What is the worst game ever made?

[Barry the Nomad]

While I was on vacation, the topic came up about what the worst movie ever made was. While we didn't reach a conclusion, one of the strong points brought up was that while there are several bad movies out there, many that are deemed "the worst ever made" are unfairly labeled as such. For example, "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is called the worst movie ever made... but it really isn't. It was made on a low budget, general audiences had no expectations for it (I question if many even knew of it at the time), the director's previous work did not scream "this man can make a great film!". With all this against it, it ended up being a pretty bad film. But it isn't unwatchable. In fact, it does tell a cohesive (if silly) story, Ed Wood shows that he is capable enough to edit, light, dress sets, and write. At most, it's cheap, cheesy, and funny to watch if only because Wood makes several bad decisions as a filmmaker even if he knows how to produce a film.

There are movies that are worse than Plan 9, such as Manos the Hands of Fate and The Beast of Yucca Flats. They are boring, unfocused, hard to follow. But again, I'd argue that they are not the worst movies ever made.

To me, what makes a bad movie the worst ever made is when a big budget film with a competent cast and crew fail miserably. I think a film with great effort put behind it, and with high expectations , that ends up being awful is far worse a film than a small unknown producing something that is awful simply because they didn't have the money or training or creative skills to pull something off.

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Having said all that, I'm wondering what people here deem the "worst game ever made"?

I see people pointing towards games like "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing" - but as bad as it is, was it ever a game that people EXPECTED to be good, or a game that had any sort of hype?

Based on my opinions on bad films, I'd lean more towards Superman: The New Adventures for Nintendo 64 or Sonic the Hedgehog '06 being the worst games ever made.

[Happy Cat]

Wii Play, Wii Music

one of those

[TimmiT]

Wii Play, Wii Music

one of those

While I wouldn't say they are good games (at least not Wii Music), I'm not sure why they're the worst ever. They're dull, yeah, but it's not like they're a pain to play or anything.

Also, there's a difference between a disappointing game and a bad game. If you're taking expectations into account like that than this thread is more about the former

[mylifewithsega]

That's difficult for me to say. I don't use audience expections as a guide for they have no baring on the work. Audiences didn't care for The January Man when it was released in 1989. While the director was a relative unknown, it was written by John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck) and featured an all-star cast with Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Susan Surandon, Harvey Keitel, Danny Aiello, Rod Steiger and Alan Rickman. It was a quirky detective movie filled with drama, comedy, romance and a bit of suspense. Great dialogue and a solid story that went against standard genre conventions....

Still, nobody saw it. It's not like it had much competition either. It opened alongside DeepStar Six and Gleaming the Cube; neither of which did big business. Ultimately, poor marketing killed it, I feel. The unusual blend of drama and comedy was ahead of its time, so MGM totally missed the mark. Regardless, many would consider it a clunker. However, the movie is technically well-made. It tells a story, hits the necessary beats for both characters and the overall plot. It's well-shot and has a distinctive soundtrack. Just a shame so few people have even heard of it or even like it.

I use the same barometer for videogames. Personal opinion aside, does it do what it set out to do? Are the controls responsive? Is the AI balanced? Are visuals free of cripling glitches? Is the audio distortion free? How's the hit detection? That sort of thing. Also, every genre has a stinking pile of shit, I feel....

This is too hard. I give up.

[Barry the Nomad]

I totally agree that there is a difference between a disappointing game and a bad game, however the way I see it, a game which is both disappointing and bad takes the cake.

@AJ: "does it do what it set out to do?"
Very much agree. Back in college I rented Seed of Chucky and watched it with some friends. In the end, they hated it. Called it the worst movie they had ever seen. I asked why, admitting I didn't much care for it but it was nowhere near the worst film ever made. They said it was weird, offensive, campy, creepy and stupid. I'd argue that is exactly what the film set out to be, and by that logic it succeeded at that. Now if, say, it was a coming of age tale that set out to depict romance and people dealing with issues of race and the like... and it ended up being weird, offensive, campy, creepy and stupid then I'd be much more in agreement with it being so bad that it may be a contender for "worst film ever".

I point to comedies that fail at being comedies. Many of of these movies for example: http://www.totalfilm.com/features/50-worst-comedy-movies/

They set out to make people laugh, and they failed miserably.

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So on the subject of games, taking Sonic '06 as an example, I'd argue it failed at being everything it tried to be. It was not a fun speedy platformer, it did not tell an epic story, it did not successfully reboot the franchise, it was not fun. The only positive is the soundtrack, and that is not enough to make it a good as a game.

Or Superman 64. A game that puts you in the role of Superman... yeah, we all know how shitty that turned out.

At least with Wii Play or Wii Music they do succeed at what they're trying to be... it's just that what they are are silly little mini game compilations that are not all that fun for the more seasoned gamers. At best, they're well produced with that cheery Nintendo style and show off the Wiimote's functions.

[Emmett The Crab]

Games: 

E.T. for the Atari 2600.  (a guy at a mall kiosk tricked my Grandmother into buying it for us when she asked "What's a good game)?"  It had Barry's disappointment factor, since we were kids and we liked the movie, and it was a pointless, never-ending game with no action.

Bubble Ghost (Various late 80's computer platforms).  The name is funny, but that's all the enjoyment you'll get out of it. 


