Before the first Games on Film of 2026, I’m going to take some time to look back at the past year, and after over 20 installments, now is a better time than any to check in. Part of the reason I started this blog was not only to catalogue times video games appear in film and TV, but also look into further trends in how games have been represented over the years.
Admittedly, I can only include films and shows I’ve seen and that are available to me. With this in mind, I have tried to get examples from a diverse range of genres.
One thing that was somewhat surprising was the constant presence of Pinball machines. They were to be expected in there hay day and during the arcade boom of the 80s, but while arcade machines have mostly appeared in films and TV during that era, Pinball machines have still cropped up in newer movies and shows, long after their peak in popularity.
A good example of this is Smallville. On a larger scale, a show from 20-some years ago might not be the newest, but in terms of my current GOF timeline, it’s a recent example.
As might be expected, films and shows also showcase the games and systems of their day. Even though these are works of fiction, it’s still interesting to see video games in a context of when they were new, like the NES Advantage and Super Mario Bros. (mention) in Ghostbusters II. Super Mario Bros. 2 in Wise Guy. The Nintendo Gamecube in Smallville, the list goes on.
There are also retroactive references; these, of course, can only happen in newer content. An example of this could be the GameBoy Advance SP, appearing in a flashback in Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray.
Parody of video games is also an element that pops up quite frequently. A sub-genre of this might be when a show or film creates “fake” names for games (this has practical applications too, related to licensing and copyright), such as in Full House,S8E9, where characters play a made-up game on the SNES.
While the Full House example isn’t exactly a full parody of a specific game, but gives a general ideas of what a video game is, which leads to what I call “video game tech-no babble” words that sound video gamey, but in reality have no bearing on any actual game.
The best and true examples of parody are mostly found in animated content, this is likely for several reasons: it’s easier for animation that can create almost anything without limit, while live action is limited more by budget and what is physically possible, along with time and licensing issues.
My Deer Friend Nokotan and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are some of the current best examples of video game parodies on the list. (more on that later).
Something that has remained consistent is the way actors pretend to play; sometimes they can be fairly good or, in rare cases, actually play the game on screen. More often than not, though, even the most seasoned actor falls back on pressing button combos that wouldn’t even exist for a Mortal Kombat Fatality. While this style of overacting might have been acceptable when games were still new, we know what games are now and how they are played, but actors still overact when “playing” games.
Now it’s time for the best of Games on Film 2025, remember this is just based on my own thoughts (after all, I’m the one writing). What would your GOF of the year be? (Why not leave your lists in the comments, Hmm?)
BEST NAME DROP (2025)
3. Frasier S7 EP21 “The Three Faces of Frasier” (May 4, 2000)
“Pokémon Punch”
It’s Pokémon, and its punch; it’s also a line I distinctly remember hearing when I first saw the episode. Pokémon getting mentioned in Frasier, can it be true? (When I told people about it, they didn’t believe me, true story.) Retrospectively, this was sort of like an early 2000 version of the “Super Mario Bros. line” from Ghostbusters II (more on that later).
2. Wise Guy S2 EP 11 “Stairway to Heaven” (1 February 1989)
“…take on the Super Mario Bros.” Another line that caught me off guard the first time I heard it, this line is outdone in the very next episode when the characters are actually seen playing Super Mario Bros 2 on the NES.
1. Ghostbusters II (1989)
It’s an iconic line, and comes from a time when Nintendo, the NES, and Mario Mania were reaching their peak. I can only imagine what it must have been like being a kid in 1989 and hearing Rick Moranis, as Louis Tully, uttering the words “Super Mario Brothers.”
“Super Mario, being used as a joke in a mainstream hit comedy film”, no way. Yes way, and that’s not all, not so much a name drop but a quasi product placement. The NES Advantage controller is used to control the Statue of Liberty.
BEST PIN (2025)
3. Smallville (Season 1, EP: 3,5,9,10,11,13) (2001)
I almost gave this the top spot, mostly for it’s consitancy, Jungle Lord (1981) appears in the background of quite a few season 1 episodes. Interestingly, episode 3 of season 1 (it’s the first time any pinball machine is seen) is actually the pinball machine Nine Ball. (1980). In GOF#15, I speculated on the connection between Superman and a Tarzan-type character (as seen in the Jungle Lord back glass). One connection I didn’t mention in the original post is to the Crash Test Dummies song “Superman’s Song,” where the lyrics directly compare and contrast Superman and Tarzan.
2.Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
This is a great example of Pinball machines in a film; they are creatively incorporated into the fight choreography.
The scene shows many machines from the 1970s, and actually has a slight “…error while researching this blog. During the fight scene, the pinball machines change places between shots. For instance, in the wide shots, Strikes, Bally, 1977 is on the left, but when it cuts to a close-up, and the back glass gets smashed, it changes to Darling, Williams, 1973, which was on the opposite side (one in from Dragon Interflippers, 1977). With all the high-flying action, it could be easy to miss.” (GOF,#19).
1.Rocky III (1982)
The ROCKY pinball machine was a specially made prop for the film. However, there was also a very similar-looking (real) ROCKY pinball machine from Gottlieb that came out around the same time as ROCKY III. The scene was filmed in the now-closed Sassony arcade in California. The scene also features many other arcade and pinball machines from the late 70s and early 80s.
