The Essential Selection - Chapter One

Previously known as 'A tasty [food] of video game miscellany that mix nicely with others', I'm rebranding again guys.

Whatever, expect a post of epic proportions.

Smoke Fairies (Smoke Fairies) vs Ritual (White Lies)

Faces that gaze into the sky.

Magnolia (The Pineapple Thief) and I Had a Dream That You Were Mine (Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam)

True Blood (Seventh Season) and Parasitic

These next two are eerily similar.

The Evil Within vs Zombie Driller Killer (aka Dark Souls)

See what I mean.

Homage time.

mother! vs Rosemary's Baby

Apollo 18 vs Urban Strike (Game Over screen)

Great stuff.

Mirror images

Feel It Break (Austra) and Sweet Sour (Band of Skulls)

The Courage of Others (Midlake) and Felt Mountain (Goldfrapp)

And.

Berberian Sound Studio

Taking cover behind a wall.

Time Crisis and The Great Escape (2003)

Airborne Troops: Coundown to D-Day and Rise of the Dragon

Flashback (SNES/Mega Drive)

Yeah, other versions have different title screens.

The Punisher (1986 1st Series) vs Cosmic Wartoad (1985)

Must be coincidence?

Space stations

Magazines and novels

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Downbelow Station

Galaxy and Spaceways Satellite

Continuum 3, The Menace from Earth and Space Platform

Video games

Earth Orbit Stations and Total Eclipse (1994)

Background data

Alien Breed

Project-X

Super Space Invaders '91

Film

Creature

And of course, the daddy.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Your typical ball-and-stick is a molecular model of a chemical substance.

Spheres and rods represent atoms and bonds respectively.

Here's an example.

Cysteine

Guess what?

Atomino and Spore (1987)

The Colour and the Shape (Foo Fighters) and L.D. 50 (Mudvayne)

Day of the Dead is an annual multi-day festival celebrated throughout Mexico.

La Petite Mort (James) and Killer Sounds (Hard-Fi)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Early in final part of reboot trilogy, Lara explores Cozumel. 

Spectre
A message from the previous M (Judi Dench) leads Bond to carry out an authorised mission in Mexico who prevents a terrorist bombing plot.

Attention!

Things have temporarily become pixelated.

Shulamith (Poliça) and Vertical Land (David John Sheppard)

Three/Three (Dabraye) and TAD Corporation¹ logo

¹Short-lived arcade developer gave us classics such as Cabal, spiritual sequel Blood Bros. and Toki.

The Beginning (The Black Eyed Peas)

Talk to the hand, cos' the face ain't listening.

Devil May Cry 4

Kyoshiro (Samurai Shodown)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2006)

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow vs Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Similar shit, but maybe both were based on:

The Monster Squad

Also.

The Suffering vs The Captive (1985)

WHAT?

More. More. More (lookalikes).

X-Out vs Xenon 2 Megablast

If only all shopkeepers were muscle-bound deep sea divers or toothy aliens.

(Sigh).

Sex and Love (Enrique Iglesias) vs Oculus

Final Destination 3 vs Theme Park World

Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) vs Exit

Slither (2006) vs Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh

Mortal Kombat X vs The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence

Very clever.

F.A.N.G. (Street Fighter V) and  Jakov (Time Crisis II) vs Choi Bounge² (The King of Fighters)

²'99 portrait used.

Christian (One Must Fall: 2097) vs Ken (Street Fighter II³)

³Original's portrait purposely ignored.

Justice (Guilty Gear) vs Marion (Voltage Fighter: Gowcaizer)

(Frowns).

Larry (Groove on Fight: Gouketsuji Ichizoku 3) vs Elena (Street Fighter III: New Generation)

Oozie Nelson (Rival Turf) vs M. Bison (Street Fighter II)

What's with that stupid fucking grin?

Ricardo Blanco (Time Crisis: Project Titan) vs Yashiro (The King of Fighters '97)

The very rare Big Bang Pro Wrestling on Neo Geo Pocket Color did some odd things.

