History TheProblemWithLicensedGames / AnimeAndManga

* The arena fighter ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': Cursed Clash is considered to be very shoddy and poorly-made, with boring game modes and uninspired gameplay. It ended up hitting a [[https://animegalaxyofficial.com/jujutsu-kaisen-game-record-most-refunds/ record]] for most Steam refunds in 4 days, and many people consider it to be 2024's successor to ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsGollum''.

* The arena fighter [[Manga/Jujutsu Kaisen]]: Cursed Clash is considered to be very shoddy and poorly-made, with boring game modes and uninspired gameplay. It ended up hitting a [[https://animegalaxyofficial.com/jujutsu-kaisen-game-record-most-refunds/ record]] for most Steam refunds in 4 days, and many people consider it to be 2024's successor to ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsGollum''.

* The arena fighter [[Anime/Jujutsu Kaisen]]: Cursed Clash is considered to be very shoddy and poorly-made, with boring game modes and uninspired gameplay. It ended up hitting a [[https://animegalaxyofficial.com/jujutsu-kaisen-game-record-most-refunds/ record]] for most Steam refunds in 4 days, and many people consider it to be 2024's successor to ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsGollum''.

* The arena fighter ''Anime/Jujutsu Kaisen'': Cursed Clash is considered to be very shoddy and poorly-made, with boring game modes and uninspired gameplay. It ended up hitting a [[https://animegalaxyofficial.com/jujutsu-kaisen-game-record-most-refunds/ record]] for most Steam refunds in 4 days, and many people consider it to be 2024's successor to ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsGollum''.

* The arena fighter ''Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash'' is considered to be very shoddy and poorly-made, with boring game modes and uninspired gameplay. It ended up hitting a [[https://animegalaxyofficial.com/jujutsu-kaisen-game-record-most-refunds/ record]] for most Steam refunds in 4 days, and many people consider it to be 2024's successor to ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsGollum''.

* The UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} game based on ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20160621122104/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm screenshots and review here]]). The [=PC88=]'s hardware was very hard to get a functional game running on in the first place, and the results speak for themselves -- a ''very'' slow-paced, buggy adventure game with hideous graphics where all of the items you need to progress are randomly placed amid endless CutAndPasteEnvironments. Sometimes, instead of an item, you'll find [[FakeDifficulty a skull that will instantly kill Nausicaä]] and waste one of the only three chances you get to finish the game. Supposedly there's a glider sequence past these, but nobody has actually stuck with the game long enough to play it... at least, not without hacking. The same publisher's offerings for the PC-6001 and UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} were better, but still mediocre at best. No further video game adaptations of Creator/StudioGhibli films were made, though this may be equally due to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's admitted distaste for the medium.

** The one for the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} is considered one of the worst for the system. Why? It's a side-scrolling action game where you play as either [[TykeBomb Tetsuo]] or Kaneda, in at least four levels of ''extreme'' difficulty and unfairness. The idea of a difficulty curve is thrown out with the first level, a motorbike racing stage somewhat like the infamously difficult level 3 of ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' but with more random obstacle placement and the added challenge of constantly needing to pick up fuel cans; the publisher supposedly had to give out ''passwords'' for reviewers to clear it. The third level has keycards to collect, and while you don't need them all to reach the end of the level, if you don't get all of them anyway, you will be trapped and unable to complete the level. The fourth level can't be completed at all because of poor play testing; one of the platforms is placed too far away for you to jump on. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120616025548/http://hardcoregaming101.net:80/kusoge/kusoge8.htm It apparently even drove its developers, ICE Software of the United Kingdom, crazy]].
** The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] version isn't much better, as it's a TrialAndErrorGameplay option-choosing game disguised as an adventure game, where you must reenact the movie step-by-exact-step.
* ''Anmitsu-Hime'' (re-skinned in America as ''[[VideoGame/AlexKidd Alex Kidd: High-Tech World]]'') for the Sega Mark III (UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem in western territories) was a video game based on the anime of the same name, which itself was based on the manga of the same name. While somewhat innovative for the time for featuring an in-game clock (that albeit only existed to impose an eight-hour time limit on the player), the game itself has mind-numbingly boring gameplay that basically amounts to an extended FetchQuest, an ear-grating soundtrack, [[UnexpectedGameplayChange frustrating platforming segments where you]] [[OneHitPointWonder die in one hit]] (and with the janky controls, you will die ''a lot''), instant death traps during the Castle segment of the game that undo all of your progress if you fall for them,[[note]]Turning on a computer will reveal that it was apparently broken and fatally shocks you, putting on armor renders you immobile and ends the game, and going down a broken set of stairs (the fact that they're broken isn't apparent at first) kills you, and those are only [[TheManyDeathsOfYou a few examples]].[[/note]] and [[GuideDangIt cryptic puzzles]], the most egregious example being as follows: One puzzle has you figuring out how to obtain a pass to get through a checkpoint gate. There's a book that you can buy that teaches you how to print your own pass and a printing press that you can also buy, but those are actually useless if you missed the window of time to use them. In reality, you need to pray at the shrine '''''[[Mystical108 108 times]]''''' (which, unless this is some sort of reference to the show, is never made readily apparent to the player at any point, and it ''certainly'' won't make any sense to Western players) until the shrine kannushi comes out and gives you a pass. But beware, as if you have either the "How to Print a Pass" book or a pistol (that you can just pick up off the ground in one of the houses) in your inventory, the guard arrests you. You can't drop either of them either, so you might as well reset the game if you pick them up by accident.\\

