Names are tough, because there's such a fine line between sounding cool and sounding completely bonkers. A good name sticks with people, a bad one sticks with people because it sounds like something a porn star would reject for being too obvious.

We have a lot of porn star-sounding game character names in the following slides, as well as ones that are too-cool-for-school and others still that are just complete nonsense. If you've ever been picked on for having a goofy sounding name, take comfort in the fact that it could have been worse - much worse.

Seen having a stupid name in: Punch-Out!! (arcade game)

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a first grader's attempt at identifying 'Italian things'. Seriously, was this THE FIRST THING that popped into the developers' heads when designing their Italian boxer? What about Gucci Gnocchi?

Seen having a stupid name in: Super Punch-Out!!

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a fun way to speed the weekend. Do you think when Bear's parents named him, they knew their son would grow up to be a grizzled old mountain man who's also a boxer? It was destiny.

Seen having a stupid name in: Street Fighter EX

Name is stupid because it sounds like: WrestleMania, only deadlier.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mega Man X5

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Duffman from The Simpsons, oh yeah! Fun fact: the Duff is apparently short for Duffin, which doesn't make it any better.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mega Man X6

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a device that plays metal sharks. What would even be on a metal shark? Music, videos, lots of teeth?

Seen having a stupid name in: The King of Fighters XIII

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a grab bag of words people think sound cool. If he started a band, it would totally be called Nightmare Final Infinity.

Seen having a stupid name in: King of the Monsters 2

Name is stupid because it sounds like: some sort of weird, online sex slang (unlike all that totally normal online sex slang).

Seen having a stupid name in: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a stupid pun on the phrase "miles per hour." Tails is a decent enough name, but when you learn his name is actually Miles Prower - which sounds like "prowler" - it makes him sound like a creepy stalker.

Seen having a stupid name in: Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-

Name is stupid because it sounds like: laziness.

Seen having a stupid name in: several Tekken games

Name is stupid because it sounds like: martial law. Even though the character has nothing to do with the military or the legal system. Super funny, right? Get it?

Seen having a stupid name in: No More Heroes

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a cheap way to have "down" in his last name. The main character's name is Travis TouchDOWN so, naturally, his rival should have the word 'down' in there somewhere.

Seen having a stupid name in: Toshinden 4

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a bunch of knightly words strung together. If your character is already a knight - and you feel the need to put the word knight in his name - then take a step back and really think over the decisions you've made in your life.

Seen having a stupid name: Final Fantasy X

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the noise a teeny, tiny baby would make while playing with a toy. Actually, Wakka was the goofball of the group, and he did fight using a toy, so I guess this name fits.

Seen having a stupid name in: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Name is stupid because as a matter of fact: Starkiller didn't kill any stars.

Seen having a stupid name in: Ready 2 Rumble Boxing

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a porn star. Seriously, you're going to find a lot of these in this list.

Seen having a stupid name in: Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

Name is stupid because it sounds like: an Australian game show host. And yes, I'm saying the name's Australian because it has the word 'dingo' in it. I'm sorry.

Seen having a stupid name in: Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger VS. Darkdeath Evilman

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the first draft of a new Power Rangers villain. To be fair, ZHP is a parody game, so Mr. Evilman is technically a parody of generic villain names. But even so, it's still too ridiculous not to feature here.

Seen having a stupid name in: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Name is stupid because it sounds like: his parents had a really, really cruel sense of humor. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the 'Hot Coldman vs. Cold Hotman' naming meeting at Kojima Productions. Thankfully, good taste prevailed.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mario Kart 8

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Nintendo really has run out of new ideas for Mario Kart Racers.

Seen having a stupid name in: Devil May Cry 3

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a basic description for a character. There's actually a wonderfully convoluted reason for why Lady calls herself Lady, but the end result is that it's still a dumb name.

Seen having a stupid name in: Kingdom Hearts 2

Name is stupid because it sounds like: someone wanted a group of 13 people to all have the letter 'X' in their name, but ran out of good ideas after the first one.

Seen having a stupid name in: Chris Moneymaker's World Poker Championship

Name is stupid because it sounds like: an evil CEO in one of those family-friendly movies starring a talking animal.

Seen having a stupid name in: EarthBound

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Mr. Carpenter, which would have been a fine name, but if you really squint your eyes and read it again it actually says car painter. Car painter? As in, one who paints cars?

