Almost everyone loves video games. From sports to fantasy adventure RPG, to about anything you can imagine, there are all sorts of games for any type of taste. Some games never get old: look at Mario, Final Fantasy, and the Legend of Zelda. Other games, however, should never have made their way out of the idea room. As a note: it’s amazing how many terrible games are out there. If you look at item 15, it’s hard to believe there are 14 games worse, and yet…
On the shame level, this one is up there with “Custer’s Revenge.” This game is based on the Virginia Tech massacre, and the creator of the game said he did so “because it was funny.”
A terrible game based on a terrible movie, with one of the most boring games ever. Characters look like they were made by a 10 year old using Microsoft Paint program.
This is one of the worst games ever, getting only a 6% out of 100 from PC World, and is best known as the game that was knowingly shipped without any AI programming at all. This remains the second lowest rated game by PC Gamer US of all time.
There were three bastard legend of Zelda games developed by a different company when one branch of Nintendo tried to go to CD technology and failed. The game is considered one of the worst ever.
This is the game that almost killed Microsoft’s video game dreams. Early on the system was strong, but the games were terrible. This video game was so bad that it received some of the lowest scores in the entire history of several video game reviewers. “Edge” only gave it a 1/10 (it is still the only game ever to score that badly) while “Game Informer” gave it 0.5 out of 10. That’s beyond bad.
This game was named the worst game cube game ever, and inspired G-4′s golden mullet award, based on the hair style of one of the evil bosses in this game. The “golden mullet award” is given to the worst game of the year, and it all started with Aquaman.
How bad is this game? It is widely considered by many experts to be the worst fighting game of all time, and it needed Shaq’s image to make sure it didn’t completely bomb. The story is idiotic (Shaq is in Japan and learns kung fu to save the world… really?) The controls suck, game play sucks, and this is on almost every top ten list of worst video games ever made.
This game was so terrible, that there is an actual website of people whose mission is to buy every copy and destroy it. They will pay you for your copy of the game and then destroy it. That’s dedication, and worthy of a place on the all time bad game list.
The introduction starts out promisingly enough with a full brief, decent looking opening graphics, and the promise of good missions. And that’s it. This game is the epitome of terrible programming and AI. the professional video game players from GameStop said they NEVER got past level one. Hostages were stupid, would disappear into walls and thin air, and a ridiculous time limit would count down as you tried to do an impossible mission.
So the graphics are terrible, controls far more complicated than they should be, the AI is junk, and the game is literally impossible…from as early as level one.
Early on, Xbox just could not get it right! Winner of the Golden Mullet award, an award given out for the worst video game every year, this game was generally declared an even worse video game than the Aquaman video game that was so bad it gave them an idea for the Golden Mullet awards.
There is nothing about this game that works. Not fighting, not graphics, not story line. With how many early Xbox games were terrible, it’s amazing the system survived long enough to hit its groove. Drake is one game that most likely, will not be on the top of anyone’s list to make Xbox 360 compatible.
This is on the majority of top ten horrible lists. The graphics and controls are terrible, and this is a blatant rip off of Mario 64, with the stupid furry whatever it is yelling a “cool, hip” line every 3 seconds.
The 3DO is considered perhaps the worst video game platform ever, and many of the 3DO forums online brag about “as owners of the 3DO, we gamers know about truly bad games.” This game was the bar for bad, by which all the terrible 3DO games were measured. Most people have never even heard of “plumbers.” They’re much luckier than the ones who actually played this game, a sad attempt at a sim game about plumbers trying to woo women.
There hasn’t been a good Superman game yet, but this one takes the cake. Terrible cube like graphics that were even worse than pixel games, a weird green haze over everything, and shoddy game play are just a few of the things wrong. One example: you’re supposed to be able to throw cars. Only problem is the game won’t let you ever pick one up. This game was on Nintendo Power’s list of “5 Worst Games Ever,” and this game even has an award named after it: the “Superman 64″ award for most disappointing game of the year.
