Obsessively Cataloging Video Game "Pop" Culture
Halo Infinite and Mountain Dew reunited in 2023 to launch the Critical Dewpoint map, celebrating the return of Halo 3’s Game Fuel Citrus Cherry. The map includes this vending machine that dispenses 2007-flavored nostalgia in power-up form.
This Alpha Cola vending machine provides a welcome glow in The Night Is Grey, a 2024 point-and-click adventure from Whalestork Interactive.
The screenshot was submitted by friend-of-the-site Ron, who shared a little context: “At this point in the game, that soda machine is one of your only light sources at the edge of kind of a spooky wooded area. You are later able to get some lights on, but that soda machine is basically your lifeline at the beginning of that chapter.” Thanks, Ron!
Captain’s Log, Stardate 86088.6: After completing the Starfleet tutorial and taking command of the U.S.S. Stalwart, I immediately set a course for Deep Space 9 at maximum warp. Upon arrival, I discovered this replimat on the Promenade dispensing a human beverage known as “root beer” for a mere 20 credits.
If your tastebuds don’t find root beer particularly engaging, you can always head back to the Beta Quadrant for a Starfleet-issued cream soda.
I thought the Federation was supposed to be a post-capitalist utopia! You’d never catch Commander Riker plunking space quarters into a replicator, and you know that guy loves a good cream soda.
Drinking virtual soda from a virtual soda machine to quench my virtual thirst while playing virtual putt-putt in the Passport Tokyo DLC for Walkabout Mini Golf VR!
Special shoutout to my pal Grayson for hooking me up with his old VR rig! 😁
These Limu soda machines, previously seen in Alan Wake 2, return to light up the night in Control Resonant. Thanks for the screenshot, Wendi!
Meanwhile, this vintage soda machine looks like it could have been sitting in some forgotten corner of the Federal Bureau of Control for decades.
At least I think that’s a soda machine. It seems kinda…flat? Thanks for the screenshot, VonAether!
Misako and Kyoko are busting out genius combos in front of a soda machine in River City Girls 2! I bet nobody in River City can afford soda with all the ransom money they’re paying.
Trying to collect S-K-A-T-E in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4? Be sure to stay hydrated with a refreshing beverage from these vending machines!
While the rest of the game got a fresh coat of paint, these generic soda machines are a bit of a downgrade from the Neversoft Juice vending machines seen in the original THPS3. Compare these screenshots of the “frustrated guy trying to get a soda” Easter egg from the Foundry level.
Here’s the original…
And here’s the same scene from the remake…
Duke Nukem has never been known for subtlety, and these Duke’s Kick Ass Cola vending machines from the PlayStation 1 game Land of the Babes are no exception.
Crystal Cave features a soda machine that may be an even older entry than 1978’s Journey to the Center of the Earth! The catch is that nobody seems to know exactly when Crystal Cave was written, with estimates ranging from 1977 to 1980.
So, at least for now, Journey to the Center of the Earth remains our earliest confirmed video game soda machine. As Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, and Tosca wrote in Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction, “No trumpets sounded at the birth of video games, and so we must choose what constitutes the beginning.” I guess the same goes for soda machines.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I spent about three hours figuring out how to compile this text adventure myself just to get the screenshot. No regrets!
