Peripheral Vision: Movies and TV Shows That Repurposed Game Controllers
In movies and TV shows props are often integral to the sights, sounds and sometimes even the plot of the overall story. Set designers are faced with a choice to either create something from scratch or to repurpose something that already exists. I’ve managed to find a few examples of movies and TV shows having repurposed video game controllers for their own means to tell their story. I’m curious to know what other movies and TV shows have repurposed video game controllers. I’ve seen plenty of 90s films where kids are playing Gameboys or Gameboy Colors, but what I’m mostly curious about is them being used in a way other than they were originally intended. If you know of any let me know in the comments.
#1: Ernest Scared Stupid
Ernest Scared Stupid is a fun little Halloween movie from the early 90s; prime Nintendo territory. In one scene Ernest helps a group of children build a tree house, complete with defense system to ward off the local bullies. This defense system becomes a much bigger plot device later in the film. Part of the defense system includes a canned dog food cannon, controlled by dual Quickshot joysticks. While the idea of such a tree house and defense system excites my childhood mind, seeing the creative way the Quickshot joysticks were repurposed excites both my childhood and adulthood mind.
#2 Ernest Saves Christmas
Yet another Ernest film, so the use of Quickshot joysticks isn’t such a surprise, yet they were used to control Santa’s sleigh this time. I’m starting to wonder if the creator of the Ernest character had stock in the company behind Quickshot, or acquired a warehouse full of their joysticks and just decided to use them up as much as they possibly could. In this scene Ernest is trying to fly Santa’s sleigh, but the controls seem quite confusing. After a few moments of utter chaos, Ernest finally figures it out and he goes on to save Christmas. You can see that many other toys and items were used to create this control panel. It’s interesting to look at and see what else they used.
#3 Trailer Park Boys (Season 4 Episode 8 “Working Man“)
Trailer Park Boys has been one if my all-time favorite TV shows since I watched it on Youtube back in 2009. Admittedly it took me quite a few marathons of the first seven seasons to finally catch that Jim Lahey is using the top section of a Quickshot joystick on his explosive vest. If you’re familiar with the episode it can first be seen when Jim is in the gas station bathroom, looking into the mirror. After that it is clearly visible in the final showdown in the middle of the street at the end of the episode. This show used a lot of video game stuff properly, but to my current knowledge this is the only repurpose of video game peripherals.
#4 Ghostbusters II
Pilot controls are ready! Dr. Stantz repurposed an NES Advantage to march Lady Liberty (aka Libby) through Upper New York Bay and down the streets of New York City. If I had watched this scene as a kid I would have lost my mind. Sadly it was only much, much later that I watched either of the movies, but it still gives me the chills at how great this scene is. Seeing an NES advantage being used as their main controls only makes it that much more special. I guess one could say, their love for repurposing NES peripherals keeps on lifting me, higher and higher!
Again, I’ve seen plenty of video games used properly throughout media in the 80s and 90s, but I think it’s more fun to see how props departments repurposed them to make something completely new. I love creative thinking and solving problems by using unlikely solutions. Currently these are the only examples I can think of, so if you know of more please do let me know.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection
I rarely spend money on video game franchise anniversary collections, even if it does include one of my favorite games of all time. When it comes to the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, well, I’m still not about to break that habit. At the time of writing this Epic Games is giving it away for free (November 14-21, 2024), so it was a no-brainer to click that button and add it to my collection. Thanks Epic Games!
The Castlevania Anniversary Collection includes the three NES classics: Castlevania, Castlevania II Simon’s Quest, and Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse. It also includes the two Game Boy games that were, uhm, well they were: Castlevania The Adventure, and Castlevania II Belmont’s Revenge. It also includes both the Super Nintendo entry Super Castlevania IV and the Sega Genesis entry Castlevania Bloodlines. There is one more game that the gaming world outside of Japan had been chomping at the bit to get a hold of that was released in this collection: the Nintendo Famicom’s Kid Dracula. I’m not sure why they didn’t also include the Game Boy version, just for good measure, but that’s fine. As an added bonus most of the games include their Japanese counterparts as well.
All of the games included are just as good as you remember them, or in the case of Castlevania The Adventure it’s slightly better than you remembered on the Game Boy, but only just. Since the version I own is the PC version I have to say the games run very smoothly. The only chugging issue I’ve had was, as previously implied, Castlevania The Adventure, but it was built that way. The collection includes a lot of interesting features such as save states, screen filters and screen frames. You can also modify your controller layout to whatever fits your playing. I did notice the layout from The Adventure was different to Belmont’s Revenge, so I swapped those around to make them match.
I’ve not found anything egregiously wrong with any of the games or the way it runs, but I’ve not really sat down to get stuck into any of them for too long either. I would imagine each version of this collection should be just as polished for whichever platform you purchase it on. If you’re lucky enough to have snagged it for free from Epic Games, congratulations. If you’re thinking about purchasing it, even I would say it’s worth it. From a collector’s standpoint the value for money is great. Sure, I love to own the cartridges, but this allows me to pack them away safely and enjoy the games I love in a more modern way. Am I more willing to purchase anniversary collections after this experience? No, but that’s because I’m a cheap ass.