Help needed: Shameful Games

[o2william]

I've recently been given the task of compiling a list of 10 of the most "shameful" video games of all time. Trouble is, I'm having problems coming up with 10 good examples. To be "shameful," a game shouldn't just be bad, but EXCEPTIONALLY bad. Something that makes you shudder.

An example would be E.T. for the 2600. Sure, it's not a very good game, but it was overhyped, too frustrating for the young movie fans it was marketed to, WAY overproduced and WAY undersold. It tarnished Atari's reputation and still is a synonym for "bad 2600 game."

Or Custer's Revenge... as if a porn game on the 2600 wasn't trashy enough to begin with, Mystique threw in rape and violence against Native Americans. Classy this game ain't!

I have some other ideas, but I'd like to hear some input from the clever inhabitants of this board. The games can be for any system or computer, classic or modern. I appreciate the help. Thanks!

[Kid Fenris]

Time Killers for the Genesis is generally considered one of the worst fighting games ever created. It's crude in both quality and content, it's ugly to look at, and, unfortunately, it's somewhat rare.

I'll see if I can come up with some other choices . . .

[ventrra]

How about "Challenge of the Dragon" by Sachen for the NES?
Granted we're talking about a game released by Sachen, but this is probably the worst effort that I've seen by them. A fighting game that looks like it was meant to be a rip-off of Double Dragon, but without any of the things that make Double Dragon a fun game to play.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe you guys haven't mentioned these gems:

Michael Jordan: Trouble in the Windy City: On top of the wonderfully absurd premise of MJ going around saving his friends, they put a "haunted house" twist on this abomination.

shaq-Fu: this one had a sorry excuse for a story mode. If you haven't tried this game out, I suggest you do just for the surrealness of it all.

Gameday 2001: Ok I might be talking out my ass a little bit on this one, but I heard it was so bad you couldn't tell between it (a PS2 game) and it's PSX counterparts.

[zektor]

Kasumi Ninja for the Atari Jaguar. What a crappy game....Scottish fireballs and all.

[Wayne Ryder]

Toys for the SNES was pretty risible. There was a WW1 flying game that sucked, too.
Pit Fighter was bad on all platforms.

[Lady Jaye]

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (on the GBA; I haven't played other versions) is so bad that it's painful. For the first time, I actually sold back a game I bought within a couple of days (and it wasn't because I'd finished the game). It was bad as a standalone title, and it really put the Pitfall! name to shame.

[kainemaxwell]

Super Pitfall for the NES was pretty bad...

[CrazyImpmon]

Color A Dinosaur for NES - I could make a far better version using only C64 and BASIC :P

Athena - why does goddness of love have to use weapon to fight? And it's so frickin' hard and lame it's impossible to finish it without going insane.

Quest 64 - ugh! Claims to be N64 RPG game, looks more like torture device to me.

[YoshiM]

Superman 64. A horrible, horrible game. It's the only game I can think of off the top of my head where a developer attributed the fog in the game as "part of the obstacles" (the fog used to hide draw-in was called a "kryptonite fog").

[christianscott27]

revolution X with aerosmith- imagine the game could have made if they were still gettting high?

maken x- on the dreamcast, i kept searching the menu for a non-suck mode

maybe i just hate games that end with x?
________
Cannabis Collective (http://dispensaries.org/)

[MankeyMan]

Superman 64. A horrible, horrible game. It's the only game I can think of off the top of my head where a developer attributed the fog in the game as "part of the obstacles" (the fog used to hide draw-in was called a "kryptonite fog").

I second that. The controls were non-existant. If you wanted to move forwards whilst he was facing you, you had to push forwards on the analogue stick. And sometimes if you flew into a building, you just ot stuck there.

[maxlords]

Superman 64 is without a doubt one of the worst games EVER made. Another old hated game of mine was Ground Zero Texas for the Sega CD. BLEAH! And "It Came from the Desert". Horrid dreck.

