Sony's PlayStation console has been at the forefront of the video gaming industry since the release of the hardware's first edition in 1994. Nowadays, the PlayStation 4 has a colossal following of dedicated fans, eager to experience story after story that Sony's games have to offer. Uncharted, God of War, and Horizon Zero Dawn are only a fraction of the excellent properties that the platform has to offer. These games (and countless others) have left lasting impressions on audiences around the world. Based on high sales rates, regular critical praise, and a host of unique franchises not found on any other system, it is clear that Sony's branch of interactive electronic entertainment has been soaring in 2018.
That being said, the PlayStation's history is still riddled with hilarity. What could have been a straightforward evolution of gaming has hit plenty of bumps in the road. Holes in logic, insane fan theories, and overblown nostalgia have all warped the identities of Sony's franchises. For over two decades, the PlayStation has undergone a plethora of changes, both physically and socially. In turn, these changes have brought about some of the Internet's funniest memes.
The console, the community, and the games themselves are all stuffed to the brim with comedy gold, and the world has taken note. Here are 25 memes that exemplify the good, the bad, and the ugly of PlayStation games!
25 The Joys of Exclusivity
For a time, Microsoft was winning the console wars with Xbox 360-exclusive titles, along with early access to DLC from franchises such as Call of Duty. After that, the insane popularity of the Wii put Nintendo on top. Now, the PlayStation 4 is a monster of a console, having sold over 70 million units. The top place in the console wars brings new light to the star franchises published by Sony, and subsequently, Uncharted 4 is the best-selling PlayStation 4 title so far.
However, pride gives rise to envy.
As the meme above demonstrates, this gem of a game is only available for PlayStation fans at the time of this writing. Considering its celebrated quality in the newfound limelight, some portions of the demographics on PC, Xbox One, and Wii U were understandably disappointed that they would not be able to experience Uncharted 4. It is important to remember though, that PlayStation fans went through the same struggle during the releases of Halo and Super Mario Maker. These memes are only poking fun at the issue because they understand being on the other end of the deal. Someday, Sony may even fall by the wayside once more, but for now, PlayStation fans can kick back and enjoy the high life with their console's amazing franchises.
24 Once Upon A Code
Cheat codes are slowly, but surely, going extinct. A wide variety of PlayStation games used to hold secret codes in their systems, sequences that could be discovered only through a knowledgeable friend, a codebook, or a trial-and-error endeavor. These codes could make a character invincible, offer infinite lives, or warp graphics on a whim. While some games still hold versions of these secrets as unlockable alterations or nostalgic throwbacks, the days of walking to a nearby game shop and buying a book to locate a cheat code among its weathered pages are essentially obsolete.
Gone also are the days of scribbling down available cheat codes to try on PlayStation games later, because now, all of the information one could possibly want about gaming is right at our society's fingertips. Secrets are easier to find than ever; there are entire websites dedicated to labeling every Easter egg and collectible in existence. If the newest PlayStation game has anything to hide, they will not remain surprises for long in the Internet era. While this is often spectacular, providing an unprecedented convenience in the gaming community, it is also nice to remember the magical memories of discovering an amazing secret for the very first time.
23 The Silliest Online Community
Members of the PC gaming community frequently mock the PlayStation online community for lacking skill, organization, and common sense in competitive gaming. While it might pain some of us to admit this, the criticism is often spot-on. Particularly in FPS games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Overwatch, the average player's behavior is hilarious to observe. Slower turning speed and weaker resolution will constantly lead players to unknowingly sprint past each other. Joysticks are far less precise than a standard mouse, so aiming is far trickier. No matter how one looks at it, PlayStation players are disadvantaged in this regard, and this much is clear in most competitive FPS games.
This system frequently divides fanbases, such as the PlayStation 4 Call of Duty community, into two camps. Some players are overly cautious, simply standing still and waiting behind doorways with weapons at the ready. Other players are overly reckless, sprinting around the environments trying to catch shots with a sniper rifle. Regardless of which style of play comes up victorious, the skirmishes can be unmitigated chaos. PlayStation communities shine in with many positive attributes, but the average skill levels of FPS players are undoubtedly hindered, which produces amusing results.
