Being the creator of a piece of media entitles you to certain perks. You had a hand in bringing a story, a show, a movie, or indeed, a game to life for numerous people to enjoy, after all.
As long as it doesn’t completely derail the story into self-indulgent territory, all creators are entitled to a little cameo just for fun’s sake.
10 Weirdest Celebrity Cameos in Video Games
Burt Reynolds, Conan O’Brien, and even David Bowie have appeared in video games in one form or another.
Game creators have been dabbling with cameos as far back as the 1980s, sneaking themselves in as NPCs, boss fights, one-off gags, or even playable characters.
You can find at least some kind of allusion to a game’s creator in just about every game ever made, but there are some that are more amusing than others.
10Koji Igarashi
Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Koji Igarashi, also known simply as IGA, used to work for Konami in a variety of roles centered primarily around the Castlevania series. His magnum opus was, of course, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
With the help of many crowdfunding backers and a talented staff, he was able to strike out on his own to createBloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Thanks to meeting one of the game’s stretch goals, IGA added himself to the game as a secret boss fight, copying a large part of the aesthetic and moveset of Dracula at the start of Symphony of the Night.
This fight was originally exclusive for backers, but was made available as regular DLC later on.
9Hideki Kamiya
The Wonderful 101
The Wonderful 101: Remastered
Hideki Kamiya is the legendary director ofmultiple cult-classic action gameslike Devil May Cry, Okami, and Bayonetta.
In one of his passion projects, the tokusatsu-inspiredWonderful 101, he appears as a secret unlockable character aptly named Wonder-Director.
Wonder-Director uses an altered version of the Unite Goggles ability, firing giant beams out of Kamiya’s signature sunglasses.
However, he also dies in one hit if he’s your active character. He’s also always got his phone out, where he’s presumably blocking people on Twitter.
8David Cage
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit Indigo Prophecy
David Cage is the founder of the game studio Quantic Dream, as well as the director and lead writer on most of its games.
It kind of goes without saying that just about all of his projects are mildly self-indulgent as a result of this, though the only time he got really overt with it was in Fahrenheit, also known asIndigo Prophecy.
Cage acts as the host of the game’s starting tutorial section, voicing a digital version of himself as he explains the game’s systems.
He directs you through movement controls,quick-time events, and decision-making via his crash test dummy associate, Bob.
7Edmund McMillen
The Binding Of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Edmund McMillen is the creator ofThe Binding of Isaac, having originally gotten his start as a flash game creator on Newgrounds. Alongside his singular programmer, Florian Himsl, he created the original Flash version of the game.
Late in the original game’s development, McMillen added a special offshoot toone of the game’s bosses, Pride. Instead of the usual pale gray humanoid, you got a Frankenstein’s monster-like version of McMillen, accompanied by Himsl as a floating baby.
Naturally, this boss fight was brought alongside the rest of the game’s content to its upgraded version, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
6Ken Levine
Ken Levine was the creative director of the originalBioShockand one of its major driving forces. If you’ve played BioShock a few times, you might be confused, because Levine doesn’t show up in the game.
That’s technically true, as he doesn’tappearin the game. However, you’d definitelyheardhim; Levine is the one who provided the voice of the laughing clown coming out of the Circus of Values vending machines scattered around Rapture.
Fun fact, Levine’s voice was supposed to appear again in BioShock 2, but an error before the game shipped left it out. This was ultimately remedied in the game’s DLC.
5Gabe Newell
Gabe Newell, “Gaben” to his fans, is the president and co-founder of Valve. If you’re a Steam user, you’ve contributed to his substantial net worth.
While Newell isn’t a developer himself, it’s his funding and oversight that gave rise to some of the tentpoles of PC gaming, particularly Half-Life.
As a part of the battle pass for the 2018Dota 2tournament, The International 2018, players received a special Mega-Kill announcer pack voiced by Gaben himself.
Amusingly, should you get a triple kill, Gaben will go out of his way to sayanything but the number 3. If you’re a Valve fan, you know why.
4Hideo Kojima
Metal Gear Solid V
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Hideo Kojima is the creator and director of the Metal Gear series, not to mention one of the most well-regarded creatives in the entire gaming industry.
Hideo Kojima Says He Will “Keep Going” As Long As He Doesn’t Lose His Passion For Creation
60-year-old Hideo Kojima has no plans on jumping ship as long as his passion for creation keeps on existing.
For his last Metal Gear game before his departure from Konami,Metal Gear Solid V, Kojima afforded himself a bit of an indulgence.
In the prequel demo, Ground Zeroes, you can rescue a soldier named Hideo from the prison camp, returning his precious glasses to him in the process.
This rescue can be carried over into the full game, making Hideo a member of your Mother Base staff. You can’t find him on Mother Base, unfortunately, but you can assign him to missions and whatnot.
3George Lucas
The Secret Of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
Besides being the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas also worked extensively in PC gaming in the 80s and 90s.
His company, LucasArts, was responsible for classic point-and-click adventure games like Sam & Max Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle, andThe Secret of Monkey Island.
In Monkey Island in particular, Lucas himself makes a brief cameo following one of the game’s puzzles. While Guybrush is traversing Melee Island, he’s stopped by a bridge-guarding troll, who demands a literal red herring as a toll.
Guybrush provides the fish and passes, and while no one’s looking, the troll removes its head, revealing George Lucas. Lucas gobbles the fish in two bites, and immediately re-dons the head.
2Richard Garriott
Richard Garriottwas the original creator of the classic Ultima series of adventure RPGs. These games were based extensively on his old Dungeons & Dragons modules, wherein he played a character named Lord British.
Lord British is a recurring character throughout the Ultima series, though technically, he has nothing to do with Garriott in-universe.
Garriott himself makes a more traditional cameo in Ultima 2 as part of a camp of programmers on the planet Neptune. If you talk to him, he’ll assure you that the game you’re currently playing will be finished tomorrow.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Stan Lee is a man who needs no introduction; he was the creative leader that raised Marvel Comics to the heights it knows today and the co-creator of Spider-Man.
In his life, Lee was the undisputed master of cameos, appearing in just about every Marvel production he could manage. Naturally,Marvel’s Spider-Manwas no exception to this.
After Peter and Mary Jane chat at their favorite restaurant, Peter runs out, and Mary Jane gets up to leave. As she goes, the Short Order Cook behind the counter, played by Lee, expresses fondness for the couple.
This would be Lee’s final game cameo before his passing in 2018. The game’s sequel, Miles Morales, featured aeulogy dedicated to him.
10 Best Cameos In Video Games
Celebrities have been appearing in video games for decades. These are some of the best cameos in video game history.
