History Horrible / VideoGameGenerationsFirstToFourth

* '''''Bad Cat''''', also published in the US as ''Street Cat'', is ostensibly a ''VideoGame/TrackAndField''-style SportsGame starring a TotallyRadical FunnyAnimal, but actually plays as a [[MinigameGame series of five minigames]], most of which are practically unplayable due to excruciatingly unresponsible movement and jumping controls. The onscreen contextual messages don't deserve to be called hints. The only reason most players even get past the first stage is that there's no way to get a GameOver, no matter how badly you fail. [[https://retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/bad-cat-commodore-64.html Here's VGJunk's hot take.]]

** Determined to beat these distributors at their own game, Creator/IdSoftware included a disc known as '''''[[http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Maximum_Doom Maximum Doom]]''''' as bonus content to the ''[[http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Master_Levels_for_Doom_II Master Levels for Doom II]]''. The Master Levels Disc, often accompanied by a book, [[https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Master_Levels_for_Doom_II contains 1,830]] amateur [=WADs=] mostly for ''Doom II''--with a great number of them being ''Doom'' [=WADs=] turned into ''Doom II'' [=WADs=] using a converter that includes ''Doom II'' monsters by randomly replacing exactly one monster each per level. A community member named Tarnsman started a series of livestreams on his Website/{{Twitch}} [[http://www.twitch.tv/Tarnsmandw/profile account]] called "The Great Shovelware Extravaganza" in which he plays through ''Maximum Doom'''s ''Doom II'' content, on which he spent over ''60 hours''. His experience was full of shoddy design, beautifully bad texture use, and bugs, including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkX1C18vQRk an example that defies explanation]].[[note]]As this [[https://youtu.be/6UIO9MUSMmA video]] reveals, this was another ''Doom'' [=WAD=] converted to one for ''Doom II'', further highlighting the primitive quality of the converter they used[[/note]]

* '''''ComicBook/TheUncannyXMen''''' for Platform/{{NES}} is often labeled as one of the worst games in the system's library, and for good reason. Outside of its obvious flaws such as terrible music and ugly graphics, with a drab color palette and playable characters that barely resemble the classic superheroes, the game's major issues are in its gameplay. While players can choose between six characters, none of them are any good, with the ButtonMashing-based combat causing them to constantly lose health due to the poor range of their attacks, and poor collision detection detection not helping matters by making projectiles useless as well. In single-player mode, the player will be accompanied by an AI-controlled partner who suffers a great deal of ArtificialStupidity by hardly ever attacking the enemies and constantly running into obstacles, not helped by the poor level design. ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' reviews it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LKK-6bmDgQ here]]. Questicle [[https://questicle.net/696-uncanny-x-men/ gave it an F-]] and later named it [[https://questicle.net/the-86-worst-nes-games-s-25-1/ the third worst game on the system]]. The Video Game Critic also gave it [[https://videogamecritic.com/nesxz.htm?e=14745#rev5479 an F-]], the only NES game so far to get that rating. Creator/{{Seanbaby}} placed it [[http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/nes/w20-03.htm third]] on his list of the worst NES games, while WebVideo/PatTheNESPunk gave it 1 star out of 5.

* '''''Butt Slam!!!''''' is an MS-DOS adult game from 1989 that has gameplay, audio and graphics so simplistic and barebones that it would be bad even for Atari 2600 standards. The "gameplay" is about two players playing as a gay couple consisting of Greg, a man with a GagPenis; and Fred, a man with a wide anus, taking turns between the two men, all while trying to have sex. The instruction text is filled with [[ValuesDissonance extremely homophobic language]] but the game itself is so barebones that one just has to play two rounds (that rarely ever last more than a minute) to see all that the game has to offer. It's quite telling that this is the [[OneBookAuthor only game made by one-man dev Joe Martniez (credited as JoeWare)]]. Ex-[[YouTubePoop YouTube Pooper]] Stuart K. Reilly reviews the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTpHm2OnNs here]] alongside other MS-DOS porn games, saying that it "makes ''Custer's Revenge'' look like a modern art masterpiece" and wondering if the game was made by a little kid.

* '''''Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo''''' is one of the first ''Franchise/DragonBall'' games to be released, and let's just say we have come a long way from there to ''VideoGame/{{Dragon Ball FighterZ}}''. Brought to America under the title of ''Dragon Power'', the game suffers from an unfair dose of NintendoHard, as the player's health bar also doubles as their time limit (meaning the more damage a player takes, the quicker their time goes down). This wouldn't be a problem if enemies didn't shave off chunks of the player's health with each hit. To make matters worse, there are no lives nor saves, so the player would automatically go back to the title screen after they die. Each level begins with a cutscene that is slower than molasses. You can skip them by pressing Select, but [[GuideDangIt good luck finding that out]]. The music is very repetitive and will restart every time the player comes into another room. It's even possible to encounter a GameBreakingBug during the Boss Rabbit level: if the player walks into a room with a carrot, accidentally walks out, and comes back in, the carrot is [[BagOfSpilling lost]] and the player has to reset. That's not even going into the infamous localization -- because ''Dragon Ball'' was virtually unknown at the time in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, rather than just simply not bring it over, they changed the names of the characters, and in some cases like Goku and Master Roshi, altered their sprites. Goku (who oddly enough kept his original name) was changed to look like a generic martial artist, and Roshi (simply called "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Hermit]]") was changed to look like a wizard. The final half of the game was removed for no explained reason (the original version adapted both the Pilaf and 21st Tenkaichi Budokai Arcs). There were some really awkward edits, like with Master Roshi's perverted behavior. His advances towards Bulma were changed to him wanting her sandwich, but it's very clear that Roshi was talking about something perverted. You can watch Creator/TeamFourStar play it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfVsvl6aetg here]], where they actually resort to using cheat codes because the game's difficulty was so crushing, and yet still had to RageQuit due to the aforementioned GameBreakingBug. In addition, NES Works [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4a91F7ouLo covered it alongside the mediocre Ikari Warriors II]], Joueur Du Grenier [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxbJTW74HbY considered it a disgrace to the Dragon Ball franchise]], and WebVideo/SomecallmeJohnny [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j-OYpl7PxI was just dumbfounded.]]

* '''''Video Chess''''' on the Platform/Atari2600. A first-party UsefulNotes/{{Chess}} game that on the surface is fine, but then you move a piece. Most chess games have an [[LoadingScreen animation to show when the opponent is "thinking" of its next move]], and this is no exception. The problem is, the animation that this game chose [[EpilepticFlashingLights is to cover the entire screen in randomly-flashing colors, each only for a single frame each]], as long as the opponent's move was still processing -- while many Atari games, including the much-beloved ''VideoGame/YarsRevenge'', also had problems with this kind of SensoryAbuse, none were as bad as here due to the amount of time it stayed on screen. This happened every single turn. And due to the low power of the system, it often did take [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading a long time to do that]], especially if playing on a higher difficulty level -- waiting times of ''ten hours'' have been reported on original hardware. Even if you can stomach that, you may have done all that waiting [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard just for the opponent to make an illegal move]]. And you do have to put up with the computer opponent, because it's single-player only. The only real interesting things about it are its origin (Atari was forced to make a chess game because they put one on the 2600's box and didn't want to be called out for false advertising) and the somewhat [[SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming clever programming tricks]] required to make a full chessboard work on an Atari.

%% Please namespace wicks to game systems to Useful Notes!

* ''[[Franchise/TheMuppets Jim Henson's]] VideoGame/MuppetAdventureChaosAtTheCarnival'' for the NES was serviceable, but lackluster; its biggest accomplishment is being a PolishedPort of '''the DOS version'''. This version of the game was defined mostly by bugs, which ranged from soft-locks and hard crashes to procedural generation making parts of the game [[FakeDifficulty pixel-perfect]] at best and UnintentionallyUnwinnable at worst. The latter was made worse by finicky controls, CheckpointStarvation, and strict win conditions (including ''only one life'' and a lack of MercyInvincibility). Even worse was the presentation; BGM consisted entirely of [[BrownNote grating buzzing and farting sounds]], the dialogue was unintentionally condescending and [[RougeAnglesOfSatin poorly-edited,]] and the graphics were badly-drawn, hideously-colored, [[LimitedAnimation and two frames apiece]]. The one feature the NES version left out (six distinct player characters) does nothing to improve a game that already had so much wrong with it. Ancient DOS Games takes an in-depth look into the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKuMDk3kwSU here]], all while having the game crash or soft-lock on him multiple times.
* '''''Karting Grand Prix''''' for the Platform/AtariST is one of the slowest racing games in existence. It's also one of the glitchiest: the game freaks out when a car goes under the bridge and corrupts when a car rides on grass or under shadows. And as a bonus, the sound effect for an engine is one of the [[DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound most annoying sounds in the world]]. In conclusion, you have a game that rivals ''[[VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing Big]] [[Horrible/VideoGameGenerationsFifthToSixth Rigs]]'' for the title of worst racing game in existence. Ashens demonstrates this game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swvy4qE_AYM here]] and [[RageQuit quits after playing it for two minutes]].

* '''''Super Maruo''''' is one of the first unlicensed Platform/{{NES}} games and one of the rarest, but that doesn't mean it's a holy grail. It is actually a ''pornographic game'' that has nothing to do with the [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario Bros.]] The gameplay consists of one screen, where the titular character needs to catch a woman while avoiding the dog that blocks the way, each time he does that, the woman is stripped down until both of you are nude with very crude sex scenes occurring. The reason for the original cartridge version being so rare is that Nintendo of Japan supposedly shut the makers down to prevent it from being released on the Famicom. Given that this is at the time when Nintendo had some very draconian guidelines on how developers should release their games on the system, it is safe to say that ''Super Maruo'' is one of the reasons why they enforced these rules, especially since Nintendo of Japan themselves refused to allow pornographic games on their consoles for fear that it would tarnish their image.

