Jim Power PC Engine CD cover (1993) 🔗

Now, the original Amiga box art of Loriciel's Euro platformer has its own history of 'inspirations', but when Jim Power was brought to Japan for the PC Engine CD, it got a brand new cover image – which was once again cobbled together from other media. The hero is represented by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the poster for Raw Deal, whereas the president's daughter he's tasked to rescue in the game is Lesa Ann Pedriana ripped straight from a Playboy photoshoot (which Loriciel had sourced for a cover before). There's two things I'd like to know about this cover: First, why did the artist feel the need to change up the positioning of both character's arms, quite weirdly in Schwarzenegger's case. Second, did they like the little rocket man in the background (scraped from a book cover painted by Peter Elson) so much that they chose him as the only element retained from the Amiga cover?

Golden Axe flyer (1989) 🔗

It's no secret that the Golden Axe series owes a lot to Robert E. Howard's Conan character. For later installments, Sega got to commission one of the great Conan artists with Boris Vallejo for later installments, but for the original arcade game, they still had to settle for some imitations. The illustrator didn't go for any famous fantasy artists for references, though, but directly to the Conan movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tyris Flare is based on Sandahl Bergman posing as Valeria for Conan the Barbarian, while Schwarzenegger Himself stands in for Ax Battler from the Conan the Destroyer set.

Discovered by barbarus and chaoticgood from the Hardcore Gaming 101 forums.

Mercs (1991) 🔗

Even though Capcom's game Commando predates the movie Commando, perhaps they got cold feet about similarities when coming up with the English title for the seque, but that still didn't prevent them from ripping off the Schwarzenegger vehicle in the game. Another character's portrait pose was taken from Raw Deal – not the most celebrated of Arnie's action movies, but it seems to have gained some popularity in Japan (where it was known as Gorilla), at least judging by the number of games riffing on the film's poster. The third guy in the game obviously has the Schwarzenegger physique as well, but I haven't found a matching pose yet. The item merchant that's only found in the Sega Genesis version also looks like she's based on something real.

Double Hawk cover (1990) 🔗

Sure, the two muscle men on Sega's shooting gallery are made to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, but there's a kind of reverse Gryzor situation going on: At least both torsos are clearly both taken from the latter's Rambo poses, as you can clearly make out on the muscle definitions and even the scars on his chest. The big faces on top are a bit of a guessing game and they might be from different or a mix of references. I'd wager on the soldiers and war machinery in the foreground also being lifted from somewhere else, but those are a bit harder to find and identify.

Crusader Kings II: Way of Life key art (2014) 🔗

An unusually recent example for this collection, and yet it goes back to the same source than many of its predecessors in crime from the previous millennium. The brooding king on the key art for this Crusader Kings II expansion is no lesser monarch than Arnold Schwarzenegger as old King Conan at the end of Conan the Barbarian.

Navy Moves cover (1989) 🔗

Navy Moves is a home computer game made in Spain, that's basically a series of different action sequences where you're riding a boat, diving, infiltrating an evil underwater lair, and so on. You might not have heard about this game, but the cover is once more graced by a familiar face - and not only the cover, as you can see Arnie's mug at the bottom of the screen all throughout the game, too. This specific pose originates from the poster motive for Commando. If you're wondering why I took the Italian variant for this, it's because the US one has a black background, so it would have been hell to cut out the dark parts of his clothing there.

Super Contra arcade flyer (1987) 🔗

Much like the first game in the series, the artist for Super Contra's promo material clearly understood the assignment, this time really uniting both of the 1980s big muscle action stars on one flyer. Not satisfied with telegraphing the game's influences through a picture, the English version of the flyer also proudly proclaims: "He's not human. He's not alien. He's the predator!!" There's some liberties taken, especially with the faces, but Sly's neckline is still an exact match. The Schwarzenegger stand-in doesn't fit quite as neatly, so either the artist modyfied the pose somewhat, or there might be an obscure alternate still out there that was used as a reference.

Gryzor / Contra cover art (1987) 🔗

It's often assumed that the iconic Contra title art brings together facsimiles of Arnold Schwarzenegger from Predator and Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo, but don't let yourself be misled by the second guy's dark hair and red bandana: In reality, they're both based off stills from Arnie's movie. The art was originally drawn by the late Bob Wakelin for Ocean's European home computer releases under the title Gryzor. Bob doesn't seem to have enjoyed working on this one too much (source: exotica), but someone clearly must have liked it, as it ended up making its way across the pond onto the official NES cover in the US.