Fake Video Games in Movies and TV [Archive]

shopkins

06-24-2009, 10:38 AM

I started by posting this video of "Doubt" for the Sega Genesis from a MTV Movie Awards sketch.

http://kotaku.com/5302000/the-lonely-island-plays-doubt-the-video-game

I thought it was pretty funny. The joke is that it doesn't translate, but honestly I think the idea of protecting your altar boy is an interesting gameplay mechanic. A variation on protecting another character worked very well in ICO. I love the status bar, too. I wonder if they actually mocked up a level for that and how they did it.

But, that got me thinking, I know I've seen fake video games, with actual gameplay in other movies before. They did a whole wrestling game for The Wrestler, for example. What other ones have you seen and how detailed did they look?

BorrowedAccount

06-24-2009, 10:53 AM

In Grandma's Boy the plot focuses around a game that looks like a prototype of... Prototype. Very similar, other than you can't throw fire and electricity in Prototype.

ryborg

06-24-2009, 01:21 PM

I started by posting this video of "Doubt" for the Sega Genesis from a MTV Movie Awards sketch.

That was pretty good, but they got the joke backwards. You can't make what looks like a fun beat-em-up and look bored, saying it doesn't translate well. It would have been funnier if the fake game was literally nothing but unskippable cut-scenes of dialog and no actual player control.

Captain Wrong

06-24-2009, 01:53 PM

I don't know about fake games for movies, but I love the number of games in movies, real or fake, that sound like 2600 Pac-Man. I don't know who decided that was the default videogame noise, but it seemed like it was the electronic Wilhelm Scream for a while.

Sorry for the OT.

Clownzilla

06-24-2009, 03:00 PM

Cryomancer

06-24-2009, 03:54 PM

I think the sound issue is something to do with public domain sounds / all studios owning the same sound library stuff and searching "video game noise" or something.

The game in Grandma's Boy was actually called Demonik, and was being made by Terminal Reality. It was cancelled.

mrmark0673

06-24-2009, 04:07 PM

there is that fake NES wrestling game in "The Wrestler", and then their was Bonestorm on the Simpsons: http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/5888

Buy me Bonestorm or go to Hell!

Daria

06-24-2009, 04:41 PM

I remember there was an episode of Roseanne where they get a Super Nintendo. You never see the game they're playing, and although the sound effects are obviously Super Mario World she quotes something about finding a sword to become queen of the monkey people.

The Simpsons also had a great arcade game with some granny beating up robbers.

namzep

06-24-2009, 04:58 PM

Grosse Point Blank had a cab of Doom in the convience store scene. Always wanted to play it after that until I found out it was a fake and never actually existed.

MrRoboto19XX

06-24-2009, 10:59 PM

In Hackers, before they get down to hacking the gibson they play what I believe is a prototype of wipeout.

They changed the game around a lot, but the proto looks totally elite.

Melf

06-24-2009, 11:13 PM

I always love how people playing handhelds in movies and on TV are usually playing systems with no cartridge inserted.

CelticJobber

06-25-2009, 12:20 AM

There's an episode of Full House where Uncle Jesse and Michelle play Super NES with a Super Advantage stick, but game footage is never shown. But from the sound effects its obviously not a real game, and they talk about it having "intergalactic wombats".

The Super NES starts at about 1:00 in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li6tGDuVPtk

Haoie

06-25-2009, 05:49 AM

The Simpsons is full of fake games.

Everything from Devil's Advocate to My Dinner with Andre.

SegaAges

06-25-2009, 08:10 AM

In Hackers, before they get down to hacking the gibson they play what I believe is a prototype of wipeout.

They changed the game around a lot, but the proto looks totally elite.

In hackers, it was wipeout. It would be awesome if any game did their high scores that way, but I am guessing that the part they show there is facied up just a little bit

NayusDante

06-25-2009, 08:55 AM

House M.D. had a running gag of House playing Metroid, with replaced sound effects. First, it was Metroid Zero Mission, and rolling into a ball was accompanied by a "death" sound. Later, House got a DS, and played the Metroid Hunters demo. A few episodes later, Wilson chides House's obnoxious behavior with "why don't you go play your Game Boy, or whatever it is when you want to shove people away," or something to that effect. A few episodes later, House has a PSP and some genric ATV game with no music, just a revving sound.

