Follow TV Tropes

Following

Catchphrase / Video Games

Go To

Video game catch phrases can enhance the experience (usually, anyway).

In fighting games, Calling Your Attacks + Signature Attack = easy Catchphrase.

Due to the sizable nature of the page, and the fact that it will keep growing, please try to keep them in alphabetical order by games/game series on this page so it doesn't implode.

If the phrase has become popular due to the audience repeating it, and not the characters in the game, it belongs in Memetic Mutation.

Examples

  • Ace Attorney:
    • The word Objection! has been practically synonymous with the series, as all of the attorneys use it in their cases, including the easily-rattled "Rookie Killer" Winston Payne. It's even flung around outside the court room in Investigations by all the attorneys (including new ones)
    • Poor players will also find their own catchphrase: "This evidence totally contradicts the witness' last statement!" Why is it so vague? Because you're presenting the wrong evidence, and have a penalty headed your way.
    • Godot also has one special Catchphrase out of the usual Objection!: "That's one of my rules."
      • Godot also had a tendency to say "Ha!".
    • Luke Atmey, Ace Detective, most notably has "Zvarri!", though he also has a recurring routine that basically goes as follows; "Now I see! It's all becoming clear! You are.... (fairly obvious statement that wouldn't require any serious amount of deductive work)! ... am I wrong?" Of note is that Zvarri! is contagious; Maya starts using it all over the place in the case with Luke, and then once or twice in a different case.
    • Apollo Justice gains (in addition to Objection!, Hold it! and Take that!) Gotcha!, for when he Perceives a witness's nervous tic.
      • "Here comes Justice!"
      • "I'm fine!"
    • In Ace Attorney Investigations, Miles Edgeworth gains Eureka! for when he figures something out using Logic.
      • Also "NGHOOOOOOOH!"
      • In later games he gets "For that is part of my creed..."
    • Same game gives us Shi-Long Lang's Not so fast! which he uses where other characters use Objection!. Unlike the other charcters who have voiced phrases, he isn't a lawyer or prosecutor, but an Interpol agent.
      • And we shouldn't forget his "Lang Zi says" quotes.
    • Franziska seems to favor the word "Fool" in all its forms, resulting in lines like:
      Franziska: Foolishly foolish fool with foolishly foolish fool ideas of foolish tomfoolery...
      Franziska: ... You're so foolish, you've even made me sound like a foolhardy fool...
      Franziska: A foolishly foolish idea born from the foolish mind of a foolhardy foolish fool.
    • In the original, she uses "baka" in the same way.
    • Dick Gumshoe likes to end his sentences with ",pal!" When Maya accidentally uses it in Justice For All, he declares that it's his endearing affectation.
    • Ace Attorney investigations 2/Gyakuten Kenji 2 has the stern female judge Mikagami say 'Overruled!'.
    • Prosecutor Blackquill in Dual Destinies has a unique shout out catchphrase. Silence!
      • There's also Blackquill's "A [random occupation] I met in the clink once told me [random quote to do with why they were convicted].". For example:
      Blackquill: "A former surgeon I met in the clink once told me, that it's all too easy to overlook critical symptoms."
    • And of course, Bobby Fulbright's "IN JUSTICE WE TRUST!"
    • Nahyuta Sahdmadhi brings another one to the table: "Let it go, and move on". He also has a unique exclamation bubble, consisting of a single Khura'inese character that is pronounced Sahtora!!
  • Ace Combat:
    • From Zero: "Yo buddy, you still alive?"
    • Ace Combat 6 has "Go dance with the angels!"
    • Ace Combat 7 has "Stick with Trigger and you'll make it!"
  • Age Of Armor, the free Humongous Mecha MMORPG is filled with Gratuitous English catch phrases, though the one that comes up when you enter combat is the best-recognized.
    Be Fighting Mode!
  • Altered Beast (1988) Never forget the opening words "Rise From Your Grave!". However, they did kind of sound like "Wise fwom your gwave".
    • Don't forget the other part of that. "Welcome... To your doom."
  • ALLMIND from Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon: "ALLMIND exists for all mercenaries."
  • Artix Entertainment:
    • Artix: "BATTLE ON!"
    • Shadowscythe: "LONG UN-LIVE THE SHADOWSCYTHE!!"
    • Bloodtusk Horcs: "Free and Strong!"
  • Asdivine Cross: Lucile often responds to getting hit, whacked, smacked, exploded, or harmed in any way with, "That hit the spot...!"
  • Assassin's Creed:
    • Assassin's Creed II: Ezio Auditore uses "Requiescat in pace." whenever someone dies, by his hand or otherwise.
    • Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: "The liberation of Roma has begun", by Ezio again, each time a potential recruit for the Assassin Brotherhood is found and saved.
    • Assassin's Creed III: Connor Kenway tends to ask "Where is Charles Lee" quite often.
    • Assassin's Creed Rogue: Shay Cormac always answers with "I make my own luck" whenever luck is brought up around him.
  • Backyard Sports: Sunny Day has "Hi-de-ho!"
  • Baldur's Gate: "Go for the eyes, Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!"
    • Yoshimo from Baldur's Gate II seems to say "HI-YA!" alot.
  • Bangai-O's Goldfish Poop Gang boss Sabu has the engrish-y "Feel my Yasaan V3!". Just so we are clear on that, he is referring to his mecha.
  • Wally Franks of Bendy and the Ink Machine always ends his audio logs with "I'm outta here!"
  • Beyond Good & Evil:
    Don't break up the team. Carlson & Peeters, page 823.
  • BioShock's Exposition Fairy Atlas has his distinctive "Would you kindly?". This phrase later turns out to be quite plot relevant, as Atlas says this to repeatedly hypnotize Jack into obeying all his commands.
