JUNGLE KING (aka JUNGLE
HUNT)
This caused a commotion because of its infringement of the
Tarzan copyright. OK, fair enough, but NOBODY complained
that this game had a far more offensive image than a
half-naked, loincloth clad jungle boy – The cannibals! Even in
the 80’s when the PC movement was in its infancy, somebody
should have cited this example of the bone-in-the-nose, skull
wearing, grass skirt shimmying, "OOGA BOOGA!" shouting
depictions of the natives.
MAT MANIA
A simple yet fun wrestling game in which you control a
generic brawler climbing his way to the top. Along the
way, you'll battle against a variety of opponents.
Insane Warrior. OK... an Ultimate Warrior clone. Karate
Fighter. I don’t remember who this represented, but nothing
really offensive. Golden Hulk is so clearly representative of
a famous wrestler that I don’t even have to say who it's is
supposed to be. Piranha, a cheap fighter who resorts to bites
and choke holds. Again, nothing objective here. Coco Savage,
basically a black Fred Flintstone. WAIT A MINUTE! COCO
FREAKIN’ SAVAGE???? JEEZ! If that ain’t flat-out racist, I
don’t know what is!
JUMPING JACK
This highly entertaining Japan-only release is possibly the
worst offender of all. The members of the Masakari Tribe are
all nearly identical to Coco Savage, only they merrily roll
boulders and hurl spears at the hapless, overweight, Panama
Joe/Tourist/Explorer/Dr. Livingston-looking protagonist. Need
I say more?
THE PUNCH OUT!!
SERIES
Although Nintendo changed the original name of Vodka
Drunkenski in the arcade to Soda Popinski, these are still
pretty bad. Gabby Jay, an effeminate Frenchman who is such a
pussy it’s a god damn shame. Pizza Pasta, the Eye Talian
caricature who was left out of the home versions. Dragon Chan
and Piston Honda teeter on the verge of being Asian
stereotypes. Masked Muscle, a boxer who resorts to head butts
and even spits in opponents’ faces, is a prejudiced view of
Mexican wrestlers. Even the English are presented in a bad
light with Narciss Prince, a stuck up, wealthy, spoiled, and
overrated brat. Think about it.
JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING
ELSE
EVERY 3-D action title, from Tomb Raider to Rampage World
Tour to the too numerous to mention polygonal fighting games,
depicts women as action figures and sex objects. The
volleyball games and BMX XXX have given up even trying to
pretend that they don’t cater to the T 'n A loving male
population.
GRAND THEFT AUTO
SERIES
Grand Theft Auto series. OK, so these were never supposed
to be family friendly, but come on! Italians, Haitans, Asians,
Cubans, and Columbians are the most outstanding examples
of prejudice here. There's even an anti-Semitic overtone
thanks to Tommy Vercetti’s lawyer, the craven, cocaine
addicted, flashy lowlife attorney Ken Rosenberg.
And last, but not least...
MARIO!
This is the possibly the most damaging example of racism in
video games. An overweight, stupid, thick-accented, blue
collar laborer is certainly not a positive depiction of
Italian-Americans. Yes, Mario has always been a racist
stereotype, yet no one has ever come out publicly and
announced this. Most people I tell about this have an epiphany
when it is mentioned. Often the best way to hide something is
to make it obvious.
This list merely scratches the surface of video gaming’s
biggest vice. While we no longer have games where one must
rape captive Native American women for points, maybe we really
haven’t come so far after all. If it’s injuns, spics,
niggers, wops, kikes, broads, fudge packers, camel jockeys,
drunks, wankers, Japs, chinks, frogs, pigs, or (insert your
favorite slur here) you hate, you never have to look farther
than games to satisfy your intolerance!
[Thanks, Tony. I can't wait for the letters...
-ed.]
And don’t even get me started on speciesism or ageism…
Editor's Note: You're probably wondering why Clay
Fighter 33 1/3rd is in the banner, even though Mr. Bueno never
mentions that game in his article. The answer is that
the third game in the lackluster series of tournament fighters
features two of the most ridiculously racist characters you'll
ever see in a video game, or anywhere else.
The guy on the left is Kung Pao, martial arts master and
short order cook. He's got the bowl haircut
and massive overbite of a Japanese soldier in a World War
II propaganda cartoon, and he punctuates all of his
special attacks with the names of random Chinese
dishes. In one of these moves, Kung Pao
scurries away from his enemy while wearing a stir fry wok
as a turtle shell. His opponent is Houndoun, a voodoo
priest armed with a dead chicken and a tiki mask. His
massive lips are curled into a haunting grin that would give
both the NAACP and everyone else nightmares for weeks.
It's worth mentioning that some of the characters planned
for the game were so tasteless that Nintendo refused to
license it until they were dropped from the cast. It's
hard to believe that in the culturally sensitive 1990s, Kung
Pao and Houndoun weren't the first to hit the cutting room
floor!