The Video Game Soda Machine Project

Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood

A soda pop vending machine from the unreleased Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood

Beavis picks his nose in front of a soda pop machine in a November 1998 prototype of Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood, an unreleased game for the PlayStation 1! Also known as Beavis and Butt-Head in Hollywood, the game was previewed at E3 in 1998 and showed up in various gaming magazines before disappearing like Daria Morgendorffer after she transferred to Lawndale High School.

What I played of the leaked build was pretty janky and incomplete, but at least the development team took care of the important stuff first. Namely, implementing a soda machine.

You can read more about Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood at the Hidden Palace and the Lost Media Wiki.

Cartoon Week

The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Scammer & Z-Dog vending machine from The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Mobile city-builder The Simpsons: Tapped Out features this Scammer & Z-Dog vending machine, originally seen in the Season 16 episode “The Heartbroke Kid.” In addition to being filled with sugary drinks and snacks, the machine cycles through a few different visuals featuring the duo. It’s like Scammer always says, “Don’t flava-hate, participate!”

Scammer & Z-Dog vending machine from The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Scammer & Z-Dog vending machine from The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Here’s another look at the vending machine in the build menu, sandwiched between some, uh, questionable options. Springfield zoning remains extremely permissive.

Scammer & Z-Dog vending machine from The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Oh, and there’s also a vending machine outside Tapped Out’s truck stop diner!

Truck stop soda machine from The Simpsons: Tapped Out

The Simpsons: Tapped Out went offline in 2025, but I was still able to grab these screenshots thanks to Project Springfield, an incredible private server and preservation project keeping this game alive.

Cartoon Week

Gears of War: E-Day

Fizzy Originals vending machine from Gears of War: E-Day

Gears of War: E-Day is set 15 years before the original game, and I guess there were a lot of soda machines around when the Locust Horde arrived. Thankfully, battle-hardened screenshot scavenger doc is here to catalog them all, starting with the Premium Fizzy Originals Soda Pop machine seen above.

And here’s another Fizzy Originals model…

Fizzy Originals vending machine from Gears of War: E-Day

What do you mean, “Let’s hope there’s not more”? Let’s hope there are lots more!

Next up is this brightly lit ice cold drinks vending machine, but it seems to have a little… red on it.

Ice cold drinks machine from Gears of War: E-Day

Here’s a less bloody version.

Ice cold drinks machine from Gears of War: E-Day

Coming up next is this cold drinks machine, along with a snack machine that, if you ask me, looks more like a cigarette vending machine. Maybe it sells candy cigarettes. For snacking.

Cold drinks and snacks vending machines from Gears of War: E-Day

What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold — just like this ice cold beverages machine!

Ice cold beverages machine from Gears of War: E-Day

Finally, we have this cold drinks machine. All these soda machines might explain why the soldier guys in Gears of War look so aggressively hydrated.

Cold drinks machine from Gears of War: E-Day

And, to close things out, here’s a closer look at that vending machine’s offerings.

Cold drinks machine from Gears of War: E-Day (closeup)

It looks like we have orange, cranberry, ginger ale and ginger beer, and something called Bone Skull. Sounds delicious!

Thanks for the amazing work on this one, doc!

Halo Infinite

Critical Dewpoint vending machine from Halo Infinite

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.

The Wreck

A vending machine from The Wreck

The Wreck is a 3D visual novel about memory, family, and a very difficult day in the life of failed screenwriter Junon. Meanwhile, this vending machine stocked full of snack and drinks just hangs out in the background. [Source]

The Night Is Grey

An Alpha Cola vending machine from The Night Is Grey

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!