Let's Vote on the Worst Game

[HunterZero]

 

I agree, but sadly, the votes are not showing this at all.

 

I suspect, as I said before, that Kool Aid Man's relative obscurity is saving it.

[+Lathe26]

Here's a couple posts from the SRGE thread (I was a vendor there) that pertain to Carnival and Kool-Aid Man:

What was entertaining was how many people stopped to look ... Kool-Aid Man. I had no less then 15 people stop and pick up Kool-Aid Man and go "Oh my god...". It was quite the conversation piece. Eventually a collector bought it. Don't worry, I wasn't going to let it get sold to a doe-eyed brand new Intellivision fan without a warning about how 'playable' it is (or rather isn't).

...

On the other end of the spectrum... What was really cool was meeting someone who absolutely loves the game Carnival (though not a game I care for). She had shared some wonderful childhood memories of it. She even bought the game (I never expected to sell it).

 

I don't like these games but it was still interesting seeing people's reactions to these games.

[+intvsteve]

 

I agree, but sadly, the votes are not showing this at all.

Yeah, this is a case where it'll be difficult to tell just how much people vote based on disappointment rather than overall suckitude. Unlike the top of the heap, though, I'm not surprised to see voting for 'worst' game spreading out like this. The animus toward DK is almost subliminal by now, after so many years.

 

Glancing over this list, many of the candidates were never very widely available. This works against such titles at both ends - games like Tutankham, Super Cobra, Fathom, Congo Bongo, et. al. are rarities, meaning that self-respecting voters could not vote for them as great because they didn't give them enough play time. Many, if not most, of us voting in these polls have at least tried most of these in emulation in the 'modern era', or bought them as collectors, but it's not the same as having 25-30 years of nostalgia to build upon.

 

Some of these, IMO, don't really deserve to be here based on the general quality of the game, but that wasn't among the criteria used to generate the candidate list. In a way, that mirrors the original 'best of' voting system as well. Some games (Golf, Tropical Trouble, Sub Hunt) may have had 'tough draws' in the original voting. (Too lazy to go check.)

 

In any case, some of the late releases were not at all good, much as we may wish otherwise. But hardly anyone got them when they were new, so the bitter disappointment of laying out all that coin, building up all that anticipation, only to have it dashed by a cruddy game hasn't had the chance to fester as it has for DK or some of the others.

Edited July 1, 2014 by intvsteve

[+save2600]

BITD, my friend who lived within maybe 5 minutes walking distance, had an Intellivision and I'd go over there just to play Donkey Kong. We played the hell out of that game before walking back over to my place for some Atari, TI and arcade action. Enjoyed DK well enough and thought the differences between the 2600 version were awesome. Level colors more arcade accurate, 2nd screen layout blew away the 2600's and the end of level music was cool too. Guess it's just a matter of appreciating what you had back then. Sure, the game is flawed, but I've always felt Intellivision DK has it's own charm. Especially for the time.

[doctorclu]

Voted Zaxxon. How could they completely remove the angle of gameplay which made the game unique and fun?

 

But then again, Coleco I think just made terrible ports so that everyone would want a ColecoVision, and I think it worked.

[Bill Loguidice]

But then again, Coleco I think just made terrible ports so that everyone would want a ColecoVision, and I think it worked.

 

We've argued this point umpteen times on these forums, but any publisher deliberately tanking their games on a competing platform has no real basis in reality, particularly since some ported games were very, very good, and others were very, very bad. It almost certainly all came down to programmer skill, as with any game on any platform back then.

[harveyjcat]

 

Play Kool-Aid Man as well. Nothing on the Intellivision is worse than that POS. Easily a contender along with Atari's E.T. for the worst game of all time. Even the programmer admits it.

Below is from the Intellivision Lives website:

 

FUN FACT: One magazine dubbed Kool-Aid Man as the "stupidest video game of 1983," adding "What's next, the Michelin Man game?"As a result, to this day when someone refers to Kool-Aid Man, Mark Kennedy corrects them with, "that's the AWARD-WINNING Kool-Aid Man!"

Edited July 25, 2014 by harveyjcat

[voltron]

You forgot the worst of the worst on the list. The worst of the worst are all the atari games for the Intellivision system changer, excludng m network games.

[Binth]

I had to pick DK since as a kid we had maybe 10 - 15 games (pretty pricey in 1979 - 1983ish dollars) so until I hit close outs and ebay as an adult there are a lot of games I have not played yet. When I get time to play it is usually a game that have been jonesing to play and rarely bust out anything "new". Perhaps I should make it a goal to try one "new to me" game a month so I can form a more educated opinion.

[R.O.T.S]

LOL guys ,Coleco DK was poor to make their own look better but is it worse than Horse Racing and Sub Hunt?

[intvnut]

Ok, everyone rags on the Coleco Donkey Kong. It is quite certainly bad, but I did still play it a fair bit when I was a kid. I disliked Carnival more (largely because its sound effects / music make me want to claw my ears out), and I still played both.

 

I had to go with Zaxxon. It barely even resembled the original. The first time I saw it, I had a hard time even making out what was going on on the screen, and I had seen the original so in theory I should have been able to at least map what I saw to what I knew, right? Maybe it was the 'ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk' choppy animation, or the shift from isometric projection to head-on perspective. I don't know.

 

Coleco Donkey Kong at least looked like Donkey Kong, even if it was better described as Donkey Dung.

[intvnut]

 

I suspect, as I said before, that Kool Aid Man's relative obscurity is saving it.

