Americans Turn to ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ for Some Foreboding Education on Tariffs

40 Imported Bits of Pop Culture Trivia That Are Well Worth the High Tariffs

23 Deep, Dark Rabbit Holes to Fall Down When You’re Bored

Why Does Seth MacFarlane Seem Frightened By ‘Family Guy’s Mega-Renewal?

‘The Naked Gun’ Reboot Trailer Really Made This O.J. Simpson Joke

30 Wild Facts About Legendary Video Games

Turns out, ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ was almost a rhythm game

30 Wild Facts About Legendary Video Games

September 03, 2023

Have you ever wondered how the term “Easter egg” came to describe secret features in video games? Well, you can thank a disgruntled Atari employee for that. Below, we take a look at the origin of the “Easter egg” and 29 other facts about video games we didn’t know about…

30

30 Wild Facts About Legendary Video Games — 13 Weird Workarounds Behind The Magic Of Fav Games

29

DUKE NUKEM 3D ...isn't actually 3D. In games based on the Build engine, maps are made up of 2D sectors with different adidas floor and ceiling heights (and sometimes slopes). However, tricks are used to overcome the limitations of this. ...and be inconspicuously teleported somewhere else in the map to land in the lower room. For example, you could fall down a shaft... CRACKED.COM — 31 Design Tricks Behind Famous Video Games (You Can't Unsee)

28

GEOMETRY WARS STARTED AS AN ANALOG STICK TEST. While working on the Xbox prototype hardware, the developers of Project Gotham Racing encountered issues with the analog sticks on the controller. They decided to make a test app in order to find a fix for the problem and input it into Project Gotham Racing. This test app ended up becoming Geometry Wars. CRACKED.COM — 29 Video Game Features With Just Bonkers Backstories

27

STREET FIGHTER II WAS GOING TO BE SET ON A DESERTED ISLAND. 727-3 ning 627-= 527-5 427-5 that STREET FRENER An early idea was that the player had to make his way to the top of the island, fighting characters in order along the way. (If you ever played the game, you know this never happened.) CRACKED.COM — Insert Credit (via archive.org)

26

TLOZ's dev team were credited under pseudonyms. THANKS LINK, YOU' RE THE HERO OF HYRULE. FINALLY, PEACE RETURNS TO HYRULE. THIS ENDS THE STORY. CRACKED.COM Nintendo wanted to make sure competitors couldn't poach them, so all the names in the credits are fake. Shigeru Miyamoto is credited as S. Miyahon. — 14 Behind-The-Scenes Zelda Facts

25

John Romero posed for the cover illustration. DOCK A model was hired for reference photos, but the guy couldn't manage to look like he was fending off demons. Frustrated, Romero took his shirt off and grabbed the prop gun to show the illustrator what he wanted. Or, as Romero puts it himself, I AM THE DOOMGUY. CRACKED.COM — Rome.ro

24

Game makers created a government body to oversee video game censorship. EARLY CHILDHOOD EVERYONE EVERYONE 10+ TEEN ® a . T . E ec E CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY ESRB ESRB ESRB ESRB MATURE 17+ ADULTS ONLY 18+ RATING PENDING M ® A RP CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY ESRB ESRB ESRB CRACKED.COM Working with Congress in the 90s, they created the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which makes the black and white letters on game cases most people ignore. — Wired

23

... TELL US NOW. Tapper Budweiser CRACKED Kent K. recalls this blatant Budweiser ad, where the bartender held up a can of Budweiser and said 'This Bud's for you. — Tell Us Now: 20 Blatant Examples Of Product Placement In Video Games

22

BEHIND-THE-SCENESPACTS PARAS' ORIGINAL NAME WAS A LOT DARKER. CRACKED.COM Paras, and its evolution Parasect, are based on insects that have been infected by a fungus called Massospora, which eventually take over their brains and motor functions. Early promotional material for the game gives Paras a name in direct response to this relationship: Parasyte. — IGN

21

30 Wild Facts About Legendary Video Games — 12 Glitches That Are The Best Part Of The Game

20

Crash Bandicoot 2

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back CRACKED COM A death animation that shows Crash getting crushed into a wobbling head/feet abomination was removed from the Japanese version. Around that time, a Japanese serial killer had left a severed head and a pair of shoes as kind of a gruseome calling card. — 15 Video Games That Had To Change Bizarre Details (In Different Countries)

