Binary Land (NES)

Binary Land
Developer: Hudson Soft Publisher: Hudson Soft Platform: NES Released in JP: December 19, 1985 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has a Data Crystal page

Binary Land is, as you may have guessed, a game about ones and zeroes.

Unused content

Spray icon

Among the graphics in the game there is an unused power up icon, similar to the Whale card, that displays a spray can, which is strange considering that the player is always equipped with the item throughout the game. It might be possible that this was meant to give temporarily longer range to the player's weapon.

Oddities

The graphics of the cupcake and the card items are repeated twice among others. This is likely because the harp and the umbrella are animated, unlike these two.

Easter Eggs

"Love Story"

Hold A + B on both controllers at the same time, then press Reset. The title screen now has "KIKU. MEGU. LOVE STORY" in place of the options and copyright info. The same message appears in Challenger, another Hudson game for the Famicom. In addition to this, the penguins are renamed, and if either gets into trouble they will cry out for the other; normally, Gurin and Malon don't call out to each other when in danger.

"KIKU" is a pseudonym for Kikuta Masaaki (菊田昌昭), one of Hudson's programmers. Most games programmed by Masaaki have secrets or hidden messages, like Nuts & Milk or Raid on Bungeling Bay.

Baby Penguin

A lesser-known Easter egg, Gurin and Malon can give birth to a smaller penguin (either pink or green) if they meet 16 times and their meeting time is between 1-3 seconds. The baby roams around the maze at random and poses happily with its mom and dad at the end of a stage, but will also defeat any spider, fire or web it touches instantly.