* '''''Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo''''' is one of the first ''Franchise/DragonBall'' games to be released, and let's just say we have come a long way from there to ''VideoGame/{{Dragon Ball FighterZ}}''. Brought to America under the title of ''Dragon Power'', the game suffers from an unfair dose of NintendoHard, as the player's health bar also doubles as their time limit (meaning the more damage a player takes, the quicker their time goes down). This wouldn't be a problem if enemies didn't shave off chunks of the player's health with each hit. To make matters worse, there are no lives nor saves, so the player would automatically go back to the title screen after they die. Each level begins with a cutscene that is slower than molasses. You can skip them by pressing Select, but [[GuideDangIt good luck finding that out]]. The music is very repetitive and will restart every time the player comes into another room. It's even possible to encounter a GameBreakingBug during the Boss Rabbit level: if the player walks into a room with a carrot, accidentally walks out, and comes back in, the carrot is [BagOfSpilling lost]] and the player has to reset. That's not even going into the infamous localization -- because ''Dragon Ball'' was virtually unknown at the time in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, rather than just simply not bring it over, they changed the names of the characters, and in some cases like Goku and Master Roshi, altered their sprites. Goku (who oddly enough kept his original name) was changed to look like a generic martial artist, and Roshi (simply called "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Hermit]]") was changed to look like a wizard. The final half of the game was removed for no explained reason (the original version adapted both the Pilaf and 21st Tenkaichi Budokai Arcs). There were some really awkward edits, like with Master Roshi's perverted behavior. His advances towards Bulma were changed to him wanting her sandwich, but it's very clear that Roshi was talking about something perverted. You can watch Creator/TeamFourStar play it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfVsvl6aetg here]], where they actually resort to using cheat codes because the game's difficulty was so crushing, and yet still had to RageQuit due to the aforementioned GameBreakingBug. In addition, NES Works [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4a91F7ouLo covered it alongside the mediocre Ikari Warriors II]], Joueur Du Grenier [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxbJTW74HbY considered it a disgrace to the Dragon Ball franchise]], and WebVideo/SomecallmeJohnny [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j-OYpl7PxI was just dumbfounded.]]

* '''''Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo''''' is one of the first ''Franchise/DragonBall'' games to be released, and let's just say we have come a long way from there to ''VideoGame/{{Dragon Ball FighterZ}}''. Brought to America under the title of ''Dragon Power'', the game suffers from an unfair dose of NintendoHard, as the player's health bar also doubles as their time limit (meaning the more damage a player takes, the quicker their time goes down). This wouldn't be a problem if enemies didn't shave off chunks of the player's health with each hit. To make matters worse, there are no lives nor saves, so the player would automatically go back to the title screen after they die. Each level begins with a cutscene that is slower than molasses. You can skip them by pressing Select, but [[GuideDangIt good luck finding that out]]. The music is very repetitive and will restart every time the player comes into another room. It's even possible to encounter a GameBreakingBug during the Boss Rabbit level: if the player walks into a room with a carrot, accidentally walks out, and comes back in, the carrot is [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]] and the player has to reset. That's not even going into the infamous localization -- because ''Dragon Ball'' was virtually unknown at the time in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, rather than just simply not bring it over, they changed the names of the characters, and in some cases like Goku and Master Roshi, altered their sprites. Goku (who oddly enough kept his original name) was changed to look like a generic martial artist, and Roshi (simply called "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Hermit]]") was changed to look like a wizard. The final half of the game was removed for no explained reason (the original version adapted both the Pilaf and 21st Tenkaichi Budokai Arcs). There were some really awkward edits, like with Master Roshi's perverted behavior. His advances towards Bulma were changed to him wanting her sandwich, but it's very clear that Roshi was talking about something perverted. You can watch Creator/TeamFourStar play it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfVsvl6aetg here]], where they actually resort to using cheat codes because the game's difficulty was so crushing, and yet still had to RageQuit due to the aforementioned GameBreakingBug. In addition, NES Works [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4a91F7ouLo covered it alongside the mediocre Ikari Warriors II]], Joueur Du Grenier [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxbJTW74HbY considered it a disgrace to the Dragon Ball franchise]], and WebVideo/SomecallmeJohnny [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j-OYpl7PxI was just dumbfounded.]]

* '''''Butt Slam!!!''''' is an MS-DOS adult game from 1989 that has gameplay, audio and graphics so simplistic and barebones that it would be bad even for Atari 2600 standards. The "gameplay" is about two players playing as a gay couple consisting of Greg, a man with a GagPenis; and Fred, a man with a wide anus, taking turns between the two men, all while trying to have sex. The instruction text is filled with [[ValuesDissonance extremely homophobic language]] but the game itself is so barebones that one just has to play two rounds (that rarely ever last more than a minute) to see all that the game has to offer. It's quite telling that this is the [[OneBookAuthor only game made by one-man dev Joe Martniez (credited as JoeWare)]]. Ex-[[YouTubePoop YouTube Pooper]] Stuart K. Reilly reviews the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTpHm2OnNs here]] alongside other MS-DOS porn games, who speculates that the game may have been made by a little kid and "makes ''Custer's Revenge'' look like a modern art masterpiece".

* At first glance, '''''The Wacky World of Miniature Golf with Eugene Levy''''' looks at least decent: The graphics and animations are rather fun, and Creator/EugeneLevy as the game's host gets the occasional laugh as well. So what propels the game from what could have been one of the few decent titles on the CD-i to horrible levels? Well, you know how in every golf game you rely on the power and aim of your swing and the conditions of your environment to reach the hole? Rather than that tried-and-true formula, the game is almost completely timing-based with no options on the power of your swing or the like due to the game being based around FMV footage. Okay, so you just pay attention to the obstacles for when to swing, right? Nope, the outcome is almost completely random: even if what should have been the correct shot was made, the game arbitrarily decides when to let your ball pass. The game is almost entirely trial and error until you make the correct putt. It's completely mindless, frustrating, and tedious with only 18 holes to play, though that might be a blessing in disguise. See the ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' play it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onCrqkBZjIQ here]], with the normally optimistic and chill Danny going completely mental at the game.

** There was also a [[Platform/SegaGenesis Genesis]] version which does have some improvements, such as slightly better controls (if you have the six-button controller, that is), no load times, and the ability to control the main villains in the VR simulation mode. The improvements end there, though, as the game is otherwise just as bad as the SNES version. ''WebVideo/UrinatingTree'' (aka Schlasser) [[http://youtu.be/Tf9IKUc_DYs explains further.]]

* '''''[[VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]''''' for the Platform/{{NES}} has slow, plodding gameplay and controls; EverythingTryingToKillYou to a ludicrous extent; a completely ineffective weapon as Jekyll and useful-if-you-could-hit-anything weapons as Hyde; a glitch that causes the game to [[FakeDifficulty speed up, not slow down, when it's throwing more enemies at you]]; and a gimmick whereby you can lose within seconds of turning into Hyde without a chance to save yourself[[note]]Hyde dies instantly if he appears in the same tile/area/spot that Jekyll appears in before becoming Hyde -- NeverTheSelvesShallMeet. More or less, Hyde gets killed by a TemporalParadox.[[/note]] -- these all make for a game that no person can play without feeling like less of a person thereafter. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd considers it probably the worst game he's ever played that can still be considered a game, and the seriousness of his videos on the matter confirms it. WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries played this game for their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa91vl2sWdM&spfreload=10 Bad NES Extravaganza]]. Creator/{{Egoraptor}} mentioned this game in his ''WebVideo/{{Sequelitis}}'' series on ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', saying that anyone who wants to get into game design should play it as an example of what ''not'' to do. The first half of Jeremy Parish's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhxBbeH5-w NES Works Episode #121]] is dedicated to ''Jekyll & Hyde'' and pointing out its many flaws.

* '''''[[VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]''''' for the Platform/{{NES}} has slow, plodding gameplay and controls; EverythingTryingToKillYou to a ludicrous extent; a completely ineffective weapon as Jekyll and useful-if-you-could-hit-anything weapons as Hyde; and a gimmick whereby you can lose within seconds of turning into Hyde without a chance to save yourself[[note]]Hyde dies instantly if he appears in the same tile/area/spot that Jekyll appears in before becoming Hyde -- NeverTheSelvesShallMeet. More or less, Hyde gets killed by a TemporalParadox.[[/note]] -- these all make for a game that no person can play without feeling like less of a person thereafter. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd considers it probably the worst game he's ever played that can still be considered a game, and the seriousness of his videos on the matter confirms it. WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries played this game for their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa91vl2sWdM&spfreload=10 Bad NES Extravaganza]]. Creator/{{Egoraptor}} mentioned this game in his ''WebVideo/{{Sequelitis}}'' series on ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', saying that anyone who wants to get into game design should play it as an example of what ''not'' to do. The first half of Jeremy Parish's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhxBbeH5-w NES Works Episode #121]] is dedicated to ''Jekyll & Hyde'' and pointing out its many flaws.

* ''Film/TheRocketeer'' received a few video game adaptations, but everyone agrees that '''the SNES version''' is the worst one. Most infamous is the game's opening stage, where the player is tasked with beating two airplane races, but constantly crash into obstacles. The trick to win is focusing on the tiny box in the HUD rather than the main screen, not the other way around. This is followed by generic RailShooter sections, which feature muddy graphics that make it hard to see the enemies, and ShootEmUp stages with poor control, enemies that can attack you from places you can't get them, and the possibility to destroy power-ups. The game concludes with an overly simplistic fight scene and a [[AWinnerIsYou "screen of text" ending]]. Website/ScrewAttack placed the game third on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT3LioXyE2U their list of the worst superhero games]], while WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghAbmH7To-w commented]] that it might be the worst SNES game ever and Video Game Critic gave it [[https://videogamecritic.com/snestt.htm#rev5384 an F- rating]].

* '''''[[VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]''''' for the Platform/{{NES}} has slow, plodding gameplay and controls; EverythingTryingToKillYou to a ludicrous extent; a completely ineffective weapon as Jekyll and useful-if-you-could-hit-anything weapons as Hyde; and a gimmick whereby you can lose within seconds of turning into Hyde without a chance to save yourself[[note]]Hyde dies instantly if he appears in the same tile/area/spot that Jekyll appears in before becoming Hyde -- NeverTheSelvesShallMeet. More or less, Hyde gets killed by a TemporalParadox.[[/note]] -- these all make for a game that no person can play without feeling like less of a person thereafter. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd considers it probably the worst game he's ever played that can still be considered a game, and the seriousness of his videos on the matter confirms it. WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries played this game for their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa91vl2sWdM&spfreload=10 Bad NES Extravaganza]]. Creator/{{Egoraptor}} mentioned this game in his ''WebVideo/{{Sequelitis}}'' series on ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', saying that anyone who wants to get into game design should play it as an example of what ''not'' to do.

