Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Recommended reading
Best video game movies: Milla Jovovich as Alice in the first Resident Evil movie.
Movies The 10 best video game movies of all time, ranked
Upcoming video game movies - Five Nights at Freddy's
Movies Every upcoming video game movie you need to know about
The Last of Us 2
Games The 25 best video game soundtracks of all time
Best Xbox 360 games: a screenshot of an Xbox 360 console next to a controller and a collection of games.
Games 25 Best Xbox 360 games of all time
Mass Effect 2 - Garrus
Adventure Games The 25 best video game stories to play right now
Snake stands next to a giant ape mech in the Mesal Gear Solid crossover between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Ape Escape
Stealth Games "My first line was 'Snake Vs Monkey'", says Metal Gear Solid 3's David Hayter: "I could only ask, 'Why am I saying this?'"
Red Dead Redemption 2
Adventure Games 25 best adventure games to get swept up in right now
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Action Movies
  4. Scott Pilgrim vs the World

10 Best Movie / Videogame Crossover Moments

Features
By Total Film published 10 April 2013

Sponsored Feature: Homages, nods and winks... Power up!

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Doom (2005)

Doom (2005)

The Crossover Moment: The movie version of the popular (and astonishing) first person shooter jettisoned pretty much everything we loved about the game.

But Karl Urban enters a corridor of death, the camera shifts, adopting the POV we all know and love and we’re happy. For about 20 seconds.

Success Or Game Over: Definitely a success. In fact, it’s arguably the best moment in a fairly terrible movie.

Page 1 of 10
Page 1 of 10
Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

The Crossover Moment: Slightly complicated one, this.

One of the key inspirations for Shaun Of The Dead was the episode of Spaced where Tim (Simon Pegg) plays too much Resident Evil on his PlayStation , and starts seeing zombies everywhere.

Apparently, the team had so much fun making the episode, they decided to make a big-screen version.

This particular moment could be read as a nod to that real-life story-arc – Pegg’s Shaun playing PlayStation with an actual zombie.

Success Or Game Over: Massive success. This is a real treat for Cornetto Trilogy / Spaced geeks alike.

Page 2 of 10
Page 2 of 10
Scott Pilgrim Versus The World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim Versus The World (2010)

The Crossover Moment: There’s about a million videogame crossover moments in Scott Pilgrim, but our favourite comes when Pilgrim beats Matthew Patel, and a voice-over announcer bellows ‘KO’ Street Fight style.

Success Or Game Over: Scott Pilgrim is a loving tribute to all the games we grew up on. Hell yeah it’s successful

Page 3 of 10
Page 3 of 10
Freddys Dead The Final Nightmare (1991)

Freddys Dead The Final Nightmare (1991)

The Crossover Moment: Spencer’s death contained so many Nintendo in-jokes we’re surprised Freddy’s finger-knives didn’t turn into plungers.

When Elm Street kid Spencer is pulled into his own television, he finds himself in different pop culture environments – including one that looks a little bit like Super Mario (complete with background pipes and ‘Super Spencer’ power-ups).

Cut to Freddy playing the game with a joystick and muttering ‘Great graphics.’

When Spencer’s friends rip the joystick from Krueger’s paws, they forget his back-up. The Power Glove. Ridiculous.

Success Or Game Over: Though not official, this is so close to Nintendo’s trademarks it’s a wonder no-one got sued. So, yes!

Page 4 of 10
Page 4 of 10
Super Mario Brothers Movie (1993)

Super Mario Brothers Movie (1993)

The Crossover Moment: If you’ve played the Super Mario game, you’ll remember that Mario and Luigi can jump really high.

But jumping really high would be ridiculous in a movie, obviously. It would be exactly the sort of thing that would require a scientific explanation.

So, rather than innately possessing the power to jump during their time in an ALTERNATE LIZARD DIMENSION, our heroes discover a couple of rocket boots, because… we don’t know.

Success Or Game Over: Definitely game over. The jumping moments look nothing like the game. They don’t work in the same way as the game. They make us retroactively hate the game.

Still, it's the most faithful moment in the movie, which explains how it made it onto this list. It definitely wasn't us taking another chance to have a pop at Super Mario Bros.

We’re pretty sure the closest anyone in this film came to the original Mario games is faintly hearing the sound of someone else playing Sonic The Hedgehog in a neighbour’s house.

Page 5 of 10
Page 5 of 10
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

The Crossover Moment: Wreck-It Ralph may be a movie overflowing with obvious videogame references, but it's the subtle Easter Eggs that truly amaze.

Case in point, a blink and you'll miss it reference to Playstation classic Final Fantasy VII - in the form of graffiti claiming 'Aerith Lives'. A reference video game fans will immediately recognise as a tribute to the classic character from the RPG series.

Success or Game Over: It's brief as hell, but if you spot it (and have ever played Final Fantasy VII ) it's guaranteed to illicit a lump in the throat. Success.

Page 6 of 10
Page 6 of 10
Ghostbusters II (1989)

Ghostbusters II (1989)

The Crossover Moment: The only thing crazier than attempting to control an anthropomorphised Statue of Liberty? Doing so using nothing but a walkman, some energised goo, and a NES Advantage controller.

Success or Game Over:
Success. If you can buy into the ridiculousness or a meandering Lady Liberty, then you can buy the control mechanism being attributed to a NES controller.

