Here a wick check will be performed for The Problem with Licensed Games.
Why? This trope is suspected of attracting complaining about bad licensed games, and discussion at the complaining cleanup thread indicated that this trope would work better as a Darth Wiki trope, much like how its counterpart No Problem with Licensed Games is in Sugar Wiki.
How "complaining" is defined: Due to recent confusion about how "complaining" is defined in a TRS sense, I will offer a description.
Complaining, in this case, refers to examples that, rather than neutrally describe a negative reaction to something, effectively agree with (and often snark along with) that reaction, sometimes with Caustic Critic links. Consider the following hypothetical examples:
- Correct: Alice and Bob: The Movie: The Game was poorly-received among audiences for its perceived poor controls, bad graphics, and confusing gameplay.
- Incorrect: Alice and Bob: The Movie: The Game was a terrible game, with awful controls, ugly graphics, and nonsensical gameplay. One has to wonder why a game this terrible could ever have been made at all. Generic Angry YouTube Reviewer rightfully mocks the game here.
The first example describes the reaction as neutrally as it can. The second snarks along with, and agrees with, the reaction without even trying to be neutral, complete with a link to a Caustic Critic video. Examples that look like the first can go in correct. Examples that look like the second can go in incorrect.
Current wicks checked: 38/50
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Neutrally describes low quality licensed games (correct) (6/50)
- YMMV.Cubix Robots For Everyone: Cubix: Race'n Robots for the PlayStation and PC features awkward controls, terrible hit detection, the difficulty waffles between unbelievably fast AI opponents and incredibly slow opponents (especially when you get the Zero-g engine 2000), and Story Mode can be beaten within an hour, even on hard.
- YMMV.Doug: A game based on the Disney show was released for Game Boy Color, and featured Doug and Porkchop searching for Patti while wandering around Bluffington and doing tasks for various characters (collecting stuff to beam to aliens for the Sleech brothers or running errands for Judy, for example). Unfortunately, the whole game was an extremely dull fetch-quest, and the only action - minigames featuring Quailman - left a lot to be desired.
- YMMV.Ju On: Ju-On: The Grudge, released for the Nintendo Wii and separate from the films' canon, was heavily panned by critics for its difficult controls, confusing gameplay, and relatively short length. That said, most gamers are willing to admit that the game itself still manages to be genuinely scary thanks to the atmosphere. Negative, but doesn't seem too bash-y.
- YMMV.Marmalade Boy: Both the Game Boy and Super Famicom games are dating sims that give Miki the choice between Yuu, Ginta, and in the Super Famicom version, Kei. The games are at best average because of their slower pace and, exclusive to international players, the language barrier making both games inaccessible.
- YMMV.Meteos: Disney Magic is an unusual example. It received overall good reviews from critics and gamers, however within the dedicated Meteos fanbase it is much more divisive and even reviled. The gameplay changes like holding the DS horizontally instead of vertically similar to Brain Age or Rhythm Heaven and the change in gameplay focus from multi-player, Smash Bros. style action to a more linear single-player approach, and the removal of online play rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. There was also the fact that, unlike some other puzzle games like Tetris or Puzzle League, Meteos had unique and interesting lore that players liked that was now being "paved over" with a license, which further alienated a lot of Meteos fans.
- YMMV.Pumpkinhead: Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge, an unfairly difficult hybrid between a First-Person Shooter and Full Motion Video game with some Adventure Game elements and many Guide Dang It! moments. Its numerous flaws were duly covered on The Spoony Experiment. Has a negative tone, but doesn't come off as outright bashy.
Describes low quality licensed games in a complain-y way (incorrect) (9/50)
- VideoGame.Star Trek Pinball: It is rumored that the game was a rushed cash grab by Interplay, an attempt to raise money due to problems during development of Star Trek: The Secret of Vulcan's Fury. Unfortunately, every aspect of Star Trek Pinball reinforces this point, making this a classic example of The Problem with Licensed Games. The Trek license fails to cover the game's numerous shortcomings — unbalanced gameplay, inconsistent and unrealistic ball behavior, and poorly-designed tables that are overly complicated and frustrating. Like the Pro Pinball series, the game uses pre-rendered playfield graphics, but there is only one camera angle, and the graphics are pixelated and grainy. Then there are the Video Game-only features, such as smashing a slow-moving ball for extra points, and an assortment of game-crashing bugs.
