There's nothing players love more than finding secrets hidden in their favorite games. Over the years, video game fans have been quick to notice various Easter eggs placed in the game by the developers. Some of these Easter eggs reveal background about a game otherwise unknown to the casual player, while others are simply meant to entertain the finder.
Many Easter eggs found in games, especially more modern ones, make reference to other popular media outside the game's world. Many of these hidden secrets in games are references to popular movies, TV shows, historical events, or celebrities. These ten pop culture references in games are guaranteed to make the player who finds them laugh.
10 An Alternate Ending To Star Wars In Skyrim
Listing every pop culture reference in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would take weeks. Since its release in 2011, the game has been updated and ported onto almost every generation of consoles. As players explore the game's vast, open world, they're bound to find some secret Easter eggs hidden by clever developers.
One Easter egg in Skyrim can be found in Bleakcoast Cave, an icy cavern filled with frost trolls that players can encounter during a side-quest. A skeleton hangs from the cave's ceiling by its legs, a clear reference to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back. Skywalker is able to escape this danger in the film, though his Elder Scrolls counterpart seems to have suffered a worse fate.
9 The Beatles Live On In Nazi-Occupied America
Wolfenstein: The New Order and its sequel, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, are set in an alternate reality where Germany won World War II. Players must navigate a Nazi-occupied USA, trying to dismantle it from the inside. Like most alternate reality fiction, the game re-imagines several aspects of modern day life.
One aspect that doesn't change about this new world is the rise and popularity of British pop band The Beatles. In the Wolfenstein world, the Fab Four go by "Die Käfer." They even have a song featured in the game's soundtrack called "Mond, Mond, Ja, Ja", which translates to "Moon, moon, yes, yes."
8 Taylor Swift Helps Layton Solve A Mystery
The most recent installment in the Professor Layton franchise, Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy, finds Katrielle Layton, daughter of Professor Layton, on the hunt for her missing father. Along the way, she finds herself solving various mysteries, and meeting some unique and interesting characters.
One character is Mrs. Slow the Tailor, an old lady who appears several times. Obviously, her name is a play on Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Mrs. Slow's dialogue even includes several name-drops of Taylor Swift songs, such as "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "Sweeter Than Fiction."
7 A Will Smith-Inspired Testimony In Phoenix Wright
Phoenix Wright: Justice For All finds the titular lawyer in familiar territory: solving crimes and meeting a colorful cast of characters along the way. During the case "Turnabout Big Top," this is truer than ever as Phoenix and his sidekick Maya Fey investigate a local circus after its ringleader is murdered.
One circus clown, Moe, makes a big impact on the case with his testimony, though his introduction to the jury is quite humorous. Moe recites altered lyrics to the theme song of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Most players probably had a good laugh at seeing Moe describe his upbringing with "In West Clownadelphia, born and raised..."
6 Gob The Banana Steals The Show In Costume Quest
Costume Quest is a role-playing game released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2010. The game takes place on Halloween, and features many non-playable characters who are dressed for trick-or-treating. One of these characters, "Gob," references Will Arnett's character in the cult sitcom Arrested Development, which premiered in 2003.
Gob's appearance in Costume Quest finds him in a banana costume, referencing the Bluth family's banana stand that features heavily in the series. He also makes reference to one of Gob Bluth's catchphrases: "C'MON!" Fans of Arrested Development will definitely hear Will Arnett's voice in their heads when they encounter this character.
5 The Joker Ranting To Batman About LOST
Fans of the Batman franchise would agree that Mark Hamill's portrayal of the Joker is superior to any live-action iteration. Part of this reasoning is the amount of personality that Hamill brought to the role. This type of characterization adds a lot to the humor in a game like Batman: Arkham City.
During one sequence in the game, the Joker metaphorically asks Batman, "Would you be happy? Does it make sense? How come it all ended in a church?" This references the ending of the TV show LOST, which found its characters gathered in a church for the final moments. Funnily enough, this isn't the only reference to LOST's ending in the game, meaning the developers must've had a lot of questions — just like the rest of the show's audience.
4 An Unexpected Weapon Appears In Borderlands
Like Skyrim, the Borderlands franchise is another series filled with pop culture references. Among the various achievements, missions, and characters, there are references to movies, TV shows, and comic books. There's Hanz and Franz, a pair of bodyguards based on Saturday Night Live, and dialogue from Patricia Tannis referencing Doc Brown in Back to the Future.
Perhaps the most enjoyable pop culture reference in the game comes in a weapon players can obtain called "Boom Stick." This is a reference to the infamous shotgun wielded by Ash Williams in the horror movie Army of Darkness, the third installment in the cult Evil Dead franchise. Yes, that means that players can recreate Bruce Campbell's iconic moment in Borderlands: "This is my BOOM STICK!"
3 The Dekus Love The Bulls
The Legend of Zelda franchise is fairly scarce on pop culture references, though a few are very well hidden in the games. In the beloved Nintendo 64 installment of the series, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a very quick reference to basketball superstar Michael Jordan can be found hidden in dialogue.
A trio of Deku Scrubs serve as a mini-boss inside the Deku Tree temple, and must be defeated in a specific order. One Deku Scrub earlier in the temple informs players of the pattern (2, 3, 1) by exclaiming: "Twenty-three is number one!" This is a reference to Michael Jordan's jersey number, 23, when he played for the Chicago Bulls.
2 The Trial Of The Century Features In Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem 3D was released in 1996 for MS-DOS as the third installment of the controversial franchise. Duke Nukem was known for satirizing over-the-top action heroes, and featured risqué humor that made it stand out at the time. However, the series' violence was far from the boldest attempt at making its players laugh.
In one area of the game, players can encounter a TV screen that plays news footage of OJ Simpson's infamous car chase down the Los Angeles highway. By the time Duke Nukem 3D's release, the famed footballer had only been acquitted for murder a year before, meaning this was as timely a pop culture reference as it could be in 1996.
1 The Three Stooges Walk Into The Wrong Game
In what is possibly one of the oldest pop culture references in video game history, The Three Stooges for NES was definitely determined to make naive gamers laugh. The NES version, released in 1989, opens with the title screen of Ghostbusters II, playing the iconic franchise's theme song as Moe, Larry, and Curly enter and exclaim, "Hey, fellas! We're in the wrong game!"
Not only is this also an early example of voice acting in video games, but it also served as easy promotion for the Ghostbusters II video game, which would release a year later in 1990. In other non-Nintendo ports of the game, this same bit is included with the strategy game Defender of the Crown.