Could you believe that Pokemon is a controversial game? Well, incredibly it is and is for good reasons.
“I like controversy. The more controversial it gets, the more interesting it is.” Artist Marco Brambilla said that and let’s be honest, in the world of gaming, we always love a bit of controversy. From professional gamers getting involved in all sorts (we’re looking at you Overwatch League) to even journalists taking part in things such as ‘GamerGate’.
However, there is one thing that can always cause controversy, the games themselves. So what are the games that have created some serious debates over the years?
Well, here are five of them!
1. Pokemon
You might think I’m joking here but seriously, Pokemon is and has been a controversial game. Plus, listing this first means I can keep off talking about some really horrible games… for a little while anyway.
So why is Pokemon controversial? Well, a lot of it has to do with Jynx and not because she is relatively useless in the current meta. Back in 2000, a good four years after the release of Pokemon, author and critic Carole Boston Weatherford wrote a piece that claimed the Ice-Psychic was racist and a clear example of ‘blackface’ imagery. The controversy was so much in fact that GameFreak changed the colour to a darker purple and made her mouth and eyes much smaller. The actual origin of Jynx was based on Japanese myth of Yama-Uba and Yuki-Onna who were both Ice queens that had blonde hair, and severely frostbitten skin.
Are these the biggest liars in video game history?
Other things that caused outrage were apparent satanic themes, causing some children to have epileptic fits, an evident Swastika in the game, promoting Zionism and quite clear sexism and animal cruelty!
Pokemon was really controversial – believe me now?
2. Super Columbine Massacre RPG
Oh god, here we go! So, this absolute abomination of a game was released back in 2005, just six years after the Columbine Massacre, which saw Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris gun-down 15 students and teachers, before turning the guns onto themselves. It caused not just outrage in America, but Worldwide, and started a frank discussion about the Second Amendment.
So, the natural thing to do would be to turn the tragedy into a video game! It was named the second worst game of all time by PC Gaming and was linked to the Dawson College shooting, after gunman Kimveer Gil had been a massive fan of the game.
3. Mortal Kombat
Any kid growing up in the 90s will tell you that if there was one game that your parents wouldn’t let them play, it would be this. Thankfully, my parents weren’t too bothered about it, but there was a time when there was some severe moral outrage at the ultra-violent fighter.
One of the significant problems with the game was just how realistic not only the violence was, but the blood that came with it. Mortal Kombat was so controversial that it was one of the big reasons that the age-rating system was brought to video games. The game was even discussed in Congress, with Congressmen claiming that the game promoted violence, sexism and had been linked with several instances of violence including our previous entry.
4. Ethnic Cleansing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_fLfBZaDMw
Oh, okay, we’re going there. Have you ever thought what the worst of humanity would do if they knew to make video games? Well, that is precisely what happened here – with this offensive Neo-Nazi game released back in 2002. Well, I say ‘knew how to make a game’ because not only is this incredibly racist, but it was also a truly terrible game.
The basic premise is that you play as either a Neo-Nazi, Skinhead or a Klansman and go through a ghetto to murder either black or Jewish ‘enemies’. As you can imagine, this caused A LOT OF CONTROVERSIES. Ironically, the mainstream media didn’t catch on at first, but groups such as the Anti-Defamation League lobbied for the game to be banned.
Incredibly, Stuff magazine only listed this as the 40th most controversial video game of all time… While you might question whether Pokemon is a controversial game or not, there should be no debate here.
5. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
I don’t think I can talk about horrible games any more, so let’s talk about one that caused moral panic, but one that I liked. So, we all know about the infamous level called ‘No Russian’, in which you play as an undercover CIA agent working as Russian Terrorist – gunning down people at an airport terminal to ensure your cover isn’t blown. You can make it through the entire level without firing a single bullet, let alone hitting someone. The level was blamed multiple times for inspiring any attacks, with Norwegian attacker Anders Behring Breivik claiming he regularly played the level.
This wasn’t the only notorious moment from MW2, with Muslim gamers outraged after a picture with a quote from Mohammed being hung above a toilet. In fact, no holy writings should be in a bathroom in Islam. This was changed by Infinity Ward with the paintings removed, while the entire map was taken off the PC version.
Finally, there was some severe controversy surrounding a somewhat homophobic easter egg located in the game. Two soldiers can be heard talking about sexuality, with one replying with the former infamous US law of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’.