  • BlazBlue:
    • Hakumen's speech, which is sometimes shortened to even shorter variations: "I am the white void. I am the cold steel. I am the just sword. With blade in hand shall I reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction. I am Hakumen. The end has come!"
    • Ragna has "It's not over yet!", which is even the name of one of his special attacks with which he picks up a downed enemy and socks them in the gut, and Nu-13 has "Activate Termination Protocol." You'll learn to fear that phrase.
  • Borderlands: The catchphrase "Heyoooo" has gained popularity with fans. It is the catchphrase of the character Steve, a bandit, who funny enough was never even in the original release of the game. He appears a few times in trailers, promotional videos, and is refereed to from time to time in the DLC.
  • Borderlands 2: Lilith likes using "'sup" before or after she does something involving her powers. Angel tends to say "Executing Phaseshift" when she's about to do something. Scooter's is "Catch-a-Ride", which he gets to use when the entire city of Sanctuary flies into the air, and then teleports to another location. He uses it again in Tales from the Borderlands as his last words during his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!: Wilhelm has a very terse catchphrase: "No."
  • Breath of Fire III: Rei has "Doesn't this just beat all..."
  • Cave Story: If you hear a shout of "Huzzah!" (or "Oh, yeah!" in the official translation), expect a toaster-shaped monster to confront you shortly thereafter.
  • Command & Conquer:
    • "KANE! LIVES!"
    • "One vision! One Purpose! Peace through power!"
    • "That was left-handed."
    • "REAL TOUGH GUY!"
    • "Got a present for ya!" (boom)
  • Cooking Mama: "Wonderful! Better than Mama!" and "Don't worry, Mama will fix it!"
  • The DanceDanceRevolution announcers are nothing more than entire SOUND BANKS of these. "Let's STEP STEP!", "YES! DDR!", and so on.
    • The more recent games combine catch phrase with a healthy dose of Large Ham. "Ready? Start stepping!/Here we go!/It's the beat!" "You are tearing it up!" "200/300/400 combos!" "Dance. All. Night~", and so on.
  • Danganronpa:
    • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc has Makoto Naegi's "No, that's wrong!", which he says whenever points out a contradiction during court trials.
    • Hajime Hinata from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair borrows Makoto's quote, and along with it he gains a new one, "I agree with that!" He says this when he agrees to someone's statement in the trials. He also has "Allow me to cut through those words!", which he shouts when countering someone in a one-on-one debate.
    • Kaede Akamatsu from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony uses both Makoto's "No, that's wrong!" and Hajime's "I agree with that!", but when it comes to countering someone in a one-on-one debate she says "I'll cut your words!". On the other hand, Shuichi Saihara, the game's real protagonist following Kaede's execution in the first trial, says "That's wrong!" and "I agree!" when refuting or agreeing with a statement respectively, and "I will cut through your words" when countering someone's statement in a one-on-one debate.
  • From Darius: "WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP _____ IS APPROACHING FAST."
  • Deadly Premonition: Special Agent Francis York Morgan. "But please, call me York. It's what everyone calls me."
  • Devil May Cry
    • "Jackpot!" is a recurring catch-phrase, usually said right before defeating the Big Bad. Throughout the series, Dante, Vergil and Nero have said it.
    • Vergil's personal philosophy involves the quotes "Might controls everything" and "I Need more power!". Apart from Vergil himself, the latter quote and its variants have been said by Nero, V and Urizen.
  • Digital Devil Saga: Gale's "I do not comprehend."
  • Disgaea 2: Adell doesn't believe in catch-phrases. They're "just not his style."
    • You fools! How dare you forget Rozalin! For she is the one and only daughter of Overlord Zenon!
  • In Doki Doki Literature Club!, Monika often says "Okay, everyone" at the final scene of each day. The other girls notice on the one day she does not say it, and in the third act, Monika recounts that they might have made fun of her for it one time.
  • In .hack//G.U., Haseo likes to say that he's "going to log out and check my email, or something."
  • In Dragon Quest VIII, Dhoulmagus ... really, Rhapthorne and, as a consequence, whoever he's currently possessing and his regular utterance of "Such a pity..."
  • Dynasty Warriors: Lu Bu never seems to tire seeking out someone who will provide him with a decent challenge.
    • Likewise, Sun Jian will never allow you to forget who the Tiger of Jiang Dong is (hint: him).
    • For all the characters, there's "Enemy Officer Defeated" or "I took out an officer", with the later games giving characters unique variations of this (such as Lu Bu asking for a decent challenge). It's also found in the Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi spinoffs.
  • Eighteen Wheeler American Pro Trucker: "I'm the Lizard Tail! The number one trucker in the USA! And don't y'all forget it!"
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Throughout the series, the Khajiit have number of these which are popular in their culture. "May your road lead you to warm sands" is a common saying. Others including including the words "warm", "sand", and "sugar" are also common.
    • M'aiq the Lair, a recurring Easter Egg Legacy Character throughout the series, has "M'aiq knows much, tells some. M'aiq knows many things others do not."
    • In Morrowind, "we're watching you, scum", could practically be the motto for the Ordinators.
    • Oblivion:
      • The Gray Fox uses "Capital!" in later Thieves' Guild quests.
      • "Stop right there, criminal scum!" from every city guard.
    • Skyrim:
  • Elite Beat Agents has a few of these.
    Commander Kahn: Agents are... GOOOOOOO!!!!
    Anyone: HEEEAAALP!!!!!
    Agents: Hey! Mission! Are you ready!? Three! Two! One! Go!
    Leonardo da Vinci: Si!
    Hulk: You bet, kid!
    Carringtons: HEY GUYZ! (Bwoing!)
    Don: Diaper/Hot Dog/Skateboard/My girlfriend = Football!
  • Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard: The guildmaster ends most conversations with you with "Never underestimate the Labrynth." You really shouldn't. 2 Untold changes this to "Try to avoid any unnecessary risks." Still good advice.
