Top 10 Lists : The Top 10 Video Game Cameos In The Media

I'm going to be perfectly honest, and while it might come as a surprise, I can honestly say that I have never liked the TV show Friends. To me, the characters are dull and lifeless, the plots are lamebrain, and while there are a few good moments and skits from the show that I chuckled at from time to time, I just cant really compare those moments to other classic shows from that time period like Seinfeld or The Simpson's. That being said, however, I vividly remember one episode in particular that stuck out of my mind as being one of the best in the entire series, and if you haven't guessed yet, it would be the episode where Monica receives a Ms Pac-man machine as a wedding gift from Donna and, my god, even for a hardhearted troll like me, I too found it to be one of the funniest episodes I have ever scene on any TV show at that time. Not to spoil the entire episode, lets just say that Ms Pac-man really knows how to lure and turn friends into rival's with her unchallengeable Prima-Donna affection.

If you've ever seen the movie War Games, you might be asking yourself why I would bother to put this on the list to begin with, since there really is only one video game cameo in the entire movie? Well, concerning the video game referenced is Galaga, one of my all time favorite games, then of course I'm putting it on my list. In fact, its reported that Matthew Broderick was even given a Galaga arcade machine to practice on before the shooting of the movie. That, and if you really think about it, the movies plot IS pretty much based on many computer game and computer terminology related cameos, and if that's the case, then the movie is filled with such cameos, for example, accidentally hacking into NORAD just to play a new computer game that was due for a release. Keep in mind, this movie was released in 1983, which many considered the Golden Age of hacking before the days of Firewalls. A movie that's got it all for a gamer, it is my opinion of a must see movie.

Possibly the most obvious choice that I could have put on the list, for those who do not know, Robot Chicken is, in a word, a whole entire show that's practically based on just cameos. While there are a few original ideas sometimes present in a couple of episodes, for the most part, the show basically pays homage to every single art form in all types of mediums, including video games, and because there are a ton of which I could possibly chose from to put on the list, I just cant narrow it down to one, and instead have decided to include every single cameo that are on this show in one slot in the list. What makes these cameos special is that even if you haven't played the game or even heard of it, you can still laugh as hard as if you actually have played the video game in person, and because you never really know what your going to get from any given episode, its like a special treat whenever there is a cameo for one of you're favorite games present before your very eyes. Robot Chicken, a show for gamers, made by gamers.

Probably the best and well known skit/ comedy show to be released, as well as hosted by one of the best comedians of the last couple of years, I honestly think that everyone knows and have seen an episode of the Chappelle show at lest once in their lives. Its a show that has created one of the best/most obnoxious catchphrase ever, settled ethnic boundaries alike with its mixed viewing audience, and best of all, created one of the funniest video game cameo based off of one of the best games to ever be released. With this cameo, they went all out and actually created a full life skit with guns, cars, hell, even using a replication of the on screen statistics that you would find throughout the game. Chances are that if you played the game Grand Theft Auto, or even if you haven't, you'd probably laugh your ass off at this skits creativity and usefulness as an introduction.

Yes, while this movie would be considered cheating to a degree, to me, I had to include this movie on the list. Reason being is that while the video games themselves were the real stars of the movie, there were still a ton of other Video Game related references and cameos alike to fill an entire list if I wanted to. As, you probably know, the Wizard was basically a featured full length advertisement for, specifically, Nintendo products. Seriously, I bet no one will ever forget the now infamous scene when the power glove was reviled to be Lucas Barton's peripheral of choice, or the amazing reveal of Nintendo's new game Super Mario Bros 3. In most ways, however, these cameos and product placements were so obvious that it felt a little insulting, but strangely, in a positive way. Any kid at that time in the late 80's were really only interested in video games anyway, so it really was a true win/win situation for Nintendo and their young fans. If you haven't had your does of this late 80's cult piece of retro-junk, then find it on DVD somewhere and prepare to be taken into Nintendo Cameo land like you've never seen it before, and yes, I did just write that.

I love Back to the Future in every way imaginable; just about everything this movie has perfected on things that most movies have trouble on, and since everything just fits so nicely together, it is to date my all time favorite movie. Best of all, I also love its sequel Back to the Future Part 2, a highly creative movie that filled more time travel plot holes than any other movie I have seen, and because it went to all that trouble, I cant possibly hate it in any way possible. The truth is, there is one moment in the entire movie that really stick out the most, which truth be told, actually supports a theory of mine and many others share, and that would be when Marty McFly demonstrates his skills to two little kids on the game Wild Gunman when he visits the year 2015. First of all, even just the sight of a vintage Wild Gunman machine in its entirety is enough to make me giggle like a school boy, but what really makes this scene stick out is the obvious generation gap that Marty and the kids share, something that, for better or for worse, is something that has pretty much taken place in today's modern society, since it is to my and many other gamers observations that most newer generation of gamers just cant seem to be impressed with the old school games that many older gamers absolutely adore. I'm not going to go on a tangent and complain about the differences since that would take all day, but I just think it's amazing that for a movie released in 1990 how it could perfectly predict such future. This movies title really, truly is absolutely worthy of its name, and behold. Also, just a small bit of trivia, did you know that one of the kids was Frodo Baggins himself Elijah Wood? Who knew?

