Bring the Gore! The 50 Craziest Video Game Fatalities Ever

Image via Complex Original

Remember how dumb we thought "Friendships" were in Mortal Kombat II? Well, Tattoo Assassins took the idea of being "funny" in a fighting game WAY overboard when they put these bizarre finishers at the end of rounds. Instead of, you know, actually finishing your opponents off, how about turning them into a geisha or an Elvis impersonator? And this is why you've never even heard of Tattoo Assassins before today.

Clay Fighter was nothing more than a running joke amongst gamers, but at least it was a decent fighting excursion. We laughed until we cried after we pitted an Elvis impersonator against a raging piece of caramel taffy. And that theme song? iPod morning playlist worthy.

Their take on Santa Claus was slightly creepy (wait, scratch that. He was ALL the way creepy) and severely lacking in the clothing department. And ya know what? That's why we loved the big guy. His "Claytalities" included jumping into the air, landing on you, and crapping out your remains in brutal fashion. Next up, Santa unleashes his twin and they belly flop that ass to Kingdom Come. SANTA'S GONNA SIT ON YO LAP!

This is a much more shocking fatality once you've beaten the game and realized you did a horrible, horrible thing by killing all these beasts. (Albeit in the name of love.) Oh well, death happens. What makes this fatality stick with the gamer is the rare beauty of figuring out how to tackle your first colossus. It's unbelievable how emotional you'll feel after icing the giant. You don't want to do it again... and then you do. And that's what's so amazing about this game-There's beauty and sadness in these deaths. It makes the game earn its "games are art" title, no question.

Jeez, Link. We didn't know you had it in you. Link doesn't just stab his nemesis to death with this brutal fatality. No, that would be going too easy on Ganon. Instead, he launches himself in the air and plunges his sword right between Ganon's eyes, turning the pig warlord to stone. Link may look cute when he's all cel-shaded and shit, but that warrior has the eyes of a killer. A killer! We wouldn't want to mess with him, either.

The Punisher video game had so many cool executions, that many times it was hard to not kill someone. Such was the case with this fatality, where The Punisher would throw his enemy in a pool inhabited by an eel. Next thing you know the fish is sending excruciatingly painful amounts of electricity through the guy's junk. Yikes.

Limbo left an indelible mark on our psyche when it hit the 360 way back when. The art style, quiet atmosphere and simple play took us by surprise and kept us in awe. It also left us defenseless. We played as a lil boy so we didn't think anything drastic could happen to the kid if we lost a life. Turns out when he dies, the gruesome details are acted out as if they're real. Bear traps + little kids = so not cool.

Akuma is that dude. He's the one shoto character we know who prefers to whoop ass with shoes on. Let that be a lesson to you other shotos! Real men don't fight barefoot! The Raging Demon is a bona fide killer when you're pulling off his super rendition.

But when Akuma is feeling extra violent, that's when we do the unthinkable. Skate on one foot, smile for the camera, then commit unspeakable horrors in the darkness of hell. We don't wanna know what Akuma's actually doing to his opponent during that whole sequence. Some things are best left to the imagination.

You hear that? It's the sound of thousands of PETA members dialing Ed Boon's home phone. We're surprised they didn't organize any protests against this fatality. Kung Lao does some pretty sweet magic tricks for the kiddies when he's not slicing his foes in half with his bladed top hat. We're guessing he went to the drawing board one day and realized the "Bunny in the Hat" routine could amaze...and destroy. Poor bunny.

Oni seems to be the godlike lovechild of Akuma and Gouken, which is a recipe for disaster and calamity. YES! Just how we like it. When footage surfaced of Oni's ultra's we fell in love. Wanna end your opponent the right way? Do you wish to send your friend's sodium levels up to dangerous levels? Bust out this move and let your insignia emblazon the back of your dead foe. SHOOSH x9000!

In Bioshock 2 you're given the option of saving or killing Grace. Sure, the latter results in some negative video game karma, but Grace's fatality is pretty gruesome. This is due to the fact that there are mutiple ways of killing Grace. Electrocuting, burning, drilling--the list goes on and on. You'll probably feel horrible after killing her (or not, whatever) but hey--anything goes in the underwater world of Rapture.

Talk about an in-joke. We all know about sound programmer Dan Forden, who would occasionally pop his head in and yell, "toasty" after an uppercut or Scorpion's skull fatality. But what about Fergus McGovern, who could only be seen in the Sega Genesis version? Well, 'ol Fergus worked on the port of the game and because of that, got his own sneak appearance. Yeah, it's weird and it makes no sense, but it's awesome. Why? Because Mortal Kombat is awesome. We thought that would have been the obvious answer.

Mortal Kombat is just insane. Need proof? Look no further than this bizarre fatality where our favorite movie star defies the laws of human anatomy, by knocking off three heads in a row from a single body. We know Johnny Cage is all about the ladies but if he said, "gimme some head" before doing this fatality to a dude, we wouldn't be surprised.

Every execution in Manhunt is extremely over-the-top but this one takes the cake. James Cash basically places the sickle right underneath his enemy's private place, slicing it with no remorse whatsoever. Guys, we understand if after performing this execution you squirmed a little. It's ok; so did we.

A baseball bat can be a deadly weapon. For example, The Italian mob used it extensively to break body parts of bums who owed them money. Just watch The Deadliest Warrior to see how badly they brutalized fools with the wooden wonder. But never on that mob episode did they show a baseball bat making a body EXPLODE upon impact. That brutal fatality makes this shitty game worth at least one look. Batter up. KABOOM!

