10 Insane Hidden Connections Between Video Games
Franklin's reading habits tell us a LOT.
Transcript
00:00 Shared universes are all the rage these days. You can hardly move without seeing that this film is connected to this one,
00:06 or all of these superheroes exist within the same timeline and so on.
00:10 But given how ubiquitous the idea has become within popular culture,
00:13 it's still amazing just how many shared universes there are that most people don't seem to know about,
00:18 and trust us when we say that video games are chock full of the things.
00:21 I'm Sy for WhatCulture.com and these are 10 insane hidden connections between video games.
00:27 10. Hitman - Kane & Lynch
00:30 Given that both these titles are set in the real world and revolve around cold-blooded killers,
00:34 it shouldn't come as any surprise that both the Hitman and Kane & Lynch series take place
00:38 within the same world. Dating as far back as Hitman Blood Money, the first indication that
00:43 the scumbag killers also occupy the same locale as Agent 47 comes in the form of a newspaper article
00:49 that mentions that the pair have escaped prison and are on the run, which of course would lead
00:52 to the events of the first Kane & Lynch game. Whilst that could be seen as a throwaway easter
00:57 egg, the connection is then firmly established in Hitman Absolution where both Kane and Lynch
01:02 can be spotted during the firing range level, with Lynch stood firing a shotgun at a target
01:07 whilst Kane can be found chilling over by the jukebox in the bar area. And if you're so inclined,
01:12 it's possible for Agent 47 to kill the pair of them, so if you too had to suffer through
01:16 either of those games, you can at least feel some level of catharsis for what you had to endure.
01:21 9. Grand Theft Auto - Red Dead Redemption
01:24 There's always been a modicum of debate as to whether or not the universes of Grand Theft
01:28 Auto and Red Dead Redemption are one and the same. It's certainly true that GTA shares the
01:32 same world as Manhunt and Bully, but the jury has always been out as to whether the exploits
01:36 of John Marston are part of GTA's bloody history. Well, for those who are wondering,
01:41 there's one little clue that may confirm this. More easily noticed when roaming around in
01:46 first person, several bookshelves littered throughout Los Santos are home to Red Dead
01:50 by Jay Marston, a very much on-the-nose reference to Rockstar's other flagship series.
01:55 The existence of this book implies that after the events of Red Dead Redemption,
01:59 Jack Marston became a writer, and given that the book is entitled Red Dead, you can assume the
02:03 story is based on the exploits of his father, or it might detail what life was like for Jack
02:08 after he got his revenge on Edgar Ross. The only discrepancy between the two worlds is that whilst
02:12 the Red Dead series uses actual names of places such as New York, the GTA series has always opted
02:17 for fictional ones. Still though, it's an interesting concept.
02:20 8. Final Fantasy VII / Final Fantasy X / X
02:24 For years, fans have speculated which of the Final Fantasy games are connected,
02:27 and whilst there are plenty of shared elements across all of the games, most notably the
02:31 insanely adorable chocobos, there are scarce few pieces of hard evidence to suggest that any of
02:36 the stories are truly linked. One such tasty morsel is hidden away in the often-reliant but
02:41 genuinely quite good Final Fantasy X-2. During your sphere-hunting adventure with the Gullwings,
02:47 you'll frequently speak to a young owl-bed boy named Shinra. At first glance, you'd assume that's
02:52 just a cheeky nod to the evil company that Cloud and his friends wage war upon, but given his tech
02:56 savvy nature and his ruminations on how far he or future generations could harness the power of the
03:01 Fireplane, it's pretty safe to assume that he has some involvement with the Shinra legacy.
03:06 And whilst some may think this is just a throwaway reference, the connection was given
03:09 further weight in the recent FF7 remake, with a portrait showing an adult wearing Shinra's mask
03:14 surrounded by fellow colleagues and scientists. Whether or not it's actually him or one of his
03:19 descendants remains to be seen, but it's still pretty damn cool nonetheless.
