YMMV / Bully

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YMMV for the video game

• Accidental Aesop:
  • Since the whole plot of the game started because Gary stopped taking his medication, the game shows exactly WHY it's a bad idea to stop taking prescribed medication without consulting a doctor beforehand. The aloof teachers and adults also show why people like Gary need to be supervised or monitored when they have mental health issues, they might pose a danger to themselves and others if they suddenly stop taking their medication for whatever reason ^note  their medication might be withheld from them, they could run out of their medicine before getting a resupply, they might not be able to restock their medication due to a supply shortage, etc..
  • The gay rumors about the Jocks and Kirby's closeted sexuality paints a pretty sad lesson to the audience, "Rumors and suspicions have consequences; speculating about a person's sexuality only makes it harder for them to come out without fear of rejection or ridicule". Kirby is bisexual but he's deeply closeted (running away in "Movie Tickets" after Jimmy approaches him and even threatening Jimmy if the two kiss each other) and there's a persistent rumor around Bullworth that all the Jocks are gay, have played naked twister, and they constantly receive insults about how they enjoy showering together. The game doesn't outright say why Kirby is specifically closeted while every other character is open about being bi, it's pretty apparent that the rumors have made Kirby insecure about coming out and while the rumors were accurate, they just made Kirby oppress himself so he doesn't get outed, bullied, or rejected by the jocks.
• Adorkable:
  • Ethan Robinson's obsession with ninjas and martial arts is pretty endearing, especially in contrast to the more "macho" stereotype bullies he hangs out with.
  • Beatrice Trudeau. Just listen to her try to flirt.
    • A sizable part of the fanbase feels this way about much of the Nerds.
  • Angie Ng is shy and awkward to the point of admitting that boys make her nervous, but no less cute.
  • Duncan the Townie has enthusiasm for fantasy, which can be heard from him pitching Grottoes & Gremlins to the other Townies and getting excited saying his bracelets make him look like a barbarian.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Derby Harrington and Bif Taylor are widely believed to be in a gay relationship. This belief stems from some of their reactions, and is backed further by a random line that Dan Wilson, one of the Jocks, says. Another factor supporting this is that Derby didn't seem to mind Pinky going into a relationship with Jimmy.
    • What makes this better is that Bif's voice actor, Andrew Rannells IS gay.
  • Is Gary Smith a Jerkass, or a Jerkass Woobie?
    • Jerkass interpretation - Just a smug narcissistic jackass who isn't as smart as he thinks he is, whose primary motivation is that he loves manipulating people.
    • Jerkass Woobie interpretation - He hints that he has a horrible home life, a host of medical problems for which he has to take pills that make him feel horrible, and a personality and attitude that prevents him from having friends.
  • Pete Kowalski: nervous sideline woobie, or a superior, more patient manipulator?
    • Woobie: It's how he's propped up to be seen throughout the whole game. Gary humiliates and beats him regularly, in Halloween, he's dressed up as a giant bunny, and is seen to be incredibly nervous at even the slightest rule-breaking.
    • Manipulator: He seems to guide Jimmy through the perfect path to topple leader after leader. He got close to Gary, so that Gary would rule him out as a threat-free woobie. And, eventually, Jimmy would do the same. It seems Petey's waiting for the perfect moment to seize control, himself, which Jimmy may have absolutely aided by agreeing that Pete be made head boy, out of pity.
    • A third theory is a mix of the two, with Petey having to put up with everybody's abuse until Jimmy comes around, and then becomes a Well-Intentioned Extremist inspired by Jimmy enforcing his own "peace" upon the school, hoping this would put an end to the constant clique-based violence that had victimized him and other students, and put a stop to Gary's Evil Plan to put every person in the school against each others' throats. This is supported by Petey giving Jimmy genuine support throughout his quests to bring down most of the cliques (unlike Gary, who was setting Jimmy for a fall right from the start), and desperately tries to warn Jimmy that Gary still had a bigger scheme in the wings once Jimmy became complacent as "King of the School"... and even AFTER Jimmy had gotten himself expelled from Bullworth, and made a mortal enemy of virtually every clique he once led, Petey tells a depressed Jimmy that he shouldn't give up so easily, and that he needed to stop Gary's scheme.
• Angst? What Angst?: Despite being the most popular guy in school and the unofficial king of the school, Ted Thompson shows no bitterness or resentment towards Jimmy for dethroning him or humiliating him at the big game.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Gary ends up being a bit of a pushover. His fight actually rewards being aggressive and wailing on him with no pause or defense. This wouldn't be a problem if he weren't the final boss of the game and every other boss before him had more challenge to them. Anniversary Edition tries to avert this by massively buffing his health and damage.
• Awesome Boss: Johnny Vincent has a good fight and an epic chase scene leading up to it.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Vendetta Preps".
  • "Beach Rumble", which also plays throughout the final mission and into the boss fight.
  • "The Big Game", An epic tune that remixes the series' Recurring Riff into an upbeat and triumphant battle theme that is used for the Wolfpack Boss fight with the Jocks.
  • "Fighting Johnny Vincent".
  • "Vendetta Greasers".
  • "Vendetta Nerds".
  • Although very unlikely you will actually hear it entirely (non-clique students usually are not hostile), but the "Vendetta Non-Cliques" has an epic A Capella build-up that remixes the main theme.
