Easter egg

Sakurai's cat can be seen in the ice stage of Pokémon Stadium 2.

An easter egg is a hidden surprise or trick that is like a cheat code, but without the code. They are small surprises programmers add to the game for players to uncover, much like candy eggs in a real-life Easter egg hunt. Many easter eggs are purely for entertainment. Some examples include hidden names or faces of programmers, references to other games, or messages for the player.

Easter eggs should not be confused with glitches, cheats, or techniques. Many do not alter gameplay at all.

Examples

• Barrel Cannon (trophy) - On one the bottom of the Barrel Cannon trophy is the message "2L84Me". When spoken, it sounds like "too late for me," referring to the usual KO after being shot from a barrel.
• Daisy's third eye - In earlier versions of Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Daisy trophy contains a mysterious 3rd eye hidden in her hair, on the back of her head. It was removed in later versions.
• Sleepy time - An easter egg exclusive to Event 39: Jigglypuff Live!, sleepy time will occur when the large screen in the background of Pokemon Stadium is centered on the player's Jigglypuff, and the player uses Jigglypuff's Sing attack. All three of the other Jigglypuffs will fall asleep, regardless of the distance from the player's Jigglypuff, for much longer than usual.
• Fox and Falco's Smash Taunt - By quickly tapping down just once on the directional pad while playing as either Fox or Falco on the Venom or Corneria stages, the player can use a special taunt. A similar effect happens when Fox, Falco, or Wolf performs the trick on the Lylat Cruise stage in SSBB.
• In Melee, Metal Mario's trophy has a reflection of the Yoshi's Island stage on its surface.
• The sound heard when selecting Kirby in SSBB is the famous "Hi!" taunt from ''Melee''.
• Also in Melee, Ganondorf's trophies (when viewed under certain lighting) have glowing eyes.
• Snake's Codec Messages - Using a method on Shadow Moses Island similar to the Star Fox secret taunt, Solid Snake can contact his support team via codec and get information regarding his opponents.
• In Trophy Hoard mode in Brawl, in the background with presents, there is a black DS Lite in a present box on the left.
• In the Ice stage of Pokémon Stadium 2, there is a poster of a white kitten inside of the shack in the middle. It is thought to be Masahiro Sakurai's cat.
• The Metroid trophy in Melee has a hidden image on its shell. It seems to be a Ceres Station lab (where the Infant Metroid was kept) from Super Metroid. This implies that the trophy is representing the Infant Metroid.
• The calendar- on the ice stage in pokemon stadium 2, there appears to be a calendar in the door, but it only appears when looking for the cat or using a hacked camera.

See Also

• Wikipedia's article about Easter eggs