The history of video game easter eggs

We have all seen little references to our favorite movies and video games in places they don’t belong. These little surprises are called “Easter Eggs”.

The joy of finding a joke, secret, or hidden message can be two-fold. This is the reason why they are put into video games and media.  They are often called Easter eggs, in reference to the spring time pursuit to find hidden treats.

The best place to start our hunt would be the beginning. One the world’s most known Easter eggs would be in Atari’s “Adventure” in 1979. In the game, if you manage to find a hidden item and deliver it to a another hidden area in the game, you would be teleported into a room where “Created by Warren Robinett” (Warren Robinett is the game’s developer) would appear on the screen. Adventure’s little secret is well known, but certainly is not the first. In the video game “Video Whizball”, for the 1978 Fairchild Channel F consule,  also had a similarly hidden name. these little secrets took up  spare space of a few bytes in the memory.  Games developers adding in their initials in the spare space to be credited for their work.  This was at the time when developers were usually not credited for their work.  After Easter eggs, game developers began to be credited.  

Gaming community site “IGN” said, “Since the the issue has been resolved in the 8-bit era,  these Easter eggs are being put into everything from games to movies just to reference many popular items and memes.”

James Brown, student at Gage High School and Easter eggs fan, said, “I love the fact that after you buy a new game and through the story mode or multiplayer try to find awesome little references of your favorite memes or shows or even other games!”

Kevin Rios, student council member at AJCMS, said, “I was surprised when I found a Simpsons reference in my favorite call of duty map, where I found jelly donuts in a Nuclear facility . . . sound familiar?”

Since the 8-Bit era is gone, Easter eggs have been a tradition in video games ever since.  Now players have more to look forward to than just beating the game.

For more on Easter eggs, take a look at the video below.

Credit of the video goes to Stuart Brown, also known as “XboxAhoy”.