The 50 Coolest Video Game Moments in Movies And TV

Laugh, cry and cheer for the sheer awesomeness.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Given that video games have been integrated so deeply into pop culture, it's no longer a shock to catch a reference in a television show or movie like back in the days. Believe it or not, there was a time when video games were only the butt of jokes like the wildly funny "Alan: Portrait of a Video Junkie" sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1982 where gamers were portrayed as uncontrolled losers. Then you had movies like Hackers and Wargames that painted video game enthusiasts as anti-social geeks searching for a way out of reality. As times have changed and along with them the views on video game culture, there has been a maturing of the gaming world. Video games have extended beyond comedy and is now integrated into dramas like Law & Order: SVU and even horror films like A Nightmare on Elm Street. The diversity of gamers has increased a lot but as one would expect, some things remain the same. 

We've compiled a killer list of video game moments in both TV and film that made us laugh, face palm and cheer the tributes and cameos to our favorite games. These are the 50 Greatest Video Game Moments In TV And Film.

50. The Greatest Game Never Played

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49. "Asteroids" Attracts Aliens

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48. "Zelda" Theme Music Makes The Moment

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Movie/tv Show: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Year: 2010

This one is a no brainer, but the Fairy Fountain song does make a cameo during one of Michael Cera's dream sequence.

47. Impending Doom

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46. The Machines Had It Coming

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45. Pac Man On The Map

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Movie/tv Show: The Tron
Year: 1982

An easter egg shows Pac-Man hidden on the map screen of Sark's cruiser. No surpise that you've never heard of this one. Peep it, it's hilarious.

44. Practice Makes Perfect

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43. Get 'Em Granny

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42. Jim Drags The Team Down

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Movie/tv Show: The Office
Year: 2006

Jim gets to participate in some team building exercises but gets clowned for not pulling his weight in a team deathmatch. It seems that noobs aren't safe anywhere.

41. Drifting Done The Mob Way

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Movie/tv Show: The Sopranos
Year: 1999

Talk about a time and a place. A young Anthony Soprano Jr. works on his Mario Kart 64 drifting on the classic N64 console. While ignoring Tony's demand for him to go to bed, he gets an in-game thrashing as a lesson.

40. Evan Gets Distracted By The Getaway

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Movie/tv Show: Superbad
Year: 2007

We've all been there. You're trying to have a conversation (usually about something trivial) and play a video game at the same time. Evan makes the same attempt and winds up sounding exactly the same way we all do. A string of somewhat comprehensive sentences that mean nothing. Good try buddy, that's why all games can be paused.

39. Shaun Of The "Timesplitters"

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Movie/tv Show: Shaun of the Dead
Year: 2004

Why didn't this cameo generate enough nerd-rage to get another Time Splitters title off the ground?

38. Fred Savage Plays Hardball!!

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37. Monster Smokes A Motherducker

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Movie/tv Show: Boyz n the Hood
Year: 1991

Hey that doesn't look like the stock zapper that comes with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Anyway, we see Trey's homie about to peel a victim's cap back and eventually find out it's one of those pesky fowls from Duck Hunt.

36. Gears Of Product Placement

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Movie/tv Show: Noobz
Year: 2012

Although it wasn't the best movie made, Gears of War 3 appeared throughout the entire movie in the form of gameplay and merchandising. Gears fanboy and girls really got their money's worth.

35. Karate Champs Are No Joke

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34. Bart And Lisa's Bodies Are Ready

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33. Ms. Pac Man Makes A Friend Out Of "Friends"

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Movie/tv Show: Friends
Year: 2002

We all know how addictive the Pac Man franchise is and the characters on friends were reminded of that when a full-scale arcade version of Ms. Pac Man is introduced. As soon as we saw it, our hearts filled with jealousy of running the maze without running out of quarters.

32. The Super Mario Battle

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Movie/tv Show: The Wizard
Year: 1989

Essentially a 90 minute long product placement for Nintendo. We get it but during a time when Mario was bigger than Mickey Mouse, we were more than welcoming to the homage of our favorite video game in a tournament at that!

31. Doctors Of "Doom 2"

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Movie/tv Show: ER
Year: 1995

The ER staff slayed tons of demons in Doom 2 when not hooking up with each other or saving the lives of adorable children. Maybe all the gore prepared them for what they'd see in the operating rooms.

30. The O.G. "Tron" Machine Comes Back

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Movie/tv Show: Tron: Legacy
Year: 2010

The arcade version of Tron. makes a brief appearance in Flynn's arcade right before Sam gets sucked into the world of neon and hot women in skin-tight clothing. A nice nod to the old school with this one.

29. Cops Are About That "Second Life"

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28. Sega Sponsors A Rave

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27. Virtual Gretzky Haters

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26. Shadow Therapy

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Movie/tv Show: Reign Over Me
Year: 2007

Adam Sandler's character uses the Shadow of the Colossus game to tackle his inner demons after losing his family in the 9/11 attack. Thematically relevant, but a bit of a downer.

25. "Galaga" To The Rescue

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Movie/tv Show: Wargames
Year: 1983

Sure, you can hack the North American Aerospace Defense Command and defeat a sentient defense system by practicing on an old Galaga arcade machine. Only in a movie.

24. Marty McFly The Sharp Shooter

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Movie/tv Show: Back to the Future 2
Year: 1989

Michael J. Fox is still a crack shot on the Wild Gunman arcade game even when he's traveled to the far off year of 2015. We're all getting hover boards by next year, right?