Fulgore is a beast. The metallic clanking of his walk; his ability to teleport and his strange blond ponytail, makes him a horrifying opponent. But then this happens. His head rolls away to reveal a machine gun that blasts you to smithereens. Seriously, we don't even know what to say to something like that other than, well, yikes. The only way you can hope to beat him is with a ca-ca-ca-ca-combo breaker. And even that we wouldn't rely on in a pinch. Fulgore, you scare us.

Chaos is a disgusting character. Not only are toxic farting and projectile vomit on his list of moves, but he also has a nasty fatality that would make R. Kelly proud. We're having a hard time thinking of something worse than turning into ash from an ape's piss. And...well, we're going to have to keep thinking about it. That shit is gross.

Sure, go ahead. Call Time Killers a Mortal Kombat ripoff. But the truth of the matter is, this game came out in the same year as that famous fighter, so Strata definitely had something going for it before the whole world went fatality crazy. The thing that's a shame is that all of the character's fatalities are basically the same.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. It may not seem nearly as shocking today as it did back then, but just put yourself in the early '90s when the most brutal game we had was Street Fighter II. And then THIS came along. Yeah, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, doesn't seem so weak now, does it? It was a video game revolution back then because these fatalities were f**kin' nuts.

Greatest idea in the world? Make an action/adventure game where we get to control Mortal Kombat's favorite monks. This thing was pretty addictive back in the day. We can't count how many times we ran through this game with our college dorm mate. You know, when he was getting high or whatever. Anyway, a lot of thought went into the fatalities in this game. Whoever had the brainpower to cook up this hilarious final kill deserves a hefty raise. Uppercut off someone's head then Bend It Like Beckham into their chest? Incredible.

Cosmic Carnage for the 32X was not a good game by any means. (Were any games on the 32X any good?) But Naruto's arms and body severing was flashy and bloody, which is what we like to see in our fatalities. A whole lot of blood flying with some pizazz. If only the computer would give us a break and let us win for a change. This game was harder than an old stripper's breast implants.

Resident Evil 5 featured tons of death sequences that made our stomachs turn. But the one fatality that made us douse ourselves in holy water was this one. Chris gives Shiva the word and makes a run for the override lever. Now, if you're co-op partner lapsed for about three seconds too long (probably ogling Shiva's facial goodies), Wesker turned a Carl Lewis long jump into something horrific. "Oh snap" fits this kill perfectly. You spin my head round, baby, right round...

This game deserves some cred for its violent swordplay and unique roster. Some people preferred hadouken's while others liked to attack with ninja spears. Another group thought it was cooler to slice and dice opponents into bite-size pieces. That group stuck by the Samurai Showdown arcade cabinet. In its fifth iteration Haohmaru unleashed the beast via his blade and got "half." Sucks to be the one at the end of Haohmaru's blade.

This Hades ain't the guy your little cousins watched when Disney gave us its cutesy version of Hercules. God of War 3 featured a nasty version of the dude and his skin made ours crawl. Once the boss fight with Hades neared its conclusion, we got a hold of his blades and proceeded to borrow his soul forever. Took us a minute to yank the thing out of the big guy but we got it done. Shang Tsung, eat your heart out.

Eternal Champions for the Genesis is a forgotten fighter but we'll never forget the first time we saw a character get thrown into a fan. There's nothing like watching blood splatter all over the floor in a gooey display of flesh meets blade. Bloody disgusting. That's why EC totally ruled in the '90s. A classic to this day.

Kratos isn't too fond of his family. It's a safe bet that he won't be passing the turkey to father Zeus at Thanksgiving. (Ya know, since he killed him and everything.) What he did to his brother Hercules in the final moments of their epic encounter solidified that. Hercules hoisted the very ground his brother walked on in an attempt to end it all. But Kratos went all greek gangsta on him by using his gauntlets to slam that foundation right onto his prone body. Talk about reconstructive facial surgery. The operation was a resounding success...not really.

Ninjas and robots make a pretty neat combo, don't they? If Sektor is anything to go by, then we're ready to don a sweet cyborg outfit and start our Lin Kuei training ASAP. Once Sektor has his opponents doing the "Finish Him!" dance, greatness ensues. He shoots some electronic doo-dad into their chest, hits a few buttons then BAM! They become the bloodiest scarecrow you've ever seen. Seems like a better solution to keeping crows away, if ya ask us.

We're having a hard time thinking of a worse way to go out than getting a plastic bag put over your face until you suffocate to death. We mean, think about it. You're going along on your normal day of hunting a human being when, bam, somebody sneaks up on YOU and strangles the life out of your sorry ass. And now the hunter has become the prey. What we find most disparaging about this is just HOW simple a death it is. No bullets are wasted, nor does a blade have to be shoved in just the right spot. It's simply some guy taking his groceries out of a bag and killing you with it. How humbling is that?

You didn't know Wu-Tang put out a fighting game? For shame, homie. Imagine playing Power Stone-style battle royal matches, but with 100 times the amount of blood and guts.We entered the 36 Chambers and cut old masters, crushed ninjas with sledgehammers and got our ass handed to us by afro sporting chicks. Ol' Dirty Bastard was our go to guy for one reason and one reason only: his penchant for ripping heads off and doing a drunken jig right after. Protect ya neck, kid.