Secrets & Easter Eggs

Apartment 3C

Just to the South of the Pay 'n' Spray in Ocean Beach is a pink apartment. You may know it from the Unique Jump and Chopper Checkpoint on the roof. If you access it from the South end, you can climb the stairs and go inside.

Once inside, you'll be treated to a recreation of the bathroom chainsaw scene from the movie Scarface. In fact, you'll find a chainsaw in the bathroom, surrounded by bloody handprints all over the walls.

Rockstar Video Games

In Ocean Beach, ever so slightly North of the Pole Position Club, one of the storefronts you'll pass is a video game store featuring the Rockstar logo and character artwork of 8-Ball, El Burro, Kenji and Maria from GTA 3. In the original game, this store is named "Rockster Video Games" but has been changed to "Rockstar Video Games" in the Definitive Edition.

Claude Poster

Inside Tommy's room of the Ocean View Hotel, you'll see a poster on the wall showing Claude from GTA 3 firing an AK-47.

Ocean View Hotel Mission Unlocks

As you play through the story, completing certain missions and side objectives unlocks a variety of keepsakes in the Ocean View Hotel room.

• After completing "The Party", a suit bag is found hanging on the dresser.

• Beating the mission "Rub Out" will unlock a broken Tiki Statue full of white powder on the bar counter.

• Following completion of "G-Spotlight", two posters for Candy Suxxx's movies will appear on the walls alongside the Claude poster shown above.
• Beating Phil's score in "The Shootist" unlocks the Shooter Of The Month trophy, found on top of the TV.

• A hockey mask will appear on the coffee table after completing the bank robbery in the mission "The Job".

• Beating "Boomshine Saigon" for Phil will unlock three barrels of Boomshine in the corner of the hotel room.

• Completing the final mission "Hit the Courier" for the Print Works unlocks a bag of cash on Tommy's bed.

The Village People

Head inside the Malibu Club and you'll see a number of men-in-uniform dancing on the stage, all bearing a resemblance to the classic 70's and 80's disco group "The Village People".

Boner Building

The large building directly East of the Malibu club lights up at night. From 11pm, by sheer coincedence, the apartments with their lights switched on make the exact shape of male genitalia. To top it off, every 15 minutes there's a water fountain that errupts from the top of the building.

Sunken Submarine

Quite far North from the Beach and Mall on the East Island is a sunken submarine barely poking out of the water. In the original game, it's possible to see through the waves and make out the shape, however the Definitive Edition of the game doesn't have transparent water making it almost impossible to see anything besides the slight outline. If you jump in the water and start to sink and drown, you'll get a glimpse of more before succumbing to the ocean.

Movie Posters

At the Southern end of the Film Studio on Prawn Island, you'll spot a number of movie posters which are also seen in Grand Theft Auto 3. They include "Top Down City", which is a nod to the original GTA games, Badfellas, a spoof of "Goodfellas" and "Chuck Schwartz is Half-Cocked".

Moon Landing Set

Inside one of the warehouses at the film studio, you'll find a set depicting the 1969 moon landing, further fuelling speculation that the whole thing was an elaborate hoax.

UFO Movie Prop

Right next to the moon landing set at the film studio on Prawn Island is a UFO prop and some British style red telephone boxes.

Female Figure Pool

At the North of Starfish Island you'll find a house with a pool shaped like the torso of a female. If you view it from the North, the tiled design even resembles a red bikini.

Rockstar Pool

In the center of Starfish Island, just North from the Vercetti Estate is a small house with a R* shaped swimming pool.

Keepie-Uppy Beachball

In a dry pool at the East end of Starfish Island, Tommy can find a beachball. Running into it will cause it to bounce into the air. If the player is able to get Tommy to run underneath the ball, it'll bounce off his head and a counter will appear on the screen showing how many successful keepie-ups he's been able to do. There's actually a trophy / achievement in The Definitive Edition for bouncing the ball 5 times without it hitting the floor.

Tony Montana's Mansion

After beating the mission "Rub Out", Tommy will acquire Ricardo Diaz's estate on Starfish Island. The mansion bears a large resemblance to Tony Montana's mansion in Scarface, a movie which Vice City has taken a lot of inspiration from.

Vercetti Estate Mission Unlocks

A number of visual changes can be found inside Tommy's Starfish Island mansion after completing notable side objectives or story missions.

• After completing the Pizza Boy side mission, two open boxes of half-eaten pizzas can be found on a glass table inside the living room to the right of the main entrance.

• After beating "Demolition Man", an RC Raider toy box is also found inside the living room.

• Beating "Two Bit Hit" will display a shovel against the wall of the entrance.

• Following the mission "Shakedown", the paintings found on the walls throughout the mansion have been vandalised and contain writing.

• Following "The Shootist", a number of Ammu-Nation gun-related manuals can be found on the desk in Tommy's office.

• After beating "Martha's Mug Shot", a number of polariod photos featuring Candy Suxxx and Alex Shrub can be found on Tommy's desk.

• Once the mission "G-Spotlight" has been completed, the mansion becomes dirty, with trash bags, GASH shopping bags, empty pizza boxes and wine glasses scattered throughout.

• Beating each of the three stadium missions - Hotring, Bloodring and Dirtring - will unlock a trophy found on top of the TV in the living room.

