Secrets and Easter Eggs in Grand Theft Auto IV

The following is a list of secrets, easter eggs, and hidden trivia references in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Easter Eggs

General

Image	Description
	AC/DC In the graveyard behind the Meadows Park Church, there is a tomb or cenotaph with the epitaph below: Roll of Honor "War of the Deadline" 1869-1869 "for those about to build...... we salute you" . This is a reference to the album titled "For Those About to Rock We Salute You" by AC/DC.
	Burger Shot Disclaimer Under the menu of Burger Shot, the player can see the disclaimer "This Burger may kill you! We can't be held responsible".
	Clean Hands, Clean Conscience On the paper-towel dispenser in Cluckin' Bell restaurants, a sign reads "Clean Hands, Clean Conscience". This is likely a reference to the metaphor of washing your hands of something.
	Cluckin' Bell Cash Register On the cash register in Cluckin' Bell restaurants, the player can see that the text on it reads "Holy Shit", "Veg Crap", "Medium, Extra Medium, Medium XL", "Ask CJ", "Launch Missiles", "Space Lazer" etc.
	Dinosaur Fossils In The Libertonian, the plaque describing the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops appears to read: "This big bastard took a few days to knock up because it had to be done by the sole hand of a prop artist. But alas, and feast your eyes on this 21000 poly maniac. Trex right up your arse. How do you like them apples?".
	Faustin Blood Trails In the backyard of Mikhail Faustin's home, there are two blood trails on the ground.
	Grant's Tomb Epitaph In Middle Park West, the epitaph of Grant's Tomb is "We Love To Fight" instead of "Let Us Have Peace". (In-game website mention of Ulysses S. Grant)
	Impregnation Warning At the Eugenics' warehouse in Port Tudor, a warning sign placed at the north-west corner of the building reads: "Ladies! Please wear protection. It's unlikely but not impossible you may be impregnated upon visiting Eugenics Inc."
	Maverick Warning Message There's an unsettling warning message about the Maverick inside the cockpit that can be seen if the player looks in first-person mode. It implies that "This helicopter might crash but we really don't care if it does, refer to flight manual for help."
	Mr. Tasty GTA IV Theme While driving the Mr. Tasty, the player is able to trigger songs to play by clicking the horn. One of these songs is the theme song of GTA IV. While this song is playing, call ZiT and they will text back with "ZiT! Spotted GTA IV Theme". This activates a cheat that gives the player health, armor and ammo, but this will also block some achievements and trophies in the game.
	Outlook Park Rules At the entrance of Outlook Park, the player can see a sign with the rules: "no eating, no drinking, no dogs, no children, no ball games, no hotdogs, no running".
	Packie's Brain-Box If the player positions the camera in such a way that they are able to see inside Patrick McReary's head, a small cube with Packie's balaclava texture from "Three Leaf Clover" can be seen.
	Police Brutality Inside the East Holland Police Station, it is possible to see three cops and someone on the ground. Another incident of police brutality can be found on the northern beach of Boulevard, Bohan.
	Prison Chart In the missions done for Gerald McReary while he is in prison, a chart can be seen behind Gerald during the cutscenes for each mission. There are several names written on it, all of which are puns, including "Isaac Hunt" (I's a c*nt), "Seymour Fani" (see more fanny), "Richard Head" (dick head), and "Phil Mcreavis" (fill my crevice).
	Statue of Happiness The Statue of Happiness' face bears a striking resemblance to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This resemblance, along with the cup of coffee in her right hand, may be a reference to the Hot Coffee controversy which Clinton was involved in. The southern door has a sign which reads "No Hidden Content This Way". This is similar to The Hidden Sign in Grand Theft Auto III and the sign on top of the Gant Bridge in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Within the Statue of Happiness is a giant beating heart, supposedly the "Heart of Liberty City." In GTA IV, access into the area is only achievable via an entrance marked by the "No Hidden Content This Way" sign at the upper level of the statue's pedestal, which can only be reached by helicopter. Once inside the pedestal, the player must scale a ladder up to the midsection of the statue, where the heart is located. It can be shot at, but nothing happens.
	Traffic Cone Statue Inside the courtyard of the Civilization Committee Complex in Hatton Gardens, there is a statue with a traffic cone on its head.
	TW@ Photocopier At all TW@ internet cafes, behind the cashier's desk, and also inside various vehicle dealerships, the screen of the Kakagawa Power Ultra 3000 Pro photocopier reads "ERROR Unleash ninja guru lol". This can only be seen through the scope of a Sniper Rifle.
	Veggie Wings The Cluckin' Bell new "Veggie Wings" feature a disclaimer on the menu, stating that they "may contain meat".

