Does anyone know of any other games with hidden messages?
Most of these are coded as graphics, but a few (such as Space Invaders II and Super Punch-Out) are coded as text in the roms.
(Part 1)
A.P.B.
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: The initials "AM" appear in the mouth of one of the criminals, as well as the initials "AJM" on the hat of another. There's also a steam locomotive with the name "MURPHY" on the side of it. These are all for artist Alan Murphy.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Near the end of the video is a frame of signatures from everyone who worked on putting this test game together. "Chris" might be Chris J. Horseman, who was the project leader for the unreleased Atari arcade game, The Last Starfighter. "Michon" is Ted Michon, another former Last Starfighter team member, "AJM" is likely graphics artist Alan J. Murphy. Unknown: the name in the top-left corner ("MShoo"?), the name in the bottom-center ("Rubin"? for Owen Rubin?) and "The Master" (?).
BIG EVENT GOLF
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Some of the larger (?) rocks around the course boundaries have messages on them, such as "NENKO", "SASAEI", and "OFHARA". These are thought to be the programmer names. You have to get the ball right next to it to make out the text clearly, but often you can tell if a rock has it from about 50 yards out (you can see one from the 16th tee).
CRYSTAL CASTLES
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: On level 5 (Berthilda's Palace), grab the hat and enter the large door where Berthilda is. Run over her (for 3,000 points) and go to the corner of the room where she was and JUMP. The initials "FXL" (for Franz Lanziger) will appear in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. This also happens if you jump in the back corner on 6/4.
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Lanziger built 2 castles using initials from friends of his. On Hidden Spiral, "DES" stands for Desiree McCrorey, "SSM" is for Sam Mehta, and "BBM" for Brian McGhee (a former Atari game designer). On Berthilda's Palace, the initials are harder to make out, as they are cutouts in the floor. "EDG" is the initials of Eric Ginner (another former Atari game designer), while "MAR" stands for Mark Robichek. All of these people were famous video game players at the time.
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Lanziger's initials also appear several times on the high score table (by default), and as a result they comprise the first castle. Another former Atari designer's initials, "MEC" (for Mark Cerny) also appear.
DELUXE SPACE INVADERS
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: During the attract mode, press RIGHT+FIRE+2P and then LEFT+FIRE+1P. After a few seconds the message "Taito Corp" will appear beneath the high score.
DIG DUG
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Put the game into the test/service mode, press (and hold) the player-1 FIRE button, and move the joystick UP 6x, RIGHT 3x, DOWN 4x, and LEFT 8x. A copyright message will appear.
DISCS OF TRON
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: At the title screen, hold down 1P+2P+FIRE+LEFT to change the title screen credit from "© 1983 BALLY MIDWAY" to (A) BFC DINNERMAN".
DOMINO MAN
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: At the title screen, hold down 1P+2P to reveal the full design team credits.
DRAGON'S LAIR II: TIME WARP
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: When the dragon appears, there are words hidden in the fire and smoke of its breath, which spell out "BEWARE THE JABBERWOCKY, BEWARE". "BEWARE" is spelled out in the tea tidal wave.. This is in reference to the game's obvious Alice in Wonderland storyline.
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: On the title screen, the initials "MSP" (for designer Mark Stephen Pierce) can be seen in the lower-right corner.
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: "hi Jon" is coded as graphics in the program. It's currently unknown whether or not they can be triggered to appear onscreen.
GALAGA
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Put the game into the test/service mode, press (and hold) FIRE, and move the joystick RIGHT (5x), LEFT (6x), RIGHT (3x), and LEFT (7x). The message "(C) 1981 NAMCO LTD." will appear. This also works on most bootleg boards.
GAUNTLET
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: The initials "AM" (for graphic artist Alan Murphy) appear on the title screen, under the "AU" in "GAUNTLET".
GOLF TRAINER
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Hidden in the footage is a picture of Carrie Fisher in her iron bikini outfit from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi!
JOURNEY
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: A secret credit screen can be triggered, which will list the programmer's names along with tiny digitized pictures of them. The pictures are in the code, but the method described in MAME to trigger them doesn't work (either on a real machine or in MAME). Here's the method - on the attract screen (the one with the face), press 1P Start + 2P Start + FIRE and push the joystick to the LEFT.
KLAX
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: In the prototype versions, the message "HI LISA, ROBIN, MOM & DAD" is coded as graphics in the program. It's currently unknown whether or not they can be triggered to appear onscreen.
KRULL
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Open the coin door and hold down the SELECT button while turning on the power (simply pull out on the coin-door interlock switch). 64 black and white heads of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs (Church of the Sub-Genius) will bounce around the screen.
LIBBLE RABBLE
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Quickly toggle the service mode on and off again so that the monitor test grid remains on the screen, and then push UP 9x, RIGHT 2x, DOWN 9x, and LEFT 2x. The message "© 1983 NAMCO LTD." will appear.
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: You can slip through a bottom corner of level 1,5,9,13,17,ect., where you'll fall down through space and will see a special surprise (a list of names)!
MS. PAC-MAN
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: From the BOOT6 ROM image (check your MAME zip), about halfway in, it says: "GENERAL COMPUTER CORPORATION Hello, Nakamura!" (Masaya Nakamura was then the head of Namco).
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: "GENCOMP" is coded as graphics in the program. When the game is initializing, you can see the "G" appear several times.
NIBBLER
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: In the attract mode, if you push the joystick in any direction when the yellow grid appears (right before the title screen graphics appear), you'll see the letters "J-U" in the lower-right corner. On a real arcade machine, you might see "J-U6" or "J-U9", which denotes which version of the game it is.
ORBIT
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: The initials "LR" (for Lyle Rains), "OR" (for Owen Rubin), "ATARI", "Ly" (for ?), "Mh" (for Morgan Hoff), and "PM" (for Paul Mancuso?) can be found in the program, coded as graphics. According to Rubin, it's quite possible these can be triggered to appear on the screen! From Owen Rubin-
"That game was before we were allowed to put our names in the game. Originally, entering my home phone number at the time would display the initials. I have NO idea what my number was at that time, but when scanning the code, if you see some tests on the options panel for a series of numbers, that's what it was going to be. It was originally my birth date followed by my SSN, but I did not want that info in the ROMS anywhere!
• To see all the graphics (including the initials), enter the test mode, set the NEXT TEST switch on, and then start toggling the DIAG TEST switch.
OUTRUN
• HIDDEN MESSAGE: As you drive through the fork in the road (at any level), press START. The message "PROGRAM YU SUZUKI 1986 SEP" will appear. Note that most, if not all, of SUZUKI's games are rumored to have Easter Eggs in them.