8 video game characters that are totally based on celebrities

Spitting images!

It's not uncommon for film writers to create a character with a specific actor in mind--and, often, they're able to get that person to be in the film. Game writers often do the same thing, forming characters around different athletes, actors, or celebrities. Sometimes they get the actor to lend their likeness, but other times they just... make it different enough so that they can't get sued and move on.
The characters on this list all give us that "where have I seen you before?" feeling whenever we controlled them. Some of the characters here have been referenced by the creators as being inspirations, while others are based on our own hunches. Do you see the resemblance?

Balrog (Street Fighter)

Shadaloo’s resident boxer is one of the most potent pugilists in fighting game history, which makes perfect sense considering who we think inspired him. See, in America the boxer is Balrog, the claw is Vega, and the dictator is Master Bison, but in Japan the names are flipped so the dictator is Vega, the claw is Balrog, and the boxer is Mike Bison. Mike Bison sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?
Yes, it’s not hard to assume that given the original names, Capcom’s boxer is based off of former heavyweight champion “Iron” Mike Tyson. Now why would Capcom go through all the trouble of changing the names around? What happened? Well, Street Fighter II launched in the US in 1992, when Mike Tyson was on trial for some pretty serious crimes. We think Capcom just wanted to get as far away from that as possible.



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

Look at those two manly men. The men who benefitted most from the famous Konami Code look like they’re going to take on the world on that box art, even with the Xenomorph-looking alien staring them down from behind. As a matter of fact, those two look awfully familiar…like we’ve seen them in action movies or something…
Look, maybe it’s just a hunch, but the blonde dude on the left reminds us a lot of The Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his dark-haired compatriot bears a striking resemblance to Rambo himself, Sylvester Stallone. Why wouldn’t you want your main heroes to look like the two biggest action stars of the 80s and 90s? Every time we play Contra now, we talk like Ahnold and Sly as we mow down bad guys. It makes the game insanely more entertaining.

Liu Kang (Mortal Kombat), Marshall Law (Tekken), and Fei Long (Street Fighter)

Bruce Lee is one of the most famous martial artists to ever live, so it’s no wonder that at least three fighting franchises have tried to emulate him on their rosters. Mortal Kombat’s Liu Kang, Tekken’s Marshall Law (and his son Forest, actually), and Street Fighter’s Fei Long all closely resemble the late master, from their fighting techniques to their loud, high pitched battle cries.
These three are so close to the martial arts icon, anyone who didn’t know who Bruce Lee was would merely have to look at some videos of these three duking it out to get a good idea of Lee’s work. We’re sure there are more examples of Bruce Lee-inspired fighters out there in the video game world, but these three come to mind first.
Andrew Ryan (BioShock)

We know what you’re thinking: who could Andrew Ryan, a man who chose to distance himself from the rules of society by building an underwater city called Rapture, possibly remind us of in the real world? We wouldn’t be surprised if the name Howard Hughes doesn’t ring a bell with the younger crowds, but those who are familiar with both Ryan and Hughes can see the parallels immediately.
Both men were highly successful business magnates who used their success to fuel their ambitions. While Hughes didn’t go around building underwater cities, he did once buy a Las Vegas hotel because he didn’t want to move out of it, then bought a neighboring hotel just to reposition a giant neon slipper that kept him awake at night. When you’re among the wealthiest people in the world, you can do anything you want, just like Ryan and Hughes.

Dee Jay (Street Fighter)

This is a weird one, and you’re going to have to work with us here. We’ve heard tell that Dee Jay, the jammin’ Jamaican from the Street Fighter franchise, was modeled after Billy Blanks, the creator of the Tae-Bo and Billy’s Boot Camp exercise regimens. At first we thought that was crazy, but the more we look and watch him fight, the more it makes sense. Could Dee Jay be a Tae-Bo master?
Dee Jay holds the distinction of being the only Street Fighter to this day that was completely designed in the USA (the rest were designed in Japan, in case you’re wondering), so an animator being inspired by Blanks when creating his street fighter is totally possible. You’ll just have to overlook Dee Jay’s dreads, maracas, and ability to shoot energy from his fist. Could you imagine if Billy Blanks could do that?

Johnny Cage (Mortal Kombat)

Sure, Bruce Lee has some obvious video game counterparts, but this one takes a little more thought. Johnny Cage, the arrogant movie star and nut-puncher extraordinare, reminds us of Belgian action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme. Don’t agree with us? We can see how the comparison weakens in today’s Mortal Kombat universe (Jean-Claude Van-Damme doesn’t have his name tattooed across his chest, for example), but go back to the original Mortal Kombat and things start to change.
Johnny Cage in MK1 looks an awful lot like Van Damme in the excellent movie Bloodsport, doesn’t he? Right down to the red kung fu belt, we’d think they were the same person. Cage’s trademark Split Nut Punch even comes from Bloodsport! If you haven’t seen that movie, go watch it and you’ll see exactly what we mean.


Ellie (The Last of Us)

It’s really uncanny how much this character looks like actress Ellen Page. No, we don’t have the wrong character in our heads. Yes, we know all about Beyond: Two Souls. Yes, we’re fully aware of Jodie Holmes and how Ellen Page was the actress behind her. Ellie from The Last of Us looks a lot like Ellen Page too, and she has from the moment we were first introduced to her.
We’re not the only ones who think this, either. Ellen Page herself said that she wasn’t a fan of Naughty Dog “ripping off” her likeness for Ellie, citing her appearance in Beyond as the reason. Now if Ellen Page thinks that Ellie looks like Ellen Page, why shouldn’t we think the same? Even with the tweaks in her design Naughty Dog implemented during development, we still think Ellie could have starred in Juno.