** While ''Ultimate Battle 22'' had a great soundtrack, it fell short on ''so'' many other areas; the graphics are terrible looking and lazily arranged, especially for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation1 PS1]], the gameplay's [[ArtificialStupidity shoddy AI]] is noticeable, and the gameplay's just as shoddy. To make matters worse, the [[BadExportForYou U.S version]] feels even more like a disaster; the loading screens feel longer, music loops feel unnatural, and the cutscenes for special moves were removed (except for the announcer during tournament mode... without being re-dubbed {or even subtitled} and with longer pauses in between his sentences, for some reason). To add further insult to injury, the inferior U.S. version was released '''eight years''' after the Japanese version, at a time when the UsefulNotes/Playstation2 was three years into its lifespan, in a cheap effort to capitalize on DBZ's then-ongoing surge of popularity in the West.

** The notoriously awful ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' received a tie-in video game for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable. Despite being a clone of the popular ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai'' series, it isn’t much better than the film it’s based on, suffering from shallow button-mashing gameplay, poor graphics and sound design, [[ArtificialStupidity idiotic enemy A.I.]], and a story mode with cheaply-produced cutscenes that can be completed in less than two hours.

** ''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Hot Scramble'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem is one of Bandai's first infamous licensed games, that alternates [[EverythingTryingToKillYou chaotic FPS stages]] and repetitive maze platforming levels. The sad thing is that it was developed by Masanobu Endoh of ''VideoGame/{{Xevious}}'' and ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga'', who left Namco [[AscendedFanboy to develop it]] and fell into a heavy case of ExecutiveMeddling.
** While the other games based on the Cosmic Era range from [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames legitimately enjoyable]] (''[[VideoGame/GundamVsSeries Alliance VS ZAFT]]'' series, GBA's ''SEED Destiny'', ''BATTLE DESTINY'') to average, the first eponymous ''Gundam SEED'' game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation 2 is a true stinker, a side-scrolling game with fighting game command inputs that seems outdated for a [=PS2=] game and doesn't even cover the whole show.

** UsefulNotes/PlayStation 3's ''Mobile Suit Gundam Side Stories'' tried to gather every previous video game-exclusive story into a single game. Needless to say, the final result is little more than a rehash of ''[[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame Battle Operation]]'' with [[AdaptationDecay vague rehashes]] of the mentioned stories, done with the same generic gameplay that makes some of their GameplayAndStorySegregation stories to lose appeal.

