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5 Patriotic Video Game Moments

I’m glad to see you made your way back to Sore Thumbs! To help celebrate our country’s freedom this month, I’m going to talk about video games. There are plenty of games that are bursting at their star-spangled seams with patriotism, but I wanted to look at specific moments that are more subtle, and maybe somewhat unexpected. Oh yeah, spoilers ahead!

Freedom Fighters – Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, PC

Staged in Brooklyn with Russians invading the city, Freedom Fighters is patriotism in its most raw form: fighting for your country. Your character and his brother are both plumbers (not those plumber brothers) making a house call when you realize what’s happening. You recruit common folk just like yourself and lead them in the fight to take back the city.

            After the initial tutorial missions, you’ll be faced with taking back an enemy-occupied post office. While it’s strategically advantageous that you now have the post office back, the real patriotic glory kicks in when you have to lower the Soviet flag and unfurl the red, white, and blue to complete the mission. While not quite as epic as the moon landing or Iwo Jima, you still might feel some kind of emotional response. The camera pans up as the Stars and Stripes rise into the sky and then…“MISSION COMPLETED”!

Animal Crossing series – Gamecube, DS, Wii

Anyone who’s been even slightly addicted to Animal Crossing can tell you how great it is anytime something unexpected comes along. If you happen to play the first Animal Crossing game on July 4^th, everyone in town will be caught up in the excitement of the “Fireworks Festival”. They don’t call it “Independence Day”, but we know what’s going on. As you go around and talk to your neighbors, you’ll see just how excited everyone is about the celebration. The mayor of your town will even risk his own term by giving you several kinds of fireworks you can shoot off yourself!

            The first Animal Crossing has the festivities when you would expect, but the later DS and Wii versions opt for a weird schedule in August. If it isn’t fireworks season in your Animal Crossing town, you can always outsmart the machine and change your system clock to whatever you want. Try some other holidays to see what happens!

Fallout 3 – Xbox 360, PS3, PC

In Fallout 3, you’ll find yourself wandering the post-nuclear wastelands of Washington D.C. The survivors of a war’s aftermath cling to whatever they can find that isn’t ruined. You’ll eventually come across one scavenger named Abraham Washington that would love to add the Declaration of Independence to his collection of iconic American items.

            You’ll face plenty of enemies and even trivia questions about America on your quest to bring him the Declaration. Your final obstacle is a robot with an undying allegiance to its country. It even makes sure you understand just what the Declaration of Independence represents before you try to take it. While not the most noble method for doing so, you become the person who rediscovers the Declaration of Independence and you just might feel some sort of twisted patriotism for doing so.

Super Off-Road – NES, SNES, PC

In this fixed-perspective racer, you drive your truck around a dirt track using jumps and nitrous to your advantage. While that seems pretty American, the patriotic moment I want to bring up happens whenever you finish first in a race.

            When you start the game, you enter your name and choose a country. Race just right to get first place and be rewarded during the victory ceremony. Sure, every one of the racers looks exactly the same, but so do the women clinging to their sides. Heck, even the trophies all look the same, but first place gets… their nation’s anthem played in the background! Worth it!

Bad Dudes – NES, Arcade

When the president gets captured by ninjas (this was before the Department of Homeland Security), apparently the good guys aren’t good enough to save him. That’s where the “Bad Dudes” come in. Fight through a city infested with ninjas wearing a multitude of colors to get to the captured George Bush look-a-like.

After rescuing the prez, he says the most American thing the developers could think of: “Hey dudes, thanks for rescuing me. Let’s go for a burger…Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” You’re then treated to a scene with the president eating a burger in front of the White House. Apparently it was decided to beef up security after the ninja incident, since there is a wall of Secret Service agents behind both of you as well. Oh, and of course Old Glory is showing her colors the whole time the credits roll.

The thing that’s interesting about this game is that the arcade and Japanese versions cast a Ronald Reagan clone named “Ronnie” as the president, since it came out earlier than the US NES version. Also, there is no burger, White House, American flag, or Secret Service in the Japanese ending. The developers apparently thought they needed to turn the “America” knob up as high as it would go for the US ending.