Easter Eggs & Secrets

The obscure secrets and titbit that you might have missed even after completing the game!
This page accepts submissions from everyone in the community, and is maintained by Cinna (RhoOnTheRoof) and Pimez currently.

Introductions

This page aims to put together all the many obscure secrets players have found throughout the game, from things you may have missed even after obtaining all the badges, to hidden things that only a handful of people are aware of!

Let us know if you have your own secret you would like to share as well!
https://forms.gle/5tbLiprLACN6pfKe8

Character Interactions

Saving and Reloading at Certain Locations

Some characters have extra dialogues if you save and reload nearby:

• Doki Forest entrance (right after abduction) - "Now is no time to sleep!"
  
• Hachiko outside Honey Bee Lab and Inn - "Why not rest in the inn instead?"

Snake's Alternate Dialogues

At the bottom-right entrance of Ouroboros Hideout, a guy named Snake would let you pass through the shortcut, either for a fee or for a fight. However, if you return after capturing Birdy without first opening the shortcut, you actually have to fight even if you prefer paying up.

Thomas and Fran's Rivalry

If you have just brought Thomas out of his laboratory and visit Fran for the first time, Thomas will peek in the window from outside while you are chatting with Fran. I wonder how Thomas would feel if Fran actually failed in the test-run and got cooked into ash.

Thomas and Narf's Collaboration

When Thomas tells you about the upgraded Tools in Rutea's Laboratory after rescuing Leo, some of you may hear him saying his contact named "Narf" isn't picking up. Coincidentally, Narf is back online as soon as you have freed Fran from under the rubbles in South Castella Bridge. I wonder why...

Guard in Cosette Road

If you open up the Franway to Cosette before the story requires you to, you may return to the west side of Cosette Road from there. Normally, the guard would have stopped citizens from entering Cosette, but since you are exiting Cosette instead, he would assume that you are living there and allow you to pass through Cosette Road freely even without the Royal Hymn.

Bart and His Helpful Tips

Did you know that you can talk to Bart whenever you want in the right Inventory Screen? Very often, he would be giving either humourous remarks or tips on the current objective, including your next destination and tips on the boss you are facing at the moment!

My personal favourites:
"Two Great Drakes? I wonder if we interrupted their mating ritual or something... Ah well. Show 'em who's the top of the food chain, Gail!"
"On my home planet, we'd take these slime-like monsters, blend them up, and add a little heat and sugar. Mmmm... This one looks poisonous though, so I'd avoid doing that if I were you!"

Oracle and the Ouroboros Tribe

If you play the Song of Ouroboros in Oracle's Mill, she will give some extra back-story of how the Ouroboros Tribe has never been inside any "sleeping pod". She also refers the current chieftain as "little Atri", which is kinda adorable.

The Elusive Merfolk

While there are mentions of merfolks from the descriptions of Lunar Crown and Lunar Trident, as well as from a computer log in the Ancient Vault, nobody has seen a living mermaid besides the statues in Moonlight Ravine. However! In a most unexpectedly place, by casting your Fishing Rod from the Ocean Cliffs (north to SPHERE) so far that the lure sinks off-screen, you might be lucky enough to actually meet one!

Trading Sequence

After trading away the Quest Item, you can return and talk to its previous owner. A few of them have extra dialogues after hearing about what you did with said item! (Notably, Sally would give you 6 pieces of Chocolate for taking "good care" of her Doggoro.)

Collectibles

Berry Fruit

While the game tells you that the trick to remove the thorny shell is to land the last hit as gently as you can, this is actually not required for guaranteeing a Berry Fruit drop! I personally recommend starting the first hit with 1 Charge Swing or 2 Aerial Swings using the basic Wooden Bat, then use the Slingshot to whittle the remaining HP down. (It should take only 0 to 4 Slingshot hits)

Lost Perro

Throughout your journey, you may encounter lonely Perro sitting atop a tree or a cliff. If you reach them without scaring them away, you can bring them to a new home back in Panselo Village!
As a bonus, the notice board outside the barn also changes depending on how many Perro you have found? Some of the dialogues are pretty cute!

