Egging You On: Eggs in Games

As an adult on Easter, I may not be searching for colorful capsules filled with candy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take my hunt to other mediums! This year, I went on a quest to find the top ten instances of eggs in video games! Can you think of any others? Tell me about it in the comments!

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10. Metroid II: Return of Samus
(Game Boy, 1991)

If you’re seeing these shells, that means there’s a Metroid nearby – and you’ll be seeing a lot of them! In this Game Boy sequel to the original NES game, Samus explores the depths of planet SR388 to exterminate the “last” of these parasitic pests (47 in total!). Make sure you have your hand-drawn map nearby!

9. Super Mario Galaxy
(Wii, 2007)

He’s a mean green mother from Good Egg Galaxy. Once you’ve cracked this egg, Petey Piranha 2.0 attempts to get revenge for his defeat in Super Mario Sunshine (but actually there’s no relation). In any case, this good egg has definitely gone bad.

8. Mario Kart 64
(N64, 1996)

No matter how hard you try to avoid this thing, it will always hit you. This giant egg in Yoshi Valley follows the same path as your DVD screensaver except there’s no cathartic feeling if it perfectly touches the corner. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been comfortably in 1st place only to be completely ruined at the last moment. My only question is – where is the giant Yoshi that laid this egg??

7. Jurassic Park
(Super Nintendo, 1993)

Remember that scene in Jurassic Park where Dr. Alan Grant had to scour the entire island in search of dinosaur eggs? Me neither. But apparently that’s a significant enough idea to build a game around it. Unfortunately, they didn’t “spare no expense” when they developed this Super Nintendo adventure.

6. Adventure Island
(NES, 1986)

Axes, flowers, milk, and eggplants… this Easter egg hunt is out of control. If you’re really lucky, Master Higgins will find a skateboard with a full set of safety gear inside these eggs scattered around Adventure Island. All I ever got were Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

5. Dizzy
(ZX Spectrum, 1987)

Over 20 games spanning almost three decades, the Dizzy series has flown completely under my radar. We all know that Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Well, his distant cousin Dizzy rolled around the land in order to rescue his fellow “Yolkfolk” from the clutches of an evil wizard. If I ever come across one of these games, I’ll have to take a *crack* at it!

4. Banjo Kazooie
(N64, 1998)

One of the coolest aspects about Banjo Kazooie is how it forces you to fully utilize all of your abilities in order to succeed – especially during the multi-tiered final boss battle. Of course, the toughest phase of the fight involves our dynamic duo pooping eggs into a series of Jinjo statues. Does this count as defacing public property?

3. Adventures of Lolo
(NES, 1989)

In Lolo, you collect hearts which *might* give you a set of magic shots. One shot will turn an enemy into an egg which you can push around or use as a pedestal in water. A second shot will send that enemy off the screen into oblivion. These eggs can be the puzzliest parts of Lolo because some stages require strategic placement to block our blue bestie from being pelted by flames or spikes. Other stages are even trickier because they ask the player to send an enemy offscreen and cover their original spawn location with a separate egg, which then forces the original enemy to respawn in a secondary spot that’s needed to complete the stage. Whattttt???

2. Yoshi’s Island/Super Mario World
(SNES, 1995/1990)

What’s the difference between an egg used as a weapon and an egg used to birth baby Yoshis? Maybe I don’t want to know! In Yoshi’s Island, a prequel to Super Mario World (and every Mario game for that matter), Yoshi carries and protects a young Mario in an attempt to return him to his separated brother Luigi who has been captured by Kamek and imprisoned in a young Bowser’s castle.

Eggs are a plenty! They can be spewed out infinitely from pipes, knocked out of specific blocks, or created on the fly by consuming a small enemy and popping them out of the rear! Apparently, when unfertilized (I assume), they can be aimed and shot at enemies throughout the entire adventure. How many eggs do you think Yoshi breaks during this game???

In Super Mario World, eggs are *only* used for birthing baby Yoshi’s (and sometimes 1-ups if you already have a Yoshi). These eggs can be green, blue, yellow, or red and each give rise to different colored Yoshi’s with special powers based on their colors. At the end of every castle level, after defeating a Koopaling, Mario rescues a special Yoshi egg that had been kidnapped by Bowser. He then returns them home to Yoshi’s house at the end of the game. What was Bowser’s plan here? Enslaving Yoshi’s for his own personal army? I’d love to see that plot unravel in a future game…!

Honorable Mentions:

Chrono Trigger
(SNES, 1995)

Alien 3
(Sega Genesis/SNES, 1992/1993)

Final Fantasy 6
(SNES, 1994)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
(Game Boy, 1993)

Speaking of Yoshi eggs… After surviving a horrendous shipwreck, Link wakes up on a strange island which is home to a giant egg atop a mountain. Upon recovering his sword, which had washed up on the beach, an owl expounds an encyclopedia’s worth of exposition unto Link telling him that the whole world is a dream. The only way to be roused from this dream is to play the eight Instruments of the Sirens in front of the egg and then wake the mystical “Wind Fish” (a giant, flying whale). The most impressive part of this feat is that Link can play eight instruments at the same time. How come they never taught me THAT in music school??

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Thanks for stopping by to check out my article! Which instance of eggs in games from my article is your favorite? What are some other games that have eggs in them? Leave me a reply, and let me know! Also, if you’ve been enjoying my work, considering following my blog or subscribing via email to have content delivered directly to your inbox.

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