References to Previous Games

Image	Description
Paint One Building El Burro Grand Theft Auto III European Box Art Hoods & 8-Ball (GTA III) Kenji Kasen (GTA III) One of The Twins (GTA Vice City) and Misty (GTA III) Mercedes Cortez (GTA Vice City) Police Maverick (GTA San Andreas) OG Loc (GTA San Andreas) PCJ 600 (GTA Vice City) 1/10	3D Universe Character Graffiti On the staircases in most apartment blocks in the game, the player may spot some graffiti referring to past protagonists from the 3D Universe (Claude, Tommy, Carl (CJ), Toni, and Vic) that suggests they have died, though it is likely metaphorical as the 3D Universe canon is over so they won't be seen again. The only on-screen death of a protagonist from this era is Victor Vance. The graffiti is intended to serve as "a little joke for fans of the series", as a different design approach to GTA IV meant the games' timeline could only inherit various fictional brand names and certain radio personalities; it is, however, no indication as to whether or not 3D Universe canon has been retired. The canonical version of the graffiti referring to in-universe Housing Projects residents is found at the Westminster Towers.
	Babies Overnight One of the in-game radio advertisements is for an online service called Babiesovernight.com. The tagline at the end and the background music are evocative of the commercial in GTA III for Petsovernight.com.
	Chiliad8888 Niko can receive an email from Chiliad8888, which calls the recipient "Pilgrim", makes many spiritually- and philosophically-charged (and anti-government) comments, ends with "Feel the Truth, Live the Freedom", and links to whattheydonotwantyoutoknow.com. On this website there is a discussion topic titled, "Jump to a new level of Spirituality" posted by "Trooth". This discussion thread includes more philosophical thoughts, mentions Peyote, and provides a map of the Unique Stunt Jumps in Liberty City. "Chiliad" was also the name of a location in San Andreas (the highest mountain, in the southwestern wilderness). These clues suggest that the author of the email and discussion topic is The Truth, a character from GTA San Andreas.
	Claude's Outfit When Playboy X is killed, it is possible to go to his apartment and open the wardrobe to get a change of clothes that look like the clothing of Claude, the protagonist of GTA III.
	GTA San Andreas Myths There is a Liberty Tree article that talks about urban myths in Liberty City. This could be referring to the myths that were created around GTA San Andreas.
	Hot Coffee Shops There are signs scattered throughout Liberty City that say "Hot Coffee Shop", clearly a reference to the Hot Coffee sexual content and controversy from GTA San Andreas.
	Miniature Golf Course Miniatures In the miniature golf course Funland amusement park, several miniatures are re-used from previous GTA games: (from left to right) Jefferson Towers (GTA San Andreas); windmill (several different place in GTA San Andreas); "The Big Pecker" (GTA San Andreas); Ocean View Hotel (GTA Vice City); Vice City Lighthouse (GTA Vice City).
	Street Artist's Concept Art On Happiness Island, in front of the entrance to the statue, it is possible to find a street-artist's easel/display stand with several pictures. These pictures are all concept works of many previous GTA characters. The easel can also be seen in south-central Algonquin, very close to where Hossan's random encounter takes place and in front of the The Libertonian.

Elements Re-Used from Previous Games

Image	Description
	Donald Love The newspaper used to promote Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories appears as an Easter egg in newspaper vending machines. The newspaper headline "Love's Hate Relationship With Taxes" depicting Donald Love would later become a recurring Easter egg in the HD Universe.
	Gruppe Sechs The Securicars are owned by the Gruppe Sechs security firm (also seen in GTA III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto V), although in GTA IV and GTA V, the name is rendered as "Gruppe 6". "Sechs" is the German word for Six and "Gruppe" means group, thereby creating the phrase "group sex".
	GTA's Musicians CDs from pre-GTA IV musicians are found in different places in GTA IV: Madd Dogg - "Still Madd and OG Loc - "Str8 from tha Street", both rappers in GTA San Andreas. Some of the in-game ringtones that can be downloaded from Vipluxuryringtones.com are based on songs from GTA Liberty City Stories: Rudy LaFontaine - "Funk in Time" and Sunshine Shine - "Mine Until Monday can both be heard on Lips 106, and Purser - "Feel the Pain" can be heard on Head Radio.
	Love Fist In Star Junction, there is a sign for Love Fist. Love Fist was featured in GTA Vice City, and was also on a sign in GTA San Andreas and GTA Liberty City Stories.
	Mr. Wong's Laundrette There is a laundromat in Broker called Mr. Wong's Laundrette; this is a nod to the laundromat of the same name in 3D Universe Liberty City. Johnny parks the taxi near the laundromat in the TLAD mission Roman's Holiday.
	Las Venturas The Weazel TV show Venturas Poker Challenge uses footage of Las Venturas and Bone County from GTA San Andreas. However, in the show, a map is shown which indicates that Las Venturas is not part of the State of San Andreas in the HD Universe, instead being located in an unnamed state.

