Protect Ring Side-Quest [FF9]
It took a very long time for western fans to discover a completely obscure late-game side-quest in Final Fantasy 9. It’s all about talking to people after certain events on Disc 4 — once you reach the Tantalus Hideout, you’ll be able to return after certain story events. Different members of the Nero Family will be looking for each other, and it all culminates in a Protect Ring reward.
FF9 isn’t a tiny game. This is a hugely popular release, so the fact that this seemingly minor side-quest went undiscovered for so long is pretty surprising. But, the side-quest is detailed in the Japanese Ultimania Guide, so really this secret was only unknown to us pathetic westerners.
The First Easter Egg Ever? [Spitfire]
Most of us have probably never heard of the video game Spitfire. It’s a game on the Channel F — which is a console most of us have absolutely never heard of. This game released way back in 1977, and that makes it one of the earliest Easter eggs ever. The original video game Easter egg was from Adventure on the Atari, released in 1980. Spitfire beats that by a few years.
The secret was shared by RT-55J on SelectButton.Net, and it is ridiculous. It’s literally just a credits screen, but you’ll have to input a secret button, then input a 48 button passcode. It’s all completely random, and for nothing much at all — no wonder it went undiscovered for decades. Still, this is a pretty historically significant find. We might have a new first Easter egg on our hands.
Get more secrets and Easter eggs it took us years to discover on the next page.
