5 of the Most Hated Games From Top Franchises

By David Savage in Features

Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Mistakes are easy to come by when you're the owner of a popular video game franchise. The sheer number of sales Mario's face can wield would drive weak men to make greedy and stupid decisions. Changing a game's iconic style or selling the rights out to other companies also have their consequences. It may not hurt the gamers overall feeling toward the brand, but I'm sure Miyamoto gives himself a facepalm every time someone mentions "Hotel Mario".

*Disclaimer: the following games may not all necessarily be "bad" by your standards, they are simply games from popular franchises that many people have expressed hate towards, some caused by sheer frustration (mainly in the cases of Zelda II and Mega Man X7).

Sonic Labyrinth (1995 - Sega Game Gear)

When you're a hero like Sonic, you can't let your guard down for a second. That means no parties, no sleeping, no slacking. If you slip even for a second, Eggman will come along and secretly put "slow-down boots" on you, limiting your ability to run fast and do the whole speed thing that the franchise was built upon. Now if Eggman was able to put these "slow-down boots" on Sonic with no struggle, why didn't he just slit his little blue throat and end everything once and for all? Well we all know evil villains love to make their enemies suffer. However, in the case of Sonic Labyrinth, the only one who really suffered was you, the gamer.

Rundown: why it's hated:

- Speed is only an option when curling and dashing, but is ridiculous due to clunky controls and small game environments.

- Frustration will take any fun and throw it right out the window.

- The flashing level backgrounds will either cause you to have a seizure or make you wish you were having a seizure that could tear you away from the game.

Resident Evil: Survivor (2000 - Playstation One)

Change isn't a word that franchise-addicted gamers like to hear; especially when all the developer is doing is copying another franchise and slapping their title on it. Capcom created Resident Evil: Survivor in the same light that Sega created House of the Dead, but gave you control over the movement of your character. Other than that, you shoot zombies as they slowly walk at you (or in Survivor's case, walk around you). The original game included a GunCon (light gun), however, due to the Columbine shootings, was not included in the American release.

Rundown: why it's hated:

- Horrendous graphics coupled with ridiculously stupid AI create a depressing and overly-gloomy experience.

- Slow door animations that plague you over and over will make you want to pull a Juggernaut and start plowing through walls to finish faster.

- The only thing horrifying about this game are the cut scenes and voice actors. The fact that they were paid for it should give even the most untalented person hope.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987 - NES)

The sleeping princess is right there, why do I have to go through all this trouble to wake her? Can't I just prick her with my sword and see if she wakes? She's probably faking, we all know girls like to fake things! Well, if Impa says I'm the one destined to awaken the princess from her spell, then I guess I have to. In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, you are tasked with restoring six crystals to their respective palaces across Hyrule in order to access the Great Palace and claim the Triforce which has the power to break the spell that is enchanting Zelda. The game is well known for its extreme difficulty, introduction of side-scrolling gameplay and an experience/leveling system, as well as spells (taught throughout the game by different wise men) that can be used in combat and for completing certain parts of the game.

Rundown: why it's hated:

- Many of those loyal to the original Zelda did not support the addition of side-scrolling gameplay.

- Repetitive combat to gain experience (which was needed to fight more powerful enemies) could get annoying and stale quickly.

- Along with the repetitive combat, the reseting leveling system made it hard to have the will power to continue playing after a game over.

- No one likes random encounters.

Mega Man X7 (2003 - PS2)

Mega Man is a tough cookie to keep going; you're a 2D platformer and that's what you do. However, by 2003 it was seeming a little stale. With Mega Man X7, we see that Capcom finally tried something new. Instead of your typical 2D side-scroller, we see a cell-shaded game with the same elements as your typical Mega Man, but with levels that take you into partial 3D perspective. Other than the problems involving bad 3D gameplay, the story was called out due to X's declaration of pacifism (making him unplayable until unlocked). His actions were due to an increase in Maverick crime and his desire to find a better way to solve the problems at hand. Playable in X's place is Axl, a reformed member of Red Alert (a very rogue group of Hunters) that doesn't like their murderous ways and decides to join X's cause.

Rundown: why it's hated:

- Those who followed the X series story closely did not like X's decision to stop fighting all together.

- The 3D portions of the game were poorly designed and not fine-tuned for switching back and fourth from 2D.

- The difficulty factor is worsened by many of the levels which make moving comfortably while fighting frustrating.

Hotel Mario (1994 - Phillips CD-i)

When Bowser kidnaps Peach and takes her to one of his hotels, minds may wonder what the Koopa King has in store for her. Maybe he just wanted a pretty girl around to clean up and attract more business. After all, Koopas aren't too pleasing on the eye and they have little knowledge of feng shui. Now, whether that was the case or not matters not to Mario and Luigi, who quickly run to save their beloved princess. They probably expected tons of enemies waiting for them at some hellish looking gate where Peach was being held in complete agony in the clutches of Bowser's painful grip. Oh wait, wrong franchise. Instead, Bowser wanted to kill them by making them (you) perform the menial task of closing every single door in every single one of his hotels. Way to go Mario, you got tricked into a job without even knowing it.

Rundown: why it's hated:

- It was developed for the doomed-to-fail Phillips CD-i multimedia console which featured horrible frame rate issues and a fuck stick for a controller.

- The cut scenes were so horribly drawn, animated, and voiced that Miyamoto probably would have had serious thoughts of Hari Kari after playing it.

- It offered little to no challenge.