'm learning something new about the portal games.

[@St.Vincent69]

great video as always

[@nebulus9999]

Welcome back!

[@get-souped]

0:48 Man oh man I sure do hope this person doesn't go crazy about the moon that would be weird haha

[@CrraVideos]

I honestly like that they changed the lyrics of exile vilify becuase MAN its one of my favorite songs, i always love it

[@testaccount9628]

dude how did you make that thumbnail it looks AMAZING, also great video too

[@cat_ann_]

man i wanna see the Portal 1 cores cameo recreated, bonus if they're also all speaking but quieter so you only hear them when you're standing infront of them

[@TheYoshieMaster]

I like that Hoopy is just chilling behind the last Rattmann desk

[@RememberCitadel]

Portugal 2

[@Jacon8r]

This is a tad unrelated but that thumbnail is awesome dude

[@thezipcreator]

extremely unlikely but what if the disks are just the developers trying to troll data miners by adding a few random inexplicable references to something and watching people go crazy over it

[@JuanGamer0202]

masterpiece

[@lazyb0nez_]

somehow the biggest secret i learned from this video was the moon phases on the portal gun room ceiling. after all these years i literally never once looked up

[@Hantaboy20]

I think the dead I/O's are placeholders for future update like the transmition update for the Portal 1 game. If they want to make another campaign like the prevoius one, the programmers can be with little changes on the main maps without breaking the game sequences. Valve missed out several oportonities for blowing up the gamer community on april fools with a few mb updates of portal 2 on 04.01.

[@frankysupreme]

i think the cores making a reappearance is a cool idea but it wouldnt have made much sense considering you threw them directly into an incinerator in the first game. i guess it could be explained by the corrupted cores being copies

[@hudsonator7259]

I would like to imagine that the ratman disks will be added back to hint at portal 3 like how the radios in portal 1 hinted towards portal 2

[@ODEF.]

The portal 1 reference would've been so cool (also RICHARDDDDD)

[@ThatRandomGamer_Main]

Damn, customized subtitles. Nice!

[@spacecore2379]

How can we be certain that this "aquarium core" is not just an early code name for the Space Core? Both are referred to as Core 1 and the Space Core itself is a reference to an aquarium commercial

[@OssyFlawol]

Aquarium Core is actually referred to as sphere02. We have several dozens choreo scene files for all of Aquarium Core’s voicelines and while we lack the sound files they would’ve played, the scene files contain their lengths, which all reveal the lines to be cut-up audio from the Oregon Coast Aquarium commercial that Valve had loved so much leading to the Aquarium Core. Space Core is effectively just a copyright free version of the Aquarium Core that was made in the final month(s) of development. They clearly used the Aquarium commercial audio as the voice direction for Space Core, but the two are very distinct and seperate beings in development, Aquarium Core just *led* to Space Core, they aren’t one in the same.

[@MrGermandeutsch]

What decompiling maps does to a person. All joking aside though, well done! Although, isn't "Pincher" pronounced differently? That was the only thing that caught me off-guard.

[@Arakus99]

“Pincer” is a separate word, not a mispronunciation of “pincher”

[@Quaxo21]

Aquarium core my beloved

[@kjdubs5877]

For the Two Minute ending, there is a hole in the destroyed relaxation vault during the opening that Chell could have been originally intended to fall through, triggering that ending

[@burrconnie8716]

I highly doubt that was the case, as the vault container destruction sequence had had enough effort put into it as it is, to the point that the container itself that you see in-game is just a model, that your camera is being dragged along with during the sequence, and the player entity itself at that point is located way out of the map in a boxy room that represents the simplified hitbox of all interior elements of the container. Again, it took a lot of effort, and I'm not even talking about animating that son of a gun. It would be a nightmare to add another hack to teleport the player from that simplified hitbox back to the container as they stand on the edge of it, about to fall to their supposed death, and to do it convincingly, as well as have a safeguard for players that just stand on the edge with no intention of falling off. Plus, the interaction between one of the only two characters and the player would need to be very brief as the player already travels quite the distance from the characters as they fall, which is way too primitive for a plausible cut ending.

[@kjdubs5877]

@@burrconnie8716 Even at the end when the room is no longer moving? (Yes, I know the fake room shenanigans) If not, then where would the ending have happened?

[@Jenny_MCII]

"once you see human the game would be dated" Uh.. you can see Chell? Its a shame Ratman got cut because of that. I feel like as long as you don't attempt realism and instead go for a style he wouldn't age poorly at all.

[@JosiePS]

what really irks me about the prop_glados_core/prop_personality_sphere entities in portal 2 is that they no longer have unique "look" animations, but rather all use an animation called "personality_sphere_testanim" which the personality sphere model doesn't have

[@Mythikal13]

I wonder if the intent with the extra corrupted cores was maybe that you got to choose or got random ones that effected wheatley differently at the end of the game

[@Btomaek]

this is nice to know

[@Mr_Facetious503]

Knew this would come early.

[@HidinginPublic]

More more more more

[@Dev_N]

awesome video

[@humanbuddy-ju6jm]

I like the aquarium core part

[@BudgiePanic]

Maybe the ratman discs would’ve been activated if Valve ever wanted to run an ARG for portal 3

[@Microwavecash]

Legend Finder cameo

[@FunzeeTime]

At first I thought the rattan disks were tutorials teaching the new mechanics, but that’s clearly not the case in the later levels. Wait. What if it was kind of like the oracle turret where it briefly and vaguely told later events in the game?

[@Mr.SpicyIce]

17:24 is a case of valve leaving in assets just so that people talk about the game more after launch year. Valve used to just leave things in for this reason. I forget which GDC a valve dev said this.

[@thelegendarywolf2399]

Hyped

[@thelegendarywolf2399]

Omg. Your at 31 thousand subscribers 🎉

[@aldofranciscodiaztorres8825]

if u play the portal revolution mod/game you can find an easteregg about the ratman disks

[@Crow_Rising]

It would have been nice if GLaDOS's song was included in the game as a little bonus you gain access to after beating the game, available in an extra's menu. Maybe even throw Exile Vilify in for convenient listening.

[@Soneone.]

I would have loved to see Doug's recordings and what they would entail. Would they be clear to understand or would they be nonsence that youd have to piece together

[@user-oo8py9hj4q]

have you done a video discussing "the big bad jellyfish who wanted" easter egg in portal 1?

[@KatKuriN]

i'm wondering if the disks purely served as a precursor to the actual radio SSTV signal secrets i feel like that would make sense, but i'm not sure how portal 1 and 2's development chronicled, since SSTV stuff was part of the ARG to announce portal 2 it feels very in-style for how valve did easter eggs here, you come across random disks and if you are smart enough to put them in a disk reader you get a silly picture perhaps this would have also served as a sort of "lambda locator" type achievement as well, where you have to find all of them

[@MicronOnline]

I 100% Bet the Ratman Disk would have showed footage of Ratman's companion cube. nothing else just cube.

[@bolo_guarana]

I did a jumpsuit and portal gun cosplay last year for a event and everyone called me vector from despicable me💀

[@dawsonstevens]

but i was wondering what the mysterios Rattman disc plays on that plays that is what I wonder