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Console Cameo

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Welcome to Dee Ess Island.
A console cameo is where the game system on which you're playing (or another by the same company) appears in some form in the game you're playing. Developers, when looking for inspiration for a fictional gadget, enjoy modeling amazing pieces of technology on the console that the player is using. This not only makes the interface really easy to design, but also makes the game just a bit more immersive in that respect. Less common is modeling an object off another console by the same company.

This has to appear in a video game for it to count; systems appearing in other media don't count unless it is based on a video game (Pokémon for example). PCs don't count unless the program is made exclusively for a single operating system and the game makes it clear which operating system (or a parody thereof) is being used. Finally, it doesn't count if the game system only appears in order to demonstrate controls or in something like the Wii's safety screens.

A Sister Trope to Product Placement, the main difference being that if you see it, you already own the placed product, or it's a call back to an outdated piece of equipment that is no longer for sale. Also compare Company Cameo.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Nintendo hardware 
  • 1080° Avalanche — One of the special boards is called 8-Bit Soul, and it's a giant NES controller.
  • Adventure Island — Killing a coyote from behind in the NES version rewards you with an NES controller granting bonus points. Naturally, the Game Boy version replaced these with (what else?) a Game Boy.
  • Aero Gauge — One of the unlockable aeromachines is a Nintendo 64 controller.
  • Animal Crossing series:
    • Animal Crossing (2001) — The player can collect NES control decks that run specific titles in the original title.
    • Animal Crossing: Wild World — There is a furniture item called the "game shelf" that, if you look hard enough, has a GameCube on one of the shelves.
    • In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the Welcome amiibo update introduces the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U as furniture items. You can even play games on both: Animal Crossing Puzzle League on the 3DS and Desert Island Escape on the Wii U. If you also scan the Super Smash Bros. Villager amiibo, you can get furniture that is themed on Nintendo consoles.
    • Animal Crossing: New Horizons continues the trend, with the Switch being available as a furniture item, both the standard version (with either red/blue Joy-Cons or grey), and the special Animal Crossing themed version. You even get one for free after installing the day one patch, with which one you get being determined by which one you're playing the game on. You can also purchase a Switch Lite in various colors.
  • Another Code (aka Trace Memory) — Ashley's Dual Another System (DAS)note  resembles a Nintendo DS. The sequel, Another Code R: A Journey into Lost Memories, Ashley is gifted a new DAS model that resembles a DSi, as well as the True Another System (TAS), which resembles a Wii Remote and even has a module that resembles the Nunchuk. Another Code: Recollection, the compilation remake of the duology, turns the DAS into a device resembling a Nintendo Switch Lite with a camera. Averted with the remake's version of the TAS — now called the Reboot Another System (RAS) — which is now just a high-tech bracelet.
  • Choro Q 64 — An N64 controller can be unlocked as a racing vehicle.
  • Code Name: S.T.E.A.M — In the framing sequence of opening a Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. comic book, a Marth amiibo (the real-life version of which can unlock Marth as a Guest Fighter) can be seen on the desk next to it.
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day — One of Conker's idle animations has him playing Killer Instinct on the Game Boy Color, with an 8-bit rendition of Jago's theme from Killer Instinct II.
  • Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure — One of Crash's idle animations involves playing a GBA.
  • Devil Survivor — The COMPs look remarkably like the Nintendo DS. In this instance, every main character there has it. In the Updated Re-release, they are 3DS's.
  • Donkey Kong series:
  • In the NES adaptation of Double Dare (1986) one of the prizes that you can win in-game is an NES.
  • Dragon Ball:
  • Elebits — Various Wii consoles and remotes appear as objects scattered throughout the game.
  • F-Zero GX — The Port Town circuit has a giant R.O.B. This also applies to the Port Town stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as it directly recycles assets from that circuit.
  • Geist — A GameCube can be found inside a locker near the women's bathroom, visited during the fourth chapter.
  • Good Job! — Several Nintendo Switch systems can be found throughout the game, some located in break rooms but others being played by employees at their station. Like any other object in the game, they are breakable.
  • Gotcha Force — A GameCube and several controllers can be seen on the main menu.
  • Hyper Zone — The third boss is a vehicle shaped like the front buttons of the Super NES controller.
  • Kirby: Planet Robobot:
    • A Game Boy appears in the form of a remote control item that Kirby uses to control a robot copy of himself.
    • In level 6-8, two Waddle Dees can be found playing Kirby's Adventure on a Famicon in the background at one point.
  • The Legend of Zelda series:
    • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
      • The Stone of Agony, a device that lets the player use the N64's Rumble Pak, is shaped like... a Rumble Pak.
