Leaping frogs - what a coincidence!

In a world plagued by intrigue, I serve something that is more exciting than any delicacy.

The universe spans infinity, the mind is a labyrinth so why not dilute the air of mystery with coincidence.

I'm interested in 'look' and/or obvious connection.

You'll see what I mean.

Unless stated, screens are from the coin swallowing original.

Strap yourself in because the hurricane I'm about to unleash will blow you away.

No commentary has been influenced, no argument has been stolen and any opinion inferred that what's on show was somebody else's to begin with is, if you'll forgive me - bullshit.

If some of the text is out of 'size', I gave it my best shot to fix it...

For starters, goo-goo-ga-ga.

We should all remember Baby Herman from 1988 live action/cartoon extravaganza Who Framed Roger Rabbit?  Those who don't really need to give it a watch.

The cigar chomping infant had company in the creche.

What's possibly crazier is that before this 1992 sequel, his claim to fame was Baby Jo in "Going Home".  You find the toddler on formats such as the Amiga and PC .

Thanks to the wonderful world of Spectrum, another mischievous mite existed in 1986.

This arcade adventure from Gremlin Graphics is more mental than what it looks...

Instead of Stewie, we get Jack the Nipper (surely a pun on the 19th century serial killer) and also, you should be able to see an ancestor of Brian from Family Guy.  No?  Look closer.

Incidentally, the titular char spat out his dummy and picked it up in Coconut Capers in 1987.

Working Class Hero.

He moves without sound.  Kills without emotion.  Disappears without trace.

My motives will now become clear...

Oliver Stone's 1994 satire gained incredible notoriety as the media made mass murderers Mickey and Mallory superstars...

Michael LeRoi is unintentionally depicted as Woody in the 1999 video game based on the Valiant Comic.

Now we discover the men, behind the shades.  Please enjoy this medley.

I'll be back in 2015.

A 2001 third-person shooter.

Say hi to Nova from Taito's Power Blade, released in 1991 on NES.

His identity remains unknown but he sets the challenge of rescuing President Ronnie from the ninjas in Data East's 1988 cult action hokum Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja.  Are you a bad enough dude to achieve your objective and share a tasty burger? 

Our man Duke went 3D in 1996.

Forgotten Worlds is a 1988 Capcom gem that built upon what Section Z (1985) and Side Arms (1986) brought to the fold.  The little tinkers did it again with Black Tiger and Magic Sword in 1987 and 1990 respectively...

Ahem, meet the geezers who prove to be a thorn in the King of Gods side.

Hero One

Hero Two

As these men clearly shouldn't be trifled with, they at least deserved some kind of name.

Wesley Snipes expertly brought the Marvel vampire buster Blade to the silver screen.  The Daywalker was rarely without his ubiquitous shades.

Here's the most famous video game villain to ever wear a pair.

Icy cool, sinister and suave, Albert Wesker frightens the shit out of senior Umbrella executives and laughs in the face of any experiment.

Let's rewind to his first ever live action equivalent in 1996.

His name is er, Eric.
Before CG became the norm for any sequence, FMV started as a novelty and quickly became irritating and stock.  Few can forget the appalling acting during the intro of Capcom's original zombie busting classic.  Excuse me a sec while I take a bite of my Jill sandwich.
What's really strange is that the actors are only credited by Christian name.
Chris (Charlie), Barry (Gregory without his girl), Rebecca (Linda), Jill (Inezh) and Joseph (Jason).  The reasoning behind such madness?  My advice is to ask Capcom.

Drum roll please as I introduce the ultimate Wesker lookalike...

Like Bad Dudes, his particulars are anonymous but in 1994, Taito took inspiration from Konami's Lethal Enforcers as Operation Wolf 3 went digistised.
Explain that shit of the most unbelievable kind?

This is the budget release of International Karate+.

You should see...

...a young Steven Seagal.

I suppose the guy in white pyjamas is the man hiding a fist behind his beard.

The legend that is Chuck Norris.

Now I start to get more outlandish.

By the power of Grayskull, it's Orko.

