In Etrian Odyssey, there's a side quest where someone hires you because:

"Rumor has it the legendary songstress of Etria can be heard in the forest's depths. I ache to hear her voice..."

at some point you find a music box. After you find it the town theme changes, and the game notes how "her" voice (as heard from the music box) is so haunting. The funny thing is this is a direct reference to the Super Arrange Version soundtrack and in particular the last track which is sung by Rebecca Evans! I thought this was very clever and cute

I know I've come across other such little tidbits of wit here and there! Another one that comes to mind is Ultima VII (which is a fabulous RPG) where at one point you find a farmer who claims he contacted beings form the stars. When you search his fields, you find a Kilarathi spaceship which is a plug for Origin's (the company that made Ultima) other franchise, Wing Commander. Clever... and you get to hear the Wing Commander II theme which was sweet!

So, I imagine there are quite a few in-game jokes that people have come across during their gaming days! Do share...

cheers,

-avatar!

Capcom immediately comes to mind for at least in-game references. I've spotted several references to older Megaman series in the Battle Network games (not talking about redesigned robot masters, either).

In Xenogears, Tolone makes a reference to her "Positronic Photon Brain", and later remarks that she hopes the makers of Star Trek don't sue her. I thought that was hilarious. And speaking of the Elements, their combined Gear transformation, G-Elements, was such an obvious parody of combiner type robots in anime that I had a smile on my face the whole damn fight.

I remember playing Half-Life 2 the first time, and the main character who's got an MIT degree is ordered by an NPC to plug something into the wall to get his machine working. Another NPC in the room says something like "Good work, Gordon! I see that MIT education really pays for itself!"

There are so many more, but I need time to remember them all.

There's a joke in Wild Arms 2 that kind of goes over a lot of people's heads. There is a machine that asks the question "What did you finally get after suffering for three years?" Out of the three choices, the answer is "Holy Grail."

The explanation to this is there is no Holy Grail accessory (nulls instant death) in the original Wild Arms that came out in 1996 in Japan. Well, you can actually get it with a gameshark, but there is no legit way to get it. Still, I'm not sure if the item actually has that effect as there are some deleted items that don't work. The lack of the Holy Grail is insanely minor though (it would help on Mt. Zenom with those damn Tiny Edges!), as the Soul Guard spell nulls death. Nulling death really only comes in handy during the game's final battle.

The Holy Grail did make it into Wild Arms 2 however (where it is a godsend in the second to last dungeon), which came out in 1999 in Japan - hence three years. It took me more than three years to understand what the hell they were talking about when I used the Gameshark to take a peek inside the first game's inventory. Outside the Holy Grail, the most interesting thing I found was three left handed sword-like accessories for Jack which upped his damage quite a bit. They worked but didn't add any additional animation to his attack animation.

Yeah, baby!
I'm gettin' hard!
So hard for you, baby!

...so saith Gilbert from Legend of Mana.  If you don't believe me, look it up.  The little perv in me always found that hilarious back in the day.  I guess I still do since that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this post.  I'm really surprised Square actually got away with that.

(he was talking about being petrified, btw)

Man I know I've seen lots, but I suck at remembering them.

The only one that comes to mind is Breath of Fire III, there's a sequence in a castle prison somewhere, and if you talk to one of the inmates, he'll say "I can hear the silence of the lambs"
He does in the Japanese version at least, I have no idea if they kept that in the English version.

It's nice when games refer to movies/books though. That should happen more often.

You got any idea when that might have been in the game? Kid Ryu or adult Ryu? I'm curious now.

Another one of my favorite in-game jokes takes place in Mega Man Legends and continues in Mega Man Legends 2.

In Mega Man Legends, after clearing the second to last sub-gate, if you enter Roll's room on the Flutter you catch her changing clothes. Well, you don't see it - the screen is black - but you sure as hell hear her wrath as you get smacked and screamed at.

This is continued in Mega Man Legends 2 in the Saul Kada Ruins when you fight against Tron's Gustaff. Outside the fact I have no clue as to how she even gets that damn robot into the ruins when the door is only so big, Tron is thrown from the remains of the machine when it blows up - much like she was the first time you fought her in the original game. This time, however, her clothes are blown off as well. Again you don't see anything, as the camera is focused on Mega Man with his dropped jaw and a huge grin on his face. Oblivious to her situation, Tron goes into her normal rant how she'll get him back until the one servbot tells her she has no clothes on. Classic.

Actually, if you want to talk about humor in games, Tron's Servbots should be near the top of the list. So many funny moments, so funny lines.

There is also some funny sexual innuendo in Breath of Fire IV but all of it was removed from the US version.

Yeah, that shit happens again in Megaman Legends 2. You go into her room at one point, and the same thing happens, only this time, after you get yelled at, and Megaman is outside her room, he does this triumphant arm-pumping motion that suggests he liked what he saw.

EDIT: Totally agree on those Servbots, Ash. You and me, we gotta start a petition for Megaman Legends 3.

Uh, dude, I believe there WAS a Mega Man Legends 3! Well, it wasn't called Mega Man Legends 3, it was called "Rockman DASH: The Great Five Island Adventure" and it was for the CELL PHONE in JAPAN. I have to wonder if this was a port of MML2 (I think there were five lslands in that game) but what I read on Mega Man decicated sites was it was a new game w/a completely new physics engine behind it.

I had heard about this, but unless someone somehow gets a cellphone emulator up and running somewhere, I won't ever get a chance to play this. I just meant I'd like to see a new entry to the series on a console sometime. I need more Shining Laser on hapless servbots action going.

