Post by godslayer on Feb 8, 2011 11:50:06 GMT -6
Popular culture usually tries to transcend the medium it was created in by releasing tons of products. Here are 10 horrible franchise games that were released for the NES that were either unplayable, boring, or completely mangled. There were a lot to choose from, but I gave bonus points for awful games that came from awesome source material!
10: Fester's Quest
Addams Family was a great show, and the movies were awesome. This game was not though! I always tried to like this game, because it was made by Sunsoft and had a lot of effects that reminded me of Blaster Master. It just didn't work though; the puzzles were awful, the gun was horrible, and I still can't be bothered to get through this one. Like if they would've spent maybe a couple more days working on this game, it could've been something pretty cool.
9: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The movie was non-stop explosion-fest of liquid metal destruction, but I never made it past the first screen of this game. It sucks! Could've been something like Contra; that would've been much better.
8: The Ren & Stimpy Show
Ahhhh... "Don't whiz on the electric fence" still comes into my conversations today. Basically I learned to hate THQ because this game plays like something Stimpy would've have made as Dr. Stupid. Really clunky controls and sub-standard side-scrolling fare did not capture the fun of the cartoon at all.
7: Die Hard
Yippie Kay-Yai-Yai Flubber Muckers
I guess the game tried too hard to capture the movie, without working to make it into a playable game. I was blown away years later when I played the Die Hard arcade game that was way more awesome than the NES version, proving it could've been done better with a little imagination.
6: Labyrinth (Famicom)
Just wtf?! This whole game.... just what in the world is going on here? Why was this game made only for a Japanese audience, and seemingly made in 5 seconds using an Atari 2600? I'm very confused here
This was a game I discovered much later, and was super annoyed from the second I played it. Ahhh.... I guess if it was made like Gauntlet or The Legend of Zelda, it might've been worth playing.
5: A Nightmare On Elm Street
First of all, I have no idea why this game was one of the featured NES 4 player games. There was just no call for that, at least not the way this game made use of the feature. Just another really sub-standard side-scroller that did nothing to capture the awesomeness of the film. There was way too much to work with to make a game this awful.
4: Marvel's X-Men
The beginning of this game seems to hold promise. You get to pick from a nice assortment of the most well-known mutants, and each has different strengths. Then the game begins, and sucks harder than Mario slurping a peach smoothie It's a top-down vaguely Gauntletesque game where the primary goal seems to be getting your idiotic AI controlled character to navigate simple obstacles. Even playing with a friend does nothing to make this game any more fun. Really sad considering the arcade game around the same time was really fun to play.
3: Akira (Famicom)
Another game that I didn't discover until much later in life, and one that I was really excited to try. Akira is probably my top favorite anime movie, and there's just so much awesomeness that I figured a game would at least retain some of that. I guess I'll never know though, since I was extremely bored by this text-based game in the first few minutes, and have never been patient enough to see if there's anything more to it. Just an aside, I really enjoy text-based games like Shadowgate and Deja Vu, but this one was just super horrible.
2: Dragon Power
There's many games in the Dragon Ball franchise in Japan, and I don't think I've ever played a single decent one for the Famicom, but this one stuck out because it was like a whole journey of discovery for me in finding out how awful this was. I first played the game when I was kid, and I thought it was just a crappy try at an action game. It wasn't until a long time later that I discovered the world of Dragon Ball, and went back to this half-remembered game with a new interest. Man they sure mangled this one in some weird ways. I guess my double-disappointment combined with my love of the Dragon Ball series really ranked this high up on my list. I really enjoyed Dragon Warrior when I was a kid (and I'm going to assume on this forum that people understand that connection), so I just think Toriyama went to the wrong game company to make Dragon Power.
1: The Simpsons - Bart Vs. The Space Mutants
The Simpsons leads this list, because of the disappointment involved I suppose. I was and am still a huge Simpsons fan, and this game was made back when the Simpsons was serving up comedy in prime fashion. It was so frustrating trying to control the characters through the stages, and the tasks were ridiculous in a head-thumping against a brick wall for eternity kind of way. The sequels were just as awful. If this was any other game, I would've given up in about 3 seconds, but just because it was the Simpsons I actually spent a good deal of time getting through this. I want my time back!! The Simpsons arcade game is still one of my favorites, and was released around the same time, so the NES version surely could've been made better. Well, I think for every 1 good Simpsons game that's been made, there's been about 8 or 9 that were garbage.
