Best Villains Ever #7
Hitler (Wolfenstein 3D)
Adolf Hitler was the final boss of ID software’s classic shooter Wolfenstein 3D. What not many people realise, however, is that he’s actually based on a real person. The historical Hitler was the chancellor, and then führer, of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Under Hitler, many reforms were enacted in Germany, including the restoration of the country’s military, the reinvigoration of the economy, and the state-sponsored murder of millions and millions of people because they didn’t agree with the party line or were perhaps the wrong race or religion or maybe related to somebody who was the wrong race or religion. He is the best boss monster history has ever produced, and, in a startling coincidence that I didn’t even actually plan, it’s his birthday. So, you know, happy birthday and all that.
In Wolfenstein 3D, ID Software realised and tapped the boss-monster potential in Hitler like no game before or since. They understood that if there is any experience producable in a video game that turns out quite as vicserally satisfying as mowing down Hitler with a machine gun, it’s mowing down a giant armoured robot Hitler with a machine gun. The fight itself is relatively straightforward and bland, but it doesn’t even matter — it’s Hitler. This is really the one case in video game history where the simple fact of the villain trumps anything else the designers could add to it.