      • The right hand finger holes on the titular Ocarina itself are arranged to correspond to the C buttons on the N64's controller rather than what would be practical for a real ocarina.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D — The furnace in the Bomb Shop is styled to look like a GameCube with a Game Boy Player connected to the underside, and an Ultra Hand toy from Nintendo's pre-console gaming period is hanging to the right of it. A R.O.B. can be seen in the Curiosity Shop by looking from the back room, a Ten Billion Barrel puzzle is in the Clock Town Shooting Gallery, a Love Tester is inside the Marine Research Lab, and a stone Wii Remote is in the Goron Shrine among the Goron Elder's Son's toys.
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker — The Tingle Tuner, which lets the player interface with the Game Boy Advance, resembles a green Game Boy Advance with an antenna. Within the Tingle Tuner's GBA screen interface, a "Hand Me Down" Tingle Tuner can be used to order items from Knuckle once he's found. The icon for it is a Game Boy Color, making this a cameo within a cameo. Concept art published in the Hyrule Historia artbook also reveals that the developers were considering the inclusion of a "GameCube Island" in The Wind Waker, but this plan was abandoned during development.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass — The aforementioned GameCube Island was seemingly resurrected as Dee Ess Island, an island shaped like an original Nintendo DS, complete with holes for speakers, a dock shaped like a stylus protruding from the DS's stylus port, and clues on the island pointing to locations on the actual DS hardware instead of on the island.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — The Sheikah Slate is modeled on the Wii U GamePad. It was originally planned that the GamePad would be able to display Sheikah Slate functions during gameplay, but that functionality got cut when the devs decided that turning away from the TV screen to look at the pad was distracting. Fans generally agree that the real reason second screen functions were removed was to have complete parity with Switch version, which also shares a similar shape but can only use one screen at a time.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — The Purah Pad is modeled on the Nintendo Switch. It is functionally mostly identical to the Sheikah Slate.
  • LEGO City Undercover — The police communicator resembles a Wii U GamePad.
  • Mega Man:
    • Mega Man 7 — One of the "junk" items that Rush can occasionally dig up is a Game Boy. Also, several Famicom consoles appear in the background at the beginning of Junk Man's level in the same game. Both of these are removed from the port on Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, released on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and were sadly not restored when the collection was ported to the Nintendo Switch.
    • Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force — In these games, the Wii, GameCube, Super NES, and DS all make appearances at certain points. The Game Boy Advance also shows up in Battle Network 5. As more of a reference, it is also possible to fight "Soul Powered" and "Dark Soul" versions of boss characters in the 4th and 5th games, which are abbreviated to SP and DS, the two most recent versions of the Gameboy.
  • Metroid Fusion — The X-infested fans in Sector 1 (SRX) are bordered by a mishmash of metallic-looking objects, including one that looks like a GameCube.
  • Miitomo — A hoodie with a Super Famicom controller on it is available as a special item that can only be purchased with My Nintendo points.
  • No More Heroes — Travis Touchdown owns a Nintendo 64-esque console in his apartment.
  • OFF — One puzzle requires you to enter a password by pressing the correct sequence of buttons on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller.
  • Perfect Dark Zero — Although released for the Xbox 360, in the subway multiplayer map there appears to be a suspiciously boxy video game console in a trash can. PD0 started off as a GameCube game before Microsoft purchased Rare.
  • Pikmin:
    • Pikmin 2 has a set of its treasures based on Nintendo hardware, specifically an NES d-pad, a GameCube control stick, a R.O.B. head and Gyro Blocks from his game Stack-Up, a Famicom disk (The Mysterious Murasame Castle, to be precise), and a Game & Watch.
    • Pikmin 3 features a much more blatant usage: Each member of the crew carries a Kopad which in-universe has all the non-character control functions the Wii U Game Pad has. When playing on the TV with the game pad, cut scenes featuring the characters using their pads as communication devices show them holding their pad (as seen from their point of view) and the other character appears on the screen of said pad, along with their dialogue boxes, much too small to read. A message tells players to look down at their GamePad, which now shows the same scenes as the Kopads. When using just the GamePad or one of the alternate control schemes, the cutscene doesn't feature the hands and pad border.
    • In Hey! Pikmin, some of the collectible treasures are game cartridges for the NES (Super Mario Bros., Ice Climber, and Balloon Fight) and Game Boy (Super Mario Land, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and Donkey Kong Land). Scanning a compatible amiibo figure also allows the figure itself to appear in-game to be collected.
    • Pikmin 4's Nintendo-themed treasures include Game Boy Advance SP and Micro models, GBA cartridges for Kuru Kuru Kururin and Famicom Mukashibanashi: Shin Onigashima, a Wave Race: Blue Storm GameCube disc, an NES Game Pad, a wireless GameCube controller, Switch Joy-Cons, and an SNES mouse. Collecting and displaying the whole set will plug the GBA games into the systems, showing the games' title screens.
  • Pokémon series:
    • NPCs throughout the various games in the series often hold the platform the game is on and comment on trading with a friend. One such pair of NPCs in Let's Go has one holding a Switch and one holding a smartphone; they're found in the location that allows direct transfer of Pokémon from Pokémon GO.
    • The protagonist in each generation of games has the Nintendo home console of the era in their bedroom:
      • A Super NES in Gen I, with the text when checking the console telling that Mario & Wario was plugged in. For whatever reason, this was changed to an original NES in the FireRed and LeafGreen remakes.
      • A Nintendo 64 in Gen II, with you also having the ability to decorate the protagonist's room with other Nintendo consoles. This room decoration extends to Pokémon Stadium 2.
      • A Nintendo GameCube in Gen III.
      • A Wii in Gen IV and Gen V, including the HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes.
      • A Wii U in Gen VI (including the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire remakes) and Gen VII's Pokémon Sun and Moon. X and Y additionally has the female protagonist in particular holding 3DS XL at the start of the game, with the implication that she fell asleep the previous night gaming.
      • A Nintendo Switch in the other Gen VII and Gen VIII games. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon also have Team Skull own a Wii U, to drive home how impoverished/behind-the-times they are, in contrast to the Switch in the player's room. Meanwhile, Sword and Shield have the bonus Easter Egg of having the in-game Joy-Cons match the ones you're playing with (defaulting to black if using a different type of controller).
      • A Nintendo Switch OLED can be seen in the player's bedroom in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The Joy-Cons' colors also match whatever colors the player is currently using.
    • In a similar vein, the Pokédex was loosely based on each game's respective Nintendo handheld for the first four generations, going from Game Boy (Pokémon Red and Blue) → Game Boy Color (Pokémon Gold and Silver) → Game Boy Advance (Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire) → Game Boy Advance SP (Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen) → Nintendo DS/DS Lite (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl) → Nintendo DSi. Pokémon Black and White broke the tradition, with games from then on having their Pokédex look more like iPods and tablets, or integrated into a smartphone-like device. However, the PokéNav Plus from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire resembles a Game Boy Advance SP, nodding to the console the original games were released for.
    • Multiple spinoff games have a link cable item used to evolve Pokémon that that need to be traded in the main series, representing an actual Game Boy Game Link Cable. It's unnamed in Pokémon Pinball, flat-out referred to as a "Link Cable" in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, and called a "Linking Cord" in Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Sleep.
    • In Hey You, Pikachu!, a Nintendo 64 can be found in the bedroom, which can be used to play a Mini-Game. In the Japanese version, it appears to be using Super Famicom cartridges.
    • In Sea Mauville in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the player comes across an old two-screen video game console that they don't recognize. It's implied to be a Game & Watch.
    • In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, players can acquire Slate items that can allow them to confront and catch Legendary Pokémon from previous generations. These Slates are stone tablets in the shape of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance game cartridges (and in one case, a DS game card), representing the console that each Legendary first appeared on.
    • In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Penny's dorm room has magazines with a Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy on the covers.
  • Populous — The Super NES version features a map called "8-bit Plain" that uses a tileset based on various Nintendo hardware. Settlements start out as an original Famicom console and then evolve into other pieces of Nintendo hardware, not just consoles like the NES and Super Famicom, but other devices too such as controllers, Game & Watches, Disk Systems and even a Twin Famicom. Populous DS features an updated version of this map with most of the later Nintendo platforms, all the way up to the original Wii and DS.
  • Pushmo — One of the puzzles is a giant Nintendo 3DS.
  • Resident Evil — In the 2002 remake, the passcode transmitting devices in the underground laboratory are essentially black GameCubes. The HD version later released for PC, PlayStation and Xbox platforms altered the design of these devices in order to lessen their resemblance to the Nintendo console that the game was originally released on, although they still retain their cubic shape.
  • Retro Game Challenge — This Nintendo DS game revolves around the player's avatar playing retro-style minigames on a fictional 8-bit console called the "Game Computer", a pastiche of the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES). The game's Japanese-exclusive sequel, titled Arino no Chōsenjō 2 (or "Arino's Challenge Part 2"), features additional parody consoles based on actual Nintendo hardware such as the Game Computer's Floppy Drive System add-on, the Game Computer Mini, the Super Game Computer and the Game Computer Mini Color.
  • Rhythm Heaven Megamix — A Wii U GamePad appears in the game "Shoot 'Em Up".
  • In Scribblenauts, typing "Scribblenauts" will summon a DS cartridge of the game.
  • Shadows of the Empire — The supercomputer which Dash Rendar is tasked to steal from the frigate ship Suprosa is modeled after an N64 with the Shadows cartridge plugged in.