22 Kratos Has A Headache
This another God of War meme to remind everyone that protagonist Kratos is one angry person. He has made waves for his wrath, which is specifically targeted toward the gods of Greek mythology, such as Ares and Zeus. Throughout his entire run of games, anger has been his sole character trait (until 2018, that is, but we will get around to discussing that). This diagram shows different types of headaches and their basic causes, then mimics the art style to produce Kratos's iconic facepaint. Of course, the meme would not be complete without the caption, which perfectly exemplifies the character's foundational intentions.
Considering his troubled history with the Greek gods, it is hard to blame Kratos for his vendetta. His life is one of tragedy, but for many of his stories, his sadness was only expressed through his ongoing fight against the Greek gods. Once he finishes his quest in God of War 3, the character is —hypothetically— at the end of his road. It is only in the newly released PlayStation 4 entry in the series that finally complicated his character, introducing a set of brand new motivational factors into the character's story. It produces excellent results, but the Internet still found a brilliant way to make fun of that, too.
21 Sounds Logical, Joel
Fire is a funny thing in video games. In some entries of The Elder Scrolls series, lit torches can be found in underwater chests, but magic exists in that universe, so it could be dismissed. In a standard Mario platformer, Yoshi can swallow a fireball whole, but who knows what kind of mystical powers a talking dinosaur could possess? Joel from The Last of Us kicks the fire physics up a notch by crafting a molotov cocktail and stuffing it directly into his pocket. In a game praised for its gritty realism, the protagonist repeatedly refuses to snuff out the wick on an extremely volatile weapon.
The reason this thought is particularly funny is because Joel, allegedly a "hardened survivalist," apparently knows nothing about the laws of chemistry. According to the logic presented in The Last of Us, Joel can correctly identify which plants to eat for their medicinal properties. He can craft tools out of a tin can, scissors, and some fertilizer. He can bandage himself up without ever hosting an infection. Despite all of this skill and knowledge at his disposal, this meme still leaves us wondering how Joel even survived the opening hours of The Last of Us.
20 God Of Dad Jokes
The truth about God of War 2018 is that it is actually a simulator about being a dad. Throughout the entire story, Kratos slowly learns how to be a father to his son, Atreus. Unfortunately, for most of the game, he is not very good at it. Thanks to his war-torn past, Kratos only understands confrontation. In turn, this becomes his parenting style. Those that purchase the game should be prepared to constantly be barking orders at Atreus, almost always referring to him as "boy," and finding disappointment. Kratos talks to his son like most of us would talk to a dog.
It is also important to note that Kratos, on his journey through the world of Norse mythology, is dragging his son around through the entire endeavor. He uses his son for rune-reading, puzzle-solving, and arrow-shooting. This is about it. Sure, Kratos is always protecting his son, but only because he takes his son along this odyssey of mortal danger. They encounter so many monsters that Atreus probably would have been much safer if Kratos found him some good hiding place. Either that, or he could offer a compliment once in a while. Until the demigod figures out how to be a father, enjoy Disappointed Father Simulator.
19 More Fire Physics
Speaking of problems with fire, Nathan Drake finds a surprising number of lit candles during his adventures. Even the very name of the franchise, Uncharted, implies that the territory Nathan is discovering has not been discovered by civilization for some time. And yet, the game's levels need proper lighting. The game would be impossible to play without lighting. Still, is it not important to retain immersion in the world? Surely, there could be some other strategy for lighting a sealed tomb. Whether the developer Naughty Dog did not think through the design decision or they just did not care about the issue, it is still a prominent reminder that the game is a product of digital entertainment. It is a shame, too, since the story is engrossing.
Uncharted is an excellent property. The series has a huge fan following, and it is easily a system-seller for the PlayStation consoles. Thus, tiny issues like this could be forgiven, but it will not be done without some mockery first. It is quite humorous to identify the immersion-breaking loopholes in video game logic. There are more examples than one might think, which we will explore with other franchises later in the list.
18 Spyro's Proud History
The original Spyro the Dragon trilogy--released for the first PlayStation from 1998 to 2000--was a trifecta of beloved platforming games. The critics praised them, future games took influence from their design, and they hold a special place in the hearts of those that grew up playing them. The problem is that, today, audiences have forgotten about Spyro's soaring beginnings. He currently holds a place in video gaming as a prominent piece of the Skylanders franchise, a popular toys-to-life game series spanning a plethora of consoles.