* '''''VideoGame/SuperPitfall''''' was an attempt to update Creator/{{Activision}}'s classic hit ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}'' for the NES... but they didn't update the right things. The gameplay was sluggish and not enjoyable because of unforgiving amounts of FakeDifficulty stemming from terrible stage design, TrialAndErrorGameplay that gives [[GuideDangIt zero clue]] as to what to do, and [[MoonLogicPuzzle logic-defying]] ways of moving between areas (for example, at one point you must jump into a bird enemy that looks no different than any other bird {{mook}} in the game). Your character (who looks a bit ''too'' much like Luigi) remains a OneHitPointWonder throughout the game and, while he does have a gun, it's near useless until the final level because most of the enemies are waist-high in height and you can't shoot while you duck! The graphics are awful, full of sickening strobing, slowdown, flickering, and bland sprites (waterfalls look like avalanches of blue garbage). The music is the same annoying loop played over and over again until the final level (where it got replaced by another annoying loop). The game was a failure when it was released and is considered among the worst games on the NES. (The obscure Platform/PC88 version isn't so bad: it has a life bar, the ability to shoot while ducking, and {{Dungeon Shop}}s that make gold useful besides for ScoringPoints.) Interestingly, an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_suBkkKJZk unofficial mod by nesrocks]] was made for the game's 30th anniversary, which managed to correct many of the games flaws such as giving it better graphics and making exploration less cryptic, which really goes to show how much potential the original version squandered. If you're still not convinced, check out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juYxGcTq9HQ Aqualung's full walkthrough]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy5NsQJr5Bs of the game]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJqVbD8hwO8 NES Works' review]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEXpsDB2XQ The Angry Video Game Nerd's review]].

* '''''Super Maruo''''' is one of the first unlicensed Platform/{{NES}} games and one of the rarest, but that doesn't mean it's a holy grail. It is actually a ''pornographic game'' that has nothing to do with the [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario Bros.]] The gameplay consists of one screen, where the titular character needs to catch a woman while avoiding the dog that blocks the way, each time he does that, the woman is stripped down until both of you are nude with very crude sex scenes occurring. The reason for the original cartridge version being so rare is that Nintendo of Japan supposedly shut the makers down to prevent it from being released on the Famicom. Given that this is at the time when Nintendo had some very draconian practices on how developers should release their games on the system, it is safe to say that ''Super Maruo'' is one of the reasons why they enforced these methods, especially since Nintendo of Japan themselves refused to allow pornographic games on their consoles in fear that it would tarnish their image.

* '''''VideoGame/DennisTheMenace''''', based on the [[Film/DennisTheMenace 1993 film]] ([[TheProblemWithLicensedGames so we're already off to a bad start]]) and released for the SNES and Amiga, is a true menace in its own right. The platforming is obtuse and overly difficult, the objectives of each stage (collect four medals and get to the exit) are byzantine and confusing, most of the weapons you can use are useless, and the difficulty is completely unfair because of EverythingTryingToKillYou, up to and including Mr. Wilson, who not only causes you to instantly lose a life if he catches you but also looks [[UnintentionalUncannyValley disturbingly photorealistic]] (with some people even stating that he looks like former Iraqi president UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein) compared to the cartoony Dennis. Also, each stage is timed, but the timer is not restarted when you lose a life, and if it hits zero, it's an instant GameOver. The auto-scrolling stages are even worse than the normal stages: while most stages are merely open-ended and confusing to navigate, the auto-scrolling stages have [[TrialAndErrorGameplay practically no margin for error]] and [[CheckpointStarvation no checkpoints at all]]. For mercy, the bosses aren't as hard; they're just tedious as Hell, owing to [[DamageSpongeBoss their sheer durability]]. And just as the cherry on top of this sundae of suckitude, there are no level select cheats, meaning you have to beat the game in one go. Infamously, certain versions of the Amiga version are unbeatable due to an impassable jump in the last level. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTtuohRoXNY couldn't even be bothered to finish the game properly,]] opting instead to look up screenshots of both later stages and the ending.

* '''''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]''''', based on the [[Film/DennisTheMenace 1993 film]] ([[TheProblemWithLicensedGames so we're already off to a bad start]]) and released for the SNES and Amiga, is a true menace in its own right. The platforming is obtuse and overly difficult, the objectives of each stage (collect four medals and get to the exit) are byzantine and confusing, most of the weapons you can use are useless, and the difficulty is completely unfair because of EverythingTryingToKillYou, up to and including Mr. Wilson, who not only causes you to instantly lose a life if he catches you but also looks [[UnintentionalUncannyValley disturbingly photorealistic]] (with some people even stating that he looks like former Iraqi president UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein) compared to the cartoony Dennis. Also, each stage is timed, but the timer is not restarted when you lose a life, and if it hits zero, it's an instant GameOver. The auto-scrolling stages are even worse than the normal stages: while most stages are merely open-ended and confusing to navigate, the auto-scrolling stages have [[TrialAndErrorGameplay practically no margin for error]] and [[CheckpointStarvation no checkpoints at all]]. For mercy, the bosses aren't as hard; they're just tedious as Hell, owing to [[DamageSpongeBoss their sheer durability]]. And just as the cherry on top of this sundae of suckitude, there are no level select cheats, meaning you have to beat the game in one go. Infamously, certain versions of the Amiga version are unbeatable due to an impassable jump in the last level. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTtuohRoXNY couldn't even be bothered to finish the game properly,]] opting instead to look up screenshots of both later stages and the ending.

* '''''Series/{{Airwolf}}''''' for UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC takes TheProblemWithLicensedGames to its absolute extreme. In it, you have to navigate a helicopter (that can't stay still in the air, you know, what helicopters were built for in the first place) through passages so tight that you need to be pixel-perfect. You also need to destroy walls pixel by pixel. You have a health bar, but because there is no MercyInvincibility it drains almost instantly. If you go from screen to screen in the wrong place, you die. Dessert with that? There's a timer that kills you when it hits 11:00. Your reward? [[AWinnerIsYou The game just freezes at the last screen.]] Nobody ever got past the first level. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oua2xCWTK48 Joueur Du Grenier reviewed this thing]], as well as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_uRWy5zOuU filmnstuff]].

* '''''Castle Assault''''', a budget game for the UsefulNotes/BBCMicro, UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC and UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers, is a pathetically simple-minded PlatformGame even by the low standards of its time. The game suffers from bad jumping controls and minimal animation, the obstacles are limited to monsters that jump up and down from pits and platforms that move forward and backward, in a sequence that starts repeating midway through the first single-screen level, which repeats endlessly for anyone who cares to beat it.
* '''''Deathkick''''', a very amateurish BeatEmUp programmed in BASIC and commercially released for the UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC in that system's first year, is infamous among Amstrad users for its total lack of quality. The character graphics and sound effects are on par with a cheap LCD game, the player character doesn't even get a walking animation, the color usage is garish, the backgrounds are a mess of garbage-looking tiles and "@" characters, and the off-key title screen music (there is no in-game music) actually desyncs after a while. Most enemies have to be defeated by pressing one particular attack button at the right moment, using controls that have nothing in common with any other game for the system. On top of this, there is also FakeDifficulty in the form of dragons that respawn in front of you with no delay unless you kill them with your limited-use SpecialAttack, and an automatic GameOver at the end of the first level unless you collect a minimum number of points (a requirement which isn't spelled out anywhere in the game itself or its packaging). Xyphoe plays through it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88cWNwp1YT8 in this video]] with the aid of a self-made {{walkthrough}}, and even that frequently fails him due to glitches in the game.
* Like many of its contemporaries in the arcade circuit, ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' has spawned many console and PC ports of varying quality. The worst of them, in this case, is '''the IBM PC version''' by [[Creator/{{Atari}} Atarisoft]]. Among the things that went wrong was its reliance on the CGA color system which restricted the system and the game to two palettes of four onscreen colors at a time, crudely-drawn sprites (including a Donkey Kong which looked more like a werewolf than a monkey), sound design consisting of beeps and clicks and an out-of-tune rendition of "How high can you get?", twitchy gameplay, a keyboard that causes Mario to walk permanently until you press up, down, or the jump key, and overly quick and aggressive fireballs, especially on 100m. The only redeeming factor regarding the palettes is that the infamously eye-searing black-white-cyan-magenta palette was not among them. Still, the fact that the sprites look bad is inexcusable considering lower-resolution consoles (including the [[UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} Atari VCS]] with its bad graphics) were able to do them better, and this port stands out as not just the worst PortingDisaster ''Donkey Kong'' had to endure, but one of the worst games to ever be made for the IBM PC, in an era where low expectations were to be had for PC-compatible gaming. You can read more about it, and how ever-so-slightly the UsefulNotes/AppleII port was an improvement, [[https://arcadeports.tumblr.com/post/16759351718/donkey-kong-ibm-pc-and-apple-ii here]], where the PC port is described as "more annoying than difficult" and "one of few ports to cross that line". WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}}'s Joel played it [[https://youtu.be/Sk2UDp4vm4Q?t=6900 during one of his DOS Madness showcases]]. WebVideo/TheLonelyGoomba unsurprisingly ranked this version [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdkV3nBpYhc the lowest out of all the versions of Donkey Kong that have been released]].
* As the popular conspiracy theory goes, Coleco owned the home console rights to Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s titles and made deliberately inferior ports for non-Coleco consoles to punish them for not being released as Coleco console exclusives while making Coleco console ports as polished as they could get under the limitations of the time. If that theory is to be believed, then even by those low standards Coleco had for porting to rival consoles, '''''VideoGame/DonkeyKong Jr.''''' for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} Atari VCS]] is horrible beyond belief. Only three stages were ported from the arcade version, the graphics looked bad even by the standards of the VCS (Donkey Kong, in particular, looked more like a chipmunk than a monkey, and the Snapjaws didn't fare any better, resembling staples), the level designs came across as half-assed (even lacking the ability to drop fruits on the Snapjaws in the first stage), and the jumping mechanic was extremely unforgiving. It doesn't even have the saving grace of having an IBM PC version to compare it to, which ''Donkey Kong'' for the VCS at least had. The one thing it's got going for it is its faithful recreation of the music from the original arcade version; however, as Atari HQ [[https://www.atarihq.com/reviews/2600/donkey_kong_jr.html put it]] in its brief review, "you play games to play games, not listen to the music". The review also called it "an arcade port at its very worst" and compared it unfavorably to the VCS version of ''Donkey Kong''. You can also read Video Game Critic's review [[https://videogamecritic.com/2600de.htm here]].
* The fact that '''''Series/EastEnders''''' for the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum is based on a soap opera is the least of its problems. First and foremost, the game used a WASD control scheme, which doesn't sound bad on PC but is a nightmare for anyone playing on the ZX Spectrum, because the buttons are so distant from each other on the keyboard that it requires a lot of finger gymnastics to input your commands. This all goes to waste for a game that is in actuality very boring: all you do is look after plants and cut them so they don't grow too high, do the laundry, check your mailbox for mail you can't even view, feed your baby, buy food in a supermarket, and drink alcohol. Interaction is limited and doesn't try in the least [[MundaneMadeAwesome to make it entertaining]], and you do these actions on a forever-tightening time limit and increasing high-score that should exist to challenge the player, but instead makes it come across as more and more frustrating. All in all, you get something that magazines called the worst ZX Spectrum game of 1987 and possibly the worst ZX Spectrum game of all time.

