Stallone and Schwarzenegger - Back to pixels

In their own imitable and no nonsense style, nobody blew the bad guys away more stylishly than Sly or Arnie.

Even when games were not the result of a movie licence, artwork, characters and even animation shorts still bore an unsubtle resemblance. 

I planned to amalgamate these into another but sod it, they may as well dominate a single effort.

This is admittedly slim pickings to what I usually bring but still juicier than your average prime fillet steak.

For the right to go first, they drew lots backstage.

Arnold lost.

Sly begins with parody.

When the going gets tough, the Butch get going.
Did anybody actually wear the free Butch badge inside?  Hope not.
You must free army vets held captive by the evil Dr. Tie Fu.
They had so much humour back then...

New York Warriors was an 1990 action title for the Amiga and Ramboids were one of the gangs polluting the city.
The image must have been taken from the poster of Rambo III.

Now to serious business.

Rambo: First Blood Part 2

Lance threatened the look of Stallone in the original Contra and...

...Konami went the extra mile for the 1988 sequel Super Contra.

I know, what a miserable bastard.
SNK must have employed Ralf from Ikari III: The Rescue to fill everybody with joy and prosperity.
For me, I'd rather suffer.

In case you're wondering, his mate Clark wore a blue headband...

More from Super Contra...

For some strange reason, these poses are wrapped up in more familiarity than a mummy.
  

When in Japan, say hi to Axel from Bare Knuckle 3.
For the release of Streets of Rage 3, the intro was completely changed...

Guy Kazama, the protagonist from Last Alert on PC Engine.

This iconic image was first seen in the sequel but...

...was popularised in Rambo III.

What's more incredible is the package design of The Collector ripped this off.

Amazing.

The sequel just applied the digital zoom.

"Is it my turn yet?"

"Yes Arnold, do your worst."

Operation Wolf meets The Terminator?  You got it.
Who you're looking at is the good guy but you'll destroy countless T-800's in disguise...

Your partner in crime looks like Christopher Lambert but not so in pixels...

Basically, an isometric variation on Capcom's classic Commando.
Although released in the same year, the Schwarzenegger movie of the same name is completely unrelated.

Originally released for Amiga, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC, 'Arnold' stars in this crude action platformer with very bright and unappealing visuals that made its way to PC Engine CD in 1993.  Fairly predictably, the player is nothing like what the consumer is led to believe.

Our man Jim looked a bit different in 1992.

In 1987, Palace cashed in on the Conan popularity by using Michael Van Wijk (Wolf of Gladiators fame), Page 3 starlet Maria Whittaker and the ability to decapitate became infamous.

Taitio's 1987 arcade Rastan Saga was translated to numerous formats.
Rastar Warrior came next and the third and final entry, Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga Episode III housed two horizontal monitors to form one, just like their very own Darius. 

The muscle-bound warrior was made for Arnold.

This one is arguably more Rambo but...

NMK's obscurity had some weird bosses including a guy in a bubble and winged demons.  Standard enemies came from the foreground and background to make things interesting and these guys were also responsible for Zed Blade on Neo Geo.

Mercs was the belated sequel to Commando and it's fairly ironic that Joseph Gibson is basically portrayed as John Matrix.

"Let off some steam Bennett." 

The artist didn't apply the necessary palette change for Bill...

Ha ha ha.

Mercs ain't done yet.

Both were given a raw deal.

This was surprisingly very dull.

Dogs of War was a poor Ikari Warriors rip off.
How goofy does he look?

It's a safe assumption this was based on Predator but Arnie didn't handle the Minigun until T2.

Blain (Jesse Ventura) first had the privilege.

On seeing Blain's body and after observing 'something', Mac (Bill Duke) and co only succeed in destroying the jungle.

Finally...

The only thing more bizarre than SunA's Best of Best is Arnold having a blue barnet.
The capital A isn't a typo...

Like Viccom, SunA was a Korean developer.

At some point, I'll reveal how video games reference and exploited movies, characters and entertainment in general.