Can you think of any funny games?

...and more importantly, can you think of any funny games for THIS generation of consoles?

I'm trying to get a friend of mine into gaming; she thinks all it is is stupid military shooter. Because - let's face it - the loudest games with the most aggressive marketing are all shooters. Even stuff like Halo and Mass Effect are essentially military shooters, just in space. So I'm trying to show her the other side of gaming, and while I can pick out stuff like Journey and Sly Cooper and whatnot, I feel like the kind of thing that will "grab" her immediately are funny games. But then I couldn't think of many, not for my PS3 or Wii anyway. I came up with "Costume Quest" and "Portal 2".

...

That was it.

Any suggestions, Giantbomb community?

I just got Psychonauts from the Humble Bundle the other day. It's pretty funny!

Intentionally funny?

This gen? Dunno, but Monkey Island tends to be pretty timeless.

@Video_Game_King :

Um. I kinda want to hear whatever you're going to say, so...I'll leave it at just "Funny". Intentional or not.

@vinsanityv22:

Skyrim, then. All kinds of funny shit can happen in that game, but I doubt the developers intended any of it.

Saints Row The Third.

The Sam and Max games are hilarious. I would also recommend most of the Double Fine games (Costume Quest, which you mentioned, is the opposite of a military shooter). Then there is Noby Noby Boy which is funny in an incomprehensible sort of way. You Don't Know Jack could be good because of the heavy multiplayer component.

The games are out there, you just have to find them.

Penny Arcade On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1 and 2

Rock of Ages, perhaps.

Puzzle Agent's pretty goofy. PC game though.

Zack and Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros' Treasure was silly.

Rabbids Go Home: A Comedy Adventure has comedy right in the name! And maybe the other Rabbids games as well

WarioWare Smooth Moves maybe. I haven't played it. Similarly Rhythm Heaven Fever.

Oh yeah and FUCKING SAINTS ROW THE THIRD.

Oh yeah, No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2, if that's her sense of humor.

I thought Puzzle Agent was pretty funny as well. That's about it.

Rayman: Origins' charm and goofiness makes it incredibly funny sometimes. The same thing with the Katamari series.

Conkers Bad Fur Day

ooooo this generation. yeah saints row the third

I think the Katamari series is pretty funny. Deadly Premonition is pretty funny. Also, Portal. I also can't believe you can't find a funny game on the Wii. It's all funny. How about Rhythm Heaven Fever.

the old lucas arts games seem to have a pretty strong monopoly on funny-ness in games. psychonauts was also funny in a very mid 2000's nickelodeon way and i thought machinarium was funny in a very cute subtle way.

@DrPockets000 said:

Saints Row The Third.

This should have been said sooner.

...and more importantly, can you think of any funny games for THIS generation of consoles?

I'm trying to get a friend of mine into gaming; she thinks all it is is stupid military shooter. Because - let's face it - the loudest games with the most aggressive marketing are all shooters. Even stuff like Halo and Mass Effect are essentially military shooters, just in space. So I'm trying to show her the other side of gaming, and while I can pick out stuff like Journey and Sly Cooper and whatnot, I feel like the kind of thing that will "grab" her immediately are funny games. But then I couldn't think of many, not for my PS3 or Wii anyway. I came up with "Costume Quest" and "Portal 2".

...

That was it.

Any suggestions, Giantbomb community?

@MariachiMacabre said:

@DrPockets000 said:

Saints Row The Third.

This should have been said sooner.

I would've seen to it if I hadn't been trying so hard to come up with all that other stuff.

Oooh and add Super Paper Mario to my ever growing list.

@DrPockets000 said:

Saints Row The Third.

@ShenaniganZ said:

Conkers Bad Fur Day

So these are the funny games that really show how mature and tasteful video games can be to those who don't know much about them.

OP: If you're trying to show her funny games where you don't kill things - Portal 2?

I thought Brutal Legend was very funny, but you probably need to have an appreciation of metal to really get anything out of it.

i've decided there are two types of funny games

ones where the writing or situations the characters are involved in are clever in some way

and games where crazy unexpected shit happens

Sam and Max is brilliant. 

Little Big Planet and Little Big Planet 2 have a certain whimsy to them.

@believer258: I don't believe he states that the games need to be mature and tasteful, just funny. And not shooters. And available on PS3 or Wii. Which does cross off those two games, sure. But Saints Row the Third probably deserves mention anyway. Because that shit is funny.

Portal 2 made me laugh the most hysterically since ever

Eat Lead:The Return of Matt Hazard was a pretty funny game, if you like parody's. It pretty much makes fun of everything within pop culture.

I just wanna thank everyone for suggestions right now. There's a lot of great stuff here, including a few I already own, just didn't think of. @pyromagnestir said:

@MariachiMacabre said:

Oooh and add Super Paper Mario to my ever growing list.

How could I have forgotten the likes of Super Paper Mario? Thanks for that one, Pyromagnestir and MariachiMacabre.

Pheonix Wright

@pyromagnestir said:

Little Big Planet and Little Big Planet 2 have a certain whimsy to them.

@believer258: I don't believe he states that the games need to be mature and tasteful, just funny. And not shooters. And available on PS3 or Wii. Which does cross off those two games, sure. But Saints Row the Third probably deserves mention anyway. Because that shit is funny.

