Rare misfires from usually great game companies (Konami, Sega, Namco, etc.)

[retrorussell]

Hey folks!

 

Arcade/console/handheld/whatever. There are some serious turds that are crapped out of the butts of top companies that normally produce hit after hit. What are some you can think of?

 

Arcade:

DARK ADVENTURE, Konami 1987

Konami tried to do some sort of Gauntlet meets a world of demons game and it failed completely. I did a review and I was not kind:

And also JAIL BREAK, Konami 1986

This game is so unfairly hard, it is one of the first that come to my mind as the most difficult I've ever played. And it's not very good, either.

 

Lay down some other misfires!

[godslabrat]

Nintendo - Urban Champion. Arguably the company's least fun game ever.

 

Konami - Bayou Billy. None of its flaws are fatal by themselves, but the sheer number puts it firmly in the stinker category.

 

Sega... has been more losses than wins for a while now.

[mbd30]

Nintendo - Urban Champion. Arguably the company's least fun game ever.

 

Konami - Bayou Billy. None of its flaws are fatal by themselves, but the sheer number puts it firmly in the stinker category.

 

Sega... has been more losses than wins for a while now.

 

I like Bayou Billy and have beaten it multiple times. It's just hard. My only real gripe is with the driving stages. They went a little overboard increasing the difficulty of those compared to the original Japanese version.

Edited March 4, 2019 by mbd30

[dj_convoy]

Nintendo - Urban Champion. Arguably the company's least fun game ever.

 

 

Urban Champion really stands out as a not fun game. Good call.

[TheCoolDave]

I'd really have to think about this one... When I was a kid/teen... money was limited so buying a game was a very important thing as It's something I would be playing a lot for a while. There was no internet, so it was by friend reviews, magazine reviews (if I could find one for 1/2 the games), or the back of the box. There was a bunch of games that were horrible that I still played through just because I could not afford another game and bugging mom/dad was a big hassle....

[mbd30]

Black Box Baseball is garbage.

[derFunkenstein]

Two games from my childhood collection:

 

The NES version of Hydlide is possibly the worst RPG I ever played. I've read the history and understand how groundbreaking it was in the mid-80s, but by the time it came out in the West, other games had taken those groundbreaking ideas and fleshed them out. The save system was totally broken, too. The password that got generated wasn't the current game state; you had to pick "save" on the menu and THEN write down the password. And the password was so long that I rarely ever progressed in the game because I'd write it down wrong.

 

Streets of Rage 3 is quite a stinker but it didn't need to be. Bare Knuckle 3 is a great game, even with its weird, experimental music. Streets of Rage 3 traded out some things that, on the whole, made it worse. Enemy (especially boss) logic is unfair, the plot is totally different, they changed graphics and sound effects willy-nilly (always for the worse...yellow/black Axel? that uncharactaristic "BARE KNUCKLE" voice sample? awful). I love the translated ROM hack. The US version is just awful.

[godslabrat]

Urban Champion really stands out as a not fun game. Good call.

 

At the time, it would have been aggressively mediocre. Since then, it's aged REALLY badly.

[Tanooki]

Screw it, I'll do it, I'll throw Nintendo under the bus, not just once but TWICE. And no the WiiU is too easy and obvious of a failed punching bag so I'm going to look back beyond the last decade.

 

#1 - Pokemon Mini

#2 - Virtual Boy

 

#1 -- World's smallest cartridge based video game handheld and backed with a Pokemon license. You would think as cheaply as they sold with the Gameboy like mystique to it in a mini format it would have worked being all Pokemon based just as that exploded, but no, it imploded. Perhaps it was their own fault in marketing, or just making it, or fickle fans loving their 200+hour Gameboy runs by revision. I had this, hell I'd own one again if the price was as cheap or less than then, but now it's a bit of a collector's punch to the gut games and all. What was strange is that they went with a notably lower resolution but had a little bit beepier better than Tiger audio to it, and it worked. It was like 1/2 between like a Digimon/Tamagotchi in being basic and an original early era Gameboy game. There were some really solid games on the device between Pinball, Party stuff, races, various other mini games too. But in the end the US got screwed first which was strange, as the PAL and JP markets got more games, a key one that was the best of the pinball aside being a full blown Tetris game. Good luck owning that now unless you like fanning yourself with benjamins, at least legally speaking. Like the Virtual Boy, this one does now have a flash kit and a development community making new competent little treasures for it.