There's a pretty good Star Fox lookalike in Walt Disney World's Carousel of Progress (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1fNay6fyVs&feature=related). In the future, games apparently still have point systems. Oh wait, they updated it to say "today." I'm going to cry if and when they tear that thing down.

There was a pretty good episode of Doug where Doug wins a game console for walking into a store. Again, I think the pack-in game was a Star Fox lookalike, and he spent weeks trying to finish it. The arcade in Doug had some good ones, like Bag the Nematoad, and Dinosaur Parking, both of which were featured prominently in different episodes. Nickelodeon used to be full of video game references, like the Space Invaders clone on Rugrats, when Mr. Finster wins all that money from Pat Sajak. Are You Afraid of the Dark had an episode based around a fictional pinball table.

In the movie Camp Nowhere, kids build a "Defcon" command post controlled with NES pads to make it look like they went to computer camp. Complete with some generic Scorched Earth kind of game.

In the movie Driving Me Crazy, the goofy foreigner who invents a vegetable-powered engine is amazed with SMB3, and later notices a PlayChoice 10 cabinet running it in a bar. "Look, Zuper Mario Brozers!"

There's an independent film (it's on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvjnidkgR5Y) now, as in ad-supported) called GameBox 1.0 which is ENTIRELY focused on fake video games. I dare you to sit through the entire thing.

And of course, the greatest fake video game is... Star Trek's Holodeck. How could I forget the adventures of Captain Proton?

Compute

06-25-2009, 09:03 AM

The NES game in The Wrestler is clearly based on the first Wrestlemania game.

How about Tron? Lightcycles, discs, Space Paranoids, etc although these games would exist later. Along the 'trapped in a video game' theme we could also include the game Arcade from the movie Arcade. It was a virtual reality game. And let us not forget eXistenZ, probably my least favorite David Cronenberg film.

The movie 'Big' features a graphical text-based adventure game which may or may not exist.

Don't Be a Menace.. shows the protagonist playing SNES and references 'sega cartridges', and there is a scene showing a game based on the Rodney King beating.

This Is Spinal Tap shows a Missile Command-type game for the TRS80, although i suspect this game exists IRL.

Do we want to get into "there was a kid holding a controller for 2 seconds in movie x" type stuff? If so I'm sure there are a ton more.

PS: I remember that Full House ep..and that Roseanne ep. Rock on.

NayusDante

06-25-2009, 09:12 AM

The movie Evolver (Sci-Fi Channel Original, I believe) involved a contest at an arcade for the high score in some VR game. The prize was an evil robot that tried to kill everyone (the prototype "home version" of the game).

Also, the movie Cloak and Dagger is entirely based around a fake video game. Wasn't there a prototype rumored to have come from that?

Blitzwing256

06-25-2009, 09:19 AM

how to make a monster was based around a company trying to rush out a video game, the scenes of the game were a very crude doom clone, but if you look carefully at the screen some of the "demons" were actually pikachu's (good movie btw)

ironpunch

06-25-2009, 09:33 AM

In South Park there is the Heroine Hero video game LOL

NESGamer24

06-25-2009, 09:37 AM

I remember in the movie Surf Ninjas the one kid is playing Surf Ninjas on Game Gear. Now I know they released a Surf Ninjas game but I dont believe it was the same as he was playing out the exact thing that was happening in the movie and he knew where the bad guys would be.

98PaceCar

06-25-2009, 09:54 AM

And let us not forget eXistenZ, probably my least favorite David Cronenberg film.

I was wondering if someone else knew about this one! I have one of the screen used boxes from the game store and a friend of mine has several of the consoles, tools, and several other game boxes.

Enigmus

06-25-2009, 10:48 AM

Also, they shamefully messed with the sound on Mario Kart Super Circuit in that horrible direct-to-DVD Mask sequel. God, a sequel to a movie that has Jim Carrey that doesn't have Jim Carrey is C-R-A-P.

InsaneDavid

06-25-2009, 11:54 AM

there is that fake NES wrestling game in "The Wrestler", and then their was Bonestorm on the Simpsons: http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/5888

Buy me Bonestorm or go to Hell!