Sonia is the principal antagonist in 1993 SNES marmite Equinox.  It's the sequel to Solstice which appeared on the NES in 1990.

This baddie from Super Adventure Island on SNES is the nearest answer to Orko.

Dark Cloak

Lovely stuff and freakier than a hen night without the would-be bride carrying an inflatable object...

All bow down and fear the beard.

Chang Koehan (The King of Fighters '94 to present)

This boss from the SNES version of Mr Nutz is obviously some kind of cheesy parody of the famous Goliath from Jack and his Beanstalk.  

Look Bluto, Olive Oil just isn't interested so get over it and move on.

Bear Hugger first appeared in Super Punch-Out way back in 1984.

Amiga owners should fondly remember this guy.

Doin' the Do in 1991.

Whoah, look at this boy's get up.

When in the flesh, this 1989 game essentially looks like a Mario rip off but a yo-yo assists a successful diversion.

I cannot comment on the quality of this 1987 arcade adventure but this guy looks vaguely familiar...

Yeah, the late and great Richard Pryor.

Thing (Ben Grimm) from Fantastic Four has appeared in the Marvel universe since the swinging sixties.  His first live action appearance was in 2005 and again in 2007 when a Silver Surfer rose. 

This is just weird, plain weird.

Take a skeg at the guy in gold.  What the fuck?  For the majority who aren't fluent in Japanese, the title of this forgotten title from 1994 is After Armageddon Gaiden.

Can it get worse?  Well that's up for debate.

M. Bison has defeated several since making his debut in Street Fighter II.  This is how he looks in Champion Edition.

Another dictator existed courtesy of Interstel in 1986.

Command an army and rule.  Could this have been an inspiration for Sid Meir's groundbreaking Civilization and what's more, this even predates Pirates!

This next double-hit combo should raise an eyebrow.

The original was no slouch but SNK's Samurai Shodown II still ranks as one of the best sequels in video game history.  You'll see very shortly why I've used her new victory portrait...

Now for another one of those really well known games as a female wears a passing resemblance to our French fencer.

Also, both games were released in 1994.  Ah ha!

Sorry, you have to be an SNK geek to appreciate that one.

It's impossible to rationalise this so please read carefully.

This is recognised as officially being the first ever tactical shooter and serves as the ultimate precursor to what we know today.  Assemble a four man SEAL team, receive mission brief, tool up with a frightening assortment of weapons and be dispatched in the battlefield of MeKong Delta; Vietnam. 1966 -1969.
80 missions await from the UDT SEAL museum records compiled from military historian and field curator Kevin Dockery's book, Seals In Action.
During your campaign, careful and precise strategy is required as the gung ho will almost certainly fail.  Having access to air support helps and depending on the weight of your equipment, can even slow the movement of your team down.
Due to the tactical intensity, it's about as realistic as a video game can be so love it or loathe it, nobody can deny its importance.
There is no alternative cover art and was released exclusively for DOS in 1993.

SEAL Team's package design & illustration is credited to a guy called Chris Morgan.

Don't forget, the definition of illustration extends not only to drawing or painting, but also photograph.

So while that's interesting, this is just baffling.

The 1988 sequel to Wolf housed two guns, enhanced graphics and more levels ensuring plenty of cash was shovelled into whatever machine.  The meat of this artwork was used for all original retail and budget re-releases spanning from 1989 to 1992.
I've purposely ignored any promotional arcade flyer and the bizarre SNES version, as they simply don't belong.

So how the fuck did the guy wearing the headband get caught up in this shit?

This is of course nothing like the fairly famous IK+ as Seagal was already a face.

Here is my analysis on the unexplicable.

It'd make sense for this 'illustration' to be of an actual Sea Air Land soldier from Dockery's 1991 book, set against a super imposed background.

Okay, even if that assumption was 'correct', Operation Thunderbolt is unquestionably only a painting and first surfaced in 1989.

The obvious explanation would be that the SEAL Team photo was staged and simply became 'Thunderbolt' by using a very primitive photo editing tool.

Hmmm, when you look very closely at the 'point man' in photo, he isn't even identical to his learned friend which screws that theory up.

