Easter eggs

Easter eggs are intentional hidden extras found within games, that are usually jokes or references. The Assassin's Creed games have their own Easter eggs, and many other games contain Easter eggs related to the series within them.

Carl Jung
Psychologist Carl Jung is referenced throughout the series:
 * The Animus is named for Jung's anima and animus.
 * Women in the series such as Eve, Maria Thorpe, Maria Auditore da Firenze and Sofia Sartor (mostly wives of the male Assassins) share their names with stages of anima development, a male's inner feminine personality.
 * Furthermore, in the Abstergo files, it is stated they believe their research will put an end to the debate over the existence of Jung's collective unconsciousness.

Transformers
An arrangement of windows seen on certain buildings form the face of Optimus Prime, in his vehicle form (a truck) from the Transformers franchise.

Jamal
Upon leaving Masyaf for the first time, one of the Assassins in the Kingdom, Jamal, can be silently assassinated with no consequences. However, openly attacking him will prompt the other Assassins to attack you.

Jamal is the traitor inside the order that, along with Masun, opened the gates for the Templar siege of Masyaf. He was originally featured to be a mission target to be assassinated, but the mission was cut, and he remained as a minor easter egg.

Mario Auditore
200px|thumb|Mario greeting Ezio. When Ezio Auditore first meets his uncle, Mario, his uncle says the phrase "It's-a-me! Mario!," which is a reference to the Super Mario Brothers franchise.

Giant Squid
A giant squid can be found within the Assassin's Tomb beneath Santa Maria Della Visitazione.

To find the Giant Squid, first pull the lever that activates the swinging poles for progressing further into the Tomb, but look down into the water near the lever for one minute instead. Once a minute or so has passed, a cutscene plays, showing a large squid swimming by.

A second cutscene can be activated if the lever is pulled once more and Ezio looks down again. The cutscene shows Ezio narrowly dodging one of the squid's tentacles, before it swims away.

Ghosts of the past
thumb|200px|Ghosts of the Past. By downloading the Bonfire of the Vanities downloadable content, Ezio is briefly able to see a vision of his entire family.

After meeting up with Niccolò Machiavelli, return to the Palazzo Auditore and step into the center of the courtyard. Ezio will enter a mode similar to his Eagle Vision, and be able to see the figures of his parents and all of his siblings around the palazzo. The vision will disappear and will not be able to seen again if Ezio leaves, however.

Palazzo Ducale
thumb|200px|Palazzo Ducale easter egg. After using the Super Jump or Fence glitch to get into the Palazzo Ducale, you can access the Doge's quarters where Carlo Grimaldi assassinated the Doge. The candle that Carlo Grimaldi and Doge Mocenigo were playing under is unlit, but the chess pieces are in exactly the same position, though Ezio assassinated Grimaldi years ago. After you go into these quarters, the sky and the building turn a blood red.

However, this may not be intentional, but accidental, as scenery when entering other buildings such as the Villa Auditore lighten or darken to match the interior of that building. In this case, the tone is changed to orange or red to match the interior of this specific room, thus changing the outside scenery and sky to orange and red respectively.

Dummy Keys
In the missions "Knowledge Is Power" and "Hunting the Hunter", the player may loot any of the dummy targets and find keys. The keys have no effect whatsoever in the game.

Batman
Occasionally, while freerunning or climbing a building, a male bystander can be heard saying "Another capering crusader." This is a reference to the DC Comics superhero Batman, who uses stealth and has a tendency to run on rooftops. Batman is sometimes referred to as the Caped Crusader.

Motown
When throwing coins amongst the crowd, female bystanders may cry "Money! That's what I want!", which is a reference to the classic Motown song.

Project Legacy
In the Sanctuary, if you look at one of Lucy Stillman's computer monitors, you can see the Memories menu of Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, set to the memories of Mario Auditore.

Castle Crashers
The first memory in the Castel Sant'Angelo is called "Castello Crasher." This is a reference to the PS3 and Xbox 360 downloadable game, Castle Crashers.

Grand Theft Auto
The achievement "Grand Theft Dressage" is a clear reference to the Grand Theft Auto series of games.

Metal Gear Solid
Just before reuniting with Leonardo da Vinci, Ezio will come across an anachronistic factory-made cardboard box, though he looks away when Leonardo comes around the corner. This is a reference to the Metal Gear Solid series, as the signature stealth move of Solid Snake (the series' protagonist) is to hide in a box or crate.

A second tribute is the Raiden suit, available to all who complete every challenge in the Animus Virtual Training Program with at least a bronze medal, a reference to how the character Raiden was trained in only virtual simulations.

Mario References
In the mission "Femme Fatale," after Ezio kills all the guards and drags Lucrezia, she comments "Rescuing princesses from castles now?" This is a reference to the Super Mario Bros. games where Mario rescues Princess Peach from Bowser's castle.

One of the Brotherhood achievements is entitled "Principessa in Another Castello." This translates to "Princess in Another Castle," which is what would be told to Mario in the original Mario games when he defeats Bowser's minions in their castles.

