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Video Game Memes in Culture
Ascended Memes
Occasionally, creators of video games and gaming-related entertainment will take note of a popular meme and mention or feature it in later works. This type of meme can be referred to as an "ascended meme," as it ascended from the gaming community to the game itself. Feel free to add to the following list as needed.





When the President wants to go for a burger, you know the cake is a lie.
Intro
Games featured on this list were inspirations for Internet Memes, concepts (generally catchphrases or jokes) which spread quickly throughout Internet culture. Memes can stem from "Engrish," abysmal game quality, or otherwise memorable moments in video games. While many Internet Memes have achieved mainstream recognition, video game-based memes are most popular with Internet communities with a strong focus on gaming, such as GameFAQs, 4chan, or Something Awful.Video Game Memes in Culture
Ascended Memes
Occasionally, creators of video games and gaming-related entertainment will take note of a popular meme and mention or feature it in later works. This type of meme can be referred to as an "ascended meme," as it ascended from the gaming community to the game itself. Feel free to add to the following list as needed. - 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
As previously mentioned, a few game-related memes have been recognized by mainstream media.- 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
In this section is a list of meme origins and the memes associated with them. As the list is incomplete, feel free to add any that have not been mentioned.- 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.
- 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 - The phrases "Giant enemy crab" and "Attack its weak point for massive damage!"
- 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.
Meme origin games
Edit
| Name | Platforms | Developer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Battletoads |
ARC | Rare, Ltd. | |
|
Super Smash Bros. Brawl released on March 9, 2008 |
WII | Monolith Software, Inc., Sora, Game Arts Co., Ltd. | |
|
Crysis released on Nov. 13, 2007 |
PC | Crytek GmbH | |
|
I Wanna Be The Guy released on Oct. 13, 2007 |
PC | ||
|
Portal released on Oct. 9, 2007 |
PC | Valve Corporation | |
|
Garry's Mod released on Nov. 29, 2006 |
PC | Team Garry | |
|
Genji: Days of the Blade released on Nov. 14, 2006 |
PS3 | Game Republic | |
|
RapeLay |
PC | Illusion Software | |
|
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion released on March 20, 2006 |
PC, X360, PS3 | 4J Studios, Bethesda Softworks | |
|
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney released on Oct. 11, 2005 |
PC, GBA, DS | Capcom |
| Concept Name: | Meme origin |
| Appears in: | 41 games |
| First appearance: | |
| Aliases | Internet Meme, Internet Phenomenon, Video Game Meme |
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