Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show has gamers all making the same joke

Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show
(Image credit: NFL/Rihanna)

Super Bowl 2023 has come and gone, and in the aftermath of a closely contested sporting event, a questionable penalty call, and some junk food-induced comas, gamers can only think about one thing: it sure was wild how much Rihanna's halftime show looked like a video game level.

As is Super Bowl halftime tradition, Rihanna's show was a lavishly produced, 15-minute stage presentation featuring a medley of some of the artist's biggest hits. It was a solid show, and one made all the more notable because it doubled as Rihanna's pregnancy reveal. Much of it took place on a series of platforms that raised and lowered while suspended from the top of the stadium.

And yes, this is absolutely just a Super Smash Bros stage. Look forward to Rihanna as the true final DLC for Smash Ultimate.

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The fact that video games have a universal language of "don't fall off high thing" means that there were plenty of opportunities for gags that involved games other than Super Smash Bros, and Twitter has eagerly taken the bait. In addition to being a Smash fighter, Rihanna is also a Destiny player, the next boss to destroy you in Dark Souls, and the leader of a game show for bumbling jellybeans.

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Just remember, Rihanna did establish her gamer cred all the way back in 2014.

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The Super Bowl served up a whole lot of nerd news with a new D&D movie trailer, a Batman-infused Flash reveal, and a new look at Indiana Jones 5.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.