  • Fallout 4 has the Silver Shroud, whose catchphrase before taking down the bad guys is: "Death has come for you, evildoer — and I am its shroud!"
  • Fear Effect: Glas definitely has one. It goes like this: "You draw on me? You better be prepared to face the consequences!"
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy VII:
      • Barret has a fairly long one in "There ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on 'til we get to the end of the line" — a line he borrowed from Cloud and makes his own. Spoofed later on when multiple characters say the line in unison before Barret can. Cloud will use the line in Final Fantasy Tactics, if you prompt to kick him out of your party.
      • Cloud also uses "Not interested" and "Don't really care". In the original game this is mostly expressed through one of them being the "no" option when asked to choose Cloud's response to something, but it becomes prominent in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dissidia Final Fantasy. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, this is retranslated to him saying "nope" in a distinctive, goofy tone, since "not interested" doesn't express the cheekiness and humour of the Japanese kyoumi nai ne.
      • Aeris repeatedly says "I grew up in the slums. I'm used to danger."
      • In the Compilation, Sephiroth has: "Good to see you, [Cloud/Zack]", and variants of "I bring you despair."
    • Squall of Final Fantasy VIII is so uncommunicative early in the game that his catchphrases are "Whatever," and "...". Overcoming this tendency is a big part of his Character Development.
    • Final Fantasy IX: Zidane: "Do I need a reason to help people?"
    • Balthier of Final Fantasy XII declares himself "the leading man," and reminds the other party members of his status quite often. Not that the fans are arguing with him.
      • The villains like to toss around "the reigns of History back in the hands of Man."
  • Fire Emblem: It's easy to lose count of how many times Hector utters 'Blast!'
  • Friday Night Funkin' vs Ron (Cool Mod): Doing things in a cool way is Ron's catchphrase (in a cool way)
    Ron: Yay (in a cool way)
  • Genshin Impact
    • Diluc often cries out "Retribution".
    • Eula is always using the word "vengeance", usually in her favorite catchphrase "(Mark my words) Vengeance will be mine!"
  • The Good Life: Naomi Hayward frequently laments being stuck in the "Goddamn hellhole" that is Rainy Woods.
  • Gradius: "Destroy the core!", "Destroy them all!", "Shoot the core!", "You need more practice!"
  • Guilty Gear: "Heaven or Hell?" (Insert round number, or skip in two particular games) LET'S ROCK!"
    • There are also character-specific phrases, like "MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA" and "Teyeh".
  • Hades: Chaos Hates Small Talk and requests that they not be spoken to unless prompted to. When Chaos wants Zagreus to speak to them, they end their sentence with the phrase, "Respond".
  • Halo:
  • In Hyperdimension Neptunia, once Histoire regains her sprite form, she has a habit of telling Neptune and the other party members that it would take her "three days" to look up plot-important information in the tome.
  • Inazuma Eleven has Endou's "Sakka yarouze!" (let's play soccer).
  • Kid Icarus has such an infamously high difficulty level that Pit's catchphrase is "I'm finished!" Palutena and Pit even give it a consecutive pair of lampshades in Uprising.
    Palutena: Remember when you used to say 'I'm finished!' all the time?
    Pit: I... still say that. A lot.
  • Killer7:
    • Iwazaru always greets the player with "Master! We're in a tight spot!", regardless of whether he has good news or bad news, and always signs off "In the name of Harman...".
    • Travis Bell either starts or ends his reports with a "straight up", to emphasize on his self-proclaimed honesty.
    • Any time you hit an opponent's weak point, the character you're using will recite their Catch Phrase.
      Garcian Smith: Son of a bitch.
      Dan Smith: This is too easy.
      KAEDE Smith: Hurts, doesn't it?
      Coyote Smith: You're FUCKED.
      Con Smith: Fuck you!
      MASK de Smith: Adiós (or, sometimes, "Nos vemos").
      Young Harman Smith: Touché.
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • Riku has "I thought you were stronger than that." It's somewhat downplayed, as he only actually says it twice on screen, but he apparently says it enough in-universe that it causes the Sora part of Roxas to respond when he says it. His Evil Knockoff, Dark Riku, also says it at one point in Kingdom Hearts III.
    • The Mayor of Halloween Town gets his "I'm an elected official" line from the movie flanderized into this, with him saying it almost anytime he appears.
    • Axel, as well as his original self, Lea, has two phrase that qualify for this:
    • Xigbar, as well as his original self, Braig, has "As if!"
    • The past version of Pete seen in the Timeless River world from Kingdom Hearts II has "What's that for?!", which he says whenever a fight he's in begins, as well as any time he gets hit.
    • Ventus has "I'm Ventus. Call me Ven.", as well as variations of it, which he says whenever he's introducing himself.
    • The Master of Masters has a catchphrase that also doubles as the series' Arc Words, "May your heart be your guiding key." He himself lampshades during χ Back Cover that he says it all the time, and claims that it's meant to be a way of telling someone that they have to do what their heart believes is right. However, considering the Master is a huge Manipulative Bastard, it ends up taking on some dark connotations.
  • League of Legends:
  • Legacy of Kain: Kain's "Vae Victus!" (which is misspelled "Vae Victis").
    • WERK WERK.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the hero's impious shadow-guide Midna departs from him (when he returns to the world of light) with a "Hee! See you later!" At the end of the game, she says it again, with a rather heartbreaking twist.
  • In Library of Ruina, main character Roland has the catch phrase "That's that, and this is this."
  • Little Busters! has Riki with 'no, no, no' ('iya iya iya'), which is lampshaded in the ending sequence if you fail to get a girl's route with Masato remarking affectionately that he so loves Riki's 'no, no, no' after he says it, and 'Mission start!' and 'Battle start!' for Kyousuke, which becomes a Borrowed Catchphrase in Refrain when Riki starts a mission of his own.
