History FunnyAneurysmMoment / Videogames

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* In ''VideoGame/TotalCarnage'', you blow your way through an insane landscape of chaos which is clearly inspired in several ways by the 1991 Iraq conflict (it's in a desert) mixed with a much higher dosage of [[SerialEscalation constantly escalating madness]] (the mad general is called "General Ackboob", you battle hordes of mutant monsters). In 1992 the way your PC tears his way through all this chaos without any trouble save a quarter shortage is amusing in its insanity. Viewed in 2008 against the many complications of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror the second Iraq war]]...not as much.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** The [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved first game]] seems like just a well-made, fun, alien shoot 'em up. It's got little monkey enemies that like to panic at the first sign of you and marines shouting lots of funny things like, "Get up--SO I CAN KILL YOU AGAIN!" Then your AI guide sends you alone into an eerie containment facility where [[spoiler:the mutated corpses of slain soldiers really do get up for you to kill again... and again....]]
** HilariousOuttakes feature Sgt. Johnson saying "[[RidiculousFutureSequelisation Halo 4]], I get a woman", part of the joke being that they weren't expecting the series to go on for four main games. [[spoiler:A ''VideoGame/Halo4'' did come out, eleven years later... but Johnson got KIA at the tail end of ''VideoGame/Halo3''. The closest thing to Sgt. Johnson in ''Halo 4'' is Commander Sarah Palmer]]. It could also be interpreted now as referring to [[spoiler:all the ShipTease between John and Cortana in ''4'', just before the latter ends up sacrificing herself]].
* The arcade game ''VideoGame/MichaelJacksonsMoonwalker'' might be [[WidgetSeries weird enough]], but it just gets creepier ([[HilariousInHindsight or sillier]]) each year: You ''touch kids'' to gain points and powerups, or touch Bubbles the Chimp to get a super cyborg transformation. One of the attacks is Michael grabbing his crotch. And then there's the dance attack: Jackson does his moonwalker gig, and it wipes out all the enemies on the screen. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd lampshaded it during in his review of the game.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows''. During the battle with Black Cat, Spidey takes a metareferencial jab at [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy his movies]] when encountering a Kingpin Tech Flyer for the first time: "Green Goblin is so 7 years ago! The kids are into guys like Venom and Sandman now!" The kids [[MoralEventHorizon probably aren't liking Venom]] some time later in the game after he resurfaced with his symbiote army that turned New York into a deserted city, almost devoid of human activity (which is far more than what he did in ''Film/SpiderMan3''). The catch? The player was well aware of that, for this would have been a straight example if the game didn't start InMediasRes.
* In ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}} 2: Project Origin'', Stokes asks Snake Fist who [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Alma]] is. Snake Fist replies "She's the mother of the apocalypse!" This amusingly unhelpful description becomes somewhat less amusing in light of the game's ending - [[spoiler:Alma rapes the player character and becomes pregnant with his child who is, due to the [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds nature of]] [[PsychicPowers her parents]], possibly the Antichrist.]]
* Yuuichi and Ayu's pinky swears in ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'' suddenly become a lot less childishly innocent at the end than they were to start. [[spoiler:Or rather, they remain the same childish innocent gesture [[TearJerker but...]]]]
* In-universe example: Tidus in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' keeps telling [[LoveInterest Yuna]] about how much he's looking forward to going back to Zanarkand with her, and about how great things will be once they get there and all the stuff he'd like to do with her once the pilgrimage is over. He says this a lot. Much later in the game, he finds out that [[spoiler:Zanarkand is the ultimate destination of the pilgrimage, where Yuna will acquire the Final Aeon, but in defeating [[EldritchAbomination Sin]] will ''die''.]] Upon realizing how boneheaded this makes him seem and how much pain it must have caused Yuna to hear him talk about it all so cheerfully, Tidus experiences a brief HeroicBSOD before freaking out over why nobody told him this. [[PlayerPunch Some players felt this way too.]]
** It gets worse if you play through the whole game again. Some of the seemingly-innocuous lines become ''really'' dark.'
** Made better or worse, depending on your views, by the fact that Tidus does eventually apologize to her, she isn't upset at all and claims she "was happy" when he talked like that.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** During the Collector attack, Joker imagines what people will say after everyone becomes 'organic batteries'. "This is all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord!" Cue the Overlord DLC where [[spoiler:David, who's been forcibly plugged into a VI and kept alive with machines, spends all day computing Pi as part of an experiment conducted by his own brother. And to just add cruelty, he's autistic and has to communicate with hundreds of geth at the same time, which is torture to him. Until Shepard rolled along, [[AndIMustScream he had no way of freeing himself]] and the "MAKE IT STOP!" screams were both TearJerker and NightmareFuel at the same time. Also a case of FridgeHorror as of all of the things Shepard had experience, this was one of the few that made even Paragon Shepard angry enough to strike Gavin Archer and threaten to kill him if he comes near David. It comes back in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' when after Thessia falls and Joker makes a joke about it in front of Shepard, he could risk antagonizing Shepard enough to break platonic ties with him.]]
** Also, in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', if you bring up his past hobby as an actor, Mordin will sing a modified version of the MajorGeneralSong to the amusement of both the players and Shepard. The moment becomes really depressing in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', if [[spoiler: Mordin sacrifices his life in order to cure the Genophage, as he quietly sings it (if he sang it in the second game) as the building collapses and explodes around him in one of the biggest [[TearJerker tear jerkers]] in whole game serie.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Mordin''': I..am..the very..model of - ''([[KilledMidSentence BOOM]])'' ]]
** The NoodleIncident involving farming equipment is much less funny when you realized [[spoiler: He was forced to savagely kill a Krogan sentry in cold blood, not only brutally injuring himself but also that all of the defenders at the camp were female Krogan makes the incident less funny.]]
** In the original game, a Tali/Liara elevator conversation has Tali mentioning that most of the technology she wanted to send back to the flotilla tried to kill her. In the second game, she is accused of sending active geth parts back to the flotilla, which proceeded to kill everyone aboard the Alarei, [[spoiler:but it was actually her father who was responsible]].
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Diana Allers says "Have you ever seen how fast an e-democracy can turn on its allies?". After the game came out, a lot of people online were upset at Bioware for the controversial ending. And for bonus points, several gaming press articles turned on the critcs as "entitled" and the like.
** In an elevator conversation, [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Wrex]] can ask Kaidan whether he would win if he fought Shepard, and Kaidan replies that as Shepard is his superior officer, he can't imagine them fighting; this also implies that Wrex believes that Shepard would win against him. In the third game, [[spoiler:Shepard can (and potentially must, depending on how many mistakes you've made) kill Kaidan during the standoff with Udina]]. To make this a two-fer, [[spoiler:Shepard can also be forced to kill Wrex at one of two points in the game- if you fail to talk him down on Virmire or if you sabotage the genophage cure]].
** Do a playthrough with the Citadel DLC where you save Miranda from Kai Leng, and Jack will make fun of her for having trouble with a "guy with a sword". Then do a playthrough where you fail to warn Miranda about Kai Leng, leading to her death. That particular bit of banter suddenly stops being funny.
* ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia'', a game where you play as several goddesses of Console anthromorphisms out to fight Majiquone (an AnthropomorphicPersonification of [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Flashcarts and Custom Firmware]]) was launched on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3. Just a month later, hackers broke into the UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, forcing the service to shut down for months.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', has a particularly nasty example, Guy's fear of women. Most of the fellow characters, and even the players snicker at seeing him freak out whenever women get too close to him. Some characters even make fun of it, and the female members may occasionally touch him deliberately in spite of that (like when Tear grabs his hand after he jokes about her having Luke "whipped"). Then you find out his fear stems from [[spoiler: being hidden under the dead bodies of his sister and the maids who sacrificed themselves to save him when Kimlascan soldiers massacred his family. [[HarmfulToMinors When he was around FIVE]]]]. Cue the three female party members feeling like [[JerkAss jerkasses]].
* ''VideoGame/MotorStorm Apocalypse'' is a racing game involving a group of adrenaline junkies that hold a racing festival in a ruined city during an earthquake (and other disasters). The early videos featured buildings collapsing around your ears during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViSmLdXU1vM aftershocks]], explosions and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttOj1d_Ewh0 tsunamis]]. During release week... [[https://goo.gl/N3VyMu This happened...]] Because of it, the game was pulled from shelves in New Zealand and Japan.
* [[Characters/TouhouProject Utsuho Reiuji]], a character from the Touhou series, is a nuclear raven girl inspired by Chernobyl. [[http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2011/03/japans-nuclear-meltdown.html Now that Japan had a nuclear crisis itself]], let's just say don't be surprised if she is claimed by ChuckCunninghamSyndrome.
** It doesn't help that one of Tenshi's victory quotes against her in the fighting games is, "Say, you're not related to the earthquake on the surface, right? Right?" For that matter, Tenshi herself has come under fire for this, as she had stated she wanted to set off a massive earthquake on the surface world.
** A milder version kind of occurs in fandom. Let's just say that RunningGag about Youmu Konpaku idolizing Sakuya Izayoi as her OneeSama to ridiculous proportions gets less meaning or could be unfunny as Youmu gets included in ''Touhou 13'' without Sakuya, who's more probably [[GreenEyedMonster jealous like hell]].
*** Then again, Sakuya did say that she was just a maid and that the role was for... something. It was in the dialogue for one of the games.
* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest 2'' when you hit pause you get a screen saying that every cop needs a break now and then. The unpause option on the screen? The words: "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_roll Let's roll]]!" It doesn't seem like much until you happen to pause the game as you try to defeat the terrorists on the airplane.
** Less seriously, an easy source of money early in the game is to sell off the sidearms for those officers you don't intend to immediately send off on call. [[GoodBadBugs Funny then]]... less so (or maybe more so depending on your viewpoint) in TheNewTens with the LAPD's SWAT team being investigated for doing essentially the same thing.
* ''VideoGame/ASPAirStrikePatrol'' was unashamedly centered on the Gulf War, despite changing the name to [[{{Qurac}} Zarak]]. It is possible to beat the game, but no matter what you do you get one of the bad endings because of casualties, money or politics, despite being told you were doing well. Compared to the current Iraq war, this is rather uncomfortable.
