Minor Things in Games That Are Super Cool

[Chin of Campbell]

Sometimes there are certain things in a game that just make you smile with how much work was put into it for such a small payoff. The kind of thing that, even years later, people say "Hey, remember X? That was cool.", despite the fact that it's an incredibly minor and unimportant part of the game.



Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has an enemy called the Rezbit. It's an uncommon foe that only appears in the final third of the game, in Sanctuary Fortress. This enemy, while possessing many fairly mundane attacks such as projectiles and a deflector shield, is unique in that it can infect Samus's Power Suit with a virus. The virus reduces your framerate to PowerPoint levels immediately, filling your screen with garbage text and finally prompting you to reboot your system with a simple button combination.

Although the Prime games are somewhat famous for the effects your environment have on Samus's Visor (your screen), this is the only time a direct attack is made on your interface. It's a really cool little sequence that makes me wish they had done more things along those lines.

Are there any incredibly minor things like this that you remember in your favorite games? Cool little tidbits that have a lot of work put into them, or even easter eggs you'll never forget?

 

[007Eleven]

In Ultimate Spider-Man (the game) after beating Shocker in a boss fight he becomes just a regular enemy that can be found around the city just reinforcing how shitty Shocker is.

 

[Super Shiro]

This was probably the biggest jump scare in the game when I first played this.

 

[Testacles Maximus]

The hidden NPC in Elden Ring.

 

[Chin of Campbell]

In Ultimate Spider-Man (the game) after beating Shocker in a boss fight he becomes just a regular enemy that can be found around the city just reinforcing how shitty Shocker is.

I remember thinking this was some kind of weird bug when I was younger, lol. That game was badass, wish they gave Venom more to do.

 

[007Eleven]

I remember thinking this was some kind of weird bug when I was younger, lol. That game was badass, wish they gave Venom more to do.

Had the same experience as a kid, thought it was so weird. Hope Eddie Brock's Venom gets another proper video game treatment in my lifetime.

 

[modern horrors]

I like it when in FPS's you can gib enemies with non-explosive weapons.

 

[eatler]

most of CODs easter eggs that were from finest hour to black ops 2 were some of my most memerable and favorates. although my favorite OG COD doesnt have many easter eggs except one of the tanks has a Mario star in the nintendo version.(unless stuarts actually have that)

WAW had that really cool easter egg, you can get a ray gun on little resistance if you jump in all 3 of the puddles from right to left.


also finest hour had some pretty cool easter eggs

 

[Jason Wynn]

Two Worlds 2 was generally a pretty shit sequel to a very shitty game, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the magic system and all the fun experimentation you could do with it.

 

[Pizza Time]

Things behind waterfalls. I don't care what it is, I'm always happy when there's something there and always disappointed when there isn't.

 

[Snakebottom]

Tits. I like tits. Big bouncing jiggly tits. The more the better. Put them on a woman, a man, a 50 foot sludge demon, I don’t care, just give me tits with realistic jiggle physics and your game is complete.

 

[Weltraumfürst]

Character models changing as you progress through the game. Spec Ops and the Arkham games did this pretty well, really showing the wear and tear the characters go through as the story progresses. They wanted to do something similar with Warhammer Online, where your character model would change as you leveled up. Orks would get bigger, dwarves would grow longer beards, etc. Not sure if they ever implemented that feature, but it was a cool idea.

This also applies to weapon upgrades. Sure, Bioshock guns get completely ridiculous, but God damn, do you get the feeling of getting stronger.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Mew in Pokemon gen 1, just knowing there was a secret Pokemon you could only get through special events was a really cool idea, even if I never got one officially myself. Trying to find alternative ways like the truck myth made it even more special.

I was pretty intrigued by being able to look up Peach's dress to see her panties in Melee, that was a neat secret...

Earthbound is full of these types of things. Finding weird one-off items that are kinda useful that you hold onto solely because they're unique (like Pair of Dirty Socks) or just having the Bubble Monkey as your companion for a short while.

