Licensed games have always been a problem in the gaming industry, a scourge if you will.
There have never truly been many quality licensed games, with the exception of franchises like Star Wars and Batman.
So let us take a walk through the hall of horrible licensed games.
It’s a remembrance, or rather a warning to our future selves.
Duck Dynasty
Considered one of the worst games of the 2014, and for good reason.
Here we have a horrible reality show which received an even worse game adaptation.
Duck Dynasty is a game where you hunt, race and pull off stupid pranks for hillbilly glory, as one of the Roberstons.
In the game, you interact with the family from the TV show. You can also hunt ducks of course.
Or how about pursuing some off-roading and other stupid activities. This game really shouldn’t exist and why it exists is even more of a wonder.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
This is presumed to be one of the worst licensed games ever.
One of the worst licensed games ever: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial released for the Atari 2600 was buried in a landfills in New Mexcio and led to the first video game crash.
All because one game about a friendly alien was rushed and programmed by one man, in one week.
This was before the days of patches and fixes. So you can imagine kids’ faces realising what they had received as a Christmas present, what a horrible gaming atrocity.
Superman 64
Flying through endless rings for all eternity. Simply put, the worst Superman game ever, period.
Originally titled Superman: The New Adventures and often referred to as Superman 64, this game is known as the worst Superman game… ever.
Released for the Nintendo 64 (N64) this Superman game was based on Superman: The Animated Series which was far superior to this piece of utter trash.
Superman 64 had you flying through endless rings with a timer, and no direction whatsoever.
Innate gamer torture and the stuff of nightmares. We dare you speak its name!
Shaq Fu
A 2D fighting game starring basketball player Shaquille O’Neal. What were they thinking?
Shaq Fu a 2D fighting game, starring basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, was originally released for Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo (SNES).
The game had the worst fighting mechanics of all time and was considered unplayable by both fans of the genre and critics alike.
Now the game is getting a remake of sorts, which is questionable and may lead to many unneeded deaths.
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters on the NES was an absurdly difficult game, The infamous staircase level still keeps many gamers awake at night.
Ghostbusters released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, or Golden China for South Africans, was one of the first licensed games to start the terrible trend that licenses games could never be decent.
Luckily in recent years, with the eventual release of a playable and enjoyable Ghostbusters game for Xbox 360 and PS3, the bad taste has somewhat diminished.
But for gamers who remember this problem child of the NES library, Ghostbusters featured horrible 8-bit graphics and horrid gameplay design.
Gameplay included an awkward car level where you had to capture ghosts, and a near impossible level where you and the Ghostbusters had to traverse a staircase to a boss.
We feel that it is good to remember the sins of the past, and licensed games are part of the terrible history.
Now we finally have great licensed games with the likes of the Batman Arkham series which is debatable with the latest game in the series, especially for PC gamers.
But we have made progress and the past can now remain where it should, in the past.
More On Batman’s Woes
Batman: Arkham Knight PC sales halted, get your money back
Everything wrong with Batman: Arkham Knight for PC, and who’s to blame
Batman: Arkham Knight suffers from severe AMD optimisation issues
