You remember the bits at the end of Police Squad where everyone would freeze frame except for one guy? That's exactly what the passenger in the back there must feel like in the HD port of Crazy Taxi. With all the conversion staff's names making the credits roll way longer, the old 'beckoning to the camera' shot stays on the screen way too long. A passenger hops in, then starts tapping Gina on the shoulder asking why they're not going anywhere. Eventually, she drives off. Into a wall.

Clearly, we were never supposed to see that bit. The original credits sequence was a finite length, so all the 'strings' were hidden behind the scenes. But it got me wondering: What else can we all see in games that we were never supposed to? This is my pick of the forbidden fruit...

Note: A previous version of this feature was posted in April, 2014 but has since been updated.

The developers of Skyrim made a secret room full of awesome. But sadly for console gamers, this room is only accessible in the PC version of the game. I say sadly, because it's amazing. It's got EVERYTHING in it. All the weapons and enchanted versions of them. And all the armour too. In fact, one box in the room contains so many items, you need a massively high-spec PC just to open it. The list alone will crash lesser machines.

How to get it: You need to open up the 'console' prompt by pressing ~. Type in "coc qasmoke" (without the quote marks) and you're in! You're now stuck there forever unless you also use the console to teleport to a different location because there's no exit door. So type "coc rivertown", for example, and you'll arrive at Rivertown, over-encumbered with all your new loot. Yes I know that was Oblivion's wording. I used to be an adventurer too, you know. Before I took... (*gunshot*)

Apparently, there are several pies hidden throughout Dragon Age: Inquisition. Whether you're supposed to find them or not is debatable. The developers responsible have said they didn't expect anyone to find them quite so soon. Graham Kelly, environment artist at BioWare Edmonton, said on YouTube: "It is.... The Lord of the Pies. I may or may not have hidden some of his smaller flock around the rest of Skyhold."

How to get there: Sometimes the scenery doesn't load correctly in Skyhold, allowing you to step through a door and fall through the stonework, where you end up in a glitchy area underneath the castle. There, you can see the Lord of the Pies, biggest of all the hidden pies in the game. Yes, really. Look, it's wearing a top hat. It vanishes when you get too close. It's got its own music, too, which does suggest you're meant to find it… but there's no way to get there 'officially'. It isn't meant to be seen... although I think the team hoped it would be.

Restricted Area demos of unfinished games are always goldmines for anyone seeking extra tidbits of information that hasn't officially been revealed. There was a trick in the original Saints Row demo that allowed you to use a car to get past the demo's boundary… and you know what? The Final Fantasy XV demo suffers from the exact same problem!

How to get it: Simply jump into the path of a car as it drives through the demo's perimeter barrier. Do it correctly, and you can get out of the intended area and into the (unfinished and incomplete) world beyond. And there, you'll find a dinosaur and a titan, among other things you weren't supposed to see just yet. The dinosaur even has animation data. When you're excited about a hidden dinosaur's animation data, a chime should ring and a trophy unlock. "Final Fantasist – you really can't wait for the new game, can you?"

There are loads of extra areas dotted around Destiny. They're not supposed to be accessible, but if you know where to go and what to do, you can glitch through walls and into new areas. Many are simply empty, full of half-finished scenery. But some areas are actually functional. There are enemies, collectibles (dead ghosts you can actually revive) and even never-before-seen foes like this Ultra Captain.

How to get it: While it's a glitchy process, you can follow videos like if you want to get there for yourself, but keep in mind that tricking your way into non-official content runs the (small) risk of Bungie thinking you're a hacker and blocking your account. It's entirely likely this is actually content that was held back for release as part of a future DLC package, so you'll surely be able to play it 'properly' soon. Still, look at that Ultra Captain. Oooo.

This is brilliant. Gothic 2, like pretty much every RPG, gives the impression of a greater world beyond the boundaries of the game through its lore and conversational references. But then, should you manage to somehow get outside of the wall that surrounds the playable area, it's all revealed as being a sham by this single notice. By a 'mighty alien dwarf', which likely refers to a development team member of relatively minor physical stature.