Another Mario reference is the "Plumber" achievement, which shows the picture of a Mario World Warp Pipe.

Montreal
During the memory "Trojan Horse," whilst escorting Bartolomeo d'Alviano and his Mercenaries disguised as French soldiers, a French guard asks Ezio Auditore which region of France he hails from, to which he replies "Montréal." This is likely a reference to the location of Ubisoft Montreal, the main developers of the Assassin's Creed series. Montreal is also the largest city in the French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada.

Alternatively, it could be a reference to the birth-place of Francisco Randez - the character model after whom Desmond Miles was designed.

Machiavelli's Works
Shortly after Ezio successfully enlists the help of the three other guilds, Niccolò Machiavelli asks Ezio how he had managed it. Ezio simply answers that it was "Virtù", a concept about the spirit of leadership that Machiavelli was later known to have theorized.

Also, at the end of Sequence 7, Machiavelli states that "I intend to write a book about you one day." to Ezio, who then responds with "If you do, make it short." This is clearly a reference to Machiavelli's famous (and brief) book, "The Prince."

Finally, an achievement entitled "Il Principe" (which translates to "The Prince") can be unlocked by achieving 100% Synchronization for all the memories in Brotherhood, including The Da Vinci Disappearance memories.

Monty Python
In the mission The Brawler, after having been defeated three times in a row, the encountered citizen will say "Ah... we will call it a draw, alright?"

This is a reference to the movie Monty Python And The Holy Grail, in which The Black Knight challenges King Arthur to a fight and, after both his arms and legs are cut off, says "Alright. We'll call it a draw."

Hello World
In the very first sequence, Subject 16 talks to Desmond Miles about the place in the Animus that he is currently in, Animus Island, stating that it was the test world first created by Rebecca Crane to gain a feeling for the confines of the machine. Afterwards, he proclaims "Hello World!", which is a reference to the first test program that programmers create, named a Hello World project.

Enemy Brother
In the first memory of Altaïr, Jamal can be seen, again viewed in red when in Eagle Vision. This first occurred in the original game, Assassin's Creed.

Muhammad Ali
Sometimes during fighting or after defeating guards, civilians may yell out "Floats like a butterfly, stings like a scorpion!" This line also occurs when random civilians want to fistfight Ezio.

Superman
There is a title in the multiplayer named Man of Steel. This is an obvious reference to DC Comics' hero, Superman, as his nickname is the Man of Steel.

Spider-Man
There is an achievement entitled "Spider Assassin" in which the player must climb the top of the Hagia Sofia in under 25 seconds. The title and achievement is a reference to the popular Marvel Comics' superhero Spider-Man, and his ability to scale (crawl) up and around buildings at a fast speed.

Pulp Fiction
In the multiplayer mode, the character, The Thespian, has a second hair style that make her look just like Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) from the movie "Pulp Fiction", who herself was an actress in a movie called "Fox Force Five".

Prince of Persia
In the first tome of the novel, during Desmond's flashback, the Prince of Persia, the main protagonist of the famous Ubisoft series, appears on the screen of the arcade game monitor at the "L'Horizon" bar.

Assassin's Creed in other media
The characters, gameplay elements, and plot of Assassin's Creed are also featured in various other media.

Adventure Quest
In Adventure Quest, the Assassin job class has a level 10 Guardian skill called "Finishing Blow." After clicking this, it has another button called "Assassin's Creed." Additionally, the armor "Whispering Raiment" has two hidden blades on the left arm.

In AdventureQuest Worlds, there are two outfits available for purchase at the suggestion shop in Yulgar's inn, which are comprised of the "Hashashin Armor," priced at 500,000 gold for free players, and the "Armored Hashashin Armor," priced at 300,000 gold for upgraded members of the game.

The Hashashin Armor includes two hidden blades, though they are located on top of the player's wrist, rather than on the bottom.

Dead Island
In Dead Island, there is a knife named "Assassin's Greed".

Dragon Age II
Varric's crossbow is called Bianca, like Bartolomeo d'Alviano's sword. Also, the brothel in Hightown is called the "Blooming Rose," a direct translation of the Roman courtesan headquarters, the Rosa in Fiore.

Gaia Online
During the 2011 Halloween event in Gaia Online, Edmund, the shop owner for H & R Wesley, was dressed as Ezio.

Grand Theft Auto IV
After completing a set of assassination missions for a mysterious figure called the Fixer, the player will receive an achievement called Assassin's Greed, which is a direct play on the Assassin's Creed name.

Moreover, the requirement for the achievement is the completion of nine assassination missions, which parallels the first Assassin's Creed game, in which Altaïr was tasked by Al Mualim to kill nine Templars in exchange for his reinstatement as a Master Assassin.

inFAMOUS 2
Located in the fictional city of New Marais, several cinemas and theaters in inFAMOUS 2 feature movie titles that are direct puns of popular video game names. Among the movie titles was "Assassin's Need (Love Too)", a parody on Assassin's Creed. These cinemas are located in the very first district of the city.