Macey (aka Mashii the Oriental) vs Hugo (Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact)

The Great Eagle vs Tizoc (Garou: Mark of the Wolves)

Fair enough.

David (albeit bald) probably ripped off Zangief (Street Fighter Alpha 3).

'Going towards the light' references a near-death experience.

In TV movie Go Toward the Light, Claire Madison (Linda Hamilton) attempts to prepare her haemophiliac son for his inevitable fate.

Other uses include.

Film

Eraserhead

It Chapter Two

Silent Hill

31

House II: The Second Story

Video games

F.E.A.R. 3

Resident Evil Code: Veronica

Dante's Inferno (2010)

Dark Escape 4D

Little Nightmares

Murdered: Soul Suspect

The Evil Within 2

Doesn't count, but I really Hela this.

Hellblade: Seuna's Sacrifice

Bear with me guys, just need to tinkle.

In the meantime though...

Noel Bowl 'twin - Pete Seat' (Garbage Pail Kids)

Jet Set Willy
Thanks to bugs, including the infamous 'Attic' one, Matthew Smith's Manic Miner sequel is impossible to complete without cheating.
Anyway, after you've collected 'every' object, head to the Master Bedroom (which Maria will no longer be guarding) for some much needed shut eye.
Going near the bed will trigger the game to hurtle Willy towards The Bathroom, where you'll be forced inside angry bog.

Trainspotting
Renton hunts for his suppositories by entering 'The Worst Toilet in Scotland'.

Candyman
Original gave off a certain buzz, but not sure remake will.

Street Trash
Trust me (hiccup), pal, (groan), thiiiiissss Viper is... fucking (burp) good shit.

The Toilet - Edgar Degas and The Toilette of Venus - François Boucher

(Flushing sound heard in distance).

Right, I'm back.

Graves Gladney created the iconic cover art for A. E. van Vogt's Black Destroyer and take on tentacled feline Coeurl was illustrated by Frank Kramer.

Some titbits.

Devil May Cry 5
Design of V's demonic familiar Shadow is blatant.

Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
Displacer Beast first appeared in 1977 sourcebook Monster Manual.

Dirty Pair members Kei and Yuri are assisted by sidekick Mughi.

Final Fantasy is also host to many Coeurl-esque creatures.

It's rude to point, but these guys don't care.

Gauntlet (1988), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney⁴ and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaras' Treasure

⁴Remake of GBA game of same name.

Double Dragon Advance

Silent Scope 3

Sky Adventure

The Ninja Kids

Warriors of Fate

And.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengenace vs Casshern

WTF?

Colossus (Deadpool) vs P. Jack (Tekken)

No bullshit here.

As an example, chrome appearance can be seen in TV series X-Men Evolution.

Three more preliminary animals.

Deacon (Prometheus)

Prototype T-800 (Terminator Salvation)

Proto-Tyrant T-001 (Resident Evil 0)

I'm missing wheels, but at least I've got Axels.

Axel Hawk (Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special), Axel Sonics (Rapid Reload) and Axel Storm (book series)

Axel Stone (Streets of Rage)

Which leads me to:

At the end of intro to Bare Knuckle III, our man breaks camera.

Strangely.

Cody does the same thing to mirror in Final Fight CD (any version).

Both were released in 1993, but it's unclear who ripped off who.

For shits and giggles.

Alex (debuted in Street Fighter III: New Generation) is an anagram of Axel.

(Smiles).

Matlok (Fighter's History) vs Duck King (Fatal Fury and beyond)

Pretty embarrassing.

But...

Two. P (Final Fight)

Tut tut.

Mad Gear member references anonymous super solider 2P in Forgotten Worlds.

Thinking about it.

Captain Commando vs 1P

Namco x Capcom
Warrior One and Warrior Two unleash super move.

Punk design may have been influenced by:

Bonebreaker (X-Men)

Original leader of cyborg gang the Reavers appeared as regular enemy in Konami's X-Men and as boss in Capcom's The Punisher.

Finally.

Random punk (Predator 2)

Bebop (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - original 1987 series)

Until next time.