* ''VideoGame/BalloonKid'' featured a girl trying to rescue her little brother as he gets blown away while riding on balloons. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax Almost 20 years later...]]
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' up to the end of Wrath of the Lich King, Horde players were given quests during the holiday of Hallow's End (the equivalent of Hallowe'en) to bomb the little town of Southshore with stinkbombs. Then the ''Cataclysm'' expansion came out... [[spoiler: and the Forsaken have since bombed the town with [[OhCrap something far less harmless]], the Blight, killing everyone who lived there and polluting the earth itself. The place is now inhabited only by sentient slimes.]]
* On the way to meet with Page to sneak into Reaver's masquerade in ''VideoGame/FableIII'', at the entrance of her base, you pass by Captain Swift, who's off to stir up further support for the uprising among the soldiers at Castle Bowerstone - before leaving, when Page refuses to let him come with the two of you, Ben half-jokingly whines that he should've just gone with Swift (who is for the record essentially the [[TheMentor Walter]] to Ben's "you"). [[spoiler: The next and last time he sees him is at his public execution. It's also a little of a downer on a replay that one of the promises you make to your supporters for when you're on the throne is to put Swift in charge of your army]].
** [[spoiler:Not only that, but the reason he was executed was because he was trying to recruit soldiers for the cause]].
* Meta-example relating to ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'': the Act 1 preview prominently featured deaf-mute Shizune and her sign language interpreter/VoiceForTheVoiceless Misha as close friends. Naturally, they were a popular pairing in discussion and fanart. [[spoiler: Come the full release, Shizune's route reveals Misha is in love with Shizune, and confessed before the start of the game. Shizune [[ShipSinking rejected her]], but offered continued friendship anyway. The ongoing consequences of this form much of the tension within the route's plot. Many shippers shat bricks.]]
** Also on that subject, Emi asks in Act 3 of her route why Misha would hang around with someone as bossy as Shizune, in a somewhat lighthearted moment. If you've played Shizune's route, you know why.
** Late in Act 1, one of the scenes leading up to Lilly's route has her joking with Akira about how bad Akira is at cooking. Later on, it's revealed that Akira was essentially forced to raise Lilly by herself when they were 19 and 12, respectively, after their parents left for Scotland. Akira believes that she was a failure as a substitute parent, and couldn't do as much for Lilly as she should have.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars: Eye of the North'' introduces Gadd, a vitriolic and insufferable genius who is unrelentingly hard on his son, Vekk. Vekk declares he'd sooner push Gadd off a bridge if they didn't need Gadd's help. Not long after, Gadd is killed during battle and a grieving Vekk scatters his ashes from a bridge.
* A possible InUniverse moment can happen in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. In Old World Blues, the [[OmnicidalManiac toaster]] says that "Soon the world will burn in nuclear fire, [[AfterTheEnd again]]!" You can't help but laugh as the Toaster is AxCrazy yet [[HarmlessVillain harmless]] (because he is a toaster). Then, [[spoiler: Lonesome Road comes along, and the BigBad try to launch nuclear missiles at the NCR/Legion/general Mojave depending on your relations with all the factions in the Mojave, and you get to pick if and where they're launched.]]
** It was already forshadowed by the NCR soldiers who wished for a Nuclear Winter rather than patrolling in the Mojave in a fruitless march.
* ''VideoGame/RecordOfAgarestWar2'' has it, of all the events that you can find in the game, in the [[spoiler: third generation HotSpringsEpisode. Normally a HotSpringsEpisode is pretty funny in this series until Jude just had to say (in a joking manner at that point) that his father Jainus who's in heaven be at peace while Jainus tells him that [[ImStandingRightHere he heard that and point out that he's not dead.]] This is just before Jainus' HeroicSacrifice when they get surrounded by monsters who were attracted to Chaos' power leaking out from Grey.]] You can even watch it again at the Event Gallery and it just feels uncomfortable watching that entire scene again and knowing what's about to happen.
* One of the editions of ''VideoGame/MicrosoftFlightSimulator'' released in the late 1990s had an announcer in one mission suggest it would be cool if you flew into the World Trade Center. Needless to say, that dialogue got stripped out in a later version.
* The original box-art (on a flap) for ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' (released 2000) featured a plane headed for the World Trade Center. After September 11, copies with the original art usually ended up recalled and replaced with a version that had depictions of anything American removed.
** On top of that, the game featured a mission in New York where the Twin Towers could be destroyed (they weren't part of an objective, and you were probably better off [[GarrisonableStructures garrisoning]] them). The patch changed the name of the towers to the generic "Civilian building". On top of ''that'', the first [=USSR=] mission is to burn down the Pentagon, which suffered attack scant days after the WTC bombing. ''EA never addressed this one''.
* The majority of the first level of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' ("Hollywood Holocaust") takes place in a movie theater. After the Aurora theater tragedy, a shootout in a movie theater isn't as entertaining.
** An in-universe example could be at the end of ''Duke Nukem 3D''. The end text crawl says look for a Duke Nukem 3D sequel soon. [[VideoGame/DukeNukemForever That sequel]] took [[SequelGap fifteen years]] to come out, and got mixed critical reviews when it finally did.
* An in-universe example in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaV''. Plutia mistaking a CPU Memory for candy? Amusing. [[spoiler: Blanc, Peashy, and Rei all making similar mistakes? One tragedy after the next.]] The world sucking outside of Lowee until Planeptune and Lastation came along? Interesting take on how things played out in real life. [[spoiler: That's not [[UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 the only thing]] taken from real life.]]
* Some of the switches in ''VideoGame/{{Panic}}'' detonate bombs randomly placed in famous locations around the world. This was played for laughs back in 1993, especially considering that some of the "landmarks" include an igloo and a dog house. [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror After certain events eight years later]], the idea of blowing up monuments became less humorous. While there is no World Trade Center, some of the monuments include downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. In the Playstation 2 port, the explosions [[ToiletHumor were changed to diarrhea]].
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series:
** Whenever he is in [[Film/{{Tron}} Space Paranoids]], Sora will wear [[TwentyFourHourArmor armor]] with TronLines that'll change color depending on what Drive Form he enters. Seeing him in [[MagicKnight Master Form]] in that world, which results in the lines turning yellow, looked cool until late 2010, when ''[[Film/TronLegacy Tron: Legacy]]'' was released, in which it's BigBad, Clu, also has yellow lines. Considering how cruel he is, especially what he did to the [=ISOs=], [[spoiler: Tron]] and to '''his own creator''', this really brings a bitter aftertaste to players. What tops this off is that Sora gets Master Form '''DURING''' the first trip to Space Paranoids; not only that, using the form consumes both party members (temporary, fortunately), and Tron is a party member in Space Paranoids...
*** It only got worse when ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' was released in 2012, which contains The Grid. It's because [[spoiler: Clu makes Sora [[FightingYourFriend fight]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy a reprogramed Tron]], then [[MoralEventHorizon kills the latter]] after Sora frees him.]]
** In one case not related to ''TRON'', there is the game's DarkerAndEdgier retelling of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', in which the evil stepfamily becomes TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether who, in one scenario, summons the Unversed to murder everyone in the ball because PrinceCharming did not pick either daughter, and in another scenario, [[MoralEventHorizon attack Cinderella out of hatred]] before [[AdaptationalKarma being blown up]]. Eight years after the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', the Surabaya terrorist attacks would strike, with three of the perpetrators being a mother and her two daughters, who blew themselves up in a church with hatred as a motivation.
*** Although witnesses report that the daughters, unlike Drizella and Anastasia, were forced against their will by their parents to carry out the suicide bombings.
* Film/{{Tron}}-based video games are ''loaded'' with these.
** In the UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} version of ''Tron Deadly Discs'', Mattel incorrectly made Tron an orange (evil-aligned) figure cutting down blue-colored (User-believer) {{Mooks}}. Simple color goof in 1982 - oddly prescient come 2010.
** Another of the Intellivision games was ''Maze-a-Tron'' where you're controlling Flynn, who is navigating a circuitboard maze, friendless and alone. It's an EndlessGame where you just keep going until a Recognizer or other hazard does you in. Again, consider the sequel.
** In ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'', one of the story arcs is finding a "Tron Legacy" code. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the code is buggy and causes [=Ma3a=] to go AxCrazy and [[KillAllHumans declare all Users must be destroyed]].]] ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' also has the Sequencer, which allows Jet to split his discs into multiple copies and fight with them. Guess who does that in the sequel? Topping it off is the troubled relationship between Alan and Jet, which is a lot more creepy after you've seen ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' and watched the equally rocky relationship between Tron and Beck.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', many characters will talk about future plans they want the main character to be a part of, and how their lives have changed for the better [[spoiler: ...and then the main character dies at the end of the game.]]
* In a parody/homage to ''Film/KingKong'', ''VideoGame/FurFighters'' had a plane crash into the radio antenna of the [[BigAppleSauce New Quack]] World Trade Center. Funny in 2000 when the game was released, not so much a year later.
* The "Mario throwing Yoshi into a pit" jokes in ''VideoGame/{{Something}}'' after [[spoiler: ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' released "Plumber's Best Friend". [[HeroicSacrifice Yoshi intentionally throws Mario off his back to give him the extra air, leaving him to fall to his death]].]]
* One of the random (female) pedestrian lines in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' is, "Where's the Russian mafia when you need them?" Definitely a lot funnier before the DarkerAndEdgier ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' happened.
* In ''[[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive Dead or Alive 2]]'', Bass Armstrong attacks Zack for the latter's interest in his daughter, Tina, shouting, "Rargh! I'll never let you near Tina!". Bear in mind that Bass is an expy of American wrestler Wrestling/HulkHogan, while Zack is an expy of (black) basketball player Dennis Rodman. In July 2015, Hogan was fired by the Wrestling/{{WWE}} after racist remarks he said years prior became public. One of the remarks was concerning his daughter having sex with a black man.
* The Music/{{BEMANI}} song "GOLD RUSH", produced for the 2007 game ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX 14 GOLD'', features the line "Make it! Make money!" repeated throughout the song. Come 2015 and Creator/{{Konami}} shutters two of its other {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s, ''Franchise/SilentHill'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear''.
* The promotional iPad game for [[Ride/AltonTowers The Smiler]] has you tilt the device in order to stabilize the train, or else the train derails. After ''seven accidents'', the most recent causing two riders to ''be amputated,'' the app was taken down from the app store.
* At E3 1995, Creator/SonyComputerEntertainment America's "brief presentation" about the UsefulNotes/PlayStation consisted of one word: "299," a TakeThat against the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn launch price of 399 USD. 11 years later, again at E3, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 presentation touted it as costing [[MemeticMutation FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE U.S. DOLLARS]],[[note]]For the 60 GB model; the 20 GB model would cost 499 USD[[/note]] significantly more expensive than [[UsefulNotes/Xbox360 other consoles]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} of its generation]] at their respective launch dates.
* Meta-example from ''VideoGame/YoKaiWatch'': When promoting ''Yo-Kai Watch 2'' at E3 2016, Akihiro Hino suggested that [[TemptingFate the games would follow the same pattern as they did in Japan]], and that the series would "bloom like a flower" in a year's time. Fast-forward a year, and the sequels not only wound up selling significantly less than they did in Japan; [[http://nintendoeverything.com/level-5-ceo-on-current-state-of-the-yo-kai-watch-series-wants-to-bring-back-older-players/ but the series also experienced a decline in popularity there that has caused Hino to reconsider the future of the series.]]
* In the first ''VideoGame/NiNoKuni'', the main character does a mission for the Cat King and you have to beat the Mouse King for it. It's cartoony. It's really early on and afterwards it never comes up again. Then in the sequel ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniIIRevenantKingdom'', centuries later, the Mouse species have launched a coup that ''kills'' the current Cat King and a good number of his loyal catperson troops. Later in the game, this is revisited. While it's not seen as justified; it's considered in-game as understandable and forgivable. Such to the point of letting the Micepeople continue being in charge.
* The ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTurtlesInTime Turtles In Time]]'' level Neon Night Riders sends you just over a decade beyond the game's present. That game was released years before Lord Dregg invaded the earth in the then-ongoing cartoon series, creating a much worse future that the turtles visit at one point than is depicted in that game.
* The Franchise/JamesBond game ''007 Racing'' has R taunting the player with " Oh, please, you call that driving? Q could drive better than that, and he's dead!" It's kind of tasteless given that one year before the game's release (but development usually takes long), Q's actor Desmond Llewelyn had died ''in a car accident''.
* In ''VisualNovel/ShinraiBrokenBeyondDespair'', during Chapter 1, you can look around the dining room and talk to the guests, as a sort of tutorial for the investigation sequences. One decoration is a tombstone that has the names of all the guests besides Rie(the party host, who made it) and Taiko (the guy Rie likes). The characters don't think too much about the tombstone, although [[ObliviousToLove Taiko doesn't get why he isn't on it]], but it gets less funny by the end, after [[spoiler:Momoko, Hiro and possibly Kotoba]] die.
* ''[[https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/218789 The Bill Cosby Fun Game]]'' was meant to be a work of BlackComedy referencing the sexual assault lawsuit Creator/BillCosby faced in 2005, with the premise of Cosby going broke after the rape trial and ending up being a SerialKiller for money while evading the police. This doesn't sound funny after the massive wave of 2014 sexual assault allegations and Cosby being convicted of sexual assault, especially with the dedication at the ending:
--> This game is dedicated to Bill Cosby. Here's hoping you conquer your demons and deliver more decades of laughs!
* Once you've completed ''VideoGame/{{Bugsnax}}'', it can be hard to bring yourself to replay it [[spoiler:once you've seen TheReveal of the Bugsnax' true nature, and know that most of the game's quests consist of feeding your friends parasites that are slowly destroying their mind and body]].
* In the game ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', one of Spy's domination lines to Soldier has him [[TrashTalk making fun that soldier's easily replaceable]]. After Soldier's voice actor, Rick May's death in April 2020, the quote hits far too close to home to be funny anymore.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pilotwings 64}}'': One choice of destination for the Nintendo Power August 1996 Player's Poll Contest grand prize winner was Washington, D.C., where Nintendo Power invited the winner to "hob-nob at the Capitol". 24½ years later, the term took on a sinister new meaning when the most devastating attack on U.S. soil this side of 9/11 took place at the Capitol, with some classifying the attack as domestic terrorism and right-wing people generally describing the attackers as all but hob-nobbing at the Capitol.
* InUniverse example from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'': all the jokes made about how [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Soma and Mina are obviously an item]] at their expense come across far more darker in the wake of the [[MultipleEndings bad ending]]. [[spoiler:Let's just say that a Soma without Mina [[FromNobodyToNightmare is not a happy Soma...]]]]
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* In the early 1990s, ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' enjoyed massive popularity which can be credited to a vast community of fans making [[GameMod game mods]]. One of which, "UAC Labs," featured modified enhanced gore, and levels where you are supposed to kill swarms of demons. The description of the WAD ends with "Good Luck Marine, and don't forget, KILL EEM AALLLL!" The copyright notice says "You may NOT change a damn thing with this WAD, if you do, i will blow you up." This mod was one of a handful made by UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} shooter Eric Harris (one of which included an on-screen gametesting credit for accomplice Dylan Klebold). Fortunately, the consistent rumors that he also made a mod set in Columbine that allowed the player to shoot students [[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/doom.asp are all false]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'':
** There is a in-universe example where at the entrance of Kakariko village, a solder introducing the village says that they're a small community and that he hopes they'll one day be as lively as the Castle Town market. Years later, when the market is overrun by [=ReDeads=], the village ends up holding the escaped population of Hyrule's humans, making it the liveliest area in Hyrule.
** There is the guard posted at the gate of Hyrule Castle Town, who complains about how boring things are, and that he wishes things would become more interesting. The player also learns about the guard's fascination with ghosts. Fast forward seven years, after Ganondorf had overtaken the castle, in the place where the guard was stationed sits a mysterious individual who buys and sells ghosts, who somehow earned Ganondorf's favor.
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** Players of the ''Phoenix Wright Trilogy'' would know the fate of Phoenix Wright [[BittersweetEnding did not end as happily]] as [[WhatNowEnding it has been heavily implied]] in the final game once another new protagonist has been introduced, including Wright's [[FallenHero fall from grace]] as a major plotline. Ema Skye unfortunately suffers from this fate also, [[GenkiGirl with a bright light of hope coming to her]] at the final case of the first game to become a forensic scientist. This was only to be shattered upon discovery [[MyGreatestFailure that she failed in doing so]], causing her to grow [[TookALevelInJerkAss angry and bitter at everything and everyone]], and to an extent becoming like her big sister Lana.
** Related to this, many characters, including Maya Fey, Ema and Lana Skye and Detective Gumshoe have joked about [[spoiler: Phoenix giving up or even losing his badge.]] It was funny during the first three games, since the players reaction was guaranteed to be "Yeah, like that'd ever happen!"... Then, ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' came along and the jokes turned into nightmarish {{Foreshadowing}} instead, with the only ray of hope resting in Apollo and his new law firm.
** It is worth nothing though, that both examples above have since been reverted by the time of the sixth game (Phoenix was reinstated as a lawyer who is considered legendary among people, and Ema became a succesful forensic investigator who also got to keep her detective job), effectively subverting this trope.
** In ''Trials and Tribulations'' Case 2, Pearl jokes that Phoenix will one day grow famous enough to have imitators. [[spoiler:In Case 3, Tigre gets Maggey thrown in jail by impersonating Phoenix and doing a deliberately awful defense at her trial.]]
** Mia's reaction to [[spoiler: Phoenix eating the pendant bottle in Case 1]] is mildly amusing at the time, but if you consider the events of Case 4 it's no longer funny: [[spoiler: it was not her first time seeing her client swallow poison in court to cover for his lover.]]
** Godot's line, "by the way, I've tried salt in my coffee. It tastes terrible," Take a look at the end of Flashback case 3-4, [[spoiler:Mia is crying that Terry Fawles commits suicide, Dahlia got away with that murder and Diego says "relax, kitten, your tears are getting my coffee salty."]] This ultimately implies how Godot is still alive and why he is addicted to coffee.
** There's a power outage during the earlier cases where the only visible objects on screen are Phoenix's eyes and Godot's visor, a moment clearly played for laughs given the visuals. [[spoiler:Fast forward to the final case, and one of the logical conclusions Phoenix points out is why Maya is so certain of Godot being there, and he demands the court turn out the lights... and guess what lights up the darkness in a much more serious shot than before.]]
** ''Dual Destinies'':
*** Watching the astronaut Solomon Starbuck act as if he's in a malfunctioning spacecraft madly pushing buttons in episode 4 whenever he's stressed, is hilarious. It can also come off as hilariously ironic that he has a fear of space. [[spoiler:That is, until you find out that he's suffering from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder due to almost dying in the depths of space when a terrorist sabotaged his spacecraft. He almost didn't make it back alive, and from that day forward he developed an intense fear of space and, presumably, a habit to flashback and act like he's in that situation]]. Although he still looks over the top while he thinks he's in space, it does make it less of a laughing moment and more of a "... you OK, dude?" moment.
*** There's a RunningGag throughout the game of the convict prosecutor Simon Blackquil being tasered by his detective handler Bobby Fullbright to keep him in line. Come TheReveal in Case 5 that [[spoiler: Bobby Fullbright ''is'' said terrorist mentioned above, and Simon was falsely convicted for a murder ''he committed'']], and this becomes a ''lot'' less funny on replays. In fact [[spoiler: almost every comedic moment involving Bobby Fullbright]] comes off as deeply disturbing after TheReveal, such as [[spoiler: Jinxie calling him a ghost in Case 2, as the real Bobby Fullbright has been dead for a long time.]]
** Edgeworth's phobia of [[spoiler:earthquakes]] is hilarious when triggered for the first time, with Maya finding him curling on the floor of all things and definitely not coming to his senses anytime soon. It gets kind of sad and creepy when you find out about the circumstances that caused the phobia in the first place, as lampshaded by Phoenix.
** ''Investigations 2'' introduces Sebastian Debeste, a rather incompetent prosecutor who gets made fun of by everybody for being an idiot. [[spoiler: The last two cases of the game explain that Sebastian's abusive father likes to berate him for being an idiot, and that he paid Sebastian's teachers to give him good grades without telling him. When Sebastian finds out about this, he starts to think that he really ''is'' an idiot and almost has a mental and emotional breakdown.]]

