Unease and suspicion meet frigid and indifferent!  Oh Mario, when will you learn that Peach's the boss?

Comedy in games has evolved pretty significantly over the years.  What used to be blatant moments or mistranslations has changed to subtle undertones and in-jokes.  While most games fall victim of taking themselves a bit too seriously (remind you of any gamers? Oh right, all of us!), some have made the effort (or not) to bring a little humor to the interactive experience.  Obviously there are games made specifically to get a laugh out of the player.  Leisure Suit Larry and those of its ilk have been doing so for years.  What I'd like to focus on tonight though are the (un) intentional moments in serious games where I've just had to have a bit of a chuckle.

(I can't even begin to describe how many bullets I wasted on this **** dog!)

Early titles that wanted a laugh had to make it about as subtle as a brick through the window.  The graphics and sound just didn't really allow for much else.  I assume that I'm not the only one who went from amused to extraordinarily angry over this dogs taunting.  Well done Nintendo.

(Control, Alt, Delete?)

Mistranslations fueled my gaming comedy urge for many years longer than they should have.  Seriously, we've been visiting Asia and they us for, well ever. So why is it that our games were seemingly translated my middle school students with no understanding of our anecdotes?  It made very little sense to me, but did make for some hilarious moments.  The "all your base are belong to us" line was too overused for me to include a pic, but god was it funny!

(Awww, are he?)

I don't even remember the above quote from any of my numerous re-plays, but nomenclature has never been Japan's strong point.  Hell, they couldn't even get one of the main character's name right in our version!

It seems also that the early attempts at actual video game humor fell flat, either falling victim to technology constraints, or worse yet, licensing deals...

(It just didn't flow very well)

This generation however, has allowed developers to really add some comedic chops to the games we love to play. 

 From the subtle,

(Tenzin's your man if you need something grappled!)

to the silly fun.

(Obnoxious and hilarious at the same time? Genius!)

From the unintentionally (I hope) weird,

(A playable chef who screams "delicious!" after attacks!?!  Sign me up!)

to appearances by Jack Black.

(Didn't care for playing this one but watched a roommate play its entirety for the humor)

Gaming has come a long way in how it grabs our attention with not just action and drama, but moments of laughter and dis-belief.  The future of comedy in our games is great.  You've got the amazingly talented writers at Naughty Dog, Telltale games, and Double-Fine (to mention a few) continuing to put out great games with pure comedic moments.  I truly hope that the Last Of Us has some chuckle worthy moments as I've come to expect them from Naughty Dog even with the apocalypse theme.  Other games are coming to the fore with new licensing deals.  The new South Park rpg looks to capture the sense of humor of Parker and Stone while wrapping it up in a cartoony, Final Fantasy themed package and as a fan of the show I hope it turns out as good as it's been looking.

(Anyone for a cathartic ginger beat-down?)

I'd like to see a continued effort by writers to add comedic elements to our games. Who's to say Master Chief doesn't occasionally crack a flood joke?  Or Lightning doesn't taunt Hope mercilessly for being such a *****?  It could happen, they ARE real people right?

(In my experience probably the character!)

Any moments in gaming that made you laugh?  Intentional or otherwise I've heard it's good for the soul!