Anyone who's played ICO for the PS3 has probably become aware of how to find the Spiked Club (otherwise known as the Mace) and the Shining Sword (otherwise known as the Lightsaber) thanks to the in-game achievements which pointed out their existence to pretty much anyone who bothered to check the list. At that time in 2011, achievement hunters looked to the old gaming forums and the official ICO Prima Guide to get their platinum trophies or see what they missed on their first playthrough. By following the laid out instructions, players got instant access to this obtuse and cryptic puzzle's solution. But there was a subtle clue for one of these puzzle elements that has been overlooked for decades. And was only recently picked out by Team ICO speedrunner, Jaikhay, in late January of this year (or at least, his discovery is the first I've heard of it, it might be more well known in Japan). On the tree you're meant to hit, in order to get the ball for this puzzle, there is a small, but distinct texture in the shape of a Japanese rhinoceros beetle. https://i.postimg.cc/nz319Znd/Rhinoceros-Beetle.png Finding and collecting rhinoceros beetles (and really insect catching in general) is a well documented past time for Japanese children. So I can see its presence as a way to compel eagle eyed players to hit the tree and see if they might be able to catch it. It could also be a symbolic nod, given that it too, is a horned creature trapped in this castle.
This is so crazy! I would have never noticed that and it's insane that people are still finding all these little things after so many years.
For those who do not know, both the lightsaber and the mace are secret weapons that can be obtained by following a very obscure routine of unlocking a secret room, then hitting a very specific tree to drop a metal ball, and finally playing a basketball-ish type of game with it in said room.
As OP stated above, there are no clear in-game instructions as to what you have to do in order to achieve this, and most people probably came across it on forums after some research, as it's kinda hard to figure out on your own. In hindsight, it would definitely be weird to have this puzzle without at least a single clue that pointed towards the solution, so this might very well be true! The tree is also the toughest part of the puzzle, because most of the time we're looking for things like hidden switches and mechanisms, or secret paths that lead somewhere else. I found out about the trick to unlocking this through the internet as well, and I would have probably never thought of hitting the trees if I had to figure it out on my own.
Thank you for yet another incredible piece of trivia that I had no clue about!
@crooked-mantis
Update: Debug enthusiast Rossy__ has just uncovered the remains of a planned insect net that has a placeholder model and everything. More discoveries all the time with this game.
truly amazing! I wish people would pay more attention to unused stuff in Ico like they do with shadow. the amount of cool things that are probably still hidden somewhere in old files would most likely surprise us!
