GTA Vice City easter eggs and secrets

Vice City is full of jokes, film nods and hidden rooms, and players have been finding them since 2002. This guide sticks to secrets that IGN, GamesRadar, Kotaku and GameSpot have documented. No hacks, mods or glitches, and nothing that needs cheats. Story spoilers sit at the end under their own heading.

The Easter egg

Rockstar hid a literal Easter egg. GamesRadar and IGN both describe how to find it:

1. Get to the roof of the VCN news building in Downtown, near the northern bridge. A helicopter landing on its helipad is the easiest way, and IGN notes you can also reach the roof from inside.
2. Look at the tall building next to the helipad. GamesRadar says to aim for the window closest to the corner of the pad.
3. Take a running jump at that window. Tommy passes straight through into a small, empty room.

In the middle of the room sits an egg on a stand, with Happy Easter written on it. GamesRadar ranked it among the best secrets in the whole series.

The moon you can resize

Shoot the moon with a sniper rifle and it changes size, as IGN notes, just as it did in GTA III. Kotaku explained the reason in 2023, from blog posts by former Rockstar North developer Obbe Vermeij. The artists could not agree on how big the moon should be, so he made its size change when sniped and left them to decide. They never came back to him, and the code stayed in Vice City and later games.

Under the water

• The man in concrete shoes. A drowned man with his feet set in concrete lies on the sea floor, in classic mob style. IGN places him between Leaf Links and the next island, and suggests looking down from a boat with a sniper scope. GamesRadar said it took them a long time to believe he existed.
• Sharks. IGN says two large sharks swim a little south of the drowned man. Another good reason Tommy stays out of the water.
• A sunken submarine. IGN reports a wrecked submarine off the north coast of the east island.

Film and TV nods

Rockstar North’s Aaron Garbut told GameSpot in 2002 that the team drew on Scarface, Carlito’s Way and Miami Vice, and visited Miami for research. Some nods are easy to spot:

• Apartment 3C. IGN describes a blood stained bathroom with a chainsaw in apartment 3C of a two storey building south of the Ocean Beach Pay ‘n’ Spray. Compare it with the chainsaw scene in Scarface.
• The mansion. GamesRadar describes the Vercetti Estate on Starfish Island as a recreation of Tony Montana’s mansion.
• The Malibu dancers. IGN points to a group of dancers on the Malibu Club stage who look a lot like the Village People.

Around town

• Romero’s funeral parlour. GamesRadar picked out its sign in Little Havana as the most pun filled in the series, calling itself the dead centre of Vice City.
• The butcher next door. Near the same funeral parlour and the Cluckin’ Bell, GamesRadar spotted human organs, and an arm, in a butcher’s shop window, next to a box labelled as a human organ transport.
• Rockstar logos. IGN lists a Starfish Island pool shaped like the Rockstar logo, Rockstar logos on the walls of a storm drain in Little Haiti and Rockstar billboards nearby.
• The beach ball. IGN says an empty pool behind the first house on the right as you cross onto Starfish Island from the west holds a beach ball. Bounce it on Tommy’s head and the game counts your score. IGN’s tip is to stay in the ball’s shadow. The newer releases turn it into the Keepie-Uppy Okie Dokie trophy for a score of 5.

Spoiler

These secrets depend on how far the story has gone.

• Your own mansion. IGN says Tommy takes Diaz’s mansion, the future Vercetti Estate, at the end of Rub Out, along with $50,000. After Cop Land it pays $5,000 a day.
• Robbing the bank again. IGN says that after The Job you can walk back into El Banco Corrupto Grande and help yourself to the cash in the manager’s office and the elevator room. Expect four stars as you go up the stairs.
• A second Hunter. Besides the reward for 100 hidden packages, GameSpot says a Hunter appears at Fort Baxter Air Base after the final mission, Keep Your Friends Close…. It suggests wearing the police uniform from Cop Land to walk in.

Tips for secret hunters

• A helicopter makes the rooftop and water secrets far easier. See our tips guide for where to find one.
• Bring a sniper rifle for the moon and the drowned man.
• Hunt hidden packages on the way, since many sit near these spots.

Updated October 27, 2026