How To Make A Joke Character
There are different ways to accomplish in designing a bad video game character.
Note that this also applies by proxy to the Lethal Joke Character, with the difference that it gets some other gimmick to keep it viable in a competitive enviroment.
Bad Performances
Most playable characters in video games have Stats or some way to distinguish them in the gameplay (including stuff like strength, Hit Points, maximum speed, jump height, Sanity Meter...). The Joke Character usually is outclassed by all other normal characters in the roster, if not having the lowest possible values assignable for that stats. In this sense, the Joke Character is the opposite of the Purposely Overpowered Master of All, which instead outclasses all normal playable characters. If the Joke Character has bad stats because they are evenly spread among each other, and lacks any skills to distinguish itself from the normal playable characters, which instead often are more specialized in their roles, it also crosses over with Master of None.Only One Good Stat
The opposite of a Master of None: this Joke Character has one stat it excels at... The problem is, it's the only good stat it has. The rest are so low it drags the good stat down, and probably lacks the means to mitigate its weaknesses: it's Crippling Overspecialization. The result is a Glass Cannon that cannot attack because it always gets killed first, a Stone Wall that can't stop the Death of a Thousand Cuts, or a Fragile Speedster that lacks the power or the endurance to actually use its speed.Since this Joke Character is at least good at one thing, it's the variant most likely to be Not Completely Useless. It might even turn up to be somewhat decent... unless the backlash it suffers turns it into a even more hated Low-Tier Letdown. Unless its good stat is the One Stat to Rule Them All, which can even be enough to make it playable even when everything else is crap.
Wrong Person At The Wrong Place
Not all weak video game characters are useless: the Crutch Character in RPGs is a common way to help new players start the game, before they gain experience. Skill Gate Characters in fighting games are a similar concept.Those are not Joke Characters. A Joke Character would be an underpowered unit that would be ideal for a first-time player... if it was available earlier. Instead, it's unlocked at a time when the player has become familiar with the game.
Built This Way
This Joke Character is programmed differently from the other playable characters, just to be made worse.Quirky Bard, Mechanically Unusual Fighter and Mechanically Unusual Class are more neutral takes of this concept, often equal to the other playable units, even if in different ways.
Literally Unplayable
Sort of an extension of the previous point, this Joke Character cannot perform an action necessary to make in-game progress, or inevitably ends up triggering the conditions for the Game Over.In other words, it's impossible for this character to even win without cheating, automatically turning the game into an Unwinnable Joke Game.
