The idea of “Easter eggs,” hidden jokes or references that you have to find within material, really took off in the world of video games, as bored programmers would put little hidden pieces of code into games that they worked on. Early on, it was just hiding their names inside the game, but now they have gotten much more elaborate in the Easter eggs that they leave behind. Here are five Easter eggs hidden in superhero-based video games.
1 Arkham City hint! In Batman: Arkham Asylum, if you go into the Warden’s office in Arkham Mansion, you can eventually get into a room with a fireplace. Look at the left wall and then bombard it a few times with explosive gel. After it explodes, it will reveal a blueprint showing an expansion of Arkham Asylum into a city, with the blueprint stamped “Approved.” The sequel to Arkham Asylum was Arkham City, which came out in fall 2011, and this was an early hint regarding the sequel.
2 A visit from Jason. You have to do this in Batman: Arkham Asylum before you face off against the final “boss” but after the Joker appears to you in a TV message. Go to the room where the Joker message came from and look to your left. You should see a sofa and some papers on a wall. If you zoom in, you should see a drawing of Jason from Friday the 13th fame, complete with a chainsaw.
3 Tony Hawk shout-out. In PlayStation 2’s Spider-Man game, there is a billboard featuring an advertisement for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Both games were designed by Neversoft. (Spider-Man was even an unlockable character in Pro Skater 2.) If you get Spider-Man to swing close enough to the billboard, he’ll remark about how he’s skated with Tony Hawk before.
4 Scarecrow shout-out. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, if you collect at least one interview tape, you can go to the character bios to listen to it. In the one where doctors are worried about Scarecrow and his fear gas, the two doctors talking about him are Drs. Murphy and Combs. Cillian Murphy played Scarecrow in Batman Begins and Jeffrey Combs played the Scarecrow in Batman: The Animated Series.
5 WoW! In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, after you receive your adamantium skeleton and leave the Weapon X facility for the first time, go run into the woods but keep an eye out on the right. You will eventually see a crack in the ice that is big enough for you to enter. Once inside, you’ll see the skeleton of Arthus from World of Warcraft lying inside next to the Frostmourne sword from World of Warcraft 3. If you’re playing the game on X-Box 360, it will unlock an achievement titled “WoW.”