Summary
Low-budget film legend Bruce Campbell is well known for his role as Ash Williams, the main character of the coreEvil Deadseries. Over the years, he has built an impressive following through his roles and cameos, as well as the astronomical amount of books and comics he’s written and contributed to, and the biggest Bruce fans spend time tracking down every appearance of their beloved deadite-hunter and ski resort villain.
The Evil Dead games aren’t the only titles Bruce has graced with his presence, and he’s been doing it a lot longer than you might think. Sadly, the video game adaptation of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs doesn’t feature him reprising his role as the mayor, but that’s okay. There are still plenty of other video games starring Bruce Campbell among the cast.
1997
Platform
PlayStation
Bruce Campbell’s very first video game appearance actually wasn’t an Evil Dead game. His gaming cameos trace back to Broken Helix, a third-person action RPG that dropped in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation, where Bruce played the voice of Jake Burton, the main character and protagonist of the game.
Jake is an explosive expert who, throughout the game, is tasked with defusing various bombs around the city. Difficult and challenging, Broken Helix is a lesser-known game that turns out to be surprisingly fun and rewarding.
1998
PlayStation, Game Boy
Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle is a platformer from the year 1998, released on PlayStation, as well as both the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color. As old as this game is, it’s simply one in a long list of Pitfall titles dating back to the 1982 Atari game created by David Crane.
In this game, Bruce plays Pitfall Harry, the titular hero and protagonist that’s prominent throughout the entire series. Many fans of Pitfall weren’t expecting a voiced main character for this title, especially not the guy from the Evil Dead movies, but still, Bruce showed up for the job and hit it home for Pitfall 3D.
2000
Windows
The Sci-Fi action game Tachyon: The Fringe is a PC game from NovaLogic, Inc. that sees the player through space missions and combat in a space-sim type environment. From space flight to shooting, this game has a varied number of missions to embark on while upgrading and customizing your ships and main character.
Bruce Campbell voices Jake Logan, a pilot down on his luck after a harrowing mission and the protagonist of the game. Bruce isn’t the only selling point for Tachyon: The Fringe, either, so the gameplay is fun and engaging, and the story and characters draw you in and keep you coming back for more,
PlayStation, Dreamcast, Windows
Heavy Iron Studios saw the demand for more Evil Dead content and, in the year 2000, they began to deliver. Finally, the world of Evil Dead was brought to the PlayStation and Dreamcast and ready to be immersed in, although the PC version of the game wouldn’t be released until the following year.
It should be no surprise that Bruce is the voice of Ash Williams in this game, the dual-wielding hero of Evil Dead himself. He also plays Evil Ash, because there’s no one else who could possibly get the job done, and while it wasn’t the first video game Bruce Campbell made an appearance in, it’s definitely the most memorable.
2002
PlayStation 2, GameCube, Windows, Xbox
In 2002 Treyarch, along with Activision and Capcom, released Spider-Man for the PlayStation 2, creating one of the most iconic games of all time; its popularity soared, and with releases on the GameCube, Xbox, and the PC, it was a game that anyone and everyone could get their hands on. It didn’t stop there, and gamers have been swinging and thwipping their way across New York as Marvel’s beloved wall-crawler for over 20 years.
Bruce Campbell making a Spidey cameo is a trope fans have loved to see since the first Sam Raimi film, and he made sure to make an appearance in the 2002 Spider-Man game. Not a hero, villain, or member of Manhattan’s elite, Bruce’s role in this game is one of his smallest; he’s a tour guide, the best tour guide you’ve ever seen.
2003
PlayStation 2, Xbox
The deadites are out of control in VIS Entertainment’s Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick. This game falls squarely into mid-2000s culture, with goofy dialogue and low-poly visuals, and even though it’s not as popular as other Evil Dead titles, A Fistful of Boomstick still made its name despite its mixed reviews.
Bruce Campbell is the same Ash Williams he’s always been known for, except he can teleport for no discernible reason. 2003 really did a lot of hand-waving when it came to fast-travel in video games.
2004
Xbox, GameCube
Spider-Man 2 gave fans a lot of things, from the web-swinging gameplay style that’s still adapted and used today, to a pizza delivery theme song that will live on forever, bouncing from brain to brain as it gets stuck in the head of everyone who’s ever played it.
Bruce reprises his role as the tour guide, a narrator who helps Spidey out with game controls and exploring the game. The tour guide is a little less patient, now, giving you sass if you skip his lines and instructions; Spider-Man doesn’t have time to learn, he’s busy doing backflips at terminal velocity.
2005
PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox
Cranky Pants Games turned a sequel into a follow-up with Evil Dead: Regeneration, a game that takes place right after Evil Dead 2. Ash Williams and his half-deadite sidekick Sam must break free from a facility they’ve been imprisoned in while solving the issue of a doctor with a Necronomicon making everything worse.
Bruce is, of course, the voice behind Ash Williams and the alter-ego Evil Ash in this game, with Ted Raimi playing Sam. Evil Dead: Regeneration also adds a few weapons to Ash’s arsenal, like a harpoon gun and a grenade launcher, but only the chainsaw attaches to the arm, though.
2006
Windows, PlayStation 2
The Ant Bully was part of a wave of mid-2000s bug-themed kids' films, and while it didn’t quite live up to the standard of A Bug’s Life, it still got its own video game adaptation. The game starts much the same way the movie does, with ten-year-old Lucas being shrunk down to ant-size for his crimes against insectkind.
Bruce Campbell is the voice of Fugax, a buff and overly confident ant that also appears in the movie. Seeing a chiseled ant is strange, but there’s no questioning who’s behind all that flexing.
2007
PlayStation, Windows, Nintendo Wii and DS, Xbox 360,
Venom is back, and he brought some backup to the video game adaptation of Spider-Man 3. A sandbox-style New York was brought to the next generation of consoles, and fans were ecstatic to get their web-shooters back on and dry-clean that spandex to come back as their favorite webhead.
The narrator of the story is Bruce Campbell, who offers advice and a story as well as plenty of well-timed jokes. Although Spider-Man 3 came off with more mixed reviews than its predecessors, Bruce was still welcomed as the chatty tutorial guide.