Ah, Bonestorm - still cracks me up every time I watch that.

I always love how people playing handhelds in movies and on TV are usually playing systems with no cartridge inserted.

Thanks Keung, you're number one!

LiquidPolicenaut

06-25-2009, 12:02 PM

Mathius

06-25-2009, 12:18 PM

Let's not forget one of the best from the '80s. The Last Starfighter's arcade game which used real polygons, which was basically unheard of at the time. It was obvously a fake game, but when I was little I still would have killed to be a able to play it. It just looked so damn cool.

98PaceCar

06-25-2009, 01:54 PM

NayusDante

06-25-2009, 02:42 PM

Ah, Bonestorm - still cracks me up every time I watch that.

Don't forget the golf game, Lee Caravallo's Putting Challenge! You've landed in THE PARKING LOT. Would you like to play again?

Enigmus

06-25-2009, 03:01 PM

Also, on that dumb Drake and Josh show, one of the episodes had a parody of the Gamecube called a Gamesphere. And don't get me stsrted on all of the gayass parodies on Cartoon Network (especially those shows from Canada they've been getting). Only from Canada, man. Only from Canada.

calistarwind

06-25-2009, 05:28 PM

I am always sad to watch Enemy of The State when they blow up a Turbo Express. Will Smith's character never refers to it as what it really is though.

Mathius

06-26-2009, 05:32 PM

You can play it now!

http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php

NO FREAKIN' WAY!! This is awesome, thanks bro!

I have to go to work, but I'll give this a shot when I get home.

NayusDante

06-26-2009, 05:57 PM

...a parody of the Gamecube called a Gamesphere.

The Okama Gamesphere?

http://images.southparkstudios.com/crap/downloads/preview_image_thumbnail.php?id=2975

JohnnyBlaze

06-26-2009, 09:39 PM

there is that fake NES wrestling game in "The Wrestler", and then their was Bonestorm on the Simpsons: http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/5888

Buy me Bonestorm or go to Hell!

Bonestorm kicked ass. I was just about to mention that, too!

chrissylas

06-26-2009, 10:13 PM

Wow no one mentioned the game "Stay Alive"?

Best videogame/name dropping movie EVER :D I love terrible horror movies and that has to be one of my favorites. I'd love to play that awful game ;)

Sonicwolf

06-26-2009, 10:17 PM

"Dash Dingo", "Larry the Looter", "Nuke Canada" on the Simpsons.

The 1 2 P

06-26-2009, 10:23 PM

In Codename The Cleaner, Cedric the Entertainer's character has amnesia and thinks he's a character from an unreleases Xbox game called Colonel Bowman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AE02yP9zxU).

Daria

06-26-2009, 10:26 PM

"Larry the Looter"

There's the one I was thinking of. (:

Haoie

06-26-2009, 10:36 PM

Waterworld: The Game

Deposit 40 quarters.

Damaramu

06-27-2009, 12:14 AM

Regarding Surf Ninjas

New Line Cinema and Sega of America established a financial relationship in which a Sega Game Gear video game would be developed for the film. Game designers began developing the video game Surf Ninjas when the film was only in its scripting phase, receiving creative input from director Neal Israel. In turn, Sega partially financed the film. Screenwriter Dan Gordon said that he wrote action sequences that would both suit the film and serve as a springboard for the video game. In the film, one of the lead characters is shown playing the Surf Ninjas video game on a Sega Game Gear. The video game was released before the film's release, and it was considered the first movie-based video game to precede the film itself.

BHvrd

06-27-2009, 01:20 AM

A fairly obscure movie called "Arcade" that starred Seth Green and Peter Billingsley had a virtual reality game that was the best I ever seen in a movie of this type. Creepy and cool, I so still wanna play it.....maybe.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51B7wU8SBAL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Chaz From Phantasy Star 2

06-28-2009, 09:59 AM

There was an episode of King in the Hill where Hank turns off Bobby's Gameboy when he's in the middle of a game. Bobby says something REALLY dumb like, "Dad! I had almost defeated the Star King on Planet Xenon!" It was so stereotypical.... I almost didn't want to watch the rest of the episode..... unless you're playing Xexyz or something, games aren't that stereotypical science fiction......... I'm guessing those writers ain't played a videogame in their damned pretentious lives....

