All the Wreck-It Ralph Cameos and Inside Jokes

Nobody has all the references listed with images, and I just can't take it anymore! So I won't. Here you go.

My passion is for animations and videogames. If you combine them, I get overloaded in passion.

Disney's starting to market their rich references:



Before we dig into each reference, here's the trailer...



The Teaser Trailer had a similar structure, but a few different shots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPSQOomMWro

Next we'll run through the cameos tied to the trailer (both trailers), and I'll toss in other released images as we go...

Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders cabinets

The trailer opens with a shot of the Fix-It Felix Jr machine in an arcade. Next to it are the arcade versions of Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Pac-Man is licensed from Namco and Space Invaders from Taito. That's...

Namco = 1 License so far.

Taito = 1 License.

And Nintendo = 1 Reference so far.



The Fix-It Felix Jr game is a spoof of Donkey Kong, and as such the arcade cabinet art is based on the art on the Donkey Kong machine.

Taito is most known for Space Invaders and another arcade hit, Bubble Bobble. It would be sweet if those Bubble Bobble dinosaurs show up in the film! I think it would be a good fit, since it's arcade (that's the main goal, although exceptions are made, like Sonic, Bowser, Dr. Eggman, Shining Force, etc.), cute (seems to work well for this film), and they were obviously already talking to Taito in order to get the Space Invaders license. But there's also a decent chance that no one at Disney or Taito specifically thought of it or thought of a good way to include them (there were a ton of moving parts to put all this together). The director has explicitly said that there were more unused reference ideas than used reference ideas, and he's hoping the interest generates more ideas and better ideas. That way, if the film is as successful as I/he thinks it will be, then a sequel would continue those great ideas and expand on some. That's similar to what Toy Story did on a smaller scale. In Toy Story 2, they brought on Mrs. Potato Head and Barbie. In Toy Story 3, they found a way to make Barbie and Ken central (and hilarious) characters. So they went "bigger and better" each time. Now expand that to the entire videogame kingdom and it the potential is overwhelming.

Fix It Felix Jr. ~ Donkey Kong

Not only is the cabinet similar. The game is very similar as well. Not only are you running around and climbing up ladders while avoiding barrels and critters, but now you also need to fix the windows. And instead of stealing Pauline, Ralph has held the tenants captive to his madness (so you're rescuing them, similarly). And when you beat the game, Ralph falls to the ground, similar to when you beat Donkey Kong. The tennants yell, "Fix it, Felix!" Pauline yells, "Help!" Little Marios on the top tell you how many lives you have (similar to Pac-Man before it). Little Felix heads on the top tell you how many lives you have. Ralph basically has the same physical proportions as Donkey Kong. Felix and Mario both wear hats and swing hammers. When you get to the top of both screens, DK/Ralph climbs up higher, until you get to the top of the building.

Fix It Felix, Jr.:



Donkey Kong:



Nintendo = 2 References so far.

If you think about it, this is the third time Disney's done this... create their own characters in a film and use it to tie in related existing characters... (1) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (all the animation studios were in), (2) Toy Story (they kept adding more toy licenses as they went), and (3) Wreck-It Ralph. So Disney, being the clever marketer that it is, created their own videogame that you can play right now for Fix It Felix, Jr. (I beat it once; it's incredibly addictive): http://disney.go.com/wreck-it-ralph/#/games/fix-it-felix

Fix It Felix, Jr. ~ Rampage

So the other game that Fix It Felix Jr. is based off of is Rampage:



In this game, you climb buildings and smash windows, exactly what Ralph is doing. Only in Fix It Felix, Jr., you play the Mario-like character who fixes the damage. The original game:



Midway owned this license and created the original game, but they lost it when they went bankrupt. Warner Bros bought the license.

So Warner Bros = 1 Reference.

Donkey Kong's Mario Death

Since Fix-It Felix is the hero of this Donkey Kong spoof, that means he’s playing the role of Mario back in his Jumpman days. As if there was any doubt this was the case, a scene in the trailer proves it when the roof caves in and lands on Felix’s head, causing him to perform the weird cartwheeling death animation Mario does in Donkey Kong.

That's Nintendo = 3 references so far.