  • ''The Lost Crown': Some oft-repeated lines qualify, including: "That's very odd" and "Nothing ventured...".
  • Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals: Listing off all of the things that Dekar is best at is the other thing Dekar's best at.
    • Maxim's also fond of saying "yeah, yeah". Even when he's dying.
  • MadWorld:
    • Jack Cayman makes his place in the world clear. "I don't help people. I kill them."
    • Whenever the Black Baron is made to demonstrate the latest Bloodbath Challenge, he manages to shout "Aw, hell no!" just before dying. Suprisingly, he never says it during the final boss fight.
  • Marathon: "THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! GAAAAAH!" And "THANK GOD, IT'S YOU! *Explodes* "
    • Both phrases also return in Halo.
  • My Time at Sandrock has the Builder, the player character, say, "(I've) got too much on my plate right now." whenever they put a sidequest or main quest on hold. The developers and fans both noticed, which lead to countless Memetic Mutation both in-game and out of it of the Builder finding new and creative ways to describe the plate and all the many things on it, with NPCs eventually pointing it out themselves.
  • Super Mario Bros.
    • Mario has several, and they're usually the only things he says. "Let's-a go!", "Here we go!", "Mamma Mia!", It's-a me, Mario!", "Okie dokie!", "YAHOO!!"
    • Luigi share most of his brother's catchphrases, and has one of his own, "Oh yeah!"
    • Virtually every character with a comprehensible voice in the series shares the "(Character's Name) Time!" catchphrase. (e.g. "It's-a Mario Time!", "Luigi Time!", "Oh yeah, Waluigi Time!", etc.)
    • Mario and Luigi would both call themeselves "number one" at times by sharing the (Character's Name) number one!" catchphrase. ("Mario number one!", "Luigi number one!")
    • Yoshi has... well, "Yoshi!"
    • Peach would shout "MARIO!!!!" when Bowser captures her.
    • In the Mario Kart series, Mario would sometimes say " I'm-a gonna get you!" when trying to catch up, and "Bye-bye!" when passing another player. Luigi sometimes also says "Bye-bye!" for the same reason.
    • In the Mario Party series, almost every character tends to say "I'm a/the superstar!" when winning a board, or becoming the supserstar, although in Mario Party 4, they would say "I'm the Party Star!" instead. Also in Mario Party 4, the player's character would say "Good choice!" when being chosen by the player, and "Let's party!" when starting a board, with the exception of Yoshi.
  • Mass Effect has a few:
    • EDI's catchphrase later in the game is "That is a joke". May be EDI's way of laughing at humor, since she also says it after other people make jokes.
    • All quarians use the phrase "keelah se'lai" as a sort of benediction, like "Amen", only not religious. In the third game, Tali explains it roughly translates to "by the home-world I hope to see someday".
      • More appropriately compared with "So say we all".
      • "Keelah" is also a convenient all-purpose interjection (as in "Keelah!" instead of "My God!"). "Bosh'tet" seems to be the quarian equivalent to "You suck." (although it apparently means "faulty equipment").
    • In the first game, Shepard used to quip "Hit me, Joker", whenever their helmsman contacted them with some bad news and some REALLY bad news. Shepard seems to have dropped the habit completely in the sequel, though.
    • "Shepard-Commander" is often said by Legion because he's a robot who thinks all audible communication is slow and inefficient.
    • Garrus grows fond of "Just like old times," as he and Tali are the only two full-time squaddies throughout the whole trilogy. Shepard borrows it during their last conversation in 3.
    • "I should go." Lampshaded and parodied in the Citadel DLC, when your clone throws it back at you, leading to a Do I Really Sound Like That? distraction; EDI has counted you saying it 216 times, Tali and Liara mention it was one of the first things you said to them, Wrex was under the impression that it was a traditional human farewell...and Garrus admits that given how often he says "calibrations", he doesn't really have any grounds to criticize.
    Shepard: How come nobody told me about this before?! I'm open to feedback here!
    • Zaeed prefaces a very large amount of his statements with "Goddamn", or as he pronounces it: "Guddam".
    • In the hung-over pity party at the end of the big party in the Citadel DLC, Garrus promises to stop saying "calibrations" so much as long as Liara makes the same promise regarding "By the Goddess".
    • Jack has "I will destroy you!" She will, too. She seems to still be using it, only less seriously, in the third game; one of her students yells it as an affectionate reference to her teacher.
    • An awful lot of what Javik has to say begins with "In my cycle..." Then he parodies it in (of course) the Citadel DLC:
  • Max Payne: "Max, dearest of all my friends..."
  • MechQuest: Mysterious Johnsson always managed to find a way to inhibit the word "mysterious" into nearly every sentence he said. Moreover, he masterfully managed to make most of his mentions be made from the miniscule "M".
  • The Matrix: Path of Neo A librarian's catchphrase: "A place for every book, every book in it's place." is mentioned three or four times, in voice-over and during the level to rescue her.
  • Metal Gear:
    • Solid Snake's catchphrase, "Kept you waiting, huh?", was actually a fourth-wall-breaking observation about the length of the preceding cutscene in its original use (according to the script). It stuck, to the point where the series has lampshaded its use more than it's actually used it straight, characters mocking his identical father's punctuality, and, in the most obvious example, a character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots commenting on Snake's absence from an event he would have liked to attend — "he always keeps people waiting"). Snake — we mean, an amnesiac box salesman — even manages to say it in Boktai 2. The decoy in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a cardboard cutout of Big Boss that constantly says "kept you waiting, huh" on a loop.
    • Otacon: "Snake? SNAAAAAAAAKE!"
    • Fortune: "Kill me now!"
    • Fatman: "Laugh and grow fat!"
