Unlock the Secret History of McDonald’s Videogame Crossovers!

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A “Minecraft” movie has been spending big on its product tie-ins, ranging from Oreos to Doritos. However, the collaboration between “A Minecraft Movie” and McDonald’s has garnered the most online buzz, and it’s not the first time this fast-food giant has supported a popular video game series.

As a dedicated fan, I must admit that McDonald’s, with its past filled with controversies that seem endless, continues to be an unrivaled powerhouse in the fast food industry. While the corporation has been making strides towards a more mature market orientation lately, their iconic Happy Meal still holds a special place in kids’ hearts – and the number of video game tie-ins through this meal option just keeps growing.

Recently, McDonald’s partnership with A Minecraft Movie has generated quite a buzz, and not without reason. The creative transformation of characters like Grimace to fit into the movie’s unique style is certainly worth mentioning. However, it’s important to note that this isn’t the first time McDonald’s has leveraged its influence to give a significant boost to a video game intellectual property.

A Quick History of McDonald’s Videogame Tie-Ins

All McDonald’s (USA) Videogame Collaborations

  • Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Game) (1994)
  • Tiger Electronics (2001)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (2003)
  • Sega (2004)
  • Crash Bandicoot and Spyro (2005)
  • LEGO Batman: The Video Game (2008)
  • Pokemon Black and White (2011)
  • Skylanders: Giants (2013)
  • Skylanders: Swap Force (2014)
  • Skylanders: Trap Team (2015)
  • Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (2015)
  • The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
  • Super Mario (2017)
  • Pokémon Sun and Moon (2018)
  • Super Mario (2018)
  • Pokémon 25th Anniversary (2021)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
  • Pokémon Match Battle (2022)
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2022/2023)
  • Pokémon Match Battle (2023)
  • MultiVersus (2024)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Film) (2025)
  • Pokémon (2025)
  • A Minecraft Movie (2025)

The list provided showcases partnerships of McDonald’s USA (many of which have been replicated globally). Although McDonald’s encourages uniformity among its franchises, there is a significant amount of international diversity, such as various McDonald’s collaborations with Mario, like Mario Kart toys in Canada, Australia, and Europe, and character statues in China.

Sonic and Mario Have Been Consistent Partners

In 1987, Super Mario Bros. 3 marked the initial time Nintendo worked together on a game, offering four Happy Meal figures (Mario, Luigi, Goomba, and Paratroopa). Contrastingly, the collaboration in 2017 didn’t have a specific product to advertise; it included toys of Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Piranha Plant, Invincible Mario, Koopa Shell, and a replica of the floating Question Mark block. The collaboration for The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023 was on a grander scale, featuring action figures of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Toad, Luma, and Donkey Kong.

McDonald’s has a rich history of partnership with Sonic the Hedgehog dating back to 1994. The initial collaboration resulted in Happy Meal toys featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik figures, along with a Sonic-themed ball. In 2003 and 2004, Sega partnered with McDonald’s again to distribute Fisher Price handheld games with Sonic-themed designs. The release of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 brought about standees for Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Eggman Robot. More recently, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 introduced collectible figurines of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Super Sonic, and Super Shadow, all housed in plastic ‘rollers’.

Pokemon Has Ramped Up McDonald’s Tie-Ins

Many different Pokemon crossovers have been carried out via McDonald’s, but none have garnered as much attention (positive or negative) as the collaborations with Burger King. In 2011, a set of eight toys were released, featuring Pikachu, Reshiram, Oshawott, Zoroark, Tepig, Zekrom, Snivy, and Zorua. Similarly, figures representing characters from the Ruby and Sapphire series (Pikachu, Groudon, Kyogre, Lugia, Rayquaza, Mega Latios, Hoopa, Wobbuffet) came with corresponding TCG cards, making the Happy Meals more appealing to collectors.

McDonald’s is frequently associated with collecting Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) items. In 2018, they offered toys of Dialga, Palkia, Latias, Latios, Reshiram, Zekrom, Thundurus, Tornadus, as well as assorted TCG cards, a practice other promotions have mirrored. The latest promotion, which occurred in February this year, involved giving out TCG booster packs with Happy Meals.

Individual and Shorter-Running McDonald’s Tie-Ins

Skylanders, Spyro, and LEGO

In the mix of partnerships between video games and McDonald’s, collaborations arose featuring characters like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, naturally leading to team-ups with the Skylanders series. This was similar to the Fisher Price Sonic games, where both Crash and Spyro had their own handheld games in plastic booklets. Toys for Spyro, Tree Rex, Jet-Vac, Ignitor, Drobot, Gill Grunt, Chop-Chop, Crusher, and Kaos were launched simultaneously with Skylanders: Giants. This was followed by a Skylanders: Swap-Force crossover, which included action figures of Chompy, Magna Charge, Wash Buckler, Freeze Blade, Prism Break, Eruptor, Free Ranger, and Rattle Shake. Lastly, a promotion for Trap Team introduced action figures of Food Fight, Wolfgang, Snap Shot, Wildfire, Wallop, and Pain-Yatta.

Although LEGO Batman: The Video Game isn’t the first collaboration between LEGO and McDonald’s, nor is it the first time a fast-food chain has partnered with LEGO (think back to the McDonald’s tie-ins with games like those based on Super Mario or Sonic), it is unique in that it’s currently the only LEGO game to have such a partnership. Unlike previous McDonald’s LEGO items, such as the Bionicle Matoran polybags from 2001, these collectibles were standalone plastic toys not designed to be integrated into traditional LEGO building systems (much like the Galidor polybags of yesteryear). These sets comprised characters like Batman, Robin, Mr. Freeze, the Joker, and various vehicles such as Penguin’s Sub, the Batmobile, Joker’s helicopter, and the Batboat.

A Minecraft Movie

The collaboration between the movie “A Minecraft Movie” and McDonald’s is quite significant. McDonald’s has made adjustments to some of its logo designs on certain packaging to match the film theme. This partnership seems to be a strong push for the movie, and to support it, there are special Happy Meal toys available.

In addition, an ‘adult’ version of the Happy Meal is being offered alongside a limited Nether Flame sauce. The collaboration also includes six collectibles (Grimace Egg, Soda Potion, Birdie Wings, Fry Helmet, Zombie Hamburglar, and Big Mac Crystal) and 11 figures (Evoker, Llama, Skeleton, Pink Sheep, Pink Wool and Pink Sheep, Creeper, Garrett, Dawn, Steve, Wolf, Redstone and Creeper, and Bee).

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2025-04-05 02:37