Through it all, Sony's favorite purple dragon has been lost in the shuffle.
The worst-case scenario arising from this trend is that Spyro will go the way of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega's leading character had an unforgettable impact on the gaming environment, but the new games have warped the character into an unrecognizable state, turning his new 3D persona into a widely-derided caricature of what he once was. Thankfully, Sony seems to be aware that fans still look back fondly on the days of Spyro the Dragon. Those that never got the chance to try the original Spyro trilogy can revisit the experience in the PlayStation 4 remaster, arriving on September 21, 2018.
17 The Good Old Gaming Days
During the heyday of the first PlayStation console, we were all much younger. For those of us that were children at the time, we had fewer monetary responsibilities and fewer time-consuming obligations. Now that twenty years have passed, times have changed. With each iteration of each console, most Sony fans can afford to purchase and play only a few games per year. Thankfully, with loss of quantity, audiences are compensated with a fair measure of quality. Graphics keep improving, mechanics keep evolving, and hardware is more robust than ever. PlayStation games have improved greatly, but many longtime fans are experiencing less and less of the stories that Sony has to offer.
This image perfectly captures this struggle. Where old shelves were packed to the brim with short and sweet PlayStation classics, only a few games remain. They may be filled to the brim with content and entertainment value, but the lowered supply is still enough to elicit a sigh from lifelong video game fans. The best possible course of action nowadays is to appreciate the excellence of what is possible with modern technology, yet still look back with fondness on the simpler era of console video gaming.
16 The Future Is Here
Along with Sony's advances in technology, the visuals of the PlayStation have improved significantly. Thanks to hard-working developers and the raw strength of the PlayStation 4's graphical hardware, games have been looking better than ever. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the PlayStation 4 Pro, Sony's upgraded version of their beloved console. It produces gorgeous, near-lifelike aesthetics for franchises worth their mettle. This works particularly well for The Last Guardian, a game that was developed over the course of nearly a decade, since it looks amazing. So amazing, in fact, that it can be laughable.
Trico, the giant half-bird, half-mammal creature that serves as one of the protagonists of this PlayStation exclusive title, is a ferocious beast. It is difficult to train, it eats a lot, and it can get grumpy after naps. Does this sound familiar? Trico is practically feline already, so replacing him with a real image of a housecat seems reasonable. The change pokes fun at Sony's obsession with ever-improving visuals in gaming, and at The Last Guardian as a premise. While this new version of the game sounds amusing, if I were the boy befriending Trico, I would be living in constant fear of the giant, grotesque hairballs.
15 Sony's Heroes Are Flawed
InFamous, Sucker Punch's PlayStation-exclusive franchise since 2009, has as many logic holes as an Assassin's Creed game. One of the most glaring of these resides in Cole MacGrath's movement limitations. The Conduit can grind on electrical wires, leap from building to building, and scale nearly anything in InFamous's sandbox environments. Sensibly speaking, these movement abilities should allow him to go virtually anywhere. However, he is unable to climb chain-link fences. An ordinary person in average physical shape could scale a chain-link fence with little difficulty, but somehow this parkour master struggles with the task.
The nonsensical premise just makes this zoning mechanism seem hokey.
From a gameplay perspective, the implementation of unbreakable barriers makes sense in concept. It keeps the player from wandering where they should not be allowed to go. Other games do this all the time to zone players, to varying degrees of success. The chain-link fence is not quite as egregious as the invisible walls found in early console games and low-budget flops, but it still breaks immersion. If any aspect of gaming opens the door for criticism, judgment, and humor, it is the fault of breaking a player's immersion. Luckily, Sucker Punch fixed this error in the InFamous sequels, but one can only hope that the idea stays gone.
14 Spyro's Less-Than-Proud History
In Spyro the Dragon, one of the most obnoxious enemy types in the game is the attack frog. They jump around the dragon, lashing at him with their giant tongues, causing many a player to hurl their PlayStation controller in frustration. While they can only be located in one of the game's multiple homeworlds, they still leave a lasting impact on players that struggle against such comical enemies. Like all good games, Spyro the Dragon references its most absurd sections, but that actually might make the whole thing worse.
"Be on the lookout for attack frogs — they're cold-blooded!" the game jokes.
