File:Quest-cows-early.jpg

The first look at the Hell Bovines in Diablo II. This shot was released by Blizzard on April 1st, 1999. Note the date, April Fools, of course. There was a lot of speculation about the shot at the time, if there were really cows with polearms in the game, if it would look like this, etc. As we known now, there are Cows, but they never appear in the Act One caves, and never mixed in with other Act One monsters. However at the time this shot was taken the Diablo II Team certainly didn't have all of the final Cow Level details, and were probably just experimenting with where and how they would be seen in the game. At any rate, it was a neat sneak peek of the cows, and proof Blizzard was working on them long before the game was finished, so they had the Secret Cow Level idea in mind long ago.