What makes something a "joke" game

[Mariotroid]

So my game Mario Holidays has been called a joke game by some people. I dont know what classified it that way, as it is a serious effort.

Is it when graphics are shobby? Gameplay not advanced enough? Physics? Even screen resolution? Just a question on your guys thoughts as to what makes a joke game a joke game.

[mrpin355]

In todays standards, they are games that aren't meant to be serious and are supposed to be comically appealing, I think graphics and dialogue deliberately made to look bad isn't funny anymore. People say your game is classified as a "joke game" due to poor graphics and gameplay, but I don't think you meant to make your games intentionally look bad, I understand you're new at programming and people were just throwing teasing remarks at you.

Frankly, I say your game DOESN'T classify as a joke game at all.
Look at Regular Toad Game, the irony is that the graphics don't look appealing, yet, it is one of the best SERIOUS games to exist out there.

A new signature is on the works but have this:

[Mariotroid]

I'm not new to programming though. It's definitely the placeholder graphics growing people off. I'll check out Regular Toad Game.

[Q-Nova]

Everybody has their own definition of a joke game, and to some there are different kinds of joke games. To me, a typical joke game has very simple gameplay, deliberately sloppy graphics (either clashing or crudely drawn), extremely silly concepts (usually involving famous people or places), simple and linear level design, one-shot gimmicks, and no more than a handful of levels. By this definition, Normal Super Mario Bros. and Cheerwine Deluxe 3 are joke games.

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[King Piranha Plant]

I think it's also important to mention, don't worry much about labels or categories. Remember MFGG used to be a place where making games weird, funny, bizarre, or even clunky, was awesome, and a hilarious part of the community. Not that this applies to your game (it does sound like people just misunderstood that your graphics and whatnot were placeholder), but in general I feel kind of bummed out by the term "joke game" in general.

BUT I understand why it's useful these days, and I think it works especially well to organize games that are straight-up intended to be a joke or gimmick. I just think Mario as a series is weird, anarchic and funny overall, so "joke game" doesn't mean much to me and takes the fun out of it somewhat.