I know, but if you were to introduce someone who thinks all movies are like Transformers to something better and, more specifically, funnier, would you show them something raunchy and brash or tasteful and intelligent?

I liked SR3, it's just not the game I would use to introduce my girlfriend to funny video games.

What about Twisted Pixel's stuff? I was thinking about 'Splosion Man and Wavy Tube Man Chronicles. Those are the only things that come to mind right now that haven't been mentioned yet.

@vinsanityv22: I almost forgot it too.

OK these will be the last games I bring up for now, and they don't meet your requirements as they are 360 games, but I'd feel neglectful of my duties in a funny games thread not to bring up Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts.

And also to mention the Fable games. My whole Fable experience is limited to the first hour of the first game, and it wasn't my kind of humor, generally, but it seemed to be someones idea of funny.

@believer258: Not knowing her tastes for funny, who can say. Give every option is my policy, and let the dude who knows her decide what she will be most likely to enjoy. I'm tired and I feel like I worded that last sentence very oddly.

Edit ok I'm wording every sentence oddly. I'm going to sleep now.

I think the humor in Persona 3 and 4 are great. Their humor is one of the reasons why the Persona games have become my favorite JRPGS recently.

Saint's Row the Third, Deadly Premonition (both intentional and not), Persona 4 and 3 have pretty hilarious moments though they aren't comedic games, Portal 1 and 2, Rock of Ages, and Magicka. I actually thought Magicka was hilarious and deserved more credit than it got

Portal 2 and Dragon Age: Origins instantly come to mind, plenty of witty dialogue in both games.

Amped 3.

Well, SR3 has already been mentioned, but if you want some more innocent fun (maybe too innocent) the Ratchet and Clank series has some humor to it. Then there's the stuff like radio/tv/shows in GTA 4. There's plenty of other games with some decently funny stuff too like Borderlands, Shadows of the Damned or Portal, but it's sorta hard to make straight up comedical games as comedy needs very strong control to work. If you've ever heard someone trying to tell a joke and they don't get all the details right you know what I'm talking about =)

@Commisar123 said:

Saint's Row the Third, Deadly Premonition (both intentional and not), Persona 4 and 3 have pretty hilarious moments though they aren't comedic games, Portal 1 and 2, Rock of Ages, and Magicka. I actually thought Magicka was hilarious and deserved more credit than it got

Deadly Premonition is great and the shooting is so broken, it's debatable as to whether or not it could be considered one. Also, Magicka and all of its DLC is only $6.24 on Steam for the next nine and a half hours! It's a steal!

It is a safe bet if Tim Schafer worked on it, it is funny. Also both of the Portals are indeed funny.

Grim Fandango and Curse of Monkey Island.

i think some of portal 2 jokes are funny. some people will think that it's a stupid jokes.

Portal 2 and the original Portal are perhaps the only legitimately humorous games of this generation. Other games have funny moments, but only the Portal games are funny throughout the entire course of the game and use humour as a main selling point. Brutal Legend and Psychonauts are also quite good - but not nearly as great as the Portal Games.

@Itwastuesday said:

I just got Psychonauts from the Humble Bundle the other day. It's pretty funny!

Yes! Other great funny games: Sam and Max, Beyond Good and Evil, Portal (obviously),No One Lives Forever, Day of the Tentacle, Time Splitters 3: Future Perfect, Puzzle Agent

I can't believe you people ......... easily the funniest game I have ever playes, and I have played a lot, is:

House of the Dead: Overkill

You have to play this to understand just how grotesquely funny the story is as well as the bad acting. The last chapter will leave you wondering what the hell the writers were on when they wrote it. Absolutley priceless and to top it off, the game is just fun to play.

Good question. No I can't.

Just get Secret of Monkey Island on XBLA; it's funny enough to make me laugh out loud, plus it's an excellent game. Plus they've actually gone to the bother of updating the graphics for the arcade release. :)

@Contrarian: Haha, I remember many an hour lost to House of the Dead II (and Typing of the Dead!). I love that series because the acting is so bad and the plot typically makes no sense :D

In fact Typing of the Dead (prev. gen I realise!), is hilarious given enough alcohol, two keyboards and a Dreamcast. But then, most things are hilarious given enough alcohol...

@DrPockets000 said:

Saints Row The Third.

False. Haha. It's honestly not that funny. It's ridiculous, yes, funny, sometimes, but not that often.

portal 1 and 2. boom. you have to play that regardless. sam and max is funny, the old monkey island games, psychonauts i thought was pretty funny...pretty much any tim schafer game.@DragonNinja789 said:

Eat Lead:The Return of Matt Hazard was a pretty funny game, if you like parody's. It pretty much makes fun of everything within pop culture.

it was funny, but not funny enough to suffer through that pile of shit game.

Easily Dungeons of Dredmor is the funniest game I've played in a long time. They really nailed the humor in that game. It's absolutely hilarious and it's great because it doesn't try too hard like a lot of 'funny' games do.

Battlefield Bad Company was surprisingly funny. There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments that come from the dialogue in that game. Even their add campaign was funny. If you haven't seen the Bad Company trailers, then go look them up on youtube.