KYM Review: Video Game Memes of 2017

Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined internet culture in 2017 as we know it.

et’s get this out of the way: Nintendo absolutely killed the meme game in 2017. It seems like every move they made had fans making jokes (and you know, the games were pretty good too). Gaming in 2017 saw memes become reality, as fanservice wormed its way into some of the year’s biggest titles. Sonic Team pretty much said “screw it” and made a game tailored specifically to Sonic Fan Artists. Pokémon offered plenty of memorable characters and even sprinkled some sexual innuendo into their games--after all, the fans who’ve been playing it since 1996 are likely in their late 20s now. For the most part, gaming in 2017 provided a nice escape from a more tumultuous reality (except when Wolfenstein said “Nazis Are Bad” and everyone lost their minds), and was one of the most consistent resources of internet jollies.

Press A to Pound

Title: Pokémon Sun and Moon Memes

It’s been an incredible 2017 for the Pokémon franchise. By tweaking the classic Pokémon formula for the game’s seventh generation, Nintendo created two of the most memorable, if not arguably the strongest entries in the Pokémon series with Pokémon Sun and Moon. Gone is the classic eight-gym-elite-four progression path; in its stead, Nintendo introduced island trials wherein players complete puzzles on their way to fight a super-powered “totem” Pokémon for a Z-Crystal rather than the traditional badge. Gone is the overarching nefarious-villain-looks-to-resurrect-legendary-Pokémon-to-take-over-the-world plot that had been in place for generations III-VI. In its stead is a moving, intricate plot revolving around motherhood, family, and friendship which deftly weaves in the obligatory Legendary Pokémon.

On top of that, Sun and Moon were arguably the most meme’d entries in the series yet, with a whopping 14 subentries to their name. The game’s dynamic cast and frankly more adult themes lent itself well to memers, as players picked up on the game telling them Press A to Pound over a picture of the female grass trainer Mallow. New characters like Primarina and Wicke inspired sexy fan art as well. But the most mainstream memes, Get In the Bag, Nebby and Alola Exeggutor simply riffed on the game’s sillier elements, as fans responded to the charm the new games brought. Couple Sun and Moon with a thriving anime and Ultra Sun and Moon, reboots which built on the original games in excellent ways, and 2017 may have been the best year for Pokémon in 20 years.

Bowser Block

Title: Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch could not escape memeification in 2017. Numerous memes spawned from the console’s games, but even the marketing of the Switch spawned memes, which should give you an idea of how enthusiastic fans were for the product. This included Karen, a woman who became a meme in the first Nintendo Switch commercial simply for bringing the console to a party, as well as a stream of Cartridge Tastings in which people tested (and learned) that Nintendo had covered the Switch cartridges in a horrible acid to prevent children from eating them. Still, the biggest meme of the Switch’s marketing was the Bowser Block.

Coming from a Nintendo ad for the Switch’s parental controls, the Bowser Block gives a wholesome twist on Bowser, turning him into a good dad who wants to keep the lewd away from Bowser Jr. Good Dad Bowser became a popular exploitable throughout the year, as he motion-blurred his way to save Jr. from anime, fake news, Sonic fan art, and more. May we all have as good a dad as Bowser. Except for, you know, the kidnapping thing.

Prince Sidon

Title: Breath of the Wild

Nintendo struck gold over and over again in 2017 by creating impeccably crafted games with memorable characters. As they did with Pokémon Sun and Moon, Nintendo approached the Zelda franchise with an open mind, mixing up the classic formula and coming out with arguably the best entry in the series to date in Breath of the Wild. Online, perhaps no character won the internet over as much as Prince Sidon, the hot Zora who put all other hot Zoras to shame.

Prince Sidon is the cheery, supportive boyfriend everyone in the world wishes they had. He appears periodically to offer Link support and just seems like an overall good guy you could take home to Zelda, who is never going to date you Link, just get over it and accept your true self at this point. God, you could cook an egg on those fins.

It’s Just Like Dark Souls

Gaming journalists didn’t have the, let’s say, best year. After journalist Dean Takahashi notoriously attempted and brutally failed to play the Cuphead tutorial, the fire between gamers and gaming journalists was once again stoked, as gamers took the video as evidence that journalists were unqualified to write about products they couldn’t use properly. While taking one video out of context may be unfair, the trend was also stoked by a cliché that began circulating among journalists in 2017: It’s Just Like Dark Souls.

Gaming journalists went to that well a few too many times to go unnoticed, and soon a meme spread mocking journalists who deemed anything even remotely challenging as “the next Dark Souls This came to a head when Games Radar used the phrase to describe Crash Bandicoot, a cheery platformer for children. After that, anything could be Dark Souls if it frustrated a journalist enough. Personally, I believe Doki Doki Literature Club is the next Dark Souls.

