The Internet is everyone’s go-to spot to complain about everything, but these criticisms tend to turn especially toxic when aimed at video games. This recent AAA Zelda spoof reminds me of how much better it is when people put their artistry into critiquing or simply making fun of something.
Instead of making a whole playable mod like the famous AAA Mario that took Twitter by storm a short while ago, actor Ryan Stewart got together with his pals to voice already released gameplay footage from the still-upcoming but already divisive The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake. Beyond adding a bunch of superfluous HUD elements highly reminiscent of too many recent AAA titles to count, a bunch of hilarious voice lines that vary from overly serious to as quippy as a Marvel movie, the cherry on top is Link’s voice, which sounds a lot like Nathan Drake’s, despite Link still being a kid.
And the best part is that if you like that one, there are many other great video game spoofs out there, like the brilliant Silent Hill 2 one aimed at the impending release of Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 Remake.
To make matters even funnier, that remake actually turned out pretty great—maybe because the devs were constructively informed by the spoof? Ok, that’s very unlikely, but these works really do show what players want, and in as harmless a way as it gets.
Video game spoofs are great because you know from the get-go that the team behind them had to put in some actual work, unlike most tweets. Also, game spoofs don’t even need to be aimed at games. Check out one of the best spoofs of all time, a fake video game tie-in of FX’s popular show The Bear, where it’s set to easy mode, meaning it’s actually a pretty calm and relaxing experience, as opposed to the constantly stressful nature of the show.
I, like many Internet users, grew up with Newgrounds, where video game spoofs came out every day, many of which were so great they informed quite a bit of the Internet’s comedy—at least towards those games—for years after their release.
Sadly, good spoofs are much rarer nowadays because tweeting is easier, and most spoofs we now see online are AI slop. Things will likely only get worse until the bubble finally pops, but it’s good to see we still have folks generating positive discourse and laughter around games.