 

I dunno. I enjoyed playing it back in the day. Not because it was awesome, but because it was a fairly laid back game. Yeah, the action is pretty slow, but I guess when you just want to chill and kill some time, it wasn't bad.

 

I thought Scooby Doo's Maze Chase was worse. The only thing that "saved" Scooby in the replayability department was the fact you could make your own mazes. Well that, and the novelty of steering Scooby around the maze, and the well-rendered Scooby-snack / sub sandwich. That was amusing too. The "hey, let's play a 6-voice chromatic scale" ... erm ... music really drove me nuts. I found myself looking forward to the next thunderclap that'd reset the ... erm ... music.

 

 

 

Voted Zaxxon. How could they completely remove the angle of gameplay which made the game unique and fun?

 

EXACTLY. It wasn't Zaxxon without the isometric projection!

 

 

 

Here's a couple posts from the SRGE thread (I was a vendor there) that pertain to Carnival and Kool-Aid Man:

What was entertaining was how many people stopped to look ... Kool-Aid Man. I had no less then 15 people stop and pick up Kool-Aid Man and go "Oh my god...". It was quite the conversation piece. Eventually a collector bought it. Don't worry, I wasn't going to let it get sold to a doe-eyed brand new Intellivision fan without a warning about how 'playable' it is (or rather isn't).

...

On the other end of the spectrum... What was really cool was meeting someone who absolutely loves the game Carnival (though not a game I care for). She had shared some wonderful childhood memories of it. She even bought the game (I never expected to sell it).

 

I don't like these games but it was still interesting seeing people's reactions to these games.

 

I would have liked Carnival better if it were (a) more responsive, and (b) had better sound effects / music. I'd put it in more of a "mini-game" category. For a narrow scope game, it was moderately enjoyable, save for the ear-piercing music and steering-through-mud controls.

 

Still hate that duck for eating my bullets...

Edited August 3, 2014 by intvnut

[intvnut]

You forgot the worst of the worst on the list. The worst of the worst are all the atari games for the Intellivision system changer, excludng m network games.

 

Those aren't really Intellivision games, now, are they?

[voltron]

Those aren't really Intellivision games, now, are they?

True, but they are all still worst than the worst INTV game

But then that begs the question are M network games .intv games or how about the one in the pic?

[voltron]

Speaking of intv games anyone have the names of the intellivisions ones made for Coleco! I saw one once on ebay but forgot about the auction so i didnt get to bid on it.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Speaking of intv games anyone have the names of the intellivisions ones made for Coleco! I saw one once on ebay but forgot about the auction so i didnt get to bid on it.

Steamroller?

[intvnut]

True, but they are all still worst than the worst INTV game

But then that begs the question are M network games .intv games or how about the one in the pic?

 

I guess I use a very simple definition: A game that plays on an Intellivision directly, as opposed to an Atari 2600 plugged into an Intellivision is an Intellivision game.

[voltron]

Steamroller?

Yes thats the one... Are there any others? I need to add those to my intv collection The only good games made for Crapleco.

[+intvsteve]

I never got Steamroller, which I only vaguely regret. I hardly ever play Colecovision. The one I have is flakey, sometimes loses sound, and either the atari adapter is broken, or there's more wrong w/ the system. I suppose it could be the power switch or power supply. My cousin had one when we were kids, so he had one-upped me. Played it a LOT at his place. Never did like the controllers though. I swear he had every single Atari and Colecovision thing ever made, it seemed to my young self. I think even the entire Adam setup.

 

Not long ago I picked up 'Swordfight,' which Intellivision Productions made a few years ago. Meh. 2-player only and seems exceedingly average. I think they may also have done a Sea Battle cart, too. Wait... Doesn't this site right here have some kind of games database we could look this stuff up in or something?

 

And for fun, picked up a 'Space Armada' for Atari - which is really just a Space Invaders hack w/ Space Armada baddies and a label you'd expect. Fun and colorful though. Definitely *NOT* an Intellivision Productions product.

[NamcoPlayer]

I have a few games that I don't like on the INTV, like Coleco's DK and DK Junior (Mario looks like a boy from a village and a naked Smurf, Jr. looks like a 3-year old's drawing of Yoda, Donkey Kong looks like he got vomit all over him, and I don't know what to say about Pauline, other than she is the same color as the girders), and Tutankham (player and enemies move way slower). I don't think Pole Position and Super Cobra are that bad though. 

Edited May 30, 2021 by NamcoPlayer

[+cmadruga]

Sub Hunt on the list? Really?

 

Where’s Mouse Trap?

[IntyFanMatt]

4 hours ago, cmadruga said:

Sub Hunt on the list? Really?

 

Where’s Mouse Trap?

Sub Hunt is a great game. Doesn’t belong anywhere near a “worst” list whatsoever.

 

I vote Empire Strikes Back. Great movie. Terrible Inty game. 

[Sinjinhawke]

20 hours ago, cmadruga said:

Sub Hunt on the list? Really?

I was going to comment on that.  SUB HUNT?  Really?  That game was/is great.

[wolfy62]

12 minutes ago, Sinjinhawke said:

I was going to comment on that.  SUB HUNT?  Really?  That game was/is great.

I know I liked Sub Hunt back in the early 80s.

I have recently wanted to relearn that game because I remembered it to be enjoyable. 

So I am glad some people are commenting here that it is NOT one of the worst Intellivision games!

[+wongojack]

The list was made up of a bunch of games that finished last in some world-cup style group runoffs.  Some games had tougher competition than others which means a relatively good game might have finished last or near the bottom of its group and then popped onto this list.