19

GRACKED.COM Every named character you kill in the Assassin's Creed series is a real historical person, died in the right year in the right location. Think about that next time you stab somebody in the heart. You could be killing your own great-great-grandfather. — 21 Easter Eggs In Classic Video Games

18

2 WiiFit x Balance Board CRACKED.COM This revolutionary exercise tool for Nintendo's best-selling console now mainly gives a workout to the Goodwill employees who have to move them around the store. — Polygon

17

ADVENTURE The first Easter egg was created by a disgruntled + Atari employee. ADVENTURE معر VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM GAME PROGRAM 3 GAMES VIDEO THREE SKOD LEVELS ONE PLAYER SALE created Warren Robinett, the programmer on Adventure, knew he wouldn't get credit for his work. So he created a secret room with his name written on the floor. By the time it was discovered, the games had hit the shelves. Atari decided to tell people it was a hidden feature, and coined the term Easter egg. CRACKED.COM — 21 Games We Grew Up On (With Weird Backstories)

16

Iji has an end-game weapon that ends the game. CRACKED.COM Unlike most weapons and powerups you get for completing a game 100%, the Null Driver in Iji tends to break the whole experience when it's used. As you fire the end-game weapon, glitches occur, replacing the tiled background with art assets from earlier portions of the game, until it's impossible to move on. The only way to get rid of the weapon is to quit the game. — TV Tropes

15

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM 241 PERFECT CRACKED GOM Batman: Arkham Asylum was going to turn into a colorful, 2D rhythm game whenever a fight would start. Developers said they wanted the fights to feel choreographed but with the player in complete control, which isn't SO different from how the final game turned out, minus the colorful notes flying up the screen. — 6 Baffling Early Prototypes of Your Favorite Video Games

14

METAL GEAR SOLID V GAVE AWAY ITS ENTIRE PLOT WITH THE SONG IN ITS TRAILER. CRACKED.COM The lyrics of Garbage's Not Your Kind of People acts as a huge plot synopsis, including Big Boss rebuilding his army, a plot against English speakers, and Big Boss actually being a medic in disguise. — 5 Clever Song Lyrics That Foreshadow Big Movie Moments

13

FALLOUT 3 TURNS THE PLAYER INTO + A TRAIN. Since it would be too complicated to create a functioning train system, the developers decided to turn the train into an armor piece. When you start the train, the game equips a train hat on your character, which gives the appearance of a moving, functioning train. GRACKED COM — 13 Weird Workarounds Behind The Magic Of Fav Games

40 Imported Bits of Pop Culture Trivia That Are Well Worth the High Tariffs

40 Influential Bits of Trivia That Your Brain Will Surely Add to Its Favorites

40 Hard-Nosed Bits of Trivia That Can Get Into Your Brain the Easy Way or the Hard Way

12 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia We Fished Out of a Dumpster With Our Little Raccoon Hands

58 of the Funniest Tweets from the Month of March 2025

40 Random Trivia Bits That Weave Into A Beautiful Movies, TV, And Pop-Culture Tapestry

12

The Donkey Kong 64 development team encountered a bug that would cause the game to crash, and eventually discovered that using a memory expansion kept the crashes from occurring. DONMEY KOHO64 So instead of fixing the bug, they bundled the memory expansion with the game for free. It was either very brilliant or just plain old lazy. GRACKED COM — 31 Design Tricks Behind Famous Video Games (You Can't Unsee)

11

: CRACKED.COM EXPLORERS' CLUB ACTIVISION CHOPPER N COMMANDOS E W S THE ACTIVISI BUCKET BR ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED Patch Adams Video game achievements started out as real-world merit badges. Fans of early Activision games could take a picture of their high scores and mail it to the company. Activision would then send them a patch that highlighted their accomplishment. Eventually, this method of showing off was digitally incorporated into the games and gaming platforms themselves, thus morphing into the achievements we waste our precious free time over today. — 29 Video Game Features With Just Bonkers Backstories

10

Street Fighter

STREET FIGHTER II SHAMELESSLY RIPS OFF MOVIES. STREET FRIGHTER Capcom's CEO told designer Akira Yasuda to take inspiration from movies ... so Yasuda just went and plagiarized them. Notably, several stages were lifted from 1975's Hard Times - known in Japan as The Street Fighter. CRACKED.COM — 5 Famous Games Inspired By The Most Absolutely Random Things

