January 6, 2002
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs the Futurama TV show in the USA. A "what if" scenario is shown: "what if life were more like a video game". - The space ship in Asteroids shoots some asteroids, then lands in the main building.
- The president of the Earth signs peace with Ambassador Kong (Donkey Kong) of planet Nintendo 64. The Donkey Kong character throws barrels, climbs ladders, and the sounds of the Donkey Kong game can be heard.
- The Mario character also appears, as the representative of Italy.
- A green wireframe tank from Battle Zone roams the street.
- Doors in a military building are labelled Missile Command, Secretary of Defender, and Moon Patrol.
- To enter the War Room, a message is displayed "You need the blue key", like in games like Doom.
- Monitors in the War Room show Centipede playing.
- The main general is Pac-Man.
- One sequence takes place on a full-screen Pac-Man board, complete with ghosts pellets and power pills.
- The group of people escape out of a Warp Pipe from Super Mario Bros..
- Above the city, a real game of Space Invaders takes place, with the familiar alien ships advancing left, right, and down. One of the main characters plays Space Invaders on an arcade machine, shooting the ships above the city.
- When General Pac-Man is killed, Ms. Pac-man mourns his loss.
- When the last space ship lands on Earth, out step Donkey Kong, an egg from Burger Time, Q*Bert, the main Robotron character and one of the brain people from Robotron.
- One of the aliens says "All your base are belong to us", a reference to an English translation of the 1989 Japanese video game Zero Wing by Toaplan.
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(Copyright 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
March 8, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the US. A department store has a "Video Games" section. | 
(Copyright 2002 Nickelodeon) |
March 17, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs the Futurama TV show in the USA. A video arcade machine is used on board a space ship for blasting other ships. | 
(Copyright 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
March 22, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the US. Two characters play "Crash Nebula" on a home video game system. The final question in a Brain-a-Thon competition is about the propulsion system of a spaceship in the video game. |   
(Copyright 2002 Nickelodeon) |
April 26, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the US. A handheld video game system appears, looking like the Game Boy Color. | 
(Copyright 2002 Nickelodeon) |
April 28, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. An arcade video game Shark Bait appears. | 
(Copyright 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
June 7, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the USA. A scene takes place in a videogame arcade. A character says "Boys like video games, girls like make-up." | 
(Copyright 2002 Nickelodeon) |
September 13, 2002
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the US. - A scene takes place in a video game arcade.
- Two characters play a "Virtua-Stud" virtual reality video game.
- In an arena battle, a giant ape throws barrels down steps and ladders, a reference to the Donkey Kong video game.
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(Copyright 2002 Nickelodeon) |
October 2002
| The November issue of Mac Addict magazine includes a picture of a yellow apple eating white dots, a reference to the Pac-Man game. |
October 29, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the USA. A parent offers his son's video games as a "trick or treat" offering. | 
(Copyright 2002 Nickelodeon) |
November 1, 2002
| The WB Television Network airs the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch TV show in the US. A character says the best her magic spell book can do is "exorcise a demon-infested Atari", likely referring to the Atari 2600 or Atari Video Computer System. |
November 17, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. The Pokémon character Pikachu appears. | 
(Copyright 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
December 1, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A character temporarily living in an 1895 setting says "I miss my toys, my video games". |
December 8, 2002
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs the Futurama TV show in the USA. A character plays a handheld video game closely resembling a Nintendo Game Boy. | 
(Copyright 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
January 5, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A video arcade is shown at a large theme park. Some games are "PONG 3000", "LARRY THE LOOTER", "SHARK BAIT", "Halloween Hit and Run" (likely a parody of Crazy Taxi), and "TIME WASTER". |   
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
February 2, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. When faced with loading a large number of objects into his car, a character comments that "this is what all those hours of playing Tetris were for". The objects assume the shapes of Tetris shapes, and the game music can be heard. | 
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
February 16, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A video game is played on a big-screen television. | 
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
February 16, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. At a boring event, a child says "I didn't bring a Game Boy". |
March 2, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. An actress comments that most actor-dates just want to talk about "their Botox, their Tae-bo or their Xbox". |
March 30, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs the Futurama TV show in the USA. Pacman characters with authentic movement sound are shown as "an oil-eating bacterium". | 
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
April 13, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. An Asteroids arcade video game appears. |  
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
July 13, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs the Futurama TV show in the USA. A character says "Fry, what in Sega Genesis happened to you?". |
October 10, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the USA. The main character plays a basketball video game called "DIGI DUNK 3000" on a home video game system called "V-Cube", with a wired controller with left-thumb joystick and right side 4-color buttons, a reference to the Nintendo GameCube. | 
(Copyright 2003 Nickelodeon) |
November 16, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the US. When a character wins at roulette, he says "First thing tomorrow, we're getting a PlayStation 1". |
November 23, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. Two children play a home video game system and game called "Hockey Dad". |   
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
December 7, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. The "Noiseland Arcade" includes at least eleven arcade video game machines. | 
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
December 14, 2003
| The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. At a shopping mall, a child plays an educational video game where the players blasts the state capitals on a map of the USA. | 
(Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) |
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Other web pages of interest:
Chronology of Video Game Systems
Top Selling Video Games by Month
Polsson's Garage Sale - Video Games
Disney References in Pop Culture
Personal Computer References in Pop Culture
Corvette References in Pop Culture
This Day in History
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