Easter

Contents
1 Origin
2 In the fandom or development team and differ from a debug room in that they
are specifically intended for the player to find. Some games even include hidden
minigames as Easter eggs. In the LucasArts game Day of the Tentacle (1993), the
original Maniac Mansion (1987) game can be played in its full version by using a
home computer in a character's room.[12][13]

Other Easter eggs originated unintentionally. The Konami Code, a type of cheat
code, became an intentional Easter egg in most games, but originated from Konami's
Gradius (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The programmer, Kazuhisa
Hashimoto, created the code as a means to rapidly debug the game by giving the
player's avatar additional health and powers to easily traverse the game. These
types of codes are normally removed from the game before it is shipped but, in the
case of Gradius, Hashimoto forgot to remove it and the code was soon discovered by
players. Its popularity inspired Konami to reuse the code and purposely retain it
for many of its future games as an Easter egg.[2][12][14]

Technical issues may also create unintentional Easter eggs. Jon Burton, founder of
Traveller's Tales, announced that many seemingly apparent Easter eggs in their Sega
Genesis games came about as a result of introducing programming tricks to get
around some of the difficulty they had in getting Sega's strict certification for
their games, catching any exceptions during execution to bring the game back to a
usable state as to pass certification. For example, hitting the side of the Sonic
3D Blast (1996) cartridge while it was slotted in the console would bring the game
back to the Level Select screen, which Burton explained was the default exception
handling for any unidentified processor error, such as when connectivity between
the cartridge and the console's microprocessor was temporarily lost.[15]

In computing[edit]
Software[edit]

Asking Google Maps for walking directions between fictional locations from The Lord
of the Rings produced this "Easter egg" response, quoting a character's warning
from the story.[16]
In computer software, Easter eggs are secret responses that occur as a result of an
undocumented set of commands. The results can vary from a simple printed message or
image to a page of programmer credits or a small video game hidden inside an
otherwise serious piece of software.

In the TOPS-10 operating system (for the DEC PDP-10 computer), the make command is
used to invoke the TECO editor to create a file. If given the file name argument
love, so that the command reads make love, it will pause and respond not war?
before creating the file.[17] This same behavior occurred on the RSTS/E operating
system, where TECO will provide this response.[citation needed] Other Unix
operating systems respond to "why" with "why not" (a reference to The Prisoner in
Berkeley Unix, 1977).[citation needed]

Some versions of the DEC OpenVMS operating system have concealed exit status codes,
including a reference to the Monty Python Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook skit; "exit
%xb70" returns the message "%SYSTEM-W-FISH, my hovercraft is full of eels" while
"exit %x34b4" returns a reference to an early Internet meme: "%SYSTEM-F-GAMEOVER,
All your base are belong to us".[18]

Many personal computers have much more elaborate eggs hidden in ROM, including
lists of the developers' names, political exhortations, snatches of music, or
images of the entire development team. Easter eggs in the 1997 version of Microsoft
Office include a hidden flight simulator in Microsoft Excel and a pinball game in
Microsoft Word.[19][20] Since 2002, Microsoft does not allow any hidden or
undocumented code as part of its trustworthy computing initiative.[21]

The Debian operating system's package tool apt-get has an Easter egg involving an
ASCII cow when variants on apt-get moo are typed into the shell.[22][23][24]

An Easter egg is found on all Microsoft Windows operating systems before XP. In the
3D Text screen saver, entering the text "volcano" would display the names of all
the volcanoes in the United States. Microsoft removed this Easter egg in XP but
added others.[25] Microsoft Excel 95 contained a hidden action game similar to Doom
(1993) called The Hall of Tortured Souls.[26]

Easter eggs in Google Android OS

The Google search engine famously contains many Easter eggs, given to the user in
response to certain search queries. For example, Google Maps once responded to a
request for directions from New York City to Tokyo by telling the user to kayak
across the Pacific Ocean.[27]

Steve Jobs banned Easter eggs from Apple products upon his return to the company.
[28]

The first Easter egg to appear after his death was in a 2012 update to the Mac App
Store for OS X Mountain Lion, in which downloaded apps were temporarily timestamped
as "January 24, 1984", the date of the sales launch of the original Macintosh.[28]

