History TheProblemWithLicensedGames / LiveActionFilms

** ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'' has been panned by the vast majority of critics and a large amount of players as well, with complaints about graphical errors, terrible AI, a lack of genuine tension, and unlikable characters. The dev team has been trying to make amends with patches to fix the graphics errors and AI, and bring the game closer to what it was supposed to be judging from the trailers. What's particularly odd is that ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' had been a massive influence on first person shooters for well over a decade; the creators of ''Colonial Marines'' could have just copied the original's imitators and been well-received. Many years later, it was discovered that the godawful enemy AI --one of the biggest sticking points in critical reviews-- had been the fault of [[ForWantOfANail a single typo in the game's code]] (PROTIP: "tether" is spelled without an A).

** The problem with ''Film/JurassicPark Interactive'' for the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]]; it didn't require any discipline to make it. They saw what the film had done and they made it into a collection of bizarre minigames with boringly long load times. They didn't get the actors to reprise their roles, so they get new actors who were described in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOJeRrzFIQ8 a Giant Bomb video]] as looking like "the stars of a Jurassic Park porno." They stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as they could, and before they even knew what they had, they patented it, they packaged it, they slapped it on a 3DO disk and now, they're selling it.

** There was a cheap movie cash-in GBA/DS game based on ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. Aside from the three Triwizard challenges, the other levels ranged from plausible to perplexing. For example, the Yule Ball was represented by a rhythm minigame, and one of the longest levels involved chasing the golden egg through the sewer system for no other reason than because Harry couldn't keep a good grip on it. [[note]]The egg-chase level also existed in the console versions, but was better received there.[[/note]] The console version is a lesser case, [[BrokenBase splitting the fans]] regarding the shift from "Hogwarts as an open world" to a more level-based design, plus [[ArtificialStupidity Ron and Hermione being occasionally unhelpful when controlled by the AI]].

* While ''VideoGame/PeterJacksonsKingKong'' [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames averts this trope on the consoles]], the DS one does not. It's a first-person shooter where you can almost go through the ''entire game without killing anything''. Top it with bugs that cause Jack to fall out of the level, bad hit detection, graphics that make the characters look hideous, and the game's short length meaning it can be beaten in less than a few hours. Even the parts where you get to play as King Kong (which is the best-looking part of this game), you have very little involvement in, since it just resorts to spamming the same 2 buttons. The PSP version received a mixed reception for a shorter length and cut-down features compared to the consoles, but was not as panned as the DS version.

* The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] ''Film/TimeCop'' game released by Cryo Interactive in 1995 is a sloppy action platformer starring a goofy digitized facsimile of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme through five stages as he struggles with delayed controls, useless moves, cheap hits, slow and stupid-looking enemies, glitches, and poorly-executed [[UnexpectedGameplayChange Unexpected Gameplay Changes]] (the "best" one being a [[UnexpectedShmupLevel shmup sequence]] where you control a large submarine that takes up an eighth of the screen). Its only redeeming qualities are that it's broken and inept [[SoBadItsGood in a funny way]] and features a bizarrely catchy soundtrack by [[Creator/QuanticDream David Cage]].

** The problem with ''Film/JurassicPark Interactive'' for the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]]; it didn't require any discipline to make it. They saw what the film had done and they made it into a collection of bizarre minigames with boringly long load times. They didn't get the actors to reprise their roles, so they get new actors who some people thought looked like "[[https://kotaku.com/the-best-worst-and-weirdest-jurassic-park-games-1826918812 stars of a Jurassic Park porno.]]" They stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as they could, and before they even knew what they had, they patented it, they packaged it, they slapped it on a 3DO disk and now, they're selling it.

* The ''Film/HomeAlone'' video game series that Creator/{{THQ}} published in 1991 and 1992. The first one on the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] is completely awful, thanks to unresponsive controls, and your reward for beating the game in the twenty minutes? [[AWinnerIsYou The same bad ending you get for losing]]. Even worse is its sequel, ''Lost in New York'', which ranges from irredeemably terrible (UsefulNotes/GameBoy and NES) to SoBadItsGood (UsefulNotes/SuperNES). The NES and Game Boy versions feature terrible play control, below-average graphics, FakeDifficulty, and also its weird assortment of enemies, including a vacuum out to kill Kevin.