Oh, totally agreed on that point.

Still, I need to say I wouldn't buy any of the new consoles to play it if it did happen. I'd probably buy the game and play it on a friends console and then when console became obsolete, then I'd buy it.

*devilish grin*

still, I thought kicking them until they smoked was even more demeaning to them

I'm still waiting for a game that combines crazy humour and heartwrenching moments while being serious when it matters. That would be like Farscape of gaming.

Doubt I'll ever witness it, as both schools of game design (Eastern and Western) have difficulties with humour.

I feel like I've answered this sort of question here before, but hey.

Snatcher is full of humorous bits, especially whenever Gillian's on the phone. One bit that sticks out is when he tries talking dirty on a sex line only to find the game makers are censoring him.

Some others:

- I've always liked the bit in Chrono Trigger where Dalton replaces the dramatic song out for something more hectic.
- the codec conversation at the start of MGS3's Snake vs Monkey (can't you get Sam or Gabe instead?). Actually, MGS3 has a lot of funny bits.
- the option to translate Australian to English in BoF3.

Gah, tired. I'll add more tomorrow.

Hey, man. He was only minding the sheilas.

You, my friend, have GOT to play Shadow Hearts Covenant, cos that game is EXACTLY the way you just described.

"Do you want me to give human kids an addictive video-game that will deprive them of their sleep?"

I also meant a game that does that effectively. I've only played the first Shadow Hearts, and if that is indicative of Shadow Hearts Covenant, I don't think that's what I'm looking for.

There is MUCH more humor in Covenant.  And the serious bits are done better as well.

No, it is not, not even close.
Covenant is a billion times better in every single way.

The only trouble with Covenant is that you need to play the first Shadow Hearts to be able to fully appreciate it.

Totally forgot about this one, but if you want to talk about in-game humor, you have to mention Brave Fencer Musashi. Everything about the game was extremely clever, like how almost all the characters/places had names that revolved/were based on food:

Allucaneet Kingdom
Thirstquencher Empire (Liquor Empire in JP, though I like "thirstquencher" a lot more, sounds very devilish)
The female spies Bubble and Gingeralle
the list goes on, and on, and on...

The somewhat disturbing voice used for Scribe Shanky that really makes you wonder which way he swings... skip to about 1:30 in the following video to see what you're missing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llk_0q2x … 40&index=3

"Come Closer!"

There are many other things throughout that are really funny, and the humor is a big part of why the game worked and why the sequel - that was much more serious - has next to no charm.

Mine is kinda corny, but it's all i can think of right now.

It's in EarthBound, when one of the townspeople in Onett is trying to warn Ness about the upcoming battle with the first Sanctuary Guardian, which happens to be a giant mechanical ant.

...After Ness says something like "You're scaring me, I even think I wet my pants a little..", the villager responds with 'Oh, I'm so sorry!! I did-Ant mean to scare you.'

There were lots of cute little word-plays like that in EarthBound, i'll have to try out the first and third games someday...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Ness was a silent protagonist, yes?  That was part of his charm (at least to me).

I dunno, i haven't played it since 2003.

Why I am surprised that the zombie infested town in the original Breath of Fire is called Romero? That's Ted Woosley for ya... hahahaha!

Considering the village is also called Romero in the original Japanese version, I highly doubt this was Woolsey's input.

Woolsey translated BoF1?

This. Specifically, read pages 2-4.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath_of_Fire

Mostly; read the localization segment in the development section

Haha, Breath of Fire strikes again:

"I'm Mogu's Anger. I can't help you because anger can't solve any problems."

Nice!

Oh my, another town name pun:

Carmen + What happened to it's residents = Where in Time is Carmen Sandiago?

As Landa would say... clever.

Playing Dragon Quest VIII. You know how Jessica learns the Puff Puff skill, where she cups her breasts seductively and kinda wiggles her hips? Female enemies can do that too, apparently. I was fighting a witch in the wastes near the Swordsmans' Labyrinth and she casts Puff Puff on Jessica. The move failed, prompting a message on screen that said something like:

"The puff puff failes! Jessica laughs triumphantly as she wins the battle of the bulges!"

Damn near laughed my ass off. I love games that aren't above parodying themselves like that.

Metroid: Zero mission has two funny moments: when that one Space Pirate takes off with the first Power Bomb. There was just something about one of those shifty-eyed buggers making off with some loot that made me laugh. Then, to have one try and block my ship from taking off, hahaha... sure. Catch this!

Here's one I forgot about from Syphon Filter 3:

Two Terrorists are standing at urinals in the Senate Buliding taking a leak

Terrorist 1: "Hey, did you hear about that new spy game coming out next year?"
Terrorist 2: "Gah, I hate those things; they're never like the real thing."

I recently purchased the new Daily Show w/Jon Stewart Book Earth (The Book) and it has a small but funny section on video games:

These (and the book) are written from the prospective that aliens are reading it in the future after we're gone:

Space Invaders
What, you thought you could just come down in your spaceships and invade us line by line? No wonder we crushed you.

Metroid/Metroid II
Payback's a bitch, eh? We came to your house and burned it to the ground. Suck it!

Alien vs Predator
You wanna team up? Fine. We'll take you both on. Bang! Cheat code. Invisible. You can't even see us.

Halo 3
We are the destroyers of alien worlds. This will be an alien annihilation on a unprecedented scale. Die motherfuckers! Die! ... No offense.

I was really suprised to see Metroid II show up in a book....