Okay this is kind of a cheap one since it was never technically released, as this was going to be part of a mini-game from an unreleased Penn and Teller video game that would have been released for Sega CD back in 1994. This game is now available as a download to PC. But the idea behind this game (even if it was meant as a joke, and it isn’t clear if it was or not) is so bad that it belonged on the top ten.
This game is very straightforward. You have to drive a bus through the desert from Tucson, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada. And in an homage to accuracy, the entire trip is in real time, so it is a minimum of 8 hours. Even better:
There is no scenery or traffic or anything on the road. Only one plain desert scene that never changes for eight hours. At five hours of driving, one bug hits the windshield and becomes a green splatter. And the alignment is off just enough that the bus veers to the right just slightly, so it’s impossible to just tape down a button and go do something else. If you make it through eight of the most boring and painful hours of your life, then you score one point.
Especially notable: Burning desire and Custer’s Revenge. As far as not only being bad, but being “shameful,” these are the worst games ever made. Either they’re trying to peddle violent sexual fantasies to kids, with those great Atari graphics, or the sheer stupidity of not catching what those games implied is just stunning. These are the types of games that give video gaming a bad name, and are by far and away the most shameful examples of games ever made.
Not only do these games make almost every list of worst games ever, but when Game Spy Magazine put together a list of the most shameful games ever, Custer’s Revenge came in #1. There is nothing redeeming in any way about these games, and quite frankly I’m amazed they were ever allowed to be produced.
This game was so terrible that even after over 30 years of video gaming, there is still consensus that this is the worst game ever. So many returned cartridges came back that they literally buried thousands upon thousands of them in the desert, piling concrete on top of it. This isn’t even a myth. You can look up online where the dump site is in the Nevada desert.
Ouch. This game was so bad it single handedly destroyed the Atari corporation, and almost destroyed video games, being the biggest single contributor to the “Video Game Crash of 1983.” Wow. I mean, wow.
I’ve never played any of these…but now I know what to look out for and not play!
But maybe it would be funny LOL
Now I want to go out and try them for myslef lol.
What made ET so horribly bad? I’d like to give this game a shot…
No Ethnic Cleansing? It was a FPS where you played a nazi skinhead or a klansman and killed blacks, jews and latinos. They even used monkey soundclips for the black people.
bleh
Go here for hilarious reveiws and examples of some of these games and more of the worst of the worst.
http://cinemassacre.com/AVGN/Nes_Nerd_videos.html
He is so funny that I peed myself a little during several of his videos.
Wow, just wow, I actually played the Aquaman game, after three days I took it outside, got some lighter fluid and firecrackers, the watched it get destroyed. It didn’t deserve returning, it was too horrible and no kid should ever have to play it.
and on #8, shouldn’t it be “The”, not “the” when talking about the Gamestop guys?
I remember playing Shaq fu, lol. And why didnt I hear about Bebes kids? Im so all over it!! : )
halo 3 should be number 1. lol COD4 rocks!
I read this list thinking "There are gonna be some COD fanboys posting stupid comments." And here you are
Big Rigs? Clayfighter on the 64?
Also there’s a joke that us PS1 users used to say. “What’s the most honestly named game ever? Iznogoud…”
My parents baught me E.T. Yes, it is that horrible. All you did was run around tring to get away from a guy with a gun and avoid holes in the ground. If you fell in a hole then you had to strech E.T.’s neck and levitate out of the hole but you would levitate out of the hole and then fall right back in the hole. I played it for less than an hour and went right back the Astroids and Pit Fall.
I’m glad to say Shaq Fu is the only from this list I have ever been subjected to. And yes, it was definitely a travesty…
I’m surprised Big Rigs isn’t on the list!
Great list, it’s always fun to laugh at bad games!
Nickt: Big Rigs was the first game I thought of when I saw this list, I laughed so much when I saw a video review of it on youtube.
dangor: I actually played it, truly truly horrible, I expected it to be on here.
V-Tech Rampage is on flash. That’s the only one I played on this list. I thought it was funny, simply because of Cho’s video.If he hadn’t done it, he would be an even bigger internet laughingstock than Numa Numa!