And did anyone ever notice that in Goosebumps # 5 (The Revenge of the Mummy or something like that), R.L. Stine says the main character plays Super Mario Land on the Super Nintendo??? If I was R.L. Stine's kid, I'd have corrected that moron before he published the book and embarrassed himself!

JSoup

06-28-2009, 11:00 AM

Flack

06-28-2009, 11:08 AM

Also, the movie Cloak and Dagger is entirely based around a fake video game. Wasn't there a prototype rumored to have come from that?

Man, what was the name of the character in that game? I can never remember!

Here's some info about the Cloak and Dagger game:

http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200faq/02_06.html

Chaz From Phantasy Star 2

06-28-2009, 11:17 AM

It would seem to me that in both of those instances, the video game was there strictly as a transitional plot device and that's it, not something you were really supposed to dwell on.

I agree, but those were both so stupid that I just couldn't help but dwelling...

I don't know, Flack.... but the game inspired the movie's character of Agent X...

Dji

06-28-2009, 05:11 PM

In the movie Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare... well, I'll let you guys see for yourselves:

http://www.leveloneboss.com/2009/05/freddy-krueger-enters-nintendo-kills.html

MASTERWEEDO

06-28-2009, 05:26 PM

freddy had the best power glove

Rob2600

06-28-2009, 07:49 PM

In Monster House, the boy at the arcade plays a 2D sprite-based side-scroller that looks similar to Capcom's Magic Sword.

PentiumMMX

06-28-2009, 08:58 PM

One I can remember was from an episode of Murder, She Wrote (I got forced to watch it by my mom, who loves the series), which centers around clues to solving the murder-mystery-of-the-day being slipped into a 3D adventure game shown frequently throughout the episode.

There was an episode of King in the Hill where Hank turns off Bobby's Gameboy when he's in the middle of a game. Bobby says something REALLY dumb like, "Dad! I had almost defeated the Star King on Planet Xenon!" It was so stereotypical.... I almost didn't want to watch the rest of the episode..... unless you're playing Xexyz or something, games aren't that stereotypical science fiction......... I'm guessing those writers ain't played a videogame in their damned pretentious lives....

Obviously.

NayusDante

06-28-2009, 08:59 PM

There was an episode of King in the Hill... I'm guessing those writers ain't played a videogame in their damned pretentious lives....

Oh, I beg to differ. Quoth Peggy, subbing on the day the kids elect the class president:

Let's see... three votes for... Lara Croft... whoever she is.

emceelokey

06-28-2009, 09:49 PM

In Grandma's Boy the plot focuses around a game that looks like a prototype of... Prototype. Very similar, other than you can't throw fire and electricity in Prototype.

Weren't they playing the Predator game that came out later that year?

MASTERWEEDO

06-29-2009, 02:19 AM

Game developer Terminal Reality was involved in the production of the film, lending footage to promote their game Demonik. However, the game was cancelled before the film's release, but the footage remains in the final cut.

Xian042

06-29-2009, 09:48 AM

a lot of older movies also used audio from Yars Revenge for the background. I think Explorers used some of those sounds.

Sparkster

06-29-2009, 03:26 PM

I just watched The Wrestler, and that was pretty sweet that they hacked Randy The Ram into the game.

That same Simpsons episode with Bonestorm has that golf game...

- for this shot I would suggest a putter
- you have selected driver
[ball goes into parking lot/game over screen pops up]
- would you like to play again
- you selected 'no'

In Growing Pains, Ben and a friend were pretty excited over a game called Super Vito Brothers.

But the Simpsons has the best ones by far. I specifically remember the thief, the boxing one (with Bart and Homer heads for the heads of the characters), and the bad grandson one (the character gets caught and hugged by the granny, and it's game over).

MetalFRO

06-30-2009, 10:39 AM

Not a fake game, but I have to say it:
"You got 50,000 on Double Dragon?"
"The Power Glove is so bad."

LOL

In the movie "Dead Man On Campus" there are several scenes with a Sega Saturn, though I don't recall anyone referencing what game they were playing. There may have been a racing game involved...