23. Bishop Can't Play Street Fighter In Peace

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22. Every Gamer's Fantasy Come True

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Movie/tv Show: The Last Starfighter
Year: 1984

We've always imagined that some shadowy agency was secretly watching us play games to see if we had what it takes to save the universe. We're ready and waiting for the men in black to show up and beg for us to use our elite skills for good.

21. The Gaming Chair We All Wanted

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Movie/tv Show: The 40 Year Old Virgin
Year: 2005

Steve Carell's character had the sickest video gaming chair we've ever seen in our lives at the time. The work of nerdy art had built-in surround sound, controllers attached to the arm rests and probably automatically ordered pizza when it read signs of hunger. His boys put it to good use repping Mortal Kombat: Deception and increased our jealousy level several times fold. We've searched all over for a place to get one but failed miserably. The hunt continues.

20. Decisions, Decisions

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19. "Grand Theft Auto" Made Me Do It

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18. Sheldon Plays Rockband With Leonard's Mom

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17. The NES Advantage Controls The Statue Of Liberty

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Movie/tv Show: Ghostbusters 2
Year: 1989

New York's favorite apparition eliminators took control of the Statue of Liberty by dousing it with ghost slime and hooking it up to an NES Advantage controller. Imagine that happening today with a PS4 Dualshock 4 controller and that's what the excitement would be like. What's even crazier is that the Advantage got more camera time than Bobby Brown.

16. Freddy Krueger Plays With Power

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Movie/tv Show: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Year: 1991

As the Nightmare on Elm Street movies left its true horror roots and became comedy, Freddy Krueger's kills became more cartoonish with one of them having him wear a modified Nintendo Power Glove. Freddy took control of a victim and had the poor soul bounce up and down until he fell down a flight of stairs and through the floor into a pit. Game over.

15. "Final Fantasy 9" Characters Prefer Coca-Cola

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Movie/tv Show: Commercial
Year: 2000

At the height of Final Fantasy's success, Coca-Cola in Japan cut a rare commercial using characters from the game. If only we were so lucky to see another one of these on our side of the ocean.

14. Dance Dance Revolution Love Conquers All

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13. "Chinpokomon" Takes Over The Globe

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Movie/tv Show: South Park
Year: 1999

Talk about art imitating life. The geniuses over at South Park took on the Pokemon craze with their own "Chinpokomon" twist where the children of the world became obsessed with the fictional creatures all in a plot to destroy the U.S.  

If it wasn't for good old American fickleness, who knows what havoc the developers of the evil game would've unleashed on us all.

12. Castanza Plays Real-Life "Frogger"

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Movie/tv Show: Seinfeld
Year: 1998

George Castanza gets his hands on a Frogger arcade game but has no way to get it to his apartment. When he takes a look at the traffic, he imagines himself as the frog in the game and attempts to move it himself across the street. How many of you can say that you've never thought of doing the same?

11. Lucas The Original Gaming Douchebag

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Movie/tv Show: The Wizard
Year: 1995

Everyone who has seen this movie should remember Lucas the arrogant little snot who had the hottest video game accessory ever imagined at the time. Since the time we've seen Lucas wield the power of Nintendo's glove, our hatred of him has settled but there's still a little bit of animosity in the back of our minds for how much of a show-off he was.

10. A perfect video game movie

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9. Milhouse Gets Revenge

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8. Ghosts Try To Cheer Up Pac Man

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Movie/tv Show: Family Guy
Year: 1999

Pac Man sits in a chair depressed and broken-hearted that Ms. Pac Man left him. Instead of trying to take advantage while he's vulnerable, the benevolent ghosts turn themselves blue and offer Pac Man a chance to eat them. When that doesn't work, they change back to their normal colors and leave to hang out with Q-Bert. Just like a friend.

7. Grandma Lily Beats "Demonik"

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6. Spaced was one of the greats

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Movie/tv Show: Spaced
Year: 1999

Before Simon Pegg was a household name, he was part of the wildly underrated Spaced. He hullicantes from an all night RE2 session, which we're suprised doesn't happen more often.

5. Journey To The Center Of Hawkthorne

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Movie/tv Show: Community
Year: 2012

Chevy Chase's character Pierce goes on the hunt for his father's inheritance and comes across his half-brother who zaps him and the rest of the Greendale gang into the 8-bit Journey To The Center Of Hawkthorne video game. Even more amazing is that the game actually exists, you can give it a spin right here.

4. Erogenous Zone Cheat

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Movie/tv Show: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Year: 2010

Right before Scott is about to get beaten to a pulp by Ramona's ex-girlfriend Roxie, Ramona tells him to touch the back of Roxie's knee. When he does, she becomes overwhelmed with enough pleasure to make her literally explode into coins.

3. Kenny Saves The World

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2. Peter Fights Mr. Washee Washee

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Movie/tv Show: Family Guy
Year: 2011

In his continued beef with a dry cleaner over a shirt, Peter fights as Ken from Street Fighter and Mr. Washee Washee takes the role of E. Honda. Even after a leg sweep, a hadouken and shouryuken, Washee Washee takes Peter out with a bear hug and barage of palm strikes.

1. Saturday Night Live Investigates Video Game Junkies

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Movie/tv Show: Saturday Night Live
Year: 1982

This classic sketch from the earlier days of SNL dives deep into the life of "Alan" and a number of children who are addicted to video games. They shuffle through the streets begging for quarters to play games like Donkey Kong and Ms. Pacman. Even today, SNL hasn't come up with a sketch on video games funny enough to top this one.

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