Reprise Records/Capcom00’s emo is a funny old thing. You either decided you hated it at the time and continue to despise it all and stands for to this day, or you fell in love with it as an angst-ridden teenager and struggle to get through a day without listening to at least one track from Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High.
Let’s face it, it’s incredibly rare that somebody who grew up the mid 00’s suddenly decides that it’s time to give My Chemical Romance another shot before heading out to Blue Banana to find the tightest jeans they can find, so I’m warning you now that this article is entirely aimed at those of us who never really grew out of that pesky emo phase.
I have no idea if the intersection between gamers and emos is an especially populated one, but I’m willing to bet that it is. With that in mind, and the fact that it’s a slow news day, I decided to reimagine some of the most popular emo/pop punk albums of the 00’s as out of context video game screenshots in an article that five of my colleagues have already described as “punishingly unnecessary.” Let’s dive in, shall we?
blink-182 – Enema Of The State
Gameloftblink 182’s seminal third album went big on the toilet humour and was packed with references to bodily fluids and functions. Much like The Oregon Trail.
System Of A Down – Toxicity
GearboxI’m sure SHOOT ME IN THE FACE is a System song that just missed the cut for inclusion on Toxicity.
My Chemical Romance – Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
NintendoIf you were ever to dig your own grave to a record, it should obviously be Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.
Slipknot – Vol 3
NintendoSad, angry clowns all round.
Fall Out Boy – Take This To Your Grave
NintendoSeriously, Pete Wentz could have genuinely written this quote specially for Nintendo to use in Animal Crossing.
Taking Back Sunday – Tell All Your Friends
Toby Fox If I ever want to get really angsty, I either put on Tell All Your Friends or play through Undertale. Sometimes I do both.
blink 182 – Enema Of The State (Again)
NintendoI thought I’d found an image that best summed up Enema of the State, then I stumbled across this gem.
Angels & Airwaves – We Don’t Need To Whisper
ValveI’m 99.9 percent sure that Tom Delonge has said this to himself in the mirror at least once.
Linkin Park – Minutes To Midnight
CapcomMinutes To Midnight is not an album you want to put on when things are going well in life.
Boxcar Racer – Self Titled
CapcomSimilarly, Boxcar Racer’s one and only record is the kind of music you listen to while standing in the rain so nobody can see your tears.
Panic! At The Disco – A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
NintendoFever is basically Brendon Urie being a sassy bitch in a similar vein to this catty Pokemon trainer for 40 minutes straight, and it’s awesome.
Paramore – Riot!
GearboxIf you know Paramore, you know Riot was an angry-ass album.
Funeral For A Friend – Hours
Square Enix Final Fantasy VIII, Funeral For A Friend, and buckets of nihilism.
My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
Square Enix Welcome To The Black Parade made scary punk ghosts of us all.
Enter Shikari -Common Dreads
NintendoAfter a fairly light first record, Enter Shikari went fully political on their follow up. Capitalism = bad, basically.
Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
NintendoI really had no idea how to sum up Death Cab’s masterpiece Transatlanticism, but then this message in Animal Crossing seemed to just… nail it.
blink 182 – Enema Of The State (Last Time)
NintendoWhat’s Link’s age again?
Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American
NintendoJimmy Eat World are like the super friendly big brothers of the emo world. Nothing but good vibes and swell times when those guys are around. Apart from that one song on the record that’s super sad… but it’s mostly good vibes.
Well, there we are. I think we can all agree I’ve definitively summed up a collection of emo records in an article that nobody ever needed or asked for. That’s… all I ever wanted to do. I guess.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.