I love video game Easter Eggs, and Batman: Arkham City is littered with them! For anyone who doesn’t know, an Easter Egg is an in-joke or a wink to the fans that game developers put into their game for the sheer fun of it. Like finding He-Man in World of Warcraft, the beating heart in the Statue of Liberty in Grand Theft Auto IV or being able to play as Bill Clinton in NBA Jam. They don’t have anything to do with the main game; but if you’re a fan of the series, and you get the ‘joke’, they can bring a smile to your face. They are a real treat.

Arkham City up close and personal

And when creating the ultimate set of Batman video games, the makers of Batman: Arkham Asylum and the new Batman: Arkham City went Easter Egg crazy!

The story of Arkham City (which I won’t spoil here), is an epic adventure that pits Batman against the Joker and Professor Hugo Strange. The game has Batman facing off against other classic rogues like Two-Face, Catwoman, Penguin, Mad Hatter and more as he tries to solve the mystery of Arkham City and save the day! The game takes place in a sprawling map of Gotham City, featuring such notable levels as Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge, the Gotham City Police Station and Ace Chemicals, where the Joker received his vicious grin.

But hidden in the nooks and crannies of the game, far off the beaten path, are tons of Easter Eggs and references to other characters, villains and stories from Batman lore.

It was like that in the first game too. I loved walking around Arkham Asylum and randomly stumbling across Two-Face’s or Mr. Freeze’s cells. They were just there as part of a normal cell block, the way any prisoner’s cell would be. Well Batman: Arkham City has much more room to work with and a lot more ways to hide Easter Eggs. I won’t be spoiling the main story in this list, just a few of the fun and funny Easter Eggs that you can find hidden in the game.

Here are the 6 Best in Batman: Arkham City:

6. Black Mask: Here is one of Batman’s lesser known villains. Black Mask got a scavenger hunt reference in Arkham Asylum, but now we actually get to see him in the flesh in the sequel. He’s not important enough to actually get to fight the Batman in the main game, but he’s a prisoner in Arkham City nonetheless. You first see Black Mask right at very beginning, when Batman first enters Arkham City. When you head for Line A, if you look to the right of the prison yard, you’ll see Black Mask getting beaten by several guards. He’s trying to fight them off, only to get Tasered and kicked into submission. The moment has absolutely nothing to do with you, it’s just there in the prison yard for the fans to see.

I never liked Black Mask anyway

Later in the Museum (more on that later), one of the display cases has the Black Mask’s mask. I’m still not sure what that means for the character. Did someone cut his face off?

Black Mask gets a scavenger hunt reference in Arkham City as well. One of the Riddler’s riddles has you looking for a ‘HOLE’ that Black Mask used to escape. In the southeast corner of Arkham City, you will find a hole that Black Mask exploded into the prison walls. You see, the premise of Arkham City is that officials have created a new prison by simply building a giant wall around a section of Gotham City. They simply cut off about 50 blocks from the rest of the city and tossed all the prisoners and asylum inmates in there to run wild. Batman goes in to try and shut it down.

Black Mask is one of those prisoners and his scavenger hunt clue is that he blew a hole through one of the walls to escape. Now it’s boarded up with signs warning other prisoners to get back. When you find the hole, you get a story of how Black Mask was the only prisoner to ever escape Arkham City. But they found him and brought him back, leading to that beat down at the very beginning of the game.

Should have just called him Black Skull

You may not fight Black Mask in the main game, but he is the focus of the two Challenge Maps from the Robin DLC. If you play the two maps as a Campaign, first you have to defeat the Mask’s thugs in his hideout. Then you get a cut scene of your hero (Robin, in my case) chasing the escaping Mask onto a freight train. You have to fight your way through four waves of thugs on the train, just like every Challenge Map. But Black Mask himself is in that fourth wave. He is much tougher to knock out, but just keep at it and he’ll go down like all the other thugs.

5. Joker Fish: Everybody loves Batman: The Animated Series from the mid-90s. Even non-comics fans watched that cartoon. And one of the most popular episodes was ‘Joker Fish’, in which the Joker poisoned the fish of Gotham City to all have his vicious smile. Did you know that episode was based on an actual comic book story? Anyway, it was a hugely popular episode and I found a Joker Fish in Batman: Arkham City.

All the Joker wanted was a patent application!

If you search around the Steel Mill that the Joker uses as his HQ in the game, you’ll eventually found a box of his gags hidden in the basement. In that box are several joke items, and one of them is a grinning, red-lipped fish straight out of the cartoon.

On a side note, nearby the box, is a giant,  yellow rubber ducky, like the Penguin’s big boat in the movie Batman Returns. For some reason, the head is all blown up. Perhaps there’s some Penguin vs. Joker backstory that we’re not yet privy to.

4. Killer Croc: One of the main villains of the first game, Killer Croc, only makes a cameo appearance in Arkham City. He’s not part of the main storyline, but if you know where to look and know how to find him, Batman will have a little chat with Killer Croc in the sewers of Arkham City. This Easter Egg is time sensitive, so make sure you do it during the main storyline when you’re down in the sewers. Croc is no longer around after you beat the game.

