10 Video Game Villains Created Out Of Spite

The increasingly acidic feud between the Grand Theft Auto and Driver franchises sure is something.

Rockstar threw the first stone in both Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City, where in each game a mission involved players killing a character called Tanner, named after Driver's own protagonist.

In GTA III's mission Two-Faced Tanner, the character is even described as "a strangely animated undercover cop" who is "more or less useless out of his car," referencing the rather janky implementation of on-foot gameplay in Driver 2.

In an attempt to get back at Rockstar, Driv3r developer Reflections Interactive included a recurring antagonist in the game called "Timmy Vermicelli," who in name and appearance was clearly a scarcely-veiled parody of Vice City's protagonist Tommy Vercetti.

In addition to wearing Tommy's trademark Hawaiian shirt, he also wears armbands in reference to his inability to swim in Vice City. Players are tasked with "collecting" the various Timmys strewn around the map by killing them.

Yet Rockstar undeniably got the last laugh, as in San Andreas they showed one of Madd Dogg's bodyguards playing a video game and commenting, "How could Refractions mess up so bad? Tanner, you suck ass!"

Clearly Rockstar were throwing shade at Reflections for Driv3r's ultimately disastrous critical reception, decisively ending the slanging match that they themselves had started.