Seen having a stupid name in: Dirge of Cerberus

Name is stupid because it sounds like: blue the blue, which is basically what he's called. His name sounds like azure, a shade of blue, and his... um... title is cerulean, another shade of blue. There you have it: Blue the Blue.

Seen having a stupid name in: too many Mario games

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Luigi but with a 'W' at the front, yeah, we get it Nintendo, it's like what you did with Wario, only his named sounded cool and this just sounds like some kind of word jumble. Poor Luigi, even his villains are lame.

Seen having a stupid name in: Fracture.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a '50s high school football hero transported into the year 3090, where he stars as the protagonist of a pulpy sci-fi adventure serial, itself made in the '50s. Also, he sounds a bit like a porn star.

Seen having a stupid name in: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: computer science slang.

"Yeah, I was having trouble getting that part of the UI to display properly, but I've run a quick dash rendar to kluge it together for now. I'll fix it properly tomorrow"

Even for a character living in the Star Wars universe, it's ridiculous.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Gears of War series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a porn star. Seriously. Take him out of context and it does.

Seen having a stupid name in: Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy on the Atari Jaguar. That's why you've never heard of him.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the developers did not realise that simply putting "Mc" in front of an obvious character trait does not a plausible name or believable characterisation make. Also, given the current state of internet culture, it's inadvisable to put the word "fur" in any character's name. Also also, Trevor is my dad's name and so all of this just freaks me out. Click on to the next slide now and forget that this one ever happened.

Seen having a stupid name in: Rosco McQueen, Firefighter Extreme.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a southern '70s sheriff who works by his own rules but gets the job done.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Halo series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: of all the real-world naval ranks available to them, Bungie chose the one most likely to sound like "Captain Boss" to those uninitiated in military designations.

Seen having a stupid name in: Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name a 10 year-old would give themselves if handed a deed poll form shortly after being handed a bottle of whiskey and a giant bag of Skittles.

Seen having a stupid name in: Final Fantasy VII and its multitudinous spin-offs.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a teenage goth's online alter-ego. Or alternately, that of a French porn star.

Look, I'm going to stop doing the porn star joke now, because a) it's not a joke, and b) it applies to nearly all of them. Can we just agree that it goes without saying from this point on? It'll save me a lot of time. Like, literally seconds.

Seen having a stupid name in: Final Fantasy VII and its multitudinous spin-offs.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Square-Enix realised that "Cloud" sounded too much like the product of hippie parenting. Given that Cloud was to be their most emo hero to date, they thus stuck "Strife" on the end in order to add additional angst. He might as well be called Rainbow Misery.

Seen having a stupid name in: Far too many Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: an instruction to do something unpleasant to a rabbit.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mace Griffin, Bounty Hunter.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the developers decided that sticking together the respective names of a medieval weapon and a mythical beast was a dead-cert route to badassery. And it should be. But in practice, it isn't.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Wolfenstein series

Name is stupid because it sounds like: iD effectively tried to shoehorn the word "blast" into the name of an action hero.

Seen having a stupid name in: Metal Gear

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the subtitle of any modern military FPS.

Seen having a stupid name in: Metal Gear Solid

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a gadget used by James Bond during the ultra-camp Roger Moore period.

Seen having a stupid name in: Parasite Eve

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a mad scientist. Which is exactly what he is. A really, really obvious mad scientist. Who was somehow allowed to carry on with his mad science until he nearly brought about the destruction of the world. Hans Klamp, people. He was called Hans Klamp. And just look at his freaking beard! Look at it!

Seen having a stupid name in: the Virtua Fighter series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Sega obviously didn't pay attention to my "Jimmy McCharactertrait" rule from earlier on.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Virtua Fighter series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Sega have tried to subvert the "Jimmy McCharactertrait" rule, but only slightly succeeded.

We know that Wolf is a nature-loving woodsman, but the point need not be laboured by stapling together three elements of the natural world in order to create his name. Who's his arch-rival, Concrete Buildingstreet?

Seen having a stupid name in: Final Fantasy VIII.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: half a sentence. Rinoa Heartilly what? Ate a juicy roast chicken? Laughed at the poor? What? What was Rinoa doing with such gusto, Squenix?