    • Revolver Ocelot's "You're pretty good!" This proves to be one of the most subtle and poignant expressions of his character in the series; it's one of the first things said to him by Big Boss, to whom Ocelot developed an obsessive devotion that motivates more or less the entire plot. It's also his last words before his death.
  • Metal Wolf Chaos: The President of the United States almost speaks only in catch phrases. However his signature catch phrases are "RICHARD!!" and "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW!?"
    • You're forgetting his real catch phrase. "Mr. President, why did you hammerthrow that tank into the Atlantic Ocean?" "BECAUSE I'M THE PRESIDENT OF THESE GREAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" "Mr. President, why are you going to jump across the Grand Canyon?!" "BECAUSE I'M THE PRESIDENT OF THESE GREAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" "Mr. President, why did you [insert action here]?" "BECAUSE I'M THE PRESIDENT OF THESE GREAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" Let's not forget some other phrases though— some like, "The gentleman in me goes off the clock at 5 P.M.", " You'd never make it on Broadway," and " SUCK! ON MY! MISSILE PUNCH!"
    • "BELIEVE YOUR JUSTICE!"
  • From Metroid Fusion and Other M, we have the immortal line from Adam Malkovitch: "Any objections, Lady?"
  • Might & Magic X: Legacy is currently still in the open-beta stage, but still, some characters you can have in your party have some pretty badass battle cries that they shout when a fight starts, especially the orc characters. One good one: "Yes! Walking on Mother Earth under Father Sky!"
  • Monkey Island: There are several in the series:
  • Mortal Kombat: "FINISH HIM!"
    • "GET OVER HERE!"
    • It's official. You suck.
    • TOASTY!
    • "Gotcha!"
    • Your Soul Is Mine!!
    • Almost every character in Mortal Kombat 9 has at least two of them, one they say when a match starts (referred to as a "Battle Cry") and one they say upon winning the match. (The characters who do not are the ones who don't talk much, brutes like Goro; they only grunt, growl, or roar at those times.) Some characters have additonal Catch Phrases that they say other times, like when performing an X-Ray Move or Fatality.
  • Mother 3: "Tonda Gossa!" from the fictional band DCMC.
    • Fassad's distinctive laugh, "Nwehehehehehehe!"
  • The Next Big Thing (A.K.A. Hollywood Monsters 2 in some territories): Both main characters have their own "reverse catchphrase" in which the catchphrase is not said by them, but as a reaction said by the character you are talking to.
    Liz Allaire: [Says something ridiculous or completely crazy]
    Person/Creature/Robot she's talking to: Disconcerting. / That's disconcertingly _____.

    Dan: [mercilessly insults the person he's talking to]
    Old friend/Main villain/Security robot/Hot bimbo: Haha. What a dude.
  • Nexus: The Jupiter Incident: Rear Admiral Norbank:
    I'll teach them not to mess with the human race... Watch and learn, Captain Cromwell — this is how the big boys do battle!
  • The Night of the Rabbit: Your mentor Marquis de Hoto says "Nothing is impossible" in response to a challenge.
  • Ni no Kuni:
    • "Neato!" and "Jeepers!" for Oliver.
    • Most of Mr. Drippy's sentences contain the word 'mun'.
  • Nintendo Wars:
    • "As long as there's life, there's hope" for Captain Brenner.
    • Caulder from Days of Ruin: "(it's) FASCINATING!"
  • The No More Heroes games have tons:
    • Bad Girl: "Home run!"
    • Destroyman: "DESTROOOOYYYY [name of attack]!!!"
    • Sylvia: "Trust your force, and head for the garden of madness!"
    • Thunder Ryu: "So you want to do THAT!"
    • Shinobu: "What's that in your hand, a toy?"
    • Holly Summers: "Do you like..."
    • Speed Buster: "Fuck you, you little prick!"
    • Kimmy Howell: "...Travis the Great..."
    • The guy who works at the Job Center: "Third rater" and "...the God of [something related to what Travis' task is]..."
    • Travis has "Let's go!" He also calls his Dark Side attacks.
    • Jasper Batt Jr. : "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!"
    • Million Gunman: "S@*#!"
  • Ogre Battle franchise is inseparable with this one phrase: "FIGHT IT OUT!"
  • Overlord: Gnarl's quite fond of "Evil always finds a way!"
  • Parodied in Overwatch with Reinhardt. One of his unlockable voice lines is literally shouting "Catch Phrase!"
    • Played straight with Tracer, whose in-universe catch phrase is "Cheers luv, the cavalry's here". The "Retribution" comic shows that she got the inspiration from Torbjorn. In-game, each of the character's most iconic line is likely to be the line used for their Ultimates, such as McCree's "It's High Noon".
  • PaRappa the Rapper has PaRappa's motto: "I gotta believe!"
  • Persona series:
  • Phantom Thief Silver Cat: Silver Cat's is "I'll take it Meow."
  • Pokémon Red and Blue: Your rival: "Smell ya later!"
  • Similarily to his voice actor, Wheatley from Portal 2 has the phrase "Man alive!"
  • Professor Layton gets "Every puzzle has an answer", "(such and such) reminds me of a puzzle" and "Isn't it obvious?"
  • Punky Skunk: Whenever Punky gets an extra life, either by collecting 100 stars or finding one, or when he switches his gear, he'll always say "I've got it!".
  • Putt-Putt has "Hot ziggety!" and "Wowie zowie!"
  • Radiant Historia: "I have to think about this one carefully..." said by Stocke when he has to make a choice, one of which will invariably screw the timeline beyond salvaging.
  • Resident Evil 4's Merchant has many, notably calling Leon "stranger", "whattaya boiyin'", and "heh heh heh, thank yew."
  • River City Ransom: Kunio's catch-phrase in most of the games is "Namen'nayo kono yarou!" ("Don't mess with me, punk!"), often shortened to simply "Namen'nayo!". Ironically, this was originally said by Riki (Kunio's rival and later friend) in the original Kunio-kun.