When the game acknowledges the petty conflict with a sarcastic jest, failing to defeat these hooligans feels embarrassing, and this is made emphasized for one particular reason. The most insulting aspect behind the attack frog is the blatant humility that accompanies a loss. Losing health points never feels good in games, but losing health points by being hit by a blue frog's flailing tongue can bring pure shame. Many early levels in platforming titles have enemies like this — small, simple enemies that should be easy wins for players. But for some, fighting them can be maddening, depending on if they are as obnoxious or humiliating as the attack frog.
13 Trolls...Trolls Everywhere
Imagine, for a moment, standing in the midst of a battlefield. Shouts are echoing, swords are clashing, but all of a sudden, the fray is joined by none other than the Easter bunny. If this sounds familiar, it is because players across a variety of games have earned the most ridiculous attire possible, just to don it every game and shatter the immersion of their fellow players. Nearly every crew has that one friend that dyes his camouflage vest a neon pink, or that one friend that purchases a suped-up ice cream truck for their high-speed racing vehicle.
It is rare to find a modern competitive PlayStation game without some overly showy or pointlessly unrealistic customization option. They are intrinsically designed to make one laugh in small doses, but their excessive use turns them into living memes. These troll cosmetics are often ridiculous, and when applied poorly, they can ruin what was intended to be a tense experience. Nevertheless, these bright colors and broken designs are unforgettably entertaining in small doses. It can be a huge stress reliever to duel a grim reaper wearing a sombrero from time to time, especially when it leaves players busting their guts with laughter.
12 The Horror Games Are Terrifying
PlayStation VR is an amazing project for Sony. The PlayStation 4's edition of virtual reality immerses players within its games by surrounding them with brilliant sights and sounds. That sounds like a perfect platform for Resident Evil VII, one of the scariest horror games on PlayStation 4, but the ESRB rates games for a reason. The girl in this photo looks far too young to step withing miles of the terrifying and revolting imagery of Resident Evil. The newest entry in the franchise places players into the shoes of kidnapping victims, being held by the villainous Baker family in what is essentially a haunted house.
Total immersion in Resident Evil VII entails total horror.
The game is rated 'M' for Mature, so it likely means that the girl's parents owned the game, and she opted to take it for a spin. Whether or not she is actually playing is up for debate, since the parent could be simply showing off the case for humor's sake. If she is actually trapped inside the Baker family household, she will undoubtedly have a bad time. Many of us would remove the headset within the first hour; one can only imagine what kind of fright the game could give to an eight-year-old.
11 Not Every Project Is Perfect
In contrast to the brilliance of the PlayStation VR, the PlayStation Move feels like a copycat project. After the Wii's release in 2006, motion control in gaming was the fad of the decade. Microsoft quickly threw itself into the ring with the Xbox Kinect in 2010, and Sony followed suit with the PlayStation Move. All three of the ideas work well enough, but the Kinect is far more distinct from the Wii that preceded it. The PlayStation Move controller looks very similar to a Wii controller (albeit with a multicolored light attached, which would foreshadow the PlayStation 4 controller's light bar), and the general premise was the same. Both projects even came with the same warnings about using the controller safely.
This meme pokes fun at the warning about spacial awareness. Countless jokes have been made at the Wii's expense, portraying the remote injuring people and smashing televisions. This comic takes it a step further, making fun of the fact that in the original warning photo, the player is using the PlayStation Move controller to smack both a lamp and another person in a wide swing with comically poor spacial awareness. It almost looks impossible for someone to do such a thing by accident, so the dialogue box has been rectified to reveal the truth.
10 Overwatch Games Can Be Unfair
As aforementioned, the competitive FPS scene on the PlayStation leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the points scored in Call of Duty and Battlefield amount to either lucky shots or reserved gameplay. While Overwatch has some unique design twists, remedying a few of the issues prevalent on other console FPS games, the reserved gameplay still shines at the early levels. Symmetra's auto-targeting beam makes her a dreaded opponent for low-ranked players with poor console aim. Torbjorn and his turret make him the same. While both of these characters can be countered with simple, one-player strategies, one character cannot.
One character aligns reserved gameplay with high-difficulty counters: Bastion.
Even if a player gets three eliminations with one attack, they still may lose the honor of Play of the Game to a Bastion — a stationary robot that can sit in any corner and fire at the enemy. His widespread and long-range means he does rarely needs to move or aim to score easy wins against PlayStation Overwatch players. Countless Plays of the Game go to players as Bastion, sitting down in a single place and making scores of eliminations, all with the single press of a button.
