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| 4 | %% Please do not add any examples pertaining to [=GamerGate=]. Such examples at the moment only serve to import drama. |
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| 8 | [[quoteright:350:[[Platform/SegaGenesis https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/t_7437.jpg]]]] |
| 9 | [[caption-width-right:350:Can it [[MadeOfIndestructium survive a fall off of a skyscraper]]?]] |
| 10 | ---- |
| 11 | * The [[UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash Flash game]] ''6 Differences'' has the [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds McDonald's]] sign in the first level say "Eat[[PrecisionFStrike shit]]&Die". However, the sign itself is very hard to read unless you decompile the game's swf and view the sprite. |
| 12 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': |
| 13 | ** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', Wright mentally comments to himself during a trial that the testimony has a bigger hole than ''The Grid: Revelations'', a rather obvious ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' reference. |
| 14 | ** Also, in the sequel ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', Edgeworth critiques the name of an airline called "iFly", saying that "nobody knows how to [[CamelCase properly capitalize and space nouns]] anymore". |
| 15 | ** In the second case of ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', Phineas Filch circled a wrestling match listed in the TV guide as "Howlin' Wolf vs. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Pretty Boy Vampire]]" Blow-by-blow commentary by Timothy [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]. He says that "it was a complete disaster". |
| 16 | ** Also from ''Dual Destinies'', an optional conversation in the DLC case culminates in Phoenix quipping "[[Film/{{Sharknado}} A tornado made of sharks?]] Not even Hollywood could conjure up something that insane." |
| 17 | * ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' and its spin-offs, ''VideoGame/MechQuest'' and ''VideoGame/DragonFable'', have spoofs and references coming out of their ears. There are even a few places in each game where it would be easier to list what ISN'T in this category. |
| 18 | ** It got even better in VideoGame/MechQuest. They recently released a vampire-based planet. The main character is Han Velsing, who retired because vampires [[BadassDecay stopped being threatening]] and [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga started complaining about immortality, sparkling in the sun, and being all around pathetic.]] |
| 19 | ** Another Twilight slam occurs in ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'', in the boss fight of the Werewolf/Vampire War against a sparkly vampire by the name of Edvard, whose girlfriend Beulah dumped him for a werewolf (Ouch). For the first few days after the war ended, [[AnticlimaxBoss he was the weakest war boss in the entire game]], with only 900 hit points and rather weak damage. |
| 20 | ** Another such ad for ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'' makes fun of the ever-pervasive ''{{VideoGame/Evony}}'' banner adverts (namely the ones with the Ren-Faire-dressed GaussianGirl that say "Play now, m'lord") by having a player character pose heroically in front of the text "Slay free, play indiscreetly" while wearing nothing but boxer shorts. |
| 21 | * ''VideoGame/AdventuresToGo'' takes a snipe at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIG AIG]] - when Finn first joins the eponymous adventurer's guild, he refers to it as ATG. Severn, the man at the office next door, tells him that the abbreviation "makes it sound like some failed bank or insurance company". |
| 22 | * Smug villagers in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingHappyHomeDesigner'' seem to be one directed at {{Otaku}} people who are obsessed with Japan. Their dialogue when reading is an indication. Examples include them lamenting about how they were looking for a Manga in Japanese, but could only find a localised version (with an "urgh" added before "localised"), them claiming Manga is superior to Anime, but only in its original language (which they likely cannot understand) and criticising a Manga for changing the main character's name, which is apparently a pun on Japanese food. |
| 23 | * The hot springs scene with Buxom handmaidens in ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' can be seen as a subtle take that at ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'''s sex minigames. There are a few others, such as Asura defying the idea of a rampaging demi-god having to be completely ruthless to be a badass. |
| 24 | * ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts'': |
| 25 | ** The game begins as a traditional platformer with the duo in a race with Grunty. After a few seconds, L.O.G. interrupts saying "No. No. No. It's too painful to watch. Gamers today don't want all this. They just want to shoot things! But as we're broadening the demographic, I'll have to come up with something original". |
| 26 | ** The character of L.O.G. was a TakeThat at the ExecutiveMeddling the game received, as he is dismissive of the classic gameplay, and is an unlikable character who wants to change the entire premise. |
| 27 | * ''VideoGame/BearWithMe'': Ted finds a book and says "A book. Titled: [[Creator/ValveSoftware "Half-Life 3"]]... Oh, I bet it's fantasy..." |
| 28 | * The game manual for ''VideoGame/BiingSexIntrigenUndSkalpelle'' includes a short section on the game's compatibility with the Platform/{{Amiga}} computer. It reads thusly: |
| 29 | -->''Biing!'' was made for fast and expensive machines. You may run it with a normal Amiga, but you better buy yourself a real computer. |
| 30 | * Apogee had a bit of a joke at the expense of Commander Keen in ''VideoGame/BioMenace'', where Keen is one of the hostages in the second episode. In the backstory for episode 4 of ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen'', a character gets Keen's name wrong. Apogee repeated the incorrect version of Keen's name in the dialogue when you rescue him in ''Bio Menace''. |
| 31 | * ''VideoGame/{{Deponia}}'': |
| 32 | ** A few easily-missed ones in the third game poke at big gaming in general and Electronic Arts in particular. To elaborate, attempting to use a money coin on a dumpster brings a {{DLC}}-reminiscient popup window advertising a useless but shiny product for a microtransaction, while examining the doctor's medicine cabinet reveals a number of deleterious drugs ending with another advertisement for "other Eeh-Aay products". |
| 33 | ** At one point in ''Goodbye Deponia'', Rufus is groping around in the dark and finds something "dry, long, and thin" which he jokingly identifies as "...the plot of [[VideoGame/SecretFiles "Secret Files: Tunguska"]]! Or a low-hanging branch. Either one." |
| 34 | * Japan and Korea, historically, haven't exactly been the best of buddies. That said [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV a]] [[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive number]] [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} of]] practitioners of the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do in Japanese fighting games are either {{Jerkass}}es or outright evil. There's really only [[VideoGame/FatalFury one]] well known aversion (and, even then, [[WrongGenreSavvy he has his occasional flaw]]). |
| 35 | * Creator/{{Sega}}'s American marketing campaign is an example of "take that" taken to extremes that have rarely been seen since. Aside from the classic marketing slogan "Genesis Does What Nintendon't", there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP04XzC-GkA this commercial]] taking a jab at the Platform/GameBoy's monochrome screen. Later Sega commercials, like the ad for ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'' had random people throwing Platform/{{PlayStation}}s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv1BE1bexCg off skyscrapers,]] among other things. |
| 36 | ** An early advertisement for ''Shinobi Kid'', the game Sega later released as ''[[VideoGame/AlexKidd Alex Kidd in Shinobi World]]'', showed that the first boss of the game was named "Mari-Oh". The final version changed his name and redrew his face to look less like Mario's, but he still would shoot fireballs and shrink when weakened. |
| 37 | ** Commercials for the Platform/SegaCD shouted, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6fSeJ50As4 "There is no Nintendo CD!"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21eoNf0E3A "What are you waitin' for, Nintendo to make one?"]][[note]]([[HarsherInHindsight Unfortunately for Sega, this ended up disastrously backfiring on them in hindsight]] when the [[Platform/GameCube Nintendo Gamecube]] [[TakeThatTitForTat managed to sell more than the Sega CD, Sega Saturn, and Sega Dreamcast combined]] and proved itself to be an overall good first effort as [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Nintendo’s]] first optical disc-based video game console in its own right during its original run, despite whatever shortcomings it had in comparison to the [[Platform/Playstation2 Sony Playstation 2]] and [[Platform/{{Xbox}} Microsoft Xbox]] [[VindicatedByHistory (before its reception in its heyday would slowly improve as a beloved]] [[CultClassic Cult Classic]] [[VindicatedByHistory game console as the years went by)]], and its successes and failures paved way for the far more successful [[Platform/{{Wii}} Wii Console]] (For reference, according to Wikipedia, the [[Platform/GameCube Nintendo Gamecube]], as Nintendo's first effort as an opitcal disc-based system, sold a total of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCube 21.47 million units]] worldwide compared to the combined worldwide total of 20.63 million units that Sega sold for its optical disc-based [[Platform/SegaCD Sega CD]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_CD (2.24 million)]], [[Platform/SegaSaturn Saturn]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn (9.26 million)]], and [[Platform/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast (9.13 million)]] systems before the latter was forced to quit the console-making business for good!))[[/note]] |
| 38 | ** At one point in ''VideoGame/DoubleSwitch'' for the Platform/SegaCD, four Italian mobsters appear. Two of them are named Mario and Luigi. They confront this one guy Brutus, who owes them money. Once you save Brutus's life, and most of the mobsters get subdued, Brutus yells at the one fleeing mobster "Tell Mario and Luigi their days are numbered!" |
| 39 | ** ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': |
| 40 | *** [[AllThereInTheManual The name of the first boss]] of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'' is the EGG-HVC-001. HVC-001 was the serial number name of Nintendo's own [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] console. As a bonus stealth insult, the HVC-001 [[WarmUpBoss is the easiest boss in the entire game.]] Fighting it in the Good Future also colors it pink, and this is probably the only explanation for that. |
| 41 | *** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue-jo2qWiFA promo video]] for ''VideoGame/SonicXTreme'' had a live-action Mario bemoaning how his series fell into obscurity due to Sonic. |
| 42 | *** To promote ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Plus]]'', Sega does a re-imagining of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiFgaatXuRc "video game store" infomercial,]] except instead of Nintendo they're taking shots at[[note]](Not only because they are using the Nintendo Switch version, [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ziv13XK-L._SX522_.jpg which has a reversible cover and a 32 page artbook]], but also because of the fact that Nintendo and Sega have long since buried the hatchet by that point when the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance saw release)[[/note]], they're directed at the Triple A FirstPersonShooter market, down to the lootbox extortion. The game store shown has a sign that says "TRADE IN YOUR BRAND NEW CONSOLE FOR $5 CREDIT", a jab at game stores such as [=GameStop=] that give out relatively minimal store credit for trading in used games. |
| 43 | ** ''Battle Mania'', the Japanese version of the Platform/SegaGenesis game ''Trouble Shooter'', had a code that extended the Sega LogoJoke to have one of the heroines stomping on a [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]]. The Japan-exclusive sequel ''Battle Mania Daiginjou'' had some familiar-looking flying enemies with red hats, yellow capes and green mushrooms. |
| 44 | ** A particularly silly bit of mudslinging occurred over an ad for Sega's handheld console, the Game Gear, which stated "If you were color blind and had an IQ of less than 12, then you wouldn't care what console you had." Nintendo responded to this by attempting to organize a protest against Sega for allegedly making fun of disabled people. When this failed (for several reasons, including the fact that the ad clearly depicted a ''dog''), then-president of Sega of America Thomas Kalinske fired back with a statement that boiled down to "Why are you wasting your time protesting a magazine ad when you could be using it to make better hardware?" Nintendo dropped the issue and did not pursue it further. |
| 45 | ** A magazine ad for the Game Gear had the slogan "A way to separate the men from the [[Platform/GameBoy boys]]". |
| 46 | ** Sega took this to such a length that Nintendo actually had to fire back, something they rarely did before and have almost never done since; including the below-mentioned ''Yoshi's Island'' and ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' gags, they actually went as far as to take out a double page ad/WallOfText explaining how the Genesis and SNES were all but identical in most respects (and that the SNES was actually superior in some ways, namely graphics and, especially, sound). |
| 47 | ** Nintendo's advertisement for the first ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' boasted that a game with such advanced graphics can't be found anywhere else, especially not on Sega. The ad takes a particularly vicious stab at the Platform/Sega32x, which released around the same time (and would eventually become one of the failures that hastened Sega's exit from the console business). |
| 48 | * Shortly after the Turbo Duo system for the Platform/TurboGrafx16 was released, its American distributor TTI saw it fit to release an incredibly anti-Sega advertising campaign featuring ComicBook/JohnnyTurbo, a rotund superhero of sorts who defended the honor of the first CD-based gaming system by fighting off the evil Feka corporation and its cronies for making the same claim with their own CD gaming system. The comic was bad enough that it would have qualified as SoBadItsGood at best on its own, what with its weak counterpoints of the Sega CD's capabilities, implications that Sega employees are NotEvenHuman (to the point of [[TropeNamers naming that trope]]) and even blatant HoYay-laden surreal imagery toward the end. But some investigation revealed that it was much more a take that toward video game executive producer John C. Brandstetter, who the main character was modeled and named after, than Sega. [[http://sardoose.rustedlogic.net/reviews/jturbo/ The entire sad story has to be seen to be believed.]] |
| 49 | * In ''VideoGame/TheFermiParadox'', a television series called [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "The Simpletons"]] is described as having gotten boring and stale, frequently using celebrity-glorifying cameos and making cultural references that are completely devoid of humour. The show being cancelled is considered the best possible outcome, whereas it being made mandatory to watch and continuing forever is considered a cultural descent into decadence. |