** The first ''Hokuto no Ken'' game for the UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}} is a substandard single-plane BeatEmUp with graphics that look like they came straight out of an UsefulNotes/Atari5200 and an obtuse power-up system that involves picking up floating words from certain enemies after they explode. It's generally (but incorrectly) regarded to be UnwinnableByDesign due to how the first level just loops itself in infinity if you continue walking left. That's because in order to actually proceed through the game, you must stand in front of certain doors and press Up+A+B at the same time ([[GuideDangIt good luck figuring that out without looking it up]]). It made for such an agonizing experience that Chrontendo ended up giving it the #5 spot on his list of the top 10 worst UsefulNotes/{{NES}}/Famicom games from 1983 to 1987, right after ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. While the sequel, ''Hokuto no Ken 2'', suffers from some of the same fundamental flaws (now you're required to press A+B+Right to enter doors), it was enough of a considerable improvement for Taxan to pick it over the first game for a US release.

* Creator/{{Capcom}}'s ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''[='=]s games were consistently good, but not most of the [=JoJo=] games by other developers. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] ''Stardust Crusaders'' adaptation is regarded as a SoBadItsGood game in Japan, thanks to the even more nonsensical plot that totally ignores the original manga. The ''Phantom Blood'' adaptation on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, however, is a partially-censored slavish adaptation with far more cutscenes than action and bad, repetitive gameplay with an unbalanced difficulty level ([[BossInMookClothing the bullies - the first enemies in the game, mind you - are stronger than the final boss Dio himself]]).
* ''[[Manga/ApocalypseZero Kakugo no Susume]]'''s UsefulNotes/PlayStation game has been ranked by Famitsu as the worst fighting game for the system,[[note]]Technically, a 3-way tie with ''The Masters Fighter'' and ''Shura no Mon'' - the latter being another example of this trope.[[/note]] to the point that [[DisownedAdaptation the manga's author derided it]].
* ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}: Muscle Tag Match'' for the UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}} (also released as ''M.U.S.C.L.E.'' on the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}) was the first Famicom game published by Bandai, and it shows. It is a wrestling game with eight different playable characters, but all of them share the same small pool of basic moves. Thanks to a combination of the poor controls and the tiny character sprites, it's near impossible to do anything intentionally as you fight your opponent, making the game difficult to play properly.

** ''Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures'' for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]] is a hybrid racing-platforming game. While somewhat ambitious for featuring irregular terrain (other contemporary racing games like ''VideoGame/FZero'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' have flat tracks), this comes at the cost of performance, as the racing segments barely run at a choppy 15 FPS (with frame drops) - ironic for a game based on a show about a super-powered car. However, the platforming segments are even worse, featuring unresponsive controls, terrible combat, poor collision detection, and questionable level design.

** ''Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout'' suffered from almost all the same problems from ''22'' (in a few cases it's even worse); while the graphics are ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny for the time]]) pretty good, the gameplay's very shoddy, what with the controller responding at the wrong time (assuming that it even responds at all), the camera's uncooperative, and the moves felt repetitive and lack variety. There's also the voice acting in the American version, which feels so unsalvageable; not even [[Creator/SteveBlum Steve Blum's]] portrayal of Goku feels tolerable.

* Creator/ToeiAnimation once got themselves into the video game publishing business in Japan, but never published anything of note aside from a series of terrible ''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Hokuto no Ken]]'' video games throughout most of the TheEighties and TheNineties. Despite their terrible reception, they somehow managed to churn out ''eight'' of them.

* The UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} game based on ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20160621122104/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm screenshots and review here]]). The [=PC88=]'s hardware was very hard to get a functional game running on in the first place, and the results speak for themselves -- a ''very'' slow-paced, buggy adventure game with hideous graphics where all of the items you need to progress are randomly placed amid endless CutAndPasteEnvironments. Sometimes, instead of an item, you'll find [[FakeDifficulty a skull that will instantly kill Nausicaä]] and waste one of the only three chances you get to finish the game. Supposedly there's a glider sequence past these, but nobody has actually stuck with the game long enough to play it... at least, not without hacking. The same publisher's offerings for the PC-6001 and UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} were better, but still mediocre at best. No further video game adaptations of Creator/StudioGhibli games were made, though this may be equally due to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's admitted distaste for the medium.