1. Posture is more elevated.
2. Just above his headband, he doesn't have a 'chunk' of hair missing.
3. He's partially out of shot and;
4. His eye line is glancing up, whereas the other is looking straight ahead. 

It's unlikely that EA or the original members of Ocean would remember so the mystery remains.

I'm nowhere near done yet so please, scroll on.

Here's a model of Slasher, a nasty member of the Necromorph family who will risk life and limb in order to gore the tortured Isaac Clarke in Dead Space

Here's a boss from a very obscure SNES game.

King of Demons, KXX 1995.

From console to arcade, observe Nagpa out to cause trouble for tabletopping fantasy heroes.

Dungeons and Dungeons: Shadow over Mystara, Capcom 1996.

Jim Henson's 1982 The Dark Crystal featured a host of characters.

The Chamberlain was puppet wizardry.

Skulls can pack a bit of heat.

Ghost Rider was another Marvel creation from the 60's with Nicolas Cage portraying the soul selling Johnny Blaze to become a raging inferno in 2007, and again in 2011.

It's 'game over' when this appears in Psygnosis Bloodwych update, Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard from 1994.  The flames just adds the extra sauce.

Look here for a debatable looking something like.

Tekken mainstay Paul Phoenix has been around since 1994.

Along with Bullova and Blitz, the cornily named Berserker is one of three vigilantes out to kick cartoon like ass in Techno's 1990 scrolling brawler, The Combatribes.

Okay, it's not nailed on but the likeness certainly clings.

You've got to love the bones off these next two.

Jack Skellington provides a typically 'festive' 1993 musical  in The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Okay, you have to appreciate this, even if you don't agree.

In 1991, Sega/Success created the strange arcade shmup franchise Cotton.
Does this boss have an identity?  Who knows?

Walk the dog, kick the cat and climb a tree because I love this next lot, almost as much as you already do.

Well done.  Avoid the ground.  Good work.
Where did you learn to fly?  Where did you learn to fly?  Where did you learn to fly?
Where did you learn to fly?  Where did you learn to fly?  Where did you learn to fly?
That is the infamous and cult repetition that our friends at Atari inflicted upon Jaguar players in 1993 with awful 'killer app' Cybermorph.
Is it safe to suggest that they were as off colour as the nightmarish face above?  Hell yeah!
For shits and those giggles, Electronic Art's FMV laden flying frustration Shockwave on 3DO also had a 'sarcastic' on-board computer that scolded 'Wild Card' every time he fucked up.

Now for this mind melting McFlurry fest.

Activision first released this curious boat race in 1984.

If that was nuttier than a bag of KP, what would you call this?

Welcome to the evolution of a glitch in the system.  God From the Machine was first released in 1984 on Spectrum, then the C64 had its colourful fill in 1985.
Automata's incredible effort isn't really a game and more a work of art, but whatever label is stuck, what Mel Croucher achieved with so little memory begs belief.
Who needs the billions of textures that exist today as when it comes to ambition and innovation, the pixels of yesteryear 'K'ick ass.

Of the above, who qualifies more as a preposterous mirror image of Cybermorph?
I'm inclined to say either or but I'm settling on Deux Ex.  It of course holds another coincidence as it's completely unrelated to the Deux Ex that everybody knows...

I'll drop this in with grace and pace, as it'll please to show a familiar face.

Although the Supreme Being in Terry Gilliam's 1981 classic fantasy Time Bandits is portrayed by the suit of Ralph Richardson, the face belongs to Edwin Finn.
"Return what you have stolen from me!  Return the map!  It will bring you great danger.  Stop...now!"  You thieving bastards! (uncredited)

If things were shady before, they're about to become deadly.

John Crawley was originally a CPU only character in SNK's Art of Fighting and became playable in the vastly superior sequel.  While the overbearing aroma of Guile has scope, I don't entirely concur.

"Come On Baby!"

While on military leave, a chance meeting brought these strangers together and over a beer, discussed a strategic tale of espionage and politics.

Ironically, both games were released in 1994.

You want even crazier shit?  Great, you've twisted my arm...