References to Other Games

Image	Description
	Assassin's Creed The achievement/trophy "Assassin's Greed" is a reference to the Assassin's Creed video game series.
	Bully A pedestrian bearing an uncanny resemblance to Jimmy Hopkins, the protagonist of Bully, can be seen roaming the streets of Liberty City. He is even wearing a Bullworth Academy vest. He is, however, much more aged, but does have a similar buzz cut hair style.
	Halo The animated TV show Republican Space Rangers spoofs the Halo series, as it features space marines wearing a green armor that resembles the MJOLNIR armor as seen in Halo. In one scene, the Rangers fly their spaceship through a ring that resembles a HALO ring.
	Manhunt In the amusement park in Broker, there are blue/purple hippo statues, just like the ones from Manhunt. The achievement/trophy for completing all the Most Wanted side missions is called Manhunt. On the website Yourmexicandoctor.com, two drugs first seen in Manhunt 2 (Hingmyralgan and H4PP1) are shown to be for sale.
	Mario On the wall in the arcade Videogeddon in Chinatown, there are several sprites on the wall resembling those of old games. One of the sprites is a blond man, with a long mustache and plumber-like black clothes. The sprite resembles Super Mario from the Super Mario Brothers series.
	Midnight Club The achievements/trophies "Join The Midnight Club" and "Top The Midnight Club" may be a reference to Rockstar's Midnight Club video game series.
	Mortal Kombat The achievement/trophy "Finish Him" may be a reference to the Mortal Kombat series of video games.

References to Other Media

Image	Description
	2 Girls 1 Cup The viral video, 2 Girls 1 Cup, is indirectly referenced on Integrity 2.0.
	Chuck Norris In Cluckin' Bell restaurants, near the back of the store, there's an action figure of a man in a martial arts position wearing a chicken hat; printed on the glass is "Cluck Norris", a reference to film/television star and martial artist Chuck Norris. In the South Bohan Safehouse, unlocked after the mission "Roman's Sorrow", there are books sitting on a table near the TV. Shoot one of the books and there is another underneath titled Madness & Blasphemy: The Do's and Dont's written by Nuck Chorris. This is also a reference to Chuck Norris. The title of this book also makes reference to Frank Miller's film 300, where Leonidas' famous "THIS IS SPARTA!" shout was preceded by "This is blasphemy! This is madness!"
	"Hey! I'm walking here!" At the beginning of Clean Getaway, Vlad is nearly hit by a taxi and shouts "Hey! I'm walking here!" in reference to the movie Midnight Cowboy.
	"I'm gonna be okay!" When the player harms a cop sometimes they will shout "I'm gonna be okay!", referring to the movie Reservoir Dogs, when Mr. Orange is shot in the abdomen and is screaming in delirium.
	"If I was that big chimp, I would climb it too." If the player goes on a Heli Ride with Brucie, upon reaching the Rotterdam Tower, Brucie might say "If I was that big chimp, I would climb it too." This is a reference to King Kong.
	Microsoft & Kodak Logos Two real life logos appear on the back of the Panoramic DVD player; the logo for Kodak and Microsoft Windows (more specifically, Windows XP) appear. In addition, all of the computers in the game use the same mouse cursor featured in Microsoft Windows versions 1.0 to XP.
	"My Leg!" There is a particular Russian female pedestrian in Hove Beach; if the player were to get hit by her driving a car, she will shout "my leg!" in response to hitting Niko. This is a reference to the "my leg!" gag frequently used in the SpongeBob SquarePants animated series.
	Real-World Graffiti Artists There are many graffiti pieces around the game's world that feature artwork of real life artists (or graffiti similar to their art), such as: Banksy, Cope, Indie (who is Cope's partner), Gobo, and more.
	Rockstar Logo Rockstar Games has a habit of hiding its logo in its games; the bowling pins at the bowling alley have the Rockstar logo on them and some sneakers worn by pedestrians have the Rockstar Games logo on their sole.
	The Flintstones The Euphoria files in \Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV\pc\data\naturalmotion on PC are called Fred.art and Wilma.art.
	Wilhelm Scream In the mission Final Interview, if the player shoots the guard standing at the top of the last flight of stairs when escaping from Goldberg, Ligner & Shyster, he will do a Wilhelm Scream as he falls down. This does not always happen in the PC version however.

