8 Video Games That Pushed Petty Feuds

The Splinter Cell series is packed to the brim with subtle jokes at the expense of other games, most notably its primary rival Metal Gear. In the series' second entry, Pandora Tomorrow, Fisher and Lambert have an exchange over the ridiculous codename of an enemy agent: Mortified Penguin.

This is an obvious dig at Foxhound's "Adjective + Animal" naming system, which has boasted such names as Decoy Octopus and Laughing Wallaby. The less said about Shoot Gunner, the better.

Furthermore, in SC: Chaos Theory, some guards when interrogated will joke about Metal Gear's idiosyncratic hold-up system, saying "What, you think if you shake me enough a bunch of bullets will fall out of my pockets?"

In kind, Metal Gear Solid 3's Snake Vs. Monkey mode saw Snake complain that such a humiliating task should be turfed off on "Sam or Gabe", referencing both Sam Fisher and Gabe Logan of Syphon Filter. These traded barbs are likely to be entirely lighthearted however, as the "rivalry" between MGS and Splinter Cell was one of the most fun across the 2000s.

A friendly reference to Snake in a mission from Ghost Recon Wildlands also appears, in which Fisher mentions one other skilled infiltrator like him who "wore a bandana or something", before looking wistfully into the middle distance, as if paying respects to his lifelong rival.