GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64 has a secret multiplayer level — Egyptian — that is accessible only by completing every other mission on every difficulty (Agent, Secret Agent, 00 Agent) and unlocking the Invincibility cheat. This requires completion percentage of 100% across all missions, all difficulties — a substantial time investment for a bonus that is a single deathmatch stage.
The Egyptian level features statues, sarcophagi, and a hidden golden gun pickup that replicates the film’s Egyptian mythology aesthetic from a sequence not in GoldenEye. Rare’s developers built it as a completion reward that would take most players significantly longer to earn than the main game.
The stage also contains a hidden cheat trigger: standing on a specific pressure plate for 60 seconds while holding no weapons unlocks a second playthrough mode in which every weapon’s ammo counter displays in binary. This has no gameplay effect. It is a developer joke accessible only inside a level that already required completing the entire game.
Rare packed the final unlockable level with a second hidden easter egg — one that required being inside the already-secret level long enough to find it.
The amount of craft that went into hiding this detail is remarkable. Pure game design artistry.
The level of craft hidden in the background of this game is genuinely moving. They made it for someone.