* Moe's constant sleeping in ''VisualNovel/DaCapo'' when you get to the end of her route. Suddenly the CloudCuckoolander thing and all her sleeping are a bit less [[{{moe}} charming,]] aren't they? And the vitamins... [[spoiler:She's trying to sleep as much as possible so she can see the childhood friend who died saving her. She stopped taking the vitamins - read: sleeping pills - when she started dating Junichi but started taking more and more after the cherry tree died and she couldn't dream anymore. Eventually, she tries to overdose on sleeping pills where she met her friend right as Junichi convinces her to move on with her life. She gets better but...]] For extra fun, remember that the tree dies in lots of routes and she doesn't have the hero around to help her.... Yay...

* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'', which came out in May 2009, featured a zombie version of Music/MichaelJackson, complete with "Thriller"-style backup dancers. Six weeks after the game's release, Michael Jackson died suddenly from cardiac arrest. Needless to say, the dancing zombie has been turned into a DiscoDan in a patch. Making things even worse, if you look up that enemy type ("Dancing Zombie") in the in-game encyclopedia, the entry states "Any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and persons living or dead is purely coincidental" (again, a joke on the Thriller CreditsGag).
* Taking advantage of the 2008 presidential election, a game was released featuring animals competing for the throne to the animal kingdom. It was called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_to_the_Chimp Hail to the Chimp]]''. [[UnfortunateImplications A bit less funny]] when [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama a black man]] was elected.

