Getting good at Super Smash Bros. Melee (and any Smash Bros. game at that) is a matter of muscle memory. You learn the controls until your thumbs are moving independently of your mind, you merely need to think and your character attacks, and before you even register an oncoming punch, your shield is up.
What this has produced in many Smash Bros. players is an intimate understanding of our fighter’s skillset and the ins and outs of each stage. What is surprising is when we learnt that there are certain parts of the classic stages which we never knew about — hidden textures lurking deep within the game’s set-up which have passed us by time and again.
One such reveal was brought to our attention by @Vancity_Primal on Twitter, whose ‘Clean Stages Pack‘ mod strips back the details of six iconic battlegrounds for the, you guessed it, cleanest stage to fight on. Playing through this modified edition of the Yoshi’s Story stage, @tiebex_ noted that in removing the frontmost tree from the level, the mod had revealed a small strawberry on the ground — presumably, one which has been sitting there, unnoticed, since the game’s release in 2001 (so yeah, it’s probably not good to eat any more).
Now we can’t be sure of the reason behind the strawberry’s hidden placement, but we know that somewhere, a strawberry-loving developer at HAL Laboratory is smiling now that his big secret is finally revealed.
But wait, the mystery of the hidden food does not end there! Replying to the original tweet, @WoodleyMiles was quick to point out that the Onett stage also has a secret snack secluded in the shrubbery. In the YouTube video from GameBoyGamer found below, the game’s hidden food is not limited only to fruit, oh no. Taking a peak inside one of the stage’s plant pots will reveal a rice ball tucked among the flowers — clearly, someone was hungry during production.
It may not sound like much — strawberries hidden behind trees are usually not a game-changing mechanic — but it is strange to think that the game we have played so much over the past 20 years still has hidden details about which we never knew. Now it’s time to hunt down any more items in this virtual buffet.
Are there any other details hidden in the classic Smash Bros. stages that we should know about? Drop your hottest info in the comments below!