• After acquiring 40 hidden packages, unlocking the flamethrower, two "Hot 'n' Sticky" napalm cannisters can be found on a coffee table in Tommy's office.

Rockstar Games Cash

If you take a closer look inside the safe in the Vercetti Estate, or on the bed in the Ocean View Hotel, you'll spot some interesting dollar bills. The character shown on the cash looks very similar to R* president Sam Houser, and the numbers displayed, 04101998, happens to be the date Rockstar Games were founded - on October 4th, 1998. These notes only appear in The Definitive Edition of the game and were actually first seen in GTA San Andreas.

Chocolate Easter Egg

The term "Easter Egg" is usually a subtle hint or joke to something slightly outside the lore of the game or movie, however Rockstar decided to include an actual chocolate easter egg in Vice City. It's hidden behind a non-solid wall which you can access from the VCN Helipad in Downtown. Run and jump at the wall from the corner of the helipad and you'll go through into a small room with the egg.

And for nostalgic reasons, here's a screenshot from the original game on PS2.

G-Spotlight Display

After jumping across rooftops in the mission "G-Spotlight" for the film studio, a large image depicting Candy Suxxx's breasts will be projected on the side of a building Downtown. You can see it from 11pm each night.

Travel Guides

After the mission G-Spotlight, you'll be able to take the elevator to the office high up in one of the skyscrapers. Right near the window are a bunch of books on the table. If you take a closer look, you'll see one is for Las Venturas, San Andreas and another shows off Edinburgh, Scotland, where Grand Theft Auto is developed by Rockstar North.

Sunken Vehicles

Right next to the bridge in Little Haiti are a number of pale cars sticking out of the water. Again, they're very difficult to see given the water isn't clear in the Definitive Edition but you can just about make them out.

Phil's Movie Posters

Inside Phil's trailer you'll find a number of posters on the walls of his bedroom, including "Soldiers of Misfortune" which is also seen in GTA 3 and is likely a parody of "Soldier of Fortune", a game that came out while Vice City was in development.

Junk Yard "Submarine"

Inside the Junk Yard, surrounded by various trash, is a large metal cylinder which slightly resembles a submarine. Frankly I think it just looks like some form of container or part of a train, but if you use your imagination, maybe you can work out how it got there.

Arcade Machines

After purchasing Kaufman Cabs, Tommy will find two arcade machines inside the headquarters. One for Degenatron and another for Pogo The Monkey. Unfortunately neither of the games are playable, but they are a nod to the radio adverts heard in Vice City and GTA 3.

Romero's - The Funeral Butcher

In Little Haiti, just South of the Pizza restaurant, there's a butchers named "Carnicero Romero". Inside the window you'll see a box containing a "Human Organ For Transplant" and a severed human arm. Interestingly enough, just a few doors further to the North is a funeral business also bearing the name "Romero". Between the two buildings, down a small alleyway, there's an open grave displaying a skeleton with a missing arm. You don't have to be a detective to work out what's going on here...

Also in the window of "Funeraria Romero" you'll see a gravestone bearing the name of Steven Mulholland, one of Rockstar's long-time developers, as well as some humorous adverts for different types of funeral arrangements. You won't bereave their prices!

One final tidbit - the hearse vehicle you'll find in Vice City, or can spawn with a cheat, is known as the Romero's Hearse.

Rockstar Games Spray Tag

Behind the Pay 'n' Spray on the East side of the Mainland is a concrete aquaduct featuring a number of R* logos which have apparently been added as graffiti.

Cherry Popper

Rockstar developers are really just big children. Their games are littered with immature adult humor, and the name of the Ice Cream factory in Vice City - Cherry Popper - is another sign, this time making a reference to taking one's virginity. The two ice creams on top of the Mr Whoopee ice cream van also resemble breasts.

Rockstar Billboard

There are a few billboards depicting the Rockstar Games logo, particularly around Little Havana and Little Haiti. You'll find this one directly across the road from the Screw This tool store in Little Havana.

Escobar International Airport

Vice City is based on Miami in the 1980's. During that time, cocaine was a huge import from Colombia, largely down to drug kingpin Pablo Escobar who flew tonnes of the stuff in on planes. Rockstar have named the airport after him in a subtle nod to the lasting legacy he had on this part of the world.

Airport Billboards

Scattered around the roads near the Escobar International Airport are a number of billboards advertising destinations in other Grand Theft Auto games. You'll see one advertising vacations in Liberty City from GTA 3, and two others showing off Vinewood and Las Venturas from GTA San Andreas. These images are different in the Definitive Edition versus the original game, where of course, at the time of GTA Vice City's development, GTA San Andreas didn't actually exist yet.

Rockstar Planes

All of the large jets parked up at the Escobar International Airport feature a Rockstar logo on their tail.

Concrete Shoes, Sharks & Shipwrecks

Sadly these popular secrets from the original game aren't really visible in the Definite Edition due to the non-transparent water, but there are two locations in the game where you'll find sunken bodies with concrete shoes, clearly depicting people who got on the wrong side of the mob and ended up sleeping with the fishes.

You'll also see other shipwrecks and even sharks and dolphins under the waves but unless you're playing the original version, you'll struggle to see anything under the water.