You might not know this, but not all video game themes have Easter eggs. These are always great, but some shows, like Devil May Cry or Castlevania, aren’t very good at them. But games in the Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and Metal Gear Solid series have a lot of hidden items and Easter eggs to find.
You can always find something new in these games, even if you’ve played them a lot. One reason older players really like these games, especially Metal Gear Solid 3, is because of this. These can be references to other Konami games, jokes that show up over and over in the series, strange moments, or characters who come back out of the blue.
Johnny
Johnny is a pretty funny character who shows up in all three of the first Metal Gear Solid games. A lot of his funny stuff is dirty, but a lot of it is also how silly it is that he’s in every game. In MGS1, Johnny isn’t a secret, but he is in the two sequels. Johnny shows up again in the Big Shell incident in two hidden places that you can only hear if you use the directional microphone.
By far, his part in MGS3 is the funniest. After the Volgin torture scene, you can talk to him in a secret story where he tells you that all of his kids are named Johnny. That Johnny in this story is actually the grandfather of the Johnny in the first two movies, which is hilariously ridiculous.
Hideo Kojima Cameo
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Metal Gear is the work of Hideo Kojima, who is one of the most famous game designers of all time. He shows up in a few Easter egg moments throughout the games. The two most well-known are in Peace Walker and Phantom Pain, where he is a recruitable partner.
His hidden entrance in Metal Gear Solid 1 is the best, though. Hideo will thank you during the Psycho Mantis boss fight if you have save data from the PS1 versions of Snatcher and Policenauts. This only happens in the Japanese build. It was really cool, and developers didn’t often do things like this. This Easter egg is easier to find than ever before thanks to the Master Collection, which lets you play in any area.
Mei Ling
Mei Ling was one of the stronger characters in the first Solid game. She saved your game data and was very friendly, often telling you Chinese proverbs. She is in MGS2, even though she doesn’t show up in real life. You have to save 13 times in the Tanker part, which is rare since the Tanker is so short.
When you save for the thirteenth time, you’ll see Snake, Otacon, and Mei Ling talking in a secret language. You would not have thought Mei Ling would show up here, which makes this a really cool secret. Even now, these kinds of appearances are pretty rare.
Silent Hill 3
There are a lot of links between Metal Gear and Silent Hill. Both have contributions by Donna Burke, both are Konami games, and there are a few SH Easter eggs throughout the Metal Gear series. One that many people might not know about is an Easter egg from Silent Hill that you can find in Metal Gear Solid 3.
There is a room in the Graniny Gorki building with drawings that look like they belong in Silent Hill 3. You can find these in SH3’s Chapel area. One of them is even Alessa Gillespie, who was a big part of the first few SH games. Some might say that Konami is just reusing assets without thinking, but if fans can figure it out, it leads to a fun Easter egg that they will enjoy.
Guy Savage
Guy Savage is the most mysterious secret in Metal Gear history. You can find him in the PS2 versions of Metal Gear Solid 3. You have to save your game and then load that save again after the torture scene. The next thing you’ll do is play a short minigame where you control a guy with two blades and kill a bunch of zombies.
They put a lot of work into this short scene, which is completely strange. It’s the only thing like it in the game. It was said that this would be made into its own game in the future, but that plan was scrapped. No matter what, this nightmare scene is crazy.
Controller Swap
There are a lot of references to the first Metal Gear Solid game in Metal Gear Solid 4. The Psycho Mantis boss fight is one of the most famous parts of MGS1. At the time, it was mind-blowing, and it’s still one of the best times a gamer broke the fourth wall. In Metal Gear Solid 4, there is a boss called Screaming Mantis that is similar and can be hard to beat.
To beat Psycho Mantis, you had to switch the controller ports, so many people would try this again. This doesn’t work, though, and you’ll have a very funny talk with Otacon because of it. Some people might not even know how to switch joystick ports on the PS3, so this is a nice touch.
Card Swipe
It’s not easy to find this Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker secret. Like in many other Metal Gear games, you’ll have to get out of jail at some point. There are several ways to do this. But you have to earn one of them from the last task. After Main Op 19, there is a long QTE process that you have to press 14 times in a row.
You’re not going to pass this because you only have a very short time to press the buttons. The best thing to do is to remember it all. You can get Strangelove’s ID card if you follow the whole script. You can use this to open the jail door and get out, or you can use it to open other rooms and free prisoners. A cool prize for making it through the tough QTE part.
Silent Hills
One of the most well-known canceled games of all time is Kojima’s Silent Hills. The simplicity of PT, a usable test that is no longer on the PlayStation Store, had a big effect on the horror genre. Even though Silent Hills had already been canceled by the time Phantom Pain came out, it’s nice to see that an Easter egg from Silent Hills was still there.
A radio can be found in a tent in the African part of Funny Shooter 2. It plays the family murder story from PT. Thanks to this egg, one cool thing about that game is still alive after all these years. It looks like PT and Silent Hills will never come back, but at least there’s a radio show to remember them by.
Bring Quiet Back
When the main story of The Phantom Pain is over, you will no longer be able to use Quiet. This is a problem because she can be very helpful on some tasks, especially when they are S-ranked. There is a way to get Quiet back, though.
Quiet is the boss in Mission 11, and you have to beat it seven times while always leaving her alone. If you run Quiet seven times, you can use it again. This is a very smart move by the creators. It would have been very upsetting if she was gone forever because you can’t use her for the tasks she’s good at.
Paz
Many people have problems with Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain‘s story, but everyone agreed that the secret Paz plot was great. For some reason, Paz is hidden in a room in Mother Base’s hospital bay. You need to find her on your own.
There’s not much to find in Mother Base, so most people won’t have a reason to look around. However, this area works perfectly. When you go back to see Paz many times, you’ll realize it was all a dream because Paz really did die in Ground Zeroes. That’s a really powerfully moving moment, helped by some great music. MGS5 needed more of these kinds of moments.