Worst 50 Games of All Time!

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scotland
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby scotland » January 24th, 2018, 11:33 am

GameOfThrones wrote:Karateka needs to be on that list. The worst game on the 7800 and it had a few not very good games on it. Shuffle shuffle death. Recently I watched a walk through of the game. The guy was really good and he beat the game in 7 minutes. Good ending though and for the time the graphics were top notch. Completely let down by awful game play and controls.


Karateka was written originally for the Apple II, I believe. It has ports to other systems like the Commodore 64. I've even played a Famicom version, but that may have been a bootleg and not an official port. It really can be an excellent game, with good graphics, and some good memories such as the eagle, and the ending of courses. There is a reason it was ported to other systems - because the original is pretty good. The 7800 port is just really lacking, possibly due to the controller.

Unfortunately, Karateka was the first game I ever played on an Atari 7800, and I am not sure if that sour taste has ever really left me for the system. Its a shame that the 7800 version of Karateka seems to be the version many retrogamers know.

Please don't judge Epyx's Impossible Mission on its notoriously unwinnable 7800 port either. That game was so bad, Dave's never even reviewed the Sega Master System port.

It does bring up that there is a difference between a bad *game*, and a bad *port* of an otherwise acceptable game.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 24th, 2018, 12:00 pm

scotland is dead on with his analysis of Karateka.

The first time I saw that game it was on an Apple II and it was mind blowing. I don't think I've ever been as impressed with a video game since.

Obviously the Atari 7800 was a lousy port but I still love the game.

mbd36
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby mbd36 » January 24th, 2018, 12:51 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:scotland is dead on with his analysis of Karateka.

The first time I saw that game it was on an Apple II and it was mind blowing. I don't think I've ever been as impressed with a video game since.

Obviously the Atari 7800 was a lousy port but I still love the game.


I had an Atari 7800 as a kid. We upgraded to that from the Atari 2600 because of its backwards compatibility with our huge pile of 2600 games.

My 7800 carts were Pole Position II, Ms. Pac-Man, Food Fight and Dig Dug. I wanted Karateka so bad, but my parents never bought it for me. It turns out that I was quite fortunate in that regard.

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Retro STrife
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby Retro STrife » January 24th, 2018, 1:34 pm

- Like GTS, I was happy to see that E.T. didn't make the list. I caught that as well and it made me respect the list a lot more, since it was coming from your genuine experiences playing thousands of games, rather than catering to any public perception of worst games. E.T. is a bad game, but I don't think it's near the bottom 50, and people who think otherwise generally seem to form that opinion based on what they read on the internet rather than actually playing older games.

- On my first read through, I didn't notice the "dishonorable mentions" section. Just saw it recently. Bit disappointed to see Twisted the Game Show make that list, after your change of heart on that game. When I bought my 3DO in the late-2000s, I read your reviews to decide what games to buy for it. You gave Twisted around a C rating, and made it sound like a very unique and fun party-style game. I had to have it, and made sure to get it with my system. It took me years to play it, but finally tried it in 2017 when I had friends over for the first night of gaming after finishing my gameroom. We had a good time with it, and I thought your C rating was spot on (I might even give it a B). So I was surprised a few months later when you replayed it and changed it to an F.. I still think that deserves a second look on a better day, when you might switch the score back. Either way, I was surprised that it made the list here, after once being a C rated game.

- For my money, the best "so bad it's good" game ever made is Girl's Club for CD-i, the FMV dating game that was designed for 13 year old girls, but plays much better with a group of grownups and a bunch of beers. Essentially an interactive version of the board game "Dream Phone". My wife and I drag it out when we have friends or family over, and it beats Cards Against Humanity every time. Still hoping to see a review of this one on here someday.

Tim
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby Tim » January 24th, 2018, 3:18 pm

Retro STrife wrote:- On my first read through, I didn't notice the "dishonorable mentions" section. Just saw it recently. Bit disappointed to see Twisted the Game Show make that list, after your change of heart on that game.


I didn't see this list either! Completely agree, there's no way Twisted should be on this list. I haven't played it in years and I'll have to give it another go, but it was a great laugh back in the 90's - I can imagine the characters have aged terribly (aside from Uncle Fez, they were bad enough at the time) but there must be hundreds of games worser than this. Club Drive on the Jaguar for example. Don't get me wrong, I have never laughed so hard playing a game, but Jesus - it's a technical abomination!

GameOfThrones
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby GameOfThrones » January 24th, 2018, 10:36 pm

Club drive was awesome for the drive for the time. State of the art graphics. I had not seen anything like it on the consoles and it was obviously inspired by Atari's hard driving.
I am not sure what people have against it. Okay I am lying it looked so bad, even I did not buy it. Though I never bothered with White men cant jump either which looked tragic.

Krapetaka on the 7800. Now that is a different kettle of fish. It is the only game I have ever played of karakteka. It was dire. In fact I think it is the worst game which was commercially released I have played.

I mean it makes Airlock seem like a great game. Another disappointing game that was kind of shuffle shuffle death until you worked out how to play it. Then it was a 5 minute game.

Before anyone says anything I loved Journey Escape.

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LS650
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby LS650 » January 28th, 2018, 1:19 am

Only _three_ Jaguar games made the list? That can't be right! :D

GTS
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby GTS » January 28th, 2018, 9:10 am

I'm not trying to gang up on Dave, but I agree that Twisted doesn't belong on an Worst list. Me and my friends got together and played it around the time when it came out, and we had a great time. It's just so goofy, with the commercials and stuff. I was always the PEZ dispenser.

The game might be due for a re-review.

rohoGames
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby rohoGames » January 31st, 2018, 10:07 pm

(reminder since I do not post often: I'm feilong80 from way way back in the day*)

Hooooly cow! I had to post just to say how stunned I was to see Monster Hunter Ultimate in the worst 50 games list! I vaguely remember you didn't enjoy it, and I concede that the game is to Eastern (Japanese) tastes, which involve lots and lots of fiddly game systems and layers of complexity (seriously, if you visit Japan, you'll note that even their arcade machines are extremely complicated).

But in a 50 worst games list? Just wow! I think the lagginess you refer to in the original review is part of the game's design: weapons have a windup time, and understanding this is vital. Otherwise, it is really just about learning the systems.

I think one thing that hangs people up on Monster Hunter is the lack of a "lock on" for enemies, forcing you to manually move your character and camera. Ocarina of Time established this, and now everyone expects it.

I would be interested in your take on Monster Hunter World, out now for PS4. They are trying their level best to make the game accessible, and it seems to be piling up a lot of sales (Capcom says 5 million units so far).

In any case Monster Hunter Ultimate is actually my favorite game in the series!!!



*Quick update for any remaining folks from the 2004-10 period of time- I'm in San Jose CA now working for Cold Iron Studios. We're doing an Alien game for Fox.

GameOfThrones
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Re: Worst 50 Games of All Time!

Postby GameOfThrones » February 3rd, 2018, 6:27 am

rohoGames wrote:(reminder since I do not post often: I'm feilong80 from way way back in the day*)

Hooooly cow! I had to post just to say how stunned I was to see Monster Hunter Ultimate in the worst 50 games list!





*Quick update for any remaining folks from the 2004-10 period of time- I'm in San Jose CA now working for Cold Iron Studios. We're doing an Alien game for Fox.


Fab I am really looking forward to the new alien game. I got colonial marines on day 1. I just loved it. Okay the game was pants but I still loved it. Plus isolation was superb.
I was slightly disheartened to understand that the new alien game out be online but have got over that. As long as it does not take too much from the atrocious alien covenant I am sure it will be a good game.
I wish you every success on that game.


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