MachineGex

09-03-2009, 08:33 PM

Does anyone know what baseball game is shown at the beginning of "Princess Bride"? It looks like a version of Hardball, maybe a PC version? Although this is one of my favorite movies, I did not remember the movie starting out showing a clip of a baseball video game until my wife asked me what game it was. She pointed out the controller wasn't even plugged into anything, pretty funny. Great movie!

CelticJobber

09-03-2009, 08:49 PM

On the ABC soap opera One Life To Live, the kids (and sometimes adults) play a videogame system called a "Z Box" which is actually a Nintendo Wii. They also recently showed a couple playing DDR with a dance pad, but they called it "Z Fit".

Ed Oscuro

09-03-2009, 10:10 PM

I am shocked - SHOCKED! - that nobody has mentioned the nuclear-war-and-stamina-against-electricity strategy game that features in the Warner Bros.-made "Never Say Never Again," the latest (last too, probably) James Bond film with Sean Connery, and one of only two official non-EON Productions Bond films.

Largo: Are you a man who enjoys games?
James Bond: Depends with whom I'm playing.

Also, the film has Mr. Bean's (Rowan Atkinson's) first "big" role.

Oh, just spotted the unintentional pun in my post, too.

mezrabad

09-03-2009, 10:12 PM

Man, what was the name of the character in that game? I can never remember!

Yeah, I think the guy's name was Jack... um... something... dunno.

Somewhere in the fifth season of Angel, Spike was playing something on an Xbox. It sounded like Donkey Kong and Spike was yelling at it calling the character "you stupid plumber!"

Obviously, this was to underscore the moral ambiguity of Spike, the other vampire with a soul, because for him to be playing Donkey Kong on an Xbox, he had to be playing a modified Xbox with a rom of Donkey Kong on it!!

Also, Mario was a carpenter for Donkey Kong if I'm not very much mistaken.

Playstation is mentioned early in Harry Potter 4 (the book), but if you do the math, HP4 takes place in school year 1994/1995. So that's a dead giveaway that the book is probably fiction, due to the release dates of the Playstation that we've been told by videogame historians and our own memories.

Akito01

09-03-2009, 10:22 PM

There's a scene near the latter half of Neon Genesis Evangelion, where Asuka is seen playing a Sega Saturn on a widescreen TV. Sega sponsored the show, so I was always curious if the horizontal shooter she was playing, or at least the music and sound effects, were referenced from a real game.

Of course, going into anime, there's probably an endless number of examples. One of the more obvious and interesting is 'The World' from the Dot//Hack series -a kind of World Of Warcraft that goes all creepy and weird.

betamax001

09-03-2009, 11:16 PM

What about the movie Wargames and Global Thermonuclear War?

"Would you like to play a game?"

NayusDante

09-04-2009, 01:07 AM

Of course, going into anime, there's probably an endless number of examples. One of the more obvious and interesting is 'The World' from the Dot//Hack series -a kind of World Of Warcraft that goes all creepy and weird.

The World is actually loosely based on MMOs of the time, both eastern and western. WoW is.... not really applicable here. There are references to RMT in The World being available in the form of pachinko balls, so it's based more on Asian MMOs and their odd subscription models. Specifically, Mimiru talks about selling a rare weapon for pachinko balls so she can get a nice purse, or something to that effect.

And I'm still waiting for a good Asian MMO that fully supports gamepads AND head-mounted displays. That would be my heaven.

Cobra Commander

09-04-2009, 07:23 AM

There was one in Ranma 1/2 where they were playing an unnamed fighter on the SFC.
Ranma was getting ass kicked.

Robocop2

09-04-2009, 12:17 PM

ATHF had "Moon Master"

Gentlegamer

09-04-2009, 12:26 PM

The Brak Show had "Head Kicker"

Rickstilwell1

09-04-2009, 01:06 PM

Fake video games in commercials in the eraly 90s:

McDonalds - a Hamburglar maze game.
Captain Crunch - a platforming game where the Cap throws crunch at monsters.

and remember Tiny Toons?: Super Plucky-o Bros. for your Schlimnendo Entertainment System.

