For decades, North American fast food chains have leaned on brand collaborations to incentivize customer visits. As an early-90s millennial, nearly every kids’ meal I’ve ever enjoyed has included branded tchotchkes and logo-loaded packaging. On Thursday, however, McDonald’s shared a cryptic, seasonally-appropriate post about what it called “Silent Hill McDonald’s,” and while there’s been no information about whether parents can expect Pyramid Head in their kids’ next Happy Meal, the post certainly piqued interest in gamers and horror fans. Could the brand be soft-launching a Silent Hill-centered campaign to promote the creepy series’ latest entry, Silent Hill f? While we’re left to wonder about Ronald McDonald’s spooky new endeavor, I can’t help but reflect on the fast food industry’s gaming promotions of the past. From those disturbing Xbox “advergames” starring Burger King’s King to Taco Bell’s oft-forgotten software, we’re revisiting fast food companies’ most unforgettable video game tie-ins. Hungry yet?
Burger King — ‘King Games’ (2006)
Burger King introduced three, uh, interesting games for the Microsoft Xbox in the mid-aughts, all three of which followed the brand’s uncanny valley King in various adventures. The corny games, which were available for a few extra dollars with a value meal purchase, had some pretty on-the-nose titles. Big Bumpin’ brought the BK King to bumper cars; Sneak King sent players on stealthy food-delivery missions; PocketBike Racer, if you can believe it, puts the mascot in pocketbike races. Sneak King was the scariest of the trio, and the promotion’s most successful.
McDonald’s — Sonic Heroes (2003)
In the early 2000s, SEGA and McDonald’s introduced six handheld games with their Happy Meals. The toys were a hit, as it was the first time a video game brand released playable hardware. The collection comprised five Sonic the Hedgehog-branded toys and one Super Monkey Ball handheld. If you can believe it, the 22-year-old press release for SEGA and McDonald’s collaboration is still available. “An industry-first, the six electronic handheld games will provide hours of fun,” the 2003 press release reads. “This marks the first time a fast-food chain has offered consumers such cutting-edge technology.”
Taco Bell — Jumping Bean Jamboree (2000)
Get it? Mexican jumping beans? (crickets)
The Jumping Bean Jamboree floppy disk was included in Taco Bell kids’ meals in 2000, alongside Tasty Temple Challenge and Moon Eater. I remember Jumping Bean Jamboree, but not the other two. While some collectors have shared limited gameplay footage on YouTube and a few resellers have listed the retro floppies on eBay and Etsy, there’s not too much promo information out there. The Twitch-owned video game database IGDB shows the PC game was “[a] Breakout clone featuring a jumping bean character eating Taco Bell products.” The games were published by Taco Bell Corp. and developed by the aptly-named BrandGames.
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KFC — I Love You, Colonel Sanders! (2019)
If you enjoy dating sims like Team17’s Date Everything!, you’re gonna be beside yourself when you boot up I Love You, Colonel Sanders!, the free parody dating game from chicken chain KFC. The brand’s 11 herbs and spices aren’t the only thing kicking up the heat; in the game, the Colonel trades his everyday look for a highly stylized, uber-handsome anime aesthetic. The mustachioed mascot is your cooking school classmate, and players must woo the chicken connoisseur using various dialogue choices.
Domino’s — Avoid the Noid (1989)
The pizza chain’s Noid mascot was irksome enough; throwing the character into a PC game only added fuel to the fire. The PC game was inspired by the brand’s “Avoid the Noid” campaign, which featured the same insufferable character using claymation. Avoid the Noid hit MS-DOS and Commodore 64 in 1989, just one year before Yo! Noid was released. The latter, developed by Capcom, was actually a reskin of the studio’s Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru.
In Avoid the Noid, that’s precisely what players are to do. As a pizza delivery driver, you must ensure your pie safely makes it to its destination without interference from the menacing Noid. Yo! Noid ships the mascot to the Big Apple with nothing but his smug expression and super yo-yo to save the day.
McDonald’s — Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)
The Sonic the Hedgehog 3 promotion from ’94 was a smash hit. Four collectible characters — Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and the diabolical Dr. Robotnik — were available alongside a Happy Meal. The promotion also included, like most 90s ad campaigns, a “sweepstakes” wherein entrants could potentially win a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for their Sega Genesis system. As if these retro titles aren’t enough of a shock to your system, the classic commercial shows the promotional kids’ meal retailed for just $1.99. Sigh.
Burger King — Gold-plated Pokémon cards
Nintendo first revealed its gold-clad Pokémon toys in a November 1999 press release, and they’ve been at the forefront of my mind since. The ad campaign coincided with the launch of Pokémon: The First Movie and introduced dozens of different toys. The six coveted gold-clad cards, distributed in plastic clamshell Poké Balls, sold for $1.99 with a meal purchase.
The Poké Ball containers were pulled from stores on December 27 following a series of suffocation deaths that parents and experts later linked to the packaging. One January 2000 report from the Washington Post named the Poké Ball recall “one of the biggest toy recalls in history.”
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