• Awesome Video Game Levels:
  • "The Big Brawl". You're caught in the middle of a gang war between the Preps and the Greasers, and then you have an epic chase with the cops.
  • "Nice Outfit" and "The Big Game" are the closest this game got to a Grand Theft Auto heist.
  • Both parts of "Busting In". The first part has you following Russell, who managed to steal a police motorcycle, all the way to Edgar's hideout, and the second part has you fighting through the Townies before you confront Edgar in the chemical plant.
  • The entirety of Chapter 4 centers around one long, epic war of attrition between the Nerds and the Jocks. Not a single lackluster mission to be found.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Gary. Some think he's just an under-developed, stereotypical Devil in Plain Sight, while others think he's an entertainingly despicable antagonist who provides a good Foil to Jimmy. And then there's a third group who thinks that he could have been an interesting character if he was fleshed out a little more. There's also a divide as to if his Freudian Excuse really holds up or not.
  • Algie. Either you find him genuinely cute and funny, or you find him treacherous and ungrateful for all the times Jimmy helps him throughout the game.
  • Mandy, mainly as to if her sympathetic portrayal later in the game feels forced or justified.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • What happens when you find all the transistors for the Hobo? He gets sucked into the sky by a tractor beam while a maniacal laugh echoes.
  • Walking into the Freak Show and seeing a real live mermaid.
  • Destroying all the gnomes for Brandi in the Scholarship Edition. The start comes out of nowhere in Chapter 2, has no plot relevance, and Brandi has no further plot relevance even after the mission is completed. The sidequest was intended to be a side mission involving the Preppies, although this was cut late into development.
  • Swimming to the small island in the bay of Old Bullworth Vale and fighting Vance, who's dressed like a pirate.
  • Hal Esposito's voice actor voiced what was supposed to be one of Jimmy's lines in the old version of "The Tenements" for some reason.
• Breather Boss: The final boss fight against Gary on the school roof. Despite truly epic final battle music, he's no tougher than the standard enemy mooks you've been beating up throughout the game, and may even be weaker, considering he spends most of the fight blocking your punches with his face.
• Breather Level: The two wrestling lessons during the gym class. They can't be failed: no timer, no health bar, no series of Quick Time Events that prematurely ends the lesson after three failures. You just have to follow the instructions, until you master the combat moves you're being taught.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Gary, Jimmy's personal Jerkass and sociopathic friend, betrays him and spends the rest of the game trying to get him in trouble for his actions.
• Catharsis Factor: Not as much as Rockstar's other games, but it's still fun to beat the living hell out of students who are either jerks or plain annoying... or both. Or, if you're feeling dangerous, the Prefects.
  • At the end of the game, Gary finally gets expelled.
• Complete Monster: Gary Smith is an openly manipulative snake with a complete Lack of Empathy and a diabolical plan to "take over" Bullworth Academy. Encouraging and tricking Jimmy Hopkins along with other students into random acts of vandalism, bullying, and even assault, Gary ratchets up his vile plots by turning the Townies into his pawns and using them to unleash feral rats into the library; get Johnny Vincent wrongfully committed to an abusive asylum; and set the occupied gym on fire, nearly killing multiple students. In the grandest phase of his plan, Gary orchestrates a destructive riot amidst the various cliques, using them to brutalize each other and sets parts of Bullworth ablaze while Gary ties up the head of the school. Gary delights in the chaos and suffering he causes, and ultimately tries to destroy Jimmy's reputation and psychological state as a final, cruel move.
• Cult Classic: While it may not be as well-known as its M-rated brother, this game still has a loyal following with a high demand for a sequel.
• Designated Love Interest: Jimmy and Mandy as he only gains her love after taking down the lewd posters of her that were spread across the academy and Bullworth Town, something he played a massive part in by stalking and taking pictures of her at Earnest's request. Many commenters on various lets plays of the game have stated that Jimmy is just as guilty as Earnest for doing this and many have pointed out that Mandy never figured out how Jimmy was responsible for her suffering.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: The exact name and nature of Gary's condition are unclear, with the only evidence of him having a disorder is when he says that he stopped taking his medication. Some fans believe he has Antisocial Personality Disorder as he was described as a "sociopath" by Algie, is said to enjoy torturing people by Pinky, and because of the signs of childhood psychopathy displayed by Gary in the game. While others believe Gary has Paranoid Schizophrenia due to his erroneous belief that Jimmy was spreading rumors about him and planning to betray him, making Gary believe that he has to betray Jimmy first.
• Die for Our Ship: An interesting case with Lola, any kind of shipfic involving Johnny Vincent will invariably turn her into an an even bigger Alpha Bitch, stalker, making her entirely unable to function without Johnny, while she's already a manipulative bitch in-game, fics like these exagerate it. There's also the fact that in-game, it's Johnny who is fixated on Lola.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Gary, despite being a backstabbing Jerkass, is one of the most popular characters.
  • The Greasers (excluding Lola) in general get this. It probably has something to do with the Greasers being the only clique that isn't inherently unsympathetic and the aforementioned All Girls Want Bad Boys.