  • Splatoon:
    • Splatoon:
      • Among the shooter class weapons are guns modeled after the NES Zapper. The N-ZAP '85 is modeled after the original gray NES Zapper, while the N-ZAP '89 after the later orange revision. There's also the N-ZAP '83, which is modeled after the original launch model of the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES), right down to the presence of squared AB buttons on the side of the barrel, although it's basically a reskinned Zapper (the official Famicom light gun was shaped like a revolver instead).
      • The Wii U Gamepad and a Pro Controller can be seen hanging when you look through the Battle Dojo entrance.
      • The 26th Sunken Scroll in the first game has a picture of a fossilized human skeleton with a fossilized Wii U and GamePad next to it.
    • Splatoon 2:
      • Several Nintendo consoles, among them an original model Game Boy, a GameCube, and a Switch (naturally), can be spotted as artifacts in the background of Shellendorf Institute.
      • The Octo Expansion has giant Nintendo consoles floating around in the background of some stages. Brute Rollup Station has Game Boy Color systems, Ink From Above Station features GameCube consoles, Shrinky Ink Station features Super NES consoles and games, Ink & Watch Station features Game & Watch systems, and One Shot Station features NES, SNES, N64, and GameCube controllers.
    • Splatoon 3:
      • The jumbotron display in the lobby is a curved Nintendo Switch, sans Joy-Cons controllers but complete with the USB-C docking port at the bottom and the rails for said Joy-Cons.
      • The S-Blast '92 weapon is modelled after the Super Scope accessory for the Super Nintendo.
      • Starting with the Sizzle Season 2023 update, players can obtain decorations for their locker based on miscellaneous Nintendo systems. This includes the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube with the Game Boy Player peripheral, Game Boy Color, and a Game & Watch.
  • StreetPass Mii Plaza:
    • You can acquire hats for the Miis shaped like the 3DS, NES, and the Famicom by playing the "Find Mii" minigame multiple times. The update that added the plaza ticket games also added hats for Nintendo's other hardware, including different hats for the Super NES and Super Famicom. An even later update added custom Speech Bubbles, which included options like a Wii U GamePad, a 3DS game card, and a Famicom cartridge.
    • In Battleground Z, the weapon that represents the "Playing Video Games" hobby is a Wii Remote.
  • Super Mario Bros. series:
  • Super Monkey Ball 2 — The "Nintendo" stage at the end of the Story Mode features an amazingly detailed render of a purple GameCube. This stage was replaced by a six-sided die in Super Monkey Ball Deluxe for the PS2 and Xbox.
  • Super Smash Bros. series:
    • R.O.B. is a playable character since Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
    • Some Game & Watch trophies feature Game & Watch hardware itself. "Flat Zone" stages also take the form of Game & Watch systems.
    • The Super Scope light gun from the Super NES era is a usable item since Super Smash Bros. Melee.
    • Melee — The Trophy Room has a number of Nintendo consoles in the background, including a GameCube. If the language setting in the American version is set to Japanese, then the NES and Super NES will be replaced by a Famicom and Super Famicom respectively, and a Virtual Boy will be added to the set as well. A GameCube trophy can also be won, whose description says "Rumor has it that Super Smash Bros. Melee is a software title for this wondrous device."
    • Brawl — The presents background of Trophy Hoard has a black Nintendo DS Lite in one of the boxes.
    • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS — Similar to the Flat Zones, there is a Kirby's Dream Land stage inside a Game Boy screen.
    • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — The map screen for the World of Light story mode has a city area with several buildings that resemble classic Nintendo systems and accessories as well as a few logos and mascots.
  • Tales of Symphonia — There's a GameCube in the Renegade's Base that you rotate to solve a puzzle. The later PS2 version changed it to a black block.
  • Tom and Jerry (NES) — An NES control deck appears at the very beginning of World 4 Stage 1.
  • Tomodachi Life:
    • The Wii U and 3DS XL can be given to Miis as gifts for when they level up. They will occasionally be seen playing them, with Wii Remotes and the GamePad showing up in the former's case. The Japan-Only predecessor, Tomodachi Collection, had a Wii and a Nintendo DS instead.
    • Included as treasures in the game are the NES, the Game & Watch, the Game Boy, and the Virtual Boy (this being one of the few times Nintendo has acknowledged it). They serve as Shop Fodder and can appear in café conversations and dreams like any other treasure.
  • Wario World — The last treasure in the second level of each world is a Nintendo console. The consoles that Wario can find consists of an NES, a Nintendo 64, a Game Boy Advance and a GameCube.