| 50 | * Poking around gravestones in the original Japanese release of the original ''{{VideoGame/Final Fantasy|I}}'' would reveal [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link's]] grave. In the North American version, this was changed to Erdrick's grave, which was also used for the European [=PlayStation=] version. Erdrick was the ancestor of the hero in the first ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'', which was much more similar to ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' than ''Zelda'' was. Later re-releases of ''Final Fantasy'' would restore the name Link, to the confusion of many Western gamers. Also, the original English translation's text for the gravestone was made {{hilarious in hindsight}} when the publishers of ''Final Fantasy'' and ''Dragon Quest'' [[Creator/SquareEnix merged]]. |
| 51 | * ''VideoGame/TheNamelessMod'' allows you to find the ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' weapon that does little damage to enemies, harms you as you use it, and takes up a large amount of inventory space. |
| 52 | * ''VideoGame/TwentyTwentySeven'' has a subtle one to ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. Reading a newspaper in Paris may have a small mention that there are other media outlets besides Picus. Picus was the only media company seen in ''Human Revolution''. |
| 53 | * In ''VideoGame/JillOfTheJungle'', produced by Epic, the action would be interrupted from time to time for a newspaper headline about some more famous video game character admitting that he just wasn't as cool as Jill. |
| 54 | ** Apogee Software swung a punch of their own in ''VideoGame/MonsterBash''. In the backstory, Johnny Dash, the ten-year-old hero of the game is dragged under his bed and informed that his puppy has been kidnapped, along with numerous other dogs and cats. Upon being informed that his puppy has been kidnapped, Johnny's response is: "Who did this! If it was that Jungle Jill girl down the street, I'll kick her butt again!" |
| 55 | ** First releases of original ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'' and its "Apology Mode" (code used to run it was APOGEE), referring to the fact that many of Creator/ThreeDRealms' (then Apogee's) {{Platform Game}}s used EGA or even CGA graphic modes with a maximum of 16 colors, whereas VGA 320x240 256 color mode was industry standard at the time. This was slightly unfair, as ''Jazz Jackrabbit'' was released a year after Apogee's last EGA game, ''VideoGame/BioMenace''. |
| 56 | * At the end of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'', you find yourself in the Video Game Hero Hall of Fame, alongside Mario, Yoshi, and Link. There's also a sign that says "No Hopers", under which one can see Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}'s shoes and VideoGame/EarthwormJim's gun. Strangely enough, ''Earthworm Jim'' was an SNES game, just like ''[=DKC2=]'', though it was also released for the Genesis/Mega Drive. |
| 57 | * Many Nintendo and Sega video games from the 16-bit era would tease you for trying to input a player name associated with the rival company. Considering what Sega went on to do later (producing third-party titles for other platforms, Nintendo's included), the entire smear campaign on both sides has become HilariousInHindsight. |
| 58 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Uniracers}}'' would tell you the names ''Sonic'' and ''Sega'' "are not cool enough." The final boss of the game could also pull a number of {{Interface Screw}}s on you, one of them being "Hedgehog Speed" which was actually super-slow motion. |
| 59 | ** The ending of the original Amiga version of ''VideoGame/{{Zool}}'' has the eponymous character kicking away a [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog tiny blue hedgehog with red shoes.]] And it has a track of music called "Sonic Basher". |
| 60 | ** The obscure BulletHell NES ShootEmUp ''VideoGame/{{Recca}}'' has something like this as a intro that was [[DummiedOut edited out]]. See it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQn-O_zFRc here]]. |
| 61 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' included a fast blue hedgehog enemy that was pretty easy to trounce. |
| 62 | * ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'' features random background billboards for "Jockstrap", featuring an anonymous man's midsection, with a logo almost exactly like that of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' publisher [[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive Rockstar Games]]. Furthermore, if the lead character received a call to attend a car jacking, he would often reply with "Grand Theft Auto? That sucks!" |
| 63 | ** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' fired back, with billboards for the ''True Grime'' street cleaners. Prior to that, one of the assassination missions in ''Vice City'' had you killing five men with names suspiciously reminiscent of the main characters from ''GTA'' clones. ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeNewYorkCity'' fired back at ''GTA'' in one of the side missions for cab driver Freddie-upon receiving the mission Marcus remarks "Man, now I gotta be a cab driver for this fool? Next thing you know, I'll be flying remote-controlled toys and shit!" referring to the widely hated Zero missions in ''San Andreas''. |
| 64 | ** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' took a jab at the ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' series by sending the player on a mission to kill a CampGay undercover cop named Tanner, who is described as "strangely animated" and "more or less useless outside of his car." |
| 65 | ** ''[[VideoGame/{{Driver}} Driv3r]]'' hit back with the "Timmy Vermicellies", some dudes in ridiculously bright-colored clothes with floaters on their arms. Coincidentally, Tommy Vercetti from ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' [[SuperDrowningSkills couldn't swim]], and had a bright turquoise shirt. Also, Calita is a take that to Catalina from ''GTA III''. |
| 66 | ** ''GTA San Andreas'' then fired back in the mission where you must find and steal Snoop... uh, ahem... Madd Dogg's rhymebook. Shortly before you reach it, one of Madd Dogg's bodyguards is sitting on a couch, playing some unseen video game, and suddenly says "Man, how did Refractions mess up so bad? TANNER. YOU SUCK ASS". Coincidentally, too, ''[=Driv3r=]'' was developed by Reflections. |
| 67 | * The tutorial level of ''VideoGame/ChromaSquad'' ends with the five stuntmen you control walking out on Dr. Soap, an overbearing blowhard director who is unpleasant to work with. This is a reference to how many actors from the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' walked out from Creator/SabanEntertainment (their reasons ranging from pay disputes to safety concerns to homophobia). Dr. Soap was also originally named "Mr. Mi Ah", a [[SdrawkcabName not-so-subtle]] reference to Saban's founder Haim Saban. This reference was also made in response to the developers' legal troubles with Saban during the game's release (although they would resolve said issues more amicably). |
| 68 | * ''Quik the Thunder Rabbit'', a PlatformGame released for the Platform/{{Amiga}} by Creator/TitusSoftware involving a fast-running [[FunnyAnimal anthropomorphic]] white rabbit, had a joke at the expense of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. In the intro of the game, a tiny blue hedgehog is slowly making his way over a road before Quik zooms around the corner, causing the rodent to scurry away and leap off a cliff. Nothing like attacking what clearly inspired you... |
| 69 | * The ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' series has a number of subtle jokes at the expense of rival stealth games, most notably ''VideoGame/MetalGear''. For instance, in ''Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory'', interrogating one of the guards causes Sam to demand he hands over some ammo, to which the guard says something like "What, you think if you shake me enough a bunch of bullets will fall out of my pockets?" Also in the second game, the characters comment on the ridiculous codename of "Mortified Penguin", which seems to be a reference to FOXHOUND's [[ThemeNaming "Adjective Animal" naming convention]]. Oddly enough, Creator/Ubisoft (the developer of ''Splinter Cell'') have collaborated with Kojima Productions on a few occasions, so these are most likely friendly jabs. |
| 70 | ** ''Metal Gear'' retaliated in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Metal Gear Solid 3]]'''s Snake vs. Monkey game, where Snake suggests letting "Sam or Gabe" take care of the monkeys. The latter is a reference to Gabriel "Gabe" Logan, from the ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' series. His CO responds with "this is the genre we turned over every leaf in." |
| 71 | ** ''Splinter Cell'' also took a jab at [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman]] in ''Chaos Theory'': "Crowbars are for geeky video game characters." |
| 72 | ** ''Splinter Cell'' takes a jab at ''Film/JamesBond'' as well. If you grab an enemy guard, Sam informs a mook that "He's a real spy, not one who drinks a martini and wears a tuxedo, one that has a lot of blood on his hands." |
| 73 | ** ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' also took jabs at itself. The third game's missions generally got rid of the three-alarm-game-over limit that several missions in the first two games had, and Sam and Lambert referred to this in a conversation early on, even as Lambert asked Sam to be careful. |
| 74 | ** The first game in the series also takes a good jab at ''UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan''. While Sam is laughing at a news broadcast showing a blatantly wrong account of what happened and lauding about how history won't forget the efforts of those who fought to save America, Sarah has this to say: |
| 75 | ---> '''Sarah:''' Dad? What's so funny? What's going on? You haven't laughed since the Reagan Administration! |
| 76 | * One of the trailers for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' has a Russian guard on a motorbike say to Snake upon being held up, "What is this? A Grand Theft Auto? We're not in a ViceCity...this is a jungle!" |
| 77 | ** ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Metal Gear Solid 4]]'' seems to be peppered with take thats aimed at video gamers and Internet culture as a whole. |
| 78 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BpvNzfxLR8 The original jokey trailer]] for ''[=MGS4=]'' featured Raiden fighting against what appeared to be Sam Fisher over a director's seat which held the coveted "main character" designation. As it turns out, after Sam throws Raiden off a cliff, he takes off his mask to reveal Solid Snake dressed up as ol' Sam complete with Sam's gun. |
| 79 | ** The first ''[=MGS4=]'' trailer showed what looked like a FirstPersonShooter. [[FunWithAcronyms Phrases]] like "'''F'''inally a '''P'''olicy '''S'''witch?" and "'''F'''orget '''P'''re-rendered '''S'''tuff - '''F'''ormat: '''P'''laystation '''S'''cenes!" flashed on screen. Then, the camera swept out of the point of view of the "player", and it turned out to be a random guard whom Snake swiftly disarmed. Then up came the writing : "No! This is no FPS! This is MGS! MGS for TGS on Platform/{{P|layStation3}}S3!" |
| 80 | * The ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series repeatedly makes jokes about Sony and Microsoft's games. ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' had a minor character complaining about how he hates bright colors, and everything should be a [[RealIsBrown uniform shade of brown]] -- that's the '''next generation'''. |
| 81 | ** Chapter 3 of ''Super Paper Mario'' is a massive take that against video game Fan Dumb; the villain of the chapter is Francis, a nerdy chameleon who, amongst other things, likes to go on video game forums and [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch complain about games that he hasn't played]]. |
| 82 | * Similarly, ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' has an unlockable EasterEgg called the "Next Gen Filter", which turns all of the game's bright and vivid colors to shades of brown and adds more bloom. |
| 83 | * The rivalry between Capcom and SNK resulted in numerous swipes. |
| 84 | ** After ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' was released, Capcom created Dan Hibiki for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' as a mockery of ''AOF'' protagonists Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia. Not to be outdone, SNK gave Yuri Sakazaki new moves that were explicit parodies of Ryu, Ken, and Sakura's. Eventually, both companies decided to profit from the rivalry with the ''[[VideoGame/CapcomVs Capcom vs. SNK]]'' games. And Dan's Ultra Combo in ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Super Street Fighter IV]]'', "Haoh Gadoken", which is a spoof of a commonly used desperation move from Ryo/Robert's moveset. |
| 85 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Street Fighter Alpha 2]]'', if you enter "SNK" as your initials after getting a high score, the game will change it to "CAP". |
| 86 | ** Additionally a few ''Street Fighter'' characters appeared at the end of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters '94'' as victims of Rugal who have been [[TakenForGranite turned into statues]]. |
| 87 | ** In the case of Chun-Li, her profession in the first live-action ''Film/StreetFighter'' movie and [[WesternAnimation/StreetFighter the animated series from the '90s]] was a news reporter. In ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII 3rd Strike'', this is one of her win quotes: |
| 88 | --->'''Chun-Li:''' Hey, leave me alone! I'm a fighter, not a news reporter! |
| 89 | ** And then she made a cameo appearance in ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'' [[DiscontinuityNod as an anchorwoman]]... |
| 90 | ** The American commercial for ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition]]'' had a green arm (obviously Blanka's) coming out of the game's case, and crumbling the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' game case next to it. |
| 91 | * When the "Enter Your Name" screen in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' is skipped by hacking or using a cheating device, the player and the rival have somewhat meaningful names. The player's name becomes NINTEN, and the rival's... SONY. |
| 92 | * In ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', in one level the ground is briefly shaken by an earthquake, toppling a building that resembles id Software's headquarters, prompting the hero to comment "I ain't afraid of no VideoGame/{{Quake}}!" |
| 93 | ** When Duke encounters a dead SpaceMarine in a secret room, he wryly comments "that's one ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}ed'' space marine". In turn, the protagonist of the CultClassic FPS ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' would come across a mangled, nearly dead Duke-lookalike hanging upside down, exclaiming "I've got time to play with you!" (a reference to a self-referential EasterEgg found in [=DN3D=]'s first level). |
| 94 | ** ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' actually has a number of references to various visual productions. There's a mock-up of ''Itchy and Scratchy'' from ''The Simpsons'' on some screens in one level, a recreation of the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' bridge that's been damaged hidden in another, several dead movie characters in various levels, various decorative items that mention something from a movie or TV series, and large portions of a number of levels are based on sections of movies. |
| 95 | ** In a level of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'', a soldier offers duke a suit of PoweredArmor that looks suspiciously like Master Chief's from ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''. Duke's reply? "Power armor is for pussies." |
