Who allowed the angry bird from Angry Birds to play Smash or Pass

Angry Birds was a global sensation when it first launched back in 2009, and all these years later, the franchise is still going strong. While the game itself is already fairly odd, with a bunch of wingless, ticked off birds being flung at thieving green pigs, how it's being promoted in 2023 is far, far stranger. 

As spotted by Twitter user @Toadsanime, the latest promotional footage shared on the Angry Birds official TikTok page features Red playing a game of "Smash or Pass". The video, which you can check out below (if you dare), shows the crimson-hued bird evaluating the desirability of various game characters and declaring whether he'd "smash" or "pass," which we really, really didn't need to know. 

Those that Red would smash include Princess Zelda, Bayonetta, Metroid's Samus Aran, Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed, and Undertale's Mettaton. Among those the bird passed on are Overwatch 2's Tracer, Junko Enoshima from Danganronpa, Kid Icarus, Link, and Final Fantasy 15's Noctis "because he cries too much".

Needless to say, no one was expecting the marketing campaign for the game to take this kind of approach. "Bro I thought Angry Birds was a kid's game," commented one bewildered viewer on TikTok. On Twitter, a user wrote, "Is it just me that thinks this is really gross?" Another said, "We truly are witnessing the end of modern civilisation". Conversely, one user added, "Just makes me want to see Sonic do it next." Given how long it will take us to recover from watching this, let's hope that never happens. 

Check out our new games 2023 guide for what to keep on your radar over the coming months.