When gamers boot up Minecraft, they're greeted by the game's logo and a piece of yellow splash text designed to make players crack a smile. More than a few of these randomly chosen splashes contain references to pop culture or Minecraft itself, but one in particular found by Redditor u/AsgerMN2 references an infamous moment in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The splash in question reads "Follow the train, CJ!" and refers to the infamous "Wrong Side of the Tracks" mission wherein protagonist Carl "C.J." Johnson, a hardened gangster who's been framed for murder, must drive a motorcycle alongside a moving train. While he's doing that, the guy in the passenger seat, Big Smoke, is shooting at several rival gangsters hiding out on the train's roof. Unfortunately, between poor explanations of what gamers need to do, Big Smoke's poor aim, and the PC and PS2 ports being affected by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' dated controls, the mission is well known for being unnecessarily difficult.
Minecraft has referenced many other games over the years, of course, and this splash isn't exactly new--players have been discussing it and uploading screenshots since at least 2011. It's still worth drawing attention to, especially with rumors of a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas remaster in the works. Whether or not these rumors pan out, the game remains a classic in the genre and is considered by many gamers to be timeless despite its dated graphics and controls.
While it's unlikely that the game will remove this now rather dated reference from its list of possible splashes, Minecraft has fixed a minor anvil bug after eight years, so anything is possible. As the Grand Theft Auto franchise is alive and well, if the reference does end up being removed in favor of a newer and more recent meme, odds are good that it will be replaced with another Grand Theft Auto reference. The game could add something from Grand Theft Auto 5, perhaps, or even Grand Theft Auto 6 whenever information is released about it.
The many incredibly creative players of Minecraft are also hard at work creating increasingly complex and accurate references to other games, books, and TV shows, such as this stunning TARDIS replica that is larger on the inside. Much like the still-dedicated fans of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the Minecraft player base continues to make the game bigger, better, and more enjoyable for everyone. One might even call it timeless.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.