History Main / PacmanFever

If you're too young to remember what ''Pac-Man'' was like on the 2600, check [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL2p2ANFlQ4 this]] out. And [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juH2qHYX9aI this]] for good measure. And, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzI1RBdK2_g this]] is ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' on the same system. These two games probably account for the vast, vast majority of ArcadeSounds used on TV. Ironically, the 2600 port of ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}'' was so [[PortingDisaster notoriously bad]] that it's commonly accounted as one of the two games (together with ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'') which brought in TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.

* Intentionally played straight in ''Film/TheFortyYearOldVirgin'', in which two characters play ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'' by flailing randomly on incorrect controllers and using a console it's not on. The filmmakers tried to get as many things wrong as possible.

** Another episode had Lisa becoming addicted to "Dash Dingo", an obvious homage to ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' which was released at the height of that series' popularity on what was clearly a PlayStation.

* In "TOW Ross Got High" of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ross and Joey are playing ''[[TwistedMetal Twisted Metal 2]]'' on the ''PlayStation''; the game sounds correct and both of them use the controller accurately and not just randomly button-mashing. Ditto for Chandler playing ''CrashTeamRacing''; even when he stops playing to talk to Joey, the game sits idle.

* Nicely attempted in ''Series/MrSunshine'', where they use the [[ProductPlacement Wii Wheel]] for ''VideoGame/MarioKart Wii'', and argue that Yoshi is useless in Peach Beach, which has a grain of truth since it's full of straight-aways suitable for heavyweights, though the cart selection is probably more important. Pretty good for someone who in-universe doesn't play games much. Like with the ''Friends'' example above, this trope was probably helped being averted by Matthew Perry being an avid gamer in real life.

* Nicely attempted in ''Series/MrSunshine'', where they use the [[ProductPlacement Wii Wheel]] for ''VideoGame/MarioKart Wii'', and argue that Yoshi is useless in Peach Beach, which has a grain of truth since it's full of straight-aways suitable for heavyweights, though the cart selection is probably more important. Pretty good for someone who in-universe doesn't play games much.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ross and Joey are playing a racing game on the ''PlayStation''.

** Don't forget Jason going into denial about wanting to play Franchise/TombRaider because it featured a female heroine.

* ''Film/{{Joysticks}}: All the games are real and portrayed as they actually existed at the time. ''Super Pac-Man'', a not particularly well-known game in the ''Pac-Man'' series, is actually played at a tournament (which may confuse modern audiences not familiar with this particular variation) before its real-life release in arcades, and ''Satan's Hollow'' was also played. Both games were developed in the US by Midway (''Pac-Man'' itself was made in Japan by Namco, but Midway developed a few sequels of their own), who sponsored the movie.

* In the BBC3 series ''Coming of Age'', one of the characters says he reached Level 14 on ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''. It might be a joke though, as the character in question is frequently portrayed as being TooDumbToLive and reaching Level 14 in a ''Final Fantasy'' game isn't particularly impressive.

** The really bad part is that Final Fantasy is not only a game for which buttonmashing is counterproductive, but that it's NOT a two-player game.

* ''{{Jarhead}}'' has a few lines of dialogue referring to levels in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', and that if you reach the tenth level, nothing happens, you just start at the beginning again. Erm, no. Unlike games broken into levels, MetroidVania games are the poster child for SequenceBreaking. Not to mention that even the first Metroid game for the NES had a legitimate, if short, ending.

*** Breaking Bad also averted it at one point, with Jessie playing ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' with Brock. Though they might be playing badly, you can clearly hear the proper stage audio and hit sound effects. It could only count as a bad scene for the game's [[ObviousBeta Obvious Beta]] status.

* {{Subverted}}, in one episode where Sheldon and Leonard are seen playing ''VideoGame/WiiSports Resort'' normally.

* Subverted, in one episode where Sheldon and Leonard are seen playing ''VideoGame/WiiSports Resort'' normally.

* Subverted, in one episode where Sheldon and Leonard are seen playing ''VideoGame/WiiSports Resort'' normally. Well, normally by Sheldons standards.

** He even correctly calls the enemies "Covenant Aliens", which is probably a little confusing to those unfamiliar with ''Halo'', so I'd call this completely averted.

** The Season 10 finale shows Abby complaining that while [[NewMediaAreEvil she hates violent video games]], [[SeriesContinuityError (She actually plays them with [=McGee=] all the time.)]] that she has designed a homebrew game to vent her frustrations at the Department of Defense special prosecutor who is targeting [[spoiler:Gibbs]]. The game involves shooting an effigy of him on her PC monitor with a [[NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] "Zapper" gun.

** If you want to get really technical, the visuals suffer from a similar but extremely specific form of "Wrong for the sake of accessibility". In game, main character Samus can roll into a ball and download maps from statues. However, makers of the episode decided that the image of Samus being held in the claws of a big alien thing worked better as something recognizably negative (despite being something the player has to do to progress), complete with an "Oh, that's gotta hurt!" reaction shot from House.

* One scene in ''HarrietTheSpyBlogWars'' shows a character playing a licensed video game -- it's in 3D, but it's an unbelievably crappy-looking SpritePolygonMix, and it comes complete with ButtonMashing and ArcadeSounds.

** Also kinda-sorta justified in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', since the game seems to take place in modern times, but all the arcade games are 80s-esque because they're cheap (the school), stolen (the clubhouses), or nostalgic (the comic book shop).