* '''''Karate''''' for the UsefulNotes/Atari2600 is a near-unplayable FightingGame with extremely unresponsive controls and almost no chance to win. There is only so much you can do with a digital joystick and a single button, and Atari's first-party joysticks were known to be fragile, so unresponsive controls often led to shredded controllers. The AVGN [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oem60yvtUY&t=9m7s took a quick look at this game during his Atari Sports review]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfAK0IN2RmdFgnXNv_KEEDg Aqualung's Game Reviews]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-yXeboXuVo also tore it apart]].

* '''''Sssnake''''' at first glance looks like a standard UsefulNotes/Atari2600 game (you play as a circle and try to shoot different animals while avoiding snakes) until you realize that [[ArtificialStupidity the snakes always follow one pattern and are extremely easy to avoid]]. This makes the game completely devoid of challenge and removes any satisfaction from scoring points. Watch WebVideo/ClassicGameRoom dissect it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zfA9imWBbc here]].
* '''''VideoGame/{{Sqij}}''''' was released on the Commodore 16, UsefulNotes/Commodore64, and UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum. The former two versions are bad on their own, but the Spectrum version [[PortingDisaster cranks the shittiness up to eleven]]. While "unplayable" is mostly used as a figure of speech, ''SQIJ!'' for ZX Spectrum is one of the few cases where this is literally true. Due to a [[GameBreakingBug programming bug regarding caps lock]] [[note]]The game can only register lowercase input but also forces the Spectrum to be uppercase at all times, therefore failing to register any player input at all.[[/note]], the game can't register the player's input; to play the game, the player must break into the Spectrum's memory and run a POKE command to turn caps keys off. Should the player be knowledgeable enough to do this, they will still be confronted with further unplayability: even when working, controls are massively unresponsive, with considerable input delay; the game runs at an abysmal framerate, which doesn't help the already deficient controls; collision detection is fidgety and alternates between not working at all and detecting objects not even remotely close as colliding; the graphics are hideously drawn and animated and experience constant stuttering, coloring and tearing glitches; and finally, the game itself is prone to crashing randomly at times for no discernable reason. Very few dared to play it properly, so much that the fact that the game has ''more than one room'' only became public knowledge [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc3D5GEwWY8 in 2016]], because you could only escape by shooting every enemy with your (invisible) lasers.

* '''''Video Chess''''' on the UsefulNotes/Atari2600. A first-party UsefulNotes/{{Chess}} game that on the surface is fine, but then you move a piece. Most chess games have an [[LoadingScreen animation to show when the opponent is "thinking" of its next move]], and this is no exception. The problem is, the animation that this game chose [[EpilepticFlashingLights is to cover the entire screen in randomly-flashing colors, each only for a single frame each]], as long as the opponent's move was still processing -- while many Atari games, including the much-beloved ''VideoGame/YarsRevenge'', also had problems with this kind of SensoryAbuse, none were as bad as here due to the amount of time it stayed on screen. This happened every single turn. And due to the low power of the system, it often did take [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading a long time to do that]], especially if playing on a higher difficulty level -- waiting times of ''ten hours'' have been reported on original hardware. Even if you can stomach that, you may have done all that waiting [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard just for the opponent to make an illegal move]]. And you do have to put up with the computer opponent, because it's single-player only. The only real interesting things about it are its origin (Atari was forced to make a chess game because they put one on the 2600's box and didn't want to be called out for false advertising) and the somewhat [[SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming clever programming tricks]] required to make a full chessboard work on an Atari.
* '''''Voyage Into The Unknown''''' on the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum. Released by Mastertronic in 1984, its failure is exacerbated by the many milestones in gaming history on that year alone. Programmed in ''BASIC'', with risible graphics, worse sound, nonsensical references to "time warp chuck out"s and "buke"s, and ludicrously hard space combat sequences that took place on about 10% of the screen. To add insult to injury, the game gave no clue as to how to even start playing; unless you guessed the correct sequence of keys ('''E'''ngine, '''P'''ower, '''I'''gnition) to take off, you couldn't even start the game proper (such as it was). Contemporary magazines slammed the game, with ''Crash'' giving it an overall score of 9% with '''2%''' for playability.

* '''''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkleAndFriends''''' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}. It has annoying music and the graphics are primitively designed, especially for a late 1992 release. Most enemies are {{Demonic Spider}}s and are capable of depleting your ''entire'' health bar thanks to a lack of MercyInvincibility. You'll spend more time fighting the unresponsive controls and navigating the terribly-designed levels (a good example of this is Level 4, where you have to cross a pond with the game's awful jump precision). Beat the game, and "[[AWinnerIsYou YOU WIN!]]" is your only reward. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cLHh-ka7X8 takes a good look into this title]] during his "12 Days of Shitsmas" series.
* Six years before the horrible Platform/{{Amiga}} adaptation (listed under Fourth Generation), '''''Manga/{{AKIRA}}''''' received a UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}} adaptation by Creator/{{Taito}}. While the art style of the anime movie was faithfully recreated, the game was, in essence, a very crappy visual novel where even the slightest deviation from the film's plot will result in a GameOver, [[GuideDangIt necessitating a walkthrough just to make it to the end]] - an exercise in frustration that will make you want to discard the game and just watch the movie instead.
* '''''VideoGame/{{Aladdin|VirginGames}}''''' on the ''UsefulNotes/{{NES}}'' was a port of the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]], Platform/{{Amiga}}, and PC versions of the game [[NoExportForYou only released in Europe]], and was [[PortingDisaster horribly butchered]]. There are much fewer levels than even the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version, the gameplay is choppy as hell, and the graphics are hideously-colored and poorly-scaled copies from the GB port, which is inexcusable seeing as how this came out in ''1994'', at the end of the NES' lifespan. It's really telling when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CaWFYOg3ik a pirate version]] is comparatively better than [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nsklebg85GQ an officially-licensed game]].
* '''''Series/{{ALF}}''''' for the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem takes TheProblemWithLicensedGames beyond the norm. What would otherwise be a short adventure game (20 minutes at most) can take well over an hour due to FakeDifficulty through convoluted controls, bad programming, and GoddamnedBats which become DemonicSpiders due to Alf [[OneHitPointWonder being able to take only one hit]]. The game consists almost entirely of TrialAndErrorGameplay, both by mistake and by design - the game features a lot of unfair traps, including shop items that exist solely to make you too poor to buy the items you actually need and one, ALF Book, which restarts the game after triggering an InfoDump that ends by [[TrollingCreator informing the player of such]], the ''only'' time that it is so much as hinted at. [[note]]In-game, at least. The manual subtly hints at this by telling you the ALF Book [[ExactWords "Tells an interesting story that will really take you back to the beginning!"]][[/note]] The writing is simply atrocious, loaded with [[MrExposition exposition]] [[YouShouldntKnowThisAlready whose existence]] tears [[PlotHole gaping holes]] in [[ExcusePlot what little of a plot there is]], and terrible jokes that aren't even SoUnfunnyItsFunny. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3xcxq04hMY Here's a review]] by a former Alf fan who lists even more faults with this game, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciVEKYZ2tF0 here's]] a complete playthrough by someone who despite having received tips from ''the game's lead programmer'' was still forced to use savestates due to how utterly broken the game is. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCcB0iUvU_Y also took a look at it as a part of the Twelve Days of Shitsmas]]. Blog/VGJunk [[https://retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com/2011/02/alf-sega-master-system.html also endured it here.]] Were they taking lessons from Taito's ''VideoGame/TakeshisChallenge''?

* '''''[[VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]''''' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}} has slow, plodding gameplay and controls; EverythingTryingToKillYou to a ludicrous extent; a completely ineffective weapon as Jekyll and useful-if-you-could-hit-anything weapons as Hyde; and a gimmick whereby you can lose within seconds of turning into Hyde without a chance to save yourself[[note]]Hyde dies instantly if he appears in the same tile/area/spot that Jekyll appears in before becoming Hyde -- NeverTheSelvesShallMeet. More or less, Hyde gets killed by a TemporalParadox.[[/note]] -- these all make for a game that no person can play without feeling like less of a person thereafter. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd considers it probably the worst game he's ever played that can still be considered a game, and the seriousness of his videos on the matter confirms it. WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries played this game for their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa91vl2sWdM&spfreload=10 Bad NES Extravaganza]]. Creator/{{Egoraptor}} mentioned this game in his ''WebVideo/{{Sequelitis}}'' series on ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', saying that anyone who wants to get into game design should play it as an example of what ''not'' to do.

