The funniest gaming tweets from the past decade, just in case Twitter implodes

Image of a fraudulent verified tweet of Mario giving the viewer the middle finger — One consequence of selling verified checks. (Image credit: @uJidow)

I think it's safe to say that we're in Twitter's endgame now. I don't think it's going to collapse like a dying star: Elon Musk paid $44 billion for the tortured, eternally unprofitable platform, and his creditors certainly want to see some kind of return on that investment. But Musk's annoying mercurial unseriousness, MAGA drift, and the fundamental reality that 11 figures is way too much to pay for a beleaguered social media company has me and other longtime posters coming to terms with the fact that Twitter is already well past its peak. Nothing lasts forever on the internet, especially when venture capital is involved.

I've got mixed emotions about it. Twitter and its clout jockeying has been bad for my mental health and terrible for my perception of reality, but some of the greatest posts ever written have appeared on my Twitter timeline, and I'll be sad to lose that venue when it's gone.

While the signal is still blinking, we've assembled a collection of our favorite gaming tweets (from the past decade-ish, after which our memories start to fail us) as a tribute to this long, strange trip. Screenshots link to the original tweet, when possible. Now let's remember the good times, pre-emerald-mine dynast.

Jenny Lawson: Very frustrated lady next to me at Gamestop: "My son Kevin wants Fork Knife for his birthday but no place has it in stock." me: I think it's Fortnite. Her: No. It's definitely Fork Knife. Sorry Kevin. I tried. — I'm not that into Fork Knife, but Fork Knife: No Build Mode is excellent. (Image credit: Jenny Lawson)

@bobby: "if you're worse than me at video games you're an uncoordinated dumbass. if you're better than me at video games you're a pathetic neckbeard. i'm exactly the right amount of good at video games." — This only gets more pronounced as you get older. (Image credit: @bobby)

@oxyjene1986: Discord servers either have a system of 45 channels based on the Dewey decimal system or 3 channels named like "fumbgy zone" "pokemon and piss" "da chat" — It's true. (Image credit: oxyjene1986)

Danielle Partis: Yet another display of inaccuracy from Netflix's Witcher series Attached images: 1. Geralt riding his horse Roach in the Netflix series. 2. Roach standing on Geralt's head due to a glitch in The Witcher 3. — C'mon, get it right. (Image credit: Danielle Partis)

I have replaced all the dragons in Skyrim with the state of Ohio. pic.twitter.com/zd1rXTLMOGAugust 1, 2022

James Brown (@JRBSFX): "Naming Link 'my dude' turns everyone you meet into a very chill bro" Image 1: An old tree with a human face says to Link: "my dude... Welcome..." Image 2: A girl on a bridge to Link: "I knew... that you would leave the forest... someday, my dude..." Image 3: A soldier: "This is my dude... he is under orders to save Hyrule." — Link And Zelda Go To White Castle. (Image credit: James Brown)

wint (@dril): FBI deemed my tool assisted glitch run of Mario Teaches Typing too dangerous for the public eye. the raw emotion has rendered my face purple — One of many dril classics. (Image credit: @dril)

Magic The Gathering card "Immortal Servitude," which features an illustration of a skeleton army. A @dril tweet replaces the normal card text: "if your grave doesnt say 'rest in peace' on it you are automatically drafted in to the skeleton war" — There's also an account dedicated to turning dril tweets into Magic cards. (Image credit: @drilmagic)

@VictoryPosition: People are like “omg mass effect is back, look at my husband” and post a picture of this guy Attached: An image of the grasshopper character from A Bug's Life. — 🤷 (Image credit: @VictoryPosition)

Pocklecool (@instant_grat): "guy who works at activision voice: put eyeliner on the kangaroo. make the kangaroo's waist tiny. no, tinier!! if the kangaroo isn't wearing make-up, how will they know it's a girl?! PUT A RED WIG ON THE FUCKING KANGAROO" A promotional image for Spyro: Reignited Trilogy featuring a plain-looking kangaroo next to a red-haired kangaroo matching the tweet's description. — A kangaroo with a snatched waist, one of the great cultural innovations of the games industry. (Image credit: @instant_grat)

