Some of the strangest stories in gaming never appear in a trailer or a patch note. They sit inside the game files, waiting for someone curious enough to open them. A texture of a stitched-shut face in a kids’ kart racer. An alien mission that was never switched on. A message from the developers that links to a job listing.
This post covers seven real cases of dataminers finding something odd, with the date, the person or group who found it, and the source for each. Where the facts are uncertain, the post says so.
These are not the same thing as cancelled projects that never shipped. Leftovers live inside games people already own. Cancelled games die before release. If you want more verified glitch history in the same sourcing style, see our 10 weirdest bugs in video game history. If you want whole projects that were killed before players could buy them, start with 15 lost video games you’ll never get to play.
On this page
- What Is Video Game Datamining?
- Why Do Game Files Contain Strange Leftovers?
- 1. Hot Coffee: The Hidden Minigame in GTA San Andreas
- 2. W. D. Gaster: Undertale’s Missing Scientist
- 3. The Alien Mission Inside GTA Online
- 4. The Stitched Face in Race With Ryan
- 5. Pokemon Red and Blue: A Bird Type That Never Shipped
- 6. Apex Legends: “Hi Dataminers” and a Job Listing
- 7. Remnant 2: A Class Hidden for Dataminers
- How to Tell a Real Discovery From a Fan Theory
- Where to Go Next
- Sources and Further Reading
What Is Video Game Datamining?
Video game datamining means opening a game’s files and reading what is inside. That includes textures, audio, text strings, scripts, and variables. Dataminers usually work on their own copy of the game. They are looking for content that exists in the files but is not reachable in normal play.
Most of what they find is ordinary: unused icons, placeholder text, an old version of a menu. A small share of it is genuinely strange, and those are the stories below.
Good datamining writing always separates three layers. First, what file or variable was found. Second, what that asset does if forced to run. Third, what the developer meant, which usually requires an interview or an official statement. Mixing those layers is how fan theories turn into fake headlines.
Why Do Game Files Contain Strange Leftovers?
Games are built over years, and ideas get cut. Developers rarely delete every trace of a cut idea, because removing it risks breaking something that works. So unused assets ship on the disc or in the download.
Three things explain most of what dataminers find:
- Cut content. A level, item, or character was planned and then dropped, but the files stayed.
- Disabled content. Finished code was switched off, locked behind a flag, or left unreachable.
- Deliberate messages. Developers know people read the files, so some leave notes or secrets on purpose.
The Cutting Room Floor, a long-running wiki, documents unused content from thousands of games and is a good place to browse if this topic hooks you.
1. Hot Coffee: The Hidden Minigame in GTA San Andreas
What dataminers found
In December 2004, modders poking around the PlayStation 2 version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas found animation files with explicit names. On June 9, 2005, a Dutch modder named Patrick Wildenborg released a patch for the Windows version, which unlocked a hidden minigame. He called it Hot Coffee.
The content was not added by the mod. It was already on the disc, and the game’s controls simply never allowed access to it. In the minigame, a rhythm-style sequence filled an “Excitement” bar, and both characters stayed clothed. Wikipedia’s Hot Coffee page remains the clearest timeline of the discovery and its aftermath.
Why it became a scandal
On July 20, 2005, the ESRB changed the rating of every edition of the game from M to AO (Adults Only). Its reasoning was that the content existed in “a fully rendered, unmodified form on the final discs.” Major retailers pulled the game while it carried that rating.
The fallout kept going. The US Federal Trade Commission settlement coverage notes that the publisher had failed to disclose unused but potentially viewable content, and required clearer disclosure on packaging, though it issued no fine. A class action settled in January 2008, with eligible buyers able to claim up to $35. Fewer than 3,000 people filed claims.
The lesson is simple. Disabled code is still code, and anyone with a hex editor can switch it on. In 2021, when The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition launched, some dataminers claimed to have found Hot Coffee code in it. That remains a claim, not an established fact. We also cover Hot Coffee as one entry in our weirdest bugs in video game history list, because unused shipping code sits next to classic glitches in gaming folklore.
2. W. D. Gaster: Undertale’s Missing Scientist
What dataminers found
Undertale launched on September 15, 2015. Soon after, players reading its files found traces of a character who never appears in the story. The name is Dr. W. D. Gaster, said in the game’s lore to be the former Royal Scientist who vanished after an accident. Wikipedia’s W. D. Gaster page summarizes the file evidence that fans documented.
The traces include an internal room called room_gaster, which holds a message written in Wingdings titled “Entry Number Seventeen.” A track called Gaster’s Theme sits in a secret sound test. Sans’s skull attacks are labeled “Gaster Blasters” in the files. If you try to name the fallen human “Gaster,” the game restarts.
What it tells us
In version 1.001, released in January 2016, a rare in-game event opened the Mystery Man room, which had previously needed file modification. Players also found a rare phone call that begins “Can I speak to G…” and cuts off.
Here is the part that matters for honesty: creator Toby Fox has not confirmed who Gaster is or what role he plays. Theories linking him to Sans and Papyrus are fan speculation. The files prove Gaster exists as a concept. They do not prove the theories.
3. The Alien Mission Inside GTA Online
What dataminers found
In 2017, a datamining group called Team Guru went through the Gunrunning update for GTA Online. They found a set of variables the client never used. By switching some of those variables around, they forced the code to run.
What played was a hidden mission. The player steals supplies near a swamp, finds a crashed UFO and a nest of alien eggs, takes the eggs, and then has to fight off aliens that attack. Dead scientists and soldiers lie around the site. Coverage dated July 4, 2017 on Legit Reviews described it.
