Of all the secrets and Easter eggs in video games, hidden characters are often the most exciting. A new character can change the entire experience, as stories can take different turns and gameplay can change drastically.
Fighting games are famous for housing dozens of locked characters, but any video game can easily switch things up by throwing players into the shoes of somebody new. Some secret characters are hidden just for fun, but others can add a totally new dimension to a tired experience. Simply put: unlocking secret characters is the best, and we're here to prove it to you.
We've put together a list of the coolest and most bizarre secret characters in video game history to show you just how weird your favorite games can get. The games listed go back a few years, but even some of the industry's most recent titles can have crazy unlockable characters in them. We'll also tell you how to unlock them, in case the completionists among you want to go back and take a crack at getting them all. Seriously, some of these characters don't even belong in the games that they appear in, and that's what makes them so great.
The list is a nice mix of obvious inclusions, challenging unlockables, and some of the silliest secret characters ever known. Think you've found them all? You might want to write these down and grab a controller, just in case you missed a few.
Here are 25 Crazy Secret Characters in Video Games (And How To Unlock Them).
Morinth (Mass Effect 2)
Mass Effect 2 is all about Commander Shepard recruiting a team of heroes for an extremely dangerous mission. Along the way, Shepard will recruit Samara — a powerful biotic fighter and an asset to the team. However, depending on the player's moral com, her daughter Morinth might be the more appealing choice.
Cold-blooded killer Morinth is only accessible when completing Samara's loyalty mission. Shepard can side with either party after the mother and daughter get into a fight, but siding with Morinth has her defeat her mother and replace her on the team.
Morinth will even wear Samara's clothes and mimic her voice so that nobody knows what happened to her.
Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walkers)
Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima loves to fill his games with Easter eggs, and Peace Walker is no exception. When Big Boss is tasked with finding a truck full of nukes, the player will end up in a garage full of identical trucks. This room is loaded with secrets, with one truck housing an extra special cameo.
Looking in the truck marked "Centro America 63824 Peace Sentinel" will put Big Boss face to face with Kojima himself. He exclaims "Mr. Kojima!" as Kojima waves back.
Finding him lets Big Boss recruit him as a soldier.
Oh, and the truck's license plate number is Kojima's birthday, of course.
John Wick (Payday 2)
The Boogeyman himself wasn't a locked secret character, but one that showed up in a game by surprise. 2011's Payday 2 had (and still has) a very active online community. The game was constantly updated with free able content, which helped bring John Wick to the heisting first-person shooter.
As a form of cross-promotion, development studio Overkill and Hollywood studio Lionsgate made a deal to promote the 2014 film, John Wick. As a result, Wick was added to the game as a playable character three years after its release.
He's one of many guest characters in Payday 2, but he's easily the coolest. Now, if somebody could just get him his own video game...
Vergil (Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition)
Fans of Devil May Cry love protagonist Dante almost as much as they love his evil brother Vergil. Fortunately, both brothers are playable characters in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening — but you wouldn't know it unless you owned a copy of the Special Edition.
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition makes Vergil playable in his own mode and he even gets his own unique movesets, weapons, and alternate costumes. Beat the game once as Dante and he'll be unlocked! Playing as Vergil comes with a learning curve though, as his moves are drastically different from Dante's. He'll take some time to master.
Mewtwo (Super Smash Bros. Melee)
Mewtwo is hardly the only secret character in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but he specifically makes this list for being difficult to unlock and yet somehow one of the worst characters in the game.
His moveset is weak, he's extremely vulnerable, and for whatever reason he's locked behind a staggering prerequisite of 700 versus matches. Seriously? 700?
Complete those matches (win or lose) and you'll unlock Mewtwo.
Alternatively, you can play the game for 20 hours in total. You'll be rewarded with a surprisingly lame character and a desire to play another game — probably.
To be fair, Mewtwo has been improved in recent Smash installments, but his Melee iteration is simply the worst.
Akuma (Super Street Fighter II Turbo)
One of the coolest villains in the Street Fighter series has the luxury of being the franchise's very first secret character. He can be fought by beating every character without being defeated, but he only becomes playable with a cheat code.
The code must be entered on the character select screen by highlighting certain fighters for three seconds at a time, plus a button combination. The sequence is as follows: Ryu, T. Hawk, Guile, Cammy, Ryu, then press all three punch buttons and Start simultaneously. You can now wreck your friends with Akuma.
He's not as strong as the Akuma fought in single-player, but he's still one of the baddest fighters in the series' history.
Mokap (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance)
Mortal Kombat is famous for its hidden characters. The franchise is littered rumors, hoaxes, and secrets all involving elusive unlockable characters. Reptile, Ermac, Smoke, Rain, Noob Saibot — the list goes on and on.
One of the most outlandish is Mokap, a motion-capture actor who is inexplicably intertwined with the fantastical events of the series.
He's actually just a scan-in of actor Carlos Pessina, who works on the Mortal Kombat games.
Eat your heart out, Andy Serkis!
In Deadly Alliance, he can be unlocked by completing Konquest mode with every character and then selecting Cyrax while holding the start button. He only mimics other characters' fighting styles though, because of course he does.
Darth Maul (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3)
The Force really helps with those extra complicated tricks.
The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise is infamous for featuring silly unlockable characters — many of them might be elsewhere on this list — but what's cooler than skating around as one of the most iconic lords of the Sith? Absolutely nothing was cooler back in 2001.
While playing as Tony Hawk, acquire all of the gold medals and complete all 54 goals in Career Mode. Doing so will unlock Darth Maul as a skater; lightsaber included.
Alternatively, you can just enter the "YOHOMIES" cheat code if you want to speed things up a little and unlock every character.
Tofu (Resident Evil 2)
Resident Evil games are pretty intense experiences, but they lighten up when you play as a big block of Tofu.
"The Tofu Survivor" is a secret mini-game hidden away in Resident Evil 2 that puts players in the shoes Tofu, who begins the game armed only with some medicinal herbs and a knife.
Unlocking Tofu can be quite the punishing experience.
Players must clear the game six times with all A rankings, which is no easy task. Dedicated players and hardcore Resident Evil fans may enjoy the challenge, but others might want to cook up some actual tofu instead and save themselves the time.
Fred Durst (WWF Raw, Smackdown: Just Bring It, Fight Club)
Oh look, it's everybody's favorite wrestler: the lead singer of Limp Bizkit.
Completing Fight Club's Story Mode will reward you with Durst, but for the wrestling games his unlock process is a bit lengthier. For WWF Raw players need to win all of the championship belts, and for Smackdown, players need to win Slobberknocker mode 15 with the Undertaker (who had a Limp Bizkit intro song at the time).
That's right, he is a secret unlockable character in not one, but three different early 2000s video games.
Don't ask us why, because we have no explanation either. It was a different time.