    • Whenever an enemy gets knocked out, they'll usually let out a loud "BARF!" or some variant, depending on their gang affiliation.
  • RosenkreuzStilette: Lilli has a habit of saying "Hunya!" a number of times.
  • The Boss in the Saints Row series has a few:
  • Saints Row 2, the Boss gets a few repeated:
    • White male: "You know who I am?" "I love my job."
    • Black male: "You really think imma stay locked up?" "We lockin' this city down!"
    • Hispanic male: "Yeah...I am this good."
    • White female: "I'm tougher than I look." "Can't win 'em all. Unless you're me."
    • Black female: "Sometimes I need to kill people. Does that make me a bad person?"
    • Hispanic female: "And that's how the Saints do it." "I don't think I'm a badass. I know it."
  • Saints Row: The Third: "Murder time, fun time!" Said by the white male boss voice and Professor Genki.
  • Sam & Max: Freelance Police: "You crack me up, little buddy."
  • The Secret World:
    • The Bees: "Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see."
      • "Initiate the secret histories."
      • "What is time to us? We stand outside. Everything has happened. Everything is happening."
    • The Illuminati talent scout: "Later gator."
    • Kirsten Geary: "Ciao-Ciao."
      • "Fun fact: [insert bad news here]."
    • The Morninglight: "We are all made of stars!" Doubly creepy now that the Dreamers have started whispering "You are all made of stars."
    • Che Garcia Hansson: "Hey, man."
    • The Black Signal AKA John: "Hiya Chuck."
      • "Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssss-I am the [insert title here]-let me in."
      • "See you, Chuck..."
  • Sega Saturn: Segata Sanshiro has these words implanted in your head after he kicks your ass: "Sega Saturn shiro!!" (You must play Sega Saturn!!). It's also his last words.
  • Sengoku Basara
    • Yukimura: "OYAKATA-SAMAAAAAA!", "Burn my soul!", and "O-VER-FLOW-IINNGGG!"
    • Masamune: "Here I come!", "Let's keep it cool", and his Engrish, "Showtime!", "Ok are you ready?", "Let's Party!", and "You see?"
    • Nobunaga: "This was inevitable".
    • Kanbe: "WHYYYYYYYY!"
  • In Silent Hill 4, Henry commonly reacts to the game's bizarre goings-on with a poignant "What the hell?"
    • And, of course, Harry's infamous and constant, "Have you seen a little girl?"
    • That's already a Running Gag around the protagonists. You also have "Have you seen my wife?" and "Have you seen my truck?"
  • Skullgirls's Beowulf lampshades this: "EVERYTHING I SAY IS A CATCHPHRASE!"
  • All Skylanders have a phrase they say upon being placed on the portal with the exception of guest skylanders.
  • SNK fighters such as Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters have casts of characters that each have at least 2 or 3 of their own catchphrases, often used as pre- or mid-battle taunts, or victory cries. The most famous is by far Terry Bogard, whose entire list of vocal lines is pretty much a list of Engrish catchphrases in themselves. For the sake of simplicity, here's the big three SNK heroes lines:
    Kyo: Ore no...kachi da! (This is...my victory!) (rendered as "I am...the champion!" in Maximum Impacts dub, which actually makes sense, given the wording order of the Japanese phrase.)
    Ryo:
    Osu! (A standard martial arts saying)
    Terry:' OKAY! (Usually accompanied by him tossing his cap. In Mark of the Wolves and the later KOF games he tosses his bomber jacket and catches it)
    • Again, from SNK... by Kim Kaphwan... Aku wa yurusan! (Evil is unforgivable!). Sure enough, his son Jae Hoon follows the suit.
    • Since all the characters have the habit of Calling Your Attacks, all of them fit, especially Iori Yagami famous super special: "Asobi wa owari da... nake, sakebe, SOSHITE SHINE!!" (translates as "Playtime is over... cry, scream AND DIE!")
  • The Soul Series: "I will show you...the GREATEST NIGHTMARE!"
  • Spandex Force 2: Superhero U has several ridiculous epithets said by the player character, due to it being a superhero parody. One of the more frequent is "Voluptuous Vanderbilt mathematicians!"
  • Spectrobes' Rallen gets Iku Ze! which roughly translates to "Let's do this!". this also crosses over with Gratuitous Japanese.
  • In Spirit Hunter: NG, Kaoru always greets others with 'Good morning!', regardless of the time of day. This is due to her hectic schedule as an idol, which has messed up her perception of time.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has a number of repeated phrases, some earning Memetic Mutation. These must at all times be imitated with gratuitous Russian accents.
    • Duty Guard: "Get out of here, Stalker!"
    • Bar Bouncer: "I said come in, don't just stand there!"
    • Sidorovich: "Good hunting, Stalker."
    • Bartender: "Hey, Marked One. Still alive? That's great."
    • Doctor Sakharov: "Khello? Khello?"
    • General Voronin: "What are you, deaf? What [sic] are you here?"
  • The Adjutant in StarCraft frequently utters "Receiving incoming transmission" during the campaigns. And let's not forget any Protoss character's "En Taro Adun!"...
    • Some more catchphrases: "You want a piece of me, boy?" "Just gimme something to shoot!" "Proooo-ceedin'." "My life for Aiur!" "For Overmind." "Battle cruiser opereshonal." "Explorer reporting." "Ahh, yeah, that's the stuff!" "Orders, captain?" "I can't build there, there's something's in the way." "You Require More Vespene Gas." " "You must Construct Additional Pylons." "SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS!"
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Atton of the sequel has, "Pure Pazzak!", a reference to the blackjack-like game he plays obsessively. From the same game, the battle droid HK-47 has his distinctive expression of "meatbags."
    • And Atton sometimes uses the aforementioned "I have a bad feeling about this," and it is even mentioned as one of his special abilities (which is of course never referenced again). Kriea uses "...Listen!" so much it might count as hers.