What it tells us
The mission was short and basic, and reports at the time could not say whether it could be finished. That is typical of forced content: it often works just well enough to be seen and not well enough to be polished. It is also a good example of an unfinished idea that is still sitting in a game millions of people own.
4. The Stitched Face in Race With Ryan
What dataminers found
Race With Ryan is a Nintendo Switch kart racer for kids, based on the Ryan’s World YouTube channel. On November 1, 2019, a Twitter user called Tiniest Turtles was browsing its files and found two textures. One was a cartoon face. The other was the same face, scratched or bloodied, with the eyes and mouth stitched shut.
They sat in a folder named “GameDevelopersSimoneResources.” The model for the face could not be extracted, so in game it appeared faceless. Kotaku reported the find on December 29, 2019.
What it tells us
There is no official explanation. The finder guessed that a developer was making a joke, but called it “still very weird.” That is the honest summary. A strange texture proves someone made it. It does not prove why.
5. Pokemon Red and Blue: A Bird Type That Never Shipped
What dataminers found
The original Pokemon games from 1996 hold a lot of leftovers, and fan analysis of the ROM data has turned up most of them. According to Bulbapedia’s documentation of Red and Green beta leftovers, the type data contains a Bird type, possibly an early version of Flying. The glitch Pokemon MissingNo. is listed as Bird and Normal.
Other leftovers include unused sound cries, one of which resembles Crobat’s and hints that the Pokemon may have been planned for the first generation. Professor Oak has three unused teams at levels 66 to 70, reachable only through glitches. Rhydon has internal index 001, which fits interviews and early sketches suggesting it was the first Pokemon designed.
What it tells us
Small, strange facts like these let fans reconstruct how a famous game was made. The key detail is that Bulbapedia separates what was found in the code from what is only supported by interviews or promotional material. Good datamining writing always draws that line. For more MissingNo history as a playable glitch rather than a leftover type, see our weirdest bugs in video game history roundup, and for broader franchise lore with sources, try 12 strange Pokemon facts.
6. Apex Legends: “Hi Dataminers” and a Job Listing
What dataminers found
In August 2023, content creator KralRindo found a message from Respawn inside the Apex Legends files. It said “Hi dataminers” and pointed to “top secret” data. That data turned out to be a link to Respawn’s list of open positions. 80 Level reported it on August 10, 2023.
Players took it well, and some joked that Respawn was telling them to get a job.
What it tells us
Developers know that someone will read their files. Some now use that fact. Valve appears to have done something similar. According to HotHardware, a leaker flagged a new Dota 2 variable on June 20, 2026 named “m_bHackWhyAreYouGuysReadingOurVariableNames.” The report treats it as a message to dataminers, not a feature. That claim currently rests on a single source, so treat it as attributed reporting rather than multi-source consensus.
7. Remnant 2: A Class Hidden for Dataminers
What dataminers found
In early August 2023, players found hidden mentions of a class called Archon in the backend code of Remnant 2. The developer, Gunfire Games, had left it out of view on purpose. Even players who finished the campaign and many optional dungeons had not seen it.
The principal designer, Ben Cureton, teased that unlocking it meant penetrating the code itself. After players found it, he said, “We knew we couldn’t stop datamining, so we leaned into it.” Film Stories covered the Archon design choice after the discovery.
What it tells us
This is the clearest case on the list of datamining becoming part of the design. The secret was built to be found in the files, not in the world. How the class is unlocked was not detailed in the source checked for this post, so this article does not describe it.
How to Tell a Real Discovery From a Fan Theory
Datamining stories spread fast, and not all of them hold up. A quick checklist helps:
- Is the file or variable named? A real find points to a specific file name, folder, or variable, like room_gaster or “GameDevelopersSimoneResources.”
- Is there a date and a finder? Credible stories name who found it and when.
- Does the story separate evidence from interpretation? “The files contain X” is a fact. “X means Y” is a theory.
- Can a second source confirm it? Single-source claims should be treated as unconfirmed, including the Hot Coffee 2021 claim above.
- Does the developer say anything? Silence is common. It should not be read as confirmation.
If you want an example of how mystery and hidden records can work in fiction, our short story The Stenographer’s Echo plays with exactly that idea. To understand why hidden things hold our attention at all, read why we get bored and what is happening in your brain.
Where to Go Next
If this post sent you down a rabbit hole, here are some ways to keep going.
- Prefer puzzles to files? Try our riddles and brain teasers.
- Like the look of code? Open Matrix Rain, our falling-code browser toy, in a dark room.
- Want something to play right now? Our list of the best free online games to play when bored needs no download.
- Prefer classic glitches over cut content? Read 10 weirdest bugs in video game history.
- Prefer cancelled projects that never shipped at all? Read 15 lost video games you’ll never get to play.
- Or browse every game on the games page.
Sources and Further Reading
- Hot Coffee (minigame), Wikipedia
- FTC, Take-Two Settle Over GTA Hot Coffee Mod, Game Developer
- W. D. Gaster, Wikipedia
- Alien Life Discovered in GTA Online, Legit Reviews
- A Creepy Face Hidden in a Racing Game for Kids, Kotaku
- Pokemon Red and Green beta leftovers, Bulbapedia
- Respawn Left Message for Data Miners in Apex Legends Files, 80 Level
- Valve Mysteriously Hid a Message for Half-Life 3 Leakers in Dota 2’s Code, HotHardware
- Remnant 2’s Archon class: the genius of hiding secrets for dataminers to find, Film Stories
- The Cutting Room Floor
Discussion
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