  • Parker Ogilvie gets it, mainly because he's basically a repressed nice guy by nature. Fanfiction, however, forgets about the "repressed" part a lot, as well not understanding why he can't buy friends and love.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Johnny Vincent is the probably the most popular clique leader, due to his looks and being the most sympathetic clique leader. While most of the other clique leaders are generally assholes to Jimmy until he knocks some sense into them, Johnny actually acted friendly towards him until he earned Lola's attention.
  • Derby Harrington is quite popular with the fandom. While he doesn't get much screen time, the parts he does get are liked for showing off how much of a Smug Snake he is, and the fact that he manages to manipulate Jimmy into causing the Greasers to turn on him. Him also being rather popular within Bullworth also has a few fans who wished he were the main villain of the game.
  • Any of the bi boys in the series due to them being magnets for shipping. Gord and Kirby are the biggest examples.
  • Algie gets this for his Funny Moments, examples include his painful attempt to talk jive to Jimmy in Funhouse Fun and being forced to ride a girl's bike during the events of Wrong Part Of Town.
  • Parker, for being one of the few sympathetic Preppies, and for his genuine Nice Guy personality.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Fans of this game do not like calling it "GTA without guns" due to how it oversimplifies the gameplay, even if there are obvious similarities.
• Fanon: With only slight amounts of time for characters to develop, a number of characterizations in fanfic have stuck and been repeated in other stories. A couple popular ones:
  • Damon West is really the Jocks' leader.
  • Trent Northwick Really Gets Around and has a chain smoking habit.
  • Derby is a foppish ponce who can easily be taken out with a right hook by any Author Avatar, and needs Bif to do everything for him. This is especially ironic considering that during Complete Mayhem, he's probably the toughest of the four faction leaders to take down.
  • The Greasers are essentially nice guys. This is helped by the fact that the Greasers don't attack you unprovoked until later into Chapter 3, and even then Jimmy makes the first move for the Preps.
  • Justin Vandervelde is obsessed with eggs, thanks to his several egg-related puns.
  • Townie Duncan is the student that Davis White bullied into dropping out.
  • Some have made the connection that Mr. Smith in town is related to Gary, and is his grandfather, with the former's dialogue about his home life and son possibly lining up with Gary's implied broken home.
• Game-Breaker:
  • You can use mopeds for the bike races, which are noticeably faster and you can't fall off from them so easily.
  • The unlockable go-kart. It's faster than all the cars and will comfortably leave any police or prefects in the dust. Unlike the scooter, you won't get knocked off as well when the police ram into you - the only way they can get you is to throw you out of it. Which is pretty easy to avert.
  • The running and dashing mechanic in this game is this only for Jimmy. He can run all day and night without any drawback as he does not have stamina limit, while everyone else does, and if they are chasing Jimmy on foot, they'll get tired soon as long as Jimmy keeps running. Note that Jimmy can dash while he is on a bike to move forward really fast, which depend on how good his bike is.
  • Combat itself isn't complicated and with few exceptions you can hardly have a challenging battle, but once you get last two transistors and have attended on all boxing matches, Jimmy gets noticeably stronger that pretty much even beating harder opponents such as Damon is easy.
• Genius Bonus:
  • The background music in the in-universe arcade game Con-Sumo is an electronic remix of "Sakura Sakura", a traditional Japanese folk song from the Tokugawa period. Appropriate, since the game is about sumo wrestlers.
  • Anyone who has read The Iliad or just knows their literature and mythology will understand that Lola's comparison to herself with Helen of Troy is completely comical and an in-universe case of Misaimed Fandom. Helen of Troy was a faithful wife who ended up being mis-blamed for causing the Trojan war when the gods objectified her in a wager they had, upset at the entire conflict and a victim of a situation that was beyond her control. Lola, on the other hand, is a promiscuous girlfriend that intentionally causes conflict between the Greasers and Preps for her own amusement.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Members of cliques you're not on good terms with will attack you on-sight unprovoked. They will even interrupt you when you're trying to do missions. Fighting back will risk you failing the mission, either by wasting time in a mission with a time limit or getting your trouble meter raised. This is most notable with the Jocks, as they're the first clique Jimmy loses respect with, have the strongest members, and their chapter is the second-to-last in the story (and after winning their approval at the end of it, you'll quickly lose it again in one of the first missions of the next chapter), so you'll have to deal with their disapproval and attacks for a majority of the game.
  • Officer Monson, who will happily chase you to the ends of the Earth on his motorcycle. He's the only authority figure who can keep chase with you on a scooter, which makes him quite annoying if you don't wear a helmet.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The Es on the banners during Earnest's school president speech bare a resemblance to the Kekistan symbol.
  • Mr. Burton getting Zoe expelled for trying to report his lecherous behavior becomes a huge case of Truth in Television after the 2017 wave of sexual harassment scandals in Hollywood, most notably from Harvey Weinstein. Many of them have similar scenarios where the offender would threaten to get the victim blacklisted from Hollywood if they said anything.
  • The game's final mission, Complete Mayhem, has Bullworth Academy erupting into chaos, and the police weren't able to intervene because Gary chained the gates locked. It sounds eerily similar to the Virginia Tech Massacre, which occurred only a few months after the game's release. One of the shooter's actions was to chain the doors to the building he targeted shut so that nobody will get in or out. If the game takes place when it came out, starting in Fall of 2006 and ending in Spring of 2007, then that would mean Gary instigated the Bullworth Academy Riot a few weeks at most after Virginia Tech.
