Red One is now in theaters, and video game fans should keep an eye out for some interesting Easter eggs. The PlayStation 5 makes a brief cameo as an object fought over by two Christmas shoppers, and a Nintendo Switch game also makes a prominent appearance. The game in question is called Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4, and it gets referenced quite a few times in Red One. Some viewers might think this is a case of blatant product placement, but it’s not: the game was specifically created for the film, and is not available in stores or on the eShop.
For a game that doesn’t actually exist, Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4 gets name dropped multiple times throughout the movie! WARNING: MINOR RED ONE SPOILERS AHEAD. The first time the game is mentioned is early in the movie, when Santa (J.K. Simmons) makes an appearance at a shopping mall. In the scene, a child asks Santa for Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4 specifically for Switch. Santa tells the boy he has a mind like a steel trap, and won’t forget the gift. As Santa and his bodyguard Callum (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) depart the mall, Santa chuckles about the request, noting that Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4 is going to be one of the year’s big games.
Later in Red One, Santa proves true to his word. As children around the world wake up to presents on Christmas Day, the boy who requested that gift finds a copy of Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4, delivered by the big man himself. The filmmakers went the extra mile on this detail, as the game even got its own accurate looking Nintendo Switch case! It’s a nice little nod to the beginning of the film, and the inclusion of the Switch box should get a smile out of Nintendo fans.
It’s not unusual for Christmas movies to make up fake gifts or products for kids to ask Santa for; Bad Santa‘s “Fraggle Stick Car” is a perfect example, and Billy Bob Thornton’s reaction to the request is probably one of the movie’s funniest moments. There’s also “Susie Talks a Lot” in Elf, which Buddy makes sure ends up under the tree of Carolyn Reynolds, a little girl he befriends in a doctor’s office. We’ve even seen fake video games appear in holiday movies like 8-Bit Christmas. The premise of that movie centered around a character asking for a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas, and featured multiple real-life games, including Paper Boy and Rampage. However, it also featured a made-up game that could be played with the Power Glove called Silent Fists.
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These little details help to flesh out the world of these Christmas movies, and it can be fun trying to figure out which ones are real and which ones are fake. Red One went to a lot of extra trouble making Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4 seem pretty real. However, Nintendo Switch owners are going to have to ask for something else from Santa this year.
Did you see Red One yet? Were you wondering if Ultimate Vampire Assassin 4 was an actual video game? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
The post Red One Features a Nintendo Switch Game That Doesn’t Actually Exist appeared first on ComicBook.com.