One of the most INSANE things I have ever experienced online, specifically VRChat, is that someone completely recreated Kmarts with working scanners, p.a. systems, and more - and have a Discord with 3,000 people that occasionally roleplay working here unironically. #vrchat pic.twitter.com/bdAmc1j0pjJuly 27, 2022

Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant): Elden Ring asks important questions, such as: "What if an eagle had knives for legs?" and "What if a turtle was a priest?" — Former PC Gamer editor Andy Kelly on what matters. (Image credit: Andy Kelly)

@PeterMolydeux: You know, my dream for gaming is where in one game you'll shoot someone and then during a game of say Fifa you'll see their son crying — The Peter Molyneux parody account has been running for over a decade now. (Image credit: @PeterMolydeux)

Valve Facts: "When analyzed, many Half-Life 2 levels subtly encourage the player to drown themselves. This is done with a technique called “leading lines,” which directs players towards certain areas, such as sticking their head into the ocean until they strangle themselves in the murky water." Attached: Half-Life 2 screenshot of a cliffside. Crudely-drawn red arrows point from the edge of the cliff into the water. — You can learn a lot about game design on Twitter. (Image credit: Valve Facts)

(Further reading: this thread by game designer Robert Yang criticizes the genre of post the tweet above is parodying.)

Andy (@iamandyholt): The earliest known use of the word "gamer" was in the code of laws governing Walsall, England, dated ~1450. The document bans games including cards and backgammon, threatening prison for anyone housing a "gamer" on their property. Proof we have been persecuted since day one — A history lesson from Hard Drive editor Andy Holt. (Image credit: Andy Holt)

@Ranting_Trans: This dude got the Resident Evil 4 inventory system 👀 Attached photo: A man with four handguns holstered on a flat board attached to his jeans. — (Image credit: @Ranting_Trans)

@shackle_ton: *nukes dropping outside* Me: fuck yes *sprinting to bathroom so i can be an environmental storytelling toilet skeleton* — 🩻 (Image credit: @shackle_ton)

@jon_bois: "Many would have you believe that cryptocurrency is collapsing, but those who have closely studied the history of these markets have seen this before – and they know that earnings are poised to shoot through the roof. Here’s what’s really going on." Attached image: An incomprehensible graph with nonsensical labels and data. — This parody of crypto culture was, of course, taken seriously by some. (Have you heard, though? Market gains have become virtually ad quanta!) (Image credit: Jon Bois)

@MNateShyamalan [every assassin's creed game] NPC: hello it is i, your best friend wolfgang amadeus mozart! i made you this crossbow — Thank you, Wolfgang. 🫡 (Image credit: @MNateShyamalan)

Bruh are you fr rn? @ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/f6lDBFXMc4February 27, 2022

@mrbasil_pesto: My favourite bit of Marvel films is where you sit through nine minutes of credits to watch a five second clip of some guy stepping through a doorway and saying "It's me, Blorko." — What is wrong with us? (Image credit: Matthew Castle)

@radiatoryang: anyone else look at old historical maps and be like "this is a fake fantasy world with too much worldbuilding, try again" Attached image: A political map of Europe divided into regions such as "Empire of Charles the Great," "Swede and Goths, "Kingdom of Asturia," and "Slavic Tribes." — Going to need a wiki to keep track of all these factions. (Image credit: Robert Yang)

Best of E3

@dril: "a quick e3 prayer: i call upon our lord in heaven to ensurre that these perfect video games are not lambasted by criminal journalists. aman"" — 🙏 (Image credit: @dril)

Bethesda Front Row Hypeman Squad freaking out over every other sentence is honestly the funniest thing I've seen all day. pic.twitter.com/XnxntXzNPBJune 10, 2019

No one: Not a person: Not a single goddamn soul: Guy in the Bethesda conference audience: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO — The 2019 Bethesda E3 conference woo guy, what a legend. (Image credit: Mica Burton)

@yozetty The merch at this year's E3 is just impossibly lame. Attached photos: A shirt that reads "Awesome Gamer" with an upward-pointing arrow, and a shirt that reads "Yeah, I was at E3 2017" in large type. — We'd probably wear the one on the right today, to be honest. (Image credit: Ben Hanson)

