There's a Secret Weapon at the End of the Game · 2:53pm Feb 9th, 2023
I was a Nintendo kid. My toes were dipped into the world of PlayStation. But Xbox was a mystery.
Your imagination is on overdrive as a kid. Just the prospect of things seemed to be enough. I remember being hyped for the Wii and Twilight Princess like it was a mystical coming. When my step-father got me the game before the console, I would sit in my room holding the case, amazed by the 'Wii' logo in the top-right.
It felt like something extraordinary. Something mystical. I couldn't believe I had it in my hands. It was like I'd stepped into an impossible future.
With the Xbox, I imagined a lot.
And how couldn't I?
There was no Youtube. No videos or gameplay to check out. There was the internet, but that was good for Neopets only. Back then, magazines would tell—and show you pictures—of a game. However, I never got my hands on any.
How did I learn that the Xbox was a system—and Halo was a game?
Because the other kids talked about it on the playground.
Every day we'd link up and talk. This, that, and whatnot. The six of us were sitting on a field when they started talking.
"Halo 2. There's a secret weapon at the end. You know that, right? Right?"
"What?"
"Halo 2. At the end… there's a weapon not in the game. You can get it."
"H-How?"
"First, you have to activate all the switches. There's one on..."
Back then, small things mattered. Everything was a mystery, and Google didn't have the answer. Instead, it had forums. Places where you can talk and speculate and be involved. When communication was cut off with the rest of the world, you—and your group—worked together to figure things out.
You tried things. You discussed things. You went home, tried the latest theory, and came back again with your findings. This was the case with World at War Zombies, where we tried figuring out the easter egg—and lore—from the details and radios left on the map.
Sometimes, in a random lobby, there would be a prophet. Someone who knew more than the rest and filled you in on things you did not know. Then? It was through word of mouth and chance encounters. Now, you can Google and Youtube.
But for the most part, we tried things, seeing what worked and what didn't. Most of the time, we were chasing nothing. But we didn't mind. Didn't care. It was hanging and spitting out ideas where the fun came. If it bore fruit or not was irrelevant.
In that field, though, I didn't have an Xbox. Didn't even know the game. I knew Halo was the green armoured man. I imagined so much more from the cover art alone to the game. But, on that field, I couldn't help but imagine something else.
When my friend spoke of a Gravity Hammer that could be unlocked, I thought of a desert and the Chief on a mongoose. After doing some hidden things and disembarking, the sandstorm would dissipate, lowering a gravity hammer. He would take it, and that's that.
That stuck with me.
Of course, when I played the games, I enjoyed them a lot, but they didn't match what I envisioned. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. But, back then, I wondered what a game like that could be about. What someone as mysterious-looking as the Chief could be like. I dreamt a world, one uniquely colourized, and lived in it for a time.
Like that case for Twilight Princess, I held it, imagining the world the cover and back-art implied.
I've always wondered.
Is it the same now? Back then, with access to information about Halo 2, would I still have dreamt up what I did? Or would it be replaced by the videos and gameplay I saw? Would I still wonder and think about hidden details in a game? Plan and express theories and tests? Or would a Youtube Video explain everything to me?
We all fear being wrong and off the mark. So much so that we take highly-produced information and secure ourselves upon it. As writers, a lot of our ideas come from other stories. Oh, is this going to happen? Ah. It didn't. Well, what if…
Many of us have seen movies that have inspired a radically different idea. If there's one thing I enjoy about being a writer, it's that none can tell me what that idea will develop into. I have theories myself. I test different routes the tale can go. You're figuring things out as you go. And there's no video, no absolute reference you can fall upon.
…wait, AI writing?
~ Yr. Pal, B_25
I wonder if this partially explains the popularity of channels like Game Theory?
For me it was reviving General Leo in Final Fantasy 6, finding Schala in Chrono Trigger, houdoken in Mega Man X (Which turned out to be true!), Akuma being playable in Resident Evil, to name a few...
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I think so.
Man I remember being hyped for Lego Star Wars III to come out on Wii. I saw the RTS levels on youtube and was instantly fantasizing of commanding my own armies of lego clone troopers on a wide open battlefield.
I remember getting swept up in the hype for Battlefield 4 and reading and re-reading the article in Gameinformer covering the game after E3. I remember rewatching the trailers. Watching Battlefield friends episodes come out alongside me playing the game for myself. It was mystical.
I wonder if games have that same pull for the youngsters anymore. I sure hope so.