I think a big part of what makes this particular pinball appearance appealing is that it was filmed in a real-world location, and not a set. So retroactively works as a time capsule of an early 80s arcade. It also helps that it appears in a great film and is incorporated in a way that doesn’t feel forced, and has now become an iconic scene for both film and pinball fans alike.
WORST PLAY ACTING OF THE YEAR (2025)
3 Smallville S3 EP15 Resurrection (25 February 2004)
Okay, so this might not be the worst, but out of all the films and TV shows I’ve seen, I think the scene itself makes a few strange choices, such as when the game is paused, it’s just a freeze frame of the screen and not the pause/menu screen, which would normally show if the game were paused.
Although this isn’t the worst example, it’s fairly textbook, with many exaggerated movements. This is a fairly short segment, but it still manages to stand out, seeing as the scene begins with a close-up of the TV screen.
By the way, the game is Genma Onismusha on the original Xbox (2002)
2 Beethoven (1992)
Simultaneous two-player in the main game of Super Mario Bros 3 Impossible, you say, well, not according to Beethoven. The scene shows two kids playing SMB3, one using a Power Glove by the way. The lines of dialogue and the kids’ acting seem to imply they are both playing at the same time, or it’s an extreme case of giving a younger sibling an unplugged controller.
1 Full House S8 EP9 Stephanie’s Wild Ride (29 November 1994)
This example has it all: generic video game techno babble, bizarre and nonsensical controller inputs, and mishandling of video game cartridges.
The game in the episode is called Montezano’s Quest, and is supposedly on the Super Nintendo. No such game actually exists, and the game (that is never shown on screen) is described like an adventure game, but at other times it sounds more like an action platformer. The Tanner family play the game with an SNES Advantage, using bizarre controller inputs that would never be seen in reality.
BEST PARODY (2025)
3 Cardcaptor Sakura
Although it’s not named and there is no branding on it, the console in Sakura’s room, and the one Kero plays in several episodes, is clearly modelled after the SEGA Saturn. The Sega Saturn controller with its distinctive blue bumpers can clearly be seen.
In S3 EP10, Kero plays a puzzle game that looks like a cross between Puyo Puyo and Baku Baku Animals.
2 My Deer Friend Nokotan (S1, EP,8,12) 2024
This series makes many references and parodies of other anime and films, and yes, video games. Such as in episode 8, there is a parody of the Super Smash Bros character intro screen. Later in the same episode, Nokotan “evolves” into a Moose in reference to the levelling up and evolving in Pokémon games.
Also, in episode 12, there is a possible punch-out reference during Nokotan’s training montage.
For a series with many memorable moments, things like this stand out above the rest. If My Deer Friend ever comes back for a season 2, one can only imagine that it will have many more video game parodies.
1 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya S1 EP4 Remote Island Syndrome Part 2 (2006)
It was a tough choice between this and Nokotan, but the attention to the character posing and animation, and how faithful it is to the games, is what won it over.
Unlike the parodies in Nokotan that were great, they were, for the most part, short one-off jokes.
The sequence in the episode is fairly lengthy and is important narratively. The segment is a direct parody of the video game series Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (CAPCOM).
After covering over 20 example what was the best Game on film of 2025? It was a tough decision after discovering so many good examples of games on film. I’ve based my criteria on a few key factors, like how the game is used in the film, the game(s) themselves, their cultural relevance and impact on video game history. Accuracy of use (is the game played correctly) and assess how the game is shown, do we see any gameplay?
GAME ON FILM OF THE YEAR (2025)
The arcade from Dawn of the Dead.
This gets the top spot for several reasons, for one, the fact that it retroactively works as a fairly decent archive for many 1970s arcade machines. This may just be the only extensive video footage of Qwark, filmed when the game was still “new.”
It’s also a showcase of a pre-space invaders and pre-Nintendo video arcade landscape, with some of the machines like F-1 being electromechanical. The film, released in the late 70s, just before video arcades, sure caused a huge boom in popularity. Had Dawn of the Dead come out only a few years later, there is no doubt the characters would be playing PAC-MAN and Space Invaders.
One interesting thing of note, although there is what looks like a pinball machine in the background, at no time do we see the characters play pinball.
Another reason is that the games are actually being played by the characters; it also helps that the scene works really well as part of a larger montage, where, among the chaos of the Zombie apocalypse, the characters are still able to carve out some leisure time, and it’s cool that one of the things they decide to do is play video games.
Screen left: what looks like a pin ball table. Behind: possible film equipment in shot (Bounce board)
Honourable mentions
Vengeance Force (1976) (GOF#6)
Hockey (PONG, Clone) arcade (1973)
ROCKY III (1982) (GOF#1)
Sassony Arcade, ROCKY Pinball (1981)
Wiseguy (1988) (GOF#2)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
Terminator 2 (1991) (GOF#4)
90s Arcade featuring After Burner
Mr. Show with Bob and David (1996) (GOF#3)
SEGA GENESIS, PGA Golf Tour II
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006) (GOF#20)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Parody
Agree with my picks? What were your favourite Games on Film from the past year?
Stay locked for a New Year of Games on Film.
Photo Credit: Strabo412: aceattorney.fandom