* The UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} game based on ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20160621122104/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm screenshots and review here]]). The [=PC88=]'s hardware was very hard to get a functional game running on in the first place, and the results speak for themselves -- a ''very'' slow-paced, buggy adventure game with hideous graphics where all of the items you need to progress are randomly placed amid endless CutAndPasteEnvironments. Sometimes, instead of an item, you'll find [[FakeDifficulty a skull that will instantly kill Nausicaä]] and waste one of the only three chances you get to finish the game. Supposedly there's a glider sequence past these, but nobody has actually stuck with the game long enough to... at least, not without hacking. The same publisher's offerings for the PC-6001 and UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} were better, but still mediocre at best. No further video game adaptations of Creator/StudioGhibli games were made, though this may be equally due to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's admitted distaste for the medium.

* The UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} game based on ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20160621122104/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm screenshots and review here]]). The [=PC88=]'s hardware was very hard to get a functional game running on in the first place, and the results speak for themselves -- a ''very'' slow-paced, buggy adventure game with hideous graphics where all of the items you need to progress are randomly placed amid endless CutAndPasteEnvironments, including [[FakeDifficulty skulls that instantly kill Nausicaä]] and waste one of the only three chances you get to finish the game. Supposedly there's a glider sequence past these, but nobody has actually stuck with the game long enough to... at least, not without hacking. The same publisher's offerings for the PC-6001 and UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} were better, but still mediocre at best. No further video game adaptations of Creator/StudioGhibli games were made, though this may be equally due to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's admitted distaste for the medium.

* The UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} game based on ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20160621122104/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm screenshots and review here]]). The PC88 wasn't designed for gaming to begin with, and the result is a ''very'' slow-paced, buggy adventure game with hideous graphics where all of the items you need to progress are randomly placed amid endless CutAndPasteEnvironments -- including [[FakeDifficulty skulls that instantly kill Nausicaä]], wasting one of the only three chances you get to finish the game. Supposedly there's a glider sequence past these, but nobody has actually stuck with the game long enough to... at least, not without hacking. The same publisher's offerings for the PC-6001 and UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} were better, but still mediocre at best. No further video game adaptations of Creator/StudioGhibli games were made, though this may be equally due to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's admitted distaste for the medium.

* The UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} version of ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' game ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20160621122104/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm see the horror here]]) is so bad that it makes ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' on the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} look like ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' on the UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES. The PC-6001 & UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} versions of said games are more playable, but the PC-6001 was not made for gaming, and what {{Creator/Konami}}, Creator/HALLaboratory and Creator/{{Compile}} were dishing out for the MSX were far better than this. There was no reason to bother with this game when there were much better games for the MSX coming out from said companies. It doesn't help Creator/HayaoMiyazaki hates video games as well, and did even before said games were made, going back to his days at Telecom Animation Film back in 1978. This game, suffice to say, did little to convince him that video game adaptations of his films were worth the extra effort.

** Some of the non-Banpresto ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' games are pretty mediocre. ''Operation Troy'' did so poorly in its native soil that it [[NoExportForYou never left]]; ''Crossfire'' was poorly received by American reviewers for being slow-moving, ugly, and for not having online multiplayer; and there are some Gundam games that are plain unmentionable due to how bad they are.

** While the other games based on the Cosmic Era range from [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames legitimately enjoyable]] (''[[VideoGame/GundamVsSeries Alliance VS ZAFT]]'' series, GBA's ''SEED Destiny'', ''BATTLE DESTINY'') to average, the first eponymous ''Gundam SEED'' game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation 2 is a true stinker, a side-scrolling game with fighting game command inputs that seems outdated to be a [=PS2=] game and doesn't even cover the whole show.

Anime and manga have been adapted into video games, which several adaptations fell into the common pitfalls of licensed games:

%%* ''Manga/ZatchBell'' has a trading card game. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that there is no randomness: instead of a deck, you put your cards in a special miniature binder modeled after the {{Spell Book}}s found in the show. You could only use the card that was on the current page.

