The Strangest Cameos in Video Games

There have been many crossovers and mash-ups in the world of video games, most notably titles like Nintendo's Smash Bros., Square RPG Kingdom Hearts, fighters like Capcom's Vs series, and the antics seen in Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur. As odd as some of these guest appearances may be, in most instances they make some sense, or the characters in question fit. This isn't always the case, though, and sometimes special guest appearances or cameos go that little bit further to stretch normality, and strain any logical reasoning for including extra stars.

Sometimes games include guest appearances to capitalise on pop culture, and other times there's little to no real reason for cramming names and faces into a world they really have no business being in. These are the kinds of cameos we're interested in. The kind that makes you do a double take and question any and all reasoning for their inclusion in the game.

The inclusions here are based upon legitimate cameos or guest appearances that are included in each game, and we're not going to include unofficial mods. We're also not counting inclusions like special skins that simply change the look of a player character. With that in mind, let's begin.

Revenge of Shinobi

Keen players will no doubt notice the copyright text you see when firing up this classic Sega Genesis title that mentions Spider-Man. However, it isn't until you reach the end of level six that the wall-crawler himself shows up to do battle with Joe Musashi. He demonstrates all of his super powers, and although players may best him, he doesn't die, instead he morphs into another hero, this time from DC. Batman enters the fray, although his powers aren't quite as accurate, being able to fly and all.

During the game, Joe also encounters two and a half other cameos, including an obvious nod to the Terminator, complete with two-stage attack, eventually revealing a robotic endoskeleton. Before this, the character turns green with each hit, just like The Hulk. Later, Joe even goes up against Godzilla, sans fins, but still obviously the mega monster star. That's a lot of special guests for one ninja to handle.

Later versions of the game made changes due to copyright issues, with Batman being turned into 'Devilman', and Godzilla becoming a skeleton dinosaur. Spider-Man was also put into a pink costume after the rights expired.

It's never explained quite why Spider-Man or Batman felt the need to fight another good guy hero. Maybe Joe was auditioning to become a super hero, and it was an initiation, or maybe they just didn't like him.

The Adventures of Quik & Silva

Where do I even begin with this one? As most readers have probably never even heard of it, I should probably explain what Quik & Silva is.

The Adventures of Quik & Silva was a platform game released on the Amiga (and Atari ST later) back in 1991 on a magazine coverdisc (Amiga Fun), and it was an average title that didn't really do anything special. What it did do well, however, was populate its levels with a roster of other games characters in a “I can't believe they didn't get sued," manner.

So, who made the list? Well, the better question would probably be, who didn't? The game is widely believe the be the first appearance in home video games for Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog (who has previously appeared in Arcade title, Rad Mobile as a rear view mirror ornament). He appeared in the game as an enemy, of all things, around a month before the Mega Drive game was released. It also included obvious rip-offs of characters like Mario (as a Zebedee-like head on a spring), Bub the dragon (Bubble Bobble), Pogo (Nebulous), The R-9 ship from R-Type, Robotic Giana Sisters, and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, only as more realistic turtles with coloured masks.

It's a cavalcade of litigation content, that's for sure, which was actually made by Factor 5, best known for the Turrican series, under the proxy name of New Bits on the RAM. This was presumably done to avoid any legal issues with the Factor 5 name, which seemed to work.

NBA JAM

The arcade basketball game, NBA Jam, is still one of the best, and most enjoyable digital representations of the sport, albeit a very unrealistic one. It's two-on-two action makes for fast, frantic games, with spectacular dunks and flaming basketballs. It's also notable as former US President, Bill Clinton graced the wooden floors.

Using a code, players could actually unlock Mr Clinton himself, as well as the First lady, Hilary Clinton. There were also codes to unlock other real life people, such as Will Smith (as the Fresh Prince) and Al Gore, as well as other Midway creations like Mortal Kombat fighters.

It's clearly crazy to include such real world people in a basketball game, especially child pop starts... oh, wait.

NBA 2K13

Yes, they had to, didn't they? The far more recent basketball game from 2K, NBA 2K13, went and did just that, shoehorning in a current teen pop sensation. It features none other than Justin Beiber as a playable character. Not only that, but the Biebs has not only grown, from his actual 5”7' to a whopping 6”4', but according to the game's stats, he's also one of the best basketball players ever, even better than most of the real world pros in the game. Wow.

Obviously, realism isn't the order of the day here, and it's a simple pandering to the mass market, but that doesn't excuse this as being an odd, and downright silly celebrity cameo. Other celebs in the cameo line-up include Kevin from The Office, Leon from Curb Your Enthusiasm, and, possibly even more bizarre than Bieber, Pauly D from - eurgh - Jersey Shore.

