The ABSOLUTE worst games of all time.

[godslabrat]

Shaq Fu!

 

Not really *that* bad of a game. As far as fighters go, you could find way worse.

[Emehr]

One of these days I'm going to click on a "worst games evar" list and not see some regurgitation of the AVGN or seanbaby's material in the first post. One of these days...

 

Nobody ever mentions Panic! for Sega CD. It's as much a "game" as the animated menus of a DVD.

[Reaperman]

"Why the F**C would they make this"

 

According to Wikipedia:

 

"Eric Caen revealed in a e-mail interview that the plot of the N64 game was mandated by Warner Bros.,

More excuses than a race car driver. I'm pretty sure that the warner bros wanted a halfway decent title out of this one, and when has Titus ever managed anything 'halfway decent'? Roadsters maybe? but that's mostly due to subject matter.

[+thegoldenband]

Sword of Sodan on Genesis. Worst. Game. Ever.

 

Heh, I like that game. It's far from perfect, but once you learn the ins and outs of the game, it's actually kinda fun. A huge part of the problem is that the default settings are almost unplayably difficult, especially for newcomers. Try it on Easy/7 Lives with the girl (Shardan), and it's quite a bit easier to take.

 

Shaq-Fu isn't that bad either, and I know Heavy Nova has enough fans that it can't be a real candidate for worst-ever (surely Rise of the Robots has to be worse?). Even Dark Castle has some redeeming value, or at least I had fun beating it.

 

All of these have nasty learning curves, but once you get past that, there's an actual game there that's playable and offers some kind of challenge and content. That's more than I can say for Onslaught or Warrior of Rome, which may not be as viscerally off-putting, but which have practically no gameplay of any value.

 

OTOH, Last Action Hero looks truly horrible, but I don't think I've played it so I can't opine. Same for Back to the Future III.

 

Anyway, my list would look something like:

 

Odyssey^2 - Hockey!/Soccer! (literally unplayable)

Atari 2600 - Sssnake

NES - Tennis (I loathe this game)

SNES - Race Drivin' (that said I'm disinclined to count ports, though that GBA Marble Madness port is beyond a joke)

Sega CD - tempted to nominate Supreme Warrior or Slam City, but I really haven't played either of them enough; still, there's gotta be some FMV game with impossible cues and so forth

3DO - Shadow: War of Succession (looks, plays, and sounds like a Flash game made by a middle-school kid ca. 1999)

 

At one time I had a list going of genuinely unplayable games -- that is, games so deeply broken that they're literally impossible to play in the intended fashion, either because of game-breaking bugs (O^2 Hockey, Atari 2600 Bi! Bi!) or because the hardware simply couldn't handle it (SNES Race Drivin'). Unfortunately I can't remember what else was on it...

[Sek]

Impossible Mission on the 7800 is aptly named since there's a bug that makes the game impossible to beat. I think it was fixed in the PAL version, but if you're in the US you have a game that you can't win at. I think those kind are worse than just the "this game sucks" kind of bad games. You should at least be able to play all the way through it if you want to.

[GameGirl420]

Don't think I was ever disappointed in a game like I was the first time I played X-men on the NES. That's really just a nice looking sticker on a turd lol.

 

I have lots of fun playing E.T. on 2600 though so I don't agree with anyone saying that's the worst.

[Lentzquest]

White Men Can't Jump for the Jag is probably a contender too.

[cimerians]

Some of the worst games that I played:

 

Firefly

Karnov

NightTrap (a lot of those sega CD games...)

Bubsy 3D

Ephemeral Fantasia

Aquaman

 

There's a lot more....

 

ET to me is hardly the worst ever. Pac-Man is a crappy clone but not bad as a maze game (ATARI)

[high voltage]

Played Godzilla on NES, which was horrible. Then I read it scored 9% out of 100% in Total (UK NES mag)

[Gabriel]

Karnov

 

It's kind of interesting to see the hate this game gets nowadays. I remember the arcade game being fairly popular, and the NES game was one of those second tier favorites that everyone with a NES played.

[Gabriel]

 

SNES - Race Drivin' (that said I'm disinclined to count ports, though that GBA Marble Madness port is beyond a joke)

 

 

One of these days I need to pick this up. I see the Genesis Race Drivin' often listed as one of the worst Genesis games ever, but I used to play the hell out of that title. In fact, I'd daresay that Race Drivin' on the Genesis is my favorite racing game for the system. So when I see people saying it's the worst game ever, I see people comparing its framerate (which is horrible) to modern games, and trying to play it like a Burnout style arcade racer instead of the game it is. I've often wondered if the SNES complaints are in the same ballpark, of if it's an entirely different set of problems.

[Gabriel]

Any hate for Rise of the Robots?

 

I'd toss Way of the Warrior in there as one of the worst games ever, but Ballz is so bad it makes WotW look like Soul Calibur II.

[+thegoldenband]

One of these days I need to pick this up. I see the Genesis Race Drivin' often listed as one of the worst Genesis games ever, but I used to play the hell out of that title. In fact, I'd daresay that Race Drivin' on the Genesis is my favorite racing game for the system. So when I see people saying it's the worst game ever, I see people comparing its framerate (which is horrible) to modern games, and trying to play it like a Burnout style arcade racer instead of the game it is. I've often wondered if the SNES complaints are in the same ballpark, of if it's an entirely different set of problems.