[hamburgler]

some of the worst games i could think of

Friday the 13th (nes)
Swamp thing(nes)
Space Jam(saturn)
Big hurt baseball (saturn)
Kabuki warriors(xbox)
Bruce Lee(xbox)

[hamburgler]

and the worst of them all
Mortal kombat advance(gba

[slapdash]

I've recently been given the task of compiling a list of 10 of the most "shameful" video games of all time. Trouble is, I'm having problems coming up with 10 good examples. To be "shameful," a game shouldn't just be bad, but EXCEPTIONALLY bad. Something that makes you shudder.

Forget ET, my personal worst is Skin Diver/Scuba Diver/whatever. Ugh, that was a horrible piece of trash.


Or Custer's Revenge... as if a porn game on the 2600 wasn't trashy enough to begin with, Mystique threw in rape and violence against Native Americans. Classy this game ain't!

Not that I'm a big fan of this game, but I've gotta stand up against the line above... There is no rape or violence against Native Americans in this game! The programmer made sure to have the indian maiden smile when Custer does his thing -- that indicates "consensual" to me. This is just a line that the protestors used back in the day that keeps getting propogated, but it's silly & stupid if you ask me. Just because she's tied up don't make it rape (ask any bondage enthusiast).

[DDCecil]

Rocketeer for the SNES gets my vote. Just try and pass the flying part at the beginning. You can't. NO ONE CAN! >:(

[ManekiNeko]

I've beaten this dead horse into glue already, but no shameful game list is complete without Super Pitfall. This NES game's so lousy it can't even compete with the 2600 titles that inspired it! Even the graphics are arguably worse... sure, the NES game has more detail, but the animation is lackluster and the backgrounds are extremely repetitive. Plus, the vines have been turned into ugly chains of white balls. I've heard about people phoning in a performance on television, but this is the first time I've ever seen that happen with a video game.

JR

[Tetsu]

Rocketeer for the SNES gets my vote. Just try and pass the flying part at the beginning. You can't. NO ONE CAN! >:(

I have, sadly. The game really sucks, but I rented it and didn't wanna feel like I blew my $4. The trick beating the first stage is to look at the little screen at the bottom that shows a first person view. you have to steer your rocketeer as close to the post as possible without hitting it. This is how you cut the corners tighter than the competition and win. You do this in the CeeGee, then in some other plane, then as the rocketeer.

The game gets worse from then on. Sigh.

I nominate Top Gun: Fire at Will as a shamful game. Cheesy FMV, an actor that looked more like Bruce Campell than Tom Cruise, and unrealistic flight physics. Also, level one consisted of destroying 10 drones. Level 2 was the same as level 1 except you destroy 20 drones. Level 3...etc. I go this thinking it would be somewhere along the lines of Ace Combat. It played more like Afterburner but without the fun.

@ Wayne Rider:
That SNES WWI Flying game was Wings 2: Aces High. I loved it! it was a great game.

[Britboy]

I'll chime in another vote for Superman N64. Truly appalling.


For more recent games, Surfing H30 for PS2. Worst. Game. Ever.

[o2william]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions. There's some good ideas in here. I can quite honestly say this is the first time in my life I'm been happy about remembering Super Pitfall. :)

@slapdash: I wondered if someone would point that out about Custer's Revenge. I guess it's not technically about rape, but I still say it stands as an example of shameful game design. The fact that everybody *thinks* the game is about rape shows how stupid Mystique was to create it. I realize public relations probably weren't their first concern, but come on.

Feel free to keep the suggestions coming!

[Wavelflack]

ET isn't really a bad game. That's a fish story that grows a bit every few years. I can imagine 20 years in the future, we'll hear about 2600 ET being the worst thing the 20th century ever produced, including Hitler and circus peanuts.

Truly disgraceful games? Back to the Future, for NES. Action 52 (Genesis version...NES version can be excused), Battle Monsters...ehh, I could go on for a long time.

[WiseSalesman]

Superman 64. A horrible, horrible game. It's the only game I can think of off the top of my head where a developer attributed the fog in the game as "part of the obstacles" (the fog used to hide draw-in was called a "kryptonite fog").

Actually, if anyone remembers a game called "Magic Carpet" (for PC and, I think, Saturn), I distinctly remember the back of the box calling the fog in that game a "technically astounding feature". LOL

I remember it vividly because my friends bought into that line of crap, while I was trying to explain just exactly why it wasn't. And to think they all complain about the Turok games' fog now.

