Taking part in the NEXON PEAK Post Challenge

Hearing my favorite idol’s voice in an FPS game was a novelty at first. With Sudden Attack’s celebrity characters, actual music tracks play whenever you use an emote.

Today, I’d like to reflect on what makes Sudden Attack’s K-POP collaborations so memorable.

Sudden Attack is an FPS built around gunfights, with a soundscape full of gunfire, footsteps, and explosions, so hearing my favorite idol’s voice amid all of that felt quite unusual at first. When you choose a celebrity character, using an emote plays an actual music track.

Sudden Attack has released a wide range of celebrity characters, from idols and singers to actors and comedians. Starting with PSY and Yoo In-na, the game went on to introduce singers such as Jessi and Kisum, and in 2026, Red Velvet’s WENDY joined the lineup—the first SM idol to appear in the 18 years since celebrity characters were introduced.

The defining feature of Sudden Attack’s celebrity characters is the use of actual music tracks in their emotes. Each character’s emotes have distinctive voice lines and music, giving you moments throughout a match to hear your favorite idol’s voice.

Hearing idol music suddenly play in the middle of a gunfight was both amusing and surprising. Using an emote after eliminating an enemy and hearing my favorite singer’s voice made that moment feel like something special, beyond the usual FPS experience. A celebrity character’s music is audible to the entire team, so there was also something quietly welcoming about finding a teammate using a character based on an idol I liked.

One disappointment with Sudden Attack’s celebrity character collaborations is that fewer and fewer characters have included music tracks. Owing to the game’s relationship with the music association, those tracks became harder to find in later characters based on singers. These days, Jessi, Kisum, and PSY are among the few characters whose emotes still retain their music.

That is why seeing someone use an older celebrity character whose music still plays can feel like coming across something exceptionally rare. The experience of listening to K-POP within an FPS game is what makes Sudden Attack’s celebrity characters such a special memory for me.

The most recent highlight of Sudden Attack’s K-POP collaborations was the release of Red Velvet’s WENDY character in 2026. This marked the first appearance of an idol from SM Entertainment in the 18 years since Sudden Attack began releasing celebrity characters. For a long time, players had treated the absence of SM idols from Sudden Attack as something of an unwritten rule, but WENDY’s arrival broke that pattern.

That 18-year wait is what makes this collaboration feel special to longtime Sudden Attack players. Seeing an older game attract renewed attention through a new K-POP idol collaboration feels like a reminder that Sudden Attack still has plenty of life in it after all these years.

Sudden Attack’s celebrity characters offer a distinctive way to enjoy K-POP in an FPS game. Which celebrity characters do you remember using in Sudden Attack? Let me know in the comments.