9 Not Everything Makes Sense
Assassin's Creed is a myriad of contradictions. The rules of the world change from game to game, and sometimes, they even change within each entry. For example, in Assassin's Creed II, one can hurl themselves off the top of the largest chapel in Italy. They will fall into a cart stuffed with hay, right in the midst of a crowd, and no one will notice or care. However, if you scale the side of a short building, or perhaps leap over an obstacle for a shortcut, the AI will lose its digital mind. As a general rule of the game, non-player characters react inconsistently.
Perhaps a duel started in the middle of the street will send crowds scurrying off into different directions, since they are programmed to react with fear. However, as soon as the conflict ends, most of them will blissfully continue on their way as if nothing had happened. The same goes for the parkour contradiction. Moving around the street level can be a blast in Assassin's Creed, but only if players do not mind being judged by every passing pedestrian. It might not make any sense, but that is the logic of video games at work.
8 Not Everything Is Sane, Either
The N. Sane Trilogy —a remastered version of the first three Crash Bandicoot games—dropped on PlayStation 4 in 2017. The new release revitalized the brand of PlayStation mascot Crash Bandicoot, and this, in turn, reignited a viral meme. About a year earlier, the YouTube channel "OneyPlays" had uploaded a playthrough of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back in which he yells "Woah!" whenever surprised. For a time, poorly rendered Crash Bandicoot was everywhere, reacting to everything with Oney's resounding "Woah!" catchphrase. Was Windows breaking down? "Woah!" Was Smash Mouth's "All-Star" playing? "Woah!"
Eventually, even the official Crash Bandicoot Twitter account embraced the meme.
They did so by Tweeting out this image. It elegantly details the eight levels of "Woah!" which helps both promote the N. Sane Trilogy remaster and the "OneyPlays" YouTube channel. The spectacular collaboration of ideas turned out to be a win for everyone, and now the people of the Internet may carry on with "Woah!" taking a special place in their hearts. It goes to show once again that, like with Spyro, fans of the older PlayStation consoles still care about the original characters and franchises that pioneered Sony to where the company sits today.
7 Let Me Guess, Someone Made A Skyrim Joke?
Is it funnier to laugh with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, or to laugh at Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? While the game is easily one of the greatest pieces of interactive entertainment to ever exist, pioneering the genre in an unprecedented way, it is still hysterical. Funniest of all is its crime system, with guards that are extremely aggressive in every single way, responding to almost every single crime. Regardless of the Dragonborn's heroics, the authorities are always watching for mistakes, waiting for any excuse to throw them in a cell. Stealing a tomato can lead to prison time.
No punishment is more unfair than one for accidentally hitting a chicken.
Chickens are everywhere in the towns of Skyrim. They are important to the common folk, so attacking them is a crime. This usually is far from a problem, except when a battle breaks out nearby. In a game without a targeting system, it is incredibly easy to hit an unintentional target, and it happens quite a bit. One could be dueling a dragon, or a bear, or a group of bandits, and chickens will stroll right through the battle. They are practically throwing themselves in the way of attack, so it seems completely unjustified for the Skyrim guards to assign prison time for accidentally striking one.
6 IGN Is Getting Snarky
Like the meme about Uncharted 4 never releasing for PC, Xbox One, or Wii U, this image finds humor in the fact that a masterpiece has hit the gaming community, but only for a fraction of it. God of War is another spectacular title, an early contender for 2018's game of the year. It is set to become an award-winning, critically-acclaimed milestone in video game storytelling. It completely reforged the God of War series, and it has become a must-buy for PlayStation fans.
The best part of this meme is that it was Tweeted by IGN.
With a snarky "Spot you spot the difference?" message and a sarcastic emoji, IGN brutally mocked the Xbox One and its fans, since they will not have the opportunity to experience God of War. While it is a shame that the title will never come out, it is easy to take the message in a lighthearted stride, considering that many other great games (Gears of War, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead) are not set to ever make an appearance on the PlayStation 4. The console wars are heated, particularly between the fanbases, but all sides have had their own unique victories. God of War is just another chapter in a long-running saga. For all the world knows, the next masterpiece will be an Xbox One exclusive.