Apparently it’s National Selfie Day! I’d tell you to Google it if you don’t believe me, but that’s probably how you stumbled on to this article in the first place. Does anyone know how decides these things and how? Is there a committee? Can we get on it?
At any rate, selfies have been invading the world of video games in the past few years, which is on one hand annoying and on the other hand surprisingly late. You’d think video games would have gotten in on the selfie craze when it was fresh. Regardless, if it’s National Selfie Day out there, it’s National Selfie Day at GameRevolution, and here are the best selfies and the video games you can take them in.
5. Dead Rising 4 – Frank and Zombies
Man there’s so many to choose from with Dead Rising 4. After all, selfies and mini-golf jokes are essentially the only two jokes in Capcom’s latest zombie romp, and it either lives or dies by those jokes depending on your tolerance for repetition and gag-reflex sensitivity. Every day is National Selfie Day in Dead Rising 4.
It’s simple: Frank West is a photographer, as we saw in the first game, and he can take photos to document the goings on at Willamette Mall. Since this is Dead Rising 4, though, in 2016 at the time of release, he can also take selfies with zombies in the background. How cute.
This was certainly one of the most iconic selfies taken from Dead Rising 4 (at least among the official photos), and I think it works as a perfect microcosm for the game as a whole – immature and irreverent, all the while a Flanderized Frank takes up most of the spotlight.
4. Grand Theft Auto V – Any of Them, But Especially This One
Photos of some kind have been around in Grand Theft Auto for many years. You have to get leverage over a congressman in Vice City by capturing images of him in less-than-appropriate circumstances, you have to confirm the identity of a drug dealer with a photo before killing said drug dealer in Grand Theft Auto IV, and many other missions in other GTA games that would take too long to describe.
But, with the future upon us in Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar decided that we needed something a little more hip. In a game already rife with faux social media tie-ins (amazingly enough, though, they didn’t have an in-game National Selfie Day), GTA V needed selfies. Which is great, because we got wonderful images like the one above, which is just so classic Trevor.
Now, this isn’t the most well-defined or in-depth selfie system in a game. In fact, that title might go to Dead Rising 4, but Grand Theft Auto V is an infinitely better game, so it takes the higher spot. Sorry Capcom.
3. Wind Waker HD – Picto Box Selfie
Of course, the word “selfie” wasn’t around in 2003 (and I’m certain they didn’t have a National Selfie Day). And back before social media photos and hell even phones with cameras on them, were ubiquitous, they were practically unheard of, anyway. So, while you could find and use a Picto Box to take photos in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, you couldn’t turn that camera around on yourself.
Enter 2013, with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, a remaster of the GameCube game for the Wii U. Like every remaster, Wind Waker HD had better graphics and performance updated for the modern day, but they couldn’t just leave it at that, could they? Nope. They had to add in selfies.
Why is this above GTA V, if its essentially the same concept? Well you can make funny faces in Wind Waker HD, like the one above, and juxtapose those funny faces with good background imagery.
2. Overwatch – D.Va Highlight Intro
Of all the heroes in Overwatch, D.Va is certainly the youngest, and, therefore, is the most social media savvy. She’s a former StarCraft II professional turned sassy battle-mech-wearing killing machine, but she still shows her youth.
For the Overwatch Uprising Event, which debuted earlier this year, she showed it even more with a brand new highlight intro. As D.Va is wont, she sends her self-destruction off to nowhere and takes a selfie as it explodes in the background.
Personally, I would prefer this selfie as an emote, so you can maximize the troll factor, but I’ll take it.
1. Mortal Kombat X – Cassie Cage Fatality
But the mack-daddy of all the video game selfies has to go to Cassie Cage in Mortal Kombat X. The video above is extra NSFW, so I’ll go ahead and describe it in text just in case.
The fatality itself is actually rather lackluster by Mortal Kombat standards. Although the video itself includes her X-Ray ability that shows her literally busting Sub-Zero’s balls, the actual fatality is simply Cassie whacking her opponent’s jaw so hard that it dislodges completely, spewing blood out in the process.
What follows is where the fatality cinematic really shines: Cassie not only takes a selfie with her kill, dislodged jaw and all, but posts it to her Not Facebook page, and then you get to watch people in the MK universe comment for about a minute. Kano asks Cassie for her A/S/L (that’s Age, Sex, Location, for those not privy to seedy online chat lingo), then Cassie’s mom (Sonya Blade), asks why Kano is even on her friend’s list, as he is a mortal enemy of the Cage family, all the while Goro will chime in with the occasional “Goro!” as though he’s auditioning for the role of Bane in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, but keeps messing up the line.
You can watch for yourself to see all the other tidbits, but it’s certainly worthy of the best video game selfie award.