 

 

#2 -- VIrtual Boy, the first commercial 3D console (though some would say handheld, why??) in all of an all too familiar style of Gameboy of Black + 1 with shades of that 1 (being a red color.) Despite it's display potential and hardware inside, it really is like a weird mish-mosh of a SNES in some respects but mostly an original Gameboy. Sadly it lasted a good year and change, less in some spaces, the price, the smear campaign against it over eye damage, nausea, and vertigo, and well just being isolated with it doomed it. It also didn't help Nintendo didn't push harder to support the thing with N64 around the corner, it got thrown under the bus while a price drop and more aggressive game placement could have helped it live a little longer. A flawed but in ways great design of what would come later (3DS) with full color and the depth without being stuck in foam. This one could have languished but turned into a true crash and burn that Nintendo got out too quickly. Thankfully this system has good room yet for development and more, plus it has a pretty neat dual digital(dpad) control setup which creates some unique experiences. IT has a very active community that has translated down to visual tiles and titles the Japanese library, put out 2 of 3 known lost finished prototype games, and has a good homebrew market that's expanding and will greatly more soon when a new development kit in progress hits that will simplify things a lot, and it has a very stable 2MB kit the Flash Boy Plus too.

 

I hate to call them both misfires or worse, but it would be denial, they fouled up, and seem to do so once every decade. The 90s VB, the 00s the PM, and the 10s the WiiU. Makes you wonder what will flounder next in the 20s.

[Jess Ragan]

Some SNK StiNKers...

 

3 Count Bout: Say your prayers, eat your vegetables, and inject your steroids, but you're never going to be able to push buttons fast enough to beat the computer opponent. Off-putting character designs, too. Just stick with Slam Masters.

 

Burning Fight: It's not a shareware imitation of Final Fight, but a $200 game for the premium Neo-Geo! Extremely by the book beat 'em up with big Neo-Geo graphics but very little to distinguish it from other games in the genre. Really crappy hero designs, too.

 

Zed Blade: A lame Korean shooter that somehow conned its way onto the Neo-Geo. Most shooters on the system are superior. Joined in the hall of shoot 'em up shame with Andro Dunas, which looks like a Sega Genesis refugee.

 

Fatal Fury 3/Samurai Shodown 3: Two disappointing entries in their respective series. Fatal Fury 3 shrinks down the fighters while putting too much emphasis on line switching. Samurai Shodown 3 likewise tones down the graphics, and also garbles the control scheme. Head for the fourth SamSho game instead. Or play the first two. Or try Last Blade.

[mbd30]

Some SNK StiNKers...

 

3 Count Bout: Say your prayers, eat your vegetables, and inject your steroids, but you're never going to be able to push buttons fast enough to beat the computer opponent. Off-putting character designs, too. Just stick with Slam Masters.

 

Burning Fight: It's not a shareware imitation of Final Fight, but a $200 game for the premium Neo-Geo! Extremely by the book beat 'em up with big Neo-Geo graphics but very little to distinguish it from other games in the genre. Really crappy hero designs, too.

 

Zed Blade: A lame Korean shooter that somehow conned its way onto the Neo-Geo. Most shooters on the system are superior. Joined in the hall of shoot 'em up shame with Andro Dunas, which looks like a Sega Genesis refugee.

 

Fatal Fury 3/Samurai Shodown 3: Two disappointing entries in their respective series. Fatal Fury 3 shrinks down the fighters while putting too much emphasis on line switching. Samurai Shodown 3 likewise tones down the graphics, and also garbles the control scheme. Head for the fourth SamSho game instead. Or play the first two. Or try Last Blade.

 

NES Ikari Warriors sucks. Athena is supposed to be quite bad.

[godslabrat]

Screw it, I'll do it, I'll throw Nintendo under the bus, not just once but TWICE. And no the WiiU is too easy and obvious of a failed punching bag so I'm going to look back beyond the last decade.

 

#1 - Pokemon Mini

#2 - Virtual Boy

 

#1 -- World's smallest cartridge based video game handheld and backed with a Pokemon license. You would think as cheaply as they sold with the Gameboy like mystique to it in a mini format it would have worked being all Pokemon based just as that exploded, but no, it imploded. Perhaps it was their own fault in marketing, or just making it, or fickle fans loving their 200+hour Gameboy runs by revision. I had this, hell I'd own one again if the price was as cheap or less than then, but now it's a bit of a collector's punch to the gut games and all. What was strange is that they went with a notably lower resolution but had a little bit beepier better than Tiger audio to it, and it worked. It was like 1/2 between like a Digimon/Tamagotchi in being basic and an original early era Gameboy game. There were some really solid games on the device between Pinball, Party stuff, races, various other mini games too. But in the end the US got screwed first which was strange, as the PAL and JP markets got more games, a key one that was the best of the pinball aside being a full blown Tetris game. Good luck owning that now unless you like fanning yourself with benjamins, at least legally speaking. Like the Virtual Boy, this one does now have a flash kit and a development community making new competent little treasures for it.

