Just like popular celebrities are used to sell movies, video games didn't hesitate to use cameo appearances to spread talk about their game and get people interested in them. A lot of the times, they'd use celebrities in the strangest way possible, putting them in places that just didn't work.
Musicians and mascots in the ring? Politicians playing basketball? A childhood star in an incredibly violent shooter? Yes, that all happened, and they're all apart of the top five weirdest celebrity appearances in video games.
Image credit: White House Correspondents Insider
5. Michael Jackson in Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2
- Release Year: 2000
- Publisher: Midway
- Platforms: Dreamcast, PSX, PS2, Nintendo 64, GBA
Midway always loved to try the strangest things in their video games, and one of the weirdest without question was adding the "King of Pop" to a wrestling match. Critics didn't like the voice used for Michael Jackson, but his actions were motion captured when he agreed that his likeness could be used in the game.
Jackson wasn't the only celebrity making the game. Others included Michael Buffer, Shaquille O'Neal, and both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Speaking of the presidents...
4. Bill and Hillary Clinton in NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
- Release Year: 1993
- Publisher: Midway
- Platforms: Arcade, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, Game Boy, Game Gear
Of course Midway was also behind the former president and his wife in a basketball game. Their names were actually used in this game as opposed to Ready 2 Rumble, where they were just referred to as "Mr. President" and "The First Lady."
"B. and H. Clinton" don't look relatively similar because this game was released in the early 90's, but it's still hilarious to watch Bill land 3's or Hillary go up to for an alley-oop dunk.
3. Fred Durst in Fight Club
- Release Year: 2004
- Publisher: VU Games
- Platforms: PS2, Xbox
Releasing this game was a mistake to begin with. Those that actually have the book or seen the movie of Fight Club know that this fighting game simply contradicts everything that the story is about. It was a horrible, sloppy fighter that was put together just to make a quick buck on the game. Adding somebody like Fred Durst to help sell the game? Think exactly the opposite of Link in Soulcalibur 2 -- that's truly how much sense it makes.
2. Burger King mascot in Fight Night Round 3
- Release Year: 2006
- Publisher: EA Sports
- Platforms: PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360
It's one thing for fast food franchises to have stupid minigames to play on consoles. It's another for them to actually appear in a full-fledged game. Despite the clear marketing angle that this was used for, it still looked weird as hell seeing the Burger King mascot come into the ring in Fight Night Round 3. Makes me wonder why we haven't seen Ronald McDonald come in for Andy Dalton for the Cincinnati Bengals and watch the Hamburglar be the lead referee in a Madden game.
1. Gary Coleman in Postal 2
- Release Year: 2003
- Publisher: Whiptail Interactive
- Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
It's one thing to see famous people in fighters or sports games, but it's another to see them in one of the most controversial shooters of all time. Postal 2 raised the bar in offensive content by getting banned in multiple countries. Watching the biggest child star from the 1970's and 80's from Good Times going from "Watchu talkin' about, Willis?" to pulling out a rifle in one of the missions in Postal 2 is downright insane. Being able to whack his head off with a shovel or urinate on his dead body falls into that same category.