I knew what would be number one as soon as I saw the name of the list. I have no clue about gaming, and honestly never been interested at all in anything beyond tetris, but even I’ve heard of the travesty of the ET game.
Very interesting list.
I thank my lucky stars i’ve never been subjected to any of these.
And hey, i thought Jamie wasn’t into gaming..
I played superman 64, and I thought it was garbage. I had no idea you were supposed to pick up cars.
Well, let’s get things straight.
There is a difference between should never been made and should be made and did a bad job.
There are some games on the list, like ET and Superman 64, that there isn’t a problem making, but the games themselves are just terrible. The concept isn’t the problem, but the game themselves are.
But then there are some games, like the adult games for Atari and Shaq Fu, that should not have been made, because the game have no reason to be around. There, the concept is the problem, as well as the game.
IMHO.
Every time i hear about the ET game, I think of the Code Monkeys episode about it, F***ING hilarious.
Mandie: Thanks for that list, some of those are really funny, kinda reminds me of Yahtzee from zero punctuation from http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation
Check some of those reviews out too if you have the time
edit – I meant link not list…
Wow, I was about to say: “There are thousands of lousy video games. How can you pick just 15? Blah Blah” Actually though, this is a pretty good list. The closest I came to any of these was an old Bubsy game I played on the Sega Genesis.
for anyone considering playing ET:
It is that bad, not only is it that bad, it is worse, not only is it worse than that, it is abysmal. I would rather have my eyes plucked out with a screwdriver, while having my tongue cut with razor blades, while having my man-bits squeezed in a vise, while have the nails ripped off my toes, while having someone brush my teeth and then making me drink orange juice, while listening to Vogon poetry, while Zamfir’s pan flute music is playing.
No wait, I take that all back. ET is worse than that.
I’m scared to look it up so could someone just tell me… In that picture for the “adult” atari game… Are they naked? And is one guy kind of happy about it? Or is it just really really bad design choices?
D for the PS1 was pretty bad. The thing was you had to beat it in less than three hours. So, guess what? There were only three hours of gameplay! Ugh, you’d think the developers would have considered that angle.
G3:
Game Spy Article:
Custer’s Revenge remains one of the most controversial and bizarre games ever released. The object of the game is to guide a naked, horny, General Custer across the screen while avoiding incoming arrow fire. Waiting at the other side is a naked Indian maiden, and you earn points by… scoring. The slogan of the game was something like “When you score, you score!”
I wonder what pervert thought General Custard equaled *****y?
I love video games, and I can only shake my head, sadly but knowingly, agreeing with everything on this list. A notable missing entry would be Columbine Massacre RPG, or whatever the hell it was called. Video games shouldn’t be based off of real-life, horrible events.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a World War II game to play.
Good list idea, boring commentary. You said some variation of “worst game ever” about 10 times! That’s just lazy and repetitive.
Great list. Thankfully, it seems, I have played none of the above games.
When my brother and I were younger, we used to go to GameStop and look at their selection of used video games because they were cheap and gave us a few minutes of fun playing a new game. There were so many Superman 64 games, we almost bought one! Perhaps I’m glad we saved our $3!
Funny that video gaming has been out for a few decades now and yet many of these games were released within the last ten years or so. You’d think they would learn!
I personally think #15 should be higher on the list, simply because it was done in very bad taste… very bad.
Custer’s Revenge proves that most video game designers are horny nerds.
copperdragon: Was there any doubt in your mind?
Only one game has the honor of being so horrible that thousands of copies of it were buried in the Nevada desert:
E.T. The Extraterrestrial. Nuff said.
dude, i love shaq fu! ahahah
seriously, when i was a kid i fricken loved that game for some reason. some of the coolest characters to fight with, minus shaq.
Big Rigs should be added I think. And the infamous three black sheep of the Zelda franchise were not developed or published by Nintendo at all, it was actually Phillips who got the rights to make some games out of Nintendo’s franchises like Mario and Zelda because of a broken contract between them.
