Video games are the perfect escape from reality. Their ability to engross players in an entirely new world is one of the biggest reasons many continue to play them. Each video game world is steep with world-building lore, characters, creatures, and existential threats. Not every video game is set in a fantastical world that's drastically different from any setting found in the real world. Some video games are based on reality in some way, shape, or form.
One clever way developers have blurred the lines between video games, and reality is by including real-world video games as Easter eggs. These cameo video games could be seen as canon within the universe of another video game. In many cases, these video games are playable! This "game-ception" of a video game within a video game is a fun way to recognize how much progress has been made.
10 Crash Bandicoot Is A Part Of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End's Story
Naughty Dog loves to honor their past games through Easter eggs. In Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Nathan Drake sits down for dinner with his wife, Elena Fisher. Drake, having no experience in video games and in need to lighten the mood after an argument, suggests he'll do the dishes if he fails to beat Elena's high score in a level of Crash Bandicoot. Based on the "Boulder Dash" level, this level of Crash Bandicoot actually serves as foreshadowing as Drake runs a similar action sequence toward the end of Uncharted 4.
It's impossible for the player to reach the high score during this scene, but they get another chance during the epilogue, where the high score is much more obtainable. Obtaining the high score also earns the player a trophy.
9 Uncharted Games Being In The Last Of Us: Part II Continues The Interconnected Easter Eggs
If Crash Bandicoot games are canon in the world of Uncharted, what universe is Uncharted games canon to? The Last of Us, of course! Throughout The Last of Us series, players can find numerous nods to past Naughty Dog series, such as board games, collectibles, and stuffed animals.
Often found alongside PlayStation 3s are games such as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and the Jak & Daxter Collection. Uncharted 4 does not exist in the world of The Last of Us as the cordyceps outbreak began in 2013, whereas Uncharted 4 was released in 2016.
8 Naughty Dog Expresses Their Feelings Toward Jak X: Combat Racing In The Last Of Us: Left Behind
It's not just high points Naughty Dog references in their games, but their perceived missteps. The Last of Us: Left Behind makes a fun reference to Jak X: Combat Racing, the explosive racing spinoff to the Jak & Daxter series.
During Left Behind, Ellie and Riley stumble upon an arcade while exploring the Liberty Gardens Mall. Among the fictional games in the arcade is an arcade version of Jak X. Once Ellie pantomimes playing Jak X, she expresses her disapproval by calling it "stupid." The player receives a trophy called "Nobody's Perfect" despite the fact Jak X wasn't a poorly received game as it sits at a 76 Metacritic score.
7 The Original Donkey Kong And Jetpac Are Required To Beat Donkey Kong 64
Much like Crash Bandicoot in Uncharted 4, players must dive into video game history if they want to beat Donkey Kong 64. Once Donkey Kong has amassed 15 Banana Medals, Cranky Kong offers Donkey Kong a chance at a Rareware Coin for achieving the high score in Jetpac. Jetpac was originally developed in 1983 by Ultimate Play the Game, which later became Rareware, now Rare.
In the "Frantic Factory" level, Donkey Kong can play the original Donkey Kong on an arcade cabinet. Beating the first difficulty yields a Golden Banana, while beating the second difficulty yields the Nintendo Coin. Both coins are required to face off against the final boss of Donkey Kong 64.
6 Sega Arcade Games Are Playable Throughout The Like A Dragon Series
The Like a Dragon series, formally Yakuza outside of Japan, strives for a realistic world. Like a Dragon's realistic world is juxtaposed with the over-the-top nature of its combat, characters, and story.
Throughout the Like a Dragon series, players can take a moment of leisure to play numerous past Sega games at arcade cabinets, most notably at Club SEGA. Sega games that are playable include classics such as Virtua Fighter 2, Out Run, and Space Harrier. Some of these games are required to play for completing substories.
5 The Entirety Of TimeSplitters 2 Is In Homefront: The Revolution
The TimeSplitters is a beloved first-person shooter series from the early 2000s that many players consider spiritual successors to GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. The TimeSplitters series is set to return under the reformed Free Radical Design.
The original Free Radical Design became Dambuster Studios, whose first game, Homefront: The Revolution, contains a passionate nod to TimeSplitters' best game, TimeSplitters 2. In Homefront: The Revolution, there's an arcade cabinet with the first two levels of TimeSplitters 2 remastered in 4K. It was later revealed that the full TimeSplitters 2 game was accessible via a cheat code.
4 Galaga Was A Loading Screen For The Original Tekken
Modern consoles with built-in SSDs make loading screens a thing of the past. As a result, suffering through even short-loading screens has become unbearable. One negative side effect is that this can make playing old games difficult as loading screens were not only abundant, they were long.
Namco understood the pains of waiting for a game to load by allowing players to play the 1981 arcade classic Galaga during the loading screen of the original Tekken. Beating this Galaga mode is the only way to unlock Devil Kazuya. Bandai Namco later released Galaga: Tekken Edition in 2015 for mobile devices to celebrate Tekken's 20th anniversary.
3 Doom (2016) Features Secret Rooms Based On Classic Doom Games
Nothing showcases just how far a series has come, like pulling players to the past. In each level of 2016's Doom, players can find secret areas inspired by the original Doom and Doom II levels. While Doomguy and Doom's HUD are still modern, the level that surrounds them is very much old-school Doom in its pixelated glory.
Doom (2016) was undoubtedly inspired by another Bethesda Softworks published game, Wolfenstein: The New Order – which contains a similar Easter egg level based on the first level of Wolfenstein 3D. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood contains the rest of the levels from Wolfenstein 3D's first episode, "Escape from Castle Wolfenstein."
2 The Text-Based Adventure Game Zork Is Playable In Call Of Duty: Black Ops
Activision dug deep for their video game cameos in the Call of Duty: Black Ops series. For example, at a computer terminal in Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, if the player types "zork," they'll be able to play the 1979 text-based adventure game Zork.
Black Ops Cold War took this further by including some of Activision's original games at an arcade in the "Redlight, Greenlight" level. The included games are 1980's Fishing Derby, 1981's Kaboom, 1982's Grand Prix, 1982's River Raid, and 1982's Pitfall! Activision has since added more playable games through Back Ops Cold War's Barracks and Zombies menus.
1 A Select Choice Of NES Games Are Playable In Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is one of the most relaxing video games available and has continued to remain popular over 20 years later. Players leisurely build up their homes as they steadily chip away at their debt. It's difficult for a home to be a home without a video game console to unwind with after a tiring day at work.
The original Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube, itself an enhanced version of a Japan-only Nintendo 64 title, allows players to obtain NES Systems with playable versions of games like Donkey Kong, Excitebike, and Balloon Fight. There is also a game-less NES console that's secretly a full-blown NES emulator that reads ROM data from the GameCube memory card.