Lets talk about Easter Eggs….in video games of course!
It’s Easter, a holiday that started out as a Pagan Spring holiday before turning Christian, then becoming corporate with a rabbit that hides eggs or some shit. When people talk about Easter Eggs, us gamers usually think about the video game term “Easter Egg.” What’s the difference, you ask? Basically, Easter Eggs are hidden things put in video games by the developers. They first started out as hidden messages or pictures, but over the years they’ve taken on the old school RPG spirit by becoming full missions, sometimes with in-game rewards. Some of the more famous Easter Eggs can be found in the Call of Duty franchise in the Zombies mode. You can see a number of those in my Call of Duty Zombies Playlist on YouTube.
What’s my favorite Easter Egg of all time? That’s easy, it’s finding Mew in Pokemon Red, Blue, or Yellow! Mew was the very first ultra-rare Pokemon. The only way you could get this extremely rare Pokemon was at select Nintendo events. You had to bring your gameboy with a Pokemon Red, Blue, or Yellow cartridge. Nintendo would then link up to your gameboy (link cables were used back in the day) and send Mew to your game. It was sort of DLC before DLC became a thing.
Throughout the years, many rumors were passed around about finding Mew somewhere in the game. Some common rumors were beating the Pokemon League 100 times, finding Mew somewhere in the S.S. Anne, and finding Mew behind a truck near the S.S. Anne. After a long while, an Easter Egg was discovered that actually allowed you to find and capture Mew in the game. There were a number of steps you had to do in order to get it, of course:
- Do not battle the Youngster Pokemon Trainer on Route 25 (North of Cerulean City). This kid has a Slowpoke. He is the fourth trainer after the “Nugget Bridge” that was staring upward.
- Do not battle the Gambler Pokemon Trainer on Route 8 (West of Lavender Town). This guy had a two Poliwags and a Poliwhirl. He was the last trainer to the west that was staring upward towards the Underground Passage house.
- Obtain HM02 Fly and teach it to a Pokemon. It’s best to have a lower leveled Pokemon that knows a Status Ailment attack on your team. Make sure you have some Great or Ultra Balls in your bag before attempting the Easter Egg.
- Go to Route 8 and stand in front of the Underground Passage’s door. Make sure you save before doing any other steps. Take one step south and immediately pause your game. Use a Pokemon that knows Fly to reach Cerulean City. If you did this right, the Gambler will see you (!), but he won’t be able to challenge you to a battle since you flew away.
- Walk north to Route 24 and 25. You will need to battle the Youngster Pokemon Trainer with the Slowpoke that is looking upward. Make sure you are walking up against the North wall so the trainer walks towards you, or else your game will freeze up. Defeat the trainer and fly to Lavender Town.
- From Lavender Town, walk West to Route 8. Your pause menu will pop up after a few steps. Close the pause menu and you will immediately be thrown into battle with mew! Mew will be at level 7 with the Pound attack. Drop his HP a bit and give him a Status Ailment (Paralysis or Sleep is best), then catch him as quickly as possible!
And that is my favorite Video Game Easter Egg of all time. I know, I’m a huge Pokemon freak. Tell me, what is your favorite Video Game Easter Egg?