Random: Guardians Of The Galaxy: Holiday Special Features A Festive Game Boy Cameo

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Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special Game Boy
Image: Nintendo Life

The ever expanding multiverse that is the MCU has been no stranger to a Nintendo reference in the past. There was the Wii and GameCube nod in WandaVision, Kamala and her pals playing Smash Bros. in Ms. Marvel and even a little bit of Switch in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But the latest addition to the franchise – Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special – takes it to a whole new level, showing the joy that some retro Nintendo goodness can bring at Christmas time (thanks, Time Extension).

We won’t go too deep into the details here for fear of alerting the TVA to our timeline on charges of spoilers, but we will need to do some description of what happens in the scene. So if you really don’t want to see anything about the Guardians’ latest adventure, maybe skip the following until you have watched it.

The scene shows Chris Pratt’s Starlord giving out presents to his fellow teammates, with one such gift going to Groot in the form of a classic Game Boy! You might remember that the Vin Diesel-voiced Flora Colossus had a particular affinity for retro games back in Avengers: Infinity War and could regularly be seen playing Defender throughout the film.

Our friends over at Time Extension put it best in the following tweet featuring the gift giving clip. Retro Nintendo goodness really is the perfect gift.

We would say that the move to the Game Boy is a substantial step up – and it seems that Groot thinks the same, just look at his excited little jump! The possibilities for games to play are endless, though Groot might get a little shock when he finds that his buddy, Peter Quill, has a jarringly similar voice to the star of Super Mario Land…

Whether Groot’s Game Boy will come to play a larger part in the MCU’s Phase 5 and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 remains to be seen (we doubt that it will have a huge narrative weight but who really knows at this point). Either way, we respect the nod to Nintendo consoles past and we will continue to keep our eyes peeled for more of them in the other 249 Marvel projects releasing in the next six months.

What game would you recommend to Groot first? Let us know in the comments!