03:22 7. SSX - Burnout Paradise
03:26 There's certainly a world of difference between extreme snowboarding and high-octane street
03:30 racing, but like how both of these do exist within the real world, it seems that they're
03:34 also closely related within the world of video games. Whilst burning rubber and smashing your
03:39 opponents to pieces in Burnout Paradise, you can hear several radio broadcasts from one DJ Atomica,
03:44 a name that may be familiar to those who have a love for the SSX series, as it's the same DJ that
03:49 spins the decks during your high-speed descents down snowy mountains. Atomica does his usual stick
03:55 during his setlists, and those who know him from the SSX games will take a lot of joy in hearing
03:59 him do his thing, but he even goes so far as to read out a message for Mac Freely, one of the
04:04 playable characters in SSX. Atomica tells Mac that given the recent spate of snow, the riding
04:09 conditions on the mountains should be ideal. Whether or not the snowy mountains from SSX are
04:14 situated anywhere near the sun-scorched Paradise City is anyone's guess, but it's a neat little
04:18 detail all the same. 6. Battlefield Bad Company - Mirror's Edge
04:23 Despite it being much more futuristic in its presentation, it turns out that the Mirror's
04:27 Edge and Battlefield Bad Company series take place around the same time and share a much
04:31 deeper connection than first thought. Aside from the fact that both games were developed by DICE,
04:36 there are a couple of small indicators that can be found throughout the events of the first Mirror's
04:39 Edge game that tie the two narratives together. Most prominently are the radio broadcasts that
04:44 can be heard during a brief respite in an elevator, one details how the ongoing conflict
04:48 against the country of Sardaristan is getting worse, and the military will be looking into
04:52 a resolution as soon as possible. Those that have played Battlefield Bad Company will know that
04:56 Sardaristan is the antagonistic force that you must go up against, and the military intervention
05:01 spoken of in the news broadcast pertains to the events of that game. Aside from that, it's also
05:06 possible to find a bag belonging to one of Mirror's Edge runners during the campaign of Bad
05:10 Company, which only serves to strengthen this connection, but also poses some interesting
05:14 questions in regards to the runner's presence in Sardaristan. 5. Uncharted - The Last of Us
05:21 Two of the biggest blockbuster franchises in modern gaming, the Uncharted and Last of Us
05:25 series have helped to push the envelope in interactive storytelling, and their subsequent
05:30 leaps to the worlds of movies and TV are a testament to that prowess. But did you know
05:34 that these two are in fact connected? During the events of Uncharted 3, Drake's Deception,
05:39 eagle-eyed players can spot a newspaper resting on the bar of the Pelican Inn. It seems rather
05:43 unassuming at first, but the headline on it reads "Scientists still struggling to understand deadly
05:48 fungus". This is of course referencing the fungal infection that leads to the outbreak in The Last
05:53 of Us, and the fact that it's being reported on in the UK when The Last of Us is set in Pittsburgh
05:58 is a big enough indicator that this would be a major event tying both universes together.
06:03 The naughty dog shared universe doesn't quite end there though, as during your adventures as Nathan
06:08 Drake, you can find the precursor orbs from the Jak and Daxter series, which begs the question,
06:12 where was Dark Jak when the virus was running rampant? He'd have sorted that right out.
06:16 4. Fatal Frame - Dead or Alive It goes without saying that fighting games
06:21 and horror games exist on the complete opposite ends of the gaming spectrum. One genre seeks to
06:26 empower the player by putting them in the shoes of a highly skilled warrior, whilst the other
06:30 looks to strip away all means of defence in the face of immeasurably terrifying odds. Which makes
06:35 the fact that both the Dead or Alive and Fatal Frame series exist within the same universe that
06:39 little bit more perplexing. Admittedly, both series are developed by Koei Tecmo, so a crossover
06:44 between their own properties shouldn't seem like such a wild idea. Hidden in a series of bonus
06:49 missions that are unlocked when players complete Fatal Frame, Maiden of Blackwater, Dead or Alive
06:54 mainstay Ayane has her own side story that runs parallel to the events of the game. Sadly though,
06:59 you can't resort to her insane ninja skills to take down ghosts, instead she must utilise the
07:03 Spirit Stone flashlight to exorcise the evil spirits. Even further to this, this wasn't the
07:08 first instance of Ayane appearing in the series, as the Xbox release of Fatal Frame 2 Crimson
07:13 Butterfly featured Ayane's trademark purple outfit as an unlockable extra.
