Game developers love to lead their characters on a high ascent just to watch them fall... for a long time. Sometimes it's a punishment, others an achievement, but every time it somehow feels cathartic. Here's a look at the five best and most memorable falls in video games, ranked by overall fall time. And no; Assassin's Creed II isn't one of them

5. Conker's Bad Fur Day - Slam Dunking

Rare cleverly disguised Conker's Bad Fur Day as an appropriate game for children. The developers behind this toilet-joke-filled thrill ride may be even more messed up than those behind Outlast, and that's saying something. Although this jump is comparatively tame, (especially considering the next level is made entirely of feces), it is impressive. Climb up a series of ladders, avoid some bees along the way, find a diving board that leads to an empty bucket and voila:

http://youtu.be/6FzWy73LtBM?t=3m46s

Time Spent Falling: 4 seconds

4. Injustice God's Among Us - Metropolis Level Transition 2

I wasn't sure whether to classify this as a fall, since the character gets punched through an impossible amount of floors, but since it didn't seem to slow them down I let it pass. All the level transitions in Injustice push the boundaries of velocity and gravity, and if falling up counted, this would be an entirely different list. But the second transition in the Metropolis Level is far and away the most brutal fall in the game. I can't be sure, but I counted 20 floors of that skyscraper that now have a human-sized hole in them.

http://youtu.be/sHQpN52xFpk?t=4m6s

Time Spent Falling: 8 seconds

3. Mortal Kombat Gold - Game Over

As if the infamously difficult boss fights weren't enough, the old Mortal Kombat games reveled in beating you, making you watch as your character fell, and fell, and fell to the spikey bottom of a deep stone pit. The series has since moved on in terms of gruesomeness. As far as deaths in Mortal Kombat go, this one is as tame as Yo Gabba Gabba, but forcing you to sit there for that long watching your character die must give Ed "Dream-Crusher" Boon satisfaction.

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU51370/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bLwozkpAs

Time Spent Falling: 14 seconds

2. God of War - Kratos Attempted Suicide

Talk about a gloomy opening. Yeah, Ares was kind of an asshole and put Kratos through some real Hell - er ... Hades - but by the end of the series, it's hard to feel bad for him. Saving Kratos from this plunge off the highest mountain in Greece is one decision the Olympians wish they could take back. Whose idea was that, anyway?

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU51370/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI5z93eTuKw

Time Spent Falling: 23 Seconds

1. Batman: Arkham City - Freefall Achievement

Once again, Batman beats everyone. The Caped Crusader and nemesis Ra's Al Ghul took a fall almost as far as the drop in quality to Arkham: Origins. As soon as they unveiled the Wonder Tower, we knew something like this was going to happen, but this was a more spectacular sequence than anything we could have imagined. Take a look:

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU51370/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wQot3GSqBk

Time Spent Falling: 25 seconds