Pirates vs. Ninjas was a comedic Internet and gaming meme from the late 2000s regarding a theoretical conflict between archetypal Western pirates and Japanese ninjas, generally including arbitrary "debate" over which side would win in a fight. [1] [2] [3] The meme is sometimes referred to as PvN and has a long history on the Internet. [4] Humorist Jake Kalish writes (in the pro-ninja column) that the reason for the popularity of the meme is that "pirates and ninjas are both cool, but kind of opposite, see, because one is loud and the other ... never mind." [5] Several competitive web sites and games based upon the ninjas vs. pirates theme appeared later, including Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball . [6]
Ninja supporters hold the position that a ninja would win over a pirate because of their superior mental and physical capabilities, as well as usage of gadgets such as nunchaku and shuriken. Those who support pirates argue that a pirate's use of both sword and gun would ensure their victory in battle. [7]
The debate has accumulated a wide following in cyberculture. A wide array of YouTube videos, websites, and online debate forums can be linked to the pirate vs. ninja conflict.
The Official Ninja Webpage: Real Ultimate Power is a satire website created in 2002 by the pseudonymous Robert Hamburger. Written using the persona of a 13-year-old boy, the site is a parody of adolescent fascination with Ninjas. Warren St. John, columnist for The New York Times described it as "a satirical ode to the masculine prowess of ninjas".
Ninja Burger (忍者バーガー) is a parody website started in late 1999, purporting that a sect of noble ninja have taken to secretly delivering fast food meals, anywhere, anytime, within 30 minutes or less. Failure to deliver within the ascribed time limit results in seppuku. Some of Ninja Burger's rivals include Pirate Pizza, Otaku Bell, and Samurai Burger. The site riffs on many of the same points as Real Ultimate Power, another ninja parody website.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a 2004 sports comedy film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller. The film follows a group of unlikely misfits who enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament in the hopes of winning $50,000 to save their cherished local gym from being taken over by corporate health fitness chain Globo Gym.
Dead or Alive is a media franchise based on a fighting game series developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo. It is primarily composed of fast-paced fighting games that began with the original Dead or Alive in 1996. The series received universal acclaim with the sequels Dead or Alive 2 in 1999 and Dead or Alive 3 in 2001, which are both considered landmark titles in the fighting genre and gaming. Dead or Alive is the creation of Tomonobu Itagaki, who developed the first four installments but has since left the company and is no longer working on the series, which continues without him.
An Internet meme, or simply meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations. Characteristics of memes include their susceptibility to parody, their use of intertextuality, their propagation in a viral pattern, and their evolution over time. The name is from the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972.
Team Ninja is a Japanese video game developer, and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1995 as a part of Tecmo. It was founded by Tomonobu Itagaki, and is best known for franchises such as Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive and Nioh.
Harambe was a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo. On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy visiting the zoo climbed under a fence into an outdoor gorilla enclosure where he was violently grabbed and dragged by Harambe. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to use lethal force. A number of primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals near humans and the need for better standards of care.
Leeroy Jenkins is a player character created by Ben Schulz in Blizzard Entertainment's multiplayer online video game World of Warcraft. The character became popular in 2005 from his role in a viral video of game footage where, having been absent during his group's discussion of a meticulous battle plan, Leeroy returns and ruins it by charging straight into combat while shouting his own name as a battle cry. The video capturing the character's behavior became an Internet meme. As a result of positive reception to the meme, Blizzard subsequently added Leeroy Jenkins into World of Warcraft as an official non-player character and as a minion card and later as a hero in the online card game Hearthstone.
"The cake is a lie" is a catchphrase from the 2007 video game Portal. Initially left behind as graffiti by Doug Rattman to warn that GLaDOS, the game's main villain, was deceiving the player, it was intended to be a minor reference and esoteric joke by the game's development team that implied the player would never receive their promised reward. It became unexpectedly popular among Portal players, and has since become a widely distributed Internet meme where the phrase is co-opted and becomes associated with new meanings outside of the original context of the game.
Super Dodgeball Brawlers, originally released in Japan as Chō Nekketsu Kōkō Kunio-kun Dodgeball Bu is a dodgeball-based sports game released for the Nintendo DS.
Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is a fantasy dodgeball video game developed by American studio Blazing Lizard and published by Gamecock for Xbox Live Arcade and SouthPeak Games for the Wii. The game was released on September 3, 2008 for Xbox Live Arcade, while the Wii version was released in 2009. Both were porly received by critics. The Xbox 360 version has an aggregated Metacritic review score of 44/100 and the lowest review is 16/100.
Deadliest Warrior was an American television program in which information on historical or modern warriors and their weapons are used to determine which of them is the "deadliest" based upon tests performed during each episode. The show was characterized by its use of data compiled in creating a dramatization of the warriors' battle to the death. The show ran for three seasons.
Keyboard Cat is a video-based internet meme. Its original form was a video made in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt of his cat Fatso seemingly playing a musical keyboard to a cheery tune. While Schmidt had uploaded the video himself to YouTube in 2007, Brad O'Farrell, with Schmidt's permission, appended the video to the end of a blooper video uploaded in 2009 as if to have the cat "play" the person offstage after the gaffe as they had done in Vaudeville. The idea of this quickly expanded on the Internet by numerous other users, typically under the name "Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat", and became a popular meme on YouTube.
The Crist Brothers were an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers David Crist Jr. and John Crist, who are best known by their ring names Dave Crist and Jake Crist. They are best known for their time with Impact Wrestling where Jake was a one-time Impact X Division Champion.
Doge is an Internet meme that became popular in 2013. The meme consists of a picture of a Shiba Inu dog, accompanied by multicolored text in Comic Sans font in the foreground. The text, representing a kind of internal monologue, is deliberately written in a form of broken English. The meme most frequently uses an image of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, though versions with other Shiba Inus are also popular.
Ohio Versus Everything (oVe) was a professional wrestling stable in Impact Wrestling that consisted of Sami Callihan, Jake Crist, and Madman Fulton and Rich Swann.
Jake Joseph Paul is an American YouTuber and professional boxer. He began his career posting videos on Vine in September 2013 and had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 billion views before the app discontinued. He played Dirk Mann on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark for two seasons. Paul launched his YouTube channel in May 2014, and has ranked on the Forbes list as one of the highest paid YouTube creators in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2023. He also ranked on the 2022 Forbes list of the world's highest paid athletes.
KSI vs Logan Paul was a white-collar amateur boxing match between English YouTuber KSI and American YouTuber Logan Paul. The undercard included several YouTubers, featuring a match between the younger brothers of the main event fighters, Deji Olatunji and Jake Paul. The bout took place on 25 August 2018 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. It was streamed on YouTube's pay-per-view platform and ended in a majority draw, with two judges scoring it 57–57 and the other judge scoring it 58–57 in favour of KSI.
Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated superhero film directed by Jake Castorena and written by Marly Halpern-Graser. Based on the comic book miniseries Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II, the story focuses on Batman, Robin, and Batgirl teaming up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in order to save Gotham City from chaos at the hands of both Shredder and Ra's al Ghul. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation in association with DC Entertainment and Nickelodeon, the film features the voices of Troy Baker, Eric Bauza, Darren Criss, Kyle Mooney, and Baron Vaughn.
Possibly originated from the Facebook game "Pirates vs. Ninjas".