Wall Chicken

About

Wall Chicken or Wall Meat refers to a trope in the Castlevania series of video games where a piece of chicken can be found hidden in breakable walls throughout the castle to heal the player. The idea of eating chicken found in a wall became the subject of memes throughout the 2000s, often in jokes about how you should not eat wall chicken as you might get sick. Wall chicken has been referenced in numerous video games and media properties since the original game's release in 1986. Although the meat is most often referred to as chicken, the Castlevania manual calls the item a pork chop.

Origin

Wall Chicken is a direct reference to the first Castlevania game, released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. Throughout the game, chicken is hidden in breakable walls. It heals the player when eaten (shown below). After 1997's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, wall chicken stopped appearing in the series, with health items found on the ground instead of in the wall.

Spread

Wall chicken has been referenced in numerous webcomics and memes since as early as 2008. For example, on June 1st, 2008, Fur Affinity^[5] user Rings1234 posted a comic joking about wall chicken, gaining over 500 views in 14 years (shown below).

On October 3rd, 2010, the Angry Video Game Nerd released part 1 of his videos on Castlevania. At the 4:16 minute mark the nerd comments on wall chicken, mentioning how the item is supposed to be a pork chop and joking about how absurd the idea of wall chicken is (shown below).

On August 5th, 2013, Hejibits^[6] published a webcomic referencing wall chicken (shown below, left). In 2014, BrentalFloss the Comic published a comic referencing the chicken (shown below, right, website no longer available).

On February 22nd, 2021, Redditor damagedone37 posted a meme to /r/castlevania^[7] showing a man eating chicken, captioned "Simon Belmont enjoying wall chicken," gaining over 1,700 upvotes in a year (shown below).

Wall Chicken T-Shirt

References to wall chicken have been made into unofficial merchandise numerous times. Konami sells an official t-shirt referencing wall chicken that shows an image of the item with the text "REGAIN HEALTH EAT MORE WALL CHICKEN," available on the Official Konami Shop website^[4] (shown below).

References In Other Media

Dust: An Elysian Tail

The 2012 video game Dust: An Elysian Tail includes a health item called "Mysterious Wall Chicken."^[2] The item's description is, "Found embedded in a wall, this fully-cooked and seasoned chicken comes from unknown origins."

Castlevania Anime

In season 2 episode 7 of the Castlevania animated television series, "For Love," a piece of meat hidden in a wall can be seen in the corner of the screen.^[1] The easter egg was part of a contest and the first person to notice it received a poster.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

The 2019 Castlevania inspired game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night references the item in a journal entry. In the entry, the author wishes they could find such an item. A plate of fried eggs can be found in a wall nearby the journal.^[3]

Infernax

In the 2022 retro-inspired video game Infernax, the player can find wall chicken hidden in one of the walls of a castle. If the player eats the chicken they get a cutscene where the player pukes violently and states their regret about eating it, causing the player to die and restart at the latest save point (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References