* Though ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' received a decent entry (not so much a straight port of the Laserdisc classic as [[ReformulatedGame a completely different game]]) for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, the same cannot be said of the '''NES iteration'''. The movement is unresponsive, with a delay between the button press and Dirk's action (on top of the fact that [[DamnYouMuscleMemory B jumps in this game]]). Dirk is rather large, which makes simple jumps difficult. Though Dirk does have a health bar, almost everything kills him in one hit. There is also an elevator shaft that is intended to make winding through the castle seem like one, but it merely makes the game even harder than it needs to be. Adding to the [[FakeDifficulty already insane artificial difficulty]] are {{Death Trap}}s everywhere, so extra precautions are necessary for the whole game. Add to that an insane final boss fight and [[AWinnerIsYou a meager "Congratulations" ending]], and you have the NES equivalent of a [[RageQuit game rage-fueled nightmare]]. The only positive quality is the fluidity of the graphics. The European version was at least given some additional polish, like increasing the framerate, adding splash screens between levels and introducing a new boss, though this came with the cost of making the game ''even more'' [[DifficultyByRegion unplayably difficult than it was, to begin with]]. It was [[https://retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com/2011/01/dragons-lair-nes-version.html?m=1 reviewed]] by Blog/VGJunk, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00xIvTOLrYA AVGN]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AsWF21VOzQ Aqualung]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYdiMe4eiIM Game Reviews]], the latter of whom also called it the worst NES game of all time.
* '''''VideoGame/FelixTheCatByDragonCo''''' (released in some areas as ''Felix the Cat 3'',) is an unlicensed UsefulNotes/{{NES}} game created and released by obscure Chinese game company Creator/DragonCo in '''1998''' (years after the NES' life cycle), and an utterly atrocious platformer. While it's thematically similar to the [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames very good]] [[VideoGame/FelixTheCat 1992 licensed game]] by Creator/HudsonSoft, it manages to get every aspect of what made it fun wrong. Like many bootleg games, [[NintendoHard it's very hard]] [[FakeDifficulty for all the wrong reasons]]: for starters, the game is so cropped that any obstacles can only be avoided [[TrialAndErrorGameplay by rote]]--even if you master the stiff controls. Felix's attacks are barely of use, and leave him wide open for attack for great lengths of time. The game's barely even playable until you get powerups, so naturally, the mechanics strip them from you as quickly as humanly possible. None of this is complemented by the level design, full of cheap tricks, fake-outs, and {{Kaizo Trap}}s, nor the jerky, ugly, graphics, nor the music, bland at best and obnoxious at worst. To top it all off, you get an [[AnticlimaxBoss absolutely pathetic final boss]] who tries to attack you solely with CollisionDamage, and can be killed in ''seconds'' if you have powerups on hand. Also, finishing the game brings the player to a [[AWinnerIsYou screen of Felix hugging his friend Goldie Goose, with the words "The End" hanging over them.]]

* '''''VideoGame/HumanKillingMachine''''' for the UsefulNotes/AtariST and other 8-bit and early 16-bit computers was a rip-off of the first ''VideoGame/StreetFighterI'' game made by Tiertex, the same company who ([[PortingDisaster poorly]]) ported the same ''Street Fighter'' game and ''VideoGame/{{Strider|Arcade}}'' to those systems. The game lacks special moves, two-player mode (which is bad in a FightingGame, a genre that thrives on one-on-one competition), and scrolling. The fighters are all miscellaneous god-awful ethnic stereotypes with occasional cruelty to animals. Also, if you start badly, the game makes it '''harder''' for you to win the next fight. Furthermore, the developers made it so all of a given character's frames of animation could be shoehorned into a single screen's worth of space, which has the unfortunate consequence of the FinalBoss having only ''six'' frames of animation (two walking, two falling, one punching, one kicking). What's worse is that the final boss in certain builds of the Amiga port has its tiles ''glitched up'', which makes you wonder both just how the programmers overlooked this mistake ''and'' how Tiertex thought this was good enough to try and convince Capcom to market it as an official sequel to Street Fighter (which was rightfully declined in favor of making their own, [[TropeCodifier genre-defining]] [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII sequel]]). WebVideo/{{Ashens}} reviewed the Atari ST port [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUkK14bHDk here]], while Vinny of WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} takes a look at the MS-DOS version [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf_uASK46KY&t=5m55s here]]. WebVideo/MattMcMuscles looks at it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBHmALUYuIM here]] for his ''The Worst Fighting Game'' series.

* '''''[[VideoGame/IkariWarriors Ikari III: The Rescue]]''''' was a nigh-unplayable mess in its original arcade form, as Creator/{{SNK}} de-emphasized the run-and-gun nature of the first two ''Ikari Warriors'' games (essentially turning the third game into a beat-'em-up) but kept the rotary controls, making it extremely hard for attacks to connect. Oddly enough, the UsefulNotes/{{NES}} version of ''Ikari III'' was better than the NES {{Porting Disaster}}s of the first two games, as it was a somewhat-decent game on its own. It helps that the NES port didn't bother to simulate the arcade games' rotary controls.
* '''''Intergalactic Cage Match''''' for the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 and other systems of the time. Billed as a wrestling game with a [[GimmickMatches Cage Match gimmick]], the game had poor graphics, extremely poor (to the point of being near-unusable) controls, and one major fatal flaw in the design - you couldn't knock anyone off the wall of the cage once they'd started climbing. As a result, you had a fighting game where actually '''fighting''' was less effective than just running to the nearest wall and climbing it. Professional reviews (where they actually existed) were terrible, with scores of about 10-15 out of 100. WebVideo/StuartAshen rips it apart [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFB45vSny04 here]].

* '''''Karting Grand Prix''''' for the UsefulNotes/AtariST is one of the slowest racing games in existence. It's also one of the glitchiest: the game freaks out when a car goes under the bridge and corrupts when a car rides on grass or under shadows. And as a bonus, the sound effect for an engine is one of the [[DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound most annoying sounds in the world]]. In conclusion, you have a game that rivals ''[[VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing Big]] [[Horrible/VideoGameGenerationsFifthToSixth Rigs]]'' for the title of worst racing game in existence. Ashens demonstrates this game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swvy4qE_AYM here]] and [[RageQuit quits after playing it for two minutes]].
* Just like ''VideoGame/{{Aladdin|VirginGames}}'', ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' is a well-regarded game of the 16-bit era. Its '''port to the NES'''? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQPNMiMrwo Not so much]]. It was released in 1995 in [[NoExportForYou Europe only]] and is essentially a [[PortingDisaster worse version]] of the UsefulNotes/GameBoy port that preceded it. There are only about half the levels of the other versions, and you never get to play the levels where Simba is an adult, something that even the Game Boy version included. As a result, the game suddenly ends at the "Hakuna Matata" level with the gorilla boss, with no opportunity to avenge the death of Simba's father or anything. On top of that, the graphics are tiny and washed out, feeling more appropriate for a game released at launch, not something from when the system is essentially dead. Like with ''Aladdin'', the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmhP6ACiLhQ pirated version]] is comparatively better.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' for the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} is a classic that started [[VideoGame/MetalGear one of gaming's most treasured series]], and the [[ReformulatedGame NES version]] ([[BTeamSequel which had zero involvement from]] Creator/HideoKojima), [[PortingDisaster less so]], to say the least. But '''the 1990 computer ports''' (made for the MS-DOS and UsefulNotes/Commodore64 and based on the NES version) take the "art" of PortingDisaster to new heights. The graphics are heavily inferior to the already downgraded NES version, the Commodore 64 version has LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading for the codec conversations. The audio is often nigh-nonexistent for the MS-DOS version (save for some noise in the codec speeches), and if you do have audio, it would be some of the worst audio you will ever hear that you wish it was just muted. The Alert phases are gone, enemies no longer react to getting hit, and enemies can now see you even if you are not in their line-of-sight, making the game outright unplayable. [[https://youtu.be/UHyfyVh0Yic?t=2330 Here]] is ex-[[YouTubePoop YouTube Pooper]] Stuart K. Reilly reviewing the Commodore 64 version, while he would later review the even worse MS-DOS version in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fvtS3P8QJ4 this]] video. Interestingly, a similar Platform/{{Amiga}} version was also [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned to be released the same year]] but it was [[{{Vaporware}} never released]]. An [[FanRemake unofficial Amiga port]] would be made in [[https://h0ffman.itch.io/metalgear-amiga 2021]] that would be [[TruerToTheText based on the original MSX version]] and would be a PolishedPort with upgraded visuals and sound, as well as better performance and controls.
* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' (1984) had three game adaptations, which were terrible and part of the reason why Creator/HayaoMiyazaki hates video games so much and never agreed to any other adaptation of his studio's films. They are described in detail in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130912104625/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm this 2012 article.]] The two shmups, for PC-6001 and UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}, are actually somewhat competent in that, despite being really repetitive and clunky, they at least tried to include themes and scenes from the movie with the limited technology of the time. '''The adventure game for the PC-88''', however, is completely horrible. The graphics are terrible and copy-pasted, Nausicaa has no animation (the sprite doesn't even flip!), and the bare-bones gameplay consists of picking up some stuff and hoping that deadly skulls don't pop up. All in all, this game could be one of the worst [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]] ever. For years, it was believed that this was all there was, with the screenshots on the back of a glider sequence being fake at worst; however, [[https://twitter.com/destroyed4com4t/status/1483847395527987201 this Twitter thread]] shows that the hang-glider sequences actually exist and that the game continues with a good illustration of Nausicaa and a stage set in the Sea of Corruption... but the sheer effort put into hacking the decades-old source code shows how unplayably buggy the game is.
* '''''Robobolt''''' for the UseFulNotes/Commodore64 is one of the most notably bad games for the system. People that have played it cite amongst its flaws the bad presentation, bad sound effects, very sluggish controls (the bullets that you shoot move so slowly that they can't kill the enemies onscreen), and the fact that there is only one enemy sprite in the entire game. Commodore magazine ''Zzap!64'' gave the game a 3%, the lowest score in the magazine's history (matched only by ''The Further Adventures of Alice In Videoland''), and [[https://www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php?id=1021 a reviewer for the Commodore 64 review site Lemon 64 gave the game a zero]], [[BrokeTheRatingScale the only game reviewed on the site to score lower than a 1 out of 10]].
* '''''Scramble Eggs''''' for the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} is a cheap knockoff of ''VideoGame/{{Scramble}}'' where you can't move horizontally or drop bombs and the enemies and terrain are boringly designed. The graphics look primitive, but the sound and music are worse.
* Pirated/bootleg video games tend to be horrible for many given reasons, and while Hummer Team usually averts this, '''''VideoGame/{{Somari}}''''' falls squarely in it. This game could have been SoBadItsGood given that it's an unofficial UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}} port of ''VideoGame/{{Sonic the Hedgehog|1}}'' starring [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] for no discernible reason, but the poor controls and physics coupled with FakeDifficulty make it a barely-playable mess and the soundtrack makes ''Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis'' sound good in comparison.
* '''''Super Maruo''''' is one of the first unlicensed UsefulNotes/{{NES}} games and one of the rarest, but that doesn't mean it's a holy grail. It is actually a ''pornographic game'' that has nothing to do with the [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario Bros.]] The gameplay consists of one screen, where the titular character needs to catch a woman while avoiding the dog that blocks the way, each time he does that, the woman is stripped down until both of you are nude with very crude sex scenes occurring. The reason for the original cartridge version being so rare is that Nintendo of Japan supposedly shut the makers down to prevent it from being released on the Famicom. Given that this is at the time when Nintendo had some very draconian practices on how developers should release their games on the system, it is safe to say that ''Super Maruo'' is one of the reasons why they enforced these methods, especially since Nintendo of Japan themselves refused to allow pornographic games on their consoles in fear that it would tarnish their image.

