Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End ➔ Crash Bandicoot

While it certainly isn’t the entire game, one of the most high-profile examples of one completely separate game featuring in another has to be the Crash Bandicoot section of Uncharted 4. And it’s special not just because it’s developer Naughty Dog having fun with its own previous creation, but because of just how wonderfully it’s presented.

Uncharted 4’s greatest trick is how convincingly it presents Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher’s relationship. A combination of superb voice acting and convincing animation makes them feel so damned believable, in a way that games almost never get right. This is in no small part thanks to the teasing of Drake at Fisher’s hands, as she convinces him to have a play of her PS1 game, Crash Bandicoot. She’s a gamer, he is not, and as he has a go, it’s you who plays the game. Cue some of the loveliest banter you’ll find in a game, as Drake (quite accurately) exclaims at that infuriating game’s immediate flaws. And is laughed at.

It’s one of the best scenes in any game, ever, and is only made more special for how it lets you take control of Crash, and on some level dictate the nature of the banter and teasing in response to how you play.

(See also playing Pitfall as a Marvel character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.)