I recently played A Link to the Past for the first time, and several dungeons have rooms (and even big treasure chests) that are not necessary for completion. Still did it, though.
Love the joke, though I think of copper dragons as being the pranksters more.
Man, those two are just so cute together!
It is a US thing, although exaggerated for comedy. At least when I was in retail, I did several of those things.