Street Fighter 2

Street Fighter 2 is hardly the most culturally sensitive game ever made, portraying characters from around the world as larger than life stereotypes for the most part. Zangief, the Russian combatant is no exception, being a hairy chested, and bearded wrestler who wears a Soviet Red cloak sporting the Hammer and Sickle logo. This cartoon depiction of Russia was helped along by a cameo from none other than former Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev is seen in the game during the ending sequence for Zangief. He's dropped off by helicopter, and proceeds to congratulate Zangief for demonstrating Russian superiority. The pair then indulge in a cossack dance, just to further compound that stereotypical panache.

Wolfenstein

Before Doom there was Wolfenstein, and this was the first commercial success for the FPS genre. Doom would make it mainstream, but Wolfenstein is where it began. It's also here where we got to kill one of gaming's most popular enemy forces, the Nazis. Set during World War II, players took on an army of the Third Reich within the titular castle. Eventually, after progressing through the maze-like structure, the final target was reached, which was, of course, Adolf Hitler.

This isn't really an odd cameo, you may think, and it's not really. What's odd is that Hitler wasn't simply in the game, but was sat inside a robotic power suit. Hmmm, okay then. Once this suit was destroyed, a rather buff-looking fuhrer dual wielded two massive miniguns. I had no idea the Nazi leader could lift.

Bionic Commando

Hitler wasn't only limited to video game depictions of the second World War, and he also did a stint in some fictional battles too. One of these was in Capcom's BionicCommando. In the original Japanese version of the game, you were actually up against the Nazis, and the final boss, who was resurrected during the story, was Hitler himself. He's killed by Spencer at the end of the game.

For the American release, the game was censored. The Nazis were changed to the 'Badds', and Hitler was renamed Master-D. His portrait in the game was untouched, however, so he was, for all intents and purposes, Hitler. And yes, his head still explodes.

Dark Castle

This isn't an actual cameo per se, but it certainly warrants a mention. If you've been unfortunate enough to play this amazingly bad Mega Drive title, you may have seen some graffiti scrawled on the walls within the castle's inner reaches. This says 'Gamers rule' and 'Saddam was here.'

Now, there may well be another Saddam doing the rounds in this medieval castle, but it's not a name you hear very often, and when you do, it's usually related to a certain Iraqi President, who, at the time the game was released, was in the media pretty much every day due to the Gulf War and all that controversial stuff. He obviously still found time to make his presence known in video games whilst being the world's most famous bad guy.

Breath of Fire

Capcom's successful RPG series, Breath of Fire is set in a fantasy world full of magic and monsters. It's certainly not set in the real world, or the world of tournament fighting for that matter. So, it's more than a little odd to find none other than fan-favourite street fighter, Chun Li, practising her moves in the town of Bleak. Well, I guess everyone needs a quiet place to train. I could think of more suitable places, though, ones that are much easier to get to by bus.

Duke Nukem 3D

The classic FPS, Duke Nukem 3D was in direct competition with id Software's Doom, not to mention other FPS releases of the time. The Duke series has always been filled with pop culture references and adult humour, and it's often poked fun at other games.

One of the most notable has to be the Doom cameo. In E1L3 (Death Row), you find a chapel with a cross. Hitting a switch turns the cross upside down, revealing a cave behind. Here you'll find a dead Doom marine. Upon discovering this Duke exclaims “That's one doomed space marine!”

Quite how a space marine ended up in the world of Duke 3D is unknown, but given the upside down cross with obvious references to Hell, maybe he fell through a portal from Mars and landed here. Hey, it could happen.

Shadow Warrior

Here's another FPS crossover cameo, and another one that's also less than flattering for the source material. Shadow Warrior, from Duke 3D creator 3D Realms, is basically a Japanese Duke Nukem, with a very stereotypical, and racist, caricature as the main hero (You got Lo Wang!).

During the game, there are many Easter eggs, from Monty Python bunnies and mentions of using the Force, to locating a tied up Lara Croft in a secret room. Lo Wang comments that she's raided her last tomb, and players can even shoot her, with gory results.

Also after a bit of exploring, you can find four dead turtles, complete with masks. Could this be a TMNT reference? Well, yes, of course it is. If there was any doubt, Lo Wang confirms it as he exclaims “cowabunga!”

Blood

3D Realms doesn't only take pot shots at competing games and licenses, it even pokes fun at its own IPs. One example can be found in the gory FPS, Blood. A room can be found with a very mutilated, yet familiar corpse dressed in blue jeans, red vest, and sunglasses hanging from the ceiling. This is clearly Duke Nukem, at least it looks like him. Give him a jab with your pitchfork and the likeness is confirmed as protagonist, Caleb, says “Shake it, baby!” An obvious reference to Duke's penchant for strippers, stealing his catchphrase.