Seen having a stupid name in: the real world, as a pro-gaming association.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the supporters' association of a well-known assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. Apparently the whole thing was a complete, really unfortunate accident, and they were quite embarrassed when they discovered connotation.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Guilty Gear series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: OH COME ON!

Seen having a stupid name in: the Star Fox series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: his parents spent very little time naming him.

"So we, Mr. and Mrs. McCloud, being foxes, as we are, have birthed a baby fox. What shall we call him?"

"Fox?"

"Done"

Seen having a stupid name in: Dark Souls.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: I'm not even getting into this one.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Ace Attorney series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Capcom tried to go for a name that playfully danced with genre conventions, but then went a bit too far, effectively naming their character "Detective Detective".

Seen having a stupid name in: the Ace Attorney series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Okay, looking back over these pages I think we we might actually have stumbled upon the method for coming up with your own personal Video Game Name. By my estimation the method is simply a case of working out your porn name (first pet + mothers maiden name) and then substituting one of the words with the name of a mythological beast or dangerous real-world animal of your choosing. Mine is Goldie Minotaur*. Tell me Metal Gear Solid has never used anything sillier.

*I imagine Goldie Minotaur to be a street-smart female detective in a lightly steampunk-tinged '20s-noir universe. Because why wouldn't she be? She's not a minotaur though. I'm not going all Star Fox with this one.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Ace Attorney series. Again.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a low-to-medium-profile mid-'80s wrestler, with a garish gold outfit and a large beard.

Any other stupendously named characters you think I've missed? Any in this list you think have been hard done by? Let me know. And don't forget to drop your official Video Game Name in the comments.

And while you're here, check out some of our other tasty feature content. I'd recommend .

If you spent years of your life working on a single thing, wouldn’t you want to put your face all over it? That’s why, from time to time, some plain-looking folks appear in media as in-jokes by the producers, as they slip in a cameo for one of the behind-the-scenes people in stuff like Pulp Fiction or Seinfeld. Games engage in the 'creator cameos' trope just as much as anyone, though often only the weirdest moments are memorable.

If you don’t know the names of the people making your favorite games, creator cameos can be jarring, especially so when they’re as unexpected as these. Why just have your picture in the background when you can star in an escort mission? Or have game breaking powers? Or simply yell ‘Toasty!’ at the player? These are the times when game makers took full advantage of their limited screentime.

Series mastermind Hideo Kojima stuck his face in the background of several previous games, and even supplied the voice of a deity in a later game, but he took his cameos to a new level in 2014. Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes main mission is a little on the short side, so the game attempts to stretch things out with a handful of side missions, including one that .

Kojima made numerous cameos in previous Metal Gear games, but his most recent might also be the oddest, mainly for how much in your face Kojima is this time around. The mission has Snake flying in via helicopter and blasting his way through the base until he finds Hideo. Once he frees the boss and gets him to the chopper, the two fly off to safety, though Kojima’s consciousness isn’t fully restored until he puts back on his famous glasses. He then says, “What took you so long?” Is this a reference to the fans still patiently waiting for the next installment?

Peter Moore has a long history in gaming, probably more storied than most realize. Years before he was showing off his Halo and GTA tattoos at E3, he ran Sega of America during the Dreamcast years. After gaining fame with Xbox, he moved on to Electronic Arts I’where he made his oddest appearance to date: as a virtual boxer in FaceBreaker.

Made as a throwback to arcadey punch-fests of old, FaceBreaker has over-the-top moves and finishers, along with a cartoonish collection of characters. A hyper-exaggerated version of Moore is among them, with the COO mainly included for promotional purposes at events like E3. And the devs included some truly famous folks in the virtual boxing ring via the character creator. So, if you’re wondering why you’ll find a video called ',' FaceBreaker is why.

Speaking of Peter Moore, his E3 appearances at Microsoft led to another reference that many gamers either didn’t notice or didn’t get. In the underrated XBLA hit The Dishwasher, there’s an Achievement titled The Peter Moore, and the official description says "Pay homage to one of our generation's greatest rock performances ever." Considering it pops up while the protagonist plays a guitar, what could this possibly refer to? An E3 moment Moore likely wishes never happened.

