Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
The purple suit, the grassy hair, the rictus grin, and the killing cackle. This week, we got a glimpse of The Joker in the upcoming standalone Joker film. Or rather, we didn’t; we got a glimpse of Joaquin Phoenix – the clown prince of acting – that could have been taken at any stage of his oddball career. But until the lid is truly lifted, let’s consider gaming’s best jokers, because otherwise this feature doesn’t really work, does it?
The Joker
I mean obviously, but let’s move on.
Goro Majima
The first clue is in his alias, The Mad Dog of Shimano, which becomes him: a deranged hyena, out for thrills and kills. But if that isn’t enough, his flamboyant taste in clothing (snakeskin jackets aren’t for the sound of mind), his tendency toward sudden acts of savagery, and his often unknowable intent should do it. Add in his obsession with Kiryu’s brooding bat-like demeanour and the fact that Mark Hamill voiced Majima in the western version of the original, and he’s the joker in all but name.
The blue shell-wielding player in last place in any Mario Kart game
Remember the Joker’s boat experiment in The Dark Knight? He wanted to prove that Gotham’s soul could be corrupted by cribbing the Prisoner’s Dilemma and giving people the choice whether or not to use explosive weapons. In Mario Kart, whoever is in last place tends to get access to a notorious explosive weapon: the Blue Shell. We’ve all had the experience of nearing the end of a race, only to have some joker nuke us off the track before we cross the line. They can’t even win themselves; it’s pure spite. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
Tom Nook
First of all, it’s worth just taking a moment to yourself and simply reviewing the picture above. You might say that Tom Nook looks pensive, even melancholic. But he isn’t. I promise you that he isn’t. The little s*** is laughing, howling inside with the manic glee of miring entire villages in the muck of mortgage repayments. Make no mistake, each Animal Crossing game is the fight for your town’s soul, and Nook sits atop a pile of money, willing to set it alight at a moment’s notice.
Skull Kid
There is, in the case of the Skull Kid in Majora’s Mask, a sense of real tragedy. A Skull kid, as Navi implies, is a child who has wandered into the Lost Woods – it’s like something from Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Seeing the monstrous grin plastered across the poor child’s face is like seeing one of the Joker’s laughing gas victims. Then there’s the titular mask, which bestows enormous power on the Skull Kid, who pulls a sinister, smiling moon toward the land of Termina. The one thing it isn’t is funny, but then, you wouldn’t dare laugh at the Joker.
Shedinja
The genius of Shedinja is that its existence seems a joke, one played at the expense of committed Pokémon players. The creature is a ‘special evolution’ of Nincada, a Bug/Ground Pokémon, and it’s a husk – an empty shell cast to one side, a side effect. Shedinja is a Bug/Ghost. Yes that’s right it’s dead. It has 1HP, which means any lowly Rattata should be able to best him. Only, Shedinja’s Wonder Guard ability means it dodges every move that isn’t super effective. There’s nothing more infuriating than not being being able to deal with a floating husk that has 1HP, as it dismantles your team while (I don’t know this, but I absolutely know this) laughing.
Roman Bellic
There are some things that leap out at you for how surreal they are, a joke that pops up at obscene times and makes you laugh at its absurdity. But when you’ve heard it again and again – in the morning, while you drive down the motorway, in the middle of the night, and while you’re engaged in a firefight with your life on the line – it wears at the threads of your sanity. No. I don’t want to go f***king bowling.
Dog from Duck Hunt
Simply referred to as ‘Dog’ – and also ‘Laughing Dog’ – this monster would hound your every failure with a muffled, muttley-esque chortle. Ostensibly, he was there to help you as well; he would fetch your felled ducks in his mouth and slink back off into the tall grass. And I happen to know that he did so begrudgingly. He doesn’t like it when you succeed. This isn’t man’s best friend. He’s a fiend, and the only reason he’s out in those fields is to laugh at your failure.
