Nowadays game secrets don't remain elusive for long, especially in new releases. The internet picks apart and analyses games to the most extreme degree, meaning that - most of the time - we're just a Google search away from answers on shortcuts, easter eggs and all manner of small but fun details.
Older titles had the benefit of mystery back in the day, however, especially before the web era or in the early days of dial-up connections and limited websites. For fans the only way to get answers was from other players or magazines; the former sources could be very wrong, just ask gen 1 Pokémon fans looking for Mew.
A fun example doing the rounds on Reddit relates to Super Mario 64. In the Castle Courtyard a statue had garbled text that sparked one of the most famous 'mysteries' of that era; that of 'L is Real 2401'. It all originated from some fuzzy low resolution text, which some interpreted as saying 'Eternal Star', and others as the mysterious 'L is Real' phrase. The following post is another from the Nintendo scene on reddit, which shows the statue's text.
For the L is Real crowd, this was a clue; it set off a great search for Luigi in the iconic game - they were searches that proved fruitless. In a popular post, user 'zehnen' shared an image of an old letter that he found in which a Game Play Counselor at the time responded to a letter he sent to Nintendo of America. The letter simply states that 'L is Real' was put in the game as a joke, not a reference to Luigi being hidden in the game.
Of course, not everyone will take this 1998 letter as gospel; some believe the text does say L is Real 2401, but is actually a reference to the release date of Paper Mario, to which the number is close (if not exact). We'd be more inclined to think the potential reference was a joke rather than referring to a release date 3-4 years away at that time.
The smallest things can drive eagle-eyed gamers crazy; in the end, L was not real in Super Mario 64, but he did appear in Super Mario 64 DS.
[source reddit.com]
Comments 30
such a fun and dark time back then but full of mystery.
N64 was full of all sorts of unsolved mysteries that turned out to be non-existent.
Great times.
Eternal Star is a board in Mario Party 1! The mystery continues....
Under "Eternal Star," it says "Pill Popper," which obviously means there's a hidden Dr. Mario suit that no one has ever found!
Just a tip off GameXplain has a video about how in Art and Artifacts the new Zelda book there is talk about a direct sequel to Wind Waker on land.
L IS REAL
Huh, I figured the Boo/Bowser thing referenced that Boo's voice is just Bowser's speed way up.
What's even cooler is receiving a hand-typed letter from a Nintendo of America Game Play Counselor. That's some pretty incredible customer appreciation and personalization.
You just don't see things like this nowadays...
Don't crush our hopes and dreams with your facts!
I remember a screenshot in a magazine showing Mario and Luigi riding carpets a la Rainbow Ride from the in-development Super Mario 64 2. I say "in-development," though I don't think there was ever any serious work done on that title. I like to think there's a parallel universe in which Super Mario 64 2 exists, though.
@UK-Nintendo
2401
@Dr_Corndog
It does exist. It's called Luigi's Mansion.
They both have large house hub worlds, paintings with mysterious properties, LM has remixed and recycled music and sound effects from SM64, the list goes on. Go watch RFC. He did a fantastical video on it.
Actually, I think I'll just leave it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuye9IesYJc
The "L is Real" rumor was probably started by a young Emily Rogers.
Poor Luigi... At least he's in the DS version, which I prefer solely because Luigi is playable.
Bowser sounding like a Boo was a hint that Mario would actually kill Bowser, and then fight undead Bowser. They just left out the part about it happening 10 years later (New Super Mario Bros.).
Nah, it really doesn't say 'L is real 2401'. Nothing matches up: not the letters, not the font size and the spaces also don't match up.
You'd have to be heavily visually impaired to read that into it.
Nintendo going with the most popular explanation and sending someone a letter about it also means next to nothing.
And unfortunately, 'Eternal Star' is something that cannot be unseen once you've looked at that picture, but honestly, I wouldn't know what else to make of it that would even remotely look like what is actually written there, so I'm just going to stick with Eternal Star...
It wasn't very clear due to it being on the N64, but if I recall correctly, that writing is actually Hylian (Specifically a sign in Ocarina of Time)
I don't remember what exactly it said though, will have to bring out my game again and have a look. I believe it could at least be seen on the stone signs in Dodongo's Cavern.
2401; the real 'year of Luigi'. Can't wait!
@yokokazuo I also remember hearing something about this. I think they just recycled the texture from Mario 64 and used it on a readable sign in OOT, or something like that. It would have been in Mario first though, of course.
I love the mystery of L is Real. Even though I've never believed in it... it is fun. Now that I've seen 'Eternal Star' though, I believe it's most likely that. I wonder what it says below it?
@Moon ah, I forgot SM64 was a launch title. Regardless, it is still the Hylian language and so may have been used during the development of both games. (Which in this and Majora's Mask is based on Japanese)
Here is a picture of it in OoT.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb272/zeldman/LegendofZeldaThe-OcarinaofTimeUV-4.jpg
Well, technically, Luigi is real in Super Mario 64... Just use mods.
I held out hope for so long that Luigi was in Mario 64.
That is the worst thing Nintendo has ever done imho. Worse than stock shortages or anything else.... worse is when they leave Luigi out of a platformer. Unacceptable. Only slightly less painful is making me unlock him when the game is half or nearly over. Not everyone wants to be Mario you! Give me green man from level 1!
I'm still waiting to see one of those Mortal Kombat 3 "Nudealities" I heard about on the schoolyard.
I do wonder, though, if the release date for Paper Mario was decided based on that joke. It could of course just be a coincidence, but maybe somebody at Nintendo just wanted to mess with fans
I cannot tell you how many hours I spent trying the most inane "cheats" to unlock Luigi. And it was some of the most fun I ever had in a game.
A similar event happened with the release of Mario 64 DS. If you may recall, the developers put Yoshi in the original N64 game at the top of the castle as an Easter Egg. Someone commented that Peach appeared at the top of the castle in the DS version (she was just lounging up there the entire time). It gave me a goal to reach, and I finally earned all 150 stars only to find out it was all a lie. I did find a rabbit who held a key that unlocked the loosest slot in the entire game though.
It makes me think about the Metroid's mystery levels which actually was none other that some normal levels with assets from the wrong area. This occurs in triing to move to another area without taking the lift !
@yokokazuo It's not very likely that it's Hylian language, just looking at the development gap between the two games alone.
And the picture you posted also doesn't resemble the one posted in the article. It's not even close. That looks more like a very low res picture of Japanese characters, not like actual written (Western) text, which is what the plaque in SM64 definitely does look like, regardless of what it really says.
@ThanosReXXX with the picture, are you referring to the eternal star one or the one from the actual sign? I put both of the mm beside each other and I think the similarities can be easily seen here.
http://imgur.com/r6CePuX
The Hylian in Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask (as well as Wind Waker, but that is slightly different) does have some symbols which look similar to a few Japanese characters, most likely due to it being based off the language. However some of the symbols appear to be on the sign, but I can't really make out much. Though I haven't seen a translation for this sign in particular, other ones throughout Hyrule have been translated from Hylian into Japanese.
There is a possibility that this particular sign has no meaning or perhaps does have one and isn't in Hylian, but since Hylian can be seen on pretty much any sign I am assuming it is on that one too.
It is possible it was created before Ocarina of Time and was just used in that and Majora's Mask as the Hylian language.
@yokokazuo The Eternal Star picture. I see now that you were talking about the picture to the left of that one. Sorry, my bad.
Weren't these the good old days?
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