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By K. Thor Jensen November 30, 2010 |
11 | Freaky Flyers |
Often times, racism can come in under the guise of cartoonish good times. Such was the case with inept multiplatform air racing game Freaky Flyers, released in 2003 by doomed Midway. Players could take control of a motley crew of horrible stereotypes, including Sheik Abdul, a Middle Eastern Ay-rab with a turban and a talking camel; Sammy Wasabi, a horrible Tojo caricature with buck teeth and broken English; Pauli Atchi, a completely legitimate Italian businessman; and Cactus Rose, a "fiery bandita" from Mexico.
10 | Custer's Revenge |
Not only is Atari 2600 rarity Custer's Revenge insulting to women, it's insulting to Native Americans too. In this adult game (sold in a leather case with a lock on it!), the player must guide General Custer across a mesa littered with falling arrows to commit coitus with a bound and helpless Indian woman. Not only does this reinforce the stereotype of the "noble savage" as a path to sexual ecstasy, it's also a pretty lousy game. Unforgivable!
9 | Scribblenauts |
5th Cell's groundbreaking Nintendo DS title Scribblenauts received near-unanimous praise from the gaming press for its unique game mechanic, where writing words on the DS's touchscreen causes physical objects to appear. The developer worked hard to keep potentially offensive things off the screen, but they slipped up at one point - inputting "Sambo," a notorious racial slur towards Africans, yields... a watermelon. Not cool, dudes.