| 96 | ** One of Duke's quotes from ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'': "I hate [[Creator/ValveSoftware valve]] puzzles!" And another one, which is also a throwback to the Space Marine one above: "That's one VideoGame/{{dead space}} marine!" |
| 97 | ** When turning on bilinear filtering in [=EDuke32=], the option may rename itself to "Blurry", "Vaseline", "Smear Filter", or "Terrible". |
| 98 | * ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' takes some potshots at ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' in almost every title thus far. For example, the Sirian council in ''VideoGame/SeriousSamII'' requested Sam's help because some "blondie guy" was "[[VideoGame/DukeNukemForever taking forever]]". In that level was a secret area called Duke's skeleton, which was a skeleton hung from a tree with still a very particular haircut. Sam's comment on finding it. "Dude, you've been hanging there, like, FOREVER." The fan-made ''Serious Sam Forever'' trailer doesn't help matters. |
| 99 | * ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': |
| 100 | ** In the English version of the Prologue, Monophanie says that [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump "Daddy gets all his alternate facts from the most trusted names in fake news!"]], specifically while Monokuma is wearing a hat fashioned after a stereotypical military dictator and an evil eyepatch. |
| 101 | ** After Chapter 2's intermission, Monodam says they're "BACK-TO-SQUARE-ONE", Monotaro quips "...Square won? If Creator/{{square|Enix}} won, they wouldn't have got eaten by the competition!", to which Monophanie replies "After [[Anime/FinalFantasyTheSpiritsWithin that terrible movie]], they had no other choice!" |
| 102 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' |
| 103 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'''s manual includes this little take at the Unpleasable Fanbase: "People who play role-playing games need more than some pretty graphics and nonstop action to [[DoubleEntendre whet their claymores]]; they want depth and character and wit and drama. They want the thickest, most involving novel that they've ever read translated to their 15" screen, with themselves as the hero. That's what I love about people who play role-playing games. They're so reasonable." |
| 104 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' introduces the series' recurring EasterEgg LegacyCharacter, M'aiq the Liar. M'aiq is a known a FourthWallObserver (and [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Leaner]] and ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall Breaker]]'') who [[AuthorAvatar voices the opinions]] of the series' creators and developers, largely in the form of Take Thats, to both the [[TakeThatAudience audience]] (given the ''ES'' Unpleasable Fanbase) and isn't above above taking some at [[SelfDeprecation Bethesda itself]]. Notably, in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', he returns with a few snarky comments -- one of them being "People always enjoy a good fable. M'aiq has yet to find one, though. Maybe some day." This is a Take That to the similar rival game, ''VideoGame/{{Fable|I}}''. |
| 105 | * Right in the middle of the [=GameCube=] vs. [=Xbox=] vs. Platform/PlayStation2 feud, one volume of ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' published a letter from a fan complimenting the writers on managing not to resort to this. The writers jokingly responded by claiming that the [=Xbox=] would cause brain damage if you dropped it on your head, and that the Platform/PlayStation2 ate small children. The latter joke became a RunningGag. When a fan commented on how creepy the concept of the KidHero often was, ''Nintendo Power'' simply said: "The next time a child with a sword attacks you, simply feed it to the nearest [=PlayStation=] 2. |
| 106 | * IRL example: Microsoft's various take that moments against the Platform/PlayStation3, such as crashing a [=PS3=] launch party by bringing a boat with a gigantic Platform/XBox360 banner into the background as cameras were rolling, or offering chairs for the patient people in lines outside stores waiting for their [=PS3=] -- the backs of the chairs contained a seemingly innocent URL which led to a site where Microsoft took the piss out of 360 having been on the markets for ages before [=PS3=] and how all that waiting must have been tiresome. |
| 107 | * ''VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon'' is not even subtle when it comes to its criticism of anti-video game advocates. |
| 108 | -->'''Dr. Darling''': Frankly, anyone who thinks games are bad for you is a ''[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKing]]'' idiot. |
| 109 | * ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' in general can easily be interpreted as a take that to Ayn Rand's Objectivism philosophy. Especially when one considers Andrew Ryan's name is almost an anagram of Ayn Rand. The BigBad is [[spoiler: named [[Literature/TheFountainhead Fontaine]], but uses the pseudonym "Literature/{{Atlas|Shrugged}}",]] obvious references to Rand's books. |
| 110 | ** And then ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' comes along and issues a TakeThat to Collectivism. |
| 111 | ** In a similar vein, ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' (from what we know) could be seen as a TakeThat to blind Nationalism. And generally, the series as a whole is simply just a big ole' TakeThat at extremism in any form, which WordOfGod supports. |
| 112 | ** Also, it seems just for the hell of it, Francis from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' hates Ayn Rand, amongst MANY other things. |
| 113 | * Someone made a rather infamous GameMod for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' called ''Doom: Rampage Edition''. The reaction was bad of course, which wasn't helped by the author's [[DearNegativeReader dismissive response to criticism]]. Anyways, a prominent member of the Doomworld community said he could pull a better wad out of his ass. A week later, "A Better Wad I Pulled Out of My Ass" was released on idgames. |
| 114 | * The upbeat, optimistic, and very much non-angsty Zidane, male lead of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', delivers an affectionate barb to his predecessors. "No [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII cloud]], no [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII squall]] shall hinder us!". Likewise, the encyclopedia in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' gives the normal meteorological description for "Squall" and then continues with "Speaking of squalls...oh, never mind". |
| 115 | * When stepping into a dark room in ''VideoGame/Prey2006'', the protagonist comments that he's "Doomed," a jab at the frustrating flashlight/weapon swapping in ''VideoGame/Doom3''. |
| 116 | * ''VideoGame/LennasInception'': One of the collectible library books is called ''Clay Series, Vol. 7'' by [[Creator/JKRowling J.K. Rollinginit]] about a book called ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Harried Potter and the Deadly Shallows]]'', and ends with the line, "Actually, the pots magic the poop away." This is a jab at Rowling's infamous World Book Day tweet. |
| 117 | * In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]'', in order to open a gate to another area, Link must find a [[Platform/PlayStation Triangular Jewel, a Square Jewel, a Circular Jewel, and an X Jewel.]] The item description of each jewel reads: 'A treasure from a by-gone age'. |
| 118 | * ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': |
| 119 | ** Helter Skelter is the first assassin that Travis kills prior to the events of the game. He happens to be a cigar-smoking albino with more than a passing resemblance to Dante from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''. He gets unceremoniously decapitated in the game intro with Travis commenting that he "couldn't tell if he was the shit...or just plain ol' shit!". This has led some people to believe that Mr. Creator/Suda51 isn't too fond of Dante or his series. |
| 120 | ** The rank five match against Letz Shake, whose weapon is a gigantic earthquake machine that has Cell processors and Tri-Core engines, and which is controlled with what appears to be a Power Glove and a set of Virtual Boy-esque goggles. After powering up for what seems like forever, [[spoiler:a dashing fellow in a white suit, wielding a beam sword like Travis's, proceeds to drop out of the sky and destroy Letz and his earthquake machine in one slash.]] |
| 121 | ** Right before the rank one match, Travis has a conversation with [[spoiler: Jeane]] during which she takes a stab at ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'': "What if the game gets [[ScheduleSlip delayed]]? You don't want this to become No More Heroes Forever, do you?" |
| 122 | ** Skelter Helter is a not-so-subtle jab at Cloud Strife from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Suda seems to have a vendetta against Dante and his stylish swordsman ilk. |
| 123 | ** ''VideoGame/TravisStrikesAgainNoMoreHeroes'' has a lot of parallels between the various [[FictionalVideoGame in-universe video games]] it's based around and Creator/Suda51[==]'s own career, but the nastiest has to be ''Serious Moonlight'', a dark fantasy RPG. [[spoiler:Except due to an in-universe TroubledProduction and vast amounts of ExecutiveMeddling, it's been scrapped and replaced with a half-assed sequel to ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheDamned''. The original game was heavily reworked under executive orders until it was incredibly far away from Suda's original vision, due to an ill-thought-out partnership with Creator/ElectronicArts.]] |
| 124 | ** In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'', in the Sonic Juice fight, Sonic Juice demands to be fought turn-based RPG style, which makes Travis go on a tangent about how he refuses to play [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII a certain RPG]] because of how the characters look. Sonic Juice ends up actually agreeing with him on that. |
| 125 | * The Dark Sun universe game ''Wake of the Ravager'' has a large Take that to ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII'' in a journal you can find in the game, mostly mocking the plot holes and lack of resemblance to earlier Ultima games. This was in response to a surprisingly nasty Take that in ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII'' itself. It contained an in-game book called "The Eye of the Boulder", which mocked the competing game series ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder'' for requiring a large number of floppies, having inferior graphics and sound, using a restrictive movement system and having bad storytelling. Both the ''Eye of the Beholder'' and ''Dark Sun'' series of games were published by Creator/StrategicSimulationsInc |
| 126 | * In a leaked gameplay trailer for the MMO ''JumpgateEvolution'', the fighter squadron in the video indicates that they have been ordered to attack "Battlestation ''CCP''" who have been edging into their territory with "Operation ''Trinity''". CCP being the name of the company which designed and runs the MMORPG ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', and "Trinity" being the name of one of the recent large expansions to the ''EVE'' universe, primarily the graphics content of the game. [[ConvenientEnemyBase Some call it coincidence]], but others are certain that the footage of "Battlestation CCP" exploding in a ball of fire nicely explains the competing developers' outlook on their rivals. |
| 127 | * The plot of ''VideoGame/UltimaVII: The Black Gate'' was an extended, thinly veiled attack on Electronic Arts. Not too much of a surprise, considering the purchase of Origin by EA not long afterwards. |
| 128 | * Sony's legendary "$299" press conference, which pretty thoroughly took the wind out of Sega's press conference.[[note]]For those not in the know, Sega of America's president at the time had announced at E3 1995 that the Sega Saturn, initially meant to be released in September of that year, was instead already available as he spoke for the suggested retail price of $399. The very next keynote after this was Sony Computer Entertainment America's president announcing the [=PlayStation=]'s lower launch price.[[/note]] |
| 129 | * There's also Kenji Eno's take that to Sony. At a press conference where Eno was going to announce platform exclusivity to the [=PlayStation=], he abruptly announced that his games would be exclusive to the Sega Saturn, with the overhead display first showing a PSX logo which changed to a Saturn logo, and stomped on a plush of one of Sony's mascots. |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/KessenIII'' contains several Take Thats against the general characterization of UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga in fiction by casting him as the hero instead of [[DemonKingNobunaga a demonic baby-eating villain]] (the ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}}'' series in particular, which features Nobunaga as the final boss in a couple of its games). During a battle with Akechi Hidemitsu (the true name of ''Onimusha's'' main hero Samanosuke), defeating him as Nobunaga treats the player to a special cutscene where the two treat each other as {{Worthy Opponent}}s rather than a demon facing off against a holy warrior. |
| 131 | ** This led to dueling Take Thats between Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}} and Creator/{{Capcom}}. In ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara 2'', Capcom took Naoe Kanetsugu, a faithful retainer of UsefulNotes/UesugiKenshin (and one of the main ongoing PowerTrio of the ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' series), and made him a JokeCharacter who constantly proclaimed to be [[NothingCanStopUsNow "INVINCIBLE!!"]], but is easily taken out in a few hits. Koei responded by turning two of ''Sengoku Basara''[='=]s main characters, UsefulNotes/DateMasamune and Maeda Keiji into villains in ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi''. |
| 132 | ** And in ''Samurai Warriors Chronicle 2nd'' and later ''4'', Yagyu Munenori (the father of UsefulNotes/YagyuJubei) is portrayed as an honorable swordsman, as opposed to the turncoat he appeared as in ''VideoGame/OnimushaDawnOfDreams''. This also simultaneously gives a TakeThat about general portrayal of 'dastardly Munenori' in other stories. |
| 133 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{Turok}} Turok: Dinosaur Hunter]]'' for Nintendo 64 featured one Easter egg called "Quack Mode" which lowered the game's frame rate and caused the graphics to become more blocky. As the name hints, this was a Take that aimed towards the then-popular first-person shooter ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''. |
| 134 | ** ''Quake'' fired back with the N64 version of ''VideoGame/QuakeII'', where the instruction manual tells you "What are you waiting for, Dinosaurs in fog?". |
| 135 | * Gabe and Tycho of ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' took a stab at attorney Jack Thompson over his crusade against video games. They donated $10,000 in his name to the charity Thompson would have donated to, had he not been lying. "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't". To explain: Thompson was a Florida lawyer who made video games his Literature/MobyDick, using tactics that amounted to harassment to try to get these "murder simulators" essentially banned forever. He offered a challenge to game makers: produce a video game to his very exacting demands and he would donate ten grand to charity. The hook, here, is that Thompson felt game makers were forging murderers out of children, and so his challenge was for the makers to put themselves into the game ''as targets'', specifically as targets of unspeakably vile and grotesque murders. The challenge was phrased as a "You don't dare do this because you know I'm right", and Thompson very obviously never expected the challenge to be met. Which it was. An indie developer [[VideoGame/ImOK produced Thompson's demanded game]] ''exactly'', effectively calling Thompson's bluff, which, lo and behold, was in fact a bluff. Thompson tried to weasel out of it and then ''Penny Arcade'' stepped in and donated in Thompson's name, basically to ''grind the salt into the wound''. It was an excellent moment for schadenfreude, as Thompson, obviously, came out looking like a gigantic tool right away. Thankfully [[ItAmusedMe For The Lulz]], Thompson was not quite finished looking like a gigantic tool. And then Jack Thompson tried to sue them for donating in his stead. The judge got in on the take that by throwing Thompson's case out and threatening his license.[[note]]Eventually, the courts got so tired of Thompson's continuous jackassery that he was ''permanently disbarred'' by the State of Florida[[/note]] Child's Play is a charity that those two also set up to try to counteract the "gamers are evil" stereotype in media. |
