whatever happened to secrets in games

[icarus0]

The Turrican series was another one packed to the gills with hidden areas

[Charlie]

I think most older gamers miss the secrets of old as they helped create a sense of wonderment and fueled the desire to explore and discover. But I miss the variety of cheats they had too, not the boring stuff like infinite ammo or health, but things like big head mode, wire frame mode, super-dooper hard mode, slow motion and what have you. Few games today have such interesting cheats.

[icarus0]

But I miss the variety of cheats they had too, not the boring stuff like infinite ammo or health, but things like big head mode, wire frame mode, super-dooper hard mode, slow motion and what have you. Few games today have such interesting cheats.

Good point - one of the many things I loved about Goldeneye was the huge number and variety of options unlocked after completing a level in a certain time - hidden weapons, paintball mode etc.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Probably not, but it's surely the greatest secret of all time.

Hmmmm not quite sure it beats the 'Konami code'.

Was it Super Parodius where you did the code for full power ups and then if you did it again it would kill you?

[Kieran76]

Yeah I miss secrets. Remember flying under a checkpoint in Super Mario World? Hopefully, we'll see some more stuff like that in New Super Mario Bros Wii.

Did anyone ever play Addams Family? Now that had too many secrets

I loved that game. Seem to remember it being dead hard. These were always my favourite types of secrets in games, hidden levels/rooms etc. It felt dead good to find one, especially when playing with mates.

[k0pp0]

The Turrican series was another one packed to the gills with hidden areas

Ah yeah good call that.

[abigsmurf]

The Bubble Bobble secrets were legendary. Those weren't fully uncovered until someone went in and decompiled the rom

[MrMarbles]

Good point - one of the many things I loved about Goldeneye was the huge number and variety of options unlocked after completing a level in a certain time - hidden weapons, paintball mode etc.

The problem with these is that they all need testing in every possible configuration on every single level in every single instance.

And when today's games can barely get out onto the shelves without needing a day one patch, it seems there just doesn't seem to be the QA resources to make such cheats a possibility.

In other news, my personal favourite "secret" was the unlocking of an entire untouched mountainside to carve my way through after 100%-ing SSX on the PS2, complete with Hybrid's Finished Symphony as an accompanying soundtrack.

To have such an open slope to explore after playing an entire game of being confined to marked pistes was a revelation.