** The UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}-exclusive 1987 ''Star Wars'' game by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] stars Luke Skywalker as a OneHitPointWonder whose in-game sprite [[AdaptationDyeJob has black hair]]. There are levels requiring precise jumping in between [[SpikesOfDoom spikes of instant death]], and the {{Nintendo Hard}}ness is aggravated by Luke's lightsaber having poor hit detection. What does not help things is that the floaty jumping physics are aggravated by imprecise platform jumping, meaning you'll frequently miss the intended jump and fall into the many BottomlessPits. This game's real notoriety, however, is not based on difficulty but because it plays fast and loose with the ''Star Wars'' canon. Before leaving Tatooine, there is a BossBattle against Darth Vader... or rather, a decoy who turns into a ''giant scorpion'' after one hit. This sort of thing happens on every level, including several worlds that don't figure in ''Film/ANewHope'', which this game is very loosely based off of. And speaking of worlds, there's also the fact that you'll also have to rescue your allies (who are all on Tatooine when they all meet in the film): Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, Chewbacca (who's on a random ice planet), and ''Han Solo'' (who's being held captive on Yavin IV) - making you realize it's YOU who's flying the Millenium Falcon between worlds!
** The NES would get another adaptation also based on ''A New Hope'' a few years later by Beam Software. It still manages to fall into this trope because of several factors. It is difficult to control Luke Skywalker because he moves around way too quickly. Getting him to stop on a dime is easier said than done. It is still NintendoHard because of how dangerous several enemies are throughout the game. Han Solo and Princess Leia are playable, but they only have one life. Obi-Wan can revive them, but he can only do it several times. While the game is more faithful to the source material, the quite good music and graphics for its time are nice draws, it is otherwise a mediocre game.

** The UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}-exclusive 1987 ''Star Wars'' game by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] stars Luke Skywalker as a OneHitPointWonder whose in-game sprite [[AdaptationDyeJob has black hair]]. There are levels requiring precise jumping in between [[SpikesOfDoom spikes of instant death]], and the {{Nintendo Hard}}ness is aggravated by Luke's lightsaber having poor hit detection. What does not help things is that the floaty jumping physics are aggravated by precise platform jumping, meaning you'll either miss the intended jump and fall into the many BottomlessPits. This game's real notoriety, however, is not based on difficulty but because it plays fast and loose with the ''Star Wars'' canon. Before leaving Tatooine, there is a BossBattle against Darth Vader... or rather, a decoy who turns into a ''giant scorpion'' after one hit. This sort of thing happens on every level, including several worlds that don't figure in ''Film/ANewHope'', which this game is very loosely based off of. And speaking of worlds, there's also the fact that you'll also have to rescue your allies (who are all on Tatooine when they all meet in the film): Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, Chewbacca (who's on a random ice planet), and ''Han Solo'' (who's being held captive on Yavin IV) - making you realize it's YOU who's flying the Millenium Falcon between worlds!

* ''Film/{{Zathura}}'' had a video game adaptation for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} that suffered uninspired stage design, slow and sluggish gameplay, and a lot of FakeDifficulty. Of the two versions, the [=PS2=] iteration is the lesser, with very bad frame rate issues that may give you an eye strain. The Xbox version runs at a solid 60 fps that brings the game up from "hardly tolerable" to "mediocre", but still is far from anything one would want to spend money on.