  • In a store called The Final Cut, Jimmy can buy an article of clothing known as "Pistol Pants" that appear to have a Confederate flag belt buckle (red and white cross on the PS2 graphics). When the game was released, the Confederate flag was still considered a symbol of rebellion and southern heritage. However, from 2011 onwards, the flag has been deemed a hate symbol for its association with slavery and white supremacy.
  • Earnest asking Jimmy for illicit pictures of Mandy and then having the Nerds post those pictures all over Bullworth to humiliate Mandy is extremely uncomfortable after The New '10s brought greater attention to revenge porn. The beta version was actually worse as Jimmy openly questions if he wants to keep a copy of it for himself, cutscenes show the boys making creepy comments about Mandy, and a cutscene shows Thad saying that he's putting up these posters so they'd destroy Mandy's reputation enough so she would date Nerds.
    Thad: There! Once your reputation has been destroyed, perhaps you'll date us commoners.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One of the missions added in the Scholarship Edition, Discreet Deliveries, ended up being remarkably similar to Breaking Bad.^note Namely, a chemistry teacher using his own chemicals to brew products for customers (only it's a miracle hair-growth tonic for Dr. Watts, in spite of the setup implying they were hallucinogens).
  • Melvin is obsessed with Fantasy RPGs to the point where it often skews his sense of reality. His voice actor, Charlie Saxton, would later go on to play Toby from Trollhunters, another chubby nerd, but this time, actually involved in a real fantasy setting.
  • So you have a high school setting with various cliques, the title of the game being anything but non-indicative, and you get to play as a Bully Hunter? Seems like RGG Studio took notes. Albeit with an adult protagonist instead of a 15-year-old teenager.
• Hollywood Homely: Beatrice has a rather dated bob haircut and is a bit more modest compared to the other students, but looks relatively plain. Yet she is frequently mocked by Mandy for her appearance (and the fact she never makes the cheerleading team), and both Troy and Bryce have dialogue disparaging her. Even Jimmy is reluctant to kiss her after getting her test answers back.
• Hype Backlash: Bully has developed something of a Cult Classic status amongst the Rockstar games given its smaller world and colorful cast. Despite this there's also detractors who lambast the game, particularly Gary being a Devil in Plain Sight.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Jimmy sometimes, depending on the situation. Being expelled from a few schools, having not very careful parents certainly weren't a good influence for him.
  • For some, Gary. He's a sociopathic, manipulative brat, but from what you can gather from the town-folks and hearing how abusive his parents are, it's hard not to feel just a little sorry for him.
  • Constantinos. While he is a sullen Jerkass, several of his lines indicate that he has some sort of depression. Furthermore, two of his defeat quotes point to him possibly being suicidal as well.
  • Tad Spencer. He's as rude as most of the preps, but if you piece together some of his free-roam dialogue and battle dialogue, you can get a vast picture of his family life - His father abuses him physically, his mother suffers from domestic abuse, his older brother is in a mental asylum for having no chin, and Tad himself suffers from insecurity from being the only prep who doesn't come from an Old Money background.
  • Some members of the Bullies cliques from what you can piece of their dialogue indicate this - Davis is emotionally insecure and had a bad childhood because of his cousin feeding him June bugs. Wade has a sour relationship with his father. Tom is paranoid and doesn't enjoy beating people up for no reason.
  • Mr. Burton is undoubtedly creepy and unpleasant, but knowing how sad his childhood was makes him at least a bit sympathetic.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains:
  • For some, Hattrick and Mr. Burton are much worse than Gary or any of clique leaders. Given their despicable actions and the fact that Gary is a minor while they're adults, it's understandable.
  • Zig-zagged with the clique leaders as they are all technically villains at one point or another despite not really being evil. Although, Earnest is probably easiest to hate due to his creepy behavior and annoying voice. Especially when contested against Gary who has quite a few fans, Russell, Johnny and Edgar who are seen as cool badasses, and Derby and Ted who are intended to be hated.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Any of the main characters and bisexual boys.
• LGBT Fanbase: The game has a rather sizable LGBT following thanks to Jimmy being openly bisexual, as well as having the option of romancing and kissing a few male students.
• Love to Hate: Gary Smith is a grade-A Jerkass, no doubt about it, but it's for this reason as to why he's one of the most popular characters in the game.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Thanks to a Running Gag in Bully YouTuber SWEGTA's videos, Sheldon has become this.
  • Anything Kirby says relating to "poundcake" is popular among the fandom.
  • "Fight like a bee, sting like a, uh, a bee!" ^note One of the crowd cheers heard in the Preps' boxing ring, which has become popular thanks to YouTuber Call Me Kevin mocking it during his playthrough of the game and later reusing the clip in several unrelated videos.
  • THANKS FOR A GREAT DATE JIMMY! ^ExplanationAn infamous quote said by Pinky after completing the mission "Carnival Date". Due to an audio glitch, many of Pinky's lines in the missions are distorted and compressed, making them painful to listen to. This is the most noticeable one.
  • The long wait for scrapped sequel certainly has gathered many memes.
• Misaimed Fandom: You are not supposed to sympathize with or root for Mr. Hattrick during the Hattrick vs. Galloway arc. The game carefully makes Hattrick one of the most despicable characters in the game. However, some do sympathize with him because he does have a valid point concerning Mr. Galloway's drinking.