* In the Tex Murphy game ''[[VideoGame/TexMurphy The Pandora Directive]]'', set in the 2040s, Tex meets an NSA agent who reminds him of the Graham Act, a law that was passed "40 years ago" in response to increased terrorist threats to the US, giving the NSA carte blanche when dealing with internal security matters. The game was made a full 5 years before 9/11 and the resulting Patriot Act.
* In ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts'', L.O.G. (the game's [[MediumAwareness medium-aware]] narrator of sorts) constantly jokes that the game will be poorly-received due to its UnexpectedGameplayChange from 3D platformer to vehicle builder and racer. Turns out, he was ''exactly right.'' Furthermore, he "promises" that if the game doesn't sell well, the next ''Banjo-Kazooie'' game will return to a 3D platforming style... but, as it turns out, ''Nuts & Bolts'' was a FranchiseKiller and Rare's old team disbanded before they could attempt another game.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'':
** The antagonists of the first three games in all have the Greek letter Omega [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS as their symbol]]. Sure most of them are {{Knight Templar}}s, but they still mean well, fighting for the sake of humanity. But later we're introduced to an actual character named Omega, who is everything that the antagonists ever stood against.
** Back in ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'', Zero, [[spoiler:freshly BackFromTheDead]], ''very easily'' destroys a weak clone of himself that the BigBad made. Cue ''Zero 3'', where [[spoiler:Omega (the same one mentioned above) is the original body of Zero, while ''TheHero'' is the clone]]. But it was subverted, [[spoiler:the clone Zero didn't mind the irony of the situation he was in, and goes on to defeat Omega Zero ''easily''. Also, TheHero may be using a duplicate body, but the mind is real; he is still the ''real Zero''. Omega Zero is now just a mindless puppet]].
* In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', when Flonne is introduced she says she wants to be like the flowers. [[spoiler:In most of the endings, Flonne is turned into a flower by Seraph Lamington as her punishment, before the final battle. In the Good ending ([[CuttingOffTheBranches the canon ending]]), she is revived as a Fallen Angel, in the Neutral ending, Laharl sacrifices himself to resurrect her, and in one of the bad endings, he picks the flower and wanders the Netherworld for eternity.]]
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
** If you choose the Human Noble origin, your young nephew asks his father (who is about to ship off for war) to bring him back a sword as a present. His father replies something along the lines of "Don't worry, you'll be able to see one up close soon". [[spoiler:Your nephew and the rest of your family are brutally murdered shortly thereafter by the armies of a rival nobleman.]]
** If you play a City Elf, when you talk to your cousin Soris, he'll say that his [[ArrangedMarriage bride-to-be]] sounds like a dying mouse, to which you can respond (paraphrased) 'maybe I should get you a cage for your wedding gift'. Considerably less funny later on when [[spoiler: she and a few other female wedding guests are imprisoned in a human noble's mansion so that he can rape and kill them one at a time]].
** There's banter between Alistair and [[TheAlcoholic Oghren]] where Alistair asks how Oghren is so drunk all the time - "Do we even have that much alcohol with us? I wish I could be drunk all the time!" [[spoiler: If you recruit Loghain into your party and you either don't make Alistair king or haven't hardened him, Alistair ends up becoming a drunken vagrant out of despair.]]
* Many lines in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' became {{Funny Aneurysm Moment}}s due to the plot twists involving Anders in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Among these are Justice's discussions with Anders and Nathaniel about possession, Anders accusing Velanna having a "chip on her shoulder that replaced her head" and Anders joking that he's fond of "iconoclasm" since in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' he [[spoiler:blows up the Chantry in Kirkwall to incite a war]].
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII,'' one comes at the beginning of Act II. The Viscount of Kirkwall is becoming exasperated over the growing problems with the Qunari, and humorously grumbles, "I really should spend more time with my son. This life is just too short." [[spoiler:They're both dead by the end of the Act. Too short indeed.]]
** The "glistening elves" potential PartyBanter between Isabela and Fenris. The former, true to her typical sense of humor, asks the latter what sort of bent his slavery had, and Fenris responds with flat audible exasperation that he was a bodyguard. It seems innocuous enough with the exasperation pinned to Fenris's usual attitude as TheComicallySerious. And then you meet Fenris's former master, and hear a few [[NoYay comments]] that WordOfGod has since confirmed the implications of.
** Varric likes to write stories where [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice the hero dies]] at the end]], something he mentions a few times in banter. One banter in Act 1 is with Anders to whom he explains that he's "working on an epic poem about a hopelessly romantic apostate [[spoiler:waging an epic struggle against forces he can't possibly defeat]]." At the end of the game, [[spoiler:Anders can potentially be executed after having blown up the Chantry]].
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', [[GenreSavvy Varric]] gets annoyed with Hawke for TemptingFate while [[spoiler:in the Fade.]] A funny little exchange between [[HeterosexualLifePartners two extremely]] [[PlatonicLifePartners close friends]] [[spoiler:that comes about five minutes before a situation where Hawke (potentially) pulls a HeroicSacrifice to allow the others to escape]].
** In a similar vein, Varric also has a few banters with [[{{Fangirl}} Cassandra]] where they talk about his books. In one such banters, he explains how he likes to [[spoiler: make his characters suffer, and even "throw in a [[HeroicSacrifice heroic death]]"]].
** Later in the game, if female Lavellan is in a romantic relationship with Solas, [[spoiler: Sera will snark about Levallan and Solas "rebuilding the Elvhen empire" in the bedroom. Later, it turns out that Solas is indeed trying to rebuild the ancient empire of the Elves...just in a more apocalyptic fashion.]]
* After the death of Heihachi's voice actors, the end of the arcade intro for ''VideoGame/Tekken5'' that proclaims "[[Creator/DaisukeGori Heihachi]] [[Creator/UnshoIshizuka Mishima]] is dead." definitely qualifies. It became even more somber after [[spoiler:Heihachi was KilledOffForReal in ''Tekken 7''.]]
* ''VideoGame/EverythingOrNothing'' has a sequence where James Bond has to stop a plot to destroy the levees around New Orleans which can flood the city. The game came out in 2004. Cut to one year later and Hurricane Katrina hit.

* In the Australian cricket video game "Stick Cricket", When the Stick Batsman missed a bouncer, the ball would smack his head and he would collapse on his stumps and would be out bowled for comedic effect. However in an recent update, this animation has been altered due to the tragic death of batsman Phillip Hughes as he suffered from a similar fate during a cricket match in the Sydney Cricket Ground, passing away a few days later.

* In ''VideoGame/Postal2'', you have the option to kill Gary Coleman (canonically, he dies whether or not you kill him), which, if you killed him, has the Postal Dude ask his wife how much an autographed book can sell for. Remember, this game did star Gary himself, and was made before his death...
** Nevermind the fact that Gary Coleman dies in this game. The fact that he is killed during a book signing at Paradise Mall disturbingly parallels the murder of Music/ChristinaGrimmie during an autograph signing in June 2016, which brings us to a store in said mall with a sign reading, "Closed For Renovation. Reopening June 2016."
* In ''VideoGame/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'', one of the items that can be stolen by Carmen Sandiego and her crew is Franchise/JamesBond's Aston Martin. In 1997, one of the Astons was stolen for real. No word on whether Carmen Sandiego is on the list of suspects.

* The age verification quiz for the 1987 game ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry1InTheLandOfTheLoungeLizards'' asks who O.J. Simpson was, with one of the answers being "under indictment". While "Nobody to fool with," is the right answer, in 1994, O.J. Simpson was indicted for the murder of his wife.
* In the ''VideoGame/BackyardBaseball'' series, Barry Bonds gets fatter every game, with his stats getting better, and is removed from the series after 2003. Then the exact same things happened in real life. Poor Barry.
* Following the release of ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers]]'', every voiced dialogue from Excellen Browning tends to make gamers cry due to Creator/YukoMizutani's tragic and untimely death to breast cancer on May 17, 2016.
* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' has a throw away line regarding the collapse of the European Union as a sign of Gehenna, the Classic WOD Vampire version of the Apocalypse. With Brexit and threats of other nations leaving, [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/08/28/merkels-sidekick-says-brexit-makes-europe-unstable-good-the-eu-should-collapse/ some]] [[http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/is-the-eu-in-danger-of-collapse-following-brexit/ reports suggest]][[http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/721930/Euro-European-Union-collapse-single-currency-Otmar-Issing the collapse]] may become a reality.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', E-123 Omega wants to [[http://d-author.tumblr.com/post/153271826717/this-whole-dialogue-is-a-gift destroy]] [[https://hunnidpisanenchilada.tumblr.com/post/146826694186/aww-shadow-cares-about-omega Eggman]] but Tails states that Eggman is an ally and Omega only backed down on his closest friends, Shadow and Rouge's behalf. Then ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' has Shadow allying himself with Eggman to spread panic and disorder throughout the world. [[labelnote:Really?]]Not really; the Shadow siding with Eggman is a copy created by the Phantom Ruby, while the real Shadow still opposes him.[[/labelnote]]
--> '''E-123 Omega''': "ORANGE FOREST CREATURE GONE MAD. RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE DESTRUCTION."
* A joke about ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'' is that rocket instabilities are caused by not enough struts. In June 28 2015, a SpaceX Falcon 9 disintegrated because of a failure of a strut. That being said, many landing in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ SpaceX Failure Video]] are all too familiar to players who tried to do SpaceX builds themselves.

* The long-forgotten OldShame [[VideoGame/SimCity Maxis]] edutainment game ''Read-A-Rama'' has a cutscene in which two humanoid flies crash into each other. The background just happens to be of the Twin Towers. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4pKbrWITgk skip to 6:41]] to witness the horror.

