"Big brother, what are you doing?"
One-Ear stared in confusion at Cheng, who had his rear stuck up in the air as he searched for something along the riverside grass like a dog.
After dealing with the Specter Armor and crossing the river, Cheng Tian had not hurried onward. Instead, he had stayed where he was and started doing the aforementioned thing.
"I'm looking for an Easter egg."
Without hesitation, Cheng Tian directly stated the reason for his behavior without even looking up.
Beside Cheng Tian, Demon Cicada looked expressionless on the surface but was actually completely at a loss. Since Cheng Tian was doing it, however, it followed suit and wriggled around in the grass as well.
Although they were only temporary trainer and Pokémon, the two sides had clearly already formed a certain bond.
Under the influence of Cheng Tian's Hundred Demons' Night Parade, Demon Cicada had completely said goodbye to its former Specter Armor template. At this moment, it was a pure Pokémon that had borrowed a template from the orthodox setting... and there was no going back~
One-Ear and Blood Scab were extremely puzzled, but following the principle that whatever big brother said went, they joined the search after a brief moment of thought.
After about five minutes, Cheng felt that his half-crouched knee had seemingly bumped into some hidden hard object. Immediately afterward, he heard something crash into the grass directly in front of his head.
"Holy crap! There really is one!"
Cheng Tian jogged over and discovered a red-and-white windmill lying quietly in the grass.
During the Famicom era, many games included Easter eggs from other games released by the same company. Under normal circumstances, finding these Easter eggs required a bit of effort.
Some of these Easter eggs purely rewarded players with points, while others had actual functions.
The "Mobi-chan Windmill" before Cheng Tian, with its red base and white blades, was a functional Easter egg... and a negative one at that!
When it came to mascots from old-school game companies, many people might first think of Nintendo's big-nosed Italian plumber Mario from "Super Mario Brothers," the pink demon Kirby from "Kirby," or Sega's speedy hedgehog Sonic from "Sonic." Even SNK had a strange fellow named "G-Mantle," who wore a "Moon Tuxedo Mask mask" and was completely unfamiliar to most people.
But Capcom's mascot was even less famous than SNK's.
It was neither Mega Man from "Mega Man" nor Ryu and Ken from "Street Fighter." Instead, it was the dangerous and negative "Mobi-chan Windmill" before Cheng Tian. Its source was the robot protagonist Mobi-chan from the 1986 side-scrolling shooter "Side Arms: Hyper Dyne/Super Armored Side Arms."
It might have been obscure, but the Mobi-chan Windmill appeared quite frequently as an Easter egg in other works from the same company.
The vertical-scrolling shooters "The Wild Gunman/Gun.Smoke" and "1943," the side-scrolling action game "Warriors of Fate," the 2D fighting game "Street Fighter Alpha 2," and the "Demon Village" where Cheng Tian currently was all featured either the Mobi-chan Windmill or Mobi-chan.
Moreover, Capcom was already showing its talent for screwing with players at this point. It still liked to mix negative effects that trapped players into its Easter eggs...
"Don't touch it. I'm just confirming something, and there's a high probability this thing is problematic. Treat it as another form of mimic chest."
Cheng Tian raised his hand and stopped One-Ear and the others, who had also approached.
After hearing Cheng Tian's final description, One-Ear was nearly scared off, while Blood Scab immediately retreated several steps. He stared warily at the windmill, which was not giving off the slightest hint of danger.
The poor child had suffered badly at the hands of the Vampire Magician. He probably wouldn't dare touch treasure chests casually for quite some time.
The in-game trigger condition for this Mobi-chan Windmill was to crouch at the edge of the grass after crossing the third river. It would activate immediately. To players who knew nothing about it, its effect was lethal: picking it up not only provided no positive benefit, but also immediately reduced the remaining time for clearing the current stage by thirty seconds!
Just like the main quest had a time limit, many Famicom and arcade games came with built-in countdown timers. If the player could not clear the game within the allotted time, the controlled character would immediately die.
Actually, Cheng Tian had only stopped to try it out of curiosity because it happened to be on his way and he had just cleared three waves of Specter Armor, leaving him temporarily without any enemies to fight.
The main reason, however, lay in one of the dungeon's modifiers.
True to the Original—while conforming to certain laws of reality, the scene structure and related settings corresponding to the source material are reproduced with a high degree of accuracy.
Since it was a highly faithful reproduction, would some of the Easter eggs in the game that required special methods to trigger also be reproduced in the dungeon?
Cheng Tian had now confirmed that they would. The Easter eggs were reproduced as well.
Although they were probably one-time-only, the fact that Easter eggs could be reproduced already said a great deal.
At this point, Cheng Tian and the others had probably reached roughly the middle of the first stage of the entire Demon Village scene. There were five Easter eggs in this stage in total, three of which were concentrated in the first half they had already crossed.
Although he had confirmed the existence of the Easter eggs, Cheng Tian had no intention of going back the way they came.
For one thing, Cheng Tian had just eaten and drunk his fill, received Demon Cicada's assistance, and worked off some of his food by fighting the Specter Armor. He was currently in peak condition, and he wanted to save all that stamina for the stage boss. Going back and forth would not only waste extra time, but might also lead to new enemies.
For another, the Easter eggs included both good and bad effects, but none could immediately turn into combat power.
If there was exploration time left after killing the boss, he could return and trigger them. Alternatively, he could simply wait until his next attempt, when he was fully prepared and brought a map into the exclusive dungeon.
As for the Mobi-chan Windmill before him, Cheng Tian planned to come back and pick it up if there was still time after the boss.
If touching it took effect immediately and deducted several hours from his main quest time, there would be no one to reason with.
Moreover, Cheng Tian had an idea that was, to put it mildly, a little suicidal... He wanted to see whether he could use the Easter egg to exploit a game bug.
The negative Mobi-chan Windmill in the game deducted thirty seconds. When the timer reached zero, the player-controlled Arthur died on the spot.
But if the player picked up this negative windmill when less than thirty seconds remained, the timer would immediately reach zero, yet the player could still continue playing, and the current stage would no longer have a time limit.
At the same time, however, the Knight Armor on the player would become completely useless. The moment an enemy touched him, he would die instantly even while armored, turning into a pile of bones instead of having his armor broken until only his underwear remained.
Still, even when courting death, one had to follow basic principles.
Finish the serious business first, then come back to court death.
After leading the two people and one insect around the Mobi-chan Windmill, Cheng Tian's steps visibly became lighter.
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