* The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] adaptation of ''Film/Alien3'' comes ''this close'' to averting this trope - even more surprising considering it was published by notorious schlock studio Creator/{{LJN|Toys}}. It has great music, decent graphics, and is loyal enough to the source material by NES standards that it could have been great... had they not [[DamnYouMuscleMemory swapped the jump and shoot controls (B jumps)]] and given you a ridiculously low time limit to beat each stage. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]]/Mega Drive (which the NES game is a stripped-down version of) releases are examples of SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames.
* ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'' has been panned by the vast majority of critics and a large amount of players as well, with complaints about graphical errors, terrible AI, a lack of genuine tension, and unlikable characters. The dev team has been trying to make amends with patches to fix the graphics errors and AI, and bring the game closer to what it was supposed to be judging from the trailers. What's particularly odd is that ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' had been a massive influence on first person shooters for well over a decade; the creators of ''Colonial Marines'' could have just copied the original's imitators and been well-received. Many years later, it was discovered that the godawful enemy AI --one of the biggest sticking points in critical reviews-- had been the fault of [[ForWantOfANail a single typo in the game's code]] (PROTIP: "tether" is spelled without an A).
* ''Film/DemolitionMan'' had a fairly ambitious 3DO game that even featured all-new footage of Creator/SylvesterStallone in the menus. Unfortunately, at times the objectives were unclear, the first-person segments were troubled by too similar environments, and the boss fights in the style of a fighting game were simply lame.
* ''VideoGame/DennisTheMenace'' (known simply as ''Dennis'' in UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}) received a LicensedGame for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, UsefulNotes/GameBoy, and UsefulNotes/AmigaCD32 by Ocean Software in 1993. The plot of the game is that Switchblade Sam has stolen Mr. Wilson's coin collection and kidnapped Margaret and Joey, so Dennis has to find the missing coins, defeat Sam, and rescue his friends. The objective of each stage is to find four coins, but the stages are very big and the coins are often hidden in obscure places, making it easy to lose track of where you are. The game also has a [[TimedMission time limit]] that doesn't reset when you lose a life, and if time runs out, [[NonStandardGameOver you lose all your lives]]. The [[AutoScrollingLevel auto-scrolling levels]] take five minutes to complete, but can take even longer if you mess up and lose a life (which is very easy to do). In the third Sewer level, the bubbles that you need to jump across to complete the level sometimes don't spawn, requiring you to make blind jumps. As for weapons, the most effective ones are the slingshot and the peashooter, but even then, enemies still take many hits to kill. The most useless weapon, though, is the squirt gun, which can stun enemies, but most of the time, doesn't do anything and it takes a few seconds just to stun an enemy. It doesn't even kill the [[EvilLivingFlames fire enemies]] in the Boiler Room level. ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' has reviewed the SNES version, saying it's one of the worst SNES games he ever played.
* ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'':
** ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari2600 is the {{Trope Maker|s}}, or at least the TropeCodifier. It was produced for no other reason than to quickly cash in on the success of [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial the 1982 movie]], and was [[ObviousBeta hurried through production]] in a matter of weeks (the average 2600 game would have a development time of between five and six months) to be on the shelves for the Christmas shopping season. Its gameplay consists entirely of E.T. falling into pits in order to search for pieces of his space telephone. Although it sold very well, Creator/{{Atari}} made the mistake of producing more cartridges than systems in existence hoping it would become a system seller -- as such, it contributed to Atari's profit losses and (although there were lots of games way worse at the time) made such a contribution to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 that it got a reputation as one of the "worst games in history". [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game) More information]], or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm05sIMeRK4 experience the horror yourself.]]
** While not as bad as the Atari game, ''E.T. and the Cosmic Garden'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor and the 2001 ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance weren't that good either. The former is a boring real time game that has you gardening on other planets. It's too easy, very boring, and has awful music. The later game has F.B.I agents who attack E.T. by shaking him in a way that makes it look like he's giving them a blowjob, while E.T. attacks by running blindly at his enemies.
* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' games:
** The [[https://web.archive.org/web/20110517034557/http://www.retrogameoftheday.com/2010/05/retro-game-of-day-ghostbusters-nes.html NES version]] of ''VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'', which was simultaneously released for the '''UsefulNotes/Atari2600''' without any change in gameplay. The stairway segment is easily one of the most tedious moments: the player has to avoid ghosts homing onto them, while they mash buttons to move.
** ''Film/GhostbustersII'' on the '''[[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]]''' was slightly an improvement, but not by much. The sprite graphics don't look very good, and most of the levels are traveling from point A to B. There is also no pause button, meaning players will not have any chance to take a break from their progress. Creator/HALLaboratory published different games based on the movie for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy and [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] that [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames were quite good]], despite the latter was only released in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} and UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}.
** Creator/{{Atari}} and Terminal Reality's 2009 revival is considered [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames such a great use of the license]] that many -- including Creator/DanAykroyd himself -- consider it the film series' canonical third movie. Its sequel, 2011's ''Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime'', is much less so, with the most obvious strike against it being the absence of the original Ghostbusters team - leaving the day to be saved by a group of fresh-faced rookies who aren't quite as charming. Also working against ''Sanctum'' are its overuse of CutAndPasteEnvironments, AI partners who do more to harm than help, and the general monotony of gameplay (get trapped in a room, fight a bunch of color-coded ghosts, move on to next room, rinse, repeat).
** The [[VideoGame/Ghostbusters2016 2016 reboot]] was given a video game tie-in long after games based on then-upcoming summer movies were no longer popular with developers, and the reason for the latter shows. Like ''Sanctum of Slime'' the gameplay is monotonous, the controls are unresponsive, the levels are far too large, the upgrade system is poorly implemented, and again the characters from the film are replaced with rookies. Surprisingly, it didn't directly have a hand in the demise of its developer [=FireForge=] Games, which filed for bankruptcy just three days after the game's release after being embroiled in several prior lawsuits, though it's safe to assume it did nothing to help their situation.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' has a mixed record with this trope. While most games are decent or outright good, there are some clunkers here and there:
** There exists the UsefulNotes/Atari2600 adaptation of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' that required a lot of GuideDangIt moments with complicated inventory puzzles.
** [[Creator/{{Atari}} Tengen]] released a port of the arcade version of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem that was a PortingDisaster. The maps were extremely convoluted to navigate and switching weapons [[SomeDexterityRequired was a complicated affair]] in a game that is already sluggish to begin with. Jumping can be difficult too because if the player jumps, they could easily fall into a lava pit, with no fault on their own because of the wonky controls.
** The Creator/{{Ubisoft}}-published version of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' was such an example. It was a porting disaster of the [[UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem Master System]] version, where the game looked like a UsefulNotes/GameBoy game (before the actual Game Boy port was released), bosses had way too much health, and a lack of music variety. It has a nasty trap in the final level: if the player chooses the wrong grail, they have to replay the entire game from the beginning.
* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' has two cases, [[VideoGame/{{Jaws}} an NES game]] that is short (can be finished in an hour...) and horribly repetitive (...mostly spent swimming around harpooning innocent and harmless sea creatures as LevelGrinding before facing the shark), and ''VideoGame/JawsUnleashed'', that for all the potential of a WideOpenSandbox where you play as a shark, is plagued by rather atrocious controls and wonky camera interface.
* Even with a track record as great as ''Franchise/StarWars'' games tend to have, there's bound to be a few duds just by the sheer number that exist:
** The UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}-exclusive 1987 ''Star Wars'' game by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] stars Luke Skywalker as a OneHitPointWonder whose in-game sprite [[AdaptationDyeJob has black hair]]. There are levels requiring precise jumping in between [[SpikesOfDoom spikes of instant death]], and the {{Nintendo Hard}}ness is aggravated by Luke's lightsaber having poor hit detection. What does not help things is that the floaty jumping physics are aggravated by precise platform jumping, meaning you'll either miss the intended jump and fall into the many BottomlessPits. This game's real notoriety, however, is not based on difficulty but because it plays fast and loose with the ''Star Wars'' canon. Before leaving Tatooine, there is a BossBattle against Darth Vader... or rather, a decoy who turns into a ''giant scorpion'' after one hit. This sort of thing happens on every level, including several worlds that don't figure in ''Film/ANewHope'', which this game is very loosely based off of. And speaking of worlds, there's also the fact that you'll also have to rescue your allies (who are all on Tatooine when they all meet in the film): Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, Chewbacca (who's on a random ice planet), and ''Han Solo'' (who's being held captive on Yavin IV) - making you realize it's YOU who's flying the Millenium Falcon between worlds!
