Top 10 Racist Video Game Moments That You Forgot About

“Goodbye Deponia” (2013) “Deponia” is a graphic adventure series that follows Rufus, an inhabitant of the junk planet Deponia with big dreams of living on the much better Elysium. The series features a lot of dark humor, but one joke in the third game took things way too far. At one point, in order to progress, Rufus will have to sell a Black woman named June to an organ grinder. There are a multitude of things that make this awful, from Rufus lying in order to trick her to the skimpy clothing she’s forced to wear. The worst part is the organ grinder yelling at her to “dance monkey, dance!” C’mon guys, you had to know this wouldn’t go over well.

#9: Race Swap

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“Revelations: Persona” (1996) “Persona” has only grown more popular with each entry. But the first release made a very unfortunate change to a character’s race. It focuses on a close knit group of friends, one of whom is Masao Inaba. Rebellious in nature, Masao often gets in trouble with the police over his love of graffiti. When the game was localized in North America, Masao’s race was changed to African American. The reason given was to make the cast more diverse, but making this character in particular Black definitely didn’t sit right. What’s worse is that Atlus shoehorned a lot of awkward Ebonics into his dialogue. Atlus clearly recognized its mistake, as the race swap and dialogue changes weren’t kept for the 2009 PSP port.

“Call of Juarez: The Cartel” (2011) Before this FPS was even released, it was accused of glorifying real-life violence. While context is everything, it seems those concerns were more than justified. Post-release, it was rightfully criticized for perpetuating stereotypes about the Mexican cartel. In particular, it showed the cartel kidnapping women in the US to sell in Mexico, when the opposite is true in real life. This dangerous line of thinking of invading criminals is still used by certain politicians more than a decade later. Misinformation wasn’t the game’s only sin, however. One of its achievements was earned by killing 40 enemies on a level in which only African Americans appear. “Call of Jaurez” hasn’t seen a new release since 2013, though we’d say that’s probably for the best.

“Pokémon” series (1998-) Some Pokémon designs are strong, others are weak. And then there’s the abomination that is Jynx. After the Pokémon games and anime made its way to the West, many began pointing out how problematic the design of Jynx is. It has the most human-like form of the original generation, which, combined with a sultry dress, is certainly uncomfortable. However, the aspect that was criticized the most was how Jynx resembled Blackface actors. Obviously, that is incredibly offensive. Which is why the Pokémon Company changed Jynx’s face from black to purple in all future appearances as well as in re-releases of older games and reruns of the show. We still find Jynx’s design creepy, but at least it isn’t racist anymore.

“Kung Fu Chaos” (2003) In “Kung Fu Chaos,” developer Just Add Monsters set out to transition their love of old school kung fu movies into a video game. We’d argue they could have done that without propping each and every character up with blatant stereotypes. The Xbox exclusive fighter let you and up to three friends play such characters as Candi Roll, Captain Won Ton, Master Sho Yu, and a duo called Chop & Styx. With names like that, you shouldn’t be surprised to see they all look and sound like your most basic racist caricatures. A fighter that pays homage to classic but hokey martial arts films actually sounds great. And while the developers may have had good intentions, this is painful.

#5: A Trip to Mexico

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“Spanish for Everyone!” (2007) The DS had a surprising amount of great games dedicated to keeping your brain fresh, from “Picross” to “Brain Age.” On the opposite end of the spectrum is “Spanish for Everyone!,” an Activision-published language learning game catered to kids filled with racist undertones. The premise follows Shawn, who must travel to Mexico to get his DS back, accidentally taken by his friend Miguel. Throughout Shawn’s journey, the game hits you with waves of Mexican stereotypes. Miguel’s father clearly works for the cartel; police cars chase him during the beginning. Shawn’s journey also includes his Aunt Gina, who’s way too forward with how she speaks to him, and Miguel’s uncle, who turns the unknowing Shawn into a drug mule at the end. That is insane.

#4: The Fighters

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“Punch-Out!!” series (1984-2009) Listen, “Punch-Out!!” is a ton of fun. Figuring out and conquering each fighter’s pattern is great. But that doesn’t change the fact that those fighters are pretty flagrant stereotypes of various races and nationalities. It begins immediately with the first opponent in each game, Glass Joe, a stereotypical weak and cowardly Frenchman who, at some points, gets croissants knocked out of him. There’s also Great Tiger, an Indian fighter who rides a flying carpet and wears a turban, Don Flamenco, a Spanish fighter who dances and keeps a rose in his mouth, and Soda Popinski, a Russian boxer whose original name was Vodka Drunkenski due to his love for…well, you know.

“Freaky Flyers” (2003) If the caricatures in “Kung Fu Chaos” and “Punch-Out!!” are bad, then the ones in “Freaky Flyers” are even worse. Released for the sixth generation of consoles, this racer features characters from all over the globe competing for glory. Which is to say it features a whole lot of racist stereotypes. There’s Sammy Wasabi, a Japanese pilot who speaks in broken English and flies a plane called the Kamikaze Express. Then there’s Sheik Abdul. He’s Indian and, as we know from “Punch-Out!!,” that means he must wear a turban and ride a flying carpet. Though, he also has a pet camel for good measure. Others include Cactus Rose, a feisty latina stereotype, the over-the-top Jamaican Island Jack, and a stinky French-Canadian named Andre Latoilette.

“Playing History 2 - Slave Trade” (2013) The history of slavery in the US is clearly something that should not be trivialized. We’d think that would be obvious, yet somehow, “Playing History 2 - Slave Trade” exists. In this educational game, you play as a young slave named Tim, who helps his master transport slaves to North America. Gameplay includes piloting the ship and bargaining to reduce slave prices. If that doesn’t sound offensive enough, it used to include a Tetris-like minigame in which you stacked slaves into the ship. But it was removed following a wave of backlash that it seems anyone could’ve seen coming a mile away. The Danish developer still blamed critics for being overly sensitive and claimed it was a misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Yeah…right.

#1: Revenge Against the Natives

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“Custer’s Revenge” (1982) Despite having more simplistic graphics than any other game on this list, “Custer’s Revenge” is too foul not to claim the top spot. Released for the Atari 2600 in 1982, it has players take control of historical figure Commander George Custer. The purpose is to avenge Custer’s famous death at the hands of Native Americans in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Custer does so by making it across a field of raining arrows and forcing himself on a tied-up, Native American woman. As if the idea of getting revenge against people who lived in North America first wasn’t bad enough, it rewards sexual assault. Despite immediate controversy, the makers doubled down. But Atari sued, and the game was removed from circulation.