It's that time of year again, a time when Defunct Games celebrates the holidays by posting a daily theme article that should inform and delight gamers all over the world. This year we're taking a look at the video game cliche, the type of thing we've seen time and time again in all generations of gaming. Is this cliche realistic? Does it need to go away? These are the types of questions Defunct Games will be asking over the next month. Join us as we celebrate this joyous season with the 34 Cliches of Christmas!


As Seen In: Sonic the Hedgehog, Ratchet & Clank, Bubsy the Bobcat, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Gex, Spyro the Dragon, Jak & Daxter, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and pretty much every other non-Mario platformer.

What Is It? You know that smart-assed teenager at work that drives you crazy with his sarcastic comments and lack of respect for authority? Well, suck it up, because you're going to be spending the next ten hours listening to the guy try and be funny. Well he's not funny, and the very idea of listening should drive you crazy. If it wasn't for the fact that this game is so damn fun you would have thrown this game out the window hours ago. Unfortunately the video game industry seems to think that gamers everywhere are clamoring for these smart-assed characters, because year after year these annoying heroes are crammed down our throats. The character doesn't need to be funny to be a smart-ass; it just takes a few poorly written lines of dialog and a bad attitude. To be fair, some games (like Conker's Bad Fur Day) are able to build a good game around the smart-ass character, but by and large we come up with a game like Bubsy the Bobcat.

Is It Realistic? Chances are you know somebody in real life that sounds like some of these video game characters. I'm talking about the kind of guy who "thinks" he is a lot funnier than he actually is. Well, now imagine how annoying that person would be if he knew he was saving the world. It's bad enough that we have to put up with this joker's non-stop sarcastic comments, but we also have to accept that he's doing what we cannot. Perhaps that's why the smart-ass character is saving the world all by himself, because nobody can stand to be around him and his smart-ass comments.

Is It Overused? Often times a smart-ass character is a substitute for good writing. I'm all for some good one-liners and other well-written jokes, but nobody likes somebody who is only being a smart-ass because they think it's cool. Nobody thinks your bad attitude is cool, so let's work on creating interesting characters that you enjoy spending time with. Maybe if Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't trying so hard to be cool we would be able to get a half-decent 3D platformer from Sega!