** The NES would get another adaptation also based on ''A New Hope'' a few years later by Beam Software. It still manages to fall into this trope because of several factors. It is difficult to control Luke Skywalker because he moves around way too quickly. Getting him to stop on a dime is easier said than done. It is still NintendoHard because of how dangerous several enemies are throughout the game. Han Solo and Princess Leia are playable, but they only have one life. Obi-Wan can revive them, but he can only do it several times. While the game is more faithful to the source material, the quite good music and graphics for its time are nice draws, it is otherwise a mediocre game.
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsMastersOfTerasKasi'' was Creator/LucasArts' attempt at doing a ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}''-style fighting game. The game was originally going to be developed by Creator/{{Capcom}}, the Japanese company behind hit franchises like ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'', but [=LucasArts=] instead opted to make it themselves for unknown reasons. [=LucasArts=]' lack of experience with fighting games proved to be a huge problem, especially when it came to implementing {{Game Break|er}}ing elements like Force abilities and lightsabers. The end result was a slow, clunky game where characters like Luke and Darth Vader could easily curb stomp everyone else in the cast without much effort. Ironically, Capcom would recycle their unfinished work on the ''Star Wars'' fighting game into ''VideoGame/StarGladiator'', which received better reviews than ''Masters of Teräs Käsi''.
** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation and PC adaptation of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' is below average. Excellent audio (which is the common strong point of ''Star Wars'' anyway) and fair-looking full 3D graphics aside, the decent level design is doomed by unfitting puzzle/adventure levels tacked on breaking the pace, awkward controls, horrible camera placement, buggy coding, imbalanced weapons, and a seriously flawed dueling mechanic can ruin your experience halfway through.
** ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' on UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance is a very phoned-in and poor licensed game. The pre-rendered graphics and animations are smooth and there are 3D flying sections that are impressive for GBA, but the controls are stiff, lightsaber moves are laughably limited and the 2D level design is tepid at best. Most of the game is simply walk from left to right, occasionally jump on a platform, hit enemy with lightsaber until it dies, etc., with nearly every area in the game feeling like a slightly shuffled skin-swap of the area before. ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' on GBA was released a few years later and was far more appealing, well-made and fun to play, giving ''Attack of the Clones'' no excuse.
** The ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' games are considered to be among the best ''Star Wars'' games out there, but when you try to crop the gameplay to fit on a GBA cart you get 2003's ''Flight of the Falcon''. Whilst certainly an ambitious attempt to give the GBA a flight sim/dogfight game (and to be fair, the music is actually pretty decent) the fact is that the graphics were not only blotchy and pixelated, but they dragged the game's speed to a chugging crawl. Add to that repetitive overly-long levels and poor controls and you end up with a complete mess.
** ''[[https://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox/star-wars-obi-wan Obi-Wan]]'', one of the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}'s launch titles, told Ben's story before and during ''The Phantom Menace''. Probably helped by production turmoils (it was supposed to be on the PC, a SpiritualSuccessor to ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight]]''), the game had a good battle system (with Force powers and using one of the analog sticks to handle the lightsaber) being brought down by bad camera, poor graphics and level design, and repetitive combat.
** While much of the poor reaction to ''Kinect Star Wars'' was likely due to both Creator/{{Microsoft}} and Creator/{{LucasArts}} hyping it up as ''the'' KillerApp for the Kinect, when in fact it was a pretty run-of-the-mill collection of minigames, it ultimately fell down for the same reason as far too many other Kinect games--the erratic and often unresponsive controls. On top of that, the minigames themselves were either okayish but had been done better elsewhere (the space combat and podracing parts), or just too silly to take seriously (the infamous dancing minigame, which ironically enough was probably the one which controlled the best).
** While ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'' is a reasonably polished big-budget game, during its initial release it became [[OvershadowedByControversy one of the most infamous]] ''[[OvershadowedByControversy Star Wars]]'' [[OvershadowedByControversy games of all time]] for its horribly unbalanced and luck-based microtransaction and progression system, which makes the game frustrating, unrewarding and borderline unplayable for many people. More importantly, the gameplay was perceived as monotonous due to lack of variety, and the game's much-hyped story mode is frequently seen as lackluster and formulaic in both plot and mechanics. The result, despite very good graphics and sound design, was SoOkayItsAverage reception (65/100 on Metacritic) and a moderate under-performance in EA's expected sales. However, the game did later manage to WinBackTheCrowd by regularly releasing new modes and characters free of charge and getting rid of the greedy progression system.