 

I don't think I've played Race Drivin' on the Genesis, but I did play Hard Drivin', and that seemed reasonably playable. From what I understand, the framerate improves a lot if you overclock the Genesis -- something that's not possible on the SNES.

 

As for what made SNES Race Drivin' so terrible, my memory is that it wasn't just that the framerate was abysmal, but that the game oversteered like crazy, and the low framerate made it extremely difficult to get enough feedback to compensate for that. I have fond memories of the arcade game (well, Hard Drivin' at least), but this version felt like the signal was being bounced off the moon before it got to my TV screen.

 

As for Rise of the Robots: I don't know if I "hate" it, but as I said earlier I get the impression that Heavy Nova can't possibly be a worse game. It's been too long since I've played much ROTR, though, and I haven't played enough Heavy Nova to say. Certainly it seems like a quintessentially overhyped game.

 

Oh, and Way of the Warrior can't possibly be worse than Shadow: War of Succession. Seriously, if you haven't played it, give it a spin if only for laughs. It is, by far, the worst fighting game I've ever seen.

[Hakogame 箱亀]

I remember Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates for NES as the worst game I ever played.

[+DZ-Jay]

Well I vote for the original Donkey Kong for Intellivision, by Coleco.

 

I believe that game ruined my childhood. It wasn't until just this year's release of Carl Muller Jr.'s excellent port that this transgression was redressed.

 

dZ.

[+DZ-Jay]

OK, I take it back. I must vote for Cyberdillo:

 

 

O. M. G.

 

[mbd30]

I've never played it, but NES "Action 52" seems like the worst console game ever.

 

1.) They expected people to shell out $199 for this crap.

 

2.) You get 52 so-called games, but most or all of them are broken.

 

The weirdness of the collection makes it seem kind of interesting now. It looks like the programmers were on crack. But anyone who paid $200 for this mess must have felt royally screwed.

 

 

 

If you include computer games then "Big Rigs Over The Road Racing" is the worst commercially released video game ever.

[mbd30]

"Action 52" came out in _1991_ for heaven sake. I hope no child's Christmas was ruined that year because their well-meaning parents paid $199 for "Action 52" instead of a SNES or Genesis.

 

How widely available was it anyway? Does anyone remember seeing it in stores?

Edited November 19, 2012 by mbd30

[Brian O]

It's kind of interesting to see the hate this game gets nowadays. I remember the arcade game being fairly popular, and the NES game was one of those second tier favorites that everyone with a NES played.

 

I loved this game but it was hard as hell.

 

-B

[shadow460]

Exocet - Atari 2600 IT's too easy to hit something when you're tying to aim. This piece of crap makes Mythicon titles look like solid gold.

 

One of my least favorites for any system is Pac-Man. Sure, it's a solid game, but it's just not my cup of tea.

wipEout - Saturn. Lack of analog control kills the game, plus I wanna be able to blow the other ships away. The redbook audio makes this game worth buying, though.

 

I'll post more later.

[cimerians]

It's kind of interesting to see the hate this game gets nowadays. I remember the arcade game being fairly popular, and the NES game was one of those second tier favorites that everyone with a NES played.

 

It's more the idea behind it. Some fat guy spitting fireballs...........

Not to mention the NES version is brutal in my opinion. The arcade game not as bad but I just like picking on this turd.

 

Any hate for Rise of the Robots?

 

I'd toss Way of the Warrior in there as one of the worst games ever, but Ballz is so bad it makes WotW look like Soul Calibur II.

 

Rise was god awful. I got that to run on my old PC in the 90's and it was just crap. Utter crap.

[Lentzquest]

"Action 52" came out in _1991_ for heaven sake. I hope no child's Christmas was ruined that year because their well-meaning parents paid $199 for "Action 52" instead of a SNES or Genesis.

 

How widely available was it anyway? Does anyone remember seeing it in stores?

 

I really wish there were sales figures for how many actually sold at $199. I have the feeling it was very very few, and the rest were liquidated just to be rid of them.

 

Also, does anyone know if the stairway scene in Ghostbusters for the NES can actually be completed without a cheat device? It may be one of those truly broken games which can't be finished. The only way I could imagine it to be possible is to buy that sonic generator thing and give it a try, but I'm not sure if anybody has ever had enough patience for the game to raise the cash for it.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Lentzquest

[mbd30]

I really wish there were sales figures for how many actually sold at $199. I have the feeling it was very very few, and the rest were liquidated just to be rid of them.

 

The insane price is my main reason for concluding that it is the worst console game ever, especially in 1991 when that same amount could have been spent on a 16-bit console rather than a crappy NES cartridge.

 

Now if someone bought it liquidated for like $5, and managed to hold on to it, it has some value today because of rarity.

Edited November 19, 2012 by mbd30

[Lentzquest]

I guess that raises the question of whether factors outside the actual gameplay such as price should be considered when figuring out the worst of the worst games.

 

This would make a very strong case for Custer's Revenge. Not only are the gameplay and graphics awful and boring, but when you factor in the premise, racism, sexism, and rape; I can't really think of any game that's worse.

[Classic Pac]

Nothing and I mean nothing is worse than Bubsy 3D PS1. Everything from the graphics to the terrible controls it's all bad there is nothing good about this game period.