Finding the Hidden Easter Egg

"Big Brother, what are you doing?"

One-Ear looked at Cheng Tian, who was bent over with his rear end sticking out, searching the grassy area by the river like a dog, with great confusion.

After dealing with the Ghost Armor and crossing the river, Cheng Tian didn't rush forward. Instead, he stayed put and made the aforementioned move.

"I'm looking for Easter eggs."

Without hesitation, Cheng Tian directly stated the reason for his actions without even looking up.

Beside Cheng Tian, Ghost Cicada, who looked expressionless but was actually clueless, was also wriggling in the grass, following along because Cheng Tian was doing it.

Although they were only temporary Trainers, a certain bond had clearly been forged between them.

Under the influence of Cheng Tian's "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons," Ghost Cicada had completely said goodbye to its previous Ghost Armor template. At this moment, it was a pure Pokemon that had appropriated a regular world-view template... there was no going back now~

One-Ear and Blood Scab were utterly confused, but on the principle of "whatever Big Brother says goes," they joined the search after a brief moment of thought.

After about five minutes, Cheng Tian felt his half-crouching knees bump against something hidden and hard. Immediately after, he heard the sound of something hitting the grass directly in front of his head.

"Holy crap! There's actually one!"

Cheng Tian jogged over and found a red and white windmill lying quietly in the grass.

During the era of the Famicom, many games included Easter eggs from other games released by the same company. Usually, finding these Easter eggs required a bit of effort.

Some of these Easter eggs were purely for the player's benefit, while others had functional purposes.

The "Miyachi Windmill" with its red base and white blades in front of Cheng Tian was a functional Easter egg... and a negative one at that!

Speaking of mascots for old game companies, many people might immediately think of Nintendo's big-nosed Italian plumber Mario from Super Mario Bros., Kirby the pink demon from Kirby, or Sega's speedy hedgehog Sonic. Even SNK has a character named "G-Mantle," who wears a "Moonlight Masquerade mask" and is largely unfamiliar to most people.

However, Capcom's mascot is even less well-known than SNK's.

It's not Mega Man from Mega Man, nor Ryu or Ken from Street Fighter. Instead, it's the dangerous and negative "Miyachi Windmill" in front of Cheng Tian. Its origin is the robot protagonist "Mobi-chan" from the 1986 side-scrolling shooter game Side Arms:Hype Dyne / Super Combination Side Arms.

Despite being obscure, the Miyachi Windmill appeared quite frequently as an Easter egg in other works by the same company.

It appeared in the vertical scrolling shooter Gun Smoke / 1943, the side-scrolling action game Destiny of an Emperor II, the 2D fighting game Street Fighter Alpha 2, and in Demon World Village, where Cheng Tian currently was.

Furthermore, Capcom's tendency to include negative elements that trick players even in Easter eggs was already apparent at this time...

"Don't touch it, anyone. I'm just confirming something. This thing is likely problematic. Just think of it as another form of Treasure Chest Monster."

Cheng Tian raised his hand, stopping One-Ear and the others who were also approaching.

Upon hearing Cheng Tian's last description, One-Ear almost flinched, while Blood Scab immediately took several steps back, looking warily at the windmill that emitted no dangerous aura.

The poor child had suffered greatly at the hands of the Vampire Magician and likely wouldn't dare to touch treasure chests carelessly for a while.

The in-game trigger condition for this Miyachi Windmill was to crouch in the grass at the junction after crossing the third river. Doing so would immediately trigger it. Its effect was quite deadly for unsuspecting players: not only would picking it up yield no positive benefits, but the remaining time for the current level would be instantly reduced by 30 seconds!

Much like main quests having time limits, many Famicom and arcade games had built-in timers. If the player couldn't clear the level within the allotted time, the controlled character would immediately die.

Cheng Tian was actually just passing by. Plus, he had just cleared three waves of Ghost Armor and there were no enemies for the moment, so he stayed out of curiosity to test it.

The main reason, however, was related to a dungeon trait.

[Authentic - While adhering to certain real-world laws, it highly restores the scene construction and related settings of the original blueprint.]

Since it was a high degree of restoration, would Easter eggs that required special methods to trigger in the game also be restored in the dungeon?

Cheng Tian now confirmed that yes, Easter eggs would also be restored.

Although it was likely only a one-time thing, the fact that Easter eggs could be restored was telling in itself.

At this point, Cheng Tian and his companions had reached roughly the middle of the first level of Demon World Village. This level had a total of 5 Easter eggs, 3 of which were concentrated in the first half of the scene they had already passed.

However, even though the existence of Easter eggs had been confirmed, Cheng Tian had no intention of turning back.

On one hand, Cheng Tian had just eaten his fill, received help from Ghost Cicada, and used the Ghost Armor to aid digestion. He was full of energy, and he wanted to save all this energy for the final boss. Going back and forth would not only waste extra time but also likely lead to encountering new enemies.

On the other hand, those Easter eggs were a mix of good and bad, and none of them could immediately provide combat power.

If there was still remaining exploration time after defeating the boss, he could go back to trigger them, or he could wait until the next time he was fully prepared and brought a map into a dedicated dungeon.

As for the Miyachi Windmill in front of him, Cheng Tian planned to pick it up after the boss if there was still time.

If touching it instantly took away several hours of his main quest time, there would be no one to reason with.

Moreover, Cheng Tian had a somewhat suicidal idea... He wanted to see if he could exploit a game bug using the Easter egg.

The negative Miyachi Windmill in the game would deduct 30 seconds, and if the timer ran out, the controlled Arthur would die on the spot.

However, if the player picked up this negative windmill when they had less than 30 seconds remaining, the timer would immediately reset to zero, but the player could still continue the game, and the current level would no longer have a time limit.

At the same time, however, the player's Knight Armor would become useless. If touched by an enemy, even with the armor on, they would immediately die and turn into a pile of bones, rather than having their armor break off to reveal their underwear.

But even reckless actions had to follow basic principles.

First, finish the main business, then come back to be reckless.

Leading his two companions and the insect, Cheng Tian bypassed the Miyachi Windmill, and his steps visibly became lighter.