10 Most Over-The-Top Video Game Deaths Of All Time

Related

10 Most Tragic JRPG Deaths We Still Aren’t Over

These are the most tragic deaths in the history of JRPGs.

Obviously, it’s impossible to create a comprehensive list of every noteworthy character death in gaming history, so these are just the ones that stuck with me in particular, whether due to how wild the means of death were or their poignancy to the story.

Warning: Major spoilers for pretty much every game on this list.

10 Leon Kuwata

Danganronpa

One of the major recurring rules of the Danganronpa series of visual novels is that, should a student kill one of their classmates and be found out, they’re to be punished via execution. Said executions are deliberately designed by the Mastermind to be elaborate, ironic punishments reflective of their Ultimate talents.

While all of these executions are brutal, the one that really sets the tone for the series is the first proper one, the one inflicted upon Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Baseballer, after he killed Sayaka. After being found guilty, Leon is dragged away to a small baseball field and fastened to a scoreboard pole. A gigantic, motor-powered pitching machine deploys in front of him and loads up with baseballs.

The machine begins pelting Leon with baseballs, slowly at first, then launching into rapid-fire so fast you can’t even see all of them. The machine begins rapidly spinning around the pole, pelting him at every possible angle. When it finally comes to an end, Leon is left beaten and bloody, dangling lifelessly from the pole.

9 Raymond Sullivan

Dead Rising 2

In the last leg of Dead Rising 2’s main story, the Fortune City security guard who had been overseeing the emergency shelter, Sullivan, reveals himself as a plant for Phenotrans, the pharmaceutical company that makes Zombrex. Sullivan had bombed the zombie pens to start the outbreak, all so Phenotrans could round up queen wasps to make more Zombrex.

Sullivan attempts to escape Fortune City via a rooftop extraction, but is stopped by Chuck. The two get into a fight, but while Chuck manages to get the upper hand, Sullivan’s extraction plane fires off an explosive round, knocking Chuck to the ground.

Sullivan deploys a Fulton Skyhook, ready to get picked up by the extraction plane, and gloats that he and Phenotrans are the real “good guys” here. Right before the plane catches his Skyhook, though, Chuck cuffs his harness to the metal platform they’re standing on.

Rooted to the ground, the plane catches the Skyhook and rips Sullivan’s entire upper body off his torso, leaving only his legs behind. Funny, getting torn in half by a plane doesn’t feel like something a “good guy” would do.

8 Albert Wesker

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 is considered by some to be the point where the series became less about horror and more about action-horror. I’d say one of the best pieces of evidence for this was the ultimate ending of the series’ overarching antagonist, Albert Wesker.

In the game’s climax, Wesker, Chris, and Sheva have all crash-landed on the bomber plane that Wesker was going to use to spread the Uroboros virus around the world, ending up at the summit of an active volcano. Wesker exposes himself to the Uroboros to heighten his already impressive viral abilities and gets into a brawl with Chris and Sheva.

The two of them successfully knock Wesker into the magma flow, with Chris cementing his legacy as a boulder-puncher in the process, and are picked up by Jill in a rescue chopper. However, Wesker, somehow just standing in a pool of white-hot lava, tries to drag them back down with viral tentacles, prompting Chris and Sheva to finish him off with a pair of RPGs. It’s definitely not scary, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the sheer spectacle of it.

7 Alexander Von Cumore

Tales Of Vesperia

Throughout the early-to-mid plot of Tales of Vesperia, our protagonist Yuri is on something of a vigilante kick, starting with personally murdering the corrupt Magistrate of Capua Nor, Ragou, after it was clear he was going to get off scot-free for his crimes.

A bit later on, Yuri and the newly-formed Brave Vesperia have a run-in with the Royal Knights Captain Alexander von Cumore, with whom Yuri already has long-standing bad blood. In an effort to bolster his standing, Cumore had been forcefully conscripting both civilians and his own troops into slave labor suicide missions to hunt for Phaeroh in the desert.

Yuri takes issue with this and so confronts Cumore in the dead of night in Mantaic. Cumore, being a coward, runs to the edge of town, and ends up stumbling into a quicksand dune. Despite Cumore’s pleas for help, Yuri simply watches quietly while he slowly slips beneath the sand to die of suffocation.

It’s a pretty nasty way to go for anyone, and while Yuri technically didn’t kill him, he didn’t help him, either.

6 Hector LeMans

Grim Fandango

You wouldn’t think in a game where everyone is literally already dead, like Grim Fandango, there’d be many deaths to write home about. However, not only is there death after death, but it’s a pretty gnarly one at that.

In the climax of the game, Manny tracks crime baron Hector LeMans to his secret greenhouse, where he tends the plants leftover from all the dead folks he’s had pumped full of life-siphoning Sproutella. After a brief scuffle in which Manny is nearly sprouted himself, he manages to score himself a Sproutella gun of his own, but he can’t draw Hector out of the greenhouse to get a clear shot.

Instead, Manny runs over to the nearby utility shed, which controls the water pumps for the greenhouse’s irrigation system. By shooting some Sproutella into the tank, the chemicals immediately flood the inside of the greenhouse, right on top of Hector’s head. A few moments of screaming later, and a giant mass of flowers and vines that used to be Hector blobs lifelessly out of the greenhouse’s front door.

5 Hallucinatory Joker

Batman: Arkham Knight

Throughout Batman: Arkham Knight, Bruce is continuously tormented by a hallucination of the late Joker, representing the progression of the Joker Infection caused by the Clown Prince’s tainted blood.