| 136 | * Tomonobu Itagaki, of the ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' series, cannot give an interview without taking a dig against ''any'' competing fighting series. According to Itagaki, Namco once dissed the ''Dead or Alive'' series in a Japanese ad for ''Tekken 4''. Whether it was a genuine diss or good-natured ribbing by their part is unknown, as the company also had a friendly rivalry with Sega, in which the two companies cross-promoted ''[[VideoGame/VirtuaFighter Virtua Fighter 4]]'' and ''Tekken 4'' in a series of ads. |
| 137 | * ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' is a take that to the current generation of video games; the game's MSX-like graphics and gameplay are in response to newer games being extremely flashy and having less challenge than their older, [[NintendoHard tougher]] ancestors. And then there's a couple quotes from Elder Xelpud targeted at Nintendo and the NES. One GameWithinAGame is a Take that at {{Dating Sim}}s and their players: "Real women don't operate by game systems!" A more subtle Take that concerns ''F1 Spirit 3D'': its [=ROM=] is the cheapest of all the [=MSX ROMs=] that have to be bought, and the only thing it ever does (when used in combination with the ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' [=ROM=], which is also ludicrously easy to obtain -- its [=MSX2=] version was a PortingDisaster) is make the player more vulnerable (either drain their health out gradually or [[OneHitPointWonder make any attacks from enemies instant-kill]], depending on the order of the [=ROMs=]). |
| 138 | * In the third game in the original ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' trilogy, refusing to pay Moneybags to open the bridge in the level Crystal Islands results in him threatening to turn you into a [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog blue hedgehog]]. |
| 139 | * In ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush Threepwood meets the Flying Welshman, a ghostly character who has been stuck in the misty ocean for years. He complains to Guybrush about the mist, to which Guybrush responds, "I like mist. I think it's pretty." Welshman: "Well sure, mist is pretty. But egad, is it DULL." An allusion to the game ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'', apparently. |
| 140 | * A trailer for ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' features not-so-subtle jabs at ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' by asking the viewer if they'd prefer "taking bored friends to go bowling" or "watching TV in the game" to spreading raw sewage on houses, doing crazy stunts or running around naked, all of which you can do in [=SR2=]. |
| 141 | ** In the mission "Saint's Seven," Pierce proposes a plan to rob the Poseidon's Palace Casino that the Boss and Johnny Gat consider to be overly complex and (worse) boring. His plan is the ''exact same'' plan used to rob Caligula's Palace in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. (In case you were wondering, the Boss and Gat's alternative plan consists of "run in, shoot everything that moves, blast the safes open, and drive like hell away.") |
| 142 | ** One of the targets in the Hitman minigame is a [[Franchise/IndianaJones fedora and leather jacket-clad archaeologist]] whose hobbies include "sniffing coke off of prostitutes." |
| 143 | ** The introductory cinematic to one of the Mayhem minigames makes reference to "Zach Johnson," a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of infamous anti-video game crusader Jack Thompson, who is described as "a nutjob lawyer who gets hard at the idea of a lawsuit." |
| 144 | ** In Asha's recruitment mission in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', the Boss moves through a base full of cloning tanks to fight their evil twin. (ItMakesSenseInContext. Kind of.) Asha will describe the contents as "replications of a highly functional sociopathic paradigm." |
| 145 | --->'''Male English Boss:''' [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Like Thatcher?]] |
| 146 | * Shortly after ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' was announced, a number of fans took umbrage at the "colourful" outdoor scenes, which included realistically rendered rainbows in waterfalls. The response of Lead World Designer Leonard Boyarsky was [[http://www.diablofans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15849 this]]. |
| 147 | ** The ultimate TakeThat is an obscure Easter egg that opens a portal to [[http://www.diablowiki.net/Whimsyshire a brightly colored level reminiscent of ''My Little Pony'']]. Most likely a continuation of the above joke. |
| 148 | * In ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', when asked by Peter whether he likes "the new duds", ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} tells him that it makes him look like one of those emo kids who like to complain about how hard their life is when they don't know true pain. A bit of a dig at both emo kids and the maligned ''Film/SpiderMan3''. Peter replies to that with "Oh my god, you dork! You have a [=MyFace=] page, don't you!", an obvious jab at the "Social Networking" sites of [=MySpace=] and Facebook. |
| 149 | * The Platform/NintendoDS game based off of ''WesternAnimation/DuckAmuck''. |
| 150 | ** One of Daffy's taunts for failing a minigame is "Maybe you should try a game that's a little. less. challenging." |
| 151 | ** The opening sequence before "Diamond Mine, Mine!" has Daffy saying "Egads! I'm in some low res game from the 70s. Oooohhhohoo..." |
| 152 | ** The sequence from "Low Poly Daffy" comes out of the machine that was supposed to turn him into a 3D character, and he's not very pleased. "What The..? I said 'Next Gen' you slob! NEXT GEN!!" |
| 153 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|1997}}'' demo contained an EasterEgg where you could find [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]] [[BoundAndGagged bound, gagged, and struggling]] (chained up in the final game) in a dungeon. Rather than helping her, the protagonist sarcastically states that "She's raided her last tomb" before leaving. |
| 154 | * Back in 1993, ''Myst'' and ''VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest'' were launched, displaying novel, but similar, production methods. ''The 11th Hour'', sequel to ''Guest'', has a Take That to its competitor -- a copy of a game called ''Missed'', with similar cover art, can be seen lying in a font full of filth in the chapel. |
| 155 | * PETA made [[http://www.peta.org/cooking-mama/index.asp this]] DarkerAndEdgier ''VideoGame/CookingMama'' called ''VideoGame/CookingMamaMamaKillsAnimals''. Majesco immediately responded with [[http://kotaku.com/5093315/cooking-mama-responds-to-peta this.]] They would later go on to attack ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' and ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' in the same gruesome and horrifying vein. While Nintendo ignored the first, they retaliated back with legal action over their Pokemon parody. |
| 156 | ** When another developer released educational knockoff "Science Papa," "Mama" issued a scathing press release about the sordid past between her and Papa. They dated, apparently. It went badly. |
| 157 | * In ''Bootfighter VideoGame/WindomXP'', the mechas [[ThemeNaming are all named after]] Windows [=OSes=] and Linux. Among the three weakest, two of them are named "Millenium" after the notoriously buggy Windows ME. Hmmmm... |
| 158 | * "Wasn't he the guy from ''Franchise/StarWars''?" -- from an out-take from ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'' |
| 159 | * One commercial for ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' had a central character complain about how people shouldn't worry about [[VideoGame/StarCraft wars in distant galaxies]] when they've got one going on Earth. |
| 160 | * ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany'' takes several light-hearted jabs at several famous series including ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' to name a few. It is also contrast itself amongst shooters by giving a satisfying ending for players: [[spoiler:they not only live but go home wealthy]]. |
| 161 | ** Another take that happens [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc6-bCM4l-s in the sequel]], the highlight being ''[[spoiler: "He'll just send [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare some special ops douche bags with pussy ass heartbeat monitors on their guns]], instead of us!"]]''. |
| 162 | ** [[http://kotaku.com/5843892/battlefield-3s-latest-tv-spot-goes-above-and-beyond-the-call A NSFW ad for]] ''Battlefield 3'' declared that it went "above and beyond the call". [[http://kotaku.com/5832203/call-of-duty-makers-say-competitors-anti+call-of-duty-talk-harms-the-gaming-industry?tag=battlefield Activision responded to EA's trash talk]], and [[http://kotaku.com/5832660/trash+talking-battlefield-publisher-predicts-call-of-duty-will-collapse--in-2+3-years?tag=battlefield EA's retort was less than diplomatic]]. |
| 163 | * The freeware ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' clone ''[[http://www.pineight.com/lj/ Lockjaw]]'' originally had some modes that poked fun at ''Tetris DS'' and "guideline" ''Tetris'' games in general, such as "Ridin' Spinners" and Dual Marathon. |
| 164 | ** The "Vs." mode, included in the final cut, is explicitly labeled as a Take that to ''Tetris DS'' [[AllThereInTheManual in the game's manual]]. |
| 165 | ** The same author of ''Lockjaw'' also developed ''VideoGame/{{Lumines}}[[VideoGame/{{Minesweeper}} weeper]]'',[[http://www.pineight.com/lu/]] a Take that to not only the PSP's high price and ''Lumines'' not taking full advantage of the PSP's hardware capabilities, but also as one to people who mispronounce "Lumines" as "loo-mines" instead of "luminous". |
| 166 | * The bad guy organization in the game ''VideoGame/NeoGeoBattleColiseum'' is called WAREZ. Creator/{{SNK}} [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil blames piracy]] for its bankruptcy in 2001. |
| 167 | * In ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'', the is a [=NPC=] who remembers that there was a tribe named "Gonverment" where people devouring each other was very common. This comming from an actual cannibal. |
| 168 | * ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': |
| 169 | ** In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', you can get a book called "Witch Detective"; Daisuke, one of [[ThoseTwoGuys the two choices for]] the Strength Confidant will invite you out one day, and mentions that he bought the book by mistake before giving it to you. When you read the book, the game shows something like this: |
| 170 | --->A ploddingly-written romantic comedy about a girl on her first day of school in a new town. [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Vampires are involved]]. [[SuckinessIsPainful The content of this book was almost physically painful for you to read]]. |
| 171 | *** The Japanese version just outright does a Take That on guys who read {{Light Novel}}s not for the story, but for the girls. |
| 172 | ** The story of ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight'' is a long TakeThat to the IdolSinger industry and the expectations its fandom has, especially since a major plot point is [[spoiler:a popular idol being DrivenToSuicide]]. That said, it also shows that being able to perform for others and express oneself is a fulfilling experience. |
| 173 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': |
| 174 | *** The sixth dungeon is a casino where all the games are rigged, located in a MentalWorld. Except that said casino is a standing for a real world place: [[spoiler: the courthouse]]. Sounds like both InUniverse and out of universe, someone is seriously disappointed by [[spoiler: the Japanese legal system]]. It's driven home further when [[spoiler:Makoto and Akechi, along with the other Phantom Thieves, point out that Japan's 99.9 percent conviction rate is too good to be true]]. |
| 175 | *** In certain negotiations with Shadows (e.g. Ganesha), they may accuse you of being fans of that "soft-core [[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey Fifty Shades]] shit" depending on what you say. Curiously enough, while the tone is insulting, you actually get a "good" response[[note]]Musical notes, which means that the Shadow will likely join you. By comparison, sweatdrops tend to cause the Shadow to give you an item and leave, while CrossPoppingVeins usually results in the battle resuming[[/note]] from that choice. |
| 176 | *** Like in ''Dancing All Night'', the game takes shots at the idol industry. The final Mementos target from the original game happens to be a perverted idol manager who demands sexual favors from the girl he manages. |
| 177 | ** In ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'', the second [[ArcVillain Monarch]] is a writer who, by stealing the Desires of people, is able to get his ClicheStorm novel series (an [[TrappedInAnotherWorld isekai]] series, no less) to sell like hotcakes. Futaba often mocks the many cliches he uses, such as the QuirkyMinibossSquad guarding the Jail, pointing out that having four guardians for three towers doesn't make much sense. |
| 178 | * In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: VideoGame/DawnOfWar 2'', during one of the between-mission Space Marine dialogues reference is made to a former campaign in Kaurava (location of the Soulstorm expansion), during which the Space Marine captain is described as being an idiot. ''Soulstorm'' was developed by Iron Lore Entertainment rather than Relic, who developed the rest of the series. The result was an ObviousBeta which became infamous largely due to {{Narm}}, in particular said captain's bizarre voice acting resulting in 'Sphess Mahrines' as a fandom meme. The exact line is given by a Space Marine who fought at Kaurava: |
| 179 | --> What happened at Kaurava was a mistake. [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain I will not speak of it again.]] |
| 180 | * ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers'' let the player search through a clearance box of video games while looking for the ''Space Quest IV Hintbook''. The games were parodies of other publishers' releases at the time, such as ''Sim Sim''. The harshest parody was ''Boom!'', a ShallowParody of ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' which was advertised as having "No other characters, no conflict, [[GuideDangIt no puzzles]], [[TrialAndErrorGameplay no chance of dying]], and no interface" -- a blatant Take that to Lucasarts' philosophy of avoiding Unwinnable games and [[HaveANiceDeath gratuitous player deaths]]. |
| 181 | * This could be a mistaken reading of the dialogue, or it could be a very subtle take that, but keep a bunch of marines alive enough in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', especially in a Warthog, and they will start to comment: 'Man, this never gets old!' When you've been doing nothing but driving or shooting for about fifteen to twenty minutes this begins to look like a Take That. |