%%
* InUniverse example from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': As you head off to the Millennial Fair at the beginning, one NPC you can talk to says "You're going to have to wait a thousand years for another Millennial Fair!" Unbeknownst to you, [[spoiler:Lavos will destroy the world in 1999.]]
* Through controversial already since it was based on the film, ''Film/DeathRace2000'', ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}'' had two drivers, one of them called ''Die Anna'', played on to the name Diana. Keep in mind, the PC version, which came first, was released on June 30, 1997. It was altered to a zombie game in order to release in the United Kingdom, since the censors felt that a video game where players can run down human pedestrians was glamorizing vehicular homicide. A month later, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident, though at least this likely wasn't a homicide.
* ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'', where the object of the game is to destroy skyscrapers as a CaptainErsatz of Godzilla or Film/KingKong, among other monsters, in a city has become this since 9/11. It took them 7 years to produce a new game because of it. Worse still, you can actually target some ''real-world'' landmarks in a few of the games.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** In the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', there's a funny sequence where Naomi Hunter lectures Solid Snake about what happens to the body when someone smokes, and informs him that if he carries on doing it he will get cancer and die. In ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', [[spoiler:Naomi dies, of cancer]]. Suddenly the conversation isn't funny, and it gets worse when Snake learns something much worse; the old FOXDIE virus implanted in him back in the first ''Solid'', originally designed to only target and kill specific people, will soon become an uncontrollable bio-weapon that will kill people indiscriminately - [[DrivenToSuicide unless he offs himself first]].
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'':
*** In an optional Codec call, Otacon will reprimand Snake for throwing away a lit cigarette into the harbor from the George Washington Bridge. Shortly after the release of the game, it was shown that Otacon wasn't the only person upset with Snake's actions, as quite a few people were in an uproar over this fact, enough to have Kojima have Naked Snake actually stamp out his cigar just before doing his HALO jump at Tselinoyarsk in the next game.
*** The intended joke is probably this too, as Otacon is basically chiding Snake for polluting the Hudson. FlashForward to the Plant Chapter, and it turns out the Tanker Snake scuttled led to a ''lot'' worse pollution than that. [[spoiler: Or rather, so [[PropagandaMachine The Patriots]] would have us believe.]]
*** There's a famous scene where [[spoiler:a corrupted AI character]] [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds rants about purple stuffed worms and scissors]], among other things which lighten the mood of the otherwise dark section of the game. It's not so funny in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' when [[spoiler:the AI Boss starts doing the same thing, even quoting some lines, ''while she's being essentially murdered'']].
*** The original script had a scene where the Arsenal is rampaging through the streets of New York, destroying multiple buildings. This was completely cut following the 9/11 attacks.
** There is a movie on ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}''[='=]s Secret Theater where Snake and Para-Medic argue about whether Snake should kill and eat The Boss's horse, with The Boss becoming incensed enough to storm away quickly and send GRU soldiers over to their location. It's not so funny in ''Peace Walker'' when [[spoiler:Big Boss is forced to euthanize The Boss's horse with his gun in a manner similar to his killing The Boss, after the horse was critically and mortally wounded from falling off the Costa Rican/Nicaraguan border while in pursuit of Peace Walker.]]
** In ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps Portable Ops Plus]]'', Old Snake is a bonus playable character. As a bonus detail, all the girly magazines in ''Portable Ops Plus'' use pictures of EVA. Being a man, Snake is [[AllMenArePerverts not immune]] to the irresistible lure of pictures of his beloved naked, smoldering - [[spoiler:mother]]. Lampshaded by CMP Studios, a ''Metal Gear'' Website/{{Machinima}} group, in a one-shot special - "I apologize for what I used your pictures for".
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' managed to turn much of ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' into a FunnyAneurysmMoment: bad enough that Naked Snake ends up becoming [[spoiler:Big Boss, the villain of the first two ''Metal Gear'' games]], but ''[=MGS4=]'' reveals that the rest of your team - Sigint, Para-Medic and the all-important Major Zero - went on [[spoiler:with EVA and Ocelot to found the Patriots, the organization which eventually became the shadow government of the United States, and that Big Boss - originally one of the group - [[StartOfDarkness set off the Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land incidents]] in order to throw off their control]]. Furthermore, it's revealed that both Sigint and Para-Medic, a.k.a. [=DARPA=] Chief Donald Anderson, who probably indirectly created the [=AIs=], and Dr. Clark, the creator of the Les Enfants Terribles project and the person who turned Frank Jaeger into the Cyborg Ninja, were [[spoiler:both killed; Dr. Clark shortly before the events of the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', and Sigint/Ocelot were aware of their true allegiances when Ocelot killed Sigint;]] by the end of ''[=MGS4=]'', none of the original members are left, though it's a surprise as to which one is ''really'' the last to die. [[spoiler: It's actually Big Boss, who survived ''Metal Gear 2'' and was in a coma until saved by Ocelot and EVA.]]
* WWE games:
** The ''WWF Raw'' video game for the SNES and UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis (among others) allows wrestlers to perform over-the-top "mega moves" in order to finish a match. The video game guide demonstrates Diesel's mega move, in which he tosses his opponent fifty feet in the air and lets them crash back down onto the mat, by having him do it to Owen Hart, who would wind up dying at the WWF's ''Over the Edge'' event five years later by falling fifty feet and crashing onto the mat due to a malfunctioned harness.
** Wrestling/TheUndertaker's ''[=SmackDown=] vs. Raw'' curse:
*** A storyline of the story mode in ''WWE [=SmackDown!=] vs. Raw 2006'' ends with Wrestling/EddieGuerrero landing in a casket during a feud with The Undertaker; soon after the release of the game, Guerrero died.
*** In ''[=SmackDown=] vs. Raw 2007'', a storyline has dialogue where The Undertaker tells Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, who he's feuding with, that his grieving family will have no one to blame but himself; months later, the real Benoit kills his wife, his son, and himself.
** In ''WWE '13'', if you are having a match with Eve Torres, you'll occasionally hear Jerry Lawler make a comment about needing an EMT at ringside because his "heart skipped a beat." It's fairly cringeworthy when you remember that Lawler had a major heart attack on live TV in September 2012 that nearly killed him.[[note]]In THQ's defense, the audio commentary had been done for awhile at that point and Lawler himself has already made these kinds of jokes following his return.[[/note]]

* ''VisualNovel/Ever17'':
** Tsugumi and Takeshi's scene in the flooding elevator while talking about the Archimedes Principle becomes a lot less amusing [[spoiler:when the mini sub they're in [[DiabolusExMachina starts to sink]] and they need to lose about 100lbs in order to start rising again. Takeshi distracts her with by asking her about it again the leaps into the airlock and moments later [[HeroicSacrifice out into the ocean]] which is ice cold and in a setting that does not ignore the effects of water pressure or the human swimming ability.]]
** At the beginning of Coco's route, there's a moment where Takeshi, You, and Coco are looking at a photo album of You's. When they see a picture of a baby [[spoiler:Takeshi humorously asks You if it's her baby]], which she reacts with a brief "no". [[spoiler:Later in the route, we find out it actually IS her baby/clone, which she only had because she's dying of a lethal heart disease and made her to carry on her legacy. Ouch...]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'':
** In the theater level, it's a bit hard to find the over-the-top, [[SugarBowl sickly-sweet]] "happy" play put on by kids in flower costumes to be amusing once they start talking about Gloria's mom, if you've played before and already know what happened to her...
** Milla's Dance Party is pretty much impossible to look at the same way once you find out her backstory. She wasn't kidding when she called it a "party killer".

* ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife: The Next Chapter'' was [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo made for the DS and Wii by two completely different teams.]] [[LighterAndSofter In the DS version]], the character Mike, a random human who is inexplicably stuck in the game world, mentions in random dialogue that the world is very odd and "like a dream." [[DarkerAndEdgier At the end of the Wii version,]] [[spoiler:the world is destroyed in a DreamApocalypse, and it was all created by Mike when he enters a coma.]]

