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Golf
Golf (1984)
subdirectory_arrow_right Nintendo Switch (Platform)
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Within the Nintendo Switch firmware prior to Version 4.0.0 (for Japanese, US and European systems only), there is a hidden NES emulator stub called "flog" that can be unlocked under very specific conditions. flog can only be unlocked on the Home Screen and when the console's internal clock is set to July 11th (if the date is changed in System Settings, but the console is connected to the internet and can see the actual date, this method will not work). The method to unlock it involves detaching the Joy-Cons from the console, holding them pointing forwards/downwards, then moving them to a vertical position and holding it for a few seconds. This gesture may take some time to hone due to it being a specific movement tracked by the Joy-Cons, but when it is matched, the system will check to see if flog is installed. When checked, an audio clip of a man saying "chokusetsu" ("直接"), the Japanese word for "direct", will play and the screen will cut to black and launch the 1984 NES title Golf. This emulator is unique in that it includes specific instructions in English and Japanese on how to play depending on how the Joy-Cons are held, and has a more stripped-down and simplistic appearance than the emulators that would be used for NES games on Nintendo Switch Online. Pressing the Home button while playing Golf will return you to the Home Screen without any visible software running there.

With Version 4.0.0, Nintendo removed all of the code required to launch flog and play Golf, but the company seemed unusually hesitant to even acknowledge its existence when asked by news outlets. One month before its removal, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie released two statements regarding it when asked by Kotaku:

"So, two comments on this. It was identified by folks playing around in the firmware. We've got nothing officially to announce for that content or what the plans are for that content. So that's that. Certainly anything that pays respect to my friend Mr. Iwata is something that is near and dear to me personally, but in terms of that execution and what it was meant to do or what the plans are, we've got nothing to announce."

"I'm struck whenever I go back to Kyoto and spend time in our headquarters and spend time in the offices where Mr. Iwata, myself and others would be meeting. It's always personally touching. And so, again, no comment on that particular execution."

While this seems to allude that the secret emulator and Golf's inclusion were not authorized within Nintendo, this all but confirms that their purpose was to act as a tribute to Nintendo's late CEO Satoru Iwata. Iwata, who programmed Golf and previously hosted the company's Nintendo Direct showcase series, passed away on July 11th, 2015, with the method to unlock the emulator mimicking a gesture he used during Nintendo Directs. Japanese fans on social media referred to the Easter egg as an "omamori", an amulet purchased at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan that if kept close are said to protect the bearer and bring good luck, speculating that Golf was included by Iwata as a secret charm to watch over every Nintendo Switch unit after his death.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Easter Egg, Emulation, Filename, Passed Away, Regional Difference, Removed Feature, Secret, Social Media, Suggested, Theory, Tribute, Update Difference, Version Difference
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month April 20, 2024
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The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection
The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection (TBA)
subdirectory_arrow_right The Joy of Creation: Classic (Game)
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On March 25, 2024, Nikson revealed that the game's title was being changed from "The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection" to "THE JOY OF CREATION". This meant the game was no longer a bundle, but drawing inspiration from the original Story Mode and Reborn titles to make THE JOY OF CREATION its own game in the series. Nikson claimed that the first title never fully resonated with him after deciding against including the Classic mode as a part of the games to remake. He made the change to emphasize that it was an entirely new project re-imagining elements of earlier games in the series instead of a remaster or update, which he felt did not quite capture the essence of the game.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Development, General, Name Change, Title
person Violett calendar_month March 28, 2024
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Don't Buy This
Don't Buy This (1985)
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Race Ace is the only game in Don't Buy This to have been released as an individual cassette prior to the compilation's release, credited to Tony Rainbird, who helped create the Firebird label that Don't Buy This was published under, meaning its inclusion may have been an in-joke.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Credits, Development, In-Joke, Release Difference, Suggested, Theory
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month March 23, 2024
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32 in 1
32 in 1 (1988)
subdirectory_arrow_right Mario Bros. (Game)
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Mario & Luigi, with their appearances from the promo art for the Atari 2600 version of Mario Bros., are featured on the box art of 32-in-1, but no Mario-related games are included. The rough drawing of the art, believed by some to be a rough sketch for, or traced from, an "Atari Advantage" poster promoting the Atari 7800 and other products, led some to believe the compilation was a bootleg.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Artwork/Illustration, Box Art, Bundled/Pack-In Game, False Advertising, Merchandise, Unused Character
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month March 13, 2024
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BS-X: Sore ha Namae wo Nusumareta Machi no Monogatari
BS-X: Sore ha Namae wo Nusumareta Machi no Monogatari (1995)
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Attachment BS-X: Sore ha Namae wo Nusumareta Machi no Monogatari (commonly translated as "BS-X: The Town Whose Name Was Stolen") was a requisite system cartridge for the Satellaview that served as both an interactive menu and its own game. The game's hub world, which was noticeably similar to the one featured in EarthBound, featured numerous buildings representing each of the system's services. After creating a custom avatar, players could purchase items from in-game stores, play minigames, see announcements from Nintendo and St.GIGA (the two companies responsible for the Satellaview), and participate in contests. Additionally, the cartridge the game came on provided extra RAM for the Super Famicom, increasing its hardware performance.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 11, 2024
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Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault (2005)
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Luster (Game), Xevious (Game), Battle City (Game)
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Attachment Star Fox: Assault is notable for including three unlockable Famicom/NES games originally created by Namco:

• Xevious
• Battle City
• Star Luster

As explained by the development team in an issue of Nintendo Dream, this was done to highlight Star Fox: Assault being a collaboration between Nintendo and Namco, with the latter being its primary developer. With the Star Fox franchise being a sci-fi shooter series, Tsuyoshi Kobayashi and Takaya Imamura had carefully decided on which classic Namco games would fit the best with that vibe. There were considerations to also include Nintendo created Famicom/NES games (one person, for example, had suggested including Balloon Fight), but ultimately Imamura and Kobayashi couldn't come up with any games that would have fit the Star Fox world and atmosphere.