9

Miyamoto giveth, and Miyamoto taketh away (Link's sword). IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS. CRACKED.COM Miyamoto found that when players were equipped with the sword from the start, they took it for granted, and slashed their way through areas that were meant to be tutorials. So he made them earn it by navigating the first cave area without it. — 14 Behind-The-Scenes Zelda Facts

8

The Icon of Sin exists because there wasn't time to create a new boss. DODM The new enemies in Doom // were easy - they were either based on other enemies, or made for the first Doom but unused. A boss is a different thing, so level designer Sandy Petersen thought of just hanging a demon texture on a wall and releasing the game on time. CRACKED.COM — Donanım Günlüğü

7

Borderlands made a science-assisting shit-sorting mini-game. BORDERL ANDS New Mission Discovered Borderlands Science! Track Mission - THIS The Case of Wohnwight Jokoba Co to The Eye Wir HAZ BORDERLANDS ARD SCIENCE COULD CRACKED.COM The Borderlands 3 puzzle game Borderlands Science, which used DNA from feces as puzzle pieces, allowed gamers to provide scientists with important microbial information. — Borderlands Science

6

... TELL US NOW. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Hut GRACKED Alec G. says this arcade game -- which was very likely already being played inside of a Pizza Hut - - had Pizza Hut signs throughout the whole game. — Tell Us Now: 20 Blatant Examples Of Product Placement In Video Games

5

BEHIND-THE-SCENES SFACTS THE FLYING TYPE WAS GOING TO BE MUCH MORE SPECIFIC. GRACKED.COM During development, Bird type was meant to be attributed to airborne Pokémon, but was later changed to Flying. You can still see this in the game's code, with the glitch character Missingno. being part Bird and part Normal. — Screenrant

4

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door M CRACKED.COM The character Vivian was actually a male in the original Japanese version. But, because he smooches Mario, the North American version had to be a lady. — 15 Video Games That Had To Change Bizarre Details (In Different Countries)

3

In Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic, there is a hidden room: Homer Simpson's office at the nuclear power plant. SECTOR 7-G HERPONS IDU HEALTH ARMOR HEYS ВИНО 12/200 5: 0/50 8: 0/99 100 0 0/50 6: 0/50 9: 0/10 48 CRACKED.COM بيرياي 48/200 1: 0/50 0 0/99 — 21 Easter Eggs In Classic Video Games

2

ATOMIC BOMBERMAN Atomic Bomberman almost had a really + filthy mouth. EAT MY DUST AND LICK MY CRACK. 11 I'LL BREAK YOUR TIME FOR A F#CKIN' HEAD WITH F#CKIN' DIRTNAP, A RATCHET. YOU SH!TF#CK. WOULD YOU GUYS KNOCK OFF THIS MACHO SH!T AND HA! YOU'RE HURRY UP? F#CKED! The disk contains voice tracks for a number of seriously nasty exclamations, all done in the voices of the characters. They weren't incorporated into the game, but the unused tracks were there. CRACKED.COM — 21 Games We Grew Up On (With Weird Backstories)

1

Neo: The World Ends With You

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Movies & TV

Bill Burr Calls Out ‘Weak’ Journalists for Lacking Balls

Movies & TV

Five Sitcoms That Introduced a New Cute Kid When the Original Cute Kid Got Too Old

Movies & TV

Ted Danson Says He Turned ‘Cheers’ Into A Pissing Contest When Woody Harrelson Signed On

Science & History

20 Supposed ‘Rags to Riches’ Stories That Aren’t True

Movies & TV

14 Shameless (or Successful) Attempts to Spin a Commercial Into a Whole Franchise

Movies & TV

‘South Park’ Fans Are Worried That the New Season Will Already Be Dated by the Time It Comes Out

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

21 Brilliant Acting Moments That Took You By Surprise

2

17 Celebrity Vanity Projects That Imploded Gloriously

3

‘The Naked Gun’ Reboot Trailer Really Made This O.J. Simpson Joke

4

25 Animals That Will Haunt Your Dreams

5

27 Pranks By Famous People We’re Glad We Weren’t on the Other End Of