>>715626675
it's been decades and i still don't get where this rumor came from, let alone why it keeps showing up
strategy guide companies are completely separate from the manufacturers, let alone the people making the games. there's no commission or other incentive to make secrets. the FF9 fiasco is the only notable exception, and it was never repeated.
originally games were short, shallow, and hard, because companies were working off the arcade paradigm. they tested your reflexes primarily.
when games entered homes designers began to slowly shift their priorities, as given unlimited time and chances gamers could easily beat challenges based on reflex or being efficient. there was also a push to make games more interesting and 'valuable'
secrets were one of the easiest ways to accomplish all those goals. add one secret wall or floor to a game and people would check everything. you were doubling or tripling the length of your game for nearly zero work, and it began tapping into the idea that knowledge was just as effective to feeling good in play as reflex or tactics
they were obscure for the same reason slot machines have a low hit rate: the goal was for the fewest people possible to find them, because if they were easy to find then everyone would and that'd defeat their purpose