Also, one of the negative karmic missions available in the game was named "Assassin's Greed", another play on the Assassin's Creed name.

Another Easter egg found in the game's downloadable content, inFamous 2: Festival of Blood, can be seen again on the cinemas' featured movie titles. The new parody title is "Assassin's Bleed", which is also a reference to the download content's central theme of vampires.

Invictus Games
In the iPhone games Froggy Jump and Froggy Launcher, there is a torso item called "Assassin armor," which looks just like Ezio's armor in Assassins Creed II, that can be bought for 2 Diamonds.

LittleBigPlanet
As a part of their promotion for Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft released Ezio's Assassin Costume as a downloadable costume for the PS3 exclusive LittleBigPlanet on 8 December 2009.

On the day that Revelations was released, LittleBigPlanet released a new costume of Ezio, featuring Sackboy in the robes that Ezio starts out with in the game.

Metal Gear Solid 4
On April Fools' Day 2008, it was revealed that an Altaïr costume for Old Snake could be unlocked in the game Metal Gear Solid 4. Hideo Kojima, one of the game's creators, later announced that it was not a joke, and that the costume could really be unlocked if the player did "something special." In order to unlock the costume, the player must either acquire the "Assassin Emblem" (a nod to the game's title), or input a password in the Extras section.

The costume can be used as an alternative disguise early in-game and works exactly like the Middle East Militia costume. Unlike Altaïr's robes, the Militia costume is lost early in-game, prompting the player to find another set of the disguise, and can cause the Middle Eastern faction to be friendly to the player as opposed to having to work to gain their trust. When the costume is worn, the protagonist will bend his ring finger back to his palm, which is maintained so long as he wears the costume, consisting as a reference to Altaïr's missing ring finger.

Specifically, the password has been revealed to be aottrykmyn.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
"Back in the time of the Crusades, members of the order of Assassins used what is called the Assassin's Straw Box to hide and get close to their enemies."

- Kazuhira Miller, commenting on the newly procured item.

In one of Peace Walker's missions, namely Main Ops 16, a unique box made of straw dubbed the Assassin's Straw Box can be obtained. To do so, the player must ensure there's a vacant slot in the equipment section, climb onto the roof of the shack above where the straw box is, then perform a "Leap of Faith" into it. The Leap is accompanied by an eagle's screech, similar to its mechanism in the Assassin's Creed series.

Right after you obtain the straw box, one of the main protagonists, Kazuhira Miller, will mention its use during the Third Crusade (the time period of Assassin's Creed), and how it was used by the Assassins. After the aforementioned mission is completed, the Assassin's Straw Box will be available in the inventory.

The box can hold two people simultaneously, and includes a special function not found in other box items; namely knocking out guards while hiding in the box, and recruiting the knocked-out soldier using Fulton Recovery (if another player is present). Continued use can damage the item, to the point where the box will be destroyed completely.

Prince of Persia
In Prince of Persia (2008), Altaïr's costume is available as a free DLC for use by The Prince. Additionally, an achievement entitled "Assassin's View" can be unlocked by standing on a View Point upon the Martyr's Tower.

Similarly, in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Ezio's costume can be purchased via Uplay for 30 points.

Altaïr's Costume also can be purchased at Prince of Persia: Prodigy, via Uplay.

The Saboteur
In The Saboteur, the main protagonist Sean Devlin earns a racing car with white stripes, named Altaïr, which is nicknamed "The Flying Eagle."

Saints Row: The Third
In the sandbox game Saints Row: The Third, there is an achievement entitled "Everything is Permitted". It is awarded when one eliminates all assassination targets.

The Simpsons
In the fifth episode of season 23 of The Simpsons, "The Food Wife," besides some other game parodies, a poster can be seen in the back of the fictional games convention E4 featuring a hippie with two hidden blades and the title "Assassin's Creed - Summer of Love."

The Witcher 2
During one mission in The Witcher 2, Geralt can walk up to some haystacks underneath a structure resembling a view point, and find the body of a white-robed man, who looks suspiciously like an Assassin, that appears to have died when his Leap of Faith failed.

If the player examines the body, Geralt will say, "Hmm... Guess they'll never learn." From there, the player will be granted a hidden ability called "Assassin."

VG Cats
The VG Cats comic Stealth is required features Leo (one of the main characters) wearing Altaïr's costume, and shows him picking his nose and being stabbed with his hidden blade by accident.

Soul Calibur
The character Dampierre uses a hidden blade called Hidden Edge as his ultimate weapon.

Dungeon Defenders
The character The Archer, the male version of The Huntress for the PC, can obtain a halloween costume that looks like a black Master Assassin robe set.

Also there are mini characters, from beating the final boss, named Animus Squire/Huntress/Monk/Apprentice. These look to be like demons, which the templars base Assassins to be, and in Assassin's Creed, you enter the Animus to become an assassin.