Back at E3 2007, Peter Moore took part in an early live demo of the then-new Rock Band, and he didn’t yet have mastery of his instrument. As tens of thousands watched worldwide, Moore twice hit the Xbox guide button while playing, sending the rocking demo to a laughable halt. Dishwasher has some rhythm-based minigames where the character picks up an axe and wails away, and if you hit the guide button during the segment, you’ll net the Achievement. Hopefully, in the time between E3 and the game’s release, Moore looked back on the gaffe with humor instead of embarrassment.

Keiji Inafune made a name for himself as an outspoken game maker at Capcom, and then later as an independent developer. Also known as the man behind Mega Man, Inafune built his team at Comcept to create a number of new series - but he also found time to take part in the very niche crossover Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.

Neptunia is a weird JRPG series that doubles as meta-commentary about the games industry, with anime girl deities that work as thinly veiled counterparts to PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii consoles. Mk2’s industry commentary goes even deeper with cameos from characters like Disgaea’s Prinnies, and Keiji’s . Dubbed the Creator Sword, Inafune’s head is called down from on high, he shoots a massive energy beam out of his mouth, then his smiling visage returns to the heavens. For those unfamiliar with the history of Japanese gaming, that moment has to feel pretty damn random.

I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say The Simpsons is the most important piece of satire in the last century, and that it transformed society (OK, maybe that last bit is a little overboard). But I’ve been a super-fan of Springfield since I first saw it over 25 years ago, and its tongue-in-cheek humor was a huge draw. The series even had some scathing, self-referential attacks on the series creators, including Matt Groening. That same irreverence stretched to 2007’s The Simpsons Game, which had a joke where Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa .

Groening’s yellow-skinned creations have no doubt made him a rich man, but the game comically represents Groening as wealthier than Scrooge McDuck. The Simpsons battle their way through their creator’s mansion among piles of cash and gold, ultimately finding Groening in his cavernous office. Matt calls in some Futurama character cameos for assistance, but is still defeated by Springfield’s Finest. As he flees the battlefield, Groening writes his name on the screen as a final, egotistical move that’s fitting for his in-game persona.

David Cage is either famous or infamous to most that know his name. He’s the outspoken developer behind Quantic Dream, a studio that attempts to blur the lines between gaming and film storytelling (they don’t always succeed). After games like Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, we know what to expect, but the multiple-choice gameplay needed some explanation in Quantic’s first game: Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit. Good thing David Cage is there to have it all make sense.

Before Indigo’s intriguing mystery can unfold, . And he’s giving this explanation on a sort of film set for the game you’re about to play. This tutorial may have been necessary for some, but with Cage’s heavily accented English, he might not be the best guide. Plus, having the creator speak directly to the audience before the game begins is a bit jarring - though I doubt anyone would ever accuse Cage of being subtle.

Stan Lee has been a fixture of pop culture for over five decades, and thanks to numerous cameos in Marvel films, the comic writer may be more famous than ever. Like your lovable, nerdy grandpa, Stan Lee has even made a few appearances in Marvel games, fitting for the co-creator of most of the company’s most iconic heroes, Spider-Man included. However, the game tie-in for 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man did far more than give Lee a brief walk-on - the game makes him the hero.

reskins Spidey as the besuited comic mogul, giving Stan The Man all the same moves and abilities as the wallcrawler. It’s a cute set of missions, with Lee’s uniquely nasal voice throwing out one liners all over Manhattan as he catches crooks just like flies. It’s also a groundbreaking move at diversifying games - how many other titles star a 92-year-old man?

Gamers of the ‘90s have this creator cameo burned into their brains, even if they never really knew who the man in the corner of their screen is. First seen in Mortal Kombat 2, when you pull off an uppercut at just the right time, a seemingly random dude will pop out of the corner of the screen and say 'Toasty!' in a high-pitched voice. That’s MK sound designer Dan Forden, and this little in-joke became an unforgettable part of the series.

The phrase and Folden returned in Mortal Kombat 3, this time with a new purple shirt and extra catchphrases like 'Frosty' and 'Crispy,' and no one really questioned it. MK players just got used to seeing some unnamed dude interrupt their bloody fight with a strange falsetto. For a time, Holden vanished from the series, but made an HD return in the Mortal Kombat reboot, this time wearing a shirt with toast on it. Just how much sillier can Dan’s look get in Mortal Kombat X?

Those are all the oddball cameos for now, but if you have other celebrity sighting you want to discuss, have at it in the comments.

Looking for more things that hide in plain sight? Check out our collections of .