Most overrated worst game ever?

[Jascott72]

When people talk about games being overrated they are typically referring to games that are still generally good or decent but garner far too much praise. But what about games being overrated for being the worst game ever?

Personally I am sick and tired of people saying E.T. on the Atari 2600 is the worst game ever. I can't tell you how many times I have rolled my eyes when I see it toping worst game ever lists. It's like these people are following popular threads and can't think for themselves. (Haven't played many video games have you?)

So not only do I think E.T. is the most overrated worst game ever, I don't think E.T. should crack the top ten list of worst games ever. I don't even think it belongs in the top ten worst Atari games ever! What do you guys think is the most overrated worst game ever?

[mbd36]

ET is an average Atari game that only gets called worst because it came out right before the crash and thus became emblematic of it.

Considering it was made by one guy with a strict deadline it could have been a lot worse. It's not that bad at all.

[Quick_Man]

Sonic the Hedgehog (360/PS3)/Sonic '06. It's not even really that bad. It's just unpolished with a pretty weak storyline. I think it's merely mediocre and has just been overblown as "worst game ever" status because it's Sonic and hating Sonic games is always popular on the internet.

If you want a true 1 out of 10 Sonic game, Rise of Lyric is that. No fun at all. Even the soundtrack is generic as hell, whereas '06 has a soundtrack that even people who hate the game have to admit is phenomenal.

Also, here's just a quick rundown of games that can be summed up as "anything from MEH to ACTUALLY GOOD" that was covered on AVGN and thus people think is bad:
Castlevania 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
Top Gun
Zelda 2
Silver Surfer
Legend of Kage
Die Hard
... and probably many more I'm forgetting.

[Crummylion]

Sonic the Hedgehog (360/PS3)/Sonic '06. It's not even really that bad. It's just unpolished with a pretty weak storyline. I think it's merely mediocre and has just been overblown as "worst game ever" status because it's Sonic and hating Sonic games is always popular on the internet.

I think part of the reason 06 is as notorious as it is was because it was the most hyped Sonic game at the time, with the promise of rebooting the franchise. After all, it's not named after yet another mediocre Sonic title for nothing. Question of the Blue Blur's direction and quality began when Sonic went multiplatform, Heroes had a lukewarm reception, and Shadow the Hedgehog came around and more or less gaslit everyone into thinking it was a bad franchise. So the natural step is to start over, so 06 came around. It was such a disaster that it confirmed everyone's assumption about Sonic and had to forget 06 existed (until Generations came around.)

[Stalvern]

I have Sonic '06 and think it's a pretty awful game. The Internet's attitude toward Sonic games was pushed negative by its reception, not the other way around. Too much of it is broken, rushed, or just blatantly unfinished to wave away as a mere lack of polish, and the hyperactive controls and cardboard physics are front and center the entire time you're playing (when you are playing and not just sitting in front of a black loading screen). Combine that with the hubris of its "epic" storytelling and its failure to execute things that were done perfectly well in the first Sonic Adventure eight years earlier (the snowboarding is particularly terrible), and it's no wonder that the game has such a reputation.

And yet I have it, and I have a real love for it. I love its goofiness. I love its self-importance, its complete lack of perspective. I love the last-minute desperation of nonsense like the giant billiards puzzle or the trivia challenge that ends with pledging yourself to Amy or Elise. I love Sonic Man from the bottom of my heart. It's the type of balls-to-the-wall bad game that shows obvious soul, however ridiculous, which makes it kind of a good game in the end.

Sonic Boom is an obviously worse game, but it's bad in much less entertaining ways and was less of a high-profile release, so it doesn't get talked about the same way. It just doesn't give people much to talk about.

Edit: To answer the OP's question, Superman: The New Superman Adventures, otherwise known as Superman 64. Not that it isn't horrible, but everyone thinks it's just the ring levels and maybe throwing a car or two between them. It does have other actual levels and a fair amount of them, and they all suck in different ways. One of them is the Superman 64 equivalent of the Ocarina of Time water temple, which plays about as well as it sounds like it would.

[DrLitch]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

Is this really a bad game though? The seaweed level is not enough to tip it over the edge for me. Not being an arcade port was probably it's worst gaming crime.

[Stalvern]

That's the whole point of the thread.

[BanjoPickles]

Friday the 13th on NES! Critics have always torn this game apart, and I don’t know why:

-it controls well.
-it managed to have incredible atmosphere for an 8 bit game!
-it included a good amount of variety.
-the music was creepy.
-it wasn’t buggy, or glitchy. At all!

The graphics were so-so, and fighting Jason during the third day is frustrating, but I’ve always found this game to be more of a gem than a bad game!

[MaverickMoPete]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

Is this really a bad game though? The seaweed level is not enough to tip it over the edge for me. Not being an arcade port was probably it's worst gaming crime.

Which makes sense: After all, both the Arcade Game and the first NES Game came out in the same year. Konami (under its shell (no pun intended) company Ultra Games) spent the next year making the NES Port of the Arcade Game that became Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game.

[matmico399]

Friday the 13th on NES! Critics have always torn this game apart, and I don’t know why:

-it controls well.
-it managed to have incredible atmosphere for an 8 bit game!
-it included a good amount of variety.
-the music was creepy.
-it wasn’t buggy, or glitchy. At all!

The graphics were so-so, and fighting Jason during the third day is frustrating, but I’ve always found this game to be more of a gem than a bad game!

I agree the game is a lot of fun and I think it's very good. But I think most people got turned off with the insane difficulty. I had it for about nine years and have still never beaten it although I only play it rarely. Too many objectives at once. But it's still fun and a challenge.