The 4th Type of RIN

There are 3 types of RIN commonly used as currencies in Phoenotopia - Bronze, Silver, and Gold. But did you know that there also exists a 4th type of RIN that is blue in color? You can only see them by recycling:

• 2 or more Crispy Golden Eggs
  
• 2 or more Gold Dragon Scales
  
• Super Shroom

Environment

Royal Archives' Treasury

In the Royal Archives, there are various display cases all distinct from each other. From armor of great historic importance to legendaries weapons with fantasy settings, and then you have a Toaster framed near modern nuclear bombs.
And of course, who can forget the NES Console you can find in the room above the dragon fossils!?
http://imgur.com/a/3FpRGsf

Guitar

At the end of the game where the final song is learnt, there is a guitar that somehow has neither rusted nor decayed after centuries of disrepair which looks just like the one in Gail's Room back in Panselo. Is this just a coincidence or an actual callback? Who knows!

Creatures and Enemies

Pooki and Perro

In the original game, these farm animals can only be talked to as if they are NPC, but now you can actually interact with them in ways more than one! Hugging a nested Perro gives you a free Perro Egg, jumping on Pooki bounces you up higher, and hitting them can even make them scared or angry! (just be wary of their retaliation, don't say I didn't warn you)

As a side note, when you roll into a crate or a wall, you will feel a small bonk and screenshake. Do it enough times right next to a Pooki, and it will get mad at you as if you have hurt it!
This is how I get myself out of the Village without obtaining the Wooden Bat too!

Cat

There are cats in this game and they are somehow as fat as human children and refuse to move from their spots (kinda like mine really). If you give them hugs, they will occasionally "bork" instead. Yup, perfectly normal.

Toad & Rock Toad

If you sprint past them quickly enough, sometimes they wouldn't notice you. heheh derpy frogs...

Dragon Snare

Besides them spitting you high if you are carrying a Stink Root (mentioned by one of the bandits), these carnivorous plants are also quite unique in other ways:

• They swallow bombs and take 25 damage from it
  
• They swallow Sand Drake/Iad Bugs and heal 20 HP from it
  
• They spit crates straight high up, explosive or not
  
• Their saliva are natural dye-remover, also where Sharla get the ingredients from!

Katash

Katash is not a picky eater at all! Feed him any food and he will heal just as much from it as you would. BUT! Feed him "Food" twice and he will get a stomachache instead, so it might be a good idea to burn some fruit right before the fight. Be careful though, he heals 20 HP from Doggy Biscuit instead!

After reaching half-health, Katash would call upon his spaceship to assist, with one of its attacks being a devastating laser beam. If you manage to knock him into it (I like headbutting him down), he will take a whopping 99 damage. Serves him right!

Wendigo

Unlike Rail Sawer, these tough robots have a hidden health bar instead of simply high defence. While still not killable, you can hit them with 13 decently powerful attacks to repel them, which they will drop a Golem Core afterwards. Is it worth it though? Probably still best to avoid them at all costs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mole Mine

These pesky bombs in Scorched Lands would pop up right by your feet and give you little time to react. Even if you can throw a spear at them in time, their shrapnels might still burn you. But did you know that Tusk Strike lets you negate damage from both the explosion and shrapnels?

Blowing up the Bug Nests

Blowing up nests is just another Tuesday in Mul Caves, but I prefer using Spear Bomb than regular ones. Not only is throwing spear more fun to me, it also has the added bonus of roasting all the bugs inside instantly. Hmmm, toasty!

Blastiad the Unkillable

Did you know that Blastiad has an unlimited amount of health so long as you keep bashing it?

Skipping Straight into Mother Computer's Fights

Normally, players will be going through a brief cutscene before entering the Mother Computer's fights. But if you have as little patience like I do, try attacking or ignoring her before the cutscene trigger!

Completion

Ending Scenes

Many of the people you have helped throughout your journey would show up in the ending scenes during Bart's Log! If you have already gone through the scenes before helping everyone before, make sure to view them again after your 100% completion as well!

In addition, the credit art "Warm Nights" would also show more people based on your completion percentage, from Gail standing alone to setting up a camp with all the Panselo Villagers!

Completion Percentage

Depending on your completion percentage, the text that displays it at the end-credits might have its color changed!

Obtaining all Heart Rubies, Energy Gems, Moonstones, and defeating Phalanx puts you at 100% with GREEN text, but doing none of that would put you at 00% with BLUE text, just like Zero's hair color, neat!

