There's something special about games themed around The Matrix franchise. While movie tie-in games have a reputation for being quickly made shovelware made to profit on a film's release, Matrix games tend to stand out in a unique way. There's a history of some genuine care and attention to detail being put into faithfully representing the world of The Matrix, such as with how much canon lore a forgotten Matrix MMO introduced to the series.

One such game is 2003's Enter the Matrix, an action title that expanded on the story of The Matrix Reloaded by focusing on Niobe and Ghost simultaneous to the film's events. The title is a third-person action game where players complete levels using the acrobatic combat that many fans loved from the films. Enter the Matrix is almost entirely a single-player game, though fans who selected the Hacking option on the main menu were able to unlock an entire two-player fighting game hidden inside the code.

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A screenshot of Enter the Matrix's hidden versus mode.

Saying that Enter the Matrix's secret versus mode was hidden in the code is a bit more literal than one might initially think. To unlock it, players would have to navigate DOS prompts and input actual computer commands, solving cryptic puzzles and fighting off counter-hacks as they dive into the code of the Matrix. Unlocking the fighting game hidden inside Enter the Matrix is no easy task, especially for those using a controller on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube versions.

To start, players will want to navigate to the Hack option on the main menu, which will take them to a computer screen with a text prompt. From here, typing "dir system" into the text prompt should give players a basic list of commands that'll help them navigate the simulated system. Typing "help" followed by a command will give players more information on how to use said command.  This is all pretty basic DOS navigation, though there are a ton of steps and commands before the secret versus mode is unlocked.

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Players will have to solve a few different puzzles and memorize codes as they dive deeper into the system. After calling phone numbers, talking with characters from the Matrix and uncovering several hidden drives, players will finally unlock the game's secret fighting game. It's only required to go through this rabbit hole once since the mode will be available from the main menu once unlocked. To actually launch the fighting game, players just need to select it after choosing a save file to load.

Combat from the video game Enter the Matrix.

The actual Multiplayer mode is made up of select battles from the films that are playable in a 1v1 2D fighting game style. Players can't freely select characters and instead are limited to specific matchups, though it's still a surprisingly fleshed-out game for a deeply hidden secret in a hacking minigame. Enter the Matrix has a melee combat system for the main game that's utilized here, with players simply limited with how much they can move on the stage.

Outside of the normal matchups a Matrix fan would expect, there are also some far whackier options. Players could play the epic fight between Neo and Agent Smith, or they could battle it out as two kung-fu cars. There's also a matchup available that pits a werewolf against a vampire, though this is surprisingly more connected to Matrix lore than one would initially suspect. While this multiplayer mode is likely just something the developers were playing around with, it's still a surprisingly fleshed-out versus fighter hide behind an incredibly unique hacking puzzle.

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