Top 10 video game characters based on celebrities

Have you ever played a game and realized one of its characters may be reminding you of someone too well-known? Well, you may not be wrong in thinking so. Video-games are always known going for real-life inspirations, just like any action toy series (G.I. Joe is well known for incorporating WWE stars in its line-up, like Rowdy Rowdy Piper and Sgt. Slaughter). Some of them may the rights to do so, while others take the pure risk and pray that the real-life personalities, whom their game characters are modelled after, take everything good-humoredly.This time, we present to you ten well-known video-game characters that share roots and more with their more famous real-life counterparts. Mind you, these are not character from games that have any tie-up with movie franchises, like the James Bond series.

#10 Ryder (GTA San Andreas)

Ryder is the most blatant and racist stereotype of the American Black community. He is the drug-snorting, rap-talking, violence-adhering moron that the lead character had to suffer. ‘cos he is friend. Also he looks quite similar to another infamous real-life entity, the late Eazy-E, also known as ‘The Godfather of Gangsta Rap’. Whether this was intentional from the developer’s end or not, I have no idea, but it actually did more damage to the image to African-American community in popular media that ‘The Birth of a Nation’.

#9 Balrog (Street Fighter)

It’s a very famous trivia that Balrog from the Street Fighter series have always been based on the fighting style of Mike Tyson. Did you really know Balrog’s actual name was supposed to be M.Bison, or Mike Bison, to be exact? Yup, the main antagonist’s name was actually given to this dangerous boxer in the game series, so that people could relate him more to Tyson. However, real-life Tyson found himself in some legal trouble at the time of the first game’s release, so the developers changed the name to Balrog, though they didn’t have the time to change the other characteristics of the boxer that they had incorporated.

#8 Bill \"Mad Dog\" Rizer and Lance \"Scorpion\" Bean (Contra)

I always had this niggling doubt that, when I first played Contra, both the protagonists were based on Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. As the games was conceived in the 80’s, an era where these two action superstars reigned over box-office, it was not exactly a rubbish doubt. After I grew up, and began the new hobby of surfing the web, I realized I was not the first one to have this thought. Nope, the developers have never confirmed this fact, but we want to keep thinking that way. For anyone who have played Contra and loved these stars (that they even took the risk of watching all the films in ‘The Expendable’ series!), the reason is plain evident…

#7 Johnny Cage (Mortal Kombat)

No, JCVD doesn’t have tattoo on his chest. But it’s a well-known fact that fan-favorite, Johnny Cage, from the Mortal Kombat series, have always been modeled on the Bloodsport star. They have similar action movies (which also spilt itself on the movie series…), and their appearances also match as well. And they also have arrogance in abundance! The only difference is, Johnny Cage is a comic character, while the last thing we expect Van Damme to do is comedy…What a horrible thought! Shudder!

#6 Lei Wulong (Tekken Series)

Don’t go by the looks much, but Lei Wulong has taken after the most popular martial arts expert of all time, Jackie Chan. Both have similar moves, and even similar stances. Above all, they both have the flair for comedy. It really looks like the makers were inspired by the legend’s ‘Drunken Master’ act and used the traits in their beloved game character. We wish more game developers follow suit, and make more characters on him, since Chan himself has revealed that he is becoming too old to do more action movies.

#5 Andrew Ryan (BioShock)

Andrew Ryan was the eccentric mastermind and pioneer who was the real reason behind all the shit that happened in BioShock. If you are familiar with history, or at least familiar with Leaonardo Di Caprio’s film, The Aviator, you could find a lot of similarities between Andrew Ryan and Howard Hughes (not Howard Stark, Marvelites…Seriously, not everything in this world revolves around Iron Man!). Howard Hughes was also an eccentric dreamer, inventor, industrialist and movie producer. If you look closely, even they look kind of alike.

#4 Ellie (The Last of Us)

There have been some controversy with regards to this entry. Ellen Page, of ‘Juno’ fame, had gone on record stating her displeasure with regards to similarities between the lead character in ‘The Last of Us’ and her. Frankly, looking at the above picture, we really can’t blame her for thinking so. Even their names sound similar. Though the developers tried to do some last-minute changes, as far as the gamers are concerned, nothing has changed much…

#3 Bruno Delinger (Project X Zone)

One of the most famous action heroes of all time, John McClane from the Die Hard series, also has a video-game character based on his looks. In other words, we have a video-game character who resembles Bruce Willis. Bruno Delinger was actually based on another game named ‘Dynamite Cop’, which had its inspirations from ‘Die Hard’, and had the movie has the official partner. By the time, Bruno moved to Project X Zone, the developers lost the movie license, but retained the looks of the character. Yippee-kay-yay-yay, mother….Sorry got a bit carried away!!!

#2 Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes)

Yup, even Johnny Knoxville, the infamous star known for those painfully bad comedies like ‘Jackass: The Movie’ and ‘Bad Grandpa’ has a video-game character that touches upon his looks and talking style. They even retained the hairstyle and the glares as well. Where exactly is this world going to these days??? What next? Tommy Wiseau?

#1 Fei Long (Street Fighter) and others...

Bruce Lee have always been an inspiration to any kid wanting to learn martial arts. Similarly, he has always been an inspiration to the game developers whenever they wanted to make a game based on martial arts. So not only Fei Long from the Street Fighter series is modelled on the master himself, but even Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat and Marshall Law from Tekken share a few traits with the legend who was snatched away from us at an early age. But luckily for us fans, these games have always kept the spirit of the legend alive.