Throughout the 1990s, Sega and Nintendo were locked in a tight battle, often taking jabs at each other to win over gamers. This competitive spirit spread to game developers, who sneaked in little digs in their games. For example, in Donkey Kong Country 2, there’s a pair of Sonic’s iconic shoes next to a “No Hopers” sign in Cranky’s Hall Of Heroes. A less known Easter egg is in the game Battle Mania by Vic Tokai. In the Japanese version, there’s a hidden scene where the character Madison crushes a Super Famicom controller, discovered by writer John Harrison. Players can see it by pressing start on a second controller when the game is booting.
A hidden scene from Battle Mania (Trouble Shooter) on the Mega Drive showing the main character stomping on a Super Famicom.
— John Harrison - Mega Drive Shock (@MegaDriveShock) April 2, 2024
Creator Takayan said that, after this, Sega sent out a message asking developers to please not include images that were damaging to other companies? pic.twitter.com/SWZBixVgRb