* '''''VideoGame/SuperPitfall''''' was an attempt to update Creator/{{Activision}}'s classic hit ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}'' for the NES... but they didn't update the right things. The gameplay was sluggish and not enjoyable because of unforgiving amounts of FakeDifficulty stemming from terrible stage design, TrialAndErrorGameplay that gives [[GuideDangIt zero clue]] as to what to do, and [[MoonLogicPuzzle logic-defying]] ways of moving between areas (for example, at one point you must jump into a bird enemy that looks no different than any other bird {{mook}} in the game). Your character (who looks a bit ''too'' much like Luigi) remains a OneHitPointWonder throughout the game and, while he does have a gun, it's near useless until the final level because most of the enemies are waist-high in height and you can't shoot while you duck! The graphics are awful, full of sickening strobing, slowdown, flickering, and bland sprites (waterfalls look like avalanches of blue garbage). The music is the same annoying loop played over and over again until the final level (where it got replaced by another annoying loop). The game was a failure when it was released and is considered among the worst games on the NES. (The obscure UsefulNotes/PC88 version isn't so bad: it has a life bar, the ability to shoot while ducking, and {{Dungeon Shop}}s that make gold useful besides for ScoringPoints.) Interestingly, an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_suBkkKJZk unofficial mod by nesrocks]] was made for the game's 30th anniversary, which managed to correct many of the games flaws such as giving it better graphics and making exploration less cryptic, which really goes to show how much potential the original version squandered. If you're still not convinced, check out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juYxGcTq9HQ Aqualung's full walkthrough]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy5NsQJr5Bs of the game]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJqVbD8hwO8 NES Works' review]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEXpsDB2XQ The Angry Video Game Nerd's review]].
* '''''Film/TheTerminator''''' on the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem is a terrible attempt at a ''Terminator'' video game. It takes the formula typical with [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames bad licensed games]] and somehow makes it worse. The visuals and gameplay might have been acceptable for an early NES game, but this was a late 1992 release, when the system was in its twilight years. It does not do a good job with following the plot of the source material; with the player controlling Kyle Reese in the future for the first half of the game (not a bad idea in concept, but other Terminator games handled this idea better), before moving to 1984 and taking away your best weapon; leaving the player to resorting to punching random punks, police and dogs, all interspersed by some uncontrollable vehicle levels. The meager amount of lives you can have at maximum (six) and the fact you have no continues in an already difficult game does not help things. [[Horrible/VideoGameSoundtracks The soundtrack gained infamy]] for being one of the worst on the NES. The ending is [[AWinnerIsYou just a boring text screen]], saying you defeated the T-101[[note]]instead of its actual model, the T-800[[/note]] [[SparedByTheAdaptation and has Kyle Reese surviving]], which leaves one wondering if Radical Entertainment even watched the movie. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd reviewed this game along with other Terminator games [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24sBGjAAWEY here]].
* '''''VideoGame/TransformersConvoyNoNazo''''' [[note]](Transformers: Mystery of [[DubNameChange Optimus Prime]])[[/note]] for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] has Ultra Magnus as a OneHitPointWonder, [[PaletteSwap palette-swapped]] bosses (including three instances of the Decepticon logo), Trypticon as a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, and an ending that is [[AWinnerIsYou nothing but text]]. You have to [[SpellingBonus collect letters that spell out "Rodimus"]] and then beat the game to play as Rodimus Prime (also a OHPW, and [[PaletteSwap functionally identical to Ultra Magnus]]); if you beat the game with him, then you get [[AWinnerIsYou "Congratulation!"]] and your high score. It's yet another horrible video game that WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km9vYa2GIUI reviewed on his show]]. WebVideo/TJOmega also tore it a new one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGT2E9rbmak in his ''Plastic Addict'' series.]] Years later, Takara made a mobile game based on ''Convoy no Nazo'' that used the game's infamy as a selling point, including the accompanying cartoon featuring an episode discussing how terrible it was.

* While the ''VideoGame/{{Valis}}'' series is generally seen as SoOkayItsAverage, it started off on one hell of a wrong foot with '''the UsefulNotes/PC88 original'''--an absolutely abominable RunAndGun that could easily be one of the worst games ever. The game uses a unusual health system where the player can store a hundred health bars, which are used as [[CastFromHitPoints currency for weapon upgrades]]. This means you have to ''[[LevelGrinding grind]]'' for anywhere from '''''ten to twenty minutes''''' to get a decent weapon and have enough health to survive [[DifficultySpike Act 3 onward]] which is a death sentence for a RunAndGun. The game is also chock-full of FakeDifficulty due to [[ZergRush constantly spawning enemies]], ''horrible'' controls [[note]]Yuko has very stiff JumpPhysics that make the simplest platform sections a nightmare[[/note]], large, maze like CutAndPasteEnvironments [[note]]The game actually uses an arrow to point you in the correct direction[[/note]], no MercyInvincibility and impossibly hard BulletHell boss fights. The only positives are the soundtrack and the cinematic cutscenes which predate ''VideoGame/NinjaGaidenNES'' by a few years. The game was so bad that Creator/TelenetJapan had to [[VideoGameRemake remake]] the game no less than '''three times''' to get it right. Hardcore Gaming 101 [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/valis/ tore this game to shreds]] in their article, calling it an unplayable mess. It's surprising that Telenet managed to make a moderately successful franchise out of such a disastrous first installment.
* '''''A Week of ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}''''', a piss-poor platformer game developed by Mars and released by Towa Chiki on UsefulNotes/{{NES}}. The graphics are ugly, with backgrounds often consisting of simple rectangles barely representing what they're supposed to and sprites that look like a failed attempt to capture the comic strip's style. The enemies are uninspired, consisting of things like mice, birds, baseballs, spiders, and worms. The sound effects are primitive. It's packed to the brim with GoddamnedBats and DemonicSpiders. There's no MercyInvincibility, so the aforementioned bats and spiders can take out all your health in less than a second, made even worse by the game only giving you one life, but you do get infinite continues. Topping all that, in a completely boneheaded game design decision all the items are ''invisible'' until you walk past them. This especially becomes a pain at several points when the gameplay grinds to a halt and you're left jumping around the screen like an idiot looking for a key to open the giant door in front of you. This happens multiple times throughout each stage. It was [[NoExportForYou only released in Japan]], and it's a good thing it stayed there. The only positive thing about this game is the graphics' use in the ''Garfield'' parody comic ''Webcomic/{{Square Root of Minus Garfield}}''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm1dVwB4XsE See NecroVMX take a look at it here,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYlAed4EaPc or watch the Angry Video Game Nerd suffer through it here.]]

* '''''VideoGame/AwesomePossumKicksDrMachinosButt''''' by Tengen was a flaccid attempt at [[FollowTheLeader cashing in on]] ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''[='s=] popularity, and is one of the worst UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis platformers ever. The presentation and design is awful: a half-assed attempt to copy Sonic's speed mixed with sloppy level design that can't handle it. The main character spins like Sonic but can only damage enemies by [[GoombaStomp landing directly on top of them]], missing the whole point of Sonic's Spin Dash (to kill enemies from any direction while maintaining his speed). Because of this, it is extremely easy to blindly run into enemies, and powerups to increase your speed or jumping make the game even harder to control. Levels have grainy backgrounds, while characters have garish color schemes and choppy animation that looks like something out of MS Paint. There is an inexplicable, heavy-handed [[GreenAesop environmentalist theme]] throughout the game, going as far as giving you pointless trivia questions in-between levels. The ending is [[spoiler:a literal interpretation of the game's title, followed by [[RushmoreRefacement more desecration of the environment]] and all the {{irony}} that comes with it]]. On top of all that is a completely unlikeable, ugly protagonist who often spouts grating digitized catchphrases such as [[TotallyRadical "I'm Awesome!"]]. Website/ScrewAttack did a video on the Top 10 Worst Mascots, and the possum was right at the bottom of the barrel. The [[Website/HardcoreGaming101 HG101]] crew [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/awesome-possum-kicks-dr-machinos-butt/ gave it the inevitable "Your Weekly Kusoge" treatment]]. WebVideo/UrinatingTree [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpyICfshGVw criticized the game here]].

** The UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} version has [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading frequent loading screens]] despite being on a 16-bit ''cartridge.'' The graphics are so-so, and the music is terribly bland. Worst of all, this game was made with the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' engine even though it's barely a fighting game, and so the controls are [[SomeDexterityRequired completely counter-intuitive]] [[note]]For instance, using Batman's GrapplingHookPistol requires you to tap Select quickly before pressing Up on the D-Pad, and jumping down between floors entails tapping R just before pressing Down.[[/note]]. ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' reviews it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvtk5toGJg here]], along with other ''Batman'' games both good and bad. WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries also played some of it for their Bad SNES Extravaganza [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F-BlddiSrs marathon]]. If you want to see more of the game, check out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTNuqZKvoFY this playthrough]] by WebVideo/SomecallmeJohnny.
** There was also a [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]] version which does have some improvements, such as slightly better controls (if you have the six-button controller, that is), no load times, and the ability to control the main villains in the VR simulation mode. The improvements end there, though, as the game is otherwise just as bad as the SNES version. ''WebVideo/UrinatingTree'' (aka Schlasser) [[http://youtu.be/Tf9IKUc_DYs explains further.]]
** The game was also released for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy and UsefulNotes/GameGear, with any redeeming qualities the 16-bit versions had being stripped away completely. The already-bland music translates ''horribly'' from 16-bit to 8-bit, and graphical limitations have caused much of the game's background detail to vanish, leaving you with an ''ugly''-looking game that makes you feel as though you're in an empty building of nothing as you attempt to play it - and the Game Boy version's more limited color palette did it absolutely no favors, reducing large spaces of background to featureless white voids. The sprites are taken directly from the SNES version, leading to a Batman who barely resembles Batman (the sprite from the 1989 game looks closer by comparison). Finally, the controls, taken directly from the Game Boy port of ''Mortal Kombat'', are a complete mystery to first-time players - ''not even the manual'' tells you how to do essential moves, making almost every moment a case of TrialAndErrorGameplay, and once you do figure out the controls they ''don't even work'' 90% of the time, which can lead your average player to ''not be able to make it past the first screen'' even if they consult a guide. Small wonder that ''Batman Forever'' is commonly listed as the worst portable Batman game of all time.

