5 of the Most Hated Games From Top Franchises
Posted by David Savage at 12:11 PM Jul 09, 2009
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Sonic Labyrinth (1995 - Sega Game Gear)
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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:
- 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)
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- 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)
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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:
- 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)
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Rundown: why it's hated:
- The difficulty factor is worsened by many of the levels which make moving comfortably while fighting frustrating.
Hotel Mario (1994 - Phillips CD-i)
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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:
- 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.
Comments
Whooh Whhooh..wait a minute! Zelda II IS an awesome game! What about Phillips CD I CRAP that dragged Link and friends into the sewers. That was horrible. Zelda II, not the best in the series, but playable and fun. Neo Out!
Posted 07/09/2009 at 05:35:25 PM2 out of 5 from Capcom... at least they tried to innovate at times.
I'll add another, Street Fighter EX plus Alpha. The first 3D Street Fighter and it was TERRIBLE, partly because Capcom farmed it out to another developer.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 05:48:05 PM@neo
One CD-i game is enough for one list. ^_^
@Dan Marek
Great mention! If I ever do a "part 2" I'll include that one :-)
Posted 07/09/2009 at 05:55:15 PMMaybe you can add Superman 64 to represent the Superhero franchise as a whole. In the next batch of turd games.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 07:25:54 PMThere was a console game out in the early 90's, don't remember who made it, Terminator 2.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 07:25:56 PMThe first level was reasonably straight forward to complete.
The second level was impossible to complete.
Me and a bunch of mates tried to complete it over the course of a couple of weekends, until one guy came in with a PC game magazine that makers of the game admitted it was impossible to complete level 2.
I guess it lived up to its name...
I couldn't agree with 'NEO' more. Zelda 2 was above par- especially compared to the Phillips games. Your list is fundamentally flawed to say the least. boo.
Basshole over and out.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 09:00:51 PMI think Zelda 2 was misunderstood- it is in fact quite a decent game that is as challenging if not more challenging than the first. It may not be the best Zelda game, but doesn't belong on this list, as its not a truely shitty game like those others.
True it has its flaws, but I'd rather play this than Majoras Mask and on some level, Windwaker (repetativeness).
Replace it with Metal Gear Solid 2, or something.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 09:10:50 PMAnd what about Pitfall on the original Atari 2600?
Posted 07/09/2009 at 09:17:22 PMHey, street fighter EX and EX2 were great games. The mechanics of fighting were all there, and it was in shiny yet unobtrusive 3D.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 09:21:03 PM@Basshole and @Kevin Quillen
This article doesn't reflect my personal views about these games (which I said in the disclaimer, marked with a *). The games on there were picked from a mixture of criteria (overall ratings, official reviews, fan reviews, talk throughout the net).
@templatestaff
I agree with that one, don't know if I would count Pitfall as a "top franchise" though.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 09:27:25 PMFinal Fantasy X, anyone?
(runs out of room)
p.s. Adventure of Link is one of my favorite Zeldas. That being said, I see why a lot of people hated it. THAT being said, I'd love to see Nintendo release LoZ, AoL and Link's Awakening via Wiiware with spruced-up, Super Mario All-Stars type visuals.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 09:57:14 PMI disagree Gary. FF 10 was far above games like Dirge of Cerberus and FF10x2.
I also disagree with Neo on Superman 64. Has Superman ever been a top franchise? This isn't the list of the worst games of all time, but the most hated games of top franchises.
Posted 07/09/2009 at 10:40:17 PMWhy is Zelda II on the list, it sure was pretty hard but it wasn't a bad game. If you wanted to just add an entry in this series, you should have just put the CD-i games, those were ridiculously horrible mainly because it wasn't made by Nintendo (or Capcom).
Posted 07/10/2009 at 12:40:46 AMWhy the hate on Zelda 2? That game rocked! Besides, I'm pretty sure that "repetitive combat" to gain experience just so you can fight more powerful versions of the enemies you just beat is the exact formula for, oh, I don't know, 90 percent of all MMORGPs out there? And yea, that includes the ever so popular World of Warcraft. ;)
Posted 07/10/2009 at 02:18:26 AMI like pie!!!
Posted 07/10/2009 at 05:37:28 AMAnyone remember Myth? Myth II: Soulblighter? Those games by Bungie (pre HALO Microsoft buyout) were friggin wicked. Then they sold it to some bunk spinoff for Myth III. Worst game of all time IMHO
Posted 07/10/2009 at 08:15:53 AMridiculous, Zelda 2 was one of the best in the series. How you can put that as worse than the CDI animated POS is beyond me.
Posted 07/10/2009 at 10:08:13 AMI thought that Zelda II was a controversial choice, then I remembered that the author said that this isn't a list of bad games. These are the games that caused the most controversy of some of the top franchises. So while Zelda II was an overall decent game (I've yet to beat it), people did take issue to the sudden change in gameplay after the first one was so popular.
In that same vein though, I would have probably chosen Wind Waker. It was an excellent game for those that gave it a chance, but there was larger controversy over the artstyle, difficulty, and final fetch quests near the end.
Posted 07/10/2009 at 11:06:35 AMWhat about Dr. Mario? That has nothing to do with Mario, other than in the title... There's no way in hell I'd ever let a plumber-turned-doctor work on me.
Posted 07/10/2009 at 11:37:25 AMIt's funny: lots of diehard Zelda fans objected to Wind Waker's visual style, including me (I felt "toon-shading" would be more appropriate for Mario games) but I've come to feel Wind Waker is one of the best-looking Zeldas, if not THE best. And what I've really grown to appreciate is: in 10 or 20 years, Wind Waker will still be attractive; Twilight Princess, on the other hand, will look like ass.
Posted 07/10/2009 at 03:01:04 PMwhy all old games? what about Socom Confrontation? the most broken game out to day and with new Dev's that never did a PS3 game before ruining a once great title. Slant Six killed the Socom name and Socom Vet's hate it and along with the rest of the people that still try and play this Beta called a game. SaveSocom.com The game was released Oct 2008 and it still isn't a complete game. things it says on the back of the box are still not in this game. every patch released for this Beta breaks even more things that weren't even wrong before it was released. somebody really needs to do a story on this game and this company. maybe then they will be forced to fix this once great title called Socom. if your a fanboy and don't believe me then go play the game and see all the things broken in the game and go read Socom.com & SaveSocom.com to understand. thank you
Posted 07/10/2009 at 03:05:21 PMHotel Mario was a very bad game.
You also left out ethnic cleansing..not a franchise but most people who know what it is hate it.
Posted 07/10/2009 at 04:16:13 PMHey, get off the Windwaker....that game was cooler than a bag of cheetos. And I meant Superman, not as the worst game ever, I meant the superhero franchise as a whole..I think?
Posted 07/10/2009 at 04:39:08 PMAs others have commented, Zelda 2 was well-loved and well-received, and is a still a great game today. Whoever put this list together probably took their own personal 5 rather than a realistic 5 that people actually hated. I can think of a LOT of better candidates, though Hotel Mario was pretty bad.
Posted 07/11/2009 at 01:57:41 AMI've got one for you. Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo
Considered by many to be the worst Gundam game ever produced.
Why its hated: The primary difficulty in the game comes from atrocious controls which essentially force you to develop a form of precognition in order to defeat even the simplest of foes. Aside from the controls, The first level is nearly impossible unless you truly learn the think outside the box.
Also, you are extremely limited in weapons, you can only use the Gundam itself and there are no ammo or health replenishment items.
I only suggest the game to true diehard Gundam fans or old-school gamers looking for a challenge worthy of their classically trained abilities.
Posted 07/11/2009 at 10:23:53 AMEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEY!
Megaman X 7 Was fucking awesome, fuck you all
Posted 07/16/2009 at 08:51:49 PMI recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
http://onlinegamesforgirls.net
Posted 07/24/2009 at 11:37:10 AMI'm going into this fully aware that I'm stringing along a non-sequitur here, but about FF10: a lot of people really didn't like that game, and neither did I at first, but it wasn't until I got into late-game that I appreciated how brilliant the gameplay and the Sphere Grid system were. That game is very, very high on my all-time fave list for newer-generation games.
As far as this list goes, I haven't played a single one of them, but I've heard good things about Zelda II, so I was surprised to find it here.
Posted 08/09/2009 at 08:09:55 PMOh god yes, include Wimpyman 64 in your next list. "Kryptonite fog"? "Flies like a bus"? What the hell?
Posted 08/13/2009 at 01:10:19 AM