    • Mission Vao uses the term Bantha Poodoo alot. Also, poodoo is Huttese for excrement, which is a fancy word for shit. So, Cluster F-Bomb combined Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour (as Mission is in her mid teens and acts 12).
      • Actually, "poodoo" is Huttese for "fodder" (animal feed) if you look at the movies' subtitles. Therefore, it's an example of Cluster Unusual Euphemism.
    • Bastila Shan wants to remind you that this is no laughing matter!
    • Depending on how you use the Dialogue Tree, and the personality you assign her, the Exile's is "A Jedi's life is sacrifice." It's pretty meaningful.
    • The Republic Trooper in Star Wars: The Old Republic will often state "in the name of the republic, I order you to surrender." in nearly all of his personal story encounters.
  • Street Fighter: "Yatta" literally means "I did it" in Japanese and is not an uncommon phrase, but one of the most common associations among Western audiences is with Chun-Li's winning pose.
    • Also Chun-Li's "Sorry!/Gomen ne!", to the point that for the iOS version of Street Fighter IV it became her round-win quote instead of just a taunt (which weren't in that version — they wanted to make sure she said it at some point).
    • Akuma: "Messatsu!"
    • Rose: "That's all for today's lesson."
    • Gen: "You are a big fool."
    • Hakan: "Looks like it's time to oil up!"
    • Abel's appears to be becoming "Seiyah!"
    • Ibuki's pre battle quote "Ibuki, On The Scene!". Even when it was replaced in SFV it is still alluded to with "Quickly On The Scene!" and she can even say her classic line in challenge mode.
    • Even for Calling Your Attacks, "Hadoken!" and "Shoryuken!" have become pretty iconic.
    • The Announcer Chatter for Street Fighter Alpha 3. All of it.
  • Superliminal: Almost every single radio transmission begins with the words "Hello. My name is Dr. Glenn Pierce." Becomes lampshaded by the Standard Orientation Protocol when she starts blocking him. "Hello. My introductions are redundant." And the kicker is that it's all scripted, so this is a case of Dr. Pierce engaging in some Self-Deprecation for the sake of humor.
  • Super Robot Wars: Original Generation:
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee: "Show me your moves!" "HYESZ!" "FALCON PAWNCH/KICK!"
  • Tales of Symphonia has a couple...the Desians tend to scream "INFERIOR BEINGS!", Magnius calls people "Vermin", Colette apologises A LOT...the list goes on.
    • Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World will leave you with nothing in your head but "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." This isn't a character catch-phrase (in the timeframe of the game itself, anyhow); this is the game's catchphrase.
    • Did you know that the desert bandits in Tales of Graces will run you through? Oh, don't worry, they'll tell you. They only repeat "I'LL RUN YOU THROUGH" about a million times a second.
  • Team Fortress 2
    • "MAGGOTS!"
      • "If God had wanted you to live, he would not have created ME!"
      • "Last one alive, lock the door!"
    • "CRY SOME MOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!"
      • "NOM NOM NOM, OM NOM NOM NOM"
      • "UWAAAAAAAAAAH! BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAH!"
      • "______ is credit to team!"
      • I'M COMING FOR YOU
    • "BONK!"
      • "Birds fly, grass grows, sun shines, and brother, I hurt people."
      • "Wanananana..."
      • "Need a dispenser here!"
    • "Spy sappin' mah sentry!"
      • "Erectin' a dispenser!"
      • "TELEPORTER DOWN!"
    • Maniacal, muffled laughing
      • "Huddah huddah huh!"
      • "Mmmmmmmrrrrrrrpppghhh!"
    • "Gentlemen..."
      • "I never really was on your side."
      • "That would be your MOTHER!"
      • "SEDUCE ME!"
    • "Thanks fer standin' still, wanker!"
      • "Say goodbye to your head, wanker!"
      • "You best keep lyin' down."
      • "Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
      • "God save the Queen!"
    • "Ka-BOOOOOM!"
      • "Oh, they're gon' ta have ta' glue you back together, IN HELL!"
      • "Ah'm a GRIM BLOODY FABLE, with an UNHAPPY BLOODY END!"
    • "Oops! Zat vas not medicine!"
      • "Anuhza successful procedure!"
      • "Zat, vas doctor-assisted homicide!"
      • "Eins, zwei, drei...Ugh, I do not sink ve brought enough body bags."
    • "OVERTIME! OVERTIME! OV-OVER-OVERTI-OVERTIME! OVERTIME!"
  • Tekken: "Get ready for the next battle" by the announcer during the VS screen, starting from 5 and has stayed ever since (the phrase itself originally appears in 4 but is unspoken). Snoop Dogg also opens his "Knock Em Down" rap in his Tag 2 stage with this phrase.
  • Tetris: The Grand Master — "Ready, go!"
  • In the Japanese version of Time Gal, Reika says "Sore!" ("There!" in Japanese) a lot.
  • TimeSplitters has Cortez proclaim "It's time to split!" whenever he is about to time-travel. By the third game, everybody is so dulled by his catchphrase and grand delivery that he starts cutting it short.
    • There's also the villain, Jacob Crowe, who's catchphrase is "See you in the future, sucker!" and the R-110's catchphrase is "Eat my lazer! Eat it!", which changes to "Eat my primitive projectile! Eat it!" after being sent back to the 1920's.
  • Tomodachi Life lets you set catch phrases for each of your Miis as level-up gifts. Additionally, your Miis will occasionally let you assign them catch phrases for their various moods (happy, angry, sad, and worried).
  • Touhou Project has several, but as usual, the fandom exaggerates. Many of them only appear once in canon.
    • First is Rumia's "Is that so~?", intoned in a happy voice. It also appears in many variations and puns in fanworks.
    • Second is Cirno's "Eye'm the strongest!".