How to get there: Follow the long river down from the old ruins and the stone dragon until it ends at a wall. This wall can be climbed (with practice and regular saving). Once you're over, there's not much to see or do, although there is a cave full of ostensibly dead NPCs. They're actually living NPCs who have travelled from the Valley of Mines to the Khorinis. During the transition, the game's programming 'kills' the first instance and sends it to the cave, before creating a new instance of the NPC that continues to live. You can loot the old versions' corpses. Waste not, want not.

A secret, looped version of the totally normal water level 2-2 is not very exciting. UNTIL you give it a name like 'World -1', which gives it such amazing mystique, it will go down in legend as one of the greatest secrets ever seen in a video game. Maybe that works for everything? Maybe I should call myself 'Minus Justin Towell'... There, my charisma and legendary stats have just skyrocketed. Incredible.

How to get it: Jump backwards through the wall (yes, it is possible) at the end of World 1-2 and enter the first pipe. Having circumvented the regular Warp Zone message, you are sent to the wrong level. Minus World, baby!

This strange area is full of what looks like a playschool's recreational apparatus. Coloured blocks with numbers on them, walls at various angles... it's all just part of the developers' creation process, allowing them to test out new moves for Sonic and set his jump height and acceleration instead of loading a whole level every time. Trouble is, they didn't take it out.

How to get it: There is a convoluted method of jumps too complex to list here, but the simplest way is to play the PS3/360 HD port and pick up a Chao Garden Key while playing as Eggman in his final stage. At the end of the level, you'll find yourself here. Simple!

Sonic isn't the only platform character to have a test level left in his game. Mario 64 and Mario Sunshine both have them too. This one is the second of two in the DS version of Mario 64, allowing you to test out your jumping, character hats and everything else. But all it does is make me realise how flaky DS' polygonal 3D is. Crikey, that's primitive. Hooray for 3DS, eh?

How to get it: On the PAL version, use an Action Replay to input this code, then hold Select while you load an existing save file:
94000130 fffb0000
02097360 00000000
d2000000 00000000

Pre-release versions and developer/journalist hearsay suggested there was another multiplayer level hidden away in Goldeneye on N64. It was then totally denied by Rare, but that didn't stop people trying to find it. Eventually, they did--and it only took six years! Well done, all concerned. But Oddjob is still banned. Shame the level is barely textured, hardly playable and essentially broken. See and hear it in 'action' .

How to get it: You'll need an Action Replay cartridge and the following code:
8005883E FFFF 8005883F FFFF 80058840 FFFF 800588A5 FFFF
800588A7 FFFF 800588AA FFFF 800588AC FFFF 800588AF FFFF
800588B1 FFFF 800588B4 FFFF 800588B6 FFFF 800588B9 FFFF
800588BB FFFF

Before you get all excited, this has long-since been patched out of GTA Online. But, for a time, gamers could revisit the snowy landscape of North Yankton in online multiplayer simply by tricking the game into keeping the area loaded from the prologue mission. It appeared in the sky in the south-east corner of the map, but was totally accessible with a helicopter.

How to get it: As I say, you can't get to it any more. Meh. But explains the sequence of trickery that was required, which is still well worth a look. If only to see (ahem) the world's biggest beaver.

A city filled with the wrong graphics, the wrong collision detection, glitchy (surprise) visual stability and floor that often isn't the floor, actually acting like water instead. Obviously it's completely broken and was never intended to be a place you could visit during normal play. But you can!

How to get it: The trick is to get out of the Safari zone while its step limiter is working. Get into the Safari zone, try to leave but then say you want to stay. Then save your game, reload it, exit the zone, tell the guy at the desk you don't want to play, then head to Cinnabar Island (or some others) and surf until your steps are up. Boom! Glitch City.

