Hidden packages and collectibles

Updated 29 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Hidden packages are the collectibles of GTA III and Vice City: 100 small packages tucked away around the map, each paying cash and unlocking weapons at your safehouses every ten. Later games swapped them for themed sets, such as San Andreas's spray tags, horseshoes, oysters and snapshots, GTA IV's 200 flying rats and GTA V's spaceship parts and letter scraps.

What are hidden packages in GTA?

Hidden packages are small collectible items placed in out-of-the-way spots: on rooftops, behind buildings, under bridges or at the end of a tricky jump. They first appeared in Grand Theft Auto III (2001), according to the GTA Wiki. The 2D games had other extras, such as power-ups and Kill Frenzies in the first game and tokens in GTA 2, but no packages.

Each package pays a little money as you pick it up. The real draw is the milestone rewards: every ten packages unlock a new free weapon at your safehouses, and the hundredth brings a large prize. Packages also helped teach players the map, because finding them meant exploring every corner.

How many hidden packages are in GTA III and Vice City?

Both games have 100. In GTA III, the GTA Wiki says each package is worth $1,000 and must be collected on foot. The rewards climb from a pistol at ten to an M16 at ninety, with each weapon appearing outside every safehouse in Liberty City. The hundredth package adds a rocket launcher and a $1,000,000 bonus.

Vice City (2002) pays only $100 per package, but the bonus for the last one is $100,000, for $110,000 in total. Its milestones are more varied. Body armour arrives at ten, a chainsaw at twenty and a minigun at sixty. The later steps add vehicles: a Sea Sparrow helicopter at eighty, a Rhino tank at the Fort Baxter Air Base at ninety and a Hunter attack helicopter at one hundred. GTA Advance and Liberty City Stories kept the same idea.

What replaced hidden packages in GTA San Andreas?

San Andreas (2004) split the idea into four sets, one for each part of the state. In Los Santos, Carl Johnson sprays over 100 rival gang tags. Doing them all is needed for 100% completion and puts weapons in the kitchen of the Johnson House. San Fierro has 50 snapshots, which have to be photographed with a camera. Las Venturas has 50 horseshoes, and 50 oysters lie in water around the whole map.

Each snapshot, horseshoe and oyster pays $100, and finishing a set adds a $100,000 bonus. Snapshots unlock weapons outside the Doherty garage, and horseshoes unlock weapons in front of The Four Dragons Casino. The oysters are the odd one out. According to the GTA Wiki, collecting them all maxes out CJ's lung capacity and lets him date any girlfriend regardless of his looks.

The sets also feed into CJ's world in smaller ways. According to the GTA Wiki, finishing the tags upgrades the weapons carried by his gang, the Grove Street Families. Each horseshoe adds 20 points to a Luck stat, although Luck has no real effect on play. Horseshoes, like the classic packages, have to be picked up on foot.

Red balloons and flying rats

Vice City Stories (2006) turned collecting into target practice. Its 99 red balloons have to be popped with a gun, a melee weapon or an explosion, and some need a sniper rifle. Each pays $250, and every ten unlock items at the safehouses. All 99 count towards 100% completion.

GTA IV (2008) went the same way with 200 pigeons, called flying rats, spread across Liberty City and Alderney. Shooting them all adds 2.5% to the completion score and unlocks an Annihilator helicopter on the roof of the MeTV Building in Star Junction. Single rats give no reward. The GTA Wiki lists seagulls as the matching collectible in the episodes.

What are the collectibles in GTA V?

GTA V (2013) ties its biggest collectibles to side stories. Franklin gathers 50 spaceship parts for Omega, a conspiracy-minded stranger. Collecting all 50 opens the mission "The Final Frontier", which rewards a Space Docker buggy and an achievement and is needed for 100% completion. The game's 50 letter scraps can be found by any of the three leads. Putting them together uncovers who killed Leonora Johnson, an actress murdered in 1975, and unlocks the mission "A Starlet in Vinewood" for Franklin.

Hidden packages themselves also return in GTA V, in a smaller form. The GTA Wiki counts 15: eleven on the seabed, worth between $7,000 and $25,000 each, and four at the Altruist camp in Blaine County, worth $25,000 each.