7 Racist Video Games You Had No Idea Were Racist

By Peter Mai Wed., Jan. 26 2011 at 10:32 AM

Racism isn't always obvious. From time to time, a number of blatantly racist video games are released, and everyone goes apeshit. There are rare situations, however, when the racism isn't as obvious. These are the situations in which thoughtless stereotypes are used, or when games touch upon inflammatory topics. You'd be surprised by the sheer amount of unintentional or hidden examples of racial insensitivity found in what are believed to be the most family-friendly titles.

1. LocoRoco (PSP, 2006)

LocoRoco's Moja characters

You'd never expect such a cute and cheerful game to be considered racist, huh? Prior to the release of this Japanese PSP game, however, blogger Alejandro Quan-Madrid compared the game's Moja characters to blackface and said the game is an example of "institutionalized racism that needs calling out."

It should be noted that this accusation of racism came only a few days prior to a similar accusation against Sony for its white-colored PSP advertisement, showing a white woman violently holding the face a black woman.

2. Street Fighter (Series) (Various Platforms)

According to Street Fighter fiction, M. Bison, the leader of the mysterious crime syndicate known as "Shadaloo," sponsors the World Warrior Tournament and threatens the peace of the land. What do the Street Fighters do about this? They travel across the world, beating up stereotypes from each country.

Just about every racial stereotype is represented in the Street Fighter series. There's the motorcycle-riding obese American, an Indian man who breathes fire and wears a necklace made from shrunken skulls, a Native American who wears a feather headdress, a sumo wrestler from Japan, and a primitive, beast-like man from Brazil. With the exception of the obese American, the stereotypes portrayed in Street Fighter II falsely generalize people from various countries.

3. Spanish for Everyone (Nintendo DS, 2007)

The best way to prevent racism is through proper education. Not in this case, however. What is supposed to be a fun and creative way to learn Spanish ends up becoming a collection of racial stereotypes of Hispanic culture. The story of this game begins with a Hispanic friend taking off with your Nintendo DS, fleeing the police as he heads for the border. Luckily, a flirtatious señorita gives you a ride to Mexico and tells you that she "can teach you many things, and Spanish is definitely one of them." Isn't edutainment great?

You can watch the hilariously politically incorrect video here.

4. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES, 1987)

Little Mac has to take on challengers of numerous ethnic groups and their stereotypes in the Punch-Out!! series. Soda Popinsky (known as Vodka Drunkenski before Nintendo censored the name) is a drunk Russian who wears a red Speedo similar to Street Fighter II's Zangief. There's also a weak French guy, a jive-talking Jamaican and a Japanese guy who says, "Sushi, Kamikaze, Fujiyama, Nipponichi." It's shamelessly politically incorrect, but Punch-Out!! wouldn't have been so memorable without it.

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k654654

here's a good article about racial stereotypes in GTA SA http://www.reviewsuniverse.com/racial-stereotypes-in-gta-sa/

Mr. Matthews

And just HOW in the world is Loco Roco racist? If it's because of the Mojas, I am not convinced of the racism here. Yeah, a black, dread-locked being with a distinguishable mouth, REAL RACIST. So I guess that makes me racism-provoking, then. The Mojas and the black LocoRoco are my favorite characters in the series, not because they are black, but because they have a distinguishable personality.

justAguy

Stereotypes are used in games and through out entertainment because they EXIST! and you would be a fool to say otherwise, and furthermore who the hell gives a damn? We use this stuff because we can laugh at how we really are and this could help make us better human beings rather then to provoke racism scandals, ridiculous.

Ounzeme

YOU ALL ARE RACISTS JUST FOR READING THIS.

Rudipoo

Hey Japan is so racist white people cant even rent an apartment in some areas.But Japanese can rent anywhere in the world and be treated kind.

