This Top Gun Easter Egg Took Mass Effect Fans 16 Years To Discover
Considering the game is approaching its 16th anniversary, one would think that fans of the first "Mass Effect" title would have discovered all there is to discover in the game by now. However, one keen-eyed gamer noticed a fun Easter egg pertaining to popular 80s action flick "Top Gun" years later that nobody seemed to pick up on.
For starters, noticing Easter eggs years after the fact isn't an uncommon occurrence in gaming. Even when some are hidden in plain sight, it's possible for players to overlook them or otherwise not piece together the reference it might be making. However, given the fact that both the "Mass Effect" and "Top Gun" franchises have recently gained newfound attention due to their most recent releases — the "Mass Effect: Legendary Edition" remastered trilogy and "Top Gun: Maverick" specifically — it seems natural that fans of both properties are discovering some similarities now that both are in the limelight.
So what is this Easter egg in "Mass Effect?" Is a gameplay mechanic? A character trope? Turns out, it's neither. Instead, the Easter egg is a rather on-the-nose hint in the game's opening text.
The opening text is a reference to Top Gun
In the intro of "Mass Effect," Commander Shepard can be seen looking out a window, while Captain David Anderson discusses their backstory offscreen. The scene transitions to black, and a wall of text tells players what exactly Mass Effect is — technology discovered in outer space in the distant future. Towards the end of the text wall, it reads, "They called it the greatest discovery in human history. The civilizations of the galaxy call it... Mass Effect." The logo of the game then appears.
As noticed by Twitter user MissSnizabelle, these final two lines are virtually identical to the text at the beginning of 1986's "Top Gun" which reads, "Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: Top Gun," before also being followed by its official logo. If there was any belief that this similarity might've been a coincidence, think again. Upon noticing the comparison, former BioWare general manager and "Mass Effect" series director Casey Hudson confirmed that the opening text in the first game was indeed a reference to "Top Gun" that had gone unnoticed. "Finally someone noticed this! I've been waiting so long," Hudson replied.