In the trailer:



The references are creative right off the bat. In Donkey Kong:

Cyril the Zombie (House of the Dead)

That brings us to the scene of the video game bad guys affirming each other in a Double A meeting for villains. Here's a decent map (but it's missing names for Mishaela, the blue chick on the left, Diablo on the right/middle, and Smoke to his right. More about them later. Here's the room:



First, this guy was featured the most/best in the teaser trailer...

It’s the zombie known as “Cyril” from the original House of the Dead. In the film, he's called Zombie, probably because they don't want to link it to a horror game too much, but hey, look at this, same clothes, hair, and he's wielding two axes! The HotD fans just call this the "Axe Zombie", but his official name is Cyril:



As you can probably start to tell, Sega pretty much handed over the keys to their characters (most popular and mostly forgotten).



That's Sega = 1 license so far.

Sega immediately recognized the bonuses of doing this, and they might have even talked some of their more obscure characters into the film (working with Disney to find ones that fit with the scenes).

Lord Neff (Altered Beast)

Next is the evil demon lord Neff from Altered Beast. Sega strikes again in the same villain scene with another license.

That's Sega = 2 licenses so far.

Sega pulls into the lead!



Neff even gets his own promo poster! Sweet!



And we also see Clyde from Pac-Man, Coily from Q*bert, and the original character, Fix-It Felix Jr. Felix is in a poster with a bunch of baddies!

Saw Hand (Cyborg Justice)

Whether this character is a direct license or incredibly inspired by it, I don't know. But I do know that this is too close for coincidence. The yellow robot looks like it's from the 1993 Novotrade developed Genesis game Cyborg Justice. It looks like the yellow cyborg with elements of the game’s other cyborgs, such as the buzzsaw hand and the helmet from the purple cyborg:



Now add to that it's a Sega owned title (see Cyborg Justice on Wikipedia), and it's definitely being pushed through by Sega.

Sega = 3 Licenses so far. Sega's in the lead!

Mishaela (Shining Force)

Sega strikes yet again in this room with Mishaela from Shining Force, yet another obscure Sega villain.

That's Sega = 4 Licenses now.



Another theory is that this is Elizabeth Barley from Castlevania Bloodlines...



So on the left (in the pic above), we have the villain from "Wreck-It Ralph" and on the right is Elizabeth from Castlevania. But that doesn't explain the blue skin, blue hair, and pointy ears. Mishaela has all those. Plus Mishaela is a Sega license, and Konami hasn't shown any licenses in "Wreck-It Ralph" yet. So that's another reason that makes it Mishaela.

Beholder (Dungeons & Dragons)

Looks like they decided to give it a crown a few changes to make it generic enough (tentacle legs instead of floating and it's green) to not be a licensed character, but it's definitely based on the Beholder...



And this is a blue one from the cartoon:





And here's another shot of Beholder from the film:



Although "Eye of the Beholder" is a Capcom game (who we know is licensing Street Fighter characters already), D&D is owned by Wizards of the Coast, which is owned by Hasbro. =^)

So Hasbro = 1 Reference.

Disney confirmed it's not a license and is an "original character." That means it's a reference. =^)

Zangief (Street Fighter)

Here's an obvious one. He's called by name in the trailer and is a major talking in the trailer of these villains.



One critic made the observation that Zangief isn't really a villain. True, but he's got a fun voice, and they were able to get him to give funny lines the best. So it's a strategic move. Here we see Zangief getting promoted with Sonic and an original character, Sgt. Calhoun:



Plus we later get a glimpse of Zangief walking with another Street Fighter:



So that's Capcom = 1 License so far (and obviously we know who's coming later).

Bowser (Super Mario Brothers)

Apparently Bowser spews fire when you suprise him. Note to self: Don't sneak up on him and don't throw him surprise parties.



Oh no, don't make him laugh!...



We've got an official Nintendo license now, and the third Nintendo reference.

So Nintendo =  4 References, and Nintendo = 1 License.

