Zero Punctuation

About

Zero Punctuation is a weekly video game review series hosted on The Escapist by writer and game developer Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (commonly referred to as just "Yahtzee"), who ran the website Fully Ramblomatic.^[1] In the series, Croshaw criticizes recently released games, pointing out clichès and flaws in their storylines, as well as notable gameplay aspects and comparisons to the game's predecessor (if they are part of a franchise).

History

Zero Punctuation originated as an experimental video in which Croshaw reviewed the gameplay demonstration of The Darkness while only using still images and a voice track with no pause. In the review, he used simplistic sprites (titled "Imps") that resembled the enemies from the game, which would become a stapled part of the series, commonly used to represent enemies and unimportant characters. The review of The Darkness's demo, as well as a review of Fable: The Lost Chapters in the same format, were uploaded to YouTube in July 24th and July 29th, 2007, respectively. On August 13th, Croshaw announced that he would continue doing video reviews every week in the aforementioned format on The Escapist Magazine.

Fully Ramblomatic

Following the Escapist resignations of November 2023 Yahtzee joined Second Wind, an independent, video-focused gaming media organization, with other former Escapist employees. There, he launched Fully Ramblomatic, which is nearly identical to Zero Punctuation (example episode shown below).

Related Memes

The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race

The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race is a collective term that refers to gamers who prefer computers as their gaming platforms, which was first heard in Yahtzee's review of The Witcher, a PC exclusive game. It is often accompanied with an image of a large-chested, bronze-skinned man with long, white hair, made to fit the visual style of Zero Punctuation. The term is often shortened to "PC Master Race", and is used as a closing statement to arguments about a PC version of a game being superior to other versions. On April 30, 2011, the r/pcmasterrace subreddit was created for the purpose of discussing the superiority of PC over consoles, and has over 530,000 subscribers as of March 2016.^[2] The term "Master Race" also became a popular suffix to subcultures that are deemed superior.

Press X To Not Die

Press X To Not Die is a quote from Yahtzee's review of Thief that ridicules interactive cutscenes that require quick button presses, which are called QTEs (Quick Time Events). The quote became a popular nickname for QTE sequences, and is the name used for TV Tropes's page on QTEs.^[3]

Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God

Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God is a cliché associated with JRPG video games in which a player's party progresses through the story and ultimately band together to face a deity-like final boss, overcoming them through "the power of friendship." Since the term was coined by Yahtzee Crowshaw in 2014, the catchphrase has been retroactively applied in joking analyses of JRPG video games.

On July 23rd, 2014, Yahtzee Croshaw reviewed Earthbound for Zero Punctuation, and while defining a "JRPG," he joked that to him, a game with turn-based combat and an adventure story doesn't feel like a true "JRPG" unless "it ends with teenagers using the power of friendship to kill god."

The phrase combines a common trope in which heroes seem to find strength through friendship to overcome obstacles and a trope in JRPGs about the final boss being a deity.

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External References