Daniel Ahmad: For those confused why Square Enix's press conference was quite short that's because you need to watch the other versions for it all to make sense. Square Enix E3 0.2 Square Enix E3 1.5 + 2.5 Remix Square Enix E3 358/2 days Square Enix E3 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue — Square Enix E3 358/2 days was underrated. (Image credit: Daniel Ahmad)

The brands™

HotPikachuSex: "What I wouldn't give for @sega to make a new Jet Grind game" Sega: "What I wouldn't give to have not read your user name." — The internet has changed a lot since 2011, but in some ways, it hasn't changed at all. (Image credit: Sega)

Wendy's: Already know y'all about to ask for something free for #NationalFastFoodDay, so just download our app and get a free Junior Bacon Cheeseburger with any purchase. ez AF: What if we dont have a phone? Wendy's: Then you won't be playing the new Diablo — We don't normally condone being amused by anything a fast food chain has to say but, alright, not bad. (Image credit: Wendy's)

Games Done Quick: Bankrupting Twitter is not an eligible run submission for the second submission period. — The first $44 billion speedrun. (Image credit: Games Done Quick)

The official Need for Speed Twitter account, in response to a complaint: "Milkshake brain" — The official Need for Speed account probably shouldn't have called this person "milkshake brain" (it apologized), but you have to admit it's a pretty funny thing to call someone. (Image credit: EA)

@stopmrdomino: "this is still absolutely, without a doubt, the funniest fucking thing Ubisoft has ever done" Attached screenshot of email inbox: Ubisoft 4:47 pm We apologize for the earlier email. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Come see what a real government shutdown lo... — "Come see what a real government shutdown looks like" might be the best Ubisoft gaffe, and there are a lot to choose from. (Image credit: @stopmrdomino)

@rarecandyio: a lotta yall still dont get it ape holders can use multiple slurp juices on a single ape so if you have 1 astro ape and 3 slurp juices you can create 3 new apes Tonight's slurp juice mint event is essentially a minting event for both Lab Monkes and Special Forces — The most mocked NFT tweet of all time. (Image credit: Rare Candy)

PC Gamer and staff

@screencuisine: 'I Understand' he clicked again in the Crusader Kings 3 tutorial. He did not understand — We have all done it. (Image credit: Chris Livingston)

PC Gamer: A reality-bending chasm has appeared in Microsoft Flight Simulator's version of Brazil. Kate Wagner: yeet me into the flight sim glitch hole — Everyone desires to be yeeted into the flight sim glitch hole now and then. (Image credit: Kate Wagner)

@pcgamer: Some big changes are coming in the next Witcher 3: Wild Hunt update. Attached image: Geralt bathing in a cylindrical tub. He's facing the viewer with his feet resting on the edge and water obscuring his waist. — We're pretty sure this is the first time we tweeted a screenshot of Geralt in a tub. We did it so many times after this, it became one of the best-known depictions of the character. You're welcome. (Image credit: PC Gamer)

🏳️‍⚧️ lady alexis 🏳️‍⚧️ @StebMcDreb: us: "pc gamer please stop using tub geralt for every witcher story" *a finger curls on the monkey's paw* PC Gamer: More people are playing The Witcher 3 than on launch day in 2015 Attached image: An extremely stretched image of Geralt's face texture from The Witcher 3. — We're incorrigible. (Image credit: @StebMcDreb)

And finally...

The world's first trombone rhythm game is instantly a GOTY contender. And no, I'm not kidding. Turn up the volume and hear Beethoven like you've never heard it before. https://t.co/Qu7Cmkhjzc pic.twitter.com/jTXNdWx3ZmSeptember 20, 2022

Luke Winkie is a freelance journalist and contributor to many publications, including PC Gamer, The New York Times, Gawker, Slate, and Mel Magazine. In between bouts of writing about Hearthstone, World of Warcraft and Twitch culture here on PC Gamer, Luke also publishes the newsletter On Posting. As a self-described "chronic poster," Luke has "spent hours deep-scrolling through surreptitious Likes tabs to uncover the root of intra-publication beef and broken down quote-tweet animosity like it’s Super Bowl tape." When he graduated from journalism school, he had no idea how bad it was going to get.

With contributions from