I have to admit that it's a shame that this is Nintendo's only official license here. Nintendo is so ingrained in the videogame world that the film is dropping all sorts of Nintendo references without licenses simply because most videogame references circle back to Nintendo somehow. The shame is that Nintendo wasn't as proactive about engaging with Disney as Gottlieb (Q*bert) and Sega (Sonic, and so many lesser known characters) were. The two official reasons I heard was that Nintendo was asking for too much for the licensing of their characters (so Disney was selective and just landed on using Bowser because they knew it would be a solid value in this story). The other reason I've heard was that they were focusing on only using characters that made sense in furthering the story or adding a little humor without derailing the project. So I think both answers are true. Who Framed Roger Rabbit managed to have Bugs and Mickey falling and then Donald and Daffy playing piano and fighting, and both scenes seemed to have been well received. So the truth is a combination of budget/license and story. So I think they would have figured out how to put Mario and Luigi in the right way if the licenses made more sense... similar to how they're including Sonic and Q*bert.



All that said, an entire movie could made with similar inside jokes and storylines involving ONLY Nintendo characters. The number and popularity of their characters are almost similar to all the licenses of all the other videogame companies combined. I mean, even the videogame that this movie is based on is essentially Donkey Kong. There's no way around it.

Disneyfied Diablo

So, similar to Beholder, they couldn't put the real thing in there. So this is a Disney-fied version:



That guy above looks way too happy! LOL

Here are the Diablo game images...



So again you see that the character is basically a Disney-fied form of how Diablo looks.

So that's Blizzard = 1 Reference.

Dr. Eggman (Sonic)

So this guy used to be called Dr. Robotnik (a much better name). He even had his own game, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. But they just ended up using his Japanese name instead.



Sega = 5 Licenses now. Sega's on a roll!

Kano (Mortal Kombat)

Kano is balder than he's often depicted, but it's definitely him. On the right is the CG Mortal Kombat version (left is from Wreck-It Ralph):



Midway died in 2009. It cut up the licenses and assets to pay of debtors. Warner Bros ended up with the Mortal Kombat license. Wikipedia: Midway. So that means...

Warner Bros = 2 References (1 License).

Here's a better shot of Kano from the film:

 

M. Bison (Street Fighter)

While Zangief’s inclusion as an enemy is a controversial one, there should be no arguments that the evil M. Bison, the final enemy in Street Fighter II, should be in there. For some people attending the bad guy group is one of the most important moments of their lives, but for Bison it’s on Tuesdays.



Capcom = 2 Licenses now.



Now that's an interesting mix. We've got M. Bison, Dr. Eggman, Q*bert, and an original (Vanellope). Also notice that they gave Bison no pupils for the poster, although in the film he clearly has pupils. Maybe the poster photo shoot triggered his "evil mode" or they handed out cool contact lenses at the shoot. =^)

Clyde (Pac-Man)

Clyde is one of the four ghosts from Pac-Man. Clyde is the slowest of the ghosts in the game, which probably explains why he feels he needs help while his chums Inky, Blinky and Pinky don’t.



In fact, we later see Inky, Blinky, and Pinky going through the game stadium without Clyde.



Currently, it's Namco = 2 Licenses.

At first I thought they weren't using Pac-Man because it's hard to think of what he'd look like in 3D, but Namco has updated him so much that it isn't an issue:



So either they're saving him for a suprise, the license cost was too high (doubtful), or they simply didn't have a funny/clever way to include him in this run. I think it's the latter. With a name like Pac-Man, you've got to make sure you're incredibly clever if you use him.

Shinobi/Joe Musashi (Shinobi)

So more people think this is actually Smoke from Mortal Kombat, but first I think it looks more like Shinobi, second, Sega has worked hard to get their older characters integrated, and third, why would they use Smoke over Scorpion?



By the way, look at those arm wraps and legs of the character from Wreck-It Ralph. Those look more like a traditional Shinobi ninja than what Smoke wears. Could also be Ninja Gaiden (Ryu Hayabusa) from Tecmo, but Sega's been so prolific.

Sega = 6 Licenses now.