Yet another Matthew Broderick movie appearance on my list. This is just a personal theory of my, but I honestly believe that to this point in day, I think that everyone of all ages has at least seen the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" at least once, either on good old VHS, DVD, or most likely on your local cable movie channel who constantly play this film nauseatingly often than any other movie I can think of, and no, I'm not exaggerating. Still, that's not necessarily a bad thing, since how in holy hell is it possible to grow tired of one of the best comedies from the 80s, directed by the one and only John Hughes. With so many memorable jokes, characters and references, how can you go wrong with a movie like this? You can't and I wont dare try to oppose it. Better yet, one of the scenes that most people seem to remember the most just so happens to be one of my favorites. I am, of course, talking about when Ed Rooney enters the arcade and confronts "Farris" playing an arcade game, only to his surprises find out that he had insulted a female lookalike instead. There are so many reasons why this scene should be on this list. Despite the obvious assumption that there are a lot of famous arcade games in this scene, this part broke new barriers into video game culture by showing that it wasn't only guys who were playing video game at the time, as well as showed that kids at the time would skip school to go and play these machines all day long, something that, sadly, many kids don't seem to do as much these days. Lastly, they used the Pac-Man death noise as a perfect onomatopoeia to cap off Rooney's embarrassing moment. Couldn't be any better than that.

You know, I really don't need to say anything about this one, since, to be perfectly honest with you, if your any gamer who hasn't even seen or even HEARD of this episode, then stop reading this and check it out, immediately (OK, after you finished reading this list). Honest to god, how appropriate was it for the South Park team to base an entire episode of arguably the most popular video game in the world, both at this time and of all time? It would seem idiotic if they didn't, since as we all know, South Park has constantly been making fun of the popular and mainstream for thirteen years now. They had to do it, and with this episode, it doesn't disappoint. Aside from the obvious references from the game, I picked this episode over another popular gamer episodes from this show mostly because this episode has a lot more hidden cameos that advertise other Blizzard games like Star Craft, as well as the original War Craft games released back in the mid 90's and early 2000's. That, and this is just on of the funniest, creative and somewhat offensive South Park episodes ever released by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in its entire history.

Futurama really is a special piece of entertainment. Think about it? What other show can touch base on almost every single nerd-em ever thought of by man's twisted imagination and present it with such high class wit and humor that everyone can enjoy? Well, maybe Mystery Science Theater 3000, but besides that, there really aren't many out there, thus making Futurama one of my all time favorite shows. Best of all, for all us gamers out there in our world, the creators of Futurama gave us all a dose of sweet fan-service by creating the ultimate gaming segment in their "The Anthology of Interest 2" episode. Its starts out with the shows nerdy protagonist Philip J Fry asking something called "The what if machine" what life would be like if it were more like a video game, and from that point on, the cameo machine kicks into over-drive and pumps us all with nonstop, absolutely hilarious gags and skits. While it deals mostly with mostly old-school arcade game related cameos, I'm still confident enough to say that even fans of even modern day games will still love this episode's segment as I and many others do. In fact, this episode was so well done that fans of the show have actually created an Space Invaders clone closely resembling the final scene of that segment that you can even download and play from the internet, right down to even including Rush's "Tom Sayer" as the background music, and that itself is just awesome on its own.

You knew that I had to give this cameo the top of the list, and why not? It doesn't even matter if your a gamer or not, The Frogger episode has, without doubt, the best Video Game cameo ever made. Hell, a show that is arguably considered to be the greatest sitcom of all time, The Frogger episode itself is considered a fan favorite and referred to as one of the best episodes in the shows entire history. This episode was special in many different ways that most people I've talked to cant help but praise this episode along with me. Creative camera angles, hilarious plot twists and turns, as well as the creative choice of using the game Frogger as a perfect symbolic metaphor of the George Costanza character are just a few of the best quality's this episode has to offer. This episode is so memorable to this date that gamers are still trying to beat the fictional score that George set in that episode ten years ago. Surprisingly, only one man has ever prevailed a victor. In 2009, a gamer by the named of Pat Laffaye beat the fictional score set by George Costanza of 860,630, setting a new world record of 896,980. Congratulation to him.

So that concludes the list of the best Video Games cameos that the media has bestowed on us in our modern day history. As time continues to pass on by us, video games will continues to make further appearances in many countless TV shows, movies, or any other type of medium we humans can think of, carrying the spirit of gaming forward as we continue through the 21 century like the powerful force that it really is. I might one day return and change my opinions of the very best cameos, replacing them them with newer ones and throwing out the old to the side of the street, but until that days comes, I think I'm going to go watch some TV, just to pass some time...

List by BimmyandJimmy (06/10/2010)

Liked this article? Thought it was well-written and other users need to know about it? Click here to recommend this item to other users.

Discuss this list and others on the Top 10 Lists board.