Maybe at this point, we should be more surprised to see 3D games that don't have a test room ostensibly hidden away yet easily activated with an Action Replay/Gameshark. But still, it's amazing to see familiar Kiddy Link running around colourful boxes like a kid who's gone on holiday but wants to spend the entire time climbing around in the play area. "Come on, Link, we're going to the beach! You love the beach! Oh fine, stay here then, ya little sod..."

How to get it: Fart on a donkey, whistle Saria's Song while staring into the center of a waning moon and then hold Z while the game loads. Nah, I'm just kidding. Get an Action Replay and input the code ZY1N-AGX5-MMCY0 94HP-XPKH-WQXF7 3Z3C-ZZVX-C21YN 1X90-8QQU-REZG3. Though that is just one test level. There are loads more .

OK, so it doesn't have any textures aside from the racers and it may be whiter than a polar bear who hasn't seen the sun all winter, but that is the Mario Circuit from Double Dash on Gamecube. It's just one of several unfinished tracks hidden away in Mario Kart DS' code. But you can actually drive on it, which is pretty awesome.

How to get it: You guessed it! Action Replay time. Use the code 023cdcd8 00000002 020484a0 d0002a00 020484a4 e0052321 and there it is.

I just *had* to end the article with this one, even though we've had an entry from Mario Kart already. There is no way anyone anywhere would see this by chance. Those numbers and letters up there are used as memory filler (all memory needs to hold data of some sort), but if you squint a bit, you can see that they act as ASCII art and show the Super Mario Bros sprite version of Mario.

How to get it: Um... you just have to look at the picture above. I'm not sure you needed this section on this slide, to be honest. But you're very welcome all the same.

Yeah, that weird white-eyed child is a deleted boss from Mother 3. The developers removed it probably because it shouldn't be viewed by anybody, ever. Having trouble sleeping? Looking at that thing will not help. Having trouble staying awake? Problem solved! Ye gads...

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Nintendo loves to make game announcements in rapid succession, and even a day notorious for literally unbelievable news isn't enough to deter a parade of updates and trailers. The most recent Nintendo Direct just aired on April 1, with a slew of new info and reveals that shouldn't be missed. But what if you don't have an hour to spend scrubbing through the looking for the breaking news? That's where we come in.

What follows is a list of the biggest announcements from the Nintendo Direct, with all the really good stuff front-loaded for your convenience. Check out what you might've missed, then let us know in the comments which games and new amiibo you're personally pumped up for. You can even imagine us speaking in the same dulcet tones as Satoru Iwata or Bill Trinen, if you like.

We still don't have a title for the new Fire Emblem game on 3DS, but we do know that it's . Alongside the release window, Nintendo revealed a ton formation about the game's single-player campaign, which casts your created character as the star (rather than as a companion to the real hero of the story). That doesn't just mean more dialogue - your character will literally determine the entire course of the campaign.

Early on, you must make the choice between fighting for the peace-loving Hoshido faction or the warlike, revolutionary Nohr faction. Striving to preserve peace with Hoshido will provide a more traditional Fire Emblem experience that's also more welcoming to newcomers, while fighting for glory with Nohr will make for difficult battles and a more complex narrative. Sounds like a pretty awesome excuse to play the game twice, whichever side you decide to start with.

The Nintendo Direct had no shortage of updates on and 3DS. First off, the Mewtwo DLC will be out this month. If you registered both games on Club Nintendo, you’ll be getting a download code on April 15. Everyone else will be able to buy the character on April 28, costing $4 on either version, or $5 if you want the Legendary Pokemon on both platforms.

But that’s not all. This June, Mother 3 protagonist Lucas will join the game as a downloadable fighter for a yet-to-be-named price. Additionally, new costume packs are coming for the Mii fighters, all as paid DLC on April 15. There are themed costumes for Legend of Zelda and Mega Man, plus cute animal outfits that are 75 cents separately, or $6 in a bundle.

Ready to write a 500-word treatise on why Ridley absolutely, positively belongs in the Super Smash Bros. roster? Get your thinking cap ready, because Nintendo is about to let fan demand influence who might be the next DLC character.