MASTERWEEDO

09-04-2009, 01:42 PM

I liked the "Video Quija" from Aqua Teen Hunger Force

MissingNo_1231

09-04-2009, 02:02 PM

Well, this first one isn't exactly a fake game, but in an episode of The Sopranos, Tony is playing watching his son play Mario Kart 64, and the sounds don't match what's on screen. Something like, the kid was playing as Mario, but Wario was talking. Especially weird since I'm pretty sure it was a time trial.

Then in an episode of King of Queens, this kid is sad because his GameBoy doesn't work. And some guy fixes it by pushing the small reset button with a screwdriver. Now, if it had been a Tamagachi or something, sure, but come on.

And lastly, you guys should check out the David Cronenberg movie, "eXistenZ". It's about this really trippy video game.

rbudrick

09-04-2009, 04:52 PM

Just watched the movie Adventureland...a movie about some kids working at an amusement park set in 1987 (a new release right now). Boring as hell. Anyway, there was a game one kid was showing two others how to play in an arcade...dammit...I can't remember the name. It looked cool, and honestly, ahead of its time, making me not suspend my disbelief, but maybe possible for then. Anyway, I never heard of it...damn, I wish I could remember the name.

-Rob

Cobra Commander

09-04-2009, 05:56 PM

Oh. There was one in Doug. I can't remember was it was called, but it was some SHUMP for the hottest new system, the Super Pretendo.

NayusDante

09-04-2009, 06:03 PM

Oh. There was one in Doug. I can't remember was it was called, but it was some SHUMP for the hottest new system, the Super Pretendo.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this one earlier, but I didn't remember the name of the system. Still sounds a bit odd.

Cobra Commander

09-04-2009, 07:49 PM

Ah. So you did. Apologies.
I'll always remember that systems name. I thought it was kinda cool when I was younger.

ScourDX

09-04-2009, 09:23 PM

This one is funny. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bojlyPhbZqU&feature=fvhl) It is Beatles GTA.

Bandicat

09-04-2009, 11:21 PM

I remember in the movie "Beethoven" the three kids were playing Super Marios 3. I think one was playing as Mario in 5-3. The kid playing says something like "I'm going to get all these gold coins." Another kid argues, save some for me. I remember thinking "duh, what are you going to do, go back through the board after he beats it and have everything just be gone?"

I also remember seeing an episode of the Fresh Prince, where Will is playing some videogame using a NES Zapper and a Sega Genesis controller.

I also remember a show from when I was a kid called "Are You Afraid of the Dark" that was on Nickelodean. (sp?) I remember some kid's older brother buying what looked like a fake Sega Genesis game called "Buzzy's Big House" (or something similar) and then putting it next to an NES to play it on later.

Lastly I remember an early Simpsons episode where Homer is playing a Gameboy in bed. Marge distracts him and your hear the Gameboy go "Gutter Ball". In the next scene you see Homer holding the Gameboy, except it says "Bowling 2000" under the screen where it should say "Gameboy"

scooterb23

09-04-2009, 11:37 PM

ToddofDoom

09-05-2009, 01:20 AM

Clerks: The Animated Series featured a story where Randal bought the old arcade machine called "Pharaoh" from his High School at his reunion. The object of the game is to stack bricks before the slave master could whip you. It isn't as good as the Simpson's games, but it was still pretty funny. This is a must-see episode for any Last Starfighter or Bad News Bears fans.

Invader Zim has an episode called "Game Slave II" where the Gaz character tries to get the new Game Slave II. The episode revolves around a game series called "Vampire Piggy Hunter". I enjoyed it very much. The fanboy "Iggins" is hilarious. God, that show was insane.

Also, who can forget the king of all fake real video games Homestarrunner.com's Trogdor. (And Trogdor comes in the niiighhhht!)

Sonicwolf

09-05-2009, 01:39 AM

Lastly I remember an early Simpsons episode where Homer is playing a Gameboy in bed. Marge distracts him and your hear the Gameboy go "Gutter Ball". In the next scene you see Homer holding the Gameboy, except it says "Bowling 2000" under the screen where it should say "Gameboy"

I think thats the episode "A Streetcar named Marge" from the early nineties. I always remember that scene because of the gameboy's voice effect. "SeeEVEnn TEnnnn SplIITTT!"