Current Events > Why is the comedy aspect of video games ignored?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Action is prevalent in nearly all video games, and horror is used a lot too. Some games have serious, narrative tones of story telling but we don't ever get games that are purely focused on comedy.

IE, Resident Evil retreads zombie horror tropes but has never touched on comedy with pie in the face humor, Chris delivering "here we go again" lines. There aren't any video games that use laugh tracks to highlight their jokes, on the rare occasion that they even have any humor in them. (The MGS codec scenes could have been so much funnier this way.) There aren't any video games where you use your sense of humor to succeed or overcome in life, basically leading video game players to being humorless anti-social outcasts when they grow up.

It just seems like an untapped market for such a high profile entertainment medium. Are there any games that break this mold?

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I charged $30 for the restroom in rollercoaster tycoon

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There's comedy told through actual script, like Paper Mario and Phoenix Wright, always a classic, and there's comedy told/shown through the actual gameplay of the games. Comedy is so much harder to pull off than the grimdark crap of games nowadays (it's harder for all types of entertainment media) so games can be excused for not having it because hell, we just want an actual fun game that plays well just as a start.
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[donate all your gold to orphanage]
[do nothing]
[burn down orphanage]

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Does teabagging count as comedy

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Games with laughtracks;
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Gekioh: Shooting King
Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights
Scooby-Doo Mystery Mayhem


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cause comedy is hard as fuck

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South Park

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like Saints Row and Borderlands?

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It's pretty funny when somebody dies on the stairs but there body is laying flat

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Games are an interactive medium. Most games are focused on the gameplay you will physically be doing. Tonal genres are musch less important than in non-interactive media. There is still a lot of comedy in games but they are typically defied more by "shot aliens" or "solve puzzles".

Atelier makes use of a lot of comedy in its cutscenes

OK, but why are certain games married to that respective genre? Again, why has there not been a Resident Evil game where you can for example, use banana peels to trip up zombies so you can get to the next room? Why are game developers committing entire franchises to singular storytelling methods?

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WarfireX posted...

OK, but why are certain games married to that respective genre? Again, why has there not been a Resident Evil game where you can for example, use banana peels to trip up zombies so you can get to the next room? Why are game developers committing entire franchises to singular storytelling methods?

Why is there not a single Paranormal Activity movie where all the demons just get high and make fart sounds with their mouths? Why is a whole franchise restricting itself to one style of storytelling?

Also, Lollypop Chainsaw.

The recent Hitman games are very funny, both in terms of the slapstick potential they have and the writing.
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WarfireX posted...

OK, but why are certain games married to that respective genre? Again, why has there not been a Resident Evil game where you can for example, use banana peels to trip up zombies so you can get to the next room? Why are game developers committing entire franchises to singular storytelling methods?

Because that's their vision of how they want the game to be.

GTA is usually pretty funny. Dead Rising was a funny zombie game for most of the series (since you were mentioning Resident Evil, maybe this is more up your alley). Borderlands has a lot of meme humor. They're out there.
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WarfireX posted...

OK, but why are certain games married to that respective genre? Again, why has there not been a Resident Evil game where you can for example, use banana peels to trip up zombies so you can get to the next room? Why are game developers committing entire franchises to singular storytelling methods?

You might like Dead Rising.
You can build barricades, throw 99% of things you can pick up, use pieces of meat as distractions to send zombies the other way and all that stuff.
You can dress Frank like an idiot and the cutscenes'll still attempt to present themselves seriously.
You can get rewarded with EXP for "outtake" genre photographs for stuff like breaking a gumball machine and photoing all the zombies tripping over everything.

Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 were also really funny in general because they'd mastered the "Why are you laughing player? Please stop, this is serious." thing and had great over the top gameplay.

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I think it's a lot more common than TC is giving it credit for, I just don't think you are looking in the right places. I just got finished with Journey to the Savage Planet and it legitimately had me laughing quite a bit. Maneater just came out, and while it's morbid humor, you can jump out of the water and belly flop across the sand to eat people, the guy that does the voice of Jerry on Rick and Morty is the narriator, and the game is like a spoof on Deadliest Catch

Like mentioned, Borderlands, Dead Rising and GTA all have great humor, I remember Deathspank on 360 had 3 games and it was hilarious. Gang Beasts, Sam and Max, Undertale, Deadpool, Worms, Lego games, Portal, I can rattle off a lot more.

