GLENDALE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 12: Rihanna performs during Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)
Gaming - News
Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Has Gamers Turned On (But Not Like That)
By NATHAN SIMMONS
All eyes were on Rihanna as she took to a hovering platform at 2023’s Super Bowl halftime show. However, some members of the online gaming community noticed that the set looked awfully like the Big Battlefield arena from “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” and the comparisons didn’t stop there.
Some video game fans went the extra mile and created images of their own to celebrate the weirdness of Rihanna’s Super Bowl stage. For instance, podcaster Patrick Monahan photoshopped members of the “Super Smash Bros.” roster into the halftime show with the Tweet captioned, “RIHANNA LOOK OUT.”
Journalist and author Dave Itzkoff got in on the fun by pointing out another video game that the halftime show resembled: the original “Donkey Kong.” By superimposing an image of Rihanna atop Donkey Kong’s treacherous construction site in the place of Pauline, Itzkoff managed to provide one of the funniest Super Bowl halftime show reactions of the evening.