Retro Gamers Discover Huge Secret Inside Decades-Old 'Shadowrun' Video Game

Retro Gamers Discover Huge Secret Inside Decades-Old Game

With all the hype around Grand Theft Auto 5 and FIFA 14, it's possible to forget that some games take a long time to give up all of their secrets.

For Shadowrun, a classic fantasy action video game released on the Super Nintendo back in 1993, it's taken more than 20 years.

The always-excellent RetroGamer reports on a lovely story about a massive secret hidden at the heart of the game which was not revealed until this week.

In an interview with the makers of the game in issue 120 of the magazine, RetroGamer unearthed hints of a strange secret involving a "dance around a lamp post" inside the SNES version of the game.

Which is when the magazine's intrepid forum users took to their consoles to discover the truth behind the myth. One users in particular ('GanonTek') set about trying to follow the clues - of which the game's creators admitted even they had forgotten the details.

And, after a long search, he managed to discover it - through a frankly amazingly complex series of manouvers which he detailed in full online:

1. Stand under the light on a crack in the ground where you see NPCs sometimes stopping at

2. Bring up your item screen and select the Matchbox

3. Examine it - If you are standing in the right location you will hear a *beep*

4. Examine it a 2nd time - You will hear another *beep*

5. Examine it a 3rd time - You will hear two *beeps* close together

6. Examine it a 4th time - You will hear one beep again

7. Leave the item screen and walk into the Morgue, just inside the door and stop in that hallway

8. Examine your matchbox for a 5th time - You will hear three *beeps* close together

9. Select the matchbox again and you will see that 'Examine L' has been replaced with 'Open R'

10. Press R and you will be warped to the secret room.

The result is a hidden series of rooms and doors that can take you around the game, give you cash and 'karma' as well as power-ups and everything else needed to make the game easier to complete. It is thought the rooms were added by developers to make it easier to test the whole game during its build.

Well done to RetroGamer and its forum makers for the find, and the story. We always knew that gamers were still playing their ageing favourites, but it's oddly inspiring to know that there are still secrets buried inside their yellowing plastic cartridges.

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