Bonus: Dr. Wiley (Megaman)

So this one's a bonus because they had Dr. Wiley in this villains scene and then removed him. We're not sure if it was licensing issues, or if they wanted to save him for later. Maybe they felt like it was too much. Here he is to the left of Bowser:



Personally I think he doesn't look enough like I remember him from Captain N and those Mega Man cartoons:


Nobody knows why they pulled Dr. Wiley. It could be as simple as Disney and Capcom not agreeing on how he was presented or Disney feeling like they already had too many known villains in the room, or a budget hammer coming down and removing a license for a Mega Man character seemed to help the budget (especially if they already had a rooom full of sweet villains). Capcom had already licensed the Street Fighter characters, so we know some negotiations worked out fine.

Q*bert, Coily, Ugg, Sam, and Slick (Q*bert)

I used to love Q*bert. I even watched the brief cartoon. As far as heroes of actual games go, the film seems to feature Q*bert the most. It's kind of sweet because the cute characters fit right in, they're no longer popular, but back in the day they were as popular as Donkey Kong.



The purple piggy on the left is Ugg. Click seems to have a broken lense. Coily is the snake. The baddies not show are Sam (like Slick but without glasses) and Wrong Way (purple, but more like Sam with a nose).

In a non-trailer scene, they're seen with Sam as well (leaning against Coily):



Apparently Sam's a smaller/chubbier version of Slick.

Here's Ugg:

 

Uh oh. Time to confess my Q*bert fandom. I actually have this figurine from the 80s (Slick with Q*bert):



So the question I asked was, "Who owns Q*bert?" The short answer is that I'm pretty sure it's still Gottlieb. Basically, Gottlieb (the pinball maker who made a few arcade attempts, including Q*bert) got bought by Columbia Pictures in 77, which was bought by Coke, which closed down Gottlieb in 84. They fought back, and eventually the company Premiere Technology was created to keep the pinball business going. You can see the craziness on Wikipedia: Gottlieb. However, it shows that Premiere Technology eventually sold out all the pieces of Gottlieb, which resulted in one company that still runs, Gottlieb Development, LLC, which is ran/owned by the Mondial Group. More info (strange that this is on flickr). So the bottom line is "still Gottlieb" but a different owner/strategy than the last one and after a few different corporate morphs. This forum thread here led me to Mondial.



Bottom line: Disney approaches Mondial, who's mostly trying to sell old Gottlieb machines and licenses, and says, "Hey can we help make Q*bert popular again?" Then they aren't going to say, "What? Only if you pay a huge licensing fee," like Nintendo did with its characters (and I'm sure others did as well).

So Gottlieb = 1 License.

It will be the only one, but it is well used and marketed through the film. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony or Hasbro approaches Mondial again about making a new Q*bert platformer, based on this popularity shift. (Sony and Hasbro have been recent Q*bert publishers.)

Chun-Li (Street Fighter)

When we get a shot of Q*bert in his miserable state, we can spot these two on the right. Chun-Li is hanging out with Zangief. Here's an obvious one.



The context is that Ralph is offering Q*bert and crew some giant cherries from Pac-Man:



Capcom = 3 Licenses now.

Paperboy

Paperboy is seen at least twice in passing, and he apparently falls off his bike in surprise once.

He was originally an Atari game, but all those assets were aquired by Midway. Similar to the Mortal Kombat instance, Midway went bankrupt and sold mostly to Warner Bros (we know Mortal Kombat, Joust, and Spy Hunter went there). But then THQ bought the San Diego location, which apparently included the Gauntlet license ("everything except the TNA wrestling rights"). It's fairly cryptic, but my best guess is that Paperboy went with the larger license bulk over to Warner Bros. See Wikipedia: Midway. So that's a second license from Warner.

Paperboy is a little more alarmed here:



So that's now Warner Bros = 3 References (2 Licenses).

Also, check out in the right/middle of the screen. To the upper right of the Roman soldiers and the knight. You'll see Paperboy riding his bike across the floor.

 

Giant Cherries (Pac-Man)

And now seems the right time to write about the giant cherries.





Score another one for Pac-Man.

Namco = 3 Licenses.

Dinosaur from Meet the Robinsons (or Karnov?)

Well, the dinosaur CG model seems to have been pulled from Meet the Robinsons. Good just be a reference to that film (and not an actual game)...



Disney = 1 Reference.