* ''Film/MaryShelleysFrankenstein'' had confusing and at times abusingly hard gameplay in a maze-like level layout, with the Monster himself being slightly bipolar: he limps and lurches and yet is able to perform huge jumps!
* ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' got their own multi-platform video game in the late 80's. It does a fine job of capturing the right tone for a ''Stooges'' game and has loads of nods to many of their famous short films and actual voice clips from the guys, but the mini-games that make up its core gameplay have very clunky controls and the difficulty curve is surprisingly tough because of the reaction speed needed to master them. It remained enough of a CultClassic to get an UpdatedRerelease for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance and UsefulNotes/PlayStation many years later.
** There was also an arcade game put out by Gottlieb in 1984, which lacked the variety and charm of the later release and had rather bland gameplay.

* ''VideoGame/BloodwingsPumpkinheadsRevenge''. As if being based on the abysmal ''Film/PumpkinheadIIBloodWings'' wasn't bad enough, developer BAP Interactive thought it was a brilliant idea to set the game in a metaphysical netherworld completely unrelated to the movies, where you were forced to wander through repetitive corridors and view clips from the movie in order to obtain items, and endure pointless crystal collecting segments ''every time you killed an enemy''. Even something as mundane as replenishing health and ammo was needlessly convoluted. Not helping matters was [[GuideDangIt the fact the game gave no clues on what you were supposed to be doing]], which meant that the poor sod who bought this game would end up either blindly experimenting with items if that particular copy came with the manual or aimlessly wandering around in a futile search for an exit if it didn't (and there's a significant chance it didn't if it was bought second-hand). And worst of all, you could be punished for taking items you weren't supposed to take with you ''[[BagOfSpilling by having your entire inventory cleared out]]'' without ever knowing which item it was you shouldn't have brought along.
* It's not that the developers of ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTrespasser'' didn't [[http://lparchive.org/Jurassic-Park-Trespasser/ try]]. In fact, the game had numerous innovative aspects going for itself (real-time physics, procedurally generated animations, an experimental no heads-up-display approach where players had to ''look down at a tattoo on the player character's breast to see their health'' and the play character ''counts the number of bullets in her weapon aloud'', artificially intelligent dinosaurs) and was a genuinely ambitious project [[http://www.vimeo.com/789247 that was to leave its mark on the industry for years]]... but [[ChristmasRushed the publishers wanted the game to come out on time]], and the game was [[DevelopmentHell already infamous for numerous delays]], so many of its supposedly defining features were either severely cut down or left completely unfinished. The game was heavily panned upon its release for its [[ObviousBeta numerous glitches]] and its impossibly steep system requirements (owing to its huge outdoor environments, which was completely uncalled for at the time), and by the time the game was patched and most users' computers were finally good enough to run the game fluidly, the damage had already been done and the game was quickly forgotten after many a gamer's focus shifted to the fantastic ''[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Half-Life]]'' and the phenomenally awful ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'', and in the end the game's attempt at a groundbreaking physics engine was a tremendous inspiration during the development of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. [[note]]It seems that the game received a spiritual successor about seven years later in the form of ''VideoGame/PeterJacksonsKingKong: The Official Game of the Movie'', a HUD-less first-person shooter based on a major film by a big-name director where the player uses guns and other environmental objects to kill dinosaurs on a mysterious island. The only difference is that the latter game turned out to be genuinely good.[[/note]]
** The problem with ''Film/JurassicPark Interactive'': it didn't require any discipline to make it. They saw what the film had done and they made it into a collection of bizarre minigames with boringly long load times. They didn't get the actors to reprise their roles, so they get new actors who some people thought looked like "[[https://kotaku.com/the-best-worst-and-weirdest-jurassic-park-games-1826918812 stars of a Jurassic Park porno.]]" They stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as they could, and before they even knew what they had, they patented it, they packaged it, they slapped it on a 3DO disk and now, they're selling it.
* The ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' [[Film/StreetFighter movie]] had a particularly bad [[VideoGame/StreetFighterTheMovie video game adaptation]], which doesn't seem all that out-of-the-ordinary until you realize that [[RecursiveAdaptation the movie was itself an adaptation of the most influential]] FightingGame ever made, ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''. The home version for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation PS]] and [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn Saturn]] was relatively decent by comparison, but the arcade version was really ''that'' bad.
** The most egregious problem with this particular licensed game is that they had a cheap, easy method to make a decent game. Take ''Street Fighter II'', change the graphics, release. Instead the developers seemed {{Genre Blind|ness}} and tried to develop a brand new fighting system, only to be foiled by the limited development time and budget they should have expected had they been more GenreSavvy.
*** Indeed, this ended up being Creator/{{Capcom}}'s approach when it came time to port (read: ''completely revamp'') the game for the console release as the console game (subtitled "''Real Battle on Film''") was built using a modified ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' engine with digitized sprites of the actors instead of their own art.
** Alan Noon, the guy primarily responsible for it later came to the Internet, apologized, and left a post-mortem account. [[http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/street-fighter-the-movie-broke-my-heart.21457/ Updated link to the story post.]] To save some time, look for the posts by the user "anoon".