    • And third... are the yukkuris, disembodied heads that take every opportunity to appear suddenly and yell at the cast to "TAKE IT EASY!". There are a few more, but as a fan-driven phenomenon, it's hard to get authors to agree on many of them.
    • There's also Patchouli's "Mukyuu!"
    • Okuu's "Unyuu," used similar to Patchy's.
    • Marisa's "I'm just an ordinary magician," and "Shoot, and I'll move!" She once messes it up and uses the more common version, "Move, and I'll shoot!"
    • Remilia's "How many pieces of bread have you eaten since you were born."
    • Parsee's "I'm jealous" (Or PARU PARU PARU).
  • Trauma Center:
    • Derek Stiles: "Let's begin the operation!" and "I will save this patient!"
    • CR-S01: "Let this disease pass from this world..."
    • Hank Freebird: "Rock solid!" and " I am the ambassador of love and justice! I am Captain Eagle!"
    • Naomi Kimishima: "The dead shall speak..."
    • Tomoe Tachibana: "[Insert certain action here] would be [straining from/is not] the [way/path] of honor."
    • Rosalia Rossenlini: "Beginning..."
  • UFO After Blank: At the end of every transmission The Reticulans send you, they say "The empire forgives sometimes, but forgets never."
  • In Um Jammer Lammy, Lammy has two that she says to pump herself up before every level, sans the final level.
    Yeah, that's right! My guitar's in my mind.
    Leave it to Lammy!
  • Uncharted: "Ah, crap."
  • ''Undertale:
    • Flowey: "In this world, it's KILL or BE killed!" "You IDIOT!" "Don't you have anything better to do?"
    • Papyrus: "Nyeh heh heh!" His CHECK text outright says he likes to say it.
  • Utawarerumono: Touka generally says 'What have I done?!' whenever she messes up. She happens to be a major Genius Ditz and what we mostly see is The Ditz so she ends up saying this a lot. Oboro even notes her clumsiness.... Unfortunately, she's a lot stronger than he is.
  • Valkyria Chronicles: Welkin spams his "Squad 7, move out!" throughout the entire game.
    • All of the other players also have a very small sound bank.
  • The End Times: Vermintide and its sequel.
    • Kerillian, the Wood Elf, refers to her companions as lumberfoot and mayfly even when complimenting them.
    • Witch Hunter Victor Saltzpyre's voice actor Tim Bentinck delivered the line, "Holy Sigmar, bless this ravaged body!" with such gusto that it quickly became a fan favorite.
    • Bardin, the dwarf, uses the word "wazzock" as an insult frequently and has nicknamed all his companions, almost always preferring the nickname to their actual name.
  • Warcraft III: The Peon's "Werk Werk".
  • Wild ARMs 5: You can expect Dean to say, "You can do anything as long as you don't give up!" in nearly every cutscene.
  • The World Ends with You. Minamimoto: "CRUNCH! I'll add it to the heap!"
    • As well as such gems as "Zetta" (as in "Zetta slow!" or "You're soooo zetta slow!"), as well as a vocalized "SOHCAHTOA" (a mnemonic device for basic trigonometric functions) along with a textual convoluted statement that fits the acronym.
    • "Sine! Cosine! TAANNGENT!"
    • "Attention, all yoctograms!" Usually shouted into a megaphone at the beginning of a Badass Boast.
  • NEO: The World Ends with You
    • Shiba, the Game Master overseeing the Reaper's Game, begins each broadcast to the teams playing with "Greetings, sheeple of Shibuya!", adds "Got some red-hot news for ya" somewhere in the broadcast, and ends with "With that, I bid you adieu." Fret, annoyed with the latter catcphrase, repeats it in a mocking tone.
    • Shoka, a Reaper with an antagonistic relationship with the Wicked Twisters(i.e. the party), says goodbye to them with "Later, losers." It's also the last thing she says to Rindo before she dies in the second run through of the final day as an Ironic Echo of her usual catchphrase.
    • Each of the Wicked Twisters has a catchphrase for their special ability.
      • "Here's an idea!" or "Time to change your mind!" for Imprint, which plants an idea into characters' heads.
      • "We'll change our fate!" or "We're going again!" for Rindo's Replay, which he uses to change the past to avert a disastrous outcome.
      • "C'mon, think!" or "Try to remember!" for Fret's Remind, which Fret uses to jog people's memories.
      • "Pardon the intrusion!" or "Onward I dive!" for Nagi's Dive, which she uses to enter someone's mind to erase the Noise possessing them.
  • World of Warcraft: Illidan has "YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!!!"
    • World of Warcraft has a number of these recurring catchphrases that generally go on from expansion to expansion, said by various characters. Avid players may recognize the examples:
      • 'X was only a setback!' (started by Kael'thas Sunstrider in Burning Crusade and seeing regular use since, including from, of all people, Hogger)
      • 'You no take X!' (Vanilla, brought back in Burning Crusade and again in Cataclysm)
      • 'You/All of you/The world will drown in your own blood!' (popular during Wrath of the Lich King)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1: Reyn loves announcing that it's "Reyn time!", which Shulk borrows for his Super Smash Bros. appearance with "Now it's Shulk time!" Shulk himself has "I'm really feeling it!"
  • Xenogears: Grahf says, "Doth thou desire the power?" when he inevitably appears to power up the boss you were close to defeating.
  • Yo-kai Watch: Main character Nate has "Come out my friend! Calling [insert Yo-kai name]! Yo-kai Medal do your thing!" when summoning a Yo-kai, as well as "It has to be a Yo-kai!" whenever something doesn't go right (since youkais are pretty much always at fault).
  • Zettai Hero Project: Pirohiko often drops an "[X] Ranger!" at the end of his sentences when he goes into one of his speeches about the importance of being a hero. Genre Savvy Ranger!

Top