Another shot with the dinosaur (a little closer):



And this shot is a little better of the dino on the left:



But... it seems like it might be Karnov's dinosaur boss villain:



Karnov is from 1987 (Arcade first), and comes from Data East. Data East went bankrupt and sold its assets, mostly to G-mode. But Karnov went to Paon. See Wikipedia: Data East.

So Data East/Paon = 1 Reference.

Maximus from Tangled

It makes the Meet the Robinsons dino cameo more likely, because we think we've found Maximus with the captain riding him:



Maximus is on the left and the dinosaur is on our right. So why is Maximus trotting into Pac-Man??? Click here to see it better.

In this shot, he's going into Frogger (not Pac-Man):



So that's Disney = 2 References.

Inky, Blinky, and Pinky (Pac-Man)

So we've got Clyde featured as a videogame villain, but here we see the other three (Blinky, Inky, and Pinky) moving across the floor:



Namco = 4 Licenses so far.

Check this out. The "Character" column is basically their NPC behavior:

Virtua Cop Game Station

The world of Wreck-It Ralph centres around Game Central Station, a huge terminal where video game characters hang around while waiting for work. This terminal has hundreds of tunnels, each leading to different games. When a game begins and it’s time for them to star, they jump on a train which leads them through the appropriate tunnel. While some of the tunnels are based on the made-up games in the movie (Fix-It Felix Jr, Hero’s Duty, Sugar Rush), many are real arcade games. Very briefly in the trailer, over to the left you can spot a tunnel leading to Virtua Cop, Sega’s much-loved lightgun shooter. It's the second from the left:



Click here to see it better.



Sega = 7 Licenses.

Unknown

Does anyone know this blue dragon on the right? He's not part of Q*bert's world (I think). And he's not Spyro or from Bust-a-Move:

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Dig Dug

Check out Dig Dug (or Taizo Hori, if you want to be a proper nerd and give him his real name). Dig Dug is owned by Namco (the creators of Pac-Man). Here Dig Dug runs away from Ralph in his most natural way... digging into the ground:



Now you can see how faithful they were to the original:



Now Namco = 5 Licenses.

Frogger

Also in the trailer is Frogger, the classic Konami arcade game that’s seen countless spin-offs and sequels since its 1981 release. Frogger stares in shock at Ralph (because he's a villain) as they see him eating cherries from the Pac-Man game. Frogger hops away:



Here's how he looked in the original game:



Konami sold Frogger to Hasbro, so...

Hasbro = 2 References (1 License).

Sonic the Hedgehog

A character who needs no introduction, Sonic appears as a helpful video advertisement in Game Central Station. Explaining what happens to characters if they die inside their own video game, Sonic’s message is one of warning – and considering he’s spent his entire gaming career spilling a vault's worth of golden rings every time he takes a hit, he should know. His first game:



The teaser didn't show Sonic, but now they're full-on marketing Sonic:



And here's a shot from the trailer:



So that's Sega = 8 Licenses.

Bartender (Tapper)

This is the barman from the classic arcade gem Tapper, sponsored by Budwiser (later renamed Root Beer Tapper to remove any alcoholic connotations). Tapper was an insanely addictive game in which you had to serve beer to customers while also collecting empty glasses they threw back at you. If you threw too many beers or failed to collect any empties they’d crash to the ground and the shame of a thousand nations would crash down on your shoulders. More or less.



He might be serving root beer in the film, but this is definitely the bartender from Tapper. The bartender from Root Beer Tapper was dressed like a soda clerk. I love the way they make the Bartender move in the film... all jerky and computer like. Just like the game. They put way too much thought into this film. =^)



Now who owns Tapper? It was originally another Midway game. Which means it's currently owned by...

Warner Bros = 4 References (3 Licenses).

Atari Controller Graffiti

We're going all out, even with the small references.

There’s a brief clip in the trailer where Fix-It Felix Jr and Sergeant Calhoun from Hero’s Duty speed off to the Sugar Rush karting game, no doubt to help Ralph (Felix almost falls off the hoverboard). On the wall is video game-related graffiti making various in-jokes and the like. For starters there’s a stencil of an Atari 2600 joystick.