* '''''Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball''''' is an early UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} title with an interesting concept, but is undermined by subpar AI, slow characters, and god-awful controls. You're more likely to spend time trying to figure out how to shoot rather than actually trying to win. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjaWl-VdOtc Dshban manages to do pretty good at it]], though. SCXCR [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq2TgvPtOok did a Five Dollar Gaming]] review of this game, citing inconsistent game speed, an Atari 2600 control scheme on a system using a controller with multiple buttons, using the rules of association football rather than basketball, and other major flaws. It also happens to be WebVideo/SNESDrunk's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj0kRKYRsMc least favorite game on the Super Nintendo]]. It doesn't help that this game [[DolledUpInstallment is just the Amiga game]] ''Future Basketball'' with Bill Laimbeer's name and association on it; while this would explain some things, it's baffling that no attempt was made to reconfigure the controls for the SNES (Amiga joysticks typically had only one "fire" button). [[https://youtu.be/rR0rltF5xWM Here's]] a video review in the style of the AVGN.
* ''VideoGame/DarkCastle'' was a groundbreaking game for UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh computers (being one of the first games to use fully recorded sound effect samples), but it got a pair of [[PortingDisaster terrible ports]] '''on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi''' by Creator/ElectronicArts and Three-Sixty Games -- with the CD-i port being the worse of the two despite being on a more powerful console. The lack of mouse or keypad control in these ports make it difficult for your hero to properly aim his projectiles, and the bad controls are worsened by the hero's habit of [[TheKlutz stumbling and falling all over the place]]. It's possible to defeat the final boss [[SequenceBreaking without even exploring some of the rooms in the castle]] [[note]]Really confident players can simply opt to go through the middle doors to tackle the boss' sanctuary.[[/note]], making almost half of the game superfluous. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZmXbtvGG4E You can see how much of a failure the game is in this review by]] WebVideo/UrinatingTree, as well as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4-7mWeY_Cs the Angry Video Game Nerd's review for the Genesis and CD-i versions.]] WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}} later commented that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvEuPGFTDnY the Genesis version was the second-worst game he ever played]] (behind only the most movie-based video games released by Phoenix Games), beating out other serious contenders found not just here (including ''Action 52''), but on some other generations' pages as well.

* The '''UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 [[VideoGame/DarkwingDuckInteractiveDesigns version of]] ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''''' suffers terribly from sluggish and delayed controls, poor hit detection, and wonky physics. This makes boss fights harder than they ought to be since the margin for error when it comes to jumping on them is practically microscopic. The platforming also suffers from an unseen time limit: don't take too long trying to make a tough jump, or else you'll have a safe dropped on you, killing you instantly. Do yourself a favor and just play Creator/{{Capcom}}'s [[VideoGame/DarkwingDuckCapcom NES version]] instead. If you're really curious about how bad it is, watch the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3cewR_sMYI review]].

* While the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis was home to [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames some of the most memorable]] Creator/{{Disney}}-licensed games, the video game adaptation of '''''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''''' [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames was not one of them]]. With sloppy programming, awkward controls, and haphazard level design, it falls well below the standards of a typical Disney game, and its tinny music hardly does the film's soundtrack any justice. Jumping is floaty and unresponsive, your GoombaStomp only works if you're holding down on the D-Pad, your projectiles are too limited in supply and hard to aim to be of any use, enemies pop out of nowhere, and if you reach the end of a level without finding enough hidden musical notes you're sent back to the start. To add insult to injury, Chernabog [[DemotedToExtra doesn't even appear as the]] FinalBoss, rendering whatever [[JustHereForGodzilla motivation]] there was to complete this game [[ShaggyDogStory moot]]. It ranked #6 on ''Mega''[='s=] "10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time", and is [[TheScrappy reviled]] by Genesis fans across the net; WebVideo/UrinatingTree [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N43TFSTbpdQ sympathizes with them]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GstXj7R2_38 as do Andrew Dickman]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ1osNVa58g&t=1658s and PhantomStrider.]]

* While the original arcade game of ''VideoGame/HardDrivin'' was a popular, technically impressive, and fun racing sim, the '''UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis port''' [[PortingDisaster simply could not do it justice in any factor.]] While the real-time polygon graphics were impressive for their time, especially for an early Genesis game (and with no extra chips or processors used), the single-digit framerate and very sluggish controls make it clear that the Genesis was in way over its head trying to accomplish such a game. Combine that with lousy physics (e.g. the giant loop-de-loop which is very hard to clear; when the car is sent flying in the air via the ramp, it can crash just from not being in the ''precise'' position you're supposed to land the car in), handling akin to sliding on ice (it's very easy to crash into other scenery or cars heading in your direction), a car so fragile that [[OneHitPointWonder one hit]] will total it and send you back to the start or a checkpoint, and a strict time limit, and the game is nearly unplayable.
* '''''Heavy Nova''''', a futuristic mecha action game for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis. The single-player campaign is [[BossGame mostly based around boss fights]]; the levels preceding them use the same game engine and controls as the fighting sections, and their brevity is perhaps for the better because they have some of the worst platforming ever committed to a 2D console. All of the onscreen enemies are a fraction the size of your character and are nearly impossible to hit because your moves are designed to strike enemies your own height. This means that you have ''one'' move that can strike anything in the single-player campaign - an awkward kick that requires you to be within pixels of whatever you're trying to strike as they rain BeamSpam down on you from all sides. The game's one-on-one fighting sections are no better - when you jump, all attacks pass through you, meaning you can [[GameBreaker make yourself completely invincible at will]]. This has implications for the multiplayer mode and some of the boss battles, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbUTj6CR15g matches consisting of players spending most of their time jumping]]. Even without this [[DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming stupid oversight]], the different characters you can choose to fight with are ''completely'' imbalanced. Some have so few moves that they have ''unmapped buttons'' (on a '''Genesis controller'''), while others can [[BeamSpam spam distance attacks]] and have full suites of super moves. To top it all off, the game is hideous, with graphics that would've been a disappointment on the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem. The one good thing that can be said about the game is that it has a nice soundtrack (which sounds even better on the [[NoExportForYou Japan-exclusive]] Sega CD version), but that hardly justifies playing this game. If you want to see more, watch the Continueshow version of the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14d13cIZaq0 here]].

* '''''VideoGame/LegendOfSuccessJoe''''', a horrible excuse for a boxing game [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames based on]] the legendary manga/anime ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe''. The gameplay alternates between ''very'' primitive BeatEmUp segments in which Joe [[EasyLevelsHardBosses fights a few wimpy enemies that die in one punch before fighting bosses that instead refuse to die]], and boxing matches based on famous battles of the series. The controls are clunky and unresponsive, the boxing matches are basically just beat-em-up segments that skip straight to the aggravating boss fights, and the music sounds like something out of an early NES game even though this game was produced for one of the most powerful systems of the early 1990s. The graphics aren't much better - an ugly, overly bright color palette, nonexistent animation, and hunchbacked character sprites in a variety of baffling fighting postures. It was one of the few early UsefulNotes/NeoGeo titles that [[NoExportForYou stayed in Japan]], for good reason.

* The '''''VideoGame/MakeMyVideo''''' series was produced to build up the UsefulNotes/SegaCD's InteractiveMovie library quickly without having to shoot original footage. All three games involved "editing" three videos with filters and silly stock clips. Even for the time, it was ridiculously limited. Since the Sega CD had limited video capabilities, the resulting videos were grainy, had a limited color palette, and were displayed on a very small portion of the screen (especially bad since all three videos are played at the same time). The "Kris Kross" release is often cited as the single worst Sega CD game which, considering the amount of crap in the add-on's U.S. library, is saying something. [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] [[http://blip.tv/the-spoony-experiment/fmv-hell-make-my-video-1287024 reviewed all three games for his "FMV Hell" series]], as well as ''Power Factory Featuring C+C Music Factory'', another game made in the same style.

* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' received excellent adaptations on the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]], UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}, and UsefulNotes/GameGear. The '''UsefulNotes/GameBoy version''', on the other hand, is marred by sloppy hit detection, dodgy jumping mechanics, and a few stages that are so punishingly hard as to border on being practically unbeatable. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht5NmRtWb88 reviewed the game]] and was absolutely livid with how godawful it was.
* '''''VideoGame/PitFighter''''' on the SNES, a port of the not particularly well regarded to begin with arcade fighter from Creator/{{Atari}}, may be the poster child for a PortingDisaster. What was originally a rather generic and unmemorable (but totally playable) one-on-one brawler is reduced to a game with graphics that would look terrible on the ''UsefulNotes/{{NES}}'' and controls that seem to do whatever they feel like doing regardless of your inputs. It's also missing the weapons and 3 of the characters from the arcade game. ''Pit Fighter'' will almost universally occupy one of the top 2 spots in any "Worst SNES games ever" list (with ''Race Drivin'', which is the next entry on this list, taking the other spot in the top 2) and will usually make an appearance on any "Worst video games of all time" list.

* '''''Revengers of Vengeance''''' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD (known in Japan simply as ''Battle Fantasy'') [[RedundantDepartmentOfRedundancy sounds ridiculous from]] [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore the title alone]], but was otherwise a seemingly ambitious project: a 2D fighting game that combines elements of [=JRPGs=] and vertical shmups? [[GenreMashup That's something you don't see every day.]] Sadly, the game doesn't quite work out: it was developed by the same team behind the aforementioned ''Heavy Nova'', and it shows. The core of the game, the 2D fighter, is horrendously glitchy and unbalanced. The RPG mechanics and shmup levels are very basic and lacking in depth. The only thing going for the game is that it looks nice, had decent cutscenes for a Sega CD game, and has good music, but those aren't quite enough to justify playing what is otherwise a very substandard game.

* The [[Platform/{{Amiga}} Commodore Amiga]] and UsefulNotes/AtariST versions of '''''[[VideoGame/{{Outrun}} Turbo Outrun]]''''' were a PortingDisaster of epic proportions, with abysmal frame rates and utterly failing to give any sense of movement or speed - the road and scenery seemed to move around your car rather than vice-versa. The ineptitude of the conversion was emphasised both by the fact that the concurrent and similar ''Lotus'' series of racing games on the same platforms were light years ahead in quality and that reviewers who’d played the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 version as well ranked it ''higher'' despite it being a full generation behind in power and graphical ability. See The Pixel Empires take on the debacle [[https://www.thepixelempire.net/turbo-outrun-ast-review.html here.]]

