In the past year, some of the best-written games to ever grace the industry were released. I think we can all agree on that. The villains, in particular, were all deep, fantastically written, and great enemies all-around, from GLaDoS with her passive-aggresive, always-watching demeanor to Andrew Ryan and his radical ideas about government and science. I'd like to share with you a character who, in my opinion is one of the most underrated and superb evildoers in the history of video games: Dr. Bad-boon.


One of the only known pictures of Dr. Bad-boon. As you can see, he has a monocle that seems to be crudely fashioned out of black paint and the letter Q.

Let me start at the beginning. Dr. Bad-boon is the antagonist of the addicting puzzle/platformer/party game Super Monkey Ball 2 for the Gamecube. This was the first game in the series to feature a story mode, and what a story mode it was. You played as AiAi the monkey along with his friend, GonGon, his wife, MiMi, and their son, Baby. They were likable, but Dr. Bad-boon just stole the show every time he appeared on screen.

I'll explain the story for anyone who's missed out on this gem of a title: In the future, Dr. Bad-boon falls in love with MiMi, who is married to AiAi. Unable to bear this burden of love, the Doctor travels back in time to the Monkey Island of the past, where AiAi and MiMi are not yet married. He accidentally takes with him Baby, AiAi's future son. What is Doctor Bad-boon's plot? Simple:


Unless MiMi agrees to marry him, he will kill every other monkey in the world. In the [opening scene, Doctor Bad-boon appears in his future ship and sucks up every single banana on the island. Let me reiterate that: if MiMi doesn't cooperate, everyone will die of starvation. This creates a powerful sense of urgency and suspense for the rest of the game rarely recreated in other titles. I think most of today's game writers could learn a thing or two from this masterpiece of the English language. And the scene that came next was one of the most emotional pieces of storytelling I've ever encountered in a game, more affecting than the ending of Half Life 2: Episode 2, more philosophically stimulating than Passage.


I can't even bring myself to write about it...I think this single screenshot speaks for itself, encapsulating all the hopes, desperation, and madness that Dr. Bad-boon stands for.

In the end, Dr. Bad-boon is an underrated character; an oft-overlooked work of genius. I sincerely hope that there comes a day when every game can reach this level of storytelling excellence; the world would be better for it.

Thank you for reading. If you have any suggestions for future Underrated Characters, post it in the comments. If you already do an Underrated Characters feature, let me know so I can apologize and have you killed.

One more thing...what was he going to do with all those bananas?