Looks like this:



Atari = 1 Reference.

It's sad, really. Atari lost licenses like Paperboy to Midway and then to Warner Bros. But the Atari assets like the controller were bought by Infogrames, which changed its name to Atari.

Iwatana Graffiti

As Fix-It Felix Jr and Sergeant Calhoun from Hero’s Duty speed off, on the wall, next to graffiti that says “no campers” (a reference to first-person shooter players who spend whole multiplayer games hiding in one area for a tactical advantage), you'll also see one simply saying “Iwatani” (a reference to Toru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man). Chock one more up for Pac-Man. What are we up to for Namco?



Namco = 6 References (5 Licneses)

Jenkins Graffiti

As Fix-It Felix Jr and Sergeant Calhoun from Hero’s Duty speed off, on the wall, below "Iwatani", is graffiti that says “Jenkins”, referring to the infamous World Of Warcraft video in which a chap called Leeroy Jenkins ruins his group’s tactical preparations by running headfirst into a room of danger and getting everyone killed.



Blizzard = 2 References.

Hero's Duty ~ Halo + Gears of War

Hero's Duty is basically a combination of two of Microsoft's top games.

It's filled with Halo-like holograms and marines:







The medals remind me more of unlocking achievements during the game, but there's also some military fanfare like this involved.





Definitely some Halo influence going on.

That's Microsoft = 1 Reference.

Now to Gears of War.

Sgt. Calhoun is a cross between Anya Stroud of Gears of War and Samus Aran from Nintendo's Metroid Prime. Here's a comparison between Calhoun and Stroud from GoW:



Now that's Microsoft = 2 References.

Srgt. Calhoun ~ Samus Aran

A female space marine with armor and with her helmet off? Now that's Samus Aran! So even if the look of the character came from Gears of War, the core inspiration is Samus Aran. Here's Sergeant Calhoun:



And here's Samus Aran:

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So that's Nintendo = 5 References (1 License)

BONUS: Vanellope & the Chipmunks?

Does anyone else think that Vanellope was inspired by Alvin and the Chipmunks? Observe...

 

Characters I would expect to see

What are the characters I'm keeping an eye out for?

Alex Kidd - Sega's previous mascot in the 80s before Sonic. Alex was only a mascott for the Master System (never made it to the Genesis). Now he appears in the Sonic games (Tennis and Racing) as an unlockable character.
Why would I expect to see him? Because Sega's digging up old characters and doing a better job of working with Disney than others and getting them in the film. Alex was popular once upon a time. His look fits in with the film's world. And the second Alex Kidd game (The Lost Stars) was in the arcades (and released for the Master System).

Before:

    
Now:
    


Virtua Fighters: First released as an arcade game and the first 3D/CG fighter (93), so far ahead of its time that Sega teamed up with Lockheed Martin to develop the technology.




AiAi (Monkey Ball): The original Monkey Ball was an arcade game. How hilarious would it be to see a monkey rolling by in a ball? =^)



Samba de Amigo: Another monkey game from Sega. This one was also released as an arcade game first, where you shook your maracas on beat.




Crazy Taxi: Another Sega title that started in arcades. You race around an open world to pick people up and get them to their destination on time.




Bolt or Dr. Calico: Here's what I'm thinking. They've got all these videogame characters walking around in the background, and we've already seen hidden references... Dinosaur from "Meet the Robinsons" and Maximus from Tangled. Similar to how Belle walks through town reading a book at the beginning of Hunchback (and I believe Aladdin and Jasmine fly through the clouds). Well if they did 2 of the Disney CG films since Lasseter took over, why not more? They'd want to make sure they blend in somehow and aren't super obvious. They might pick other Bolt characters (they'd likely pick the cat, Mittens, but I picked two I thought would be memorable...


But for some reason, I think the two known Disney references were accidental references. In other words, they had so many models that they wanted to reuse what they had to help fill backgrounds, so they grabbed the dinosaur from Robinsons and a white horse from Tangled.


