About

But It's a Modern Game or Modern Game Parodies refers to a series of video memes that apply arguably negative modern triple-A gaming tropes, primarily overly expository tutorial narration, prompts and cheesy dialogue, to older video games. The trend was inspired by the viral Triple-A Mario video that went viral in December 2025, featuring many of the same criticisms of modern gaming. It was popularized in mid-February 2026 by TikToker @dextermanning after he posted a video showcasing a similar "modern gaming" version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Origin

AAA Mario

On August 18th, 2022, YouTuber^[1] Funkyzeit Games posted a video titled, "I created a Mario game I always wish existed: Super Mario RTX – Unreal Engine 5," garnering over 650,000 views in three years. The video shows basic gameplay of a Super Mario Bros. game made in the Unreal Engine 5 game engine, making the game look more realistic, gritty and "triple-A."

On November 22nd, 2025, TikToker^[2] @masonic106 posted a video setting realistic audio to footage of the original Super Mario Bros. Nintendo Entertainment System game, which was reuploaded by X^[3] user @ramenoranges on December 18th, writing, "I'm gonna make a super mario au based off this video if this keeps happening," garnering over 18,000 likes in eight days.

Later that day, the same user quoted their X^[4] post with a screenshot of the comment sections from Funkyzeit Games' 2022 video in which users imagine lines of dialogue that might appear in the realistic Unreal Engine 5 version of a Mario game, writing, "I might actually do this because this comment section gave me a good base for Mario's personality," gaining over 24,000 likes in eight days.

On December 19th, X^[5] user and voiceover artist @RyanStewartVO posted a video reading the lines of dialogue commented over the Unreal Engine 5 Mario video, garnering over 64,000 views in a week.

On December 21st, 2025, he posted a second voiceover of the video to X,^[6] this time featuring imagined dialogue between Mario and Princess Peach, who speaks to Mario over a communication device, garnering over 124,000 likes and 19,000 reposts in five days.

This video notably features the line, "Focus, M. Bowser's castle is just up ahead," spoken by Peach to Mario after he makes a joking remark at her. The dialogue is meant to replicate dialogue found in other AAA games. Peach is voiced by X^[7] user @ArielHck.

"But It's a Modern Game" Trend

On February 13th, 2026, TikToker^[8] @dextermanning posted a video sharing many similarities with the "AAA Mario" video, but based on the game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The video gained over 335,000 views in a month.

The TikToker^[9] posted another Ocarina of Time edit with this premise on February 14th that gained over 945,000 views in the same span of time.

Spread

The Modern Game Parodies trend became increasingly popularized throughout late February and early March 2026, as TikToker @dextermanning continued to post videos following the format, inspiring others to do the same.

On February 19th, TikToker^[10] @jayxp_yt posted a video following the format with Sonic Adventure 2, garnering over 117,000 views in two weeks.

On March 1st, 2026, YouTuber^[11] BartFreeman posted a video that modernizes gameplay of Half-Life 2, garneirng over 93,000 views in four days.

On March 2nd, X^[12] user @TheJeremy__ reposted the video, garnering over 10,000 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References