- YMMV.Batman Beyond Return Of The Joker: The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions had bad music, bad graphics, clunky controls, repetitive boring gameplay, broken combat, and can be started and finished within a half hour- 'seriously'- which is why it was given lowest scores from GameRankings and Metacritic. The Game Boy Color version fared a little better, however, but some reviews are mixed.
- YMMV.The Blues Brothers:
- There was a platformer for the Super NES. It has almost nothing to do with either the movies or the skit beyond the name, controls that are poor at best, downright painful at worst, and it isn't designed too well. Oh, and it was made by Titus Software, who also worked on the Super NES Porting Disaster of Prince of Persia 2, Carmageddon 64 (another Porting Disaster), Hercules: The Legendary Journeys for the Game Boy and, last but not least, Superman 64. Not much more needs to be said about this.
- There was also, believe it or not, a Blues Brothers 2000 game for the Nintendo 64. It was released in the actual year 2000, right at the tail end of the 64's life cycle and two whole years after the film's disastrous box office run. The handful of people who actually bought this game got nothing but a run-of-the-mill 3D platformer with Elwood running around Chicago, and the final boss was just one long rhythm mini-game. Not only a bad game, but a bafflingly pointless one.
- YMMV.Double Oh Seven Legends: Hoo boy. Originally intended to coincide with the franchise's 50th anniversary, it was instead derided by gaming news outlets and players along for being archaic, buggy and filled with wasted plotlines. Not to mention that it doesn't give any opportunity to honor some of the long-time participants involved with the series.
- YMMV.The Lego Movie Part 2 The Second Part: While the first game is an inversion of this trope, the sequel's video game isn't. Many of its issues are due to being built off of LEGO Worlds, which includes all the flaws from that game (such as the camera system clipping through the terrain in several parts, for example). The real kicker here though, is that the game does a half-assed job at adapting the story. None of the cutscenes are voiced (or recreations of the scenes from the movie!), with only Lucy narrating everything, and the ending is blatantly unfinished. Many of the side quests drag on for too long, the worlds are uninspired, none of the characters have their own unique abilities, and the Nintendo Switch version of the game has a plethora of performance problems. The result is an Obvious Beta that many fans consider to be the worst LEGO game ever released.
- YMMV.Rocky And Bullwinkle: Rocky and Bullwinkle got three unique games on the NES, SNES, and Gameboy respectively, and all three were unplayable disasters.
- YMMV.The Space Adventure: The game is alright for a japanese-style adventure game, but some regard it to be rather bad as Cobra is presented as a Designated Hero through most of it and nearly every decision tree has But Thou Must! pouring out of it. It was the subject of a seven hour MST by Retsupurae. Is this even a game based on any property?
- YMMV.Wheres Wally:
- The dreadful NES game, often cited among the worst video games ever made. Not only are the graphics very tiny and simplistic, but on higher difficulties Waldo takes on bizarre color schemes. For example, it's not uncommon to see a Waldo with dark green skin and a dark brown/dark green striped shirt. And you thought he was hard enough to find in his normal outfit... And then, there's the subway level, where the player has to navigate a subway maze using rotating portions of the tracks, while simultaneously dodging Whitebeard as he randomly teleports around the place; making contact with him is an instant game over 99% of the time, to the point where Vinesauce fans labeled him the "CBT Wizard" in reference to the level's difficulty.
- The SNES and Sega Genesis game, The Great Waldo Search is better, but still not that great, being one of the shortest games on either system. Every time you make a menu selection, you get to hear the same low pitched "Where's Waldo" voice sample. Every. Damn. Time. And that's before you get to the butchered NES port, which has ugly graphics, wonky controls, and one of the absolute worst soundtracks on any officially-licensed NES game.
- YMMV.Rio: The movie's game is just a poorly done Mario Party copy.
