The 10 WORST Joke Characters in Fighting Games

The 10 Worst Joke Characters in Fighting Games

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 10 of the worst joke characters in fighting game history. You can like them however you want, but that does not mean they’re great for competitive play.

Dan Hibiki

“Street Fighter” series (1987-)

Yes, yes, we know you Dan fans are out there, all nine of you. We understand that Dan is a great joke character in concept and narrative. We also know that Dan is a much more viable contender in newer “Street Fighter” games. But in the old days, Dan was absolutely the pure definition of joke character in how intentionally awful his moveset was. He truly was a weaker, lamer version of Ryu and Ken with his pathetic range and spitball of a Hadouken. We’ll admit this, though - pulling off the dance is probably the most satisfying Super to pull off in fighting game history. So, we won’t give him too much crap.

Mokap

“Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance” (2002)

Mokap is one of those joke characters you can kind of take or leave. When you look at him as a way to immortalize Carlos Pesina, the martial artist and actor for Raiden in the original “Mortal Kombat” games. But when you look at Mokap from a gameplay perspective, well, why would anyone choose him? While the motion capture performer borrows several moves from various combatants, none of them mesh together well enough to string into one another let alone serve as combo enders. He’s simply too awkward to use which can make fighting stronger opponents feel more like an uphill battle with no end in sight.

Pichu

“Super Smash Bros. Melee” (2001)

In the mainstream fighting game scene, no joke character has been as notoriously abysmal as Pichu here. Adorable as it may be, Pichu is nothing more than a worse Pikachu clone. You’ve got the Thunder, Thunder Jolt, Skull Bash, and Agility. However, every single time you use a special, Pichu gains damage! On top of that, just about every single character can launch Pichu off the stage with very little effort. That said, if you desperately want to main Pichu, our advice is to play “Smash Ultimate” instead. The little mouse isn’t as bad there compared to its debut in “Melee”.

Hercule

“Dragon Ball: Budokai” series (2002-12)

Now, those of you wanting to lean heavily into the “joke” aspect of “joke characters”, then sure, Hercule is the guy to yuck it up with. In a game where Saiyans and aliens are beating the snot out of each other and dealing devastating damage to each other, Hercule can’t come close to their power level. His punches barely make a dent, and even if you execute a lengthy combo, it’s not enough to gain the advantage in a fight. In other words, Hercule is going to make you literally sweat throughout a match just so you can keep up with your opponent.

Maria Renard

“Castlevania: Judgment” (2008)

Say what you will about “Castlevania: Judgment”. It’s an awful spin-off, it’s the start of Konami’s darkest age, it’s a total botch of the classic “Castlevania” cast - we’ve heard it all before. But of the entire roster, Maria Renard is absolutely horrible as a joke character. Her entire playstyle leans into her personality of being inexperienced, awkward and clumsy. Spells will sometimes mess up, and even if you do execute them perfectly, they are all so easy to avoid that it makes Maria a useless fighter. Admittedly, she isn’t the worst in the game, but as a joke character, she’s still awful.

Norimaro

“Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter” (1997)

It’s kind of obvious why Norimaro was removed from the Western release of MvSF. In case you don’t know who he is, Norimaro was a character performed by Japanese comedian Noritake Kinashi in the 90s. And no, he had absolutely no ties to Marvel or “Street Fighter” prior to this game. So, why is he here? Well, Norimaro was only put into the game because the team at Capcom were just fans of his. True story. And that’s all well and fine, but how does he play? Well…he’s funny? Problem with Norimaro is that he barely makes any meaningful damage in even a Hyper Combo. So, yeah, you can laugh at the goofy moves on display, but competing with him as one of your fighters is metaphorically a death sentence.

Viking, Chicken, Clown, Pumpkin, & Nergling

“The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” (2006)

Imagine going through the Story Mode with every single character and playing a crap ton of VS matches, and you find out that you’ve unlocked the four NPC enemies you’ve been seeing the entire time. The Viking, Chicken, Clown, Pumpkin, and Nergling are your final rewards for doing just about everything in the game…and they suck. Each character only has two attacks, and of them all, only the Viking is considered to be the top-tier character. Everyone else is either too slow or too big of a target to be considered worthy contenders. And none of them are fun to play…except for Viking. Its funny cheesing your friends just by mashing B.

Ponygon

“Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles” (2005)

The thing about joke characters is that they are intentionally designed to be horrible. Why? Because it’s funny. But in the case of Ponygon, it’s a vastly different story. If you played the North American version of “Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles” you probably noticed that Ponygon is the only character in the entire game who does not have a human partner and therefore cannot utilize spells. Believe it or not, there is a reason for this. At the time of release, American audiences had not yet received every English episode of the Ancient Mamodo arc and thus had not finished Ponygon’s story in that arc. So, to prevent spoiling the story, the North American version of “Mamodo Battles” had Ponygon’s human partner removed from the game. The problem is that Mamodos need humans to execute their abilities. And so, without a human partner available, Ponygon was bumped down to F-tier…all for the sake of avoiding spoilers.

Blarney

“Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport” (1995)

Whoever’s idea it was to put a parody of Barney the Dinosaur deserves a raise…and then, maybe a boot out of the studio because there is no reason to play the dino for more than five minutes. Don’t get us wrong - Blarney is one of the funniest parody characters we’ve seen in gaming. However, he is just downright awful. All he can do is move back and forth while spamming a single heart projectile. Get him down once, and he’s done for. You’ll just be able to exploit your best move and kill him off quickly. Kind of a shining example of how intense the Barney hatred was throughout the 90’s. But there is one fighting game character, one joke character that will forever be the worst punchline in the genre’s history.

Roll

“Marvel vs. Capcom” series (1996-2017)

Roll, the little girl who is so horrendous at fighting that any MvC player puts her in her own bottom of the barrel tier. The Roll tier. Roll’s entire design is akin to Dan where her moveset is just Mega Man’s but significantly worse. Her Hyper Combos are a bit shorter, she does less damage, and she takes more damage than almost any other character on the roster (Servbot may have her beat). Roll is simply the most useless character to ever appear in a fighting game, and it’s hard to imagine that notoriety ever changing.

Have you tried any of these joke characters for yourself? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!