Page 7 of 10
Page 7 of 10
City Hunter (1993)

City Hunter (1993)

The Crossover Moment: Rewind to 1993, and Jackie Chan wasn't as big a global star as he is now. Which partially explains his amazing appearance in this martial arts action comedy. During one notable fit of fisticuffs, he's thrown headfirst into a Street Fighter II arcade game and suffers an electric shock, which causes him to hallucinate.

Hallucinate that he's E. Honda and then Guile from Street Fighter, and locked in a battle with Ken. One Dhalsim cameo and then an incredible, jaw-dropping turn for Chan as kick-lady Chun-Li, and it's a fight scene stuffed full of signature moves and fanboy geekgasming.

Success or Game Over: Success. While that arguably depends on your enjoyment of seeing Chan's unarguably impressive pins in drag, the whole scene is better than the whole of the actual Street Fighter movie.

Page 8 of 10
Page 8 of 10
The Wrestler (2008)

The Wrestler (2008)

The Crossover Moment: Randy 'The Ram' Robinson invites his young next door neighbour in for a quick go on an old-school NES game starring Randy himself, Wrestle Jam!

Success or Game Over:
Success. Seeing as though the whole point of the movie is meant to sell Mickey Rourke's wrestler as a washed-up old star, there's no greater nostalgia-nod than having him star in his own NES game. It even features his signature move, the Ram Jam!

Page 9 of 10
Page 9 of 10
Defiance (2013)

Defiance (2013)

The Crossover Moment: In a unique and rather original way, the Defiance TV movie ties directly in with a brand new MMO. Numerous plot points are cross-referenced, and fans are even given the chance to change the show every week with their actions.

Success or Game Over: The proof'll be in the ongoing pudding, but for now, the game and TV movie look set to offer a truly one-of-a-kind experience for gaming and movie fans alike.


Visit the Defiance website , and follow the show and game on Facebook and Twitter .

Image © 2012 Open 4 Business Productions LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Defiance starts Tuesday 9 April at 9pm on SyFy.

Find out more about the show and world of Defiance .

Page 10 of 10
Page 10 of 10
Total Film

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

See more Movies Features
Read more
Best video game movies: Milla Jovovich as Alice in the first Resident Evil movie.
The 10 best video game movies of all time, ranked
Upcoming video game movies - Five Nights at Freddy's
Every upcoming video game movie you need to know about
The Last of Us 2
The 25 best video game soundtracks of all time
Best Xbox 360 games: a screenshot of an Xbox 360 console next to a controller and a collection of games.
25 Best Xbox 360 games of all time
Mass Effect 2 - Garrus
The 25 best video game stories to play right now
Snake stands next to a giant ape mech in the Mesal Gear Solid crossover between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Ape Escape
"My first line was 'Snake Vs Monkey'", says Metal Gear Solid 3's David Hayter: "I could only ask, 'Why am I saying this?'"
Latest in Action Movies
Tom Holland as Peter Parker sitting in his during during Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man star Tom Holland says Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey "is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen."
David Corenswet as Superman with Krypto the dog and a robot in the Fortress of Solitude.
James Gunn's Superman has finally found the cure to superhero movie fatigue: just make them more like comics
Ben Grimm petting a dog in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Look out Superman and Krypto, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has its own adorable dog
Zoomed in picture of a Balatro Joker plush.
No wonder Superman took so long – director James Gunn was as obsessed with Balatro as the rest of us: "I pretty much just catch up on work and read and play Balatro"
James Gunn
Superman director James Gunn says he "didn't feel guilt" for leaving the MCU for DC: "I didn’t feel that way because I was fired"
Daredevil: Born Again
Kingpin star Vincent D'Onofrio shares which Marvel Phase 6 projects he's most excited for – and it's not just Daredevil: Born Again season 2
Latest in Features
David Corenswet as Superman with Krypto the dog and a robot in the Fortress of Solitude.
James Gunn's Superman has finally found the cure to superhero movie fatigue: just make them more like comics
Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story
New indie horror Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story is Frailty meets There Will Be Blood with a haunting focus on family – and I have no complaints
Superman shows off his strength on the cover of Superman Unlimited #2.
Here's how to start reading Superman comics once you've seen the new movie
David Corenswet as Superman in James Gunn's Superman
Superman ending explained: your biggest questions answered on Lex Luthor, the Justice Gang, and what it sets up for the DCU
The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature
After 16 years of The Sims 3, The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature might just be the whimsical expansion pack that pulls me away from EA's iconic 2009 life sim for good
Superman
Every comic book character in Superman, listed in order of appearance in James Gunn's new movie
  1. Zion Wright grinds along a wooden balustrade in in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4's San Francisco level
    1
    Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 review: "A nostalgic, must-play hit for fans"
  2. 2
    College Football 26 review: “Thanks to rivalries and dynasty, this is the greatest show on turf”
  3. 3
    Mecha Break review: "This mech battler makes up for lacking customization with a varied roster that lets me live out my Evangelion fantasy"
  4. 4
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  5. 5
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  1. David Corenswet as Superman inside the Fortress of Solitude in James Gunn's Superman.
    1
    Superman review: "A triumphant reinvention and a promising start for the DCU"
  2. 2
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  3. 3
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  4. 4
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  5. 5
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...