Games invent worlds with rules, and in these worlds, secrets are magic. Tricks and codes are the perfect way to appendage value to a game without having to mess with the basic flow of it. Easter eggs about as old as gaming itself, adding intrigue and establishing a playful line of communication between player and designer. The most fun secrets lead to unlocked game elements, rewarding you for your hard work playing (or looking up codes) with new tools and functions, but the best of those are the unlocked characters. The examples below show three famous badass unlocked characters, each accessible in totally different ways, each interacting with the player in different ways as well.

1. Minion (Twisted Metal 2)

With six massive tires and the firepower of a small battalion, Minion was fitting as a final boss. As much as running for your life to avoid being crushed was fun, playing as Minion was even better. It was the perfect kind of thing to unlock after having worked through the game. There’s always been something fair and nice about being able to use/acquire that which you defeat in games, and Minion’s a perfect example.

Special Abilities

• Can crush other cars
• Powerful machine guns
• Heavily armored

How to Unlock

Press L1, Up, Down, Left at the vehicle selection screen.

2. Reptile (Mortal Kombat)

As the first unlockable/secret character in a fighting game, Reptile was the ultimate in mystery ninja cool. Scorpion and Subzero had their own thing going, and then this weird green guy would pop out every now and then with rather cheeseball clues as to how to find him. I liked that there was yet another ninja in the game, but it did seem like just another example of palette swap laziness (at least, until later on in the series when he was made more lizardish). Overall, though, it spiced things up. With a secret unlockable riddle-giving ninja character, how can you go wrong, really? Only a hidden in the first Mortal Kombat, his popularity earned him a real spot in the lineup for subsequent games in the series. Later hidden characters in Mortal Kombat world include Smoke, Jade, Noob Saibot, and others, but Reptile really started it all.

The ninja color-swap precedent established by the ninja turtles is to blame.

Special Abilities

• Can spit acid
• Can throw forceballs (projectiles)
• Fatality: Exposing his lizard face, then tearing off his opponent’s head with his tongue and eating it

How to Unlock

In single player mode, wait until a shadow covers the moon in The Pit stage, and win two flawless victory rounds. You’ll fight Reptile in the pit below.

3. Sheng Long (Street Fighter II)

As the story went, Sheng Long was the former teacher to both Ken and Ryu. Electronic Gaming Monthly, in their April 1992 issue, played an April Fools joke on their readers, claiming that you could fight him in the arcade version, but only under very specific and nearly impossible circumstances. The hoax was a huge success, with players all over the world dumping loads of quarters into the local coin-op to be the guy who pulls it off. Sheng Long’s legacy inspired the character Akuma, who appeared in later games in the Street Fighter series. While it’s maybe a bit unfair to put him in place of an actual unlockable character, that the joke was pulled off so well earns a spot in history.

Special Abilities

• Can use all the abilities of all the other characters
• Flaming dragon punch (before Ken got it in later versions)

How to Unlock

The full description’s in the pic below, but basically, you had to go through the entire game without getting hit once, then spar with the final boss for 10 rounds without either of you hitting each other. As if!

Tags: video games