7 Video Game Characters That Were Inspired by Movie Characters

China

A while back we brought you a video game look alike article but after watching the movie Big Trouble in Little China yesterday I wanted to take it a step further.  Where these days there are lots of movie characters based on video game characters, there are actually examples of the opposite.

Some video game creators have admitted to some movies being the inspiration for some of their characters.  And then there are others where you haven’t necessarily heard it from the creator but similarities make it kind of obvious.

In this article we’ll take a look at both.

Here are 7 video game characters that were inspired by movie characters

Blanka and the Monster from Big Trouble in Little China

BlankaBlanka

I know everyone has established that Thunder and Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China is the inspiration for Raiden and Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat.  However I think that this classic from John Carpenter inspired yet another video game character: Blanka.  Blanka was once known as Jimmy, before he was in a plane crash as a little boy. This crash caused him to be raised in the wild, although he has connections to a local village. Ever since the crash, Blanka/Jimmy had been separated from his mother. According to some sources, Blanka acquired his electrical trait from the same plane crash due to an intense electrical storm at the time.  And then I’m convinced he joined Lo Pan’s crew, wandered off and started fighting people in tournaments.

Chun Li and Kee Nang from Golden Child

ChunGolden

There are just too many similarities here.  It’s not necessarily in their stories but come on.  Have any of you ever seen The Golden Child?  Have you seen the moves Kee Nang was pulling in that movie?  I mean she’s hot, has a great rack and can jump from trees.  Does all kinds of cool kicks.  The Street Fighter boys must have seen this movie.

Raiden and Lightning from Big Trouble in Little China

LightRaiden

Tough to argue with this quote:   The creators claimed they based Raiden’s character design off of Lopan’s three servants, The Three Storms from the film Big Trouble in Little China. The third storm, Lightning, exhibited the ability to ride and control lightning, and wore a hat that closely resembles Raiden’s straw hat.

Dutch from Predator and Rambo/ Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from Contra

Video Game Look A like

Video Game Look A likeVideo Game Look A like

Taken from Wikipedia: The first few Contra games centers around a pair of commandos named Bill Rizer and Lance Bean (who were originally modeled after action movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, both icons during the 1980s) who fought against alien invaders that attempted to invade the Earth by infiltrating their planet in the distant future of the 27th centuryMolaram from Temple of Doom and Kratos from God of War

Video Game Look A likeVideo Game Look A like

Look there’s no technical proof but come on….

Solid Snake from Metal Gear  and Kyle Reese from Terminator

Video Game Look A like

Well there’s no secret about this one.   It’s not necessarily an entire character inspiration but it’s quite evident that this still shot of Reese in Terminator was the inspiration for this game cover.

Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat and Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China

ShangLo Pan

Big Trouble in Little China strikes again!

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12 Comments

  1. A better example using Metal Gear would to compare Solid Snake to Snake Plisken from Escape From New York, since Hideo Kojima has gone on record saying that’s where the character came from.

  2. So the characters of Solid Snake (Smoker with an eye patch and surly anti-authority attitude) and Plissken from Metal Gear are not based on Snake Plisken (Smkoker with an eye patch and surly anti-authority attitude), but a time traveling future soldier from Terminator named Reese? One of us must be an idiot.

  3. alex and macaque are spot on. plissken was the basis for solid snake. i think the name and eye patch are a dead give away.

    how about the guy from fallout 3 being inspired by mad max?

    and while the look is more commando era arnold, anyone that has seen evil dead 3 knows that duke nukem was based on ash.

    hail to the king baby.

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