  • WarioWare:
    • Since the plot of the series involves Wario as a video game designer, many of the games in the series feature a cameo by the platform they were released on: WarioWare: Twisted! features a specially adapted GBA; WarioWare: Touched! has Wario get a DS; WarioWare: Smooth Moves has the Form Baton, which is a Wii Remote. Also, most of Nintendo's consoles also make a lot of appearances during 9-Volt's Microgames and Cutscenes (for example, a microgame in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ asks the player to quickly identify which of the GBA samples shown is the real one).
    • WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!: The GameCube and Game Boy Advance, the two systems that Nintendo was pushing at the time of the game's release, both appear in various places throughout the game:
      • Each of the single-player modes take place on the screen of a Game Boy Advance, as seen in the intro to each mode, where the handheld's screen takes over the TV screen. Each mode has a different-colored GBA as well.
      • The options menu shows Dr. Crygor entering certain options by using a Gamecube controller as the player moves through them.
      • In Balloon Bang, the character currently playing the microgame is shown holding a Gamecube controller, which is plugged into a Gamecube console.
      • 9-Volt's mode, Card-e-Cards, is based on the e-Reader accessory for the Game Boy Advance, with the microgames all appearing on e-Reader cards.
  • Wii Fit — A slightly anthropomorphized Wii Balance Board character appears in the menus. In the Wii U edition, your Mii can also be seen wearing the Wii Fit pedometer.
  • The Wonderful 101 — Wonder Red holds a Wii U GamePad in different positions of reclining as a representation for the difficulty settings, and Wonder Black is never seen without a Nintendo 3DS styled to look like the Donkey Kong Game & Watch in his hands.
  • Yoshi's Woolly World — Among the many color patterns that can be unlocked for Yoshi, there is a series based on Nintendo's home consoles from the NES to the Wii U; in addition to the amiibo-unlocked R.O.B. costume.
  • ZombiU — The Prepper Pad was deliberately designed to look like a Wii U GamePad.

    Sega hardware 
  • The Adventures of Willy Beamish — Willy's Game Buddy was redesigned to resemble a Game Gear in the Sega CD version.
  • Aladdin (Virgin Games) — The Sega Genesis version has tons of said systems in the background of the level taking place inside Genie's lamp. Justified, considering The Genie Knows Jack Nicholson.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA — The music video for "Remote Controller" features a Sega Dreamcast controller.
  • The first Make My Video game, Power Factory featuring C+C Music Factory, has your created video discs being inserted into a Sega CD to watch.
  • Night Trap — The intro sequence shows a Genesis controller as the device used to control the cameras and traps.
  • Phantasy Star Portable — Most of the Sega consoles appear as weapons. Namely the Mark III, the Master System, the Genesis, the Saturn and the Dreamcast.
  • Power Factory Featuring C+C Music Factory, the very first Make My Video entry, shows your produced music discs being inserted into a Sega CD for their playback.
  • Pulseman — A picture of a Mega Drive can be seen in the background of the first stage.
  • In the Sakura Wars spin-off Sakura Revolution, Mutsuha Mogami's armor has Sega Saturn as her goggles and Game Gear as her wrist armor. In her ultimate attack, the scroll program UI resembles a Sega Dreamcast intro and menu screen.
  • Segagaga — In addition to the usual cameos of the actual consoles (given the game's nature as a parodic simulation of running the SEGA company), the finale turns the game into a shoot-em-up, with the various Sega consoles serving as the bosses.
  • Shenmue — Ryo Hazuki owns a Saturn in his home. While this is an anachronistic choice of a console, given the game's 1986 setting and the fact that the Saturn wasn't launched in Japan until the end of 1994 (the latest Sega console at this time would've been the Mark III), it does allow him to have access to arcade-perfect home conversions of Hang-On and Space Harrier by winning them at a convenient store raffle.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Sonic Adventure — E-105 Zeta has multiple visible Sega Dreamcasts built in it during its boss fight in Gamma's story.
      • In the Chao Gardens, a machine with a VMU built onto it transfers your Chao onto the device in the Dreamcast version. On the GameCube, it is replaced by an original Game Boy Advance and transfers your Chao to Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2 or Sonic Pinball Party. In the 2004 PC release, as well as the 2010 HD versions, it's changed to a Chao head-shaped device with a GBA-esque screen and only serves to set your Chao free (in technical terms, delete it). Same applies to the respective versions of Sonic Adventure 2.
    • Sonic Unleashed — In the opening cinematic, a Dreamcast can be seen in Eggman's pod when he fires at Earth to awaken Dark Gaia.
    • Sonic Generations — A Genesis/Mega Drive appears in the Hub Level in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. It lets you play the original Sonic once you get enough skill points.
    • Sonic Chronicles — An original model Genesis can be seen alongside an Egg Robo in the Metropolis level. A Genesis control pad can be seen hanging from a beam in Nestor's home during the Kron Colony stage.
