Top 10 Times Movies Invaded Video Games

#10: Wreck-It Ralph

“Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed” (2012)

“Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed” was already a weird enough game for a kart-racer. Where else can you find SEGA characters, “Team Fortress 2”, Hot Wheels, and Danica Patrick under one roof? The strangest part was seeing Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph racing alongside the bizarre cast as an obvious stunt to promote the character’s movie. Granted, it’s not all that strange when you really think about it as SEGA and Disney do have some history working together. Plus, it made more sense when we saw the movie and found Sonic in a few scenes.

#9: Ghostbusters

“Planet Coaster” (2016)

When this DLC came out, we were rushing to call “Planet Coaster” developer Frontier Developments. In 2019, this theme park management game received a lovely DLC pack starring our favorite ghost-busting crew, and it came with a handful of goodies: a new campaign, an interactive dark ride, and of course, the Ghostbusters themselves! On top of that, Dan Aykroyd and William Atherton reprise their roles as Richard Stantz and Walter Peck. For any movie fan, this was as big of a must-have as when “Planet Coaster” added in the DeLorean from “Back to the Future”.

#8: Terminator

Various

Can we be honest and say the late 2010’s were rather bizarre? For a second, it seemed like SkyNet was a real thing as the Terminator started popping up in several games for some reason. In “WWE 2K16”, old Arnie reprised his role as the Terminator and became a playable character. Then, there was the time “Ghost Recon: Breakpoint” had a crossover with the sci-fi franchise, albeit it was just as half-baked as the game itself. Even “Gears 5” had an event where players could fight Locust as Sarah Connor or a T-800. “Mortal Kombat 11” even had Arnie taking on Scorpion and Mileena! And do we even bother going into “Fortnite’s” event? Please, “Terminator”, we love you, but don’t be back. Just this once.

#7: James Bond

“Forza Horizon 4” (2018)

The world of “Forza Horizon” is brimming with insanely fun events and awesome vehicles to drive. As if “Horizon 4” couldn’t get any more wild, we were given a DLC pack revolving around the many cars driven by one man, one handsome secret agent named James Bond. That’s right, players could now drive the various Aston Martin vehicles featured across the films from the 2008 model featured in “Casino Royale” to the classic 1964 model we saw in “Goldfinger” and “GoldenEye”. And yes, the 1977 model can transform into a boat just like it did in “The Spy Who Loved Me”. What else could a 007 fan ask for?

#6: Leatherface, Saw & Scream

“Call of Duty: Warzone” (2020)

What’s a military shooter doing with a few horror movie licenses? Well, it’s doing some rather peculiar Halloween events within its free-to-play title, “Warzone”. In October 2020, an event known as “Haunting of Verdansk” began, and it introduced a Leatherface skin for operative Velikan as well as a Billy the Puppet skin for Morte. Fast forward to October 2021, and players were given another “Haunting” event, this time introducing Ghost Face from “Scream” as a completely new operator. Not only that, but players could potentially run into him while running around the map and get themselves offed by the Woodsboro killer. Will you answer the call?

#5: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

“Plague, Inc.” (2012)

“Plague, Inc.” has featured a wealth of interesting campaigns and scenarios to explore and conquer. The strangest, yet coolest of the bunch was its crossover with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. Through the Simian Flu, the player must kill off the human race and help the apes take over, though this goal will prove trickier than anticipated. The Simian Flu shares characteristics with the Necroa and Viral diseases, tasking players with creating powerful apes to overthrow humans and increase infection while granting boosts in intelligence and slowing research. Play your cards right, and you’ll witness the end of mankind.

#4: Back to the Future & Others

“Rocket League” (2015)

“Rocket League”has enjoyed a nutritious helping of licensed content since its launch in 2015, and its movie tie-ins have become a popular staple in the series. Before we saw the Ecto-1 from “Ghostbusters”, KITT from “Knight Rider”, or the Wranglers from “Jurassic Park”, we got our first licensed vehicle in the form of “Back to the Future’s” DeLorean. It even came with its own neat details, from the fire trail and noises to the way the tires fold in when you’re flying in the air. With every goal, we found ourselves singing the iconic theme song over and over again. What a way to celebrate October 21, 2015!

#3: Darth Vader & Yoda

“Soulcalibur IV” (2008)

The "Soulcalibur" games have been known to feature some rather odd guest characters, but the fourth main game in the series was certainly...interesting. “Soulcalibur IV” featured three different “Star Wars” fighters, and while both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions shared Starkiller as an unlockable, Yoda and Vader would be exclusive to their respective platforms, only obtainable on opposite versions via DLC purchases. As cool as it was to see Yoda and Vader take on the likes of Taki, Ivy, and Astaroth, it wasn’t so cool to notice how busted the littlest Jedi was. Huh...guess size matters in the “Soulcalibur” universe.

#2: Various Horror Franchises

“Dead By Daylight” (2016)

When you see the roster of Killers, it is safe to assume that “Dead By Daylight” has become a video game safe haven for various horror movie franchises. It all started when Michael Myers and Laurie Strode from “Halloween” were added just a few months after launch. Over the years, we’ve seen many more iconic horror mascots enter the Fog such as Ghost Face from “Scream”, Amanda from “Saw”, Ashley Williams from “Evil Dead”, and Pinhead from “Hellraiser”. Even stranger is that all of these characters are sharing the same space with iconic horror video games “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill”. Now, if only we can get a certain hockey-loving slasher in here…

#1: Freddy Krueger

“Mortal Kombat” (2011)

Before we got the storm of movie crossovers we’re experiencing today, we had what many consider to be the most bizarre DLC crossover of them all. How many folks actually expected Freddy Krueger to appear in “Mortal Kombat” as the last DLC character? Even more shocking was how much fun he was to play with. It was absurd at the time, but while Vader & Yoda sort of started the wave of DLC movie crossovers, Freddy and “Mortal Kombat” cranked it up to eleven. Since then, various other movie franchises such as “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “Predator”, and “Robocop” have found their way into “Mortal Kombat” titles as well as other video games. And to think this all started with a creep in a sweater.