General Useful Tips and Tricks

Secret of the Zophiel Statues

Some people may wonder the purpose of all the Zophiel Statues scattered across the world. If you have paid attention to the greeter of Panselo Village at the beginning of the game, she would mention that "these statues is believed to bring good fortune".
Indeed, saving and reloading your save file next to these statues would heal Gail to full health!

Sprinting into Action!

Those of you who do utilise the Aerial Swing (Jump Attack) would quickly realise that not only does it deal 2 points more damage and is unaffected by damage degradation, performing it from a sprint-jump would deal another 2 extra points of damage!
Unfortunately for Whirlwind, sprint-jump would only add 1 point of extra damage instead.

Hunting and Instant Cooking of Critters / Birds!

If you have been paying attention, you will notice the many Lizards, Mice, Scorpions, and Birds that roam the many areas of the world. While they often run away as soon as startled, you may be able to hunt them down if you are good with your Slingshot (or any other weapon, really). Better yet, these creatures drop the cooked variant if you defeat them with fire attacks! (lamp, bomb, spear bomb, boots). They heal for more, sell for more, and are just as convenient to get!

Breaking a Spinning Rail Sawer

Most of you know that when deactivated, these spinning saws can be knocked down with any attack. But what about when they are still activated? Turns out they just have a really high defence, and you can still knock them down with an attack that deals 27 DMG! (As for Scabers, you will need 33 DMG instead)

Virtually-unlimited Sprinting!

Here is a dev-intended movement trick, also well-known among the speedrunning community:
1) [LT] Sprint
2) [B} Jump
3a) [A] Attack right before landing
3b) [LT] Sprint to cancel landing-lag AND roll without using stamina
4a) [LT] Sprint at the end of the roll to cancel the rolling-lag
4b) [LT] Sprint again to re-engage the combo

Essentially:
[LT] -> [B} -> [A] & [LT] -> [LT] x2 -> [B}...
^ this combo lets you maintain top speed with greatly reduced stamina consumption, or even unlimited stamina if you have an active temporary stamina boost.
Note: The normal sprint-jumping is simply [LT] -> [B} -> [LT] -> [B}...

Stocking Up in Towns

With the exception of Atai City, all major towns have lots of free food lying around, and you can find them in the same place later again as well! Eat them, sell them, do whatever you want with them, it's free food!

• Panselo Village
  
  • (2) Golden Egg
    
  • (≤ 6) Perro Egg
    
  • (1) Potato Lunch
    
  • (1) Cheese
    
  • (1) Dandelion
    
  • (1) Roast Bird
    
  • (1) Pooki Jerky
    
  • (1) Pooki Jerky
    
  • (1) Milk
    
  • (1) Fruit Jam
• Daea City
  
  • (1) Big Raw Meat
    
  • (1) Gourmet Fish Fillet
    
  • (1) Grape Juice
    
  • (1) Macaron
    
  • (1) Grape Cake
• Cosette Village
  
  • (1) Puff Pastry
    
  • (1) Panselo Potato
    
  • (1) Cosette Cannoli
    
  • (1) Fruit Jam
    
  • (1) Falafel
    
  • (1) Honey Drop
• Terrelum
  
  • (8+) Dekea Nut
    
  • (2) Mul Shroom
    
  • (2) Vala Bean
    
  • (1) Desert Squash
    
  • (1) Prime Fish Fillet
    
  • (1) Dekea Cookie
    
  • (1) Elastic Pellet

(Of course you don't have to get all of them, just saying they're there if you're interested)

Game Exploits

Cooking with Time-Stop

Some people may find it extra difficult trying to cook certain food, such as the Twice-cooked Mystery Meat and Crispy Golden Eggs. especially with how quickly the cursor is moving and failing more than once would immeidately fail the process. But, if you double-tap each input, you would be able to freeze the cursor in place for a brief moment, letting you see which button to press more easily!

Fishing with Time-Stop

Fishing can be especially hard when you have yet to collect many Energy Gems. Besides the usual Honey Drops and Honey Brew that the game expects you to make use of, you may also try pausing into the Options menu and move your Analog Stick/Mouse before unpausing, which basically gives yourself an unlimited time to react!