Mission Name References to Media Culture

Image	Description
	A Revenger's Tragedy Reference to the Jacobean revenge tragedy The Revenger's Tragedy of 1606.
	Concrete Jungle Named after the hit song by Bob Marley. The song is also in the official soundtrack. Also, if the mission for some reason fails and is restarted, Little Jacob will, on the drive back to the Homebrew Café, refer to the underground of Liberty City as "a messy concrete jungle".
	Crime and Punishment Named after Fëdor Dostoevskij's book Crime and Punishment.
	Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend Reference to the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe.
	Final Destination Reference to the horror movie series of the same name.
	Holland Nights A homage to Eddie Murphy's movie Harlem Nights.
	I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle Reference to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger says this famous line.
	If the Price is Right Reference to the American TV game show The Price is Right, the font of which is also used in the Grand Theft Auto logo.
	Portrait of a Killer A reference to Patricia Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed book.
	The Master and the Molotov A reference to Michail Bulgakov's book The Master and Margarita.
	The Puerto Rican Connection A parody of the movie The French Connection.
	Three's a Crowd May be a reference to Three's a Crowd, the 1984-1985 spin-off to 1977-1984's Three's Company. This is further supported by the Three's Company mission in GTA V.
	To Live and Die in Alderney Reference to William Friedkin's movie To Live and Die in L.A..
	Uncle Vlad Reference to Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya.
	Weekend at Florian's Reference to the comedy movie Weekend at Bernie's (Florian insists that his new name is Bernie).

Real-World References

Image	Description
	Al Capone In Willis, there is a shop called Big Al's Furniture. This is likely a reference to Italian-American gangster Al Capone, who was the owner of a furniture shop.
	Heroes The fact that a secretive government body operates out of a paper factory may be a reference to the TV show Heroes. A secretive organization in that show also uses a paper factory as a cover and much of the action takes place in New York.
	KFC In Cluckin' Bell, the slogan of "The Mighty Cluck" is "200% bigger breasts", referencing an urban legend about KFC's chickens being pumped with too many hormones, and allegedly causing customers' breasts to swell.
	Tom Goldberg In the mission Final Interview, the lawyer Tom Goldberg, who Niko has to kill on orders of Francis McReary, is supposedly based on real-life disbarred lawyer Jack Thompson, who is an activist against violent video games for minors and is a well known arch-enemy of Rockstar. One of the lines Goldberg says when Niko pulls out a gun during the interview is a real-life reference to one of Thompson's famous lines against violent shooting games that are "murder simulators": "Guns don't kill people, video games do!"

Adult Humor

Image	Description
	69 As with previous games, the number 69 is used on various occasions in Liberty City, one such instance being on Fire Trucks. 69 is a reference to the sexual position of the same name.
	AutoEroticar The logo for AutoEroticar is a car resembling a penis. The name is also a play on 'auto erotica', the act of self-pleasuring.
	Choke the Chicken There is a sign reading "No chickens are choked when preparing our food (that's a promise)" in Cluckin' Bell. "Choke the chicken" refers to the act of masturbation.
	Cluckin' Bell Restrooms In Cluckin' Bell, the male restroom says "Cocks" above it and the female restroom says "Chicks" above it.
	Dusche Gold Beer A brand of beer in the game is called "Dusche Gold". "Dusche" is German for "shower", so it translates into "shower gold", a reference to "golden shower", the act of urinating on someone.
	Memory Lanes The outside sign for the Memory Lanes bowling alley depicts a bowling pin with two bowling balls on either side of it. Inside, however, the sign is only a neon outline, and resembles a crude drawing of male sex organs.
	Middle Park Monument In Middle Park, there is a monument that resembles male genitalia. According to a plaque at its base, it is called "Le Knobeliske" and was presented to Liberty City in 2007.
	NUCA Statue In East Island City, there is a building called the National Union of Contemporary Arts, within which is a statue of what looks like a stick figure man with an erection.
	Pawn Stars There is a pawn shop in Lower Easton, Algonquin that is called "Pawn Stars", an innuendo for Porn Star. Many think it is supposed to reference the show Pawn Stars on History, but that show didn't air until after GTA IV was released.
	Pißwasser Beer Another beer brand is named "Pißwasser", "wasser" being German for "water" and "ß" is a German letter for "ss". An advertisement for Pißwasser shows a woman with the bottle in her mouth as if in an act of fellatio.
	Rubble Dildos In many spots around Liberty City, there is rubble on the ground; in some of this rubble, the player can see a purple dildo sticking out. This is the same dildo used as a weapon in GTA San Andreas.
	The Clocktower In BOABO, Broker, there is a building called "The Clocktower" that has a digital clock which displays the in-game time. When driving on the Algonquin Bridge at night, leaving Algonquin, it is possible for the player to spot the word CLOCKTOWER lit up except the "L" is not lit and it says "COCKTOWER".

Videos

GTA IV - Easter Eggs and Secrets

GTA Episodes from Liberty City - Easter Eggs and Secrets