* Creator/ToeiAnimation once got themselves into the video game publishing business in Japan, but never published anything of note aside from a series of terrible ''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Hokuto no Ken]]'' video games throughout most of the TheEighties and TheNineties. Despite their terrible reception, they somehow managed to churn out ''eight'' of them.
** The first ''Hokuto no Ken'' game for the UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}} is a substandard single-plane BeatEmUp with graphics that look like they came straight out of an UsefulNotes/Atari5200 and an obtuse power-up system that involves picking up floating words from certain enemies after they explode. It's generally (but incorrectly) regarded to be UnwinnableByDesign due to how the first level just loops itself in infinity if you continue walking left. That's because in order to actually proceed through the game, you must stand in front of certain doors and press Up+A+B at the same time ([[GuideDangIt good luck figuring that out without looking it up]]). It made for such an agonizing experience that Chrontendo ended up giving it the #5 spot on his list of the top 10 worst UsefulNotes/{{NES}}/Famicom games from 1983 to 1987, right after ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. While the sequel, ''Hokuto no Ken 2'', suffers from some of the same fundamental flaws (now you're required to press A+B+Right to enter doors), it was enough of a considerable improvement for Taxan to pick it over the first game for a US release.
** After the two side-scrolling action games on the Famicom, Toei took a stab on the RPG genre with ''Hokuto no Ken 3''. At first glance, the game seems like a bog-standard JRPG from the era, with the main gimmick being that it's first game that tries to adapt the whole manga all way up to the Kaioh saga. However the game simplifies the story to such a ridiculous extent, with key moments from the manga being changed or just downright omitted. The most egregious being the Souther arc. Instead of giving him a difficult dungeon to rule over or a dramatic pre-battle speech, he just appears wandering in front of his pyramid as an average NPC.

** There's two separate trading card games, one for ''Anime/BakutenShootBeyblade'' and the other for ''Anime/MetalFightBeyblade''. Neither are particular good for trading card games and one is left to wonder what fans of a high action franchise like ''Beyblade'' could see in a slow card game.

** ''Dragon Ball Z Sagas'' attempted to recreate the gameplay of the ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZTheLegacyOfGoku Legacy of Goku]]'' games in full 3D. It failed thanks to low-quality graphics, [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom exceedingly linear and bland levels]], [[CameraScrew a wonky camera that makes it difficult to focus on the action]], tedious and unexciting combat, and an extremely poor implementation of the Super Saiyan mechanic that's aggravated by the fact that certain bosses can only be damaged when you're in Super Saiyan mode.

* ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}: Muscle Tag Match'', one of the earliest anime licensed games released for the UsefulNotes/{{Famicom}}[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{NES}}. The anime hadn't been released outside Japan, but the toyline had been distributed as ''M.U.S.C.L.E.'', which gave [[Creator/BandaiNamco Bandai]] an excuse to export this pathetic excuse for a wrestling game under that name. The eight characters all share the same basic moves and differ mostly in how ugly their sprites are. Despite all of this the game sold 1 million copies in Japan and therefore lead to a flood of bad Famicom games based on anime and toys. It also has a place in NES history since it was the second third-party release for the NES.

** ''Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout'' suffered from almost all the same problems from ''22'' (in a few cases it's even worse); while the graphics are ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny for the time]]) pretty good, the gameplay's very shoddy, what with the controller responding at the wrong time (assuming that it even responds at all), the camera's uncooperative, and the moves felt repetitive and lack variety. There's also the voice acting in the American version, which feels so unsalvageable; not even [[Creator/SteveBlum Steve Blum's]] portrayal as Goku feels tolerable.

* ''Majokko Daisakusen'' is a [=PlayStation=] crossover game featuring Toei's early MagicalGirl shows ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and]] ''Anime/CuteyHoney''), but it's a DolledUpInstallment port of ''VideoGame/TheUnholyWar''. Not only does the game recycle a bunch of enemies of the original game with no context, but most of the featured franchises have no violent confrontations to begin with.

** The ''VideoGame/GSaviour'' video game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 already suffers from being based in a FanonDiscontinuity film, but the game itself is excessively short and simple (you can't do much more than walk, shoot or [[Main/HoverSkates slide]]) in addition of having a lazy plot which has almost no relation to the film itself. Otherwise, gamers and critics liked it better than the movie.
** UsefulNotes/PlayStation's ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam: The One Year War'' is an attempt to faithfully recreate the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' anime in a single game, unlike the ''Journey to Jaburo'' and ''Encounters in Space'' duology. The biggest problem is that the game itself gives the player absolutely nothing to do other than faithfully reproducing the show (mostly) from the main character Amuro's perspective.