10 Mind-Blowing Secret Multiplayer Modes In Games

The Only Way To Play As Bass [Mega Man 7]

There’s an entire Versus Mode in Mega Man 7. By inputting the code [1415 5585 7823 6251] and holding [L + R], you’d enter a character select menu. Now you can select different characters or Robot Masters to duke it out with a friend. This is very similar to the simplified fighting mode in recent games like Shovel Knight — but Shovel Knight didn’t hide their multiplayer mode behind a pretty obscure cheat code.

For the longest time, this was the only way to play as Mega Man’s new rival Bass — the black-clad successor to Protoman’s vacant throne. Bass would later become playable in Mega Man 10, but that’s many, many years into the future.

Play As Yorda Too [ICO]

ICO is all about holding hands. To lead the strange glowing girl Yorda away from danger, Ico holds her hand to complete the dangerous journey. It turns out you can stop all the hand-holding, because you can get a friend to play as Yorda, turning ICO into an early co-op puzzle game.

After completing the main story, this cooperative mode will unlock. Player 2 can control Yorda freely, making the game a whole lot easier for little Ico. She can help solve puzzle, follow you around, and avoid enemies a whole lot more effectively than the pretty primitive (by today’s standards) AI. I’ve played through this game multiple times, and even I forgot this mode existed.

Discover more well-hidden multiplayer modes in games we thought were singleplayer only on the next page.