** Made better or worse, depening on your views, by the fact that Tidus does eventually apologize to her, she isn't upset at all and claims she "was happy" when he talked like that.
* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', there is a character who, when you speak to them, says "I wonder if ''[[VideoGame/Mother3 Earthbound 2]]'' has been released yet?" There's a lot of us in Europe (and America) who would sadly say "[[NoExportForYou No, and it may never be]]".
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_5884.jpg Here's]] the Fry's Electronics mascot. Looks pretty cheerful, kinda reminds some people of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants''. Now try looking at him again after seeing ''VideoGame/Mother3'''s [[http://earthbound.wikia.com/wiki/Negative_Man Negative Man]].
* It's kind of funny how the front cover of the ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' video game has a shot of [[spoiler: Tony and Michelle]] diving for cover from an explosion. [[spoiler:Michelle is killed by a car bomb at the start of Season 5.]]
* ''VideoGame/SimCity Societies'' is notable for promoting BP's [[GreenAesop "green"]] agenda by stamping its logo on windmills and solar power plants. Three years later, the same company is responsible for one of the [[{{Irony}} worst oil spills in U.S. history]].
** ''VideoGame/SimCity'' once had a plane crash among the disasters, either by chance or triggered by the gamer. It was removed in ''VideoGame/SimCity 4'' after 9/11.
* In the game ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'', the antagonist is North Korea. With all the fuss surrounding the torpedoing of that South Korean ship...good thing it's statistically impossible.
** The game's developers have even [[DudeNotFunny included footage of Hillary Clinton's press conference about the torpedoing in the trailer]].
* Way back in 2008, Pandemic Studios releases a game called ''[[VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}} Mercenaries 2: World in Flames]]'', set in Venezuela. Part of the background events is a new regime moving to nationalize the oil rigs and refineries of an American company. [[http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.939483e305b1ba22fc2cd72e1641a9c0.5b1&show_article=1 In 2010, Hugo Chávez prepares to nationalize the oil rigs of an American company]].
* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger'', Taokaka's joke ending involves having been trained with Bang until an unknown enemy attacks, forcing Bang to make a HeroicSacrifice, while Tao is left to fend off against the antagonist: Jin and Litchi, played out like an upcoming movie, which turns out to be Taokaka's lies. [[spoiler:Cue the sequel, Litchi herself ends up reluctantly making a FaceHeelTurn, going from neutral to antagonist because her beloved's life is in danger and she has no choice if she wants to save him.]] Way to go in your imagination, Tao... [[spoiler:Let's hope that Bang doesn't end up biting it in Continuum Shift's sequel.]]
** Previously in CT, during Bang's story, when he met Litchi trying to converse with Arakune, he immediately thinks she's a DistressedDamsel that Arakune is trying to brainwash. This scene is PlayedForLaughs. Then in CS, per with the first aneurysm moment above, [[spoiler:Litchi became a {{Deconstruction}} of DistressedDamsel, a damsel pleading for help to those that can help her (Kokonoe) and flat out refused, thus [[ForcedIntoEvil forcing her to take the offer to join NOL because she's the only one who can save herself when everyone else turned her pleas down]]. Even more tragically, she's the type of not wanting to burden her friends with her problem, while this is noble, this made Bang, whom you can bet your ass will try to help if he knew the problem, become unaware of her distress to make a save.]] Damn.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'', there is a segment where you have to vote on a battery of silly Propositions affecting a planet's society. Even though you just arrived on the planet 10 minutes prior. Your goal is to vote in the same way the ruling High Council does in order to gain their trust. One measure attempts to legalize marriage between the Planet-dwellers and Ring-dwellers (lower and upper caste), which the Council has voted against. The measure? [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_8 Proposition 8.]]

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'':
** Maria constantly adds the words 'uu uu' to her sentences, infuriating her mother, Rosa, who scolds her for her childishness. Taking this to be a comment on cute characters and their [[VerbalTic catchphrases]], the reader finds this therapeutic. Then Episode 4 rolls by. [[spoiler:Rosa is shown to be both severely abusive and neglectful of her child in private. It also turns out that the catchphrase is a spell Maria invented which she believes will make her mother happy. This is based on a moment in the past where Maria forgot the words to a song she was singing and merely went 'uu uu', which made her mother smile. It now has the opposite effect, but that only makes Maria think that she has to say it more, which causes her to suffer further abuse.]]
** In the third arc, we learn that Battler made a silly childhood promise 6 years prior to his then crush, Shannon. The promise involved him coming to get her while riding a white horse, adorn with his usual [[GratuitousEnglish Engrish]]. Looking back he finds this extremely embarrassing since he had already forgotten and moved on from such childishness. [[spoiler: Later we find out what the recipient of that promise thought of it. Shannon took it extremely to heart, and waited anxiously for his return. But he didn't. He forgot both the promise and pretty much Shannon for the whole 6 years he was away. Waiting for him and self-consciously berating herself for expecting something of the first person who respected her intellectually breaks her.]]

* ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' has Space Michael, who was voiced by [[Music/MichaelJackson the King of Pop]] himself. Due to his death, it's hard to talk about him without feeling upset, even in the fanbase. It becomes a FunnyAneurysmMoment when you realize that some of the fanbase [[Main/ThatOneBoss wished for him to be dead]]....
* ''VideoGame/XMenLegends'' featured a trivia game that would ask questions about the X-Men in exchange for experience. One of them gave you a list of 5 characters and asked which one of them was not a mutant. The correct answer to the question is [[TheJuggernaut Juggernaut]], although Jubilee is one of the choices. Jubilee (along with many other characters) [[BroughtDownToNormal lost her powers]] at the end of ComicBook/HouseOfM. [[SarcasmMode Thanks]], ComicBook/ScarletWitch, [[SarcasmMode thanks a bunch]]!

* One of the first pieces of promotional material for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' reveals that "EVERYONE IS HERE!", i.e. in addition to adding new characters, it brought back every single character from past ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games, including characters who appeared in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' and ''Videogame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' but [[PutOnABus disappeared in subsequent games]]. Many hailed ''Ultimate'' as topping ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' as "[[MemeticMutation the most ambitious crossover in history]]." Then came the trailer for the ''World of Light'' adventure mode and ''Ultimate'' topped ''Infinity War'' on this claim in a way that was ''not'' happy. [[spoiler:Thanos destroying half of the universe's life with a fingersnap]] at the end of ''Infinity War''? Try [[spoiler:Galeem killing ''[[KillEmAll everyone]]'' except for Kirby in one fell swoop]], and as part of the game's ''[[DownerBeginning intro]]'' no less!

* ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife: The Next Chapter'' was [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo made for the DS and Wii by two completely different teams.]] [[LighterAndSofter In the Wii version]], the character Mike, a random human who is inexplicably stuck in the game world, mentions in random dialogue that the world is very odd and "like a dream." [[DarkerAndEdgier At the end of the DS version,]] [[spoiler:the world is destroyed in a DreamApocalypse, and it was all created by Mike when he enters a coma.]]

* The promotional iPad game for [[Ride/AltonTowers The Smiler]] has you tilt the device in order to stabilize the train, or else the train derails. After ''seven accidents'', the most recent causing two riders to ''be amputated,'' the app was taken down the app store.

* Following the release of ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers]]'', every voiced dialogue from Excellen Browning tends to make gamers cry due to Creator/YukoMizutani's [[AuthorExistenceFailure tragic and untimely death to breast cancer]] on May 17, 2016.

* After the death of Heihachi's voice actors, the end of the arcade intro for ''VideoGame/Tekken5'' that proclaims "[[Creator/DaisukeGori Heihachi]] [[Creator/UnshoIshizuka Mishima]] is dead." definitely qualifies.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'', you have the option to kill Gary Coleman (canonically, he dies whether or not you kill him), which, if you killed him, has the Postal Dude ask his wife how much an autographed book can sell for. Remember, this game did star Gary himself, and was made before his death...

* The Music/{{BEMANI}} song "GOLD RUSH", produced for the 2007 game ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX 14 GOLD'', features the line "Make it! Make money!" repeated throughout the song. Come 2015 and Creator/{{Konami}} shutters two of its other {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s, ''Franchise/SilentHill'' and ''Franchise/MetalGear''.

* In the game VideoGame/TeamFortress2, one of Spy's domination lines to Soldier has him [[TrashTalk making fun that soldier's easily replaceable]]. After Soldier's voice actor, Rick May's death in April 2020, the quote hits far too close to home to be funny anymore.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': One of the towns in this game is called Isis. While it's almost certainly named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis the Egyptian goddess]], who's a decidedly-benevolent figure, a lot of people are likely to associate that name with a terrorist cell, as of this writing.

** During the Collector attack, Joker imagines what people will say after everyone becomes 'organic batteries'. "This is all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord!" Cue the Overlord DLC where [[spoiler:David, who's been forcibly plugged into a VI and kept alive with machines, spends all day computing Pi as part of an experiment conducted by his own brother. And to just add cruelty, he's autistic and has to communicate with hundreds of geth at the same time, which is torture to him. Until Shepard rolled along, [[AndIMustScream he had no way of freeing himself]] and the "MAKE IT STOP!" screams were both TearJerker and terrifying at the same time. Also a case of FridgeHorror as of all of the things Shepard had experience, this was one of the few that made even Paragon Shepard angry enough to strike Gavin Archer and threaten to kill him if he comes near David. It comes back in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' when after Thessia falls and Joker makes a joke about it in front of Shepard, he could risk antagonizing Shepard enough to break platonic ties with him.]]