Guest

not true, you probably haven't been to Japan or have had a bad experience. Japanese people are actually very respectful people, ESPECIALLY to foreigners.

jmac496

who is the overweight motorcycle riding american in Street Fighter II? Ken and Guile and Balrog are the only characters on the game from America, none of them are obese. There is no native american in street fighter II either. There is a retard writing an article however.

CarlosJr

I agree, Americans aren't a race. So other than a special privileged class like Judites, wtf are Latinos?

f-16

lol Seems like people are calling everything is racist now days.

Random Unknown

none of these games are racist as none of the developers intended them as a racial insult the only one here whos racist is the one looking for insults in the games ...what a waste of time i want my few minutes of life back.

guest

All games would be racist if there's someone to write about them. In fact, everything would be racist if there's someone to criticize them to that level. I'm not sure how many things were created with a racist thought in mind, but if an individual or two take these ideas in as racist, then it is their problem. Truth is, if the majority of people aren't offended, then it's just individuals overacting.

If every single detail were to be picked out like this, then let's not have games. In fact, let's not have any form of entertainment, since someone somewhere would find a hint of prejudice inside and be offended anyhow.

Paul Myers

"everything would be racist" - yup, you're damn right - institutionalized racism kinda has that side effect

Zycron

This article was made by an idiot, "Americans are the victims of racism from other countries", lmfao.

333

* Retarded * get a life man u stop calling others racist if you really want to attract people to your post be creative don't post some piece of junk.

RabidFanboi

"With the exception of the obese American"

lol?

Stormragez

theres no races just many grups of ppl mixing each other.

Russ

Peter Mai Need's to grow some balls and get over it I have NEVER heard of anyone offended by any of these games. The dumbass need's to go back to school. Seriously while there is racism bs like this being passed off as racism is what makes people not take that seriously. Its Like the boy who cried wolf over and over each time nothing was wrong but the one time it was true no one believed him . Thats the same thing with bs like this.

HandsomeTom

There is no apostrophe in "needs".

KamakaziCat

We don't give a shit about misspelling and that crap. As long as it makes sense, its okay

Darkblader06

honestly things are only racist if you take the time to nit pick at every thing looking for it lets not forget that us as Americans love stereotyping other countries so let everyone else have their turn cuz i being of an ethnic back ground am not offended at all

rexferal

" the kind of institutionalized racism that needs calling out" what a complete and total moron, video games must kill brain cells.

Paul Myers

yeah! institutionalized racism doesn't exist, because I don't like the sound of that one bit!

Airi

Peter Mai you are an idiot

Americans are not a race, read some books

"There are 3 races that are Asian, Caucasian, and African. The races have branches of ethnic groups or nationalities. (Indians, Latinos and Middle Easterns are Caucasian)...."

Inform our self before you write an article...

RabidFanboi

There are no races, read some recent books.

Huga

"Americans are the victims of racism from other countries"

When did Americans become a race? Americans are not a race your idiot

The person who made this article needs to get back school and have a real education.

Jthor013

Says the person who misspelled 'you', and used 'are' instead of 'is'.

Zycron

@Jthor013 stfu u nerd we dont give a shit about spelling aslong as he made sense.

C4345926

Wtf? and who exactly is the "obese" american in street fighter? Research harder

Guest

Rufus. Research harder.

Mark

American isn't a race...

Yop

Ridiculous..

Darknight

Um, yeah. You guys know that stereotype does not equal racism, right? Right?

Andrewgmc26

I think this list is a trying too hard.. I mean, stereotypes aren't always racist. For example, the Street Fighter game had you fighting stereotypes around the world, I don't think I'd consider this racist..

guest

Maybe racist if you were to go as far as assuming that the game influence people to disenfranchise races based upon the stereotypes presented. But instead in the article mostly what were seeing is just prejudice.

guest

Scribblenauts is racist because you typed in "sambo" and a watermelon appeared? Umm, YOU typed in sambo. I think people that are looking that hard for a reason to be offended will always find one.