I work at a Gamestop… and I have for a while. As most of you well know, we used to take backdated games from old worn out systems. I used to see a good majority of those games come into my store and I actually have almost all of them in my collection… among others. I even have one of the only remaining copies of Shaq Fu for it’s mere collectors value when the rest get burned. I will say, some of those titles did surprise me… I haven’t even heard of a few of them like Desert Bus. Madness. Either way… your list is very well written and very accurate. I just would have made it a list of 20. I have 5 you might want to add.
I liked Shaq-Fu.
RPGuru: feel free to tell us your other five! I had a whole bunch extra so this will be the first of many lists on the topic!
I can’t believe there are games like these. Who gave the o.k. for releasing them in the public? I hope he is fired!
I still have the ET game sitting among the old Atari cartridges, but somehow I don’t think I’ll be playing it. What a boring, stupid and unbelievably aggravating game.
I agree with a previous poster about the comments though. I would have liked to have read more about WHY the games sucked rather that they are considered one of the worst and have won XXX award for sucking.
i grew up so game system poor, that when nintendo came out in the states i got the redesigned atari 2600. i beat e.t. twice and liked it. the indiana jones game i couldn’t beat tho.
this game dominates all those games
http://www.break.com/index/review-of-worst-video-game-ever.html
to be fair, Custer’s Revenge (or any of the other *****ogames for the 2600) was not made by Atari, just like how Superman 64 was not made by Nintendo. They are third-party games (Custer is by Mystique, Superman is by Titus). E.T., however, is by Atari, so ridicule Atari for that one all you want. the 2600 version of Pac-Man really should be on this list (also done by Atari)!
The reason games like custers revenge were released, is because at the time, anyone could make a game, and market for the atari, they essentially had no control over it.
JT: Clayfighter rocked! Maybe you needed to be stoned to play it.
The worst game I’ve ever played was Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter. One of my Friends told me to try it, more as a challenge to my abilities. He wasn’t wrong for once. games of that small caliber don’t even show up on my radar. What Crap!
good idea, but the descriptions should have included more ABOUT each game, rather than just ‘this game is lame & got this rating!’
“Indiana Jones” for the 2600 needed to be here. THat game was unbeatable.
Rob:The game sucked, but I can’t wait for the new movie, Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford is too old for this *****. Looks good.
Csimmons: Given George Lucas’s keen eye for sparkling dialogue (*rolls eyes*), what do you think the odds that ol’ Indy will actually say, “I’m getting too old for this *****,” are? I’d say you be a fool to put your money against it.
and ET didn’t cause the video game crash. The crash was cause by the supply of games and consoles far exceeding the demand for games and consoles. When supply is high and demand is low, prices plummit, and many find it difficult to make a profit. Thus, a crash. E.T. certainly didn’t help matters, but it didn’t cause the crash.
“getting only a 6% out of 100″
That’s a bit repetitive isn’t it?
My gosh, I remember that stupid ET game. Every time you’d get him moving, he’d fall in a darn hole.
And I am very disappointed that Michael Jackson Moonwalker game didn’t make it. I’d give anything to see him saving little girls with his dance moves again.
what about that game where you had to find mario by solving a bunch of clues about geography. I thought it was the ***** but i look back and remember what a douche i was.
What was that game called? Wheres mario? Luigi’s Geographical Adventure? i cant remember…
‘“getting only a 6% out of 100″
That’s a bit repetitive isn’t it?’
Not as repetitive as “A terrible game based on a terrible movie, with one of the most boring games ever.”
Thank you that ET is #1. I wasted 11 mins of my life on the sucker in the 80′s.
Brianne…
2 n’s, huh?
Dont you think thats lazy and repetitive?
I mean, come on, who has 2 n’s?
it is interesting that, at least to my knowledge, there have been so few “adult” themed games. you would think that with the stereotype of gamers being ***** starved nerds that naked ladies that you could make do whatever you wanted would be a hot item.
I admit to having liked Clayfighter…but I do agree it belongs on this list. The only one I played on here was Shaq-Fu (like so many others who commented on here it seems). Iam almost tempted to hund down a 3DO and a copy of Plumbers Dont Wear Ties…it sounds so bad it would probably be good for a laugh