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', has a particularly nasty example, Guy's fear of women. Most of the fellow characters, and even the players snicker at seeing him freak out whenever women get too close to him. Some characters even make fun of it, and the female members may occasionally touch him deliberately in spite of that (like when Tear grabs his hand after he jokes about her having Luke "whipped"). Then you find out his fear stems from [[spoiler: being hidden under the dead bodies of his sister and the maids who sacrificed themselves to save him when Kimlascan soldiers massacred his family. When he was around FIVE]]. Cue the three female party members feeling like [[JerkAss jerkasses]].

** HilariousOuttakes feature Sgt. Johnson saying "[[RidiculousFutureSequelisation Halo 4]], I get a woman", part of the joke being that they weren't expecting the series to go on for four main games. [[spoiler:A ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' did come out, eleven years later... but Johnson got KIA at the tail end of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''. The closest thing to Sgt. Johnson in ''Halo 4'' is Commander Sarah Palmer]]. It could also be interpreted now as referring to [[spoiler:all the ShipTease between John and Cortana in ''4'', just before the latter ends up sacrificing herself]].

* ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'':

* After the death of Heihachi's voice actors, the end of the arcade intro for ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 5'' that proclaims "[[Creator/DaisukeGori Heihachi]] [[Creator/UnshoIshizuka Mishima]] is dead." definitely qualifies.

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', there is a character who, when you speak to them, says "I wonder if ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother 3}} Earthbound 2]]'' has been released yet?" There's a lot of us in Europe (and America) who would sadly say "[[NoExportForYou No, and it may never be]]".
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_5884.jpg Here's]] the Fry's Electronics mascot. Looks pretty cheerful, kinda reminds some people of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants''. Now try looking at him again after seeing ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'''s [[http://earthbound.wikia.com/wiki/Negative_Man Negative Man]].

* In the game ''{{VideoGame/Homefront}}'', the antagonist is North Korea. With all the fuss surrounding the torpedoing of that South Korean ship...good thing it's statistically impossible.

** Maria constantly adds the words 'uu uu' to her sentences, infuriating her mother, Rosa, who scolds her for her childishness. Taking this to be a comment on cute characters and their [[VerbalTic catchphrases]], the reader finds this therapeutic. Then Episode 4 rolls by. [[spoiler:Rosa is shown to be both severely abusive and neglectful of her child in private. It also turns out that the catchphrase is a spell Maria invented which she believes will make her mother happy. This is based on a moment in the past where Maria forgot the words to a song she was singing and merely went 'uu uu', which made her mother smile. It now has the opposite effect, but that only makes Maria think that she has to say it more, which causes her to suffer further abuse. ]]

* A possible InUniverse moment can happen in VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas. In Old World Blues, the [[OmnicidalManiac toaster]] says that "Soon the world will burn in nuclear fire, [[AfterTheEnd again]]!" You can't help but laugh as the Toaster is AxCrazy yet [[HarmlessVillain harmless]] (because he is a toaster). Then, [[spoiler: Lonesome Road comes along, and the BigBad try to launch nuclear missiles at the NCR/Legion/general Mojave depending on your relations with all the factions in the Mojave, and you get to pick if and where they're launched.]]

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series

* {{Film/Tron}}-based video games are ''loaded'' with these.
** In the {{UsefulNotes/Intellivision}} version of ''Tron Deadly Discs'', Mattel incorrectly made Tron an orange (evil-aligned) figure cutting down blue-colored (User-believer) {{Mooks}}. Simple color goof in 1982 - oddly prescient come 2010.

** In ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'', one of the story arcs is finding a "Tron Legacy" code. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the code is buggy and causes Ma3a to go AxCrazy and [[KillAllHumans declare all Users must be destroyed]].]] ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' also has the Sequencer, which allows Jet to split his discs into multiple copies and fight with them. Guess who does that in the sequel? Topping it off is the troubled relationship between Alan and Jet, which is a lot more creepy after you've seen ''{{WesternAnimation/TronUprising}}'' and watched the equally rocky relationship between Tron and Beck.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', many characters will talk about future plans they want the main character to be a part of, and how their lives have changed for the better [[spoiler: ...and then the main character dies at the end of the game.]]

* At E3 1995, Creator/SonyComputerEntertainment America's "brief presentation" about the UsefulNotes/PlayStation consisted of one word: "299," a TakeThat against the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn launch price of 399 USD. 11 years later, again at E3, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 presentation touted it as costing [[MemeticMutation FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE U.S. DOLLARS]],[[note]]For the 60 GB model; the 20 GB model would cost 499 USD[[/note]] significantly more expensive than [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}} other consoles]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} of its generation]] at their respective launch dates.

* In the ''World Empire'' series of shareware games, Tasmania is incorrectly depicted as being a separate country from Australia. [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic It wound up closing its borders in 2020]].

* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf'', two of the new villagers introduced in the game are called Hans and Penelope. Within a year, both gained the unfortunate luck of [[UnfortunateName sharing their names]] with two of [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 the most]] [[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime infamous]] {{False Soulmate}}s in pop culture history. It doesn't help that Hans is a white and blue gorilla, and Penelope is a mouse. Despite this, their names were not changed in later games.

* Many lines in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' became {{Funny Aneurysm Moment}}s due to the plot twists involving Anders in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Among these are Justice's discussions with Anders and Nathaniel about possession, Anders accusing Velanna having a "chip on her shoulder that replaced her head" and Anders joking that he's fond of "iconoclasm" since in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' he [[spoiler:blows up the Chantry in Kirkwall to incite a war]].

* [[Characters/TouhouWindowsTwo Utsuho Reiuji]], a character from the Touhou series, is a nuclear raven girl inspired by Chernobyl. [[http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2011/03/japans-nuclear-meltdown.html Now that Japan had a nuclear crisis itself]], let's just say don't be surprised if she is claimed by ChuckCunninghamSyndrome.

* In the Tex Murphy game ''The Pandora Directive'', set in the 2030s, Tex meets an NSA agent who reminds him of the Graham Act, a law that was passed "40 years ago" in response to increased terrorist threats to the US, giving the NSA carte blanche when dealing with internal security matters. The game was made a full 5 years before 9/11 and the resulting Patriot Act.

* Meta-examples from ''VideoGame/YoKaiWatch'':
** When promoting ''Yo-Kai Watch 2'' at E3 2016, Akihiro Hino suggested that [[TemptingFate the games would follow the same pattern as they did in Japan]], and that the series would "bloom like a flower" in a year's time. Fast-forward a year, and the sequels not only wound up selling significantly less than they did in Japan; [[http://nintendoeverything.com/level-5-ceo-on-current-state-of-the-yo-kai-watch-series-wants-to-bring-back-older-players/ but the series also experienced a decline in popularity there that has caused Hino to reconsider the future of the series.]]

** During the Collector attack, Joker imagines what people will say after everyone becomes 'organic batteries'. "This is all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord!" Cue the Overlord DLC where [[spoiler:David, who's been forcibly plugged into a VI and kept alive with machines, spends all day computing Pi as part of an experiment conducted by his own brother. And to just add cruelty, he's autistic and has to communicate with hundreds of geth at the same time, which is torture to him. Until Shepard rolled along, [[AndIMustScream he had no way of freeing himself]] and the "MAKE IT STOP!" screams were both TearJerker and terrifying at the same time. Also a case of FridgeHorror as of all of the things Shepard had experience, this was one of the few that made even Paragon Shepard angry enough to strike Gavin Archer and threaten to kill him if he comes near David. It comes back in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' when after Thessia falls and Joker makes a TooSoon joke in front of Shepard, he could risk antagonizing Shepard enough to break platonic ties with him.]]

** During the Collector attack, Joker imagines what people will say after everyone becomes 'organic batteries'. "This is all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord!" Cue the Overlord DLC where [[spoiler:David, who's been forcibly plugged into a VI and kept alive with machines, spends all day computing Pi as part of an experiment conducted by his own brother. And to just add cruelty, he's autistic and has to communicate with hundreds of geth at the same time, which is torture to him. Until Shepard rolled along, [[AndIMustScream he had no way of freeing himself]] and the "MAKE IT STOP!" screams were both TearJerker and terrifying at the same time.]]