Unfortunately, as the Famicom versions of Battle City and Star Luster had never been released in Western territories, they in turn were excluded from all Western versions of Star Fox: Assault, leaving Xevious as the only unlockable Namco game outside of Japan.
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Bonus Content, Bundled/Pack-In Game, Development, Inspiration, Regional Difference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month January 5, 2024
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Star Fox Assault Nintendo Dream interview:
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxassault/

Footage of Xevious, the only unlockable Namco game in the western version of SFAss:
https://youtu.be/BrMv7tKA74A?t=6
Alphabet Park Adventure
Alphabet Park Adventure (2004)
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Attachment When the Mark 2 V.Smile was released, the pack-in game Alphabet Park Adventure got a revised iteration that, among other changes, replaced every single sprite of the two player characters to make them appear more realistic, albeit still cartoonish.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Character Design, Release Difference, Version Difference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 20, 2023
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Windows Solitaire
Windows Solitaire (1990)
subdirectory_arrow_right PC (Microsoft Windows) (Platform)
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Solitaire was included on Windows hardware to soothe users unfamiliar with computers by using something familiar that could also introduce them to the functions of a mouse.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Development, General, Technology
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 20, 2023
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Looney Tunes Double Pack
Looney Tunes Double Pack (2005)
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Despite being marketed as one of the two-games-in-one packs that were popular on the Game Boy Advance, neither game included in Looney Tunes Double Pack was ever released separately. The game's copyright information before the title screen lists both of the included games as separate copyrighted entities, meaning they may have been intended to be released as separate, more expansive titles at some point.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Cancelled Release, False Advertising, Suggested, Theory
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 19, 2023
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Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault (2005)
subdirectory_arrow_right Galaxian (Franchise), Galaga (Franchise)
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Attachment The Aparoids, the main enemy forces of Star Fox: Assault, are in some ways a homage to the Galaxians from the Galaxian/Galaga franchise, a fixed shooter series about fighting off invading alien insects that was originally created by Namco (now Bandai Namco), who also developed Star Fox: Assault. One of Assault's producers from Namco, Tsuyoshi Kobayashi, admitted to this in an interview with Nintendo Official Magazine.

Something similar for me was how I thought since this was a collaboration with Namco, the makers of "Galaxian"/"Galaga", I decided to bring insects to the image of the enemy. (Laughs).

One could say that Star Fox: Assault's story of the Aparoids (which more or less act as expys of the Galaxians) invading the Lylat System could be a meta reference to the fact that this game was a Nintendo x Namco crossover and collaboration, which is also emphasized with the collectable Special Flags (which have appeared in several Namco developed games) found throughout Assault's campaign, as well as there being unlockable old Namco arcade games like Xevious, Battle City, and Star Luster, at least in the Japanese version (only Xevious was available in the western versions of the game).
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Bonus Content, Bundled/Pack-In Game, Character Design, Development, Inspiration, Regional Difference
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 18, 2023
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Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (1996)
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Attachment The game's first PlayStation release came bundled with a bonus disc containing "Making of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete", a 30 minute documentary on the development and localization of the game. At any time the documentary is playing, pressing Up/Down/Left/Right/Triangle/Start will trigger a secret minigame produced by Timon Marmex Trzepacz from the game's North American publisher Working Designs. The game, titled "Lords of Lunar: Silver Star Story", is a clone of the 1980 Atari arcade game Warlords that can be played with up to 8 players through two PlayStation Multitaps.
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Bonus Content, Bundled/Pack-In Game, Development, Easter Egg, General, Minigame, Secret
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month January 5, 2023
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Action 52
Action 52 (1991)
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Attachment Setting the value of the RAM address $338 to 02 (or using the Game Genie code ZAOEAPAA) at the Rocket Jockey game menu will bring the player to Level 3. This is a semi-playable level with a wrongly colored background, and sprites that glitch out when certain enemies appear. There are also mountains in the background that don't appear elsewhere in the game, as well as projectiles that spawn periodically.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Unused Code, Unused Content
person Gamer#1 calendar_month June 12, 2014
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Action 52
Action 52 (1991)
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There is evidence in the game's code that suggests that there was originally going to be 8 more games, making a total of 60.
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Development, Early Idea, Suggested, Theory, Unused Code, Unused Content
person xianc78 calendar_month October 29, 2013
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Action 52
Action 52 (1991)
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In Cheetahmen, each character has its own introductory cutscene. However, the cutscene for Apollo appears to have no text accompanied with the obligatory image. This is because Active forgot to put the alphabet characters next to the image tiles in the ROM. The unused text can be found in a memory viewer during the cutscene and Levels 5 and 6 of Cheetahmen, and reads:

"APOLLO IS THE MASTER OF THE CROSSBOW. USE THE CROSSBOW TO DEFEAT THE ENEMIES ON THE LAST TWO LEVELS AND GET DR. MORBIS"
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Bundled/Pack-In Game, Unused Content, Unused Text
person ShyanVixen calendar_month October 9, 2013
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