10: Fester's Quest
Addams Family was a great show, and the movies were awesome. This game was not though! I always tried to like this game, because it was made by Sunsoft and had a lot of effects that reminded me of Blaster Master. It just didn't work though; the puzzles were awful, the gun was horrible, and I still can't be bothered to get through this one. Like if they would've spent maybe a couple more days working on this game, it could've been something pretty cool.
9: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The movie was non-stop explosion-fest of liquid metal destruction, but I never made it past the first screen of this game. It sucks! Could've been something like Contra; that would've been much better.
8: The Ren & Stimpy Show
Ahhhh... "Don't whiz on the electric fence" still comes into my conversations today. Basically I learned to hate THQ because this game plays like something Stimpy would've have made as Dr. Stupid. Really clunky controls and sub-standard side-scrolling fare did not capture the fun of the cartoon at all.
7: Die Hard
Yippie Kay-Yai-Yai Flubber Muckers
I guess the game tried too hard to capture the movie, without working to make it into a playable game. I was blown away years later when I played the Die Hard arcade game that was way more awesome than the NES version, proving it could've been done better with a little imagination.6: Labyrinth (Famicom)
Just wtf?! This whole game.... just what in the world is going on here? Why was this game made only for a Japanese audience, and seemingly made in 5 seconds using an Atari 2600? I'm very confused here
This was a game I discovered much later, and was super annoyed from the second I played it. Ahhh.... I guess if it was made like Gauntlet or The Legend of Zelda, it might've been worth playing.5: A Nightmare On Elm Street
First of all, I have no idea why this game was one of the featured NES 4 player games. There was just no call for that, at least not the way this game made use of the feature. Just another really sub-standard side-scroller that did nothing to capture the awesomeness of the film. There was way too much to work with to make a game this awful.
4: Marvel's X-Men
The beginning of this game seems to hold promise. You get to pick from a nice assortment of the most well-known mutants, and each has different strengths. Then the game begins, and sucks harder than Mario slurping a peach smoothie
It's a top-down vaguely Gauntletesque game where the primary goal seems to be getting your idiotic AI controlled character to navigate simple obstacles. Even playing with a friend does nothing to make this game any more fun. Really sad considering the arcade game around the same time was really fun to play.3: Akira (Famicom)
Another game that I didn't discover until much later in life, and one that I was really excited to try. Akira is probably my top favorite anime movie, and there's just so much awesomeness that I figured a game would at least retain some of that. I guess I'll never know though, since I was extremely bored by this text-based game in the first few minutes, and have never been patient enough to see if there's anything more to it. Just an aside, I really enjoy text-based games like Shadowgate and Deja Vu, but this one was just super horrible.
2: Dragon Power
There's many games in the Dragon Ball franchise in Japan, and I don't think I've ever played a single decent one for the Famicom, but this one stuck out because it was like a whole journey of discovery for me in finding out how awful this was. I first played the game when I was kid, and I thought it was just a crappy try at an action game. It wasn't until a long time later that I discovered the world of Dragon Ball, and went back to this half-remembered game with a new interest. Man they sure mangled this one in some weird ways. I guess my double-disappointment combined with my love of the Dragon Ball series really ranked this high up on my list. I really enjoyed Dragon Warrior when I was a kid (and I'm going to assume on this forum that people understand that connection), so I just think Toriyama went to the wrong game company to make Dragon Power.
1: The Simpsons - Bart Vs. The Space Mutants
The Simpsons leads this list, because of the disappointment involved I suppose. I was and am still a huge Simpsons fan, and this game was made back when the Simpsons was serving up comedy in prime fashion. It was so frustrating trying to control the characters through the stages, and the tasks were ridiculous in a head-thumping against a brick wall for eternity kind of way. The sequels were just as awful. If this was any other game, I would've given up in about 3 seconds, but just because it was the Simpsons I actually spent a good deal of time getting through this. I want my time back!! The Simpsons arcade game is still one of my favorites, and was released around the same time, so the NES version surely could've been made better. Well, I think for every 1 good Simpsons game that's been made, there's been about 8 or 9 that were garbage.
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