• Moe:
  • Beatrice has a very sweet dorky personality and genuine feelings for Jimmy, making her stand out as one of the most adorable characters in the game.
  • Pete is a male version of this because of how shy yet intelligent and sympathetic he is.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Hattrick wouldn't be out of place as a Grand Theft Auto antagonist, so it's hard to say exactly when he crossed it. It was implied that he was responsible for the friendly fire incident that killed the Hobo's platoon, his bullying towards Mr. Galloway drove the latter to self-loathing and alcoholism, and even convinced him to commit himself to a mental institution. What's worse is that an unused file had him casually mentioning that his wife committed suicide, only for him to comment on how rude of her it was to do it, so he may have also been an abusive husband. In-Universe, him selling tests to students is this to the principal, who once favored him, but fired him right after learning of this depravity.
  • Mister Burton crosses it when it's revealed he is an ephebophile who got a student expelled because she rejected his advances.
  • Gary was always a grade-A prick, but most of his actions would have, at worst, gotten Jimmy a beating. That was until he went to the Townies and convinced them to burn down the gym with several students inside.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: As with Rockstar's other games, the Moral Guardians and their protests and attempts to ban the games only ensured that it sold well.
• Obvious Judas: The game's antagonist, Gary, is considered this. From the scar, to his personality, to the SS uniform he wears on Halloween, it was pretty obvious to players that he was going to betray them. Yet, Jimmy seems to completely trust him, and is completely shocked when he betrays him. Everyone else is also completely trusting of him until the end too.
• Once Original, Now Common:
  • Jimmy is canonically bisexual, and the player has the option of romancing and kissing a select few male NPCs. Even though this is completely optional, and the game never explicitly presents it as an option, this caused considerable controversy in 2006, when putting openly LGBT characters in children's media was still considered rather taboo. Today, it can be hard to see it as daring, particularly since it's so difficult to find if you're not looking for it.
  • The Moral Guardians panic this game incurred in 2005 when it was first announced may seem extremely odd in hindsight. At the time of Rockstar's announcement they only confirmed the title of the game a couple of promotional material of the player character, Jimmy, engaging in harassing other students. Games Media and Player base alike latched onto the assumption that the player character would be a bully due to these images and that it would be Rated M, due to Rockstar's past work with the GTA series. Rockstar then spent time doing damage control to ensure the media that they were not trying to promote school bullying and upon the game's release, many were shocked to see it was indeed tamer than they had preconceived.
• Overshadowed by Controversy:
  • When the game was first announced, it was nearly impossible to talk about the game without someone addressing the controversies of Rockstar releasing a Lighter and Softer version of their sandbox games in a boarding school. Although... see No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.
  • The game's announcement also drew the ire and protestations of many youth groups. Since the game was developed by Rockstar, who also develop the Grand Theft Auto games which are notorious among Moral Guardians for their violence and sexual content, many believed the game was intended to advocate bullying. Once it was revealed that the game is actually about stopping the bullying in the school and standing up for those who have trouble standing up for themselves, this controversy pretty much died for all but the most uninformed, and this argument became seen as a case of Cowboy BeBop at His Computer.
• Paranoia Fuel: The school's basement outside mission tasks. It is devoid of life, with flickering lights, a broken elevator that still sparks, and a radio playing out of nowhere. Not helped that after "Help Gary" and Russell's boss fight, you only need to go into it to get a transistor for the hobo, smash the pumpkins (if you haven't done already during "Help Gary"), get a rubber band (again, only if you haven't already), or toilet paper for an errand. Even there, the basement is still pretty creepy.
• Polished Port: Suprisingly, the Wii version is considered the best version of the game. It includes extra content, has somewhat improved graphics, and makes solid use of the Wii's motion controls. While it's not perfect, compared to other ports mentioned below it really stands out.
• Porting Disaster:
  • The PC version has...awkward controls, to say the least, and it's quite clear the game was designed for a controller. Two very common actions, sprinting and riding a bike, require Button Mashing, which is normally not a thing on PC outisde of QTEs for good reason - it's very strenous on a keyboard. You're also not given much freedom remapping keys: want to change the 'Sprint' button to Shift? Well, that's also the 'Accept' button, so here's hoping you're OK with that also being Shift. Music class requires you to use LAlt and RAlt, sometimes at the same time, inability of some keyboards to register that input be damned.
  • Also, a Christmas mission exclusive to Scholarship Edition is a nightmare on the PC. The idea is to have Jimmy snipe a few people in order to complete the mission. However, the game has an odd tendency to simply not spawn the very last target at all. Also, the mouse has a weird inertia when aiming in first person view that makes sniping sequences harder and more tedious than they should be. It's also prone to crashing on Windows 10, though the fan-made patch "SilentPatch Bully" fixes most of the crashes.
  • The PlayStation 4 version. Its primary issue is a poor framerate, despite the PS4 being more than capable of handling it. While it's somewhat understandable due to essentially being a PS2 emulator instead of an enhanced version, it's still disappointing.
  • Similiar to PS4, Xbox 360 also has rather poor and unbalanced framerate, with many glitches.
  • The Android version for anyone who's device's android version is 11.0 or higher. Simply put, the game will not run on new devices because it is not supported on them despite NOTHING on the app description mentioning this. The once rather high review score for the app has plummeted once it became known that the most modern android devices cannot run it, turning the app into a waste of money. Thankfully, fans have created installation .apk files that resolve this issue and make it playable yet again.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Baron Vaughn, Tad's voice actor, was virtually unknown at the time of the game's release. However, he's become much more known nowadays for his stand-up comedy appearances on many TV shows, and for starring in an update series of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
  • Andrew Rannells, Bif's voice actor, was mostly known for doing anime dubs (most notably, Len from Shaman King). Now, he's known for his Broadway roles, most notably The Book of Mormon.
• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Gary fangirls semi-frequently demonize Jimmy, either to make Gary the good guy or just to get him out of the way of the Gary/Petey slash.
  • Lola's pretty nasty and immoral, but she's not the force of pure evil that Johnny fangirls turn her into to justify Johnny/Peanut and Johnny/Mary Sue fanfics.
  • While Mandy is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, many fans forget about her Heel Realization and tend to amp her up as everything wrong with the Jocks and popular girls in general.
• Rooting for the Empire: Considering how perverted the Nerds are and how their pornographic photos of Mandy got posted all over town and made her humiliated, it's not a surprise for the players to root for the Jocks to beat them up in "Defender of the Castle," especially since they're playing as the character who has to stop them.
• The Scrappy:
  • Earnest is probably the least popular clique leader due to his annoying voice, his perverted behavior, his tendency to blame Jimmy for setbacks that are mostly his idea, and for being a huge Dirty Coward with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
  • Rudy, the hobo Santa exclusive to Scholarship Edition, for being forced into the beginning of Chapter 3 despite being completely irrelevant, and for merely being a comic relief character who quickly disappears after his storyline is finished. Not helping is that the missions in his storylines are generally regarded as being forgettable and too easy, and one of his missions requires you to destroy a Mall Santa’s Christmas Castle simply because it was drawing attention away from his Christmas attraction.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • A commonly criticized feature is the fact that Jimmy can't get a haircut and wear a hat at the same time, or else it will revert back to his default shave. This wouldn't be so much of an issue to players if it wasn't that Rockstar's last game with customization averted this completely.
  • The music class minigame from the Scholarship Edition. It's pretty tough on the PC version, since some of the notes require both keys to be hit simultaneously, resulting in some misses, but it's damn near impossible on the Xbox 360 version, since the keys don't even register on some of the later classes.
• Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: While the amusement park is the game's Gold Saucer, there's also a ton of races, collecting, and other side stuff to keep you away from the main story for a while.
• Spiritual Successor: Find a review of this game in a British magazine that doesn't mention the ZX Spectrum classic Skool Daze.
• Squick:
  • Everything involving Edna the cafeteria lady. If she's not trying to date rape old men, she's intentionally hacking phlegm into the food.
  • Mr. Burton asking Jimmy to fetch used panties from the girls' dorm.
  • During "The Big Game" mission, one objective has you urinate in the Jock's sports cooler. You even get to see a Jock unfortunate to drink it without knowing.
  • There is the mission where Burton gets tumbled around in a portable toilet and is smothered in feces.
  • For a short while after helping her escape the retirement home, you can make out with Mrs. Lisburn.
• Strawman Has a Point: The Galloway vs. Hattrick mission revolves around Jimmy defending Mr. Galloway from Mr. Hattrick, the latter of whom is trying to get the former fired for drinking on the job. Granted, Galloway is pretty much one of the most popular teachers at the school and Hattrick is a rich bastard. However, Hattrick is kinda right when he calls Galloway out for drinking in front of students and on the job. Of course, it's stated that years of bullying from Hattrick drove Galloway to drink in the first place and Hattrick has no place to talk about what is proper behavior in front of students.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • Compare the electronica hook from "Vendetta Nerds" to the one from Trio's "Da Da Da."
  • The beginning and chorus of "Vendetta Preps" with Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". Later confirmed by Shawn Lee himself that the song was sampled for the Preps' theme.
  • The song that plays during The Tenements, particularly the "High" part that plays during the stand-off with Norton, has a guitar riff that sounds very similar to "Human Fly" by The Cramps.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Jimmy, particularly at the start of the game. It's pretty clear that this kid never had any healthy guidance or role models in his life and is just dropped off by his mother at possibly the worst boarding school in the country just so he could be someone else's problem for the year.
  • Gary's betrayal, particularly how shocked Jimmy was that it happened. Despite being a jerkass to him, Jimmy did see him as a friend up until that point.
  • In Scholarship Edition, you are tasked to help a homeless man dressed as Santa. In one of the missions, you have to destroy the "real" Santa's Christmas decorations next to a big Christmas tree, all while he begs you to stop and asks you why are you doing that. When you're done vandalizing the place, he cries out in despair that Christmas is ruined. It's pretty heart-wrenching.
  • Much of the NPC dialogue indicates that almost everyone seems to have some sort of insecurity or troubled background. Many kids state having abusive or broken up parents, family with high expectations, personal problems dealing with their own image, and needing to seek help through medical professionals about their trauma. For example, Hal Esposito mentions sometimes not feeling good with his body type, Mandy Wiles is trying to uphold society's standards for her as a popular cheerleader, Bif and Gary are on medication and Dr. Bambillo is all too willing to mention it, Davis White sometimes cries uncontrollably and blames his older cousin for ruining his childhood with bullying, and many Preppies have abusive parents or take issue with coming from a long line of inbreeding, as Tad's older brother suffered numerous defects and was locked up in an asylum. These insecurities take a toll on the students, who in turn pour their turmoil into bullying others to make themselves feel better, which is usually the same motivation for why it happens in real life.
  • While he doesn't deserve pity for proudly bullying the Nerds, there is a lot of pity that can be given to Kirby Olsen, the jock who's so deep in the closet that he runs away from Jimmy when he goes on a date with Trent and threatens Jimmy after they kiss. Due to the odd yet persistent rumor that the Jocks have played "Naked Twister" with each other, you can somewhat understand why Kirby is extremely hesitant to come out because if he does so, it not only confirms the rumors but it will make him the next target of bullying for being who he is because the Jocks will feel the need to reassert their masculinity.
  • Mandy suffering from revenge porn at the hands of the nerds, she really didn't deserve her privacy being violated like that and it's incredibly disproportionate for merely insulting and bullying the nerds. Worse still, it was completely unnecessary as she was only targeted to rile up the jocks and so Earnest could have some masturbation material.
  • Johnny Vincent is actually a pretty Tragic Villain; his parents are apparently both in jail, his girlfriend (whom he is genuinely, if blindingly, loyal to) regularly cheats on him, and has some genuine emotional issues that are actually very much Played for Drama (to the point it gets him committed to the local madhouse).
• That One Boss:
  • Derby is a "Get Back Here!" Boss who constantly sics his underlings on you. When you finally catch up to him, he'll have his underlings getting in your way until you barricade the doors, but that's easier said than done when Derby keeps interrupting you. Finally, Derby uses Good Old Fisticuffs but is constantly blocking and countering your attacks.
  • The Preppy Clique in general tend to be deceptively tough enemies due to their boxing abilities allowing them to duck and weave around Jimmy's attacks. Naturally Derby and his cronies are the toughest obstacle during the final mission, Complete Mayhem.
• That One Sidequest: Errands. They are essential for 100% completion, but knowing where they are is a serious case of Guide Dang It!. Even if you do know where they are, they get triggered at random. Sometimes, they'll pop up when you're in the middle of something else, and other times, you can keep going to the same spot over and over, but it'll take forever to activate them. If you're riding a vehicle while an errand activates, you might get too far away from the map blip and you'll lose your chance to do it.
  • Biology Class features realistically rendered animal dissections. This takes the form of a skill game that requires fairly precise maneuvering that doesn't play very nice with controllers and can be frustrating even using a keyboard and mouse. Fortunately it is a class that only provides some new outfits, so it can be safely ignored unless you're going for 100% Completion.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While Scholarship Edition certaintly fixed some bugs and have added few new features, pretty much all Christmas-related missions are seen by fandom as a missions that are only fun or intresting at first time at best or downright annoying and forced only to [[{Filler}} make Chapter 3 longer]]. Not to mention two of them, Balls of Snow and Nutcrakin are really buggy on PC port of the game.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Ted Thompson, the leader of the Jocks, is made out to be the strongest clique leader by his opponents, and even has cut dialogue that reflects on his Jerk Jock personality. However, he barely gets any screen time compared to Derby, Johnny and Earnest, and despite the well-received build up to The Big Game (and the first three parts of the mission), he ends up being a complete pushover. He doesn't even appear after The Candidate (a subplot also criticized for not having much development) until Chapter 4 (excluding This Is Your School), and is even missing from The Gym Is Burning, and even in his own chapter, he doesn't get much screen time or mentions. Many feel that Damon West was better suited as the chapter antagonist, as not only is he one of the toughest kids in the school (even tougher than Ted himself) and appears in much more missions, but has much more screen time compared to Ted.
  • This is a common criticism of Gary. Despite being Jimmy's deluded False Friend and eventually the main antagonist, he too doesn't get much screen time or dialogue to showcase his cruel-spirited, manipulative nature, with even the rival clique leaders appearing more times than him. His rough upbringing is also brought up by many characters in conversations (with some believing that his father may be the disgraced son of Bullworth resident Mr. Smith), but is never given much exploration apart from Gary mentioning his problems with the world during his first conversation. This has made Gary a very polarizing character among the fandom, some of whom believe that another character would have been a better villain.
  • Several of Jimmy's potential love interests (Angie and Christy, most egregiously) get surprisingly little Character Development, and never get fleshed out in missions or cutscenes. It's a bit jarring if you spend a lot of time kissing them and flirting with them during gameplay, only for Jimmy to never spend any time with them during the story.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The class president plotline in Chapter 1 is advertising all over the school and is the basis of the mission "The Candidate". This would be an excellent time to show the rivalry between the Jocks and the Nerds, both of whose leaders are making speeches there, right? Unfortunately, the plotline is thrown away fairly quickly, you only hear Earnest's speech, and there are no further references to the plotline afterwards (the winner is never revealed, no one talks about it, and every poster is taken down), not even in the Nerd/Jock rivalry plotline that is Chapter 4.
• Tough Act to Follow: Among fans of the game, it is generally agreed that the game's timeless setting, storyline about how being a bully isn't worth it, and characters would make it hard to pull off a sequel to the game, particularly after the rise of cyber-bullying and technology in the late Noughties.