Movie:  Rollerblade. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089930/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 
This movie will make you feel physically ill while watching it, and you can feel your brain cells die.  It's about a post apocalyptic world where they answer the question that no one asked, What would it mean if we lived in a world where you literally had to "Skate or die"?

[Barry the Nomad]

Y'know, E.T. for Atari was another thing that got me thinking of this.

Initially I didn't get the hate. At the time, Atari games were small, sometimes crappy, games. Don't get me wrong, there are many awesome Atari 2600 titles, but the fact that E.T. got so much hate confused me.

But then I got to thinking how I'd feel as a kid in 1982, E.T. was a huge deal. Atari games were among the best in home video game entertainment. So coming from that perspective, I totally get it. Excellent, big name movie with a ton of merchandising behind it. Kids craving a game. The game was basically unplayable, probably one of the worst Atari games at the time.

I rented Back to the Future Part III for the Genesis in 1991 and probably felt the same way kids in the Christmas of '82 felt.

[max_cady]

Lemme list some of my oldies...

Space Jam for PC/Saturn/PSX
Batman Forever for SNES/Genesis

[MadeManG74]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.

[George]

The WWE Yukes games, I can't believe they have been at it for so long and they suck ass.

[mylifewithsega]

@Barry - I feel you there. Seed of Chucky is a very good example. I hated it because I felt the franchise had strayed very far from its source material and had become a parody. Would I say it's a bad film? No. There are folks that enjoy what it set out to do and that's all well and fine. Again, it was well shot, pacing was tight and effects were solid. It just didn't appeal to me is all....

As for games, I'd say Spirit of Speed 1937 for the Dreamcast is one of the worst racing games I've ever played. The control is beyond sluggish, frame-rate is horrendous and it doesn't create a sense of speed at all. Even Motocross Championship for 32X managed to make me feel as if I was doing 50mph over a dirt track. Spirit of Speed 1937 is just ass. There isn't even any music. WTF?!

Now, about E.T. and Atari in general. I think what hurts many of those games nowadays - those more complicated than ship in space go boom, at least - is that they often lack instructions, inadvertently making them unplayable. Take Raiders of the Lost Ark for VCS; that game is infuriating as fuck if you don't have instructions. It's not like today where we play through a 10-15 minute tutorial. Playing something like Raiders or E.T. without the aid of that cheap paper booklet or the internet would have gamers throwing controllers through concrete in 0.68 seconds.

At the time, I'm sure these games pissed off many kids because they dared to be "complex". Most games then, you just pop 'em in and you know exactly what you're supposed to do, like Breakout, or Asteroids, or Missile Command. There's no looking for pieces of some shit-box or trying to find a hidden entrance. They were simple and straight-forward. Raiders? E.T.? Forget it.

[Emmett The Crab]

As for games, I'd say Spirit of Speed 1937 for the Dreamcast is one of the worst racing games I've ever played. The control is beyond sluggish, frame-rate is horrendous and it doesn't create a sense of speed
Now, about E.T. and Atari in general. I think what hurts many of those games nowadays - those more complicated than ship in space go boom, at least - is that they often lack instructions, inadvertently making them unplayable. Take Raiders of the Lost Ark for VCS; that game is infuriating as fuck if you don't have instructions. It's not like today where we play through a 10-15 minute tutorial. Playing something like Raiders or E.T. without the aid of that cheap paper booklet or the internet would have gamers throwing controllers through concrete in 0.68 seconds.

At the time, I'm sure these games pissed off many kids because they dared to be "complex". Most games then, you just pop 'em in and you know exactly what you're supposed to do, like Breakout, or Asteroids, or Missile Command. There's no looking for pieces of some shit-box or trying to find a hidden entrance. They were simple and straight-forward. Raiders? E.T.? Forget it.

I knew what you were supposed to do to play it.  I was 8 in 1982.  You keep falling in pits that take like 10 minutes to get out of.  You get your psychic energy to levitate out of the pits from Reeces Pieces, and if you don't have enough energy to get out of the pit, you just are stuck there, and you can't kill yourself.  You have to switch off the game. 

I knew about finding the phone pieces to call the mother ship, but if you do that the game just starts over again, like you only completed a level after 2 hours of mind-numbing boringness.

[max_cady]

I would also like to add these to my list:

WWE RAW 2 and Wrestlemania 21 for Xbox - Good God Almigthy, those game were horrible!

WWE Raw 2's "Story Mode" was just horrid and an abomination to mankind. Wrestlemania 21 was made by the now defunct Studio Gigante, the terrible story mode, horrible AI in general.

Thank God, they decided to have Smackdown vs RAW games on the 360.

[mylifewithsega]

I knew what you were supposed to do to play it.  I was 8 in 1982.  You keep falling in pits that take like 10 minutes to get out of.  You get your psychic energy to levitate out of the pits from Reeces Pieces, and if you don't have enough energy to get out of the pit, you just are stuck there, and you can't kill yourself.  You have to switch off the game. 

I knew about finding the phone pieces to call the mother ship, but if you do that the game just starts over again, like you only completed a level after 2 hours of mind-numbing boringness.

Okay, so Emmett has a righteous grievance. LOL!

[3raser]

There were a lot of games that were overrated, which were really bad. I hated Heavy Rain. I know it's not a Sega game. It was still terrible though. The worst Sega games would probably be Aliens: Colonial Marines and the 2006 Sonic game.