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Resident Evil 7 was funny in an Evil Dead sort of way.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

I think it's a lot more common than TC is giving it credit for, I just don't think you are looking in the right places. I just got finished with Journey to the Savage Planet and it legitimately had me laughing quite a bit. Maneater just came out, and while it's morbid humor, you can jump out of the water and belly flop across the sand to eat people, the guy that does the voice of Jerry on Rick and Morty is the narriator, and the game is like a spoof on Deadliest Catch

Like mentioned, Borderlands, Dead Rising and GTA all have great humor, I remember Deathspank on 360 had 3 games and it was hilarious. Gang Beasts, Sam and Max, Undertale, Deadpool, Worms, Lego games, Portal, I can rattle off a lot more.

Agreed. Even going back farther, Mario RPGs, Most Rareware games, Lucas arts adventure games, Psychonauts

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Conker's Bad Fur Day was honestly the first game i remember that had me laughing constantly.

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https://i.imgur.com/E0MewDX.jpg

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Three Stooges for PS1

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tbZ_5RVINA

This just came out and the trailer made me laugh a fair bit.

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Portal?

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Are you actually advocating for laugh tracks in games, or am I being blinded by all the earnest responses to what seems to be a joke topic?

Rdr 2 is funny if you play as jerk Arthur.

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bmx xxx

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InTheEyesOfFire posted...

Rdr 2 is funny if you play as jerk Arthur.

This brings up another point that even for example Mass Effect is a serious game that allows you to play as a dick in hilarious fashion

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Deadly Premonition balances comedy and horror really well from what I've played so far and it's a lot more fun in terms of gameplay than people make out.

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Lego games

https://youtu.be/-5jWtz3rzco

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Leisure suit Larry obvs

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I got some pretty good laughs from the voice acting in Just Cause 2. I would wonder if they made it that bad on purpose.

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ledbowman posted...

Does teabagging count as comedy

https://youtu.be/DpuUc1JA8KM

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The South Park games are obvious choices.

FF7 is pretty humorous and it's a shame more games in the series don't take the same approach. FF9 does a bit, but nothing on the level of anything involving Don Corneo or Palmer.

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the last game that really made me laugh is GTA III chatterbox radio station

Nothing since has quite tickled my humour bone the same. Not even the following GTAs

This topic is very true. Video game writing is usually poor. Like my other topic tries to get at. The medium has come along way and the efforts to produce better quality products continues to make strides. But Ive yet to see a video game actually be humorous like any good show or movie.

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BettyWhite posted...

The South Park games are obvious choices.

FF7 is pretty humorous and it's a shame more games in the series don't take the same approach. FF9 does a bit, but nothing on the level of anything involving Don Corneo or Palmer.

On that note humor and puns are hugely important to the dragon quest franchise

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Mass effect andromeda

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TheGoldenEel posted...

On that note humor and puns are hugely important to the dragon quest franchise

I really need to try to make a jump into the DQ franchise. I just need to find the right mood and time. It's sadly hard for me to get into anything new(to me) these days.

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There's a lot of great games that are comedy games but just aren't called comedy.

My Cousin Vinny is generally considered a great comedy movie. Sure it's got the occasional dramatic moment or suspense but most people will say it's a comedy. You're not going to find it on a list of "Courtroom thrillers" like The Rainmaker.

Yet note for note the story and themes have the exact same skeleton as Phoenix Wright games down to crazy witness caricatures & small details like penalties.

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Home Improvement (SNES)

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Dreamscissors posted...

Deadly Premonition balances comedy and horror really well from what I've played so far and it's a lot more fun in terms of gameplay than people make out.

Yeah, Deadly Prem is great in terms of quirkiness and comedy.

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Darmik posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tbZ_5RVINA

This just came out and the trailer made me laugh a fair bit.

Ive been playing the hell out of this on Switch. It's terrific, people, go play it.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjXKidAlXa4

Ahem

IT'S TAIL TIEM!!!!

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