Hardware[edit]
While computer-related Easter eggs are often found in software, occasionally they
exist in hardware or firmware of certain devices. On some home computers the BIOS
ROM contains Easter eggs. Notable examples include some errant 1993 AMI BIOS that
on November 13, 1993, proceeded to play "Happy Birthday" via the PC speaker
repeatedly instead of booting,[29] as well as several early Apple Macintosh models
that had pictures of the development team in the ROM. These Mac Easter eggs were
well-publicized in the Macintosh press at the time[30] along with the means to
access them, and were later recovered by an NYC Resistor team, a hacker collective,
through elaborate reverse engineering.[31][32] Similarly, the Radio Shack Color
Computer 3's ROM contains code which displays what looks like three Microware
developers on a Ctrl+Alt+Reset keypress sequence�a hard reset which discards any
information currently in RAM.[33]

Several oscilloscopes contain Easter eggs. One example is the HP 54600B, known to
have a Tetris (1984) clone,[34] and the HP 54622D contains an imitation of the
Asteroids (1979) game named Rocks.[35] Another is the Tektronix 1755A Vector and
Waveform Monitor which displays swimming fish when Remote>Software version is
selected on the CONFIG menu.[36]

In the second and third hardware revision of the Minolta Dynax/Maxxum/Alpha 9 SLR
camera, including all SSM/ADI upgraded cameras, an undocumented button sequence can
be utilized to reconfigure the camera to behave like the Dynax/Maxxum/Alpha 9Ti and
subsequently invoke support for the limited model's extra functions also in the
black model.[citation needed]

One of Hewlett-Packard's electronic pocket calculators, the HP-45 (introduced in

1973), had a built-in undocumented stopwatch.[37]

The Commodore Amiga 1000 computer includes the signatures of the design and
development team embossed on the inside of the case, including Jay Miner and the
paw print of his dog, Mitchy.[38] The Commodore Amiga models 500, 600, and 1200
each feature Easter eggs in the form of song titles by The B-52's as white printing
on the motherboards. The 500 says "B52/Rock Lobster", the 600 says "June Bug", and
the 1200 says "Channel Z".[39] The Amiga OS software contains hidden messages.[40]
[41]

Many integrated circuit (chip) designers have included hidden graphics elements
termed chip art, including images, phrases, developer initials, logos, and more.
This artwork, like the rest of the chip, is reproduced in each copy by lithography
and etching. These are visible only when the chip package is opened and examined
under magnification.[42] The 1984 CVAX microchip implementation of the MicroVAX CPU
contained in its etchings the Russian phrase in the Cyrillic alphabet "VAX: When
you care enough to steal the very best",[43] placed there because, "knowing that
some CVAXs would end up in the USSR, the team wanted the Russians to know that we
were thinking of them".[42]

Comics[edit]
American comic book artists are known to include hidden messages in their art:[44]

In a reprint of classic Captain America comics, a production artist drew a penis on

Bucky Barnes.[45]
In 2000, Al Milgrom inserted a message into Universe X: Spidey #1 insulting his
previous boss, Marvel Editor in Chief Bob Harras, following Harras' termination
from Marvel Comics. On Page 28, panel 3, the spines of books on a bookshelf in the
background read, "HARRAS HA HA, HE'S GONE, GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH HE WAS A
NASTY S.O.B." The message was spotted after the book was printed but before it went
on sale; the copies that were printed for consumers were destroyed. However, 4,000
preview copies were distributed to retailers as part of a "First Look" deal, and
these are today considered rare collectors' items. Milgrom was "apparently fired
and allegedly (and quietly) re-hired several weeks later".[45][46][47]
Ethan Van Sciver hid the word "sex" in the background of nearly every page of New
X-Men #118 (November 2001).[45][48] Van Sciver subsequently stated that he hid the
word throughout the book because he was annoyed with Marvel at the time for reasons
he cannot remember, and thought it would be fun to engage in some mischief with his
work.[citation needed]