By hopping over to , you can fill out a survey suggesting who deserves to join the Smash Bros. cast next. Who knows how long it'll be until this survey is botted out of control, but it's a nice sentiment for Nintendo to let the fans make direct suggestions. If we all type in Goku, do you think it’ll finally happen?

After it was teased more than a year ago, we were told little about this crossover game beyond a few facts: It's on the Wii U, is being developed in tandem by Atlus and the Fire Emblem team at Intelligent Systems, and brings together two of the most hardcore series in gaming. The was finally shown during the Nintendo Direct, and it blends the SMT and Fire Emblem influences into a dazzling, anime-riffic display.

As in most Shin Megami games, the main characters are Japanese teens with special abilities, and they look to be battling monsters in a near-future version of Tokyo to the tune of a catchy theme song. From the Fire Emblem side of things, the turn-based battles show classic FE characters helping out the the team. No official date or title has been given to the game in North America; it’ll be out this year in Japan with a title that roughly translates to Illusory Revelations#FE. The rest is still a mystery, but hopefully we’ll hear more around E3 this year.

Amiibo are fun and all, but Marth and Wii Fit Trainer break way too easy when you try to cuddle with them. Thankfully, Nintendo plans to get out ahead of the snuggle issue with a new line of amiibo planned to release alongside - one green, one pink, and one light blue.

Aside from being oh-so soft, squishy, and lovable, the Woolly World amiibo will let you play as Double Yoshi when you tap their little bottoms to the GamePad. You control both characters at once, letting you slurp up the second Yoshi into an egg, toss him to new areas, and run around with him once you get there. You'll also be able to swap between the difficulty-determining "Classic" or "Mellow" modes in the middle of a level, the latter of which gives your Yoshi wings… if you can ever stop cooing at the figures long enough to play, anyway.

Because people will buy up amiibo figurines faster than bottled water before an impending earthquake, you know Nintendo isn't about to stop making them any time soon. The newest wave of Smash-themed amiibo is now know, with Dark Pit and Palutena coming this July, and Olimar, Zero Suit Samus, Bowser Jr., Ganondorf, and Dr. Mario set to debut in September. That noise you just heard was your wallet screaming, by the way.

In addition, Iwata assures us that amiibo toys for Smash Bros. DLC characters like Mewtwo and Lucas are also on the way, alongside the aforementioned Yoshi's Wooly World and Splatoon amiibo sets. You'll also be able to boot up demos of classic games with the amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Hits app, which releases this spring on Wii U as a free download. By tapping your amiibo to the GamePad, you'll gain access to a limited demo of a randomly selected game from Nintendo's storied archives. It's basically like a , only better.

For Western fans of Fatal Frame, who haven't seen a localized release in the snapshot-happy horror series for ten years, it may feel like this franchise has one foot in the grave. But apparently Nintendo has a resurrection planned, with a U.S. localization of Fatal Frame 5: Oracle of the Sodden Raven set for release later this year.

Little is known about the title as of yet, aside from the standards common to every Fatal Frame game: you play as a (presumably) teenage girl stuck in a haunted locale and use a camera to protect yourself against homicidal specters while trying to solve the mystery of their deaths. What makes this Wii U release special is the use of the GamePad, with the inlaid screen functioning as the only access you have to your life-saving camera. And you thought these games were nerve-wracking before.

If you've had your fill of space battles, planting flowers, global conquest, and battling ghosts, Nintendo has a pair of new games to freshen up your StreetPass Plaza. Ultimate Angler sees your Mii travelling to the StreetPass Islands to bag more than 150 varieties of fish, using bait that they receive from fellow travellers. Meanwhile, Battleground Z lets you engage in action combat with hordes of zombies using weapons pulled from each Mii's hobbies.