As part of the scavenger hunt in Arkham City, you can also visit the Croc’s lair in the sewers. You have to blow up a section of sewer wall to find the cramped, little room. Croc has a bed with his shackles broken off, and a few pictures of himself on the wall. He also has a book lying on the ground, which I thought was weird. I can just picture the massive Croc lying on his bed with reading glasses flipping through the novel.

3. Zsasz’s ‘cell’/Penguin’s Museum: As I mentioned before, there is a Museum in Arkham City filled with neat references to the Batman mythos, as well as giant dinosaur and wooly mammoth displays. The Penguin took over the museum, and he turned all of the display cases into his own gruesome menagerie of history. Visiting the museum is a big part of the game, so I won’t spoil any of the important displays, but some of the bonus ones are fun. The Penguin even recorded new sound bytes for each display case.

For example, in one of the display cases, Penguin has killed and stuffed the Joker’s pet hyenas.

Harley's 'babies' take on a whole new meaning in this game

In another display case, he has the Black Mask’s mask and a top hat from the Mad Hatter.

But my favorite display case is the one for Victor Zsasz, the insane serial killer. The reason it’s my favorite display is because it’s empty! The glass is broken! If you’re like me, then by this point in the game you’ve already started Zsasz’s side mission. The serial killer has taken several hostages, and he taunts Batman via payphones to try and find his lair and stop him from killing the hostages. So we already know that Zsasz is on the loose in Akrham City.

This guy carves a notch into his skin for every murder

Then you find out when you visit the museum that Zsasz had been a prisoner of the Penguin. If you play the Penguin’s recording on the display case, he doesn’t seem to realize that Zsasz has escaped as he proudly introduces his prisoner. I just thought this connection to Zsasz was rather neat. The game developers could have just said that Zsasz was loose in Arkham City like everybody else. But instead, they went that extra step and established the seemingly unimportant back story that Zsasz actually escaped from the Penguin’s display case. This was a delightful discovery.

2. Scarecrow’s Creepy Boat: This is an absolute perfect Easter Egg! It’s completely hidden from view, requires a very specific series of steps to find and is absolutely mind-blowing! Thanks to video game site IGN for finding it for me. So far as I’ve searched, there is absolutely nothing in the game that points towards this small bit of insanity. You just have to know it’s there and know how to unlock it. Take a look:

The Scarecrow was a major villain in the first game, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Using his fear toxin, he would send Batman on these strange, out-of-body experiences that were the highlights of the first game. In the end, the Scarecrow disappeared. He doesn’t actually show up in Arkham City, but you can hear random thugs talking about his mysterious disappearance if you listen to the right groups. The Scarecrow has a presence, but he’s non-existent. Perhaps he’ll appear in the third game?

And this guy stabs you in the eye with nerve toxin needle fingers!

As part of the scavenger hunt in Arkham City, you can find Scarecrow’s mask hidden on top of a bridge near his scary boat. Those scavenger hunts are the best!

1. Crime Alley: This is where it all began. Where Batman’s parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, were gunned down by a mugger in an alley behind the Monarch Theater. It’s been popularized in almost all Batman TV shows and movies. It’s as iconic as superhero origins get. Well, the Monarch Theater is very visible from the very beginning of the game, with its big neon sign. And if you go around back to the alleyway, you find the chalk outline of Batman’s parents and a bouquet of roses that he left some time ago.

The game even allows you to ‘Pay Your Respects’ at the site.

It’s a quiet, simple moment, but it’s brilliant for longtime Batman fans. I mentioned before how Arkham City is several Gotham City blocks just walled off. The developers just had to include this iconic piece of Gotham City landscape in that walled-off section. Nothing forces you to visit Crime Alley. No part of the story has you visiting the site of your parents’ murder. It’s just there as a nod to the fans. And that’s what makes for a great Easter Egg.

Honorable Mention: Harley’s Stuff: Harley Quinn is the Joker’s right-hand gal, and as such, she’s a big part of Arkham City since Joker is one of the main bad guys. As I mentioned before, the Joker uses the old Steel Mill as his hideout in Arkham City. When you visit the Steel Mill later in the game, you have a chance to look around at Joker and Harley’s base of operations. Not only do you find the Joker Fish I mentioned earlier, but Harley has a few other important knick knacks lying around.

In one room, I found Harley’s diploma hanging on the wall. Harley Quinn used to be a psychologist working at Arkham Asylum until she started treating the Joker. The mad clown twisted her mind during their sessions until she fell hopelessly in love with him. But it seems she still kept the diploma.

In another room is the nurse costume that she wore in the first game, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

And lying on the ground right next to the nurse outfit is something rather surprising. It’s not so much an Easter Egg as it is a teaser for the next game:

Dun Dun DUN!!

What were your favorite Easter Eggs from Batman: Arkham City? Did I miss any really good ones? Let me know in the comments!

Also:

Read my review of Batman: Arkham City.

And my List of 6 People, Places and Game Styles I Want in the Next Game.