Yes, obviously we’d be here till Dead Souls freezes over if we mentioned every video-game reference Ernest Cline mentioned. But today we’re going to look at a select few classics, catching just the tip of the iceberg. Over all of Cline’s novels, which vintage button-bashers caught our eye?
Here are six of the top high-scorers.
Armada (2015) – Eve Online
View on Amazon.comI could just as easily have gone for Elite: Dangerous here, but Eve Online is an MMO with a few more years on it. Both are hugely popular ‘massively multiplayer online’ games, providing players with the chance to take to the stars and engage in epic space battles, living second lives behind their keyboards. Black Mirror’s ‘USS Callister’ follow-up is the perfect example.
In Cline’s 2015 novel, protagonist Zack Lightman is an adolescent high-scorer in the fictional online world of ‘Armada.’ However, the game is secretly a training program designed to find the best pilots to fight an imminent alien invasion.
So not unlike 1984’s ‘The Last Starfighter,’ but updated for the MMO.
Ready Player One (2011) – Adventure
View on Amazon.comWarren Robinett’s 1980 Atari classic was a game-changer for the action-adventure genre. While a simple pixel in a maze may not turn today’s fully immersive VR gamer’s headsets, it shaped video-game exploration as we now know it. Wreaking havoc in GTA owes a debt to the groundwork laid here.
Another key aspect of the game was that it was the first to feature an Easter Egg. Inspired by The Beatles secret messaging rumors, Robinett hid his name in the game (thankfully inspiring no Manson Families in the process). Now they’ve become a regular fixture in gaming, with hidden secrets picked apart just hours after release through dedicated communities.
Using this same conceit, Oasis virtual world creator James Halliday tasks Wade with finding all his Eggs in order to win the game. At one point he’s even seen playing Adventure directly, waxing lyrical about the pure joy of exploration.
Armada (2015) – Wing Commander
View on Amazon.comA benchmark in space-flight gaming, this classic series set the template for years to come. From its story, graphics, and later cinematic cut-scenes, it essentially dropped players into an ongoing space-opera and left them to get on with it. Starting out in 1990 on DOS, it would quickly become a mainstay of nineties PC gaming before porting to consoles.
And it was this big budget style that Cline drew from for his interstellar battles in Armada. Briefed by his own Earth Defense Alliance commanders, Lightman is essentially shown an intro cutscene prepping him for the battle ahead. The battles then go on to reflect the games, paying further homage to the franchise.
A pretty straightforward tip of the hat, wearing its influences on its sleeve.
Ready Player One (2011) – Joust
View on Amazon.comAnother Atari arcade classic, Joust first arrived on the scene back in 1982. And it was here players got an answer to the twentieth century’s single most burning question: what would it be like to be a knight participating in a jousting tournament if they were in fact riding an ostrich? Burying our heads in the sand to this mystery no longer, we had an instant two-player hit with competitors attempting to knock each other off their respective birds.
And it was fun!
So step up Wade Watts once again to take on another of Halliday’s Oasis challenges. Needing to figure out the game, find it in Halliday’s virtual world, and then reach the top of the leaderboard, Joust is a key component to Wade’s quest. Understandably this didn’t make the film cut, since watching someone twiddle a joystick for hours doesn’t make for compelling cinema (although Twitch on Imax, now there’s an idea…). Still, it was a fun addition to the book.
Armada (2015) – Polybius
View on Amazon.comSure, we get it, this one’s a bit of a cheat. An urban legend wrapped in a fictional video-game inside a novel. But it kind of counts, an online myth of a retro mind-controlling game backed by shadowy forces. And Jeff Minter of Llamatron fame did loosely adapt his own version in 2017.
In the world of Armada, 80s arcade hit Phaëton takes its inspiration from the urban legend; it’s a machine placed by the ‘men in black’ to test future potential starfighters for the oncoming star wars. Shrouded in mystery with little known about its origins, its online counterpart became ‘Armada’ and ‘Terra Firmer.’
Thanks to numerous show mentions, it’s become a popular go-to reference when looking at eighties gaming and the paranoia of the period. Who really is pulling the strings…?
Ready Player 2 (2020) – Dance Dance Revolution
View on Amazon.comOkay, I’ve got to be honest, at this point I found the Ready Player franchise starting to grate. While the eighties ‘vintage’ gimmick was fun in the first, the sequel was pushing it. I don’t think I’m alone in this, and I’m not sure Cline will be going for a third. Still, it did have its moments, so I’ll finish up with a Dance Dance Revolution shout out.
In the book the gang have to compete in a virtual dancing contest that mimics the arcade game: step on the floorpads in time with the music playing and arrows on screen. Simple.
Sure, it’s not really a notable reference, but it was a cool arcade game I played as a teenager. Family seaside holidays. The machine falling apart with god knows what sticking me and my cousin’s feet to the surface. Pretending we were more drunk than we actually were off some cheap booze concoction stolen from our parents, desperately attempting to impress some girls-and falling flat on our face.
Maybe Cline could feature that in his next novel?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A lifelong lover of quality storytelling, Sam grew up in rural England with little else but reading (okay, and some gaming). Starting with Charlotte's Web, he developed a passion for ghost stories and comedy. With his background in narrative and scriptwriting, he writes for Book Notification, providing recommendations both good and not so terrible.