Ah, the classic nut shot: consistently funny and one of the best examples of schadenfreude around. It's the one act of physical comedy that has kept America's Funniest Home videos around for years while also providing a cautionary tale about the dangers of mixing toddlers and male groins. And they've only gotten more creative over the years (just check out every third video on Break.com). So of course, as with all other forms of entertainment, video games have embraced the humor derived from a swift hit to a person's nads. Here are a few games that pay homage to the venerable art of the nut shot.

8. Mortal Kombat

I can't think of any other fighting games that feature a main character whose signature move actually IS a nut shot. The character of Johnny Cage was meant to be an homage of sorts to Jean-Claude Van Damme's character in Bloodsport. So they gave the man a Hollywood persona, ripped off his shirt...and gave him the ability to do the splits and punch a man right in the baby-maker. This would cause his opponent to freeze and shake in place for a moment, much like any male when they saw this move in action for the first time. It was officially called "the Split Punch," but most who played the game quickly gave it the much more accurate term, "the Ball Punch."

7. God Hand

God Hand is definitely one of the most over-the-top ridiculous action games to come out in the past few years. It was obviously going the comedic route, since it featured, among many other things, enemies wearing gorilla suits with luchador masks and stereotypically gay twin bosses that attack you with their asses (I really wish I were kidding about that). So naturally, a game like this is going to feature some nut shots. Most of these come from the fact that any enemy that gets knocked over, you can quickly run up to and begin furiously stamping on their crotch as if it had suddenly caught fire. The most humorous of these though was a special move called the Ball Buster, which even got it's own tagline that was used in the game's hilariously cheesy theme song ("Don't act like you don't like the ball buster!").

6. Goldeneye

If there was an award for pioneering groin hit animation in games, Goldeneye would win hands down. Hitting an enemy soldier in his bathing suit area would often result in the longest death animation in the game, as the injured man would squeeze his knees together, slowly slump to the ground, and try to crawl before dropping dead. Even if you shot him elsewhere, he usually would not cease these motions, indicating that no other pain you could inflict was in any way comparable to a shot in the gonads. I think it's safe to say that these soldiers would eventually drop dead not from their wounds, but from a lost desire to live.

5. Battletoads

Sadly, the NES version of this awesome -- and freakin' hard -- game is basically nut shot-free. The arcade version on the other hand contains some more graphic violence and one particularly memorable boss fight that puts it on the list. At one point, you encounter a huge, muscular rat who towers over your somewhat smaller, muscular toad. And as he lumbers towards you menacingly, what can you do? Simple: grab him in the bathing suit area and start wailing on it like it were full of candy. I think the expression on the rat's face explains his pain more than I ever could. This was probably one of the few arcade games where an enemy's weak point actually made a whole lot of sense.

4. Fallout

There are many things you expect from an RPG -- health, experience points, special skills, etc. -- but nut shots definitely aren't one of them, which is another reason Fallout was so unique. In combat, the game allowed you to target specific body parts to do more damage or critically injure an enemy. So you were allowed to target such areas as the head, arms, legs, eyes...and the groin. It didn't usually do that much damage, and it didn't have any strategic advantages; but admit it, you did it a lot anyway. At least it usually yielded some comedic moments like when an enemy would fall flat on his face from it or the super mutants would laugh about how that doesn't hurt them.

3. Stranglehold

Image Via Penny Arcade

When a game is developed with John Woo at the table, you know you can expect some stylish violence, right down to the obligatory crotch shots. One aspect of the game allows you to put the action in slow-motion so you can target enemies more precisely and receive an impressive kill sequence for it. And once you figured that out, it was only a matter of time before you took a shot at a guy's boys. This would result in a spurt of blood as the victim clutched their groin and fell to the ground with a look on their face that said, "Seriously, dude, why didn't you just shoot me in the head!?" As an added bonus, the Xbox 360 version actually gave you an achievement for doing this in multiplayer that was named, appropriately enough, "Testikill."

2. Blitz: The League II

This game probably features the most graphic and wince-inducing nut shot ever put into digital form. Blitz : The League II featured a targeting system where you could critically injure an opposing team member and force them out of the game. That usually meant broken bones, torn ligaments, and on rare occasion, a burst testicle. If the option came up, you could flip the other player into the air, causing him to slam onto the ground and crush one of the twins. Afterwards, you were "treated" to a grotesque animation showing the organ exploding inside his body, spraying bodily fluids at the screen and ensuring the end of his bloodline right there. At least most of the other people on this list eventually die from their injury. No such luck for this guy.

1. Fighter Maker

As the title suggests, Fighter Maker is a game that lets you craft your own character in a fighting game, from their looks right down to their special moves. I think you can guess where this is going. You could very easily craft moves for your fighter that involved all sorts of injury to an opponents groin. Your character could lift a person into the air and begin jabbing their fist mercilessly into their crotch. Or they could throw the other person to the ground an unleash a flurry of punches to their nether regions. The possibilities were endless and painful to watch. I suppose the clip above aren't technically "nut shots" in the literal sense, but still, that's just wrong.