| 182 | * The score ranking system in the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series compares your exploits to famous leaders throughout history. The lowest ranking? Dan Quayle. And one of the corporations you can start is Creative Constructions: The Ending sentence: "Perhaps if a construction executive had been present during the designing of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, it would already be complete and accepting donations for renovations." |
| 183 | * ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' aimed a massive TakeThat at ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', its primary competition at the time, in the form of this commercial: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrHAMzV_OII Descent not equal to Doom. Greater than.]] |
| 184 | * ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'': |
| 185 | ** The description for the subject "U.S. Government" says, "They take care of all of us... in theory." |
| 186 | ** [[HardOnSoftScience Elementary school skills include things like "Sociology", "Psychology", and "Microeconomics", while physics, chemistry, statistics, and other STEM subjects are at much more appropriate ages.]] |
| 187 | ** If the protagonist tries talking Jake out of his gang, they suggest that there are better ways to be a hero such as becoming a cop. However, Jake disses it by saying, "A pig? They're a bigger part of the problem." |
| 188 | * ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'': |
| 189 | ** "They don't really want you to play 'Free Bird': They're just heckling you." Turned into a ContinuityNod in ''Guitar Hero II'' when the last song you have to play to beat the game was, indeed, "Free Bird". "FINE. So they aren't heckling you. Sigh." |
| 190 | ---> '''Guitar Hero III loading screen:''' NO STAIRWAY. |
| 191 | ** ''Guitar Hero 5'' delivers a TakeThat against everyone who was upset by the changes to Judy Nails in ''Guitar Hero III.'' The game almost totally reverts the changes... but notes that she now does music directed towards whiny, self-important teenagers. |
| 192 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'''s ''Apocalypse Weekend'' expansion, the final mission on Saturday is to recover [[NoFourthWall the Postal 2 gold master disk]] from Running With Scissors' underhanded former publisher, [[spoiler:Bullfish]] Interactive, leading to a boss fight with the company CEO [[spoiler:Phraud Hogslop]]. Incidentally, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot in the real world]], Running With Scissors terminated their deal with publisher Whiptail Interactive over breaches of contract on the latter's part... |
| 193 | %%** Postal 2's Paradise Lost DLC features a grave marked "Games Journalism, commited suicide August 28th, 2014", a reference to the [=GamerGate=] scandal. It invites the player to Hold R to pay respects, which pisses on the grave. |
| 194 | %%** The same DLC features journalist Milo Yiannopoulos, who volunteered to be included in the game, in order to mock those who think video games lead to real life violence. %% |
| 195 | * ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' had a shot at ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', where Gordon Freeman winds up in the zone, making a log of his short lived experience in the Zone, how he traded his crowbar for food and died shortly after. It is also a take that against the developers themselves... mutated bears were originally supposed to be in the game, but removed before release. One of the only ones that wasn't still in the game's code. |
| 196 | * ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' had a few of these. |
| 197 | ** This was the first game to put one over on the Zombie Genocider achievement ''VideoGame/DeadRising''; ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'''s Zombie Genocidest achievement requires you to kill 53,595 zombies -- ''one'' more than in ''Dead Rising''. |
| 198 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' gets in on the [[OverlyLongGag joke]] as well, having an achievement for killing 53,596 zombies -- ''one'' more than in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''. |
| 199 | ** ''VideoGame/RockBand 3'' has you "kill" 53,596 [=HOPOs=] for an achievement. |
| 200 | ** Valve then parodies themselves of the achievement with another achievement called "The Littlest Genocide", requiring players to kill only 10% of the original amount of zombies for the Zombie Genocidest achievement. |
| 201 | ** Zoey and Francis's comments on the statue of Atlas in the airport, another Take that at Creator/AynRand and arguably a ''Bioshock'' ShoutOut. |
| 202 | ** A more obvious take that for ''Dead Rising'' is a graffiti on the wall that says "Otis, Out of film, no helicopter, Zombies are too fast. Not going to make it, Frank West". |
| 203 | ** Bill in ''The Sacrifice'' sometimes says anyone who runs around filling up things with gas is an idiot. He says this due to how gasoline will become very rare in an zombie outbreak. This is a jab at the ''Left 4 Dead 2'' survivors, where they are required to get gas for a car, a generator, and a boat. |
| 204 | ** The 2nd level in The Passing has the survivors go through an under the river tour with the end of it marked by a sign saying "Coming in 2010!" Sometimes Coach may say "Coming in 2010? But phase 1 ain't done!" This is a jab at the Fan Dumb that complained how ''Left 4 Dead'' wasn't "finished" when ''Left 4 Dead 2'' was announced. |
| 205 | * At one point in ''VideoGame/ReturnToZork'', you are shrunk and placed inside a water-filled ship-in-a-bottle to find a PlotCoupon. If you search around, you can find a skeleton dressed in the same outfit as [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Guybrush Threepwood]], with similar music in the background. The text reads "Guess his 15 minutes are up." |
| 206 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' has a couple: |
| 207 | ** The Mushroomy Kingdom stage is a representation of the first two stages of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' as barren wastelands because they've gone unexplored for over twenty years. The reason they look so dead? Because RealIsBrown! |
| 208 | ** Snake's Codec piece regarding Sonic is a joke that was lost in translation, as Creator/AkioOtsuka (Snake's Japanese voice actor) is the son of the late Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka (who was Dr. Eggman's Japanese voice actor at the time), thus the dislike. Hedgehogs are also snakes' worst nightmare, because they are their natural predators. |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/EatLeadTheReturnOfMattHazard'' had a huge one on ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. The sixth boss is named Alto Stratus, a type of cloud. This character can only talk in text boxes, which Matt needs to click. He goes on and on about how he was sent to kill Matt. When one of his text boxes is just [[VisibleSilence "..."]] Matt throws a rant on how much time people waste reading those. Then you finally fight him, and Alto moves in a FF-like ATB bar system. And the description for the achievement/trophy for beating him? It's "Forecast: No clouds ahead" |
| 210 | ** Also, the game takes a shot at ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty.'' The opening plot twist was for Matt to be killed of in the first level and be replaced by Sting Sniperscope, a then-unheard of character. |
| 211 | ** The viral marketing campaign for the game blatantly attacked Activision's business "ethics" with this [[http://therealmatthazard.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/marathon-and-megasoft-merger/#more-88 press release]] from the fictional company, Marathon-Megasoft. |
| 212 | * The painting of Vigo the Carpathian in ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'' (canonically set in 1991) says that "you will have a ruler far worse than he was, and you will have him...twice." This refers to at least one US president that was elected twice after 1991. Another example is when Vigo predicts that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway "It" turns out to just be a scooter]]. |
| 213 | * The paper shredders in ''VideoGame/{{Glider}} 4.0'' were labeled "Fed-O-Matic," and appeared in rooms named "The North Room" and "North by [=NorthWest=]", after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North Oliver North]]. |
| 214 | * ''VideoGame/{{Uplink}}'' delivers a Take That against the FBI in an EasterEgg if you visit the Steve Jackson game's website, claiming to start tracking you as a hacker. |
| 215 | * In the opening cinematic for ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', the band Eddie is working for is a painfully obvious jab at the entire genre of nu-metal who get hideously killed by Ormagoden, the 'avatar' of classic heavy metal. |
| 216 | * ''[[VideoGame/RockBand Rock Band 2]]'' has one towards a band AND towards one of its biggest sponsors. In Band World Tour mode, occasionally you'll get random events asking you to do a benefit show or to do an encore in addition to the songs you chose, etc. One of the challenges is to do a sponsor show with Hot Topic to play a song by Music/{{Paramore}}. If you choose to do it, you'll get a decent amount of cash... And lose 25,000 fans in the process as well. This was later patched (the official reason is players got confused when they lost fans and also [[DidntThinkThisThrough because the random events algorithm makes events appear more frequently the more they are rejected]]). |
| 217 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 218 | ** The first game contains a take that against chicken hawks if Kaidan is in the party for the "Our Own Worst Enemy" assignment, and a rather ironic take that against the video game industry itself if Ashley is in the party on Noveria. In the former case, [[FantasticRacism Terra Firma]] representative Charles Saracino asks for Shepard's endorsement, as the opinion of the first human Spectre ''and'' a decorated marine carries a lot of weight. Eventually, Kaidan's patience wears thin: |
| 219 | --->'''Kaidan:''' So you can say "I support our troops," and get into office because of our sacrifices, huh? |
| 220 | ** Then there's the take that against the MoralGuardians who complained about the sex scene, in "Bring Down the Sky" (PC version) - a computer file in a radio station talks about how they'd received complaints that they were encouraging people to [[BoldlyComing sleep with aliens.]] |
| 221 | ** ''Mass Effect 2'' has a person selling video games on the Citadel uttering a different take that about the industry and Fan Dumb every few seconds. |
| 222 | * ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' |
| 223 | ** The game has one from the latest unofficial patches made by fans that restored some of the originally planned content in the game, such as history of the vampire player character. The optional background for one of the vampire clans is "video game publisher", which proceeds to explain that the player character [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything ruined lives and so forth]]. Considering what happened to Troika Games in no small part thanks to their publisher, this seems [[HilariousInHindsight amusingly accurate]]. And the vampire clan which the video game publisher is embraced into? [[LooksLikeOrlok Nosferatu]]. |
| 224 | ** The out-of-the-box game is not even ''trying'' to hide the devs' sheer and complete contempt for the Republicans. |
| 225 | *** One of the "sins" you can confess to Venus, the only one she claims not to be able to "wash away", is voting Republican. |
| 226 | *** A Senator Limperman (a thinly veiled Joe Lieberman, who was not a Republican but nevertheless earned the ire of many in gaming for his attacks on the industry) is constantly in the news, caught in some new indiscretion. |
| 227 | *** When one character mentions that someone is writing a screenplay about how the world is really run by shadowy cabals of ancient bloodsucking monsters, one possible response is "He's writing a screenplay about the Bush administration?" |
| 228 | ** There are also two to Valve, who refused to sell the game on Steam since they wanted Half-Life 2 to be the first Source Engine-game on Steam. Two computer passwords in a certain area have the passwords "valvesucks" and "steamblows". |
| 229 | * ''Franchise/TheWitcher'': |
| 230 | ** An expert on the Holy Grail claims that the theory of [[Creator/DanBrown Bronze Dan]] that claims the Grail is a descendant of [[CrystalDragonJesus Lebioda]] [[Literature/TheDaVinciCode "begins with a convoluted theory about the derivation of the word Grail. [...] The theory goes on to present the tempestuous and twisted fate of Sang-Real, but the author gets lost in his arguments, often contradicts himself; generally it turns into an unholy mess."]] The reference is even more blatant if you know that Polish uses the same word for "bronze" and "brown". |
| 231 | ** There's a dead assassin from ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' next to a stack of hay. The description reads: "They never learn." |
| 232 | * Ads for the 3DO referred to the SNES and Sega Genesis as baby toys. |
| 233 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Sephiroth and Cloud are routinely voted as two of the best characters in the series. The in-game manuals for ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' have [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Penelo]] just not getting the appeal behind either of them and decides neither of them is all that interesting. This is ironic when you consider Penelo was a generic "quirky" character that spent basically all of ''XII'' in the background. |
| 234 | * This and AuthorTract sum up ''VideoGame/SuperChickSisters''. The cutscenes in the sequel go out of their way to reference ''MarioTeachesTyping'' and ''VideoGame/MarioPaint''. |
| 235 | * ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon II'''s first boss, Burnov, in addition to wearing [[Manga/{{Kinnikuman}} Neptuneman]]'s mask, bears a resemblance to VideoGame/{{Karnov}}, who was the first boss in ''VideoGame/BadDudes'', which in turn was a TakeThat at the first ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon''. |
| 236 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVr0tcBZqGg This commercial]] for ''VideoGame/{{Blur}}'' depicts a ShallowParody of ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' (possibly mixed with ''Franchise/{{Kirby}} Air Ride'') at the beginning. A broccoli creature (a [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Toad]] {{expy}}?) decides that kart racing is lame and looks longingly at the Blur race on the other side of the fence. It [[MisaimedFandom didn't work]] for [[http://thweatted.deviantart.com/art/Brock-Lee-and-Co-165840615 some]]! |
| 237 | * During the ''Madden NFL''/''NFL 2K'' war, both EA and Sega had one screenshot on the back cover depicting its cover player making a play at the expense of the other game's coverboy (ex. Marshall Faulk stiff-arming Brian Urlacher on the back cover of ''Madden NFL 2003'', Terrell Owens doing the same to Ray Lewis on ''ESPN NFL 2K5''). |
| 238 | * In ''[[VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune Soldier of Fortune: Payback]]'' which was made by a different developer than the first two games, your CO's name is Casandra Decker, whose surname is a TakeThat at Sergei Dekker, the BigBad of the original game. |
| 239 | * An ad for ''VideoGame/TyTheTasmanianTiger'' showed VideoGame/CrashBandicoot, Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog (without his giant quills), and Franchise/SpyroTheDragon bandaged up in hospital beds, all with samples of Ty's signature weapon stuck in various areas of their bodies. Ty then comes in and yells "Boo!" and causes them to die. |
| 240 | * ''VideoGame/SilentScope 2'': "Now, let's play VideoGame/MetalGear for real!" A Konami franchise fires a take that at another Konami franchise. |