In fact, temporary party members in general mare really command memorable in JRPGs. FF6 let you add a Ghost to your team briefly, I liked that. FF9 had a bunch, iirc.

 

[Womble of Wimbledon]

Being able to get super fat/completely jacked by either eating burgers or working out in GTA: San Andreas was the most awesome feature when I played it for the first time. It's really disappointing games have so rarely included that mechanic since, especially GTA games!

 

[Weltraumfürst]

Being able to get super fat/completely jacked by either eating burgers or working out in GTA: San Andreas was the most awesome feature when I played it for the first time. It's really disappointing games have so rarely included that mechanic since, especially GTA games!

I would go a step further and say that a certain life sim elements can really enhance certain types of games. I liked how RDR2 handled this, with eating, smoking and drinking.

 

[Weltraumfürst]

Double post, but I also like three way battles in which two enemy factions fight each other. Examples that come to mind are Half-Life, with the military also fighting the aliens, and World of WarCraft, where you could see scourge mobs fighting the Legion at the sunwell. It's just something that adds to the immersion and drives home the point that you're just part of a larger world.

 

[Asian tech support]

The Nemesis system in the Shadow of Mordor games is really cool. It's gay as shit that they patented it, whatever that means, because there are a good few games that have come out since that would have benefitted from such a system. I always thought it'd have been sweet in CP2077 if you could climb the ranks of one of the gangs and cause turf wars and maybe other gangs would start to fling cyberpsychos at you. The city as it is feels empty once you take out most of the trash. Something like that would make it way more dynamic.

Edit: the Nemesis system isn't that minor so here's another one. Both Lies of P and the new Lords of the Fallen have a little indicator on your HUD's souls counter for when you have enough to level up. It's a nice touch and I hope it becomes standard for those types of games going forward.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Since it's not been mentioned. Metal Gear Solid 3 has a boss fight with an old man. If you save the game, wait two weeks in real time (or change the system clock) he dies of old age.

Another classic that might not count, but the sanity effects in Eturnal Darkness are mostly silly, but some must have been a lot of work for what amounts to a 5 second easter egg or a single jump scare.

Alpha Protocol is a game made up of these. There's so many minor choices that the game acknowledges, like if you kill random guys or just knock them out. Let an arms dealer get away so you can tail him means you get extra intel, but enemies have better guns. You can buy dossiers on various NPCs. The game tracks this, so you can use certain minor information in dialogue trees to your advantage.

Character models changing as you progress through the game. Spec Ops and the Arkham games did this pretty well, really showing the wear and tear the characters go through as the story progresses.

Death By Degrees does this as well. She even changes outfits throughout the game.

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Since it's not been mentioned. Metal Gear Solid 3 has a boss fight with an old man. If you save the game, wait two weeks in real time (or change the system clock) he dies of old age.

Another classic that might not count, but the sanity effects in Eturnal Darkness are mostly silly, but some must have been a lot of work for what amounts to a 5 second easter egg or a single jump scare.

Alpha Protocol is a game made up of these. There's so many minor choices that the game acknowledges, like if you kill random guys or just knock them out. Let an arms dealer get away so you can tail him means you get extra intel, but enemies have better guns. You can buy dossiers on various NPCs. The game tracks this, so you can use certain minor information in dialogue trees to your advantage.


Death By Degrees does this as well. She even changes outfits throughout the game.

So did Prince of Persia '03.

 

[ProfDongs]

Getting rewarded for encounters that you're meant to lose or run away from. Demon's Souls has the Vanguard in the tutorial area you can beat to get some souls, healing items and crafting material as well as an extra scene where your character is killed. RE3 has Nemesis dropping great weapon parts for his non mandatory fights and sometimes healing items.

Two from Shadow of the Colossus, one is all the gimmick items from clearing the time trials, stuff like the parachute/glider and the harpoons were really cool even if they didn't do much. The other is the Secret Garden at the top of the tower, you need 2-3 playthroughs worth of stamina and really need to manage your movement to be able to endure the climb just to see this little place with no actual rewards.