Double Dragon: It originated as an arcade game. The license is currently held by Million (formerly American Technos). See Wikipedia: Technos Japan. So this would have been a less likely license to grab (since they'd have to go after it individually). Here's the original arcade version:




Bubble Bobble/Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble: These twin dinosarus are well known for some sweet arcade puzzle action. It was originally released in the arcade in 94, and it was actually based on a platform arcade game from 86, Bubble Bobble (featuring these two characters, Bub and Bob). Taito is already licensing Space Invaders (via the arcade cabinet) to this film, so this could be an obvious choice.




Pac-Man: At first I thought they weren't using Pac-Man because it's hard to think of what he'd look like in 3D, but Namco has updated him so much that it isn't an issue:



So either they're saving him for a suprise, the license cost was too high (doubtful), or they simply didn't have a funny/clever way to include him in this run. I think it's the latter. With a big name like Pac-Man, you've got to make sure you're incredibly clever if you use him.

Still to do...

- Burger Time Game Station
- Dance Revolution Game Station
- Burger Time - Hot Dog cop at end of trailer (similar)
- Sugar Rush candy balls (similar to Lolo & Lola)
- Sugar Rush (similar to Mario Kart + Candy Land)
- Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter
- Cammy from Street Fighter
- Knight from Joust
- Paddle 1 and Paddle 2 from Pong

Final Tally for Game Companies with References

The way this works is simple. The most reference gets the top spot. This is a work in progress. "~" means "is similar to".

1. Sega = 8 Licenses
   - Sonic the Hedgehog
   - Dr. Eggman (Sonic)
   - Cyril (House of the Dead)
   - Neff (Altered Beast)
   - Saw Hand (Cyborg Justice)
   - Mishaela (Shining Force)
   - Shinobi
   - Virtua Cop Game Station (title only)
2. Nintendo = 7 References (1 License)
   - Fix it Felix, Jr. game ~ Donkey Kong
   - Fix it Felix, Jr. arcade cabinet ~ Donkey Kong cabinet
   - Felix's death and pop back up to life ~ Mario/Jumpman's death/resurrection
   - Bowser (the only official license)
   - Sugar Rush ~ Super Mario Kart
   - Sugar Rush candy balls ~ Lolo & Lola
   - Sgt. Calhoun ~ Samus Aran
3. Namco = 6 References (5 Licenses)
   - Pac-Man arcade cabinet
   - Clyde (Pac-Man)
   - Other ghosts in passing: Blinky, Inky, and Pinky (Pac-Man)
   - Giant cherries (Pac-Man)
   - Dig Dug
   - "Iwatani" graffiti
4A. Capcom = 5 Licenses    
   - Zangief (Street Fighter)
   - M. Bison (Street Fighter)
   - Chun-Li in passing (Street Fighter)
   - Ken and Ryu (Street Fighter)
   - Cammy (Street Fighter)
4B. Gottlieb = 5 Licenses
   - Q*bert, Slick, Sam, Coily, Ugg (Q*bert)
4C. Warner Bros = 5 References (4 Licenses)
   - Kano (Street Fighter)
   - Paperboy
   - Fix it Felix Jr. game ~ Rampage
   - Bartender (Tapper)
   - Knight (Joust)
5. Hasbro = 3 References (1 License)   
   - Beholder (D&D's Eye of the Beholder)
   - Sugar Rush ~ Candy Land (Milton Bradley/Hasbro board game)
   - Frogger (Konami sold to Hasbro; the only official license)
6A. Data East/G-mode = 2 References (1 License)
   - Burger Time Game Station (official license; title only)
   - Sugar Rush characters ~ BurgerTime hotdog
6B. Microsoft = 2 References
   - Hero's Duty ~ Halo
   - Hero's Duty ~ Gears of War
6C. Disney = 2 References
   - Dinosaur (Meet the Robinsons)
   - Maximus (Tangled)
6D. Blizzard = 2 References
   - Disneyfied Diablo
   - "Leeroy Jenkins" World of Warcraft reference
7A. Taito = 1 License
   - Space Invaders arcade cabinet
7B. Atari = 1 Reference
   - Atari controller graffiti
7C. Data East/Paon = 1 Reference
   - Dinosaur (Karnov)


Leave a comment if I missed anything.

This is a work in progress, so I have plenty more that I plan to add (see "Still to do" above).

- The Emperor