| 241 | * The ''Rad Racer'' games on the NES were clones of Sega's ''VideoGame/OutRun'' series. Sega fired back with a game titled ''VideoGame/RadMobile''. |
| 242 | * The first boss of ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 2'' is a GiantEyeOfDoom named... [[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 Goldeneye]]. |
| 243 | * E3 2010 was full of take that on all sides. A particularly memorable one was Nintendo talking about how glasses 3D was weak and showing off their glasses-free Platform/Nintendo3DS immediately before Sony's glasses 3D-heavy announcements. |
| 244 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' has a series of advertisements that poke fun at more "common" games, namely ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'', ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', and your typical Tank Simulator and Racing game. The [=WoW=] one has your typical fantasy "tank" (as in the character archetype) curb stomp a group of players, only to get run over by - you guessed it - a tank. The other, non-gameplay trailers are roughly the same thing, only modified for each different subject matter. |
| 245 | * In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'', there is one scene where Clank and [[RecurringTraveller The Plumber]] are standing in front of a large, mysterious green pipe coming out of the floor, which Clank is about to hop into. The following exchange ensues: |
| 246 | -->'''Clank:''' Are you coming?\ |
| 247 | '''The Plumber:''' Plumbers don't just [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros go diving down strange pipes all willy nilly!]] That'd be ''ridiculous.'' |
| 248 | * After the release of ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', Creator/EpicGames released a free downloadable-for-PC game entitled ''Duty Calls'', which pokes fun at--you guessed it--''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''. |
| 249 | * In the original ''VideoGame/{{Age of Empires|I}}'', one of the campaigns is set in Ancient Japan. The games include wildlife as various opponents, including stronger, more powerful versions of each. So what is the first enemy encountered in the Yamato (Japanese) campaign? "[[Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion Lion]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 King]]". |
| 250 | * This is more of a "British"[[note]]It's also, in fairness, a [[CulturalCringe super picky American]][[/note]] thing than a strictly "video games" thing, but ''VideoGame/BenThereDanThat'' features one about beer in the alternate universe where the UK has become the 51st American state. The schlocky "authentic English pub" has two drinks on tap: a robust and delicious British lager, which the lily-livered American barman won't serve to anyone who can't provide more ID than is really advisable to carry in day-to-day life, and something watery and soulless, which would only qualify as "ale" (or, for that matter, "alcoholic") if you bribed the truth-in-advertising guys. |
| 251 | * In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' season 2, investigating a picture of Creator/GeorgeRomero in Stinky's diner will lead to this: |
| 252 | -->'''Sam:''' Is that George Romero or Cesar Romero?\ |
| 253 | '''Max:''' Well based on the putrefied flesh, I'd have to say Creator/JohnRomero. |
| 254 | * One of the special random encounters in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has a bunch of Unwashed Villagers all banding together and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beating the everloving shit out of]] a guy named Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper was the username of a rather vicious and persistent {{troll}} who kept spamming the Creator/InterplayEntertainment forums during ''Fallout 2'''s development, mostly attacking a fan community called - you guessed it - the Unwashed Villagers. |
| 255 | * In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': |
| 256 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IzpVxMSvhY Yes Man's response]] to [[PlayerCharacter the Courier]] [[spoiler:blowing up the Securitron army]] sounds like he's throwing shade on [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Liberty Prime]]. |
| 257 | --->'''Yes Man:''' And if you had, you know, a huge killer robot at your command, yeah, that would just clutter things up. And a lesser person might want that kind of overwhelming force on their side, but you know - where's the challenge in that? |
| 258 | ** If you have the [[SillinessSwitch Wild Wasteland trait]], you can find a fridge with a charred skeleton wearing a distinctive fedora inside, referencing the much reviled "nuke the fridge" scene in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/Fallout76'' took a potshot at [[https://old.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7cff0b/seriously_i_paid_80_to_have_vader_locked/dppum98/ EA's marketing]] for ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'' with a terminal entry that listed one of the employee benefits of the Mount Blair Trainyard as "a sense of pride and accomplishment". |
| 260 | * In the original ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'', if the player wins the game as [[BigBad Eyedol]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsmz-7XXiS0 his ending]] is a clear Take That at Blanka and his ending in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''. |
| 261 | * The flash game ''Crush the Castle'', possibly being the prime example of causing a case of FollowTheLeader that soon turned into the mobile-based sensation known as ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'', since it shares a similar premise and physics engine as the former, had a TakeThat against the latter with its installment ''Crush the Castle 2 Players Pack''. Beating its Undead Mode where you fight off a ZombieApocalypse unlocks a chicken as a projectile. It has practically zero mass, does meager damage on impact with castle walls, and disappears on contact, making it the least effective projectile in the game. |
| 262 | * At some point in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', there was an outdoor raid boss that summoned a mob named "Demented Druid". Their tactics? Moonfire spam. In the short story, ''[[http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/lore/leader-story/garrosh-hellscream/4#readmode Heart Of War]]'', Garrosh complains about, among other things, the failure of the trolls to retake the Echo Isles from a single witch doctor. This reflects some player complaints about the trolls not retaking the Echo Isles until Cataclysm, despite the fact that the mastermind is ([[ActuallyADoombot apparently]]) killed in a low level quest. |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' has one in the start of "The Itch" chapter. Wheately has shamelessly stolen test chambers from [=GLaDOS=] while claiming them as his own work and has made test chambers that are incredibly easy to solve and have silly writings on the walls out of wall tiles and light fixtures, which spell TEST. Valve stated in their commentary they wanted the first few test chambers from Wheatley to feel like how a first time level designer would make a level, which is a not too subtle jab at people who flood hosting web sites with poorly made or plagiarized levels. |
| 264 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' [[GameMod hacks]]: |
| 265 | ** There's a hack of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', titled ''Sonic 2 Dimps Edition'', which is a large-scale Take That at certain Sonic games developed by Creator/{{Dimps}}, particularly the first episode of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4''. Notable features include random speed boosters everywhere, an altered soundtrack, physics tweaks and a heavy reliance on the homing attack. |
| 266 | ** ''Sonic 1 Boomed'' is a hack of the original ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' game for the Genesis that is basically one giant take that to ''VideoGame/SonicBoom: Rise of Lyric''. The hack gives Sonic and Dr. Eggman their ''Boom'' designs and turns the former into a MotorMouth, saying his lines from ''Rise of Lyric'', as well as a few from [[WesternAnimation/SonicBoom the cartoon]] every time he collects rings, destroys enemies, or bounces off springs, among other things. The developers of the hack also credited Big Red Button Entertainment, the company that developed ''Rise of Lyric'', as the company that developed the hack. |
| 267 | * ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' makes many jabs at the platforming genre, and Andre makes a jab at Zelda at one point. |
| 268 | * There's this one in-universe interview at "AA News Online" (for ''[[VideoGame/{{ARMA}} ARMA II: Operation Arrowhead]]''): |
| 269 | -->'''Ivan Ruce''': It seems pretty obvious to me that no one wants to see a ''[[VideoGame/OperationFlashpointCodemasters Flashpoint Rising]]'' in the Green Sea Region. |
| 270 | ** Moreover, the v1.99 patch for ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' actually both renames that game to ''ARMA: Cold War Assault'' and removes the Codemasters-created Red Hammer campaign. The former may have been legally necessary... the other, not so much. |
| 271 | * In ''VideoGame/FreddyPharkasFrontierPharmacist'', a "lost and out-of-place" [[VideoGame/KingsQuestV Cedric the Owl]] is eaten by vultures. This TakeThat is more directed towards the character than the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series, which was also made by Creator/{{Sierra}} and is referenced several other times in ''Freddy Pharkas''; Cedric was ''hated'' by many players for his high-pitched, whiny voice and general uselessness. |
| 272 | * The remake of ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'' mentions that Reactive Armour provides protection against "tunneling rounds", which are an upgrade choice in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'': |
| 274 | ** In December 2006, the staff released an item called the "Yuletide troll chrysalis" in [[BribingYourWayToVictory Mr. Store]], which hatched into a familiar that provided extra stats, occasional healing, and items (in the form of Christmas carol parodies) that could buff players. The reaction was ''extremely'' negative, as a number of players suggested increasing its healing effect and axing the carols - in other words, stripping away its only unique feature. Mr. Skullhead, one of the creative team, [[BerserkButton did not take this well]], and launched into a rant at the StopHavingFunGuys, lambasting them for how they only wanted an "Optimal Ascension Familiar" that had no picture, description, or any other flavor, but merely did positive things and printed stats. On April Fool's Day of the following year, an Optimal Ascension Familiar became available... as one of the ''worst'' familiars ever put out, with negative effects rivaling the (intentionally) crippling Black Cat. There are many such instances in the history of KOL, but this is likely the most notorious. |
| 275 | ** The game usually uses AffectionateParody, but the items related to the Furry Suit contain a number of surprisingly vicious swipes at the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom. Not least of which is that the tattoo you can receive by wearing it is the "Loser Tattoo". |
| 276 | ** Hippies and hobos aren't treated kindly either. All hippies have bad body odor and do drugs, and hobos are all lazy, stupid booze-drinkers. |
| 277 | ** On the other hand, all frat boys use "bra" as a VerbalTic, drink more beer than is probably humanly possible, and have an unhealthy obsession with paddling. |
| 278 | * In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', Judas' fez is a jab at [[VideoGame/{{Fez}} Phil Fish]], who voted against Isaac creator Edmund [=McMillen=] and his comrades at the Independent Games Festival, thereby being considered a Judas. |
| 279 | ** ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' also joined in the mockery with the Phil "Fish Mask" which translates all dialogue to French... that's it. |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/TheGreatGianaSisters'' proclaimed "[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros The brothers are history!]]" It backfired, as Nintendo ordered a cease-and-desist on the game's distribution just a month after its release. |
| 281 | * In ''VideoGame/RetroCityRampage'', the Player feels a sudden urge to go on a "[[GoombaStomp stomping]] rampage" after playing the "[[MurderSimulator stomping simulator]]" ''Super Stomp Pals", which leads into a long TakeThat against anti-violent-video-game activist Jack Thompson (the guy who coined the term "murder simulators"), the Australian government, and parents who don't take personal responsibility for the games they let their kids play. |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/LollipopChainsaw'' makes some ''priceless'' jabs toward modern-day pop stars like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. Also, in Chapter 4 (the chapter where Juliet and Nick keep being sucked into various arcade games), Nick says if, "[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros a red cap and blue overalls]] pops out at me, I am seriously gonna vomit all over myself." |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/GameDevTycoon'' took a jab at people who pirate video games by ''releasing their own cracked version on torrent sites on release day''. The cracked version plays normally until you get to the Platform/PlayStation3[=/=]Platform/XBox360 era, where you find out that all of your profits are being drained by pirates. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/GarfieldsFunFest'': The plot of the game, which is adapted from the CGI ''Garfield'' movie of the same name, sounds like the developers are making fun of how the comic strip has lost its sense of humour. |
| 285 | * There's an achievement in ''Pro Cycling Manager 2011'' and ''2012'' for winning the UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance with a French rider. |
| 286 | * At E3 2013, [[https://youtu.be/2Ht-0Hne4EU?t=14 Sony unleashed a massive take that against Microsoft]] by saying the Platform/PlayStation4 would ''not'' do any of the things Microsoft's Platform/XboxOne would do (required online connection, limits on used games, etc.). |
| 287 | ** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA used game sharing tutorial]]. |
| 288 | ** The online posters that declared things such as, "Yes, we use your TV too...to play games." (a jab at Xbox One's E3 conference focusing on TV features) |
| 289 | ** And just to add insult to injury, the [=PlayStation=] 4 retails for $399, a hundred dollars less than Microsoft's console. |
| 290 | * An early advertising campaign of the MMORPG ''VideoGame/WonderKing'' depicted human personifications named "[=WonderKing=]" and [[VideoGame/MapleStory "Maple"]] dueling. The personification of "VideoGame/WonderKing" always wins the duel with "Maple" defeated. |
| 291 | * After Zynga made a ripoff of ''VideoGame/TinyTower'', Tiny Tower responded by adding an in-game quest called "Beware of Dog" (Zynga's logo is a bulldog), which involves ripping off another company's game. Even better, the icon for it is one of the in-game citizens in a devil costume. |
| 292 | * ''VideoGame/{{PAYDAY 2}}'' has an achievement called Fish A.I., which is a jab at the ''Call of Duty'' franchise that boasted having advanced A.I. for fish in one of their games. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' revealed a new character for AprilFoolsDay 2014: Fukua, a PaletteSwap of Filia. This was shortly after the final DLC character for ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Ultra Street Fighter IV]]'' was revealed to be Decapre, a clone and Palette Swap of Cammy, instead of characters that ''Street Fighter'' fans were hoping for... and when ''Skullgirls'' fans reacted positively to Fukua, she became a DLC character herself. |
