5 Most Surprising Cameos in Video Game History

The video game industry has never been shy about cameos and crossovers. We see characters and celebrities pop up all the time, but it usually makes sense. Even weird ones like Justin Bieber in NBA 2K13 can be explained when you remember Biebs was the MVP of the Celebrity All-Star Game in 2011. Still, sometimes developers include truly bonkers cameos featuring characters or actors who do not fit the game at all. Here are five of the most surprising cameos in video game history.

5) Chun Li – Breath of Fire

For the most part, I’m going to stick with celebrity cameos because those are generally the most bonkers the industry gets. However, I do want to include Chun Li here because most players will miss that the hard-kicking combatant from Street Fighter can strangely be found in one of Capcom’s best RPGs. It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not like Capcom made it easy to find her.

Essentially, you can find a magician in Bleak who tries to scam you out of a decent chunk of money. If you pick the correct answers during the ensuing dialogue, you can go into a room and see Chun-Li practicing her kicks. That’s it. She doesn’t join your party or teach you anything noteworthy. Chun-Li’s just in there working on her game before the next tournament. I guess she has to train somewhere, but I’m still puzzled as to why Capcom felt we needed to see it in Breath of Fire.

4) Justin Timberlake – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005

To count as a cameo, I think a character or actor needs to be playing themselves. For example, you wouldn’t count Burt Reynolds in Saints Row because he’s an actor playing a character. With that in mind, Tiger Woods ’05 players might think it’s wrong to include Justin Timberlake, who plays the character The Hustler in the story mode.

However, after beating him, The Hustler helpfully gives you a code to unlock a secret character. It’s none other than JT himself, who, for whatever reason, joins you on the golf course. Now, it’s worth noting that Timberlake is actually a pretty good golfer in real life. Reportedly, he has a 4.3 handicap and routinely hosts celebrity tournaments. Still, seeing him pop up in a golf game right after the wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl was a weird one. It might make sense in hindsight, but who knew the former boy band star was such an avid golfer in the early 2000s?

3) Jimmy Kimmel – Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Unlike Justin Timberlake, I can pretty confidently say that Jimmy Kimmel is not secretly a special operative for the United States military. I mean, it’s possible, but that would be one of the more shocking revelations of the year if it came out. Thankfully, Kimmel doesn’t play that role in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Instead, it’s a much more natural role for the comedian.

Kimmel appears in two of Black Ops II‘s endings. In both, he plays a television host, which is his actual day job, so he’s not exactly stretching those acting muscles. One of the endings sees Chloe Lynch on Kimmel’s show talking about her accomplishments and then making a joke about Raul Menendez. The camera then switches to Raul, who bashes his face against the screen in rage. The other ending features Kimmel telling his audience that Menendez wanted to be on the show, but they had to turn him down.

2) Phil Collins – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Grand Theft Auto is no stranger to celebrities. Several big names have voiced characters, including Ray Liotta as Tommy Vercetti, Samuel L. Jackson as Officer Frank Tenpenny, and Danny Trejo as Umberto Robina. The series has also used quite a few cameos, most notably for its comedy clubs, which feature appearances from Ricky Gervais, Katt Williams, and Frankie Boyle. Phil Collins in Vice City Stories is a little different.

Not only does Collins appear as himself, but he’s also not a quick one-off. Getting Gervais to come and tell some jokes is cool, but Collins has an entire character arc. Seeing Rockstar take that step up from what we’re used to was a big surprise, and getting someone as big as Phil Collins to come into the booth for all that was awesome. We’ve also seen the trend continue, most recently with Doctor Dre in GTA Online, so it’ll be fun to see if we get even more celebrities playing themself in Grand Theft Auto VI.

1) Bill and Hillary Clinton – Several

The Clintons have made a surprising number of appearances in video games over the years. Most famously, the duo appeared as hidden characters in NBA Jam Tournament Edition in 1994. Now, to his credit, Bill is a lifelong basketball fan, so while he might not be as visible with the sport as fellow president Barack Obama, he’s got some game. As far as I can tell, Hillary has never been a hooper, but you wouldn’t know it after seeing her throw down on the virtual hardwood. They’re far from the only secret characters, with everyone from Al Gore to Warren Moon joining the party.

It doesn’t end there, though. The Clintons also featured as secret boxers in Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2. It also features Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jackson. Bill also pops up in Cruis’n USA and Cruis’n World. Heck, there was even a SNES game in development starring the Clintons’ cat, Socks. It was scrapped in the ’90s, but eventually made its way to the market in 2018 via Kickstarter. So, if you want some political satire in your SNES platforming, Sock the Cat Rocks the Hill is relatively easy to get your hands on.

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