    • LEGO Dimensions — In the DLC Sonic level, a Lego Model 1 Sega Genesis appears from one of the portals after Sonic defeats his robotic counterparts, with a black Lego Croissant being used as one of the controllers.
  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed:
    • One of the final unlockable characters is AGES, the SEGA-bot. Its boat transformation turns it into a sea-worthy Dreamcast Controller, its map icon and victory screen shows that AGES itself is a Dreamcast VMU, and some of its sound effects are pulled directly from Sega console BIOS (such as the Japanese Sega Saturn booting, the Master System booting and the VMU "no battery" beeping).
    • Also, when the first place racer begins the third lap on the Race of AGES level, Segata Sanshiro, the Sega Saturn's Memetic Badass Japanese Mascot, flies by, still holding on to the rocket he rode into space during his last commercial, and still holding a Sega Saturn.
      • On that note, the plane path of the Race of AGES is filled with ghostly holograms of every important Sega system, and at the beginning of the track, we can see a Mega Drive hologram too.
  • Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania feature a playable Sega Game Gear, Master System, and Dreamcast as playable charcters.
  • Toy Commander — A Saturn can be seen in the attic, and a Dreamcast in the living room.
  • The Typing of the Dead — The two protagonist wield keyboards with Dreamcast consoles strapped on their backs.
  • Virtua Fighter 5 — The June 2010 update of Virtua Fighter 5R added certain Sega consoles (namely the Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast) as backpacks that can be equipped by any fighter during combat. These fashion accessories are sold through the VF.Net network service for virtual currency accumulated through play and each one cost the same price the actual hardware were sold for in Japan during launch (i.e. 29,900 Gs; 44,800 Gs, and 21,000 Gs). These items are available from the get-go in the console versions of Final Showdown.
  • Virtual-ON — The original Virtuaroids had drive engines shaped like the Sega Saturn in their backs. In Oratorio Tangram, they're upgraded to Dreamcast consoles.
  • Yakuza 0:
    • The game is set in Japan in 1988 around the launch of the Sega Mega Drive — the console is shown plugged in in one cutscene, and anthropomorphized plushies of the console can be won in crane games.
    • There are also Sega Hi-Tech Land arcades which feature Sega arcade equipment, along with emulations of retro Sega games such as Fantasy Zone and OutRun.

    NEC hardware 
  • Bomberman — The TurboGrafx 16 version feature various PC Engine models (namely the PC Engine Shuttle, CoreGrafx and SuperGrafx, the latest models of the console available at the time in 1989) as hidden bonus items.
  • I.Q. Panic — The title screen of this quiz-based RPG shows a young blue-haired girl dressed like Lady Liberty holding a PC Engine Duo on her left arm and a game pad on her right hand.
  • Star Parodier — An anthropomorphic PC Engine appears as a playable character. Its weapon powerups come in the form of HuCards, one of which gives it the Tennokoe battery backup attachment and another which makes it shoot CDs, and it has options shaped like the system's controllers. There is also a giant SuperGrafx base that appears in the ending cinematic.

    PlayStation hardware 
  • Army Men: RTS — One of the stage features a giant PS2 console that provides the player with electric energy for buildings and units.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair — The camera monitor Kazuichi sets up in Chapter 3 resembles a PSP GO.
  • Dead Rising 2 — In the PS3 version, Katey uses a PSP to play Mega Man Powered Up, which was only released for that platform. The Xbox 360 version replaced the PSP with an unnamed portable device and just mentions that she's playing Mega Man, without specifying which exact game.
  • God of War III — A rhythm puzzle features the four shape buttons of the PlayStation controller that Kratos has to press in-universe.
  • Gran Turismo 5 — A PS3 can be seen in the rear of the interior of the High End Performance G37 if you go into cockpit view.
  • The Last of Us — A few slim model PS3 consoles appear throughout the campaign, including one in Joel's living room during the opening sequence.
    • The Last of Us Part II — A PS3 is seen in the library early on in the game, and later on you encounter an NPC playing a PS Vita.
  • LittleBigPlanet — The DualShock 3 controller is used to control the player's 'pod'. Sackboy even copies the player's button presses. In the PS Vita version, this was naturally replaced with, of course, a Vita.
  • Me and My Katamari — One of the rollable people is a kid playing with his PSP. The sequel, Touch My Katamari, features portable game systems shaped like the Vita, but the actual devices are unbranded.
  • Persona:
    • Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: At Maya's apartment, she has a PlayStation hooked up to her TV.
    • Persona 5: A NPC can be seen playing with a Vita inside a train that the protagonist takes to school. Almost every day.
  • PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale — Sweet Tooth's Level 2 Super has him control a missile with a PS3 controller. Also, the wavy lines in the menu background and the background of the boss arena are meant to resemble the XMB (the PS3's system interface).
  • Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus — If you look around the gang's hideout after beating Muggshot but before beating Mz. Ruby, you can see Murray playing a game on a PS one, complete with that console's obscure LCD attachment.
  • Star Ocean: The Second Story — Some of the enemies are murderous PlayStation controllers that attack the player's party with their cords.

    Xbox hardware 
  • Alan Wake — Emerson owns an Xbox 360 in his apartment along with a copy of the fictional "Night Springs" game, based on the Show Within a Show.
  • Beautiful Katamari — The Coolhouse stage has numerous Xbox 360 consoles and controllers scattered around as household items, including a row of controllers arranged to spell 360.
  • Breakdown — One area features an original Xbox.
  • Condemned 2: Bloodshot — Xbox 360 consoles appear throughout the game as collectible items and they're all decorated with a faceplate featuring the game's logo. There are various achievement for collecting them.
  • Halo 3 (Master Chief Collection) — As part of the conjoined 20th anniversary of both the original Xbox and the Halo series, several armor pieces centered around the Xbox were made available for a limited time. The back accessory named "The Beast" is the console attached to the multiplayer Spartan's back, and the "Duke" shoulder pieces are MARK VI pauldrons bearing the original controller. A now-unobtainable back accessory named "X-Pack" is the Rucksack with an Xbox patch, lime green straps, a black and green flap, and two "Duke" controllers on the sides.
  • Midtown Madness 3 — Certain pedestrians can be seen carrying boxes branded with the original Xbox logo.
  • Ninja Gaiden — In the Xbox reboot of the series (as well as its Black revision), there's a hidden passageway near Han's Bar in Chapter 4, which has the silver prototype version of the original console shown at GDC 2000. Examining the console will play the Xbox boot-up theme and restore Ryu to full heath. The prototype console reappears in Ninja Gaiden II during Chapter 4 in a museum in Ellis Island, where it has the same effect. The Sigma versions of these games released for the PS3 and other platforms replaced the Xbox prototype with a Team Ninja logo.

    Multiple Hardware Families 
  • Banjo-Kazooie series:
    • In the original game, the 3rd file on the file select screen is a scene of Banjo playing on a Game Boy. It wasn't removed in the Xbox 360 port.
    • Banjo-Tooie:
      • The multiplayer mode on the main menu is represented by an N64, with some game cartridges next to it. The N64 is still there in the Xbox Live Arcade version, but the games are replaced by copies of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
      • The camera that Chris P. Bacon is using for underwater photography is actually a Game Boy Camera.
    • Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts: A whole stack of Xbox 360 consoles can be seen on the file menu screen, and Kazooie can be seen playing both an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo 64. Later, one of the levels is called LOGBOX 720, which is modeled after the interior of an Xbox 360.
  • Game Center CX series:
    • Arino no Chōsenjō 2 — In addition to the Famicom-based Game Computer featured in the original game (see Retro Game Challenge in the Nintendo folder) and other pastiches of Nintendo hardware, this sequel also introduced two other parody consoles based on hardware by other companies: the Enter M-2000 (a parody of Sega's SG-1000) and the Masa X (based on the MSX).
    • Sanchōme no Arino — The third GCCX game (which was released as a digital download in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS) has a different lineup of parody consoles from the ones featured in the first two games. These consists of the Gefami (based on the Famicom), the Gefami Deluxe (based on the Super Famicom), the King V3 (based on the Sega Mark III) and the New Gem (based on the Neo-Geo).
  • Metal Gear series:
    • Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake — Dr. Kio Marv's OILIX formula is stored inside an MSX cartridge in his locker. After Snake escapes from Zanzibarland at the end, he uses the cartridge on an actual computer, which shows the MSX boot-up screen with Dr. Marv's signature in the form of the system's memory ("VRAM 01k" looks a lot like Kio Marv spelled backwards).
    • Metal Gear Solid — A PlayStation-like game console and controller can be seen on a desk in Otacon's lab.
      • Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes — The PlayStation and controller are replaced with an indigo GameCube console and Wavebird controller. The monitor next to the console can be seen running the system's menu.
    • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots — A PlayStation 3 console (an original "fat" model to be precise) can be seen inside the upper deck of the Nomad (Snake and Otacon's airship), and the controller that Snake uses to navigate the Metal Gear Mk. II/III is a DualShock 3. The original PlayStation is also shown during a flashback when Snake encounters the ghost of Psycho Mantis in Act 5, and Sunny herself can be seen playing Penguin Adventure on her PSP (which was re-released in one of the MSX Antiques compilations in Japan available as a digital download on PSN) during the initial briefing segment with Campbell.
    • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain — In this final game produced by Hideo Kojima for the series, the final scene shows Venom Snake playing a cassette labelled "Operation Intrude N313" on a Sony Bitcorder connected to an MSX2 computer (an HB-F1 to be exact), the platform Kojima's saga started on.
  • Snatcher:
    • The computer in Jean-Jack Gibson's home was originally depicted as an NEC PC-8801, which just happens to be the platform that the game was originally released for. All the references to the computer being a PC-8801 were removed in subsequent versions, starting with the initial MSX2 conversion, which hastily replaced all references to the computer being a PC-88 into an MSX with no changes to the artwork depicting it, not even the 5-inch floppy that the player has to use on it to progress through the game (no MSX computers were ever made that supported 5-inch floppies). Later versions either, turned Gibson's computer into a fictionalized platform (like the PC-68 Coregrafx in the PC Engine version and the PC-68 Genesis in the Sega CD version, both named after the consoles they were released on) or they just left it as a generic old computer (like they did on the PlayStation and Saturn versions).
    • In the third act that was added to the later console versions, Gillian's robotic companion, Metal Gear Mark II, is destroyed, only to be rebuilt with the body of a game console. For the PC Engine version (the first version that contained Act 3), Metal Gear calls itself the "Metal Gear Duo" and turns itself into a PC Engine Duo (the Japanese version of the Turbo Duo), while on the Sega CD version, he was rebuilt into a Model 2 Genesis with a Sega CD attachment, appropriately called "Metal Gear Sega CD" (or "Metal Gear Mega CD" in the European version). Likewise, the 32-bit versions have "Metal Gear PS" and "Metal Gear Saturn".
  • The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare — One of the dream sequences in the game involves Bart Simpson being transformed into a Notzilla (appropriately enough named Bartzilla) who goes on a rampage in Springfield. In the second portion of this dream, Bartzilla is reduced to human size by a shrink ray and must climb an apartment building filled with angry tenants who will throw random junk at him, including a certain game console. Since Bart's Nightmare was initially released for the Super NES, the original version had the tenants throwing away their Sega Genesis consoles at Bart. Oddly enough, when the game was ported to the Genesis, the consoles that the tenants threw away were redrawn to resemble not the SNES but the original "toaster" style model of the NES.
  • Unpacking — The protagonist is friends with avid gamers, and she is one herself. While not explicitly identified as such, the various consoles riff on existing platforms: she starts out owning a Game Boy, upgrades to a Game Boy Advance while acquiring a GameCube, upgrades again to a DS and a Wii, and briefly dates a man who owns an Xbox 360.

    Other Hardware 
  • ANNO: Mutationem: At Noctis City, there's an Atari 2600 that can be examined holding a cartridge titled "Super Hacker Bros." on display.
  • Boneworks opens on a museum of VR, which has exhibits on the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Valve Index. The game is playable on Windows Mixed Reality, but no WMR hardware is displayed.
  • The Dungeon Of Doom — The original and its remake had the current state-of-the-art Apple Macintosh as a rare throwable object, which smashed on contact for tremendous damage.
  • Glider — Most of the games in this series feature the built-in-monochrome-screen Macs where the series got its start.
  • La-Mulana — The original freeware version of the game was filled with references to the MSX, as the game was designed as a homage to the system's game catalog. The MSX BIOS appears during the booting sequence and the protagonist even uses an MSX laptop—with its screen border visible on the game window—to view his inventory. His father leaves behind an MSX in the ruins with a message for him, and the end of the message instructs him to turn the computer off when he's done reading. He can also find various Konami cartridges and combine them to gain special effects. The remake removed all MSX and Konami references and replaced the protagonist's laptop with a Brand X.
  • My Little Pony (Gameloft) — One of the decorative items in the store is a statue of the Android robot. Again, exclusive to the Android version.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog series:
    • Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I — The iOS version includes an unique Idle Animation where Sonic pulls out an iPhone and brings it to his ear.
    • Sonic Dash — Exclusive to Android systems, the Android robot appears as a playable character. Play 50 times with this character, and you unlock Andronic, an Android robot with a Sonic paint job.
  • Spellbound Dizzy — One significant in-game item is a ZX81.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom — On the Goo Lagoon level in the console versions, a sand sculpture appears that looks like an Atari 2600 controller.
  • Pokémon mobile games:
  • Yakuza 6:
    • The game features a Sony Xperia smartphone as the main character's mobile phone (which forms a key part of the UI). This is changed to a generic model for the sister game, Judgment.
    • Period-appropriate ads for the Sony Walkman are also shown in Yakuza 0, which at launch was only available on PlayStation.
    • Karaoke machines in the series (excluding Yakuza 0) are all JoySound branded, and replicate the UIs of JoySound's own karaoke systems.

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