| 294 | * Two from ''VideoGame/WhenTailsGetsBored'' |
| 295 | ** Tails attends the Really Bad Plot Developer's Trade Show partially because he "might get to throw things at the [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics Archie Comics]] people". |
| 296 | ** Also at the convention, there's a sign saying "Meet the [[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog AoStH]] writers!" |
| 297 | * In the release trailer for ''[[VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}} Scribblenauts Unmasked]]'', one of the last scenes shows the Stephanie Brown iteration of Comicbook/{{Robin}} running down the villain Black Mask with a motorcycle, a take that to the former's horrible mistreatment in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' storyline, "War Games". |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}}'': |
| 299 | ** In ''DJMAX Portable'', the song "Dreadnought" has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvOROyPaFNE background animation]] depicting a national leader with UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's face (but with eyes censored out) as the power-tripping leader of [[EagleLand "B.WLAND"]]. When Pentavision released an "International" version of ''DJMAX Portable''[[note]]adds Japanese and English language options; the game is still [[NoExportForYou Korean-region]] but the PSP is region-free anyway[[/note]], "Dreadnought" was [[{{Bowdlerise}} removed]] and replaced with another song. |
| 300 | ** ''DJMAX Respect'' has "Don't Die", which has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJiWn8TMP08 music video]] that's basically a middle finger to {{Mobile Phone Game}}s that use the [[BribingYourWayToVictory "buy gems that let you do special functions"]] structure. The video features a ''mobage'' player repeatedly using {{Microtransactions}} to revive their character, and then collapses in despair as their bank account appears on the screen to reveal an empty balance. |
| 301 | * ''VisualNovel/HatePlus'' make as a few jabs at the whole {{Eroge}} genre: |
| 302 | ** On Day 3, if you try to weasel your way out of baking a cake, *Hyun-ae goes into a long rant about how relationships require actual work, unlike relatively effortless eroge and dating sim relationships. [[HypocriticalHumor Then again, you're sort of playing the latter...]] |
| 303 | ---> '''*Hyun-ae:''' [[YouBastard "What do you think this is, some sort of tacky ero visual novel?"]] |
| 304 | ** The ImageSong [[http://isaacschankler.bandcamp.com/track/its-not-ero-feat-senah-kim "It's Not Ero!"]] is about *Hyun-ae's relationship with the protagonist, and the very first lyrics insist that ''Hate Plus'' is no "ero story" with "smutty [=CGs=]". |
| 305 | * The launch trailer for ''VideoGame/CelDamage HD'' takes a shot at the online multiplayer phenomenon that has plagued console games since the late sixth-gen era. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtI448SdIL8 Watch it here.]] |
| 306 | * A very amusing advertising campaign for ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' featured a ton of this: |
| 307 | -->'''[[BarbarianHero Ironbeard]]''': "Are ya kiddin' me!? I dunnae geddit. I mean, [[Series/DeadliestCatch what's so "deadly" aboot a wee bit 'o' crab fishin']]!? Are they trappin' giant sea beasties, with deadly, venomous fangs!? Or electric fire-breathin' creatures, with razor-blade claws!? NO! They're catchin' iddy, bitty crabbies! I mean, look at 'em! Pah! Be careful, ladies: one 'o' these things might give ya a might nasty pinch!" |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' features an easter egg where, if you click a book in the library, it is about killing Barney, and Ruby says "Hallelujah, about time somebody wrote this book!" |
| 309 | * ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'' features a reference to ''[[Literature/Twilight2005 Dusklight]]'', a novel about a girl who falls in love with a zombie that smells of fresh flowers when exposed to sunlight. The protagonists dismiss it as trash. |
| 310 | * ''VideoGame/{{Reelism}}'', a mod for ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom II]]'', has [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Bronies]] in one of the enemy slots. depicted as fat nerds in jeans, and don't do much but neigh and talk about the show in stilted, high-pitched voices, and serve as cannon fodder, meatshields, and ammo drops. |
| 311 | * ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'' takes a well-aimed potshot at the [[SolveTheSoupCans infamously obtuse]] Ymir Fruit puzzle from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''; a puzzle which, by all rights, several party members should have been easily able to [[CuttingTheKnot short-circuit]]. The ''Riviera'' party, consisting of a flying cat familiar, a WingedHumanoid with limited flight of her own, a proficient if error-prone witch, an archer, and a fencer with decent reach on her rapier, find a fruit they want that's danging over the water. The solution? ANY of the girls is perfectly capable of getting the fruit, and [[RelationshipValues quite pleased]] to be able to show off the Ein. The archer even knocks the fruit into the water, then casually leans over to pick it up. |
| 312 | * When Activision and Bungie announced that they had entered a marketing partnership with Red Bull to offer an exclusive mission in ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' for any players who bought a can, the makers of ''VideoGame/DyingLight'' [[http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2015/06/weirdness_drink_a_glass_of_water_to_get_free_dying_light_dlcn fired back with a Twitter campaign]] that offered a free code for anyone who tweeted a picture of themselves drinking an ordinary glass of water with the tag #drinkrightdyinglight. Later, Digital Extremes took aim at ''Destiny's'' Collector's Edition-exclusive dancing emotes by offering a handful of dancing emotes of its own for free in an update for ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}''. |
| 313 | * The arcade versions of ''VideoGame/SanFranciscoRush 2049'' feature a numeric keypad for entering account passwords and entering cheat codes in mid-race. In the case of the latter, entering 8675309 (as in the song "867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone) followed by the pound key (to confirm input) simply results in a GameOver. |
| 314 | * In ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'''s Quest World mode, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jrafse7s2E There]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xracmpQG3_Q are]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMiSgqWDP9Q some]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEXBHx3c-Bg missions]] that will remind you of [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution another dancing game..]] |
| 315 | * ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'': |
| 316 | ** The Lara Croft Expy basically serves as a vehicle for the writers to tear into the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' franchise. Ten years laters, with all the Franchise/TombRaider re-releases, and sequels and stuff, it's become HilariousInHindsight. |
| 317 | ** There's also this line in the Guild of Archaeologists: |
| 318 | --->'''Lewton:''' I won't bore you with the details of the Guild's security system -- after all, if you've seen one intricate and fatal collection of [[BottomlessPits pits]] and traps you've seen them all. Suffice it to say, it took a lot of {{trial and error|Gameplay}}, some scorched eyebrows and more levers than I could count. |
| 319 | * ''VideoGame/KingsQuest2015'' has a subtle TakeThat to the games of Creator/TellTaleGames, such as ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' and ''VideoGame/TheWolfAmongUs'', which use the "<Character> will remember that" system. After helping a travelling merchant, Graham is asked by his granddaughter Gwen if he will remember that, and Graham responds "[[UngratefulBastard he immediately forgot about it]]" (though curiously in subsequent episodes he does remember whether or not you saved him and react to Graham accordingly). Later on, after chasing some squirrels away from a pumpkin with a badger, Gwen asks Graham if the squirrels will remember that, to which Graham replies that they most certainly will. [[KillerRabbit They do]]. |
| 320 | * An online advertisement for ''Videogame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' reads, "Crush goblins, not [[Videogame/CandyCrushSaga candy".]] |
| 321 | * ''VideoGame/SonicDreamsCollection'' takes several potshots at the worst aspects of the Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} fandom. |
| 322 | * On the title screen of ''VideoGame/BrainAge'' and it's sequel. saying "Sony", "Playstation", "Microsoft", or "Xbox" would piss Dr. Kawashima off. |
| 323 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyExplorers'' has an item called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuvuzela Vuvuzela]]". Using it draws aggro from nearby enemies. |
| 324 | * Near the end of the "Genocide" path in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', Flowey explicitly calls out people who choose to watch playthroughs of the path rather than play it themselves, calling them "sickos" who are worse than the perpetrators; he then guesses that someone like that's watching as he speaks. |
| 325 | * ''Suits: A Business RPG'': |
| 326 | ** The game is pretty heavily influenced by ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', but instead of acknowledging it, it harshly mocks the predecessor. One early-game area is a haunted basement, where you find a man in a baseball cap who says he wants to exorcise the place but couldn't find the ghost responsible for the haunting. Right next to him you enter a boss battle with a ghost named Mortis (looking almost exactly like the avatar of Mortis Ghost, OFF's creator). After defeating it, the man in a baseball cap decides to attack you for the KillSteal, but you defeat him easily, at which point he exclaims "Guess you're really better than me..." before collapsing in a pile of guts and gore. |
| 327 | ** You end up fighting a "Shell Dan" from [[Series/TheBigBangTheory "The Huge Boom Hypothesis,"]] with the battle background even resembling the staircase from ''Big Bang'' (complete with caution tape over the elevator). It's pretty obvious that the creators of the game aren't fans, given that you have the option to flat-out tell him "Your show sucks." |
| 328 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': The first game was a borderline ClicheStorm that was a near-perfect ''Franchise/StarWars'' story played straight. The sequel? Hand a guy with a philosophy degree (who also write ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'') the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse and a character to act as his mouthpiece. Avellone ended up ''hating'' the Expanded Universe, and proceeded to ''[[DeconstructorFleet tear everything in Star Wars a new one]]'' - the Jedi and Sith philosophy, the long-running cyclical religious war between the two factions, the trillions of {{Muggles}} who get killed in the crossfire, the ProudWarriorRace aspect of the Mandalorians, even The Force itself is given an incredibly cynical view. |
| 329 | * In the ''VideoGame/{{Petz}}'' games, the coding for the "Pig" file contains the following note: "This pig is dedicated to my lovely ex-girlfriend Nina Segal, a woman who cannot see beyond her own needs." |
| 330 | * In ''VisualNovel/{{Sickness}}'', if you choose to go see ''Schoolyard Adoration'' with Misa, Suoh will explain to her that real high school is actually not like the movie at all, [[Film/HighSchoolMusical specifically mentioning a scene of random singing in the movie.]] |
| 331 | * ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'' takes a jab at the very fans that helped fund the game on Kickstarter by having one of the trailers say that players can "make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night". While the jab was probably meant to be a harmless ribbing, it didn't sit well with everyone that either funded the game or were looking to play the game since most of them ''are'' anime fans. The PR disaster was apparently done by the publisher while the developers themselves had no part in it and they weren't happy when they found out about the incident either. |
| 332 | * At the end of the E3 2016 trailer for ''VideoGame/YookaLaylee'', the latter mentions that in the time it takes them to make new levels in time for the game's release, they'll probably put in [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts car sections]]. |
| 333 | * ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': One text discusses the fact that various important books from the Library of Alexandria were destroyed, while various unimportant texts that were carelessly thrown away have managed to survive to this day. The following appears in regards to the latter: "(...) if we want our descendants to remember more than [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga glittering emo-vampires]] and {{autotune}}d teen pop stars (...)" |
| 334 | * ''VideoGame/SpookysJumpScareMansion'': |
| 335 | ** The game was originally called ''Spooky's House of Jump Scares'' before the creators got a Cease and Desist from a company trying to trademark the term "Spooky House." They ended up complying with the request... and in-game, its new title screen is just the old one, with tape over it and the new title scribbled on. |
| 336 | ** After getting several requests for a specimen based on ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', the creators finally added a deadly brown animatronic in the game's Endless Mode update. However, said animatronic is slow, does little damage, is drawn in a goofier style that contrasts with the other monsters, and has a very tame game over screen. In other words, he's the game's JokeCharacter. |
| 337 | * One trailer for ''VideoGame/CrimzonClover'' describes the game as "0% {{moe}}, 120% [[StuffBlowingUp explosions]]," a jab at the trend of cutesy visuals found commonly in BulletHell games. |
| 338 | * The menu for the refreshments in the Hollywood level of ''{{VideoGame/Overwatch}}'' depict surprisingly high prices for the items (in the triple digits), with "Bottled water" being the most expensive. A jab at movie theatres for their concession prices and bottling companies for bottled water prices. |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/ThimbleweedPark'', developed by the minds behind ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'', worked in plenty of jabs both at [[SelfDeprecation themselves]], but ''especially'' at Sierra Online games, emphasizing that they felt their design philosophy was much better. A patch [[AuthorsSavingThrow cut down on this, after people started to get annoyed]]. |
| 340 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' really has it in for politics of both sides, just because you're a Democrat or Republican don't think your party won't get a pasting. Numerous AttackOfThePoliticalAd promos will run that assault the other side on a scale real-life politics can only dream of, one side is portrayed as jingoistic, gun-crazy violent psychos and the other as namby-pamby bleeding-heart liberals who cannot handle the real world. Late updates to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' even play into the fall of the government bringing about the end of the world, thus the Doomsday Heists where you go on apocalyptic-level criminal acts to fight back. |
| 341 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Prismata}}'', a robot infected by [[FunWithAcronyms VILE]] tells the player to enter their credit card information in order to unlock in-game power. It is immediately berated by the other characters. |
