The StarCraft II single player campaign is a pretty lengthy title and Blizzard has sprinkled numerous secrets throughout the levels. These usually take the form of references to characters or elements from their previous titles, but they haven’t shied away from a few pop culture references as well. Major SPOILER ALERT – if you’d rather discover all of these gems for yourself, then read no further. This is by no means a definitive guide to all the Easter eggs – we wouldn’t want to spoil all the fun.
The Cantina
The Cantina aboard Raynor’s Battlecruiser Hyperion is one of the main hang outs during the campaign, and a prime location for a number of Easter eggs. Among the numerous adverts playing on the television is one for the iPistol – all the cool marines want one. There is also a Night Elf dancer in the upper levels, and a pretty nifty SHMUP arcade game in the corner.
Take your shot at life
BSOD
Blizzard also has a ‘dig’ at Microsoft’s notorious ‘Blue Screen of Death.’ During The Dig mission, players can spot aDrakken laser drill displaying a BSOD. Could Bill Gates have roped the Terran into an millennium long Windows license?
The Terran regret buying that mass license edition of Windows ME
Diablo
There is an achievement titled ‘Stay A While and Listen,’ a reference to everyone’s favourite miserly old geezer, Deckard Cain from the Diablo series. The achievement is obtained after having listened to everything the characters have to say between missions.
During the Media Blitz mission, on the northern side of the map, one can see a sign advertising a Cineplex 5000 movie – Diablo: The Musical. There are also numerous other movie title parodies, all good for a chuckle in between saving the galaxy.
On the planet Redstone III, during The Devil’s Playground mission, players can discover none other than the Lord of Terror himself.
That travel agent from Lut Gholein will have a lot to answer for when Diablo returns from vacation
World of WarCraft
During the Zero Hour mission on Mar Sara, a level 80 elite Tauren Chieftain Space Marine can be discovered. If you get too close, you’ll spook the poor fellow and he’ll make a run for his nearby Tauren Outhouse. Clicking repeatedly on the outhouse will produce an amusing result. If you do this, later in the game, during certain space platform missions, the outhouse can be spotted soaring through the background space.
For the Horde!
There are a few WoW logos sprinkled about as well. The animated unit portrait for the Vulture shows a Terran with a Horde tattoo on his arm. The Horde logo can also be spotted in the northern area of the Zero Hour mission, painted on a sign, as well as next to the Tauren Marine. During the Media Blitz mission, one can spot a dumpster with a barely distinguishable Alliance logo painted on it.
Grunty the Murloc Marine, a vanity pet given to attendees of BlizzCon 2009, can be found during the Piercing the Shroud mission. When Raynor calls in reinforcements, a dropship arrives full of troops. Moving northwest from its arrival location, Grunty can be spotted on a floating rock.
Grunty watches a familiar porta-loo soar past
Transformers
During the Liberation Day mission, players will pass by a store named Big Daddy Browder’s Gas & Guns. On the roof is a truck bearing the distinctive colours and flame pattern of Optimus Prime. The license plate reads ‘OPTIM-S1.’ With another stretch of imagination, one could view the new Terran Predator unit as an homage to the Ravager from Transformers.
Even Optimus Prime leaves the Zerg bashing to Jim Raynor
Star Trek
When exploring the Galaxy Editor, one can find a wrecked USS Enterprise doodad. The Medic units occasionally say “Please state the nature of your medical emergency.” This is what the Emergency Medical Hologram aboard the USS Voyager says when activated.
The Medivac will sometimes say “Uh, why you boys wearing redshirts anyway?” This is a reference to the running Star Trek joke of the red shirted ensign whom is always the first to die during a mission. Quite a fitting joke for the expendable marines.
Star Wars
During the Deadman’s Port mission one can spot a metallic slab with a frozen marine on top, arms extended in the air – an homage to Han solo’s carbonite prison in The Empire Strikes Back.
Bounty hunters are always misplacing their carbonite encased marines
Toshi’s Gas Station can be spotted during the Liberation Day mission, covered in Graffiti. In Star Wars, the Tosche Power Station was a place Luke Skywalker stopped at to pick up power converters. In the first screening edit of Star Wars, Skywalker ended up at Tosche, telling his friends about a space battle he witnessed. A fellow film maker remarked to Lucas that he was remaking American Graffiti in space. Lucas cut the majority of the scene soon after.
American Graffiti in space – I see what you did there
Advertising
There are a few advertising parodies to watch out for throughout the game, such as “Calvin Klone – All men. One man. No Man.” The Emporio Ormani billboard shows a Tauren wearing only undies doing the /flex emote animation.
Have you found any cool Easter eggs in StarCraft II? Share them in our forums.
