I Want Shorter Games With Worse Graphics and I'm Not Kidding — Sonic the Hedgehog comic panel with speech bubble demanding shorter games with worse graphics

I Want Shorter Games With Worse Graphics and I'm Not Kidding

2020catchphraseclassic

Published October 25, 2026

A June 2020 tweet by writer Jordan Mallory calling for smaller, less demanding video games grew into a widely quoted catchphrase about AAA development conditions. By November 2020, the line was pasted onto a Sonic the Hedgehog comic panel, turning the slogan into a reusable image macro that spawned the I Want X and I'm Not Kidding snowclone.

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Overview

I Want Shorter Games With Worse Graphics and I'm Not Kidding is a catchphrase pushing back on the direction of AAA studio production, arguing for smaller titles that ask less of the people making them1. Jordan Mallory's exact wording goes further than the shortened title suggests, specifying that the people building these games should be "paid more to work less," which anchored the slogan to labor conditions rather than just graphics preferences1.

After the November 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog edit by @MsFeliciaRondo, the line stopped functioning only as a quotable tweet and started working as a reusable image macro, with the hedgehog delivering the complaint in a comic panel2. Posts using the format typically pair the Sonic panel with a specific industry grievance about crunch, bloated open worlds or photorealistic fidelity, and the gag relies on the hedgehog's deadpan insistence that the demand is sincere34. The snowclone "I Want X and I'm Not Kidding" later took the same panel and swapped in unrelated opinions, from fandom gripes to political takes5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (origin) / Sonic comic edit (viral spread)
Creator
Jordan Mallory
Date
2020

On June 29th, 2020, writer Jordan Mallory tweeted, "I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I'm not kidding"1. The post picked up over 21,600 retweets and 98,800 likes across the next three years, read as a direct response to ongoing coverage of crunch at AAA studios3.

Two days later, on July 1st, 2020, @moshboy ran the quote through Death Generator to create an image macro styled like a classic video game text box, which gathered over 8,900 retweets and 30,100 likes6. The format that stuck arrived on November 12th, 2020, when @MsFeliciaRondo pasted Mallory's quote onto a Sonic the Hedgehog comic panel, the same panel already in use for the Alone on a Friday Night? format2.

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How It Spread

The Sonic version broke containment through 2021 as it circulated on Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter in gaming threads34. On July 22nd, 2021, voice actor Luke Correia posted a short clip voicing Sonic reading the line, which pulled over 470,000 views on YouTube7.

Starting mid-2021, posters began replacing Mallory's text with their own complaints, keeping Sonic's panel intact. @metalgearnoxid posted an early snowclone version on July 13th, 20215, and on August 19th, 2022, Tumblr user sabertoothwalrus used the template to react to Night in the Woods news, racking up over 64,000 notes8. The Sonic panel saw heavy use through 2022 and 2023 for unpopular opinions and fandom frustrations, often redrawn in different art styles1.

Timeline

2020-06-29

Jordan Mallory posts the original tweet about shorter games, better pay and less work.

2020-07-01

@moshboy posts a Death Generator image macro version of the quote.

2020-11-12

@MsFeliciaRondo captions a Sonic the Hedgehog comic panel with Mallory's quote.

2021-07-13

@metalgearnoxid posts an early example of the I Want X and I'm Not Kidding snowclone.

2021-07-22

Voice actor Luke Correia uploads a voiced Sonic version to YouTube.

2022-08-19

Tumblr user sabertoothwalrus posts a Night in the Woods version that gathers over 64,000 notes.

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