| 342 | * The InteractiveFiction game ''Sins Against Mimesis'' includes a monster called "Kunkel", a "troll-like" creature who is obsessed with playing virtual reality shooters on its "ultra-whiz-bang" computer, and is eventually killed by [[spoiler:subjecting it to the shock of playing a text adventure]]. This is a rather unflattering reference to Bill Kunkel, a journalist who once wrote a critical review of Creator/{{Infocom}}'s ''The Sci-Fi Collection'' that was [[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.int-fiction/6bZHgGxBeOY not well received by the interactive fiction community]]. |
| 343 | * In ''[[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans Destroy All Humans 2]]'', in the Takoshima map (Japan's FictionalCounterpart), whenever Crypto reads the mind of a soldier, he'll sometimes hear the thought, "Hey Creator/MickeyRooney, I saw ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys'', and I know where you live!"[[note]] Mickey Rooney [[{{Yellowface}} played the Japanese landlord Mr. Yunoichi,]] a role which has definitely [[ValuesDissonance not aged well.]][[/note]] |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/BurgerShop 2'' has a scene where the player hires a private detective, but the latter turns out to be useless as he insists on presenting a bunch of unnecessary items as clues. This is obviously meant to poke fun at mystery-based {{Hidden Object Game}}s, where you are always required to find, well, a bunch of unnecessary items before you can obtain what you're actually looking for. |
| 345 | * ''VideoGame/PlagueInc'': The "Science Denial" scenario is a pretty obvious jab at anti-intellectual conspiracy theorists, especially the anti-vaccine movement. |
| 346 | * In ''Rex Nebular And The Cosmic Gender Bender'' Rex walks into a Creator/{{MicroProse}} video game store. It has a bargain bin with tons of ''Sahara Off-Line's'' games at 90% discount, an obvious jab at their rival, ''[[Creator/{{Sierra}} Sierra On-line]]''. |
| 347 | * One of the [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'' gives you missions to kill a certain amount of specific enemies, in order to avenge the deaths of the town's decimated village. A looooot of the names of those villagers are references to ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' characters. This is a jab against Creator/{{Konami}} for kiling off the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series. Even better, is the villager [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Julius]] who was killed by ''[[SelfDeprecation Koji Igarashi himself]]''. |
| 348 | ** As if to further drive the jabs against Konami, the player can kill an enemy known as the Millionaire's Bane, an evil living slot machine, within an area that resembles a casino, complete with a MsFanservice enemy in the background that occasionally fights alongside the Millionaire's Bane.[[labelnote:Explanation]]This shot is specifically aimed at Konami owning a gambling business in Japan and have started using ''Castlevania'' for their Pachinko Machines. Particularly ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'', alongside that the game has copious amounts of blatant fanservice that was never there in the source material. The infamous trailer also ended with the words "Erotic Violence".[[/labelnote]] |
| 349 | * ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': It's hard to tell if it's intentional due to ProductionLeadTime, but it's hard to not see parallels between then U.S president UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's infamous statement "Why can't we take more immigrants from countries like Norway?" and the game having a group of Norwegian immigrants with a criminal past (namely, murder of an interracial couple). |
| 350 | * When ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''[='=]s Competitive Mode was released, there were already Competitive Modes that had been released prior. Valve ends up taking a jab at other gaming companies by claiming that matchmaking had never existed in video games before. |
| 351 | * ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'': In ''Reloaded'', using the "Zipper" icon on the neon "LIQUOR" sign at the Come 'n' Go will lead to the narrator saying "Don't try to pee on that sign, Larry. That's the kind of raunchy, humorless prank your idiot nephew would pull." This is a not-so-subtle jab at ''Magna Cum Laude'' and ''Box Office Bust'', two games featuring Larry Laffer's nephew Larry Lovage that were ''not'' well-received, to say the least. |
| 352 | * In the GameMod for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', ''VideoGame/{{Falskaar}}'', more than a few characters make snide remarks on the infamous "arrow in the knee" line. A few bandits, in a humorous version of EvenEvilHasStandards, promise ''not'' to kneecap you. |
| 353 | * In ''VideoGame/DinkSmallwood'' mod ''Malachi the Jerk'' Malachi states that the password allowing entry to an invisible hole is "Tim Maurer's [=DMods=] rock" because the enchanter who hid it wanted to use something that no one would ever say. |
| 354 | * ''VideoGame/MysteryScienceTheater3000PresentsDetective'': |
| 355 | ** Examining what ''Detective'' calls a "food hamburger" prompts this exchange: |
| 356 | ---> '''Crow:''' Is that anything like "wooden wood?"\ |
| 357 | '''Tom:''' No, "wooden wood" is redundant, whereas calling a UsefulNotes/McDonalds hamburger "food" is an oxymoron.\ |
| 358 | '''Crow:''' Ah. |
| 359 | ** Later in the game, Tom references another infamously poor InteractiveFiction game by noting that ''Detective'' "makes ''Space Aliens Laughed at my Cardigan'' look like ''VideoGame/{{Trinity}}''." |
| 360 | ** At the end, Mike and Tom agree that ''Detective'' was still better than ''VideoGame/LeatherGoddessesOfPhobos 2''. |
| 361 | * Creator/DevolverDigital has generally lampooned the video game industry's expos and advertising with its yearly videos starting in 2017. There are some notable specific examples from them as well. |
| 362 | ** The 2018 Big Fancy Press Conference makes one towards both Loot Boxes and the instability of cryptocurrency, with Nina announcing "Lootboxcoin". |
| 363 | --->'''Nina:''' Lootboxcoin is the world's first cryptocurrency that is so fucking secure, not even the owners know its actual value! Totally unregulated, and absent of all civil, governmental, international, personal, or institutional liability! |
| 364 | ** During the 2020 connect Don mentions that Konami announced four ''Metal Gear'' games in a direct and then made a breaking announcement that three of the games had been cancelled ''in the same direct''. |
| 365 | * In the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'' entry "Completing the Mission", whenever the player gets to make a choice on the [[spoiler:Master Bounty Hunter]] route, they will have the "Dance Off" option, which consists of ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'''s default dance. Choosing this leads to, in order, Henry getting shot in the head twice, having his face implode from the Right-Hand Man's MegatonPunch and having a tank land on him from nowhere. If that wasn't enough, the Fail screen gets more and more annoyed each time it's chosen: |
| 366 | -->'''First Fail screen:''' Do not.\ |
| 367 | '''Second Fail screen:''' Cease.\ |
| 368 | '''Third Fail screen:''' No.\ |
| 369 | '''Fourth Fail screen:''' '''[[SuddenlyShouting STOP IT!!!!!!]]''' |
| 370 | * After the release of ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' was announced to be delayed a third time, Creator/ArcSystemWorks and Overkill Software (through the ''Payday'' Twitter account) both made posts making fun of the announcement and its format (black text and a logo over a yellow background) on Twitter. The post Arc System Works made has been deleted but the one on the Payday Twitter account is still up. |
| 371 | * The opening cutscene for the Nemesis chapter of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'' has Jill unsuccessfully going GunsAkimbo on a bunch of zombies, and then attempting to grab an overhang and perform a NeckSnap on one zombie that's gotten in too close, which also fails disastrously and nearly gets her killed until Carlos shows up for an assist. Seeing how quickly both of the efforts blow up in her face and how out of character it is for the usually pragmatic and level-headed Jill to attempt such silly stunts to begin with, it's very hard not to see the entire sequence as a wry dig at the [[RefugeInCool cartoonishly over-the-top stuntwork and action]] in the ''Film/ResidentEvilFilmSeries''. |
| 372 | * ''VideoGame/DeathRoadToCanada'': |
| 373 | ** The game tends to make fun of anime quite a lot. The Anime Salesman sells a myriad of useless crap, the Anime Girl will ''explode'' in a number of days unless you stop the timer via an extremely rare event, the Otaku Katana breaks very easily and reading anime magazines at the Anime Store will only benefit characters with low Wit, as it harms anyone with high Wit. |
| 374 | ** Characters with a low Wit stat will tend to blame UsefulNotes/BarackObama (who was president at the time of the game's release) for everything during the randomized car conversations. |
| 375 | --->"Thanks a lot zombie Obama." |
| 376 | * ''DEAD GAEM'' began as a parody of how various attempts at reviving the arena shooter genre in TheNewTens have never achieved the same level of popularity that ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'' or ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' had, let alone successful revivals of old-school single player FPS like ''VideoGame/Doom2016''. It would later expand into a more fully-fledged FPS titled ''[[https://daevteam.itch.io/ghostware GHOSTWARE: Arena of the Dead]]'' |
| 377 | * The original title for ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'', as one can see in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08C-ttHHKFs 1995 trailer]], was "Total Wormage", rendered in the same style and font as ''VideoGame/TotalCarnage'' which was somewhat popular at the time. |
| 378 | * ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' allows the PlayerCharacter to espouse a political viewpoint if desired, but every ideology is heavily critiqued: |
| 379 | ** Communism is naïve, promoting great progress but breaking up at the slightest difference of viewpoints and can't happen without shedding the blood of the lower classes of society it pretends to fight for. |
| 380 | ** Fascism is pathetic, being based on quack science, discriminatory and a haven for people wearing [[NostalgiaFilter rose-tinted glasses]] and/or looking for scapegoats to pin their problems on instead of moving forward or improving themselves. |
| 381 | ** Ultraliberalism (libertarianism) is self-destructive, a dog-eat-dog/survival of the richest ideology promoting an "every man for himself" mentality fueled by greed and the pursuit of wealth at all costs. |
| 382 | ** Moralism (centrism) is malicious, violently enforcing the status quo and hiding behind buzzwords and a guise of incremental change which, while real, happens so slowly it doesn't benefit anyone and leaves everybody unsatisfied. |
| 383 | ** The books available for sale don't fare much better, but special mention goes to ''Sixteen Days Of Coldest April'', a {{Doorstopper}} of MiseryLit lampooning classical Russian literature, so bleak and depressing the detective is physically and morally hurt by reading it. |
| 384 | * ''VideoGame/RabbidsGoHome'' is one big jab at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trente_Glorieuses "Glorious 30"]], a French economic boom from 1945-1975 marked by an explosion in mass consumption. All the humans are very indulgent and encouraged to buy and value things to ridiculous extremes, which is challenged with the Rabbids opposite extremes to have unbridled fun as they take things to meet their goal. |
| 385 | * ''VideoGame/ThereIsNoGameWrongDimension'': |
| 386 | ** During the first chapter, Game complains that the puzzles in the adventure game are nonsensical {{Moon Logic Puzzle}}s, claiming you might as well have [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge used a monkey to fix a hydraulic pump.]] |
| 387 | ** Chapter 3 is a vicious jab at {{Allegedly Free Game}}s. After Mr. Glitch meddles with the ''Zelda''-like RPG you've been playing all throughout Chapter 2, he turns it into a microtransaction-riddled Free-2-Play clicker game filled with ads, MoneyGrinding and ProductPlacement. Most of the hero's progress is blocked by paywalls and a good majority of puzzles in that chapter involve trying to circumvent those paywalls. Game remarks that Free-2-Plays are like riding a bike [[AssShove without the seat.]] |
| 388 | * ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'': During the gender reveal party in ''Impostor Factory'', [[spoiler:the original Lynri]] remarks to [[spoiler:the original Quincy]] that while the event was already spoiled for them since they were the first to know the baby's sex, at least smoke wasn't used for it. It's a shot at parents going too far at making their gender reveal parties grand, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Fire one infamous case causing a wildfire.]] |
| 389 | * ''VideoGame/VampireSurvivors'' made fun of Creator/{{Konami}}'s decision to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise by selling [=NFTs=] of artwork from the series. ''VS'' contains an item called the "'Nduja Fritta Tanto", with the creators saying it's the only NFT that will be added to their game. |
| 390 | * ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' features an InUniverse example with Incisive Chorus' play. One of the people funding the play requested revisions to the script, from making derisive references to the "Flower Guardians"(a reference to the villainous Lotus Assassins), and having a line, "The warmth of spring hides an icy heart" to criticize the Emperor himself. Naturally, including this sort of material in the play is a ''very'' bad idea. The questline also contains one against actors; if you do a good job replacing the person playing Lady Fourteen Flowers and tell Incisive Chorus you enjoyed yourself, he'll remark that this means you're not a real actor. |
| 391 | * [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131027034539/http://www.rpgfanatic.net/advanced_game_wiki_database.html?p=news&nrid=5049&game=dnd Per an interview]], the annoying, but weak enemy "The Glass" from ''VideoGame/{{dnd}}'' is based off a freshman the developers didn't like. |
| 392 | * ''VideoGame/MortalKombat2011'' Due to this game's excessive levels of violence at the time of release, the Australian Classification Board (an Aussie government body which serves a similar function to the American ESRB when it comes to video games) refused to classify the game. As such, Mortal Kombat 2011 was effectively banned in Australia. The developers gave Sheeva an appropriate Ladder Mode ending: Sheeva and her Shokan clan were granted asylum in Earthrealm. With the cooperation of world leaders, Sheeva secured for her clan... the continent of Australia. |
| 393 | * ''VideoGame/BugFables'': The sidequest "Awful's Beauty" consists of finding three bad [[ShowWithinAShow books within the game]] and giving them to Reeves, a Wasp that loves bad writing. However, the last book is so horrible that even ''he'' [[EveryoneHasStandards doesn't like it.]] The reason being is because most of it turns out to be AllJustADream, a jab at works that use that particular trope. |
| 394 | * The entire premise of ''[[Videogame/ThoseGames YEAH! YOU WANT "THOSE GAMES," RIGHT? SO HERE YOU GO! NOW, LET'S SEE YOU CLEAR THEM!]]'' is a thorough shot at VeryFalseAdvertising in mobile games that often consists of multiple minigames that have nothing to do with the product's actual gameplay, often with the demonstration being [[TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket greyscale infomercial segment]]-levels of incompetent at it to try and trick the viewer into downloading it. You wanted those games in the ads instead? Well ''here'' they are. |
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