* In the early 80s, ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' inspired [[FollowTheLeader many clones]] of varying quality, but '''''Alien Invaders''''' for UsefulNotes/VIC20 is easily the worst of them all. It features slow aliens that can't shoot, AWinnerIsYou ending, and a length of one minute where your goal is to simply shoot 10 alien ships. That's ''it.'' Stuart Ashen demonstrates it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Shmi76Pax8&t=1518s here]] under the gaming sin of being too bloody easy.

* The [[UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} Commodore Amiga]] and UsefulNotes/AtariST versions of '''''[[VideoGame/{{Outrun}} Turbo Outrun]]''''' were a PortingDisaster of epic proportions, with abysmal frame rates and utterly failing to give any sense of movement or speed - the road and scenery seemed to move around your car rather than vice-versa. The ineptitude of the conversion was emphasised both by the fact that the concurrent and similar ''Lotus'' series of racing games on the same platforms were light years ahead in quality and that reviewers who’d played the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 version as well ranked it ''higher'' despite it being a full generation behind in power and graphical ability. See The Pixel Empires take on the debacle [[https://www.thepixelempire.net/turbo-outrun-ast-review.html here.]]

* Six years before the horrible UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} adaptation (listed under Fourth Generation), '''''Manga/{{AKIRA}}''''' received a UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}} adaptation by Creator/{{Taito}}. While the art style of the anime movie was faithfully recreated, the game was, in essence, a very crappy visual novel where even the slightest deviation from the film's plot will result in a GameOver, [[GuideDangIt necessitating a walkthrough just to make it to the end]] - an exercise in frustration that will make you want to discard the game and just watch the movie instead.
* '''''VideoGame/{{Aladdin|VirginGames}}''''' on the ''UsefulNotes/{{NES}}'' was a port of the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]], UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, and PC versions of the game [[NoExportForYou only released in Europe]], and was [[PortingDisaster horribly butchered]]. There are much fewer levels than even the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version, the gameplay is choppy as hell, and the graphics are hideously-colored and poorly-scaled copies from the GB port, which is inexcusable seeing as how this came out in ''1994'', at the end of the NES' lifespan. It's really telling when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CaWFYOg3ik a pirate version]] is comparatively better than [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nsklebg85GQ an officially-licensed game]].

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' for the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} is a classic that started [[VideoGame/MetalGear one of gaming's most treasured series]], and the [[ReformulatedGame NES version]] ([[BTeamSequel which had zero involvement from]] Creator/HideoKojima), [[PortingDisaster less so]], to say the least. But '''the 1990 computer ports''' (made for the MS-DOS and UsefulNotes/Commodore64 and based on the NES version) take the "art" of PortingDisaster to new heights. The graphics are heavily inferior to the already downgraded NES version, the Commodore 64 version has LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading for the codec conversations. The audio is often nigh-nonexistent for the MS-DOS version (save for some noise in the codec speeches), and if you do have audio, it would be some of the worst audio you will ever hear that you wish it was just muted. The Alert phases are gone, enemies no longer react to getting hit, and enemies can now see you even if you are not in their line-of-sight, making the game outright unplayable. [[https://youtu.be/UHyfyVh0Yic?t=2330 Here]] is ex-[[YouTubePoop YouTube Pooper]] Stuart K. Reilly reviewing the Commodore 64 version, while he would later review the even worse MS-DOS version in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fvtS3P8QJ4 this]] video. Interestingly, a similar UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} version was also [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned to be released the same year]] but it was [[{{Vaporware}} never released]]. An [[FanRemake unofficial Amiga port]] would be made in [[https://h0ffman.itch.io/metalgear-amiga 2021]] that would be [[TruerToTheText based on the original MSX version]] and would be a PolishedPort with upgraded visuals and sound, as well as better performance and controls.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} adaptation of '''''Manga/{{AKIRA}}''''' is a heavy contender with ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' for the title of "[[TheProblemWithLicensedGames worst licensed video game]] of all time", and is certainly one of [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/AC106.jpg the]] [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/AF56.jpg worst]] [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/AP3637.jpg Amiga]] [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CUAM66.jpg games]] of all time. Players alternate between side-scrolling motorcycle segments and platforming levels with either Kaneda or Tetsuo. The first level, a motorcycling segment, [[NintendoHard has even less margin for error than the speed bike segments of]] ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'': rumors have it the publisher had to give passwords to reviewers because '''they couldn't beat the first level'''. Not that the platforming segments are any better: enemies are damage sponges while the player is about as fragile as wet tissue paper, the third stage requires the player to find keycards to progress which are a chore to find, and the fourth stage is UnintentionallyUnwinnable due to a platform you need to traverse across being out of reach.

* '''''Last Battle''''' (released in Japan as ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar: New Legend of the Savior of Century's End'') was one of the launch titles on the Genesis when it was released in the West, which makes it all the more unfortunate that it barely showed off the system's capabilities, and is a crappy and boring game besides. (It also received an UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} port for no good reason.) Most stages are slow and trodding side-scrolling segments with enemies that are [[ArtificialStupidity dumb as rocks]] and die in a single hit. The bosses are also too easy once the player figures out their patterns. The labyrinth-style stages are particularly frustrating, being even longer than the normal stages and a nightmare to navigate (with the sole "saving grace" being that the timer is disabled, so you can wander around lost until you die from sheer attrition due to the endless irritating traps). The only things going for the game are decent-ish graphics and sound, plus the game's plot (which is an adaptation of the manga and anime's later Celestial Emperor and Kaioh story arcs, considered by most to be the weaker parts of the manga) being spoiled in the manual and OpeningScroll, potentially saving you the trouble of playing the game. Levi Buchanan's [[http://www.ign.com/g00/articles/2008/01/11/last-battle-review?i10c.encReferrer=&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=14 retrospective review on IGN]] shows that time has not been kind to this game.

* The UsefulNotes/CommodoreAmiga and UsefulNotes/AtariST versions of '''''[[VideoGame/{{Outrun}} Turbo Outrun]]''''' were a PortingDisaster of epic proportions, with abysmal frame rates and utterly failing to give any sense of movement or speed - the road and scenery seemed to move around your car rather than vice-versa. The ineptitude of the conversion was emphasised both by the fact that the concurrent and similar ''Lotus'' series of racing games on the same platforms were light years ahead in quality and that reviewers who’d played the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 version as well ranked it ''higher'' despite it being a full generation behind in power and graphical ability. See The Pixel Empires take on the debacle [[https://www.thepixelempire.net/turbo-outrun-ast-review.html here.]]

* '''''Video Chess''''' on the UsefulNotes/Atari2600. A first-party UsefulNotes/{{Chess}} game that on the surface is fine, but then you move a piece. Most chess games have an [[LoadingScreen animation to show when the opponent is "thinking" of its next move]], and this is no exception. The problem is, the animation that this game chose [[EpilepticFlashingLights is to cover the entire screen in randomly-flashing colors, each only for a single frame each]], as long as the opponent's move was still processing -- while many Atari games, including the much-beloved ''VideoGame/YarsRevenge'', also had problems with this kind of SensoryAbuse, none were as bad as here due to the time it stayed on screen. This happened every single turn. And due to the low power of the system, it often did take [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading a long time to do that]], especially if playing on a higher difficulty level -- waiting times of ''ten hours'' have been reported on original hardware. Even if you can stomach that, you may have done all that waiting [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard just for the opponent to make an illegal move]]. And you do have to put up with the computer opponent, because it's single-player only. The only real interesting things about it are its origin (Atari was forced to make a chess game because they put one on the 2600's box and didn't want to be called out for false advertising) and the somewhat [[SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming clever programming tricks]] required to make a full chessboard work on an Atari.

* While the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis was home to [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames some of the most memorable]] Creator/{{Disney}}-licensed games, the video game adaptation of '''''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''''' [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames was not one of them]]. With sloppy programming, awkward controls, and haphazard level design, it falls well below the standards of a typical Disney game, and its tinny music hardly does the film's soundtrack any justice. Jumping is floaty and unresponsive, your GoombaStomp only works if you're holding down on the D-Pad, your projectiles are too limited in supply and hard to aim to be of any use, enemies pop out of nowhere, and if you reach the end of a level without finding enough hidden musical notes you're sent back to the start. To add insult to injury, Chernabog [[DemotedToExtra doesn't even appear as the]] FinalBoss, rendering whatever [[JustHereForGodzilla motivation]] there was to complete this game [[ShaggyDogStory moot]]. It ranked #6 on ''Mega''[='s=] "10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time", and is [[TheScrappy reviled]] by Genesis fans across the net; WebVideo/UrinatingTree [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N43TFSTbpdQ sympathizes with them]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GstXj7R2_38 as does Andrew Dickman]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ1osNVa58g&t=1658s and PhantomStrider.]]

* '''''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]''''', based on the [[Film/DennisTheMenace 1993 film]] ([[TheProblemWithLicensedGames so we're already off to a bad start]]) and released for the SNES and Amiga, is a true menace in its own right. The platforming is obtuse and overly difficult, the objectives of each stage (collect four medals and get to the exit) are byzantine and confusing, most of the weapons you can use are useless, and the difficulty is completely unfair since EverythingIsTryingToKillYou, up to and including Mr. Wilson, who not only causes you to instantly lose a life if he catches you but also looks [[UnintentionalUncannyValley disturbingly photorealistic]] (with some people even stating that he looks like former Iraqi president UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein) compared to the cartoony Dennis. Also, each stage is timed, but the timer is not restarted when you lose a life, and if it hits zero, it's an instant GameOver. The auto-scrolling stages are even worse than the normal stages: while most stages are merely open-ended and confusing to navigate, the auto-scrolling stages have [[TrialAndErrorGameplay practically no margin for error]] and [[CheckpointStarvation no checkpoints at all]]. For mercy, the bosses aren't as hard; they're just tedious as Hell, owing to [[DamageSpongeBoss their sheer durability]]. And just as the cherry on top of this sundae of suckitude, there are no level select cheats, meaning you have to beat the game in one go. Infamously, certain versions of the Amiga version are unbeatable due to an impassable jump in the last level. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTtuohRoXNY couldn't even be bothered to finish the game properly,]] opting instead to look up screenshots of both later stages and the ending.