Infinite Usage of Powerful Songs

The songs that heal you or give you a powerful boosting effect all have a 20-minute cooldown per use, but these cooldowns are not saved when you exit the game. Thus, you can easily refresh your buffs or heal yourself with said songs for free by simply quitting and reloading right after saving!

Using Oracle's Service without Paying Her

Oracle would save your game whenever you ask her for a hint on the whereabouts of a Heart Ruby / Energy Gem / Moonstone that you have yet to obtain, but if you have copied a backup save before seeing her, you would be able to "un-pay" her by overwriting with your backup save after asking for hints!

Callback to the Original Game

Reused Music Tracks

Original Game's OST[sillythewilly.bandcamp.com]
Remake's OST[sillythewilly.bandcamp.com]

While Awakening does come with many brand new soundtracks, quite a few of them are taken from the original game. While some tracks like "Panselo" are extended and "Dungeon Breaker" are rearranged with a different instrutment, there are also tracks that are reused in less-obvious locations:

Original Track Name	Remake's Track Name	Original Location	Remake's Location
Boss Battle	Boss Battle (Classic)	(All Bosses)	Century Toad & E.D.E.N Harpies
Old Ruins	Ancient GEO	Duri Forest Ruins	Ancient GEO Base
Cave	Subterra	Underground cave connecting Atai City & Bandits' Lair	Subterra
Last Song of Earth	World's End	????	World's End

Mul Caves' Visual Similarities

While Mul Caves have undergone a complete overhaul from the original game, the secret area underneath the atrium greatly resemble the original atmosphere with all the glowing vines and bright blue color!

Misty Gorge

At the end of the Ancient Vault behind Adar's House, the 3rd page of the log "TOO EARLY" includes mention of a "misty gorge", which is the location name of of the Flash equivalent of Moonlight Ravine that connects the Atai and Daea regions.

Erik

This blue-haired lad was the son of Grasso who teaches in the Hidden Village in the original game. In the remake, Erik is still called Erik and his hair is still blue, but he is a simple Cosette Villager who encounters Aella when he was attacked by a wild boar instead.

Behind the Scenes

Characters Names

There are quite a number of characters whose variable names in the files are different from their final names in the game. Here are a few that we find the most interesting!

File Name	In-Game Name
Kain	Zero
Azazel	(unnamed, master of Katash)

(We might add more later)

Zophiel Statue in Royal Archives

Did you know that one of the two statues depicting the fighting winged people is actually a Zophiel Statue? As expected, Gail would be restored to full health upon reloading the file last saved at this spot.
In addition, there was also originally a sign that reads "Zophie battles Azazel" next to it, but that sign is moved to an unreachable place that requires modifying the level file to access.
https://imgur.com/zWaktU9

Trivia

Famine in 192

In Daea, listen to the old lady, that gives you a moonstone. Some of dates cover up with real life dates and event, like famine, that in 1920s was haunting east Europe/ west Asia. Interestingly, Great Famine in the Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s was caused by soviet government, while there are rumors about rulers of Castella being responsible for famine in 192.

Credits

Big thanks to everyone in the Phoenotopia communities who makes this very list possible! Without them submitting the secrets they have found, we would not be able to share so many hidden things all at once like this! Below are the names of all the submitters in alphabetical order:

• Cinna
  
• Duncan Cameron
  
• firankamipinska
  
• HURGMCGURG
  
• Joyous Theta
  
• lunar_deception
  
• Ocyoco_ftp
  
• Pimez

And of course, let us thank the development team for creating such a wonderful game with all these secrets hidden everywhere around the game!

[LuckyCheshire]

Would minor exploits be something you would like included here? (I figured out a mildly complicated way to enter the dropping maze above the equipment shop in Atai City as soon as you get the spear, no rocket boots needed. Kinda useless since the rocket boots are the very next thing you unlock, but still the exploit exists.)

[RhoOnTheRoof]

@firankamipinska that's why there is form right in the beginning. I believe, that most of people are better then me in finding/remembering random small things, that others might miss! Also let's be honest, on the other hand probably not everyone is going to know them all, I for example didn't think about checking if Bart has anything more specific to say, I simply assumed that he will only point me to main story direction. So definition of secret for this guide is "something that people may miss or don't think about checking".

[firankamipinska]

Most of these are not even that secret. The only ones I'd call secrets here are the blue rin and the mermaid.