5 GTA San Andreas moments that left players feeling sad for CJ

GTA San Andreas is a game that has stood the test of time. Characters from the game have been immortalized even to this day. The storyline, alongside the plot, has been etched into players' memories.

While there are a lot of GTA protagonists in the franchise, none have stood out like Carl Johnson (CJ).

Despite CJ having a rough start in-game, everything worked out in the end, and justice got served. However, throughout the course of the game, there have been many heartbreaking moments that CJ has had to face.

Despite some of them not even being shown in-game, these events took a toll on CJ over time and are some of the saddest moments from his life in GTA San Andreas.

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Moments from GTA San Andreas that left players heartbroken for CJ

5) Killing Lance "Ryder" Wilson

While players didn't really spend a lot of time with Ryder in-game, he was still CJ's childhood friend and a part of the Grove Street gang. This essentially meant that he was family.

After spending years with the gang and rising through the ranks, Ryder decided to betray everyone, including CJ.

While having to kill Ryder was not the saddest moment for CJ, it definitely hurt to eliminate a friend that was close not only to the players but also the protagonist himself.

Y'all remember playing GTA San Andreas and Ryder and Big Smoke was working with the feds the entire time? Got CJ momma killed? Almost had CJ killed? This 'Shitty Cuz' dude can easily be the opp working with the feds as well. Hood been saying he's an informant.

— Zaza Davis (@Conscious_King) April 2, 2019

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4) Death of his mother

If not for the death of his mother, CJ would have perhaps never returned to San Andreas, and his life would have gone on as normal.

However, after his mother was gunned down by Ballas in a drive-by, CJ had to return home for her funeral. This is where the events of the game began to unfold.

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3) Blamed for Brian Johnson's death

Although no one really knows how Brian Johnson died, Sean "Sweet" Johnson blames CJ for his death, stating that he did nothing to save him.

While the statement is ambiguous at best, the events that transpired must have been terrible as CJ moved to Liberty City following his younger brother's death.

Sweet and Brian Johnson (Image via GTA Wiki)

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2) Having to work for Officer Tenpenny

One of the saddest things to happen to CJ in GTA San Andreas is having to take out innocent civilians to ensure that officer Tenpenny's corrupt lifestyle would go unnoticed.

It didn't matter who the target was. Be it a journalist or a DEA agent, CJ would have to kill them or risk being framed for murder and end up in jail.

i today this old when i found out that officer tenpenny from gta san andreas was voiced by Samuel L. Jackson 🤯 pic.twitter.com/U1vXLA2wkg

— Ｋｙｌｅ (@KyFrDi) May 1, 2020

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1) Killing Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris

Big Smoke was almost like a brother to CJ. From taking down Ballas to making the Grove Street gang feared throughout the city, the two were inseparable right from the get-go.

It goes without saying that having to kill Big Smoke at the end of the game is the most heartbreaking moment in GTA San Andreas. After sharing so many years of friendship together, putting down an old friend is, by far, the saddest thing to happen to CJ.

Disclaimer: This article represents the opinions of the writer.

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