Ozzy Osbourne, the lead singer of the foundational metal band Black Sabbath and, later in life, a reality TV star, has died at the age of 76. His passing comes just two-and-a-half weeks after Black Sabbath’s final show on July 5 in Birmingham. Osbourne performed from a throne, as he was unable to walk the stage due to advanced Parkinson’s disease. His impact on music spanned decades and ultimately, briefly, saw him enjoy a stint as a star of video games as well, garnering him roles tied to his musical legacy in both Guitar Hero: World Tour and the musical RTS Brütal Legend.
Guitar Hero: World Tour carried on the rhythm series’ tradition of putting rock legends into the game as playable guest characters. Osbourne was one of the playable characters featured in the game alongside his bandmate, guitarist Zakk Wylde. Some of the real-world figures added to the series over the years felt ghoulish and kinda gross, such as Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, both of whom were dead by the time they were included. Osbourne, however, was more hands-on with the process and even did motion capture to get scanned into the game. In interviews about his time working on World Tour, Osbourne admitted he wasn’t a technologically advanced person, so the idea of being in a video game was pretty foreign to him, but he came away impressed with the final product.
“I had to put on this black suit with all these little ping-pong ball-like things all over me, motion capture,” he said to ABC News. “I had to dance around like I’m on stage when one of my songs are on. I don’t really know how it works, but I have seen a run of it. It is really interesting. The image of me, I wish I had the energy it has. The graphics are really, really good.”
Osbourne’s appearance accompanied two of his songs on the setlist: “Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley,” but you could make him sing anything you wanted. To this day, every time I hear “Pull Me Under” by Dream Theater, an image of Osbourne’s avatar singing plays through my headspace when the chorus kicks in. While World Tour was the only time Osbourne appeared as a playable character in the series, his music, both solo and with Black Sabbath, was used across several games in the franchise.
Looking back, Brütal Legend’s roster of heavy metal royalty guest stars was insane. While he wasn’t playable in his second and final video game role, Osbourne’s character in Brütal Legend also bears his likeness. The Guardian of Metal is a merchant who also regales protagonist Eddie with history lessons on the game’s music-fueled world. He’s eccentric, funny, and, as everyone in the YouTube comments points out, speaks with some of the clearest diction Osbourne ever had in a recorded setting. The Guardian of Metal makes a big impact in just a short amount of screen time. Double Fine cooked with this character, and Osbourne had good material to work with. Other metal musicians who star in the game include the late Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead, Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford, and the Runaways guitarist Lita Ford.
Osbourne will be remembered for his music, but it’s nice to look back on his video game legacy, however brief it was, and see that it was just as much a tribute to that colossal musical footprint.
Black Sabbath’s farewell show raised £140 million (roughly $190 million USD) for Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice.