Fighters Megamix remains one of Saturn's most memorable brawlers. It pulled together characters from Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers and even Virtua Cop to create an all-star roster and is arguably one of the best examples of the genre released during the 32-bit era.
It has also been hiding a secret for almost 30 years, as was recently revealed by Like A Dragon director Yutaka Ito, who worked as a programmer on the 1996 title.
As spotted by Automaton West (via Polygon), Ito recently shared some information on the game on social media, explaining why the hidden stage has remained unknown for so long:
When it was released, Fighters Megamix received a great response and was featured in almost every gaming magazine. But just as we were about to publicize information about the hidden stage, we discovered that breaking a wall in the stage or defeating an enemy with a powerful move would cause the game to freeze.
The bug could not be fixed before the game went to retail, so all information relating to the secret stage remained unpublished. Ito admits that this was his fault and that he was in a funk about it at the time. However, the positive reaction the game received helped him get over it.
The Saturn turned 30 last week, and this event has compelled Ito to reveal the secret for the first time:
The hidden stage of Fighters Megamix, called Ohshima Stage, appears when you meet certain conditions. However, if you destroy a wall in it, the game freezes. I will reflect on this for the rest of my life.
Ito stops short of revealing precisely how to access the stage but gives enough of a hint that @memory_fallen – who has discovered so much secret stuff in Saturn titles it's actually staggering – quickly figured out how to get it: