History Heartwarming / ZeroPunctuation

** [[SubvertedTrope Then again,]] he would later end his first Fully Ramblomatic with a blatant dead baby joke despite this opening statement. It’s very possible that nothing has changed and Yahtzee was just [[TrollingCreator fucking with his viewers all along…]]

* Yahtzee opens up his review of ''VideoGame/APlagueTaleRequiem'' addressing the then-OpenSecret that he became a father, discussing how in light of his early history of [[ChildHater very transparently]] ''[[ChildHater hating]]'' [[ChildHater children]], having one of his own [[ChildrenRaiseYou changed him as a person for what he felt was for the better]], to the point that he can't stand "dead baby" comedy anymore because he ends up becoming concerned for his own. This spiel [[Funny/ZeroPunctuation then becomes hilarious]] when he reveals why he's bringing it up: to give context to the fact that [[TheScrappy he still absolutely loathes the main character's little brother]] and [[BlackComedy hoped he dies]].

* Yahtzee opens up his review of ''VideoGame/APlagueTaleRequiem'' addressing the then-OpenSecret that he became a father, discussing how in light of his early history of [[ChildHater very transparently]] ''[[ChildHater hating]]'' [[ChildHater children]], having one of his own [[ChildrenRaiseYou changed him as a person for what he felt was for the better]], to the point that he can't stand "dead baby" comedy anymore. This spiel [[Funny/ZeroPunctuation then becomes hilarious]] when he reveals why he's bringing it up: to give context to the fact that [[TheScrappy he still absolutely loathes the main character's little brother]] and [[BlackComedy hoped he dies]].

* Yahtzee's recurring relationship with Creator/Swery65 is both hilarious and also oddly sweet. Yahtzee is almost unfailingly critical on Swery's games for being clumsily-designed and atonal -- describing him as "like the poor man's Creator/HideoKojima got together with the poor man's Creator/Suda51 and had a very undernourished baby" -- but unlike with other auteurs that get on his nerves, Yahtzee [[PetTheDog sincerely admires Swery]] for being a genuinely inventive creator with uncompromising vision, even if he's [[SerialNumbersFiledOff exceptionally derivative]] and [[HighHopesZeroTalent doesn't seem to understand the basics very well]]. Yahtzee repeatedly holds ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'' in high regard as [[SoBadItsGood an astonishingly janky, awkward, yet endearingly quirky and enjoyable mess]], and even after coming down hard on [[VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition2 its sequel]] for [[{{Sequelitis}} being "patience-tryingly janky"]], he still notes the moments where Swery's unique charm shines through, affirming that he's still a creator who deserves to be recognized for his earnest defiance of convention, even if he ends up also being a case for why certain conventions need to exist.

* The reason why Zero Punctuation ended: Nick Calandra was unfairly fired as EIC of The Escapist, the higher ups at GAMURS feeling that he was not meeting their unrealistic expectations. In a show of solidarity, the ''entire'' staff of video content creators, Yahtzee included, decided to ResignInProtest and follow Nick into the private sector. It takes a lot of guts and loyal friendship to leave behind a project that had been your bread and butter for 16 years.

-->"But I still think the hate this game's attracted has been a bit over the top. The developers, Daedalic, have all but exclusively made point-and-click adventures before this. They wanted to move into the bigger leagues and didn't have the chops; there's no malice behind that. At least there's no tacked-on RPG elements, or crafting, or gear-grinding in which we swap out Gollum's dirty underpants for Level 24 Legendary Fiery Dirty Underpants of the Wombat. There was ambition here, to be more than just another cynical time-filler; bad as it is, it's not bad in the way that makes it fun to kick around. So don't hate Daedalic Entertainment, viewers; ''pity'' Daedalic Entertainment. Pity them for being but [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything a simple innocent creature, twisted and malformed by its attempt to cling to a power far beyond its reach.]] Ooh, I think I feel a games journalism coming on!" \\

-->"But I still think the hate this game's attracted has been a bit over the top. The developers, Daedalic, have all but exclusively made point-and-click adventures before this. They wanted to move into the bigger leagues and didn't have the chops; there's no malice behind that. At least there's no tacked-on RPG elements, or crafting, or gear-grinding in which we swap out Gollum's dirty underpants for Level 24 Legendary Fiery Dirty Underpants of the Wombat. There was ambition here, to be more than just another cynical time-filler; bad as it is, it's not bad in the way that makes it fun to kick around. So don't hate Daedalic Entertainment, viewers; ''pity'' Daedalic Entertainment. Pity them for being but [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything a simple innocent creature, twisted and malformed by its attempt to cling to a power far beyond its reach.]] Ooh, I think I feel a games journalism coming on!"
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* The reason why Zero Punctuation ended: Nick Calandra was unfairly fired as EIC of The Escapist, the higher ups at GAMURS feeling that he was not meeting their unrealistic expectations. In a show of solidarity, the ''entire'' staff of video content creators, Yahtzee included, decided to ResignInProtest and follow Nick into the private sector. It takes a lot of guts and loyal friendship to leave behind a project that had been your bread and butter for 16 years.

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* [[https://www.escapistmagazine.com/roleplaying-homosexual-in-dragon-age-2/ His entire piece on romancing Anders]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' in Extra Punctuation, especially the part where he states that he doesn't want to hear any of his readers' versions of the story, since he doesn't want to ruin the experience.
** And he named his [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Tepig]] Anders!

* His ''real'' review of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''. Granted, he DID pan it because it didn't live up to the long wait, however, it sounds like instead of being mad or insulted (like how most of what he reviews does), he sort of sounds ''upset'' about the outcome. Even thought it doesn't seem like it, THIS helps prove that notion:

** For similar reasons as for the ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' example below: After watching the video once, it feels as if when he says he hoped Duke was going to be played seriously, he's just grasping at straws, trying desperately to believe it will end well, in stark contrast to his {{Foreshadowing}} that '"If Duke Nukem Forever doesn't turn out to be a shining, genre-defying masterpiece that cures at least two types of cancer, I and every other game critic are going to saw its bollocks off!"

* [[https://www.escapistmagazine.com/non-violent-game-idea-puppies-in-hell/ His concept for a non violent game.]] It's about a van driver that dies and goes to hell, armed only with [[spoiler: a basket of puppies]], having to [[spoiler: give [[CooldownHug hugs]]]] to TheLegionsOfHell.

* His admission that the [[spoiler:White Phosphorous]] incident in ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' made him feel "like shit afterwards." It so totally flies in the face of his MisanthropeSupreme persona that it actually humanized him a bit.
** He then named ''Spec Ops'' as his Game of the Year for 2012[[note]]and the 7th best game of the 2010s[[/note]], even calling it one for the history books.
*** Even better, he remarks that ''Spec Ops'' singlehandedly stopped him from abandoning the military shooter genre, which he had a long and storied history panning in the years prior (this was, after all, the same year he began referring to the genre as "Spunkgargleweewee"). Considering that this came after giving ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'' and ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'' "Worst Game(s) of the Year" in 2011[[note]]and later the 10th worst game(s) of the 2010s[[/note]] and ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Warfighter'' "2nd Worst Game of the Year", this is incredibly high praise.
* The week after that, he admits he doesn't hate ''all'' cover-based shooting, he only hates when the interesting bits of a game serve it, not the other way around. it's a bit paltry compared to a lot of other SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments, but if you're a ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' fan then it's hard not to be happy.

** Although considering [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty one of the reasons]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments he picked the kid]]...
* In ''VideoGame/DayZ'', him talking about how so far all the players that he met tried to kill him when he runs into a player right after barely surviving a battle with an entire horde of zombies. Said player proceeds to give him some blood packs. (When he gets smacked down almost immediately by another zombie, he moans he's a waste of blood.)

* Despite Yahtzee's hatred for Moral Choice systems, it's rather heartwarming to know that, aside from a few exceptions, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he almost always chooses to pick the good paths]].
** And usually lampshades it when picking the bad path gives better rewards, meaning he deliberately took the harder route.

** The credit animations say it all--The first two frames are of Sega and Nintendo making what look like nooses-- the last one shows [[spoiler:they were actually building a swingset to play on together]].

* Yahtzee has a long history of making jabs at Japan when reviewing games that were developed there, so when he begins his review of ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}} 4'' with a screen that simply reads, "The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan was an unqualified tragedy, and Yahtzee offers his deepest sympathies to a country and people that has long held his admiration and respect", the words of condolence are especially touching to hear from him. The next screen reads, "This statement is given to karmatically balance out the following one" since the video was made before the disaster. Yahtzee pokes fun and makes jabs, but he's not the sort of person who would ''knowingly'' mock the country right after a disaster.

--> '''Yahtzee:''' "People ask me if I worry about the future of the interactive arts in this era of triple-A being a constant stream of soulless exploitative knock-offs, but I'm not worried! [[HistoryRepeats Because we've been here before.]] At the end of the 90s, games like ''Quake III'' and ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' tried to convince us that we didn't ''really'' want artistic single-player PC games when we could just pay to run on hamster wheels all day, and look what the 2000s brought us! ''VideoGame/DeusEx! VideoGame/ThiefII! VideoGame/BioShock! VideoGame/{{Portal}}!'' It's always a phase. In the long run, the only eternal guarantor of success is a quality product well-made, [[SexSells ideally with tits on the front]]. The money to be made from knocking off what's popular and exploiting the stupid always dries up eventually, if only because the stupids die out from daring each other to headbutt the ceiling fan."

* In his ''Bob's Game'' retrospective, Yahtzee (predictably) [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech drags the titular developer HARD]] for being [[SmallNameBigEgo a delusional would-be auteur]] "remembered" more for his CreatorBreakdown over Creator/{{Nintendo}} ignoring his applications for a DS Dev Kit than for his would-be magnum opus. Yet afterward, Yahtzee delivers a surprisingly sensitive [[AnAesop Aesop]] about how Bob's FatalFlaw was his putting too much of himself into a project, and [[SincerityMode sincerely]] advising all would-be creatives that even a poor product successfully released is better than the any number of unrealized masterpieces.

** While he doesn't feel the humor in ''Portal 2'' is as good as the original, not only does he still feel that the game is hilarious, he also praises it for not delving into TheCakeIsALie meme, which he states the spread of ruined the line for him.[[note]]Little did he know the "lemons" speech by Cave Johnson would be the new meme.[[/note]]

* Yahtzee using his "review" of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019'' as a Trojan Horse to review ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', an indie game he feels is more deserving of greater awareness. Though he finds the game far from flawless, Yahtzee is certainty a FanOfTheUnderdog.

-->''"[The] way ''Hi-Fi RUSH'' was dropped on us felt for me like an act of surrender. 'OK, fine,' Creator/{{Bethesda}} seemed to be saying. 'We officially give up trying to convince you that what you want is overpriced mediocre crap that's a thousand hours long. Here's a game that's ten hours long but it's thirty bucks and really fucking good.' And what do you know? Instant near-universal acclaim.\\