[Wavelflack]

Fog was actually listed as a "feature" in early N64 articles, including those by Nintendo. As I recall, it was called "load management" during the tech portion of the articles, and "realistic fog effects" in the hyperbole sections.

[spoon]

Dash Galaxy NES
Action 52 NES
Super Man N64
just about any movie licensed game for the NES

[Wayne Ryder]

@ Wayne Ryder:
That SNES WWI Flying game was Wings 2: Aces High. I loved it! it was a great game.[/quote]

Yep, that was the one.
Well, even given the benefit of dull & seemingly endless Security Nightshifts, we couldn't play the damn thing to save our lives. I remember agreeing with the poor reviews it was given.
Was Wings 1 any good?

[slapdash]

@slapdash: I wondered if someone would point that out about Custer's Revenge. I guess it's not technically about rape, but I still say it stands as an example of shameful game design. The fact that everybody *thinks* the game is about rape shows how stupid Mystique was to create it. I realize public relations probably weren't their first concern, but come on.

Heh, I'll grant you that...

I've always wondered if, had they written the game to show Custer untying her first, would there have been such a stink over the game.

But then, these are the porn guys, and we've all seen the movies -- where the girl says no and the guy grabs her, and she struggles, but only until he grabs her breast. Ugh! Maybe they did intend it to be he was out to take advantage of her regardless, and she "got into it" anyway. That would be pretty f'n low.

[Tetsu]

@ Wayne Ryder:
That SNES WWI Flying game was Wings 2: Aces High. I loved it! it was a great game.

Yep, that was the one.
Well, even given the benefit of dull & seemingly endless Security Nightshifts, we couldn't play the damn thing to save our lives. I remember agreeing with the poor reviews it was given.
Was Wings 1 any good?[/quote]

It was by no means a great game., but it did have some redeeming qualities, including the ability to control the fates of 4 different pilots. Each had his strengths and weaknesses, and their own signature plane. When you "failed" a mission (crashed and burned), you got a little RIP screen for your pilot and couldnt use him and his plane anymore. Anyway, it was a terrible flight sim for its day, but the missions were entertaining...to me, anyway. I was about 12 at the time. I fired it up on an emu last night and wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be. And as for Wings 1, I have no idea, since it wasn't on snes. I can only assume that it was a computer game, because I know that Wings 2 was a computer game port for the SNES.


Oh yeah, back on topic of "Shameful Games:

Bebe's Kids.

Strike one: The movie was released in 1992-3? The game didn't come out till 1995! On the SNES!
Strike Two: Not content with one of the crappiest movie lisences imaginable, the game sucks balls to boot.
You're out: People pay good money for it because it's "rare". Which it is, because of its low production run, but come on! Bebe's Kids?

[madclone]

mortal kombat 4

[RJ]

Oh, hmm...let's see....uh...

"Crusaders of Might & Magic" by 3DO for PSX.

The worst video game I ever owned for less than 48 hours.

[stonecutter]

I vote the Action 52 as well, the thing is, its one shameless collection of 52 shameless games.......

I was also terribly disappointed in the Wayne Gretzky Hockey for the NES, I think it was the only time I ever rented a game and called to see if I could take it back for antoher title. It blew badly.

[hades]

Looks like the hard work here was utilized. :-)

http://www.gamespy.com/top10/december02/shame/

[orrimarrko]

Sewer Shark for Sega CD brings back an acid flashback or two...

I have to second the Mortal Kombat Advance from whoever posted that gem - they completely forgot the collision detector (you could pass right through your opponent.)

Many a Simpsons title for various systems have to fall in there somewhere - especially Simpsons Skateboarding for the PS2 X_x

On the offensive front - I would have to vote for Beat 'em and Eat 'em for the 2600 - just way too nasty, let alone a horrible game.

Carry on :D

[Sodge]

Bomberman Generations (GameCube) - The fact that I actually bought the game amazes me. I though it'd be something remotely resembling Bomberman 64 for the N64 (which I enjoyed very much) alas it was not. It was the "old" style Bomberman, more story-driven. It was fun for the first few days, but it become too cutsey and I returned it. That'll learn me!