The two games will be available on April 16 together for $7.99, or separately for $4.99 each. "StreetPass Mii Plaza Premium" will also launch on April 16, letting you store designated Mii characters in a VIP room and set StreetPass birthdays for your virtual travelers on a new calendar. StreetPass Mii Plaza Premium will be sold separately for $4.99.

Do you enjoy collecting amiibo, but wish they were easier to fit in your pocket? That’s what the upcoming amiibo cards are for. They function similarly to the figures, meaning the cards are scanned via NFC to unlock features, and the first set is themed around Animal Crossing. As it so happens, a new Animal Crossing spin-off will launch alongside the cards by the end of the year.

Called , the game focuses on the series’ indoors action, making players do some interior design to the desired specifications of their animal neighbors. And you get unique assignments by scanning different amiibo cards for characters like Isabelle. The game and cards launch this fall, along with the long-promised NFC add-on that allows non-New 3DS handhelds to scan amiibo and add the content to their games.

Go-karts are fun, but as far as racing goes, they're not actually all that fast… unless you drop an even bigger engine and some Super Mushrooms in there. Nintendo plans to add a 200cc racing class to in a free downloadable update on April 23, enabling a new, super-speedy mode on all tracks. Get comfortable with tapping that brake button, because taking corners at full speed is about to get a whole lot trickier.

The free update will release alongside DLC Pack 2, which adds three new characters (Animal Crossing's Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser), four new vehicles, and eight new tracks, giving you plenty of new wheels and pavement to tear up as you zoom around at ludicrous speeds. You do have to pay $8 for the DLC pack, mind you.

It may not have the established fanbase of series like Smash Bros. or Fire Emblem, but is shaping up to be a fun, inventive shooter that still retains Nintendo's classic sense of whimsy. Two online modes were shown off during the Nintendo Direct: Ranked Battle, with 4v4 matches that determine your (what else) rank, and Splat Zones, a king-of-the-hill style melee where everyone's fighting over one central location. Offline multiplayer will also be available in the Battle Dojo mode, a 1v1 skirmish that puts one player on the TV and the other on the GamePad in a race to pop balloons.

Being that it's a relatively big game for Nintendo, you knew there had to be some amiibo involved. Three Splatoon amiibo will be available starting on May 29th: an orange humanoid Inkling girl, a blue humanoid Inkling boy, and a green Inkling in squid form. You can buy the humanoids separately, or pick up all three in one convenient pack.

Super Mario Bros. is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Nintendo revealed has a bunch of surprises in store for the occasion. Thankfully, Mario Maker's release date is no longer one of them: it will finally democratize the piranha plant placement process in September.

The Wii U game / level-creation workshop will feature four different visual themes pulled from across the 2D Mario canon: the original 8-bit goodness of Super Mario Bros., the classic look of Super Mario Bros. 3, the SNES-talgic Super Mario World style, and the 3D-rendered visuals of New Super Mario Bros. You'll be able to swap between the four at will and easily share all of your creations online. No better way to celebrate Mario history than by making some of your own, right?

If you've been pulling your hair out waiting for for the day you could play Super Mario 64 on glorious new-gen tech, then yank no more! , starting with Super Mario 64 and Yoshi's Island DS, which are available immediately - yeah, right now! Go get them! Other titles you can play on your Wii U in the coming months will include Donkey Kong 64 and Mario Kart DS, and we can undoubtedly expect more nostalgic goodness in the future.

In addition, Nintendo has shown off a slew of games for the eShop that'll be released throughout the next year. The headliner is Pokemon Rumble World, a free, simplistic brawler starring toy versions of pocket monsters. And in addition to previously announced games like Don't Starve: Giant Edition and Runbow, games like forma.8, Dementium Remastered, and Starwhal will join Nintendo's collection of indie offerings.

Phew! Of all those announcements, which are you the most excited for? Do you plan on diving headfirst into the JRPG goodness of Fire Emblem and SMTXFE (the best acronym ever, pronounced 'smit-ze-fee')? Or are you gearing up to take part in the battle for those precious amiibo? Let us know in the comments below.

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