Prime Examples of Influence of Video Games on the Pop Culture
Video games have had one of the deepest influences on pop culture. Many of the most awaited shows airing right now are adaptations of the original game’s storyline. The Witcher, The Last of Us, and many other high-budget shows go on to show how much people love video game adaptations.
But the influence goes both ways. If it hadn’t, gamers would have never had games like Batman Arkham City. And that’s just one comparatively recent release. You don’t know how much of the content you view every day on your TV plans powered by Spectrum internet or some other ISP is inspired by video games. Check out some of the biggest examples of the influence of video games on pop culture in this blog.
Pokémon
Do you recognize the cute yellow plushie that’s always in the toy stores? Well, it is called a Pikachu and it is the first Pokémon of Ash Ketchum. This yellow character alone has become so popular that people who have never watched a single episode of the show or played even one of Pokémon games know about it.
To the surprise of a lot of people, the Pokémon series was released after Pokémon games by Game Freak and Nintendo. The original games were Pocket Monster: Red and Green in Japan. Outside Japan, these games were called Pokémon: Red and Blue. Pokémon is an acronym for Pocket Monsters that was initially used in case you are wondering if these are two different games.
The games came out in 1996 and the series took two whole years to follow. Since then, there have been multiple games including the popular Pokémon Go which has been the most successful of the lot. The show is still running successfully after the years. Super rare Pokémon cards can cost collectors anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The franchise that started from a video game is now worth a whopping 96 billion dollars. It is worth around four times more than the collective worth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is another popular video game character with multiple games selling millions of units, shows, and multiple films with the latest one with Jim Carrey playing the villain. But it all started with the first Sonic the Hedgehog game released on Sega Genesis in 1991. This game is another example of how massive an influence a video game can have over pop culture.
Even after 31+ years of the first game, the franchise is still alive and thriving. Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z have loved the franchise over the years making Sonic a recognizable character everywhere even today.
Super Mario Bros.
Your favorite duo of Italian plumbers is returning with an animated film this year after around 37 years of first coming out. The hype is still there and young gamers along with their gamer parents are impatiently waiting for the film to hit the theaters. Luigi and Mario have had a timeless effect on pop culture.
The Mario classics, Mario Kart, and many other entertaining additions by the franchise have totaled up over 119 games over the years which is phenomenal in itself. If you are wondering, these games are the most by any franchise and are double the number of Pokémon games released. Not to mention some of the most gold-tier memes people have created from the games over the years.
“It’s a me Mario”, the sound of collecting coins, and the tune that plays when your character eats a mushroom to grow are still easy to recognize for gamers who haven’t even touched a game in more than the last two decades.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 has not influenced pop culture like the franchises mentioned above for different reasons. For starters, people waited for it far too long, the game was full of glitches and many gamers lost interest. Yet, the game has managed to leave quite an impact. The Keanu Reeves promotions, an influx of quality memes, and the Cyberpunk anime series have made the game relevant for much longer. In other words, it is one of the games whose influence has kept it odishadiscoms alive.
The recent Arcane series by League of Legends and Dota animated series has propelled the number of Twitch views on these games again. However, both series have had a solid game each with millions of players already. The show gave these games a fresh boost. In the future, Cyberpunk may even win the fandom back when the gameplay becomes better and does justice to the hype.
So, these were some prime examples of video games that have shaped a massive part of pop culture with their influence.
