The world of video games has been laden with hidden messages and secret features are known only to the most devoted of players who spend tireless and countless hours playing these games and to those who have dedicated their lives in search of what is commonly known to us as Easter eggs.
Easter eggs have been widely used by programmers and developers as a means of throwing in an intentional inside joke, a hidden message or a secret feature. In video games Easter eggs are commonly used as a reference to an old video game developed and produced by a certain company, Easter eggs can also convey different forms of media from which the game drew inspiration from and on some occasions, it represents a funny character moment or a memorable bit of absurdity.
In a recent discovery made by a hacker who came upon it by accident, a file inside the Nintendo Switch console labeled as "flog" have been uncovered. There have been speculations that this file could be a pre-programmed emulator or a form of a virtual console that could play NES games via the Switch hardware. Many believed that the Switch console could also bring about a VR vibe being known as the most versatile game console in the market. Another data miner found several codes labeled as "IsVrModeEnabled" and "SetVrModeEnabled" that could probably hint that the Nintendo Switch console is VR capable and ready.
A tribute to a legend
"Flog" is golf spelled backward. For long-time Nintendo fans, the name Satoru Iwata definitely rings a bell, the man himself programmed the NES game "Golf" which apparently is embedded in every Nintendo Switch console and is the coveted and revered Easter Egg to which the file "flog" refers to.
Satoru Iwata was a video game programmer and businessman, he was the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo and is regarded as a major contributor to the success of the Nintendo brand, to which he helped broaden the appeal of video games to a wider audience. Many fans believe that his notable influence paved the way for the revitalization of Nintendo.
This Easter egg is believed to have been a charm left by Nintendo for all its fans and the Internet is calling it an "omamori." An omamori is an amulet found in religious sites in Japan, it is said to provide various forms of luck or protection. Though Nintendo has not yet verified any of the said information, many fans believe that the "Golf" game embedded in the Switch hardware is a memorial to Iwata.
The information stated above still cannot be called a fact until it is made official by Nintendo, however, such gesture made for a long time friend and a revered figure is heartwarming nonetheless.
Triggering the Iwata omamori
The "golf" game can be trigged only by specific means, and these steps are sure to hit you right in the feels.
The console's date has to be manually set to July 11 (the date when Iwata died), both controllers must be detached from the console system and the JoyCons must move and be held imitating Iwata's “Direct” motion.
Should the game be launched successfully, the player will hear a voice message from Iwata taken from an old Nintendo Direct. I must admit, I shed a few man tears hearing about Nintendo's tribute to the late Satoru Iwata.