ZCEs (17/50)
- Trivia.Photon: There was an NES game based on the property, but it was never actually released in the US. It may have been a blessing in disguise, though.
- Platform.Dendy: Nonexistent for this show, both figuratively and literally.
- WebVideo.Pat The NES Punk: Subverted. The Three Stooges and Golgo 13 are winners in Pat's book, as is Popeye from the Black Box series. Played straight with The Last Starfighter.
- YMMV.Action Man: While there are a few games based on the toyline (and one based on the first CGI movie), they... aren't very good, for the most part.
- YMMV.Afro Samurai: 'Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma'' is an example of a horribly broken action game. It landed on many worst-of video game lists for 2015, such as Angry Joe's. The release of Volume One had such poor reception that the publisher took responsibility for it and refunded willing purchasers of the game. They also canceled the other two planned volumes. The Xbox One version was also never released. Putting it here because it doesn't explain what's bad about the game.
- YMMV.Airwolf: There were two video game adaptations that were on the NES, one that was Japan-only, and neither of them were any good.
- YMMV.Avoid The Noid: Unlike Yo! Noid, this game got bad reviews.
- YMMV.Fighting Fantasy: There were a few text adventures based on books from the series, and a PS1 version of Deathtrap Dungeon, all of which were pretty execrable.
- YMMV.Gold Box: Averted, both for D&D in general, and for Curse of the Azure Bonds, which is based on a novel.
- YMMV.Mineirinho Ultra Adventures: Oh, the game is supposed to be an advert for a restaurant chain, isn't it? Except it doesn't do a good job about that and plays horribly in nearly every way.
- YMMV.Mucha Lucha: ¡Mucha Lucha!: Mascaritas of the Lost Code is often regarded as one of the ABSOLUTE worst games on the GBA. Why?
- YMMV.Retro Game Master: Despite the first two games' positive reception, the third game for the 3DS isn't seen to be as good as the first two; a likely reason being that the game has a different developer.
- YMMV.Rocky And Bullwinkle: Rocky and Bullwinkle got three unique games on the NES, SNES, and Gameboy respectively, and all three were unplayable disasters.
- YMMV.Spirou And Fantasio: The Nintendo Hard Mega Drive/Super NES game, reviewed by the Joueur du Grenier.
- YMMV.Spy Vs Spy: MAD themselves felt that the Xbox game fell under this. Averted with the NES and home computer games though, which are still regarded as classics.
- YMMV.The Rocky Horror Picture Show: The video game is generally hated by gamers and Rocky Horror fans alike.
- YMMV.Halloween: Covered by The Angry Video Game Nerd in his review.
Other or unsorted (6/50)
- Film.Total Recal 1990: Highlights include tons of cool guns, three-breasted mutants, and a bizarre NES tie-in game.
- Manga.The World God Only Knows: An In-Universe example. In FLAG 211, kid!Keima plays a Dating Sim featuring Kanon as a main character. When she asks what he thought of the game, he bluntly tells her that the game was crappy but the song was great. Considering that the soundtrack was probably the extent of her participation in the game's development and how Serious Business Dating Sims are for Keima, Kanon took it as a compliment.
- YMMV.The Golden Compass: Zig-zagged. From a technical perspective, the game's experience is marred by clunky execution and less-than-stellar graphics, but many players appreciated the developers arguably having a more loyal grasp of the source material than the film executives. Several incidents from the novel omitted from the film were incorporated almost word-for-word, and the game notably follows the original sequence of events, avoiding the film's subsequent restructuring. To date, playing the game is the only way to view some of the cut footage. A "played with" example.
- YMMV.The Riftwar Cycle: Avoided, as Betrayal at Krondor received critical acclaim and Feist liked it enough to novelize it personally. He even transported some of the game characters into his later books.
- UsefulNotes.The Golden Age Of Video Games: There were even some early licensed games, many of which actually didn't suck
- Escape from Butcher Bay: Created by Swedish developer Starbreeze Studios and co-developed by Vin Diesel's own game studio Tigon Studios, the game is a notable aversion of The Problem with Licensed Games, being praised for its story, gameplay, and visuals, and gathering overwhelmingly positive reviews.
