What are the best cameos in gaming?

Whether it’s Patrick Stewart in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Sean Bean in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, or Terrence Stamp in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, there are numerous examples of big name hollywood actors showing up in video games, and it’s always an exciting little surprise to hear a familiar voice that isn’t Troy Baker. But sometimes, there are cameos or guest starring roles that aren’t even particularly well advertised. Did you know, for example, that Lynda Carter of Wonder Woman fame played every female Nord and Orc NPC in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

But what is the best game that features one of these surprise guest appearances, cameos, easter eggs, or whatevers? To find out, we consulted a top panel of non-experts in the form of podcast regular Tom Orry (my boss), Owen O’Donnell from The Infinite Review, and in his first ever appearance on our show, Richie Morgan: videographer, podcaster, twitch streamer, and Greggs Liker with a devoted cult following in the Scottish gaming podcast scene. Despite this impressive CV, Tom is furious with me for once again filling the podcast with my mates.

To find out if he was wrong to doubt me, you’ll have to watch or listen to The Best Games Ever Podcast episode 70, conveniently available on this very page!

Special thanks to David Bulmer for performing "Jim's Theme".

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Spoilers ahead for those of you who just can't spare 38 measly minutes of your time to find out what people said in the above programme that we spent hours and hours making for you.

Tom Orry

Tom essentially tried to argue that it was a surprise when Master Chief showed up in a Halo game.

Owen O'Donnell from The Infinite Review

Owen chose The Lost World: Jurassic Park Special Edition on the PS1, which I think you'll all agree is a fine choice, given that the secret cameo in question is Jeff Goldblum berating you for bothering to play the game.

Richie Morgan

Richie went with the James Bond 007 Action Pack on ZX Spectrum, making it possibly the oldest game we've ever had submitted on the show. Everyone on the show this week is old enough to remember when video games came on audio cassettes: the same ones you could play on your stereo. Usually if you did this, you'd be subjected to the horrendous bleeping and screeching of data as it sounds when encoded onto an analogue audio medium. Back in the day, a lot of game publishers took advantage of this technological quirk in order to bundle extra audio content onto the tape, so for example one side would be where the game is stored, and on the other side you'd have some kind of tie-in audio drama, a message from the programmers, or a studio recording of the game's theme music.

It's a fascinating look back at forgotten technology, and it's a trend that continued well into the 90s, as video games started being distributed on CD-ROMs, their soundtracks would often be encoded on the same disc as audio, playable in a regular stereo CD player. This is how a lot of people first got into The Prodigy, as their biggest hit "Firestarter" was the centrepiece track on WipeOut 2097 on the PS1. This led to a lot of people, myself included, purchasing the subsequent album, turning The Prodigy from an uncerground club sensation into a huge mainstream act.

Anyway Richie didn't win because Spectrum games were all toilet.

“What is the Best Games Ever Show?” you ask? Well, it is essentially a 30-minute panel show where people (Jim Trinca and associates) decide on the best game in a specific category. That's it. It's good. Listen to it.

Come back in a week for another exciting instalment of the Best Games Ever Show.