Meme origin

Intro

Video Game Memes in Culture

Ascended Memes

• The developers of Team Fortress 2 were aware of players noting the similarities between the appearances of The Scout and TV pitchman Vince Offer (of SlapChop/ShamWow fame) and added bits of in-game dialogue for The Scout that are similar to an infomercial, such as "If you order now, I'll throw in a second beating, absolutely free."
• In TF2, a crouching spy looking up with his disguise kit vaguely resembles a crab. This "spycrab" phenomenon was noted by the developers, resulting in an extra taunt where the Spy would crouch and imitate a crab.
• Additionally, many items found in the "Meet the Team" promotional videos for Team Fortress 2 (such as The Sniper's jars of urine and The Heavy's Sanvich) may have come from suggestions by players.
• The World of Warcraft trading card game and collectible miniatures game both feature Leroy Jenkins in some fashion.
• The line from the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trailer "You're lying, dammit! And I can prove it!" (which was never mentioned in the game) became something of a meme. The second game in the series actually features this line as a result.

Memes in Mainstream

• The opening cutscene for Zero Wing was briefly parodied by Weezer in their music video for "Pork and Beans," itself a pastiche of Internet memes.
• Rumor has it that President Barack Obama privately made reference to "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" during his presidential campaign.

List of Video Game-Based Memes

• Bad Dudes - "Hey dudes thanks, for rescuing me. Let's go for a burger.... HA! HA! HA! HA!" - Ronald Reagan, President of the United States.
• Portal - "The cake is a lie," "Weighted Companion Cube" and "Still Alive" by Jonathan Coulton
• Katamari Damacy - "Katamari on the Rocks" by Dokaka. It is also worth noting that the concept of a Katamari is a meme on YTMND.
• Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing - Extremely poor game quality (brought to light in part by Alex Navarro's review on GameSpot), "YOU'RE WINNER!"
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - The Colonel's "I need scissors!" speech
• Metal Gear - Engrish such as "The truck have started to move!" and "I feel asleep!"
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - The opening cutscene.
• Star Fox 64 - "Do a barrell roll!", "Can't let you do that!"
  
• RapeLay - An internal joke among the Giantbomb users (that such a game acutally exist).
  
• Resident Evil - Poorly scripted cutscenes with phrases such as "Jill sandwich," "master of unlocking," and so forth.
• Resident Evil 5 - "Paawnch a boulder!" was derived from a scene where Chris knocks back a giant boulder by punching it.
  
• Hotel Mario, Link: The Faces of Evil, and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon are notorious for cutscenes with trippy acting and animation.
• Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - A cutscene with the text "NIGGA STOLE MY BIKE!" superimposed over it is the subject of many a YTMND.
• Mortal Kombat - Phrases like "Finish Him!" and "Fatality", and the movies "MORTAL KOMBAT!"
  
• Zelda II - "I AM ERROR."
• Pokémon - "so i herd u liek mudkipz" and "FUCK YEAH SEAKING"
• Starcraft - "YOU REQUIRE MOAR VESPENE GAS" and the tactic of spawning many weak Zergling units and attacking the enemy base with a "Zerg Rush." This can be followed up with a "kekekeke ^_^"
  
• Dr. Eggman - "Snoo PINGAS usual I see...."
• Duke Nukem 3D - "I'VE GOT BALLS OF STEEL" and IT'S TIME TO KICK ASS AND CHEW BUBBLEGUM. AND I'M ALL OUT OF GUM."
• LOZ: Ocarina of Time - YTMND meme with the chest opening sequence, Navi's exclamations of "HEY!" and "LISTEN!"
• World of Warcraft - Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins, a user who idiotically runs into a room full of hostile dragon whelps.
  
• Dark Age of Camelot - YTMND meme with a user furious over a stolen "Cloudsong".
• Super Smash Bros. Series - Captain Falcon and his signature move, FALCON PAAUUNCH!!!!!
• Team Fortress 2 - The Spy's like for cigarettes and saying "Gentlemen..."
• Battletoads - Calling Gamestop stores to see if they have the game "Battletoads"
• Zero Wing - Poorly translated Engrish phrases such as "What you say?" and most famously, "All your base are belong to us"
• Pro Wrestling - The phrase "A WINNER IS YOU"
• Genji: Days of the Blade - At the Sony's E3 2007 Conference the phrases "Giant enemy crab" and "Attack its weak point for massive damage!" were used to describe the game's combat.
  
• Ridge Racer: At E3 2006. They coined the term "rrrrrriiiiidddddgggggeeee racer!!!"
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Spawned a video in which the competitive player "yipes" yells such phrases as "OH YOU SO PRINGLES" and "WHERE YO MOUSTACHE?"
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: The line "You're lying, dammit! And I can prove it!" became somewhat popular among the fans. This Objection generator has seen some pretty heavy use as well.
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: To a lesser extent, the quote "Stop right there, criminal scum!" spoken by the Imperial Guard.