• Ukefication:
  • Derby is no less tough than Bif, but is often made weaker and a less competent fighter in fanfiction.
  • Yaoi Fangirls with crushes on Johnny often use Peanut as a wish-fulfillment role. Usually this involves Peanut being bullied and humiliated by the Preps and running in tears to Johnny.
• Underused Game Mechanic: The Alliance Meter is tied entirely to the (all mandatory) missions of the (completely linear) main story, making it impossible to actually make any choices on what factions you want to support or not.
• Unintentional Period Piece: In the Geography class, borders and flags (Eastern Europe has post-Cold War borders, there's no South Sudan, Myanmar uses the pre-2010 flag, Afghanistan has the post-Taliban flag, Libya has the plain green flag) explicitly shows that the game was developed in the mid 2000s. This was later averted in the Anniversary Edition by updating the flags.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Edgar. He ordered his henchmen to perform various reprehensible acts against Bullworth, including setting the gym on fire and nearly killing a few students, all because his parents weren't able to afford to get him into Bullworth Academy. The only reason Jimmy lets his actions slide is because Gary manipulated him into doing it and the only real consequence he faced was a beating from Jimmy, but the punishment nowhere near fits the crime of arson and attempted murder.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: After Jimmy defeats Bif Taylor by knockout in a boxing match, Derby is shocked and upset that a poor boy becomes the new boxing champion. He then proceeds to call Jimmy as a "filthy democrat" for no apparent reason other than Jimmy not belonging to the same social class as him and other Preppies.
• The Woobie:
  • Petey. According to him, he doesn't fit in very well since he's "too cool to be a nerd" and "too dorky to be anything else." Not even the Nerds are willing to accept him. His only two friends are the sociopathic Gary and rough-edged Jimmy, who humiliate him a number of times in the game, even though Jimmy genuinely does care for his well-being. Quiet and reserved, he's sad to not be too involved in Jimmy's adventures around the school and doesn't even fall under Crabblesnitch's radar despite being a student. It fortunately works out for him by the end when Jimmy makes him the new Head Boy after Gary's expelled.
  • Pedro. One of the youngest kids in Bullworth, he's so paranoid about getting bullied that apparently he wets the bed. His philosophy seems to be "Just look down, don't make eye contact with anyone". To make it worse, some beta dialogue for one mission indicates that one of his guardians died during the story-line and he would have to live in the school, and Jimmy would have to steal flowers from said guardian's grave.
  • Algernon. He is probably the easiest target for bullies because of his poor social skills and his incontinence, despite being a Nice Guy for the most part. The only girl to ever give him any attention turned out to only be doing it so he could help her with her homework. You could even hear him on the verge of crying when Lola calls him "Fatso."

YMMV for the film

• Angst? What Angst?: After being brutally raped by Bobby, Ali not only shows little signs of debilitating trauma, but her coming back to him multiple times to have sex with him again is turned into an integral part of the murder plan.
• Hollywood Pudgy: The real Lisa was overweight and was repeatedly tormented by both Bobby and Marty about it. The actress chosen to play Lisa hardly even qualifies as chubby — yet Bobby still calls her a "fat bitch."
• Nausea Fuel:
  • Bobby's homemade gay porn. One scene we see of it shows a man shoving a dildo up his anus and then sucking on it.
  • With the first stab he gets in on Bobby, Marty cuts so deep that we see a couple flashes of intestines spilling out of Bobby's stomach.
  • The last we see of Bobby is his corpse, facedown in the swamp, with crabs actively eating him.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The multitude of scenes depicting Bobby's abuse.
  • Bobby's murder. A majority of the film is spent building up to it, and while he thoroughly, thoroughly had some form of retribution coming, many (including all of the characters involved) were left squeamish at just how brutal it ended up being. Donny stabs him in the back of the neck, Marty guts him in the stomach and slices his arm, Donny delivers a series of shallow cuts into his back, Marty slits his throat and stabs him again, and the hitman finally brings a baseball bat down on his skull. The worst part? When Derek and the hitman go to throw him in the swamp, he's still kicking, and it takes him drowning to finally do him in.
  • The final 60 seconds of the film (detailed under Tear Jerker below) are set to the happy music cue of Fatboy Slim's "Talkin' bout My Baby (Reprise)"; apart from how jarring the Soundtrack Dissonance is, the song itself gets slowly swallowed by reverb over its runtime to incredibly nerve-wracking effect.
• Tear Jerker: The ending of the film. While the characters' complete ineptitude in handling the aftermath of the murder (mixed with the sloppiness of their plan and its execution) made them getting caught almost inevitable, it's still incredibly bleak to see it hammered home just how thoroughly these kids have destroyed their lives. The final 60 seconds of the film are additionally sad and disturbing at the same time, consisting of a montage of the characters that reveals the length of their (initial) sentences, starting relatively small (7 years for Heather) before transitioning into multiple life sentences. Especially sad is how many of the characters are depicted happy and smiling before a hard freeze frame kicks in and their sentence is displayed. At the very end, just as the reverb begins to trail off, we get to Marty; he gets the sweetest happy moment (him hugging his little brother) and the worst sentence of all, after which the movie immediately cuts to black and rolls credits.
  "MARTY PUCCIO, DEATH BY WAY OF ELECTRIC CHAIR^note His sentence was eventually commuted to life in prison"

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