Obsessively Cataloging Video Game "Pop" Culture
Pinball FX VR allows players to explore a virtual ’80s arcade between games, complete with these retro Pop Fizz and Drink Cold vending machines. I’ve seen plenty of generic “Cold Drinks” machines through the years, but “Drink Cold” is a new one!
Next up is this Bubble Beat machine, inviting thirsty pinball wizards to “Taste the Future.”
Listen, I work at a university, and those places run on caffeine. Good thing Two Point Campus keeps its Burp machines fully stocked!
This interactive Stumble & Sons soda machine appears in Dumb Ways to Build, a co-op physics-based construction sim. If you ask me, the smartest way to kick off a dumb construction project is with a refreshing soft drink.
Thanks for the screenshot, Mashfiq!
Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Shiro wa Otomodachi da yo, a 1993 Game Boy platformer, features these soda machines in the first level. You’d think for a game with “crayon” in the title, it would be a little more colorful.
TANUKI: Pon’s Summer is an adorable life sim starring a cute Japanese raccoon guy who bikes around an open world, delivering packages and scoping out the local soda machines.
This cyberpunk shopkeeping simulator might be titled Probably Stolen, but the vending machines in this screenshot have definitely stolen my heart.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the drink machines in the Splatoon series. You don’t think those cans have ink in them, do you?
There’s also a drink machine near Splatoon 3’s customizable lockers.
Here’s a better look at that same soda machine model in the lobby.
Finally, while it’s not exactly a vending machine, Splatoon 3’s Tacticooler is a deployable item that dispenses canned sodas to buff teammates.
Shout-out to Surey D on Bluesky for grabbing those screenshots for me!
My car just ran out of gas on Route 66 in Terrible Lizards, a 2026 first-person parkour horror game. I think I’ll grab a thirst-quenching Splonk from this machine and then head across the street to explore that creepy roadside dinosaur attraction. What could possibly go wrong?
The Doom Slayer will have to rip and tear his way through the Revelations DLC for DOOM: The Dark Ages if he wants to buy a soda from one of these vending machines.
Thanks to SenorChangsJudgement and the r/DOOM community for helping me track this one down!
This vending machine appears in My Friendly Neighborhood, a 2023 FPS. And by FPS, I mean Felt Puppet Shooter. Something has gone terribly wrong with this beloved cast of children’s television puppets, and it’s up to the player to solve the mystery.
Notably, its design takes inspiration from the vending machine seen in the original Half-Life. Thanks for the screenshot, Legerdemancy!