07:17 3. Mass Effect - The Sims 3 For the more dedicated players out there,
07:22 or those who know the cheat codes to make your Sim filthy rich and able to dedicate their lives to
07:26 whatever they see fit, it's possible to build a time machine in The Sims 3 Ambitions expansion
07:31 pack. This nifty contraption can cause all kinds of mayhem and hijinks, but it's also home to one
07:36 of the strangest video game connections imaginable. After gallivanting through time and space,
07:40 your Sim will return and a text box in the top right of the screen will clue you in on what
07:44 they've been up to. One such tale reads "I appeared accidentally in the middle of a crowd
07:49 while time travelling but nobody noticed. They're all cheering about how some kind of
07:53 shepherd just saved the galaxy from some huge ancient machine god threat. The celebration
07:57 was definitely cool though." To some players this is simply a fun little story, but for those in the
08:01 know, this is talking about the events of the Mass Effect series, with a large crowd cheering for
08:05 Commander Shepard and their valiant efforts against the Reapers.
08:09 2. Gone Home - Bioshock 2 Now here's a pretty out there one.
08:14 During the events of the Bioshock 2 DLC story Minerva's Den, it's possible to find a computer
08:19 that contains a fully playable game called Spitfire, a Vector Graphics arcade title in
08:24 the vein of Asteroids. It certainly provided a fun distraction from the unspeakable horrors of
08:29 Rapture. Who knew that many years later the game would pop up again, but in the most unlikely of
08:34 places. Whilst exploring the house in Gone Home, it's possible to find a selection of Super Nintendo
08:39 cartridges, and amongst them you'll find one for Super Spitfire, an upgraded version of the original
08:45 game. Looking a little bit closer, you'll soon discover that Super Spitfire is published by CMP
08:49 Interactive. CMP are also the initials of one Charles Milton Porter, the character players
08:55 control during the events of Minerva's Den. It's been highly speculated that Charles managed to
09:00 make it back to the surface after the events of Minerva's Den and founded a software company.
09:05 Inspired by his little distraction with Spitfire, he decided to remake the game for the Super
09:09 Nintendo Entertainment System. It may seem like a pretty weird one, but the dots do connect.
09:14 1. Phoenix Wright - Dino Crisis
09:17 Over the course of his storied career, Phoenix Wright has dealt with some of the most bat-sh*t
09:21 insane cases known to man, but never in a million years did we consider the possibility that someday
09:26 he may come face to face with a horde of bloodthirsty dinosaurs. And whilst that sadly
09:31 never occurred within the Ace Attorney series, it is a possibility given that the Republic of
09:35 Borgnia exists within that world, which is confirmed via the passport of Acme Hicks.
09:40 For those of you who aren't Dino Crisis diehards, the Republic of Borgnia is the fictional island
09:45 that was besieged by dinosaurs during the events of the original Dino Crisis game,
09:49 meaning that Regina's hard-fought battle to survive against the dinosaurs is canon within
09:53 the Ace Attorney timeline, as is the franchise's ill-advised journey into space with the abysmal
09:58 Dino Crisis 3. Although my therapist tells me there is no Dino Crisis 3.
10:02 If you need any further proof of this connection's legitimacy, look no further than the Ace Attorney
10:06 anime, in which we're introduced to a character named Regina, who despite not being fully confirmed
10:12 as the same person, bears an unmistakable resemblance to our beloved horror game heroine.
10:16 I think we speak for everyone when we say we look forward to seeing Velociraptors taking the stand
10:20 in the next Attorney game. OBJECTION! Let us know what you thought of this list in the comments
10:25 below and any other video game connections you're aware of. I've been Sy for Wock Culture.com,
10:30 and have a good week.