aWreck-It Ralpha is a video game loveras delight, making references to classics such as aPac-Man,a aSonic the Hedgehog,a below, and aQ*bert,a at bottom.
From the looks of it, "Hero's Duty" has all the makings of a blockbuster sci-fi shooter game, cobbling together popular elements from "Halo," "Call of Duty" and "Gears of War." Except it doesn't exist.
Disney's CG-animated "Wreck-It Ralph" pays homage to the evolution of gaming, with its inclusion of beloved characters -- some voiced by the original actor -- and custom-created games. Ralph is the villain in "Fix-It Felix Jr.," a fictional arcade game that riffs on "Donkey Kong," for example. Desiring to be a hero, Ralph wanders into the fictional "Hero's Duty."
Ranging from a wink and a nod to a cameo, the film unites icons from the medium's most seminal games.
Below are some of the games referenced throughout the film. The year listed is the release of an initial game in the series. A platform game, or platformer, involves passing through a variety of suspended obstacles. An RPG is a role-playing game in which the player controls the actions of a character, or characters, in a narrative. A third-person shooter is a type of 3-D action game in which the player's avatar is on-screen, unlike in a first-person shooter.
"Pac-Man" (1980, classic arcade)
"Donkey Kong" (1981, classic arcade/platform)
"Qix" (1981, classic arcade)
"Frogger" (1981, classic arcade)
"Dig Dug" (1982, classic arcade)
"Joust" (1982, classic arcade/platform)
"Q*bert" (1982, classic arcade/platform)
"Tapper" (1983, classic arcade)
"Paperboy" (1984, classic arcade)
"Mega Man" (1987, platform, later action-adventure/RPG)
"Altered Beast" (1988, platform/fighting)
"Sonic the Hedgehog" (1991, platform, later RPG, action-adventure and fighting)
"Street Fighter" (1987, fighting)
"Mortal Kombat" (1992, fighting)
"Marvel vs. Capcom" (1994, fighting)
"Rise of the Robots" (1994, fighting)
"Virtua Cop" (1994, first-person light gun shooter/arcade)
"The House of the Dead" (1996, first-person rail shooter)
"Dance Dance Revolution" (1998, music video)
"Halo" (2001, first-person shooter)
"Call of Duty" (2003, first- and third-person shooter)
"Gears of War" (2006, third-person shooter)