Classic Gaming Emotion

The "Classic Gaming Emotion" went criminally under the radar in 2017, because with its cheesy premise and easy access for variation, it had huge potential to be one of the best memes of the year. The meme comes from a 2010 TED Talk in which a woman shows a vaguely Ron Weasley-esque child displaying the “Classic Gaming Emotion” of an “Epic Win.”

It’s an exploitable on a plate, and the early wave of edits were terrific. You Hear About Video Games was tailor made for the exploitable, as was, naturally, salt. Perhaps the meme’s Tumblr and Funnyjunk origins stunted its growth, but perhaps I am showing the classic gaming emotion of being bitter not everyone liked the thing I liked.

Sniper Elite Headshot

2017 could sometimes feel like a year where you were constantly getting shot in the face, which made Sniper Elite Headshot a perfect exploitable for the year. Stemming from an absurd cinematic Sniper Elite 4, the Sniper Elite Headshot was a quick hit with Redditors, as the parts of the image could be very easily labeled to demonstrate all manner of violent to do’s.

While the exploitables never went to abstract places like, say, I Will Now Buy Your Game did, the Sniper Elite Headshot proved surprisingly durable, because if there’s one thing memers love, it’s a simple image they can make funny without having to put a lot of effort into.

I Will Now Buy Your Game

A good way to ensure your webcomic into a meme is to present the vaguely political point you wish to make with an air of general haughtiness. Give it a shoddy art style to boot, and bam, you’re in exploitable town, baby. Twitter user @glitchedpuppet hit the sweet spot when they created a comic for game developers asking them to stop making female animal characters in their games big-breasted and humanlike and make them look like, you know, actual animals.

Now, I think that glitchedpuppet’s point is a beat we can all dance to, but the tone of the comic is all off. Its shoddy presentation and its clunky kicker, “I will now buy your game,” made it ripe for parody, and it turned into one of the most enduring exploitables of the year. In addition to a wave of exploitable parodies, the comic even inspired some fan art between the two characters, making the original pairing of Wolf-rat-thing/humanoid-girl-version look strangely wholesome. If there’s one thing the wave of parodies proved, it’s that people will buy any game as long as it looks interesting and fun.

Cuphead Memes

We’ve talked about the impact Cuphead had on video game culture in our Fandom list, but for our purposes, its important to note just how Cuphead was tailor made for viral success. With its memorable cast of characters, huge internet fandom, and vaguely sexual undertones, the game was destined to birth some memes.

Both What’s The Matter, Little Fella? and Triple Gay tapped into the feeling that the game with its cutesy exterior was mocking the player for being unable to beat it, which in itself made Cuphead one of the most memorable games of the year. Additionally, the memes both exude on a certain emasculating quality which, again, is pretty much Cuphead.

Mario’s Nipples

Title: Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is a classic Mario game. Mario travels to the standard variety of worlds (grass world, fire world, sand world, water world, etc.), but it also mixes in some neat, eye-catching twists, particularly Cappy, Mario’s hat which literally possesses the soul of anything it wears (don’t think too much about it). But who gives a shit about any of that, Mario has nipples now.

This useless but not unappreciated design choice by Nintendo set the internet ablaze as the Nips were arguably the most radical reveal of Mario’s body since his infamous tribal tattoo. I mean we all knew he had to have them, right? Still, it looks weird seeing them in real life. Anyway, memers immediately got to work, and sure enough, fan art of what Mario would look like if he were truly a fat italian plumber hit the web. And the results… well, let’s just say bing bing wahoo, folks.

Sonic Original Characters

Title: Sonic Forces

God bless the Sonic Team, who cannot for the life of them make a game anybody likes, and god bless Sonic fans, who keep going to kick the football every time Sega puts it down. In Sonic Forces, Sonic Team decided to go the ultimate route in fan service by allowing players to essentially make Sonic Original Characters. Sonic Forces revolves around the creation of a player-avatar who will fight alongside Sonic and his friends, making the player one of the new members of Sonic’s team along the way.

The resulting game is an embarrassing mess, thanks in part to the player’s ability to make their avatar look genuinely garish and terrifying. The game’s only reward is a constant stream of new outfits for the player-avatar to wear, which boosts the cheese factor. Sonic Team even included Sanic Hegehog, perhaps as a wink to fans who recognize how ridiculous the Sonic series has become. Frankly, the game’s attempt to appeal to fans who genuinely want to be a part of the Sonic universe is almost sweet--so long as you’re not playing.