In April 2017, comic book artist Ardian Syaf caused an outcry with the Easter eggs
he placed in his art for X-Men Gold #1.
Indonesian artist Ardian Syaf is known to engage in the practice of hiding Easter
egg references to political figures in the backgrounds of his artwork. In Batgirl
(vol. 4) #9 (July 2012), Syaf included a storefront sign that referenced the
President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, although the text that accompanies the image
of Widodo is covered by a caption.[45][49] In April 2017, he caused an outcry by
placing Easter egg references to the November 2016 Jakarta protests into the pages
of X-Men Gold #1, which were perceived by readers to be anti-Semitic and anti-
Christian. Though Syaf acknowledged the political nature of the messages,[45][50]
he stated that they were not intended to express any anti-Semitic nor anti-
Christian sentiment on his part.[51] In response to these Easter eggs, Marvel
terminated their contract with Syaf.[52]
Video[edit]
Home media[edit]
Easter eggs are found on films, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs, often as deleted scenes or
bonus features.[53][54][55] Klinger states that their presence is "another
signifier of artistry in the world of DVD supplements."[54] According to
Berardinelli and Ebert, most DVDs do not contain them and most examples are
"inconsequential", but a very few, such as the one found on the Memento DVD
release, are "worth the effort to seek out".[55]

Broadcast media[edit]
Unlike DVDs and computer games, broadcast radio and television programs contain no
executable code. Easter eggs may still appear in the content itself, such as a
hidden Mickey in a Disney film or a real telephone number instead of a 555
fictitious telephone number.[original research?] A 2014 Super Bowl advertisement
was leaked online in which a lady gives a man a real telephone number, which the
advertiser had hidden as a marketing ploy; the first caller to the number received
a pair of tickets to the game.[56] The 1980s animated series She-Ra: Princess of
Power featured a character called Loo-Kee who typically appeared once per episode,
hidden in a single screenshot. At the end of the episode, the screenshot would be
shown again and Loo-Kee would challenge viewers to locate him before revealing his
hiding place.[57][58]

Security concerns[edit]
Security author Michel E. Kabay discussed security concerns of Easter eggs in 2000,
saying that, while software quality assurance requires that all code be tested, it
is not known whether Easter eggs are. He said that, as they tend to be held as
programming secrets from the rest of the product testing process, a "logic bomb"
could also bypass testing. Kabay asserts that this undermined the Trusted Computing
Base, a paradigm of trustworthy hardware and software in place since the 1980s, and
is of concern wherever personal or confidential information is stored, as this may
then be vulnerable to damage or manipulation.[59] Microsoft created some of the
largest and most elaborate Easter eggs, such as those in Microsoft Office.[60] In
2005, Larry Osterman of Microsoft acknowledged Microsoft Easter eggs, and his
involvement in development of one, but described them as "irresponsible", and wrote
that the company's Operating System division "has a 'no Easter Eggs' policy" as
part of its Trustworthy Computing initiative.[21]

In 2006, Douglas W. Jones said, "some Easter eggs may be intentional tools used to
detect illegal copying, others are clearly examples of unauthorized functionality
that has slipped through the quality-control tests at the vendor". While hidden
Easter eggs themselves are harmless, it may be possible for malware to be hidden in
similar ways in voting machines or other computers.[61]

Netscape Navigator contributor Jamie Zawinski stated in an interview in 1998 that

harmless Easter eggs impose a negligible burden on shipped software, and serve the
important purpose of helping productivity by keeping programmers happy.[62]

In popular culture[edit]

This section appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular

culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular
culture, using references to reliable sources, rather than simply listing
appearances. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2017)
Easter eggs have become more widely known to the general public and are referenced
in contemporary artworks. They feature as key plot devices in:

The Doctor Who episode "Blink", in which the existence of video Easter eggs across
a number of DVDs leads to solving the protagonists' dilemma.
Pixar Animation Studios are known for their inclusion of multiple Easter eggs in
their films, the most notable one being a faded yellow 1978 Toyota Hilux pickup
that is a delivery vehicle for the fictional ''Pizza Planet'' fast food restaurant
from the Toy Story franchise. The pickup, dubbed the ''Pizza Planet Truck'',
appears in every Pixar film (starting with Toy Story, with the exception of The
Incredibles).
In the novel Ready Player One and its film adaptation, several Easter eggs are
discovered in video games in a virtual reality setting, in particular highlighting
the Adventure Easter egg.
See also[edit]
Video games portal
icon Software portal
Hidden track
List of Easter eggs in Microsoft products
List of filmmaker's signatures
List of Google Easter eggs
Magic string
Rickrolling
The Book of Mozilla
Undocumented featureEEAE