Why Spelunky, Meat Boy, and other indie stars are photo-bombing each other’s games

Mario and Link, racing kart-to-kart on Hyrule Circuit. Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton, solving court cases. Gaming is full of popular characters invading other stars’ worlds — and if that breaks continuity or some fragile timeline, who really cares?

Step down from the big leagues and you’ll find that indie games are doing the same thing. The spelunker from Derek Yu’s cave-exploration game Spelunky appears in the blood-splattered land of Super Meat Boy, and then they trade places, with Meat Boy joining the fedora-wearing adventurer on his home turf.