 

 

#2 -- VIrtual Boy, the first commercial 3D console (though some would say handheld, why??) in all of an all too familiar style of Gameboy of Black + 1 with shades of that 1 (being a red color.) Despite it's display potential and hardware inside, it really is like a weird mish-mosh of a SNES in some respects but mostly an original Gameboy. Sadly it lasted a good year and change, less in some spaces, the price, the smear campaign against it over eye damage, nausea, and vertigo, and well just being isolated with it doomed it. It also didn't help Nintendo didn't push harder to support the thing with N64 around the corner, it got thrown under the bus while a price drop and more aggressive game placement could have helped it live a little longer. A flawed but in ways great design of what would come later (3DS) with full color and the depth without being stuck in foam. This one could have languished but turned into a true crash and burn that Nintendo got out too quickly. Thankfully this system has good room yet for development and more, plus it has a pretty neat dual digital(dpad) control setup which creates some unique experiences. IT has a very active community that has translated down to visual tiles and titles the Japanese library, put out 2 of 3 known lost finished prototype games, and has a good homebrew market that's expanding and will greatly more soon when a new development kit in progress hits that will simplify things a lot, and it has a very stable 2MB kit the Flash Boy Plus too.

 

I hate to call them both misfires or worse, but it would be denial, they fouled up, and seem to do so once every decade. The 90s VB, the 00s the PM, and the 10s the WiiU. Makes you wonder what will flounder next in the 20s.

I challenge you to call most VB games "bad", though. With the exception of WaterWorld, they were all average at worst, most were pretty good.

 

If you could adjust to the hardware, which not everyone could.

[Tanooki]

Challenge.... UNaccepted.

 

You won't get that out of me. I owned one when it was new to the market lost it to the great loss of 2005, had another temporarily but it failed (before they had fixes for it) and weeks ago I got another I'm keeping and have solder fixed it too. I love the thing, and even more so that 2 of 3 known finished protos are out there, and that there's an active game making community for it too which will get a lot easier come this year due to some new development tools.

 

Waterworld itself isn't really as far as being bad, it's just overly average and boring, nothing great about it. It's more of a spin around turkey shoot against jetskis but it doesn't vary much. I honestly can't think of any game, US market at least, that really is a hot pile of crap or even just really and truly bad. I'd consider the games on the whole average to good for quite many, good if you care to make a Gameboy a contemporary to what it does, but there are some really excellent titles on it as well. VB never messed with my eyes, head, stomach either so that doesn't phase me.

 

I only have 3 games at the moment, but I have another 3 in the mail, and just got 6 US boxes + manual/tray combos on a steal too in the mail. I'm mostly back to what I had originally which was all the games up through 3D-Tetris (I never had the last 3, Nester, WW and Jack Bros.) And I'm closing a deal on Jack Bros loose too.

 

 

All that said as a fan, I'm not in denial, it was a misfire. I think had they priced it probably at $120-150 and not $180 at launch, was better and aggressive about getting games out the door, and got it out maybe a year earlier so they wouldn't self inflict harm on it to get the damned N64 out it would have limped along much better even if it fizzled it would have at least got a 2nd or maybe 3rd year of games so you could really see the hardware shine. The games we go stopped at 2MB in size but could go up to 16MB and that SF2 *Hyper Fighting* port someone made is insane.

[DragonGrafx-16]

Any late 80's early 90's DOS arcade ports that only have speaker sound...

[Tanooki]

Any late 80's early 90's DOS arcade ports that only have speaker sound...

There are exceptions to that. Any game that fires up sampled MOD/S3M/XM music can run a true score of music through the PC beep speaker. I had no clue until one day Pinball Fantasies got copied to a PC in my school and that fully tracked audio creeped out of the case it blew my mind.

[Torr]

Nintendo - Urban Champion. Arguably the company's least fun game ever.

 

I'm certainly not gonna say this is a "good" game, but back in the 80s me and a friend of mine who owned it had a lot of fun with it.

It's definitely a 2 Player only game, so you can smack talk each other while button mashing, hoping to knock the other in the hole.

But in the end, thats all it is, button mashing hoping to win, but I cant deny I have some great memories of this.

When we weren't playing Mario 3, we were playing Urban Champion!!! No joke!

[Pixelboy]

I'm certainly not gonna say this is a "good" game, but back in the 80s me and a friend of mine who owned it had a lot of fun with it.

It's definitely a 2 Player only game, so you can smack talk each other while button mashing, hoping to knock the other in the hole.

But in the end, thats all it is, button mashing hoping to win, but I cant deny I have some great memories of this.

When we weren't playing Mario 3, we were playing Urban Champion!!! No joke!

And this is why such games as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat were invented.

[DJ Clae]

We have most of the Konami multiplayer PCB's. We were trying to get Dark Adventure for a reasonable price back in the day, but had to give up. The game's expensive.

 

Andro Dunos is fun though. And a lot of people seem to enjoy Zed Blade.

Edited March 6, 2019 by DJ Clae