In the climax, while Bruce is imprisoned by Scarecrow, the Joker persona appears to exert full control, trapping Bruce within his own mind. However, Joker swiftly finds himself on the receiving end of this, navigating a labyrinth of both Bruce’s and his own memories.

Related

Joker Mortal Kombat 11 Finishers: Clown Prince’s Fatalities and Brutalities

Having trouble with the Joker Mortal Kombat 11 finishers? Here is a guide to help you with the Clown Prince’s fatalities and brutalities.

Ultimately, Bruce confronts the Joker with his one, true fear: being forgotten. Wholly at the mercy of the Bat, Joker is pummeled senselessly before being locked in a tiny cell reminiscent of those in Arkham Asylum. Joker cries and begs not to be sealed away, but Batman shoves the cell away and plunges him into the depths of his psyche, with his last words being a sorrowful “I need you…”

Admittedly, this is more of a symbolic death than a proper one, as the real Joker was already long dead by this point, but as a wise doctor once said, a man only truly dies when he is forgotten. That Joker may have only been an idea, but the one, surefire way for an idea to die is for it to be forgotten.

4 Million Gunman

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Midway through No More Heroes 2, Travis Touchdown reconnects with his former rival assassin-turned-fangirl, Shinobu Jacobs. In an effort to help her self-appointed “Master,” Shinobu took it upon herself to take out a couple of assassins in the running to make Travis’ life a little easier. The first of these assassins is the 9th ranker, Million Gunman.

Shinobu confronts Million in the vault of the Santa Destroy Bank, where he dismisses her due to her young age. Of course, Shinobu’s no pushover, and quickly defeats him and his golden gun. With Million at her mercy, Shinobu asks if he has any last words, to which he simply asks for her name.

In response, Shinobu quickly lops off both his arms, decapitates him, and balances his severed head on her sword. She tells him, “when the gatekeeper to Hell asks who sent you, tell him it was Shinobu Jacobs.” Million, somehow still able to talk despite not having lungs, responds, “Yes, sir,” and Shinobu promptly dices his head into four messy chunks.

3 Mimosa

Hi-Fi Rush

Throughout Hi-Fi Rush, Chai gradually defeats every member of the Vandelay Technologies executive board, each one dramatically exploding in the process. Kind of weird to think that he is straight-up killing people in what is otherwise a very lighthearted game, but it’s funny, so whatever.

Out of all of these defeats, probably the most bombastic and thematically appropriate is that of Mimosa, head of marketing. Chai confronts Mimosa on the stage of the Armstrong Festival, in front of every other Armstrong test subject on the Vandelay campus. Mimosa spins the attack as part of the show and battles him with her cybernetic dress, though Chai swiftly proves himself to be more of a showman than she expected.

With Mimosa’s dress destroyed, Chai powers up his guitar and gives her one good clock upside the face, launching her high into the air. Her dress finally short-circuits, and she explodes in a glorious fireworks display. Mimosa wanted nothing more than to be the center of attention, and for one brief, glorious moment, all eyes were on her. Shame it had to be the moment of her demise.

2 Jergingha

The Wonderful 101

In the final mission of The Wonderful 101, GEATHJERK Supreme Overlord Jergingha has assumed his Planet Destruction Form, an enormous mechanical body nearly the size of a small moon.

The Wonderful Ones, aboard the Platinum Robo, attempt to beat him back from the Earth, but when pushed to his limits, Jergingha deploys his ultimate weapon: the Chi-Q Marble Buster, a gigantic laser cannon with enough juice to flash-fry the planet.

With no other options, the Wonderful Ones prepare every last weapon they have to counter, opening gun ports on the Virgin Victory, Vorkken’s Meizerr, and Immorta’s Dakkar, all drawing from the energy of the Earth itself. As Jergingha’s beam closes in, Wonder-Red orders the team to fire their final attack: the Final Ultimate Legendary Earth Power Super Max Justice Future Miracle Dream Beautiful Galaxy Big Bang Little Bang Sunrise Starlight Infinite Fabulous Totally Final Wonderful Arrow.

This… very elaborately-named attack clashes with Jergingha’s beam, and after about 25 seconds of button-mashing, spontaneously grows in size, enough to completely consume and atomize Jergingha in a wave of rainbow fury. It is, and I say this with no intended hyperbole, the greatest QTE sequence in the history of gaming.

1 Saito Sejima

AI: The Somnium Files

Midway through the story of AI: The Somnium Files, Kaname Date has a conversation with his partner and cybernetic eye, Aiba, in which she reveals her emergency self-destruct function. To ensure that this function is never misused, the two agree upon a failsafe code: Date would audibly speak a numeric password, then provide a signal to prove he isn’t under duress, specifically telling a lie.

This ends up being vital in the game’s climax when serial killer Saito Sejima, now in Date’s body, has Iris’ mother, Hitomi, at gunpoint. Even after Date throws away his own pistol to appease Saito, he still prepares to kill Hitomi.

With no choice in the matter, Date communicates with Aiba, who is still in Saito’s eye socket, via smartphone and issues his commands: first, he speaks the numeric password. Then, tearfully, he lies by saying he hates Aiba and never wants to see her again.

Aiba receives the command and, just as Saito is about to shoot Hitomi, detonates in a small, yet powerful explosion, completely obliterating Saito’s head. While we don’t hear as such, I like to think Aiba gave him a little sarcastic sendoff in his head before she exploded.

Next

8 Most Satisfying Anime Deaths

Some anime deaths hit differently, not with sadness, but with pure satisfaction. Here are 8 characters that got exactly what they deserved.