16) South Park

Readers with freshly-sharpened brains might remember when the Wii console itself cameoed in a South Park episode in mid-2006, starring as the subject of rotund Cartman’s affections. More recently, Mario and Link made an appearance when the boys are whisked away to a place called Imagination Land. And on the evil side of the land? Wario.

17) Power Puff Girls

Disaster strikes when the Mayor of Townsville decides to ‘have a bash’ at playing a Zelda game. After depleting the lion’s share of his energy by walking nosefirst into a wall, he then proceeds to slice his own fairy in half. The good people of Townsville surely pray that their simple-minded Mayor never tries his hand at Sim City.

18) The Simpsons

Our absolute favourite Simpsons/Nintendo moment occurs in the Season 8 episode ‘The Simpsons Files’. At the Noiseland Arcade, we see a chain-smoking gorilla crouched underneath a sign that reads ‘Meet Donkey Kong in Person’. When the surly owner tells DK that he’s just not a draw any more, the enraged tie-wearer lobs a nearby barrel at the back of his head. “Hey, he’s still got it!”

19) Futurama

Professor Farnsworth’s “What If” machine once famously answered the question ‘what would life be like if it were more like a videogame?’ The answer: a world at war with the mysterious Planet Nintendu 64 (which ages the episode in question) after Ambassador Kong attacks the Earth President. Mario, the Italian ambassador of the United Nations of Earth, gives a moving speech about the perils of wartime; “Mamma mia! The cruel meatball of war has-a rolled onto our laps, and-a ruined our white pants of peace.”

20) Tiny Toons Adventures

One episode featured a fake commercial for the videogame Super Pluck-O Brothers, featuring Plucky-O and his twin brother, Linguini. Hmm. That was kind of a disappointing finish to our feature. Would it make things any better if we pointed out that the Warp Whistle tune from Super Mario Bros. 3 is the same melody as that of the same whistle in the original Legend of Zelda? No? Well, at least we can say we tried.

Feb 12, 2008