* The ''Franchise/StarshipTroopers'' MMO had space battles instead of marine-bug battles. This was because it was actually just a version of the Silent Death computer game (also developed by Mythic) with different graphics. In spite of the cost-cutting, it still came out a year after the movie.
* The ''VideoGame/Catwoman2004'' game was so bad that a Creator/WarnerBros executive threatened to impose punishments into all future property licenses such that if the video game didn't get sufficiently positive reviews, the company would have to pay a fine for damaging WB's property. The irony of a WB executive complaining about ''another'' studio damaging their property is highlighted when you realize the game under discussion was the tie-in to the execrable ''Film/Catwoman2004'' movie.
* ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' brought back all the cast but Creator/JohnnyDepp, yet managed to take all the magic out of the film with empty environments and boring gameplay, particularly the repetitive minigames to rescue the four children who get their just desserts. To quote [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_charlieandthechocolatefactory_ps2 a review]], "It was at this point that we realised we were already drowning in a sea of warm, brown, sticky goo, and that it wasn't chocolate."
* ''Film/DirtyDancing'' had a licensed PC game which was released nearly 15 years after the film was made, containing almost no music from the movie, almost no connection to its plot, and gameplay consisting entirely of mostly unplayably buggy minigames, the most functional of which is ''[[FollowTheLeader just a ripoff of]] VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}''. (For those interested, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlh2e5LVtE here's]] [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment the Spoony One]]'s take on the game.)
* There was a particularly crappy video game adaptation of ''Film/FightClub'', released in 2004. The main difference between the game and the movie is that you're meant to win in the game. And the game rewards you for it. The game based on a nihilistic view of the human race and the human success instinct REWARDS YOU FOR WINNING. So, that's MisaimedFandom, ''and'' the game is a blatant attempt at taking commercial advantage from a film that was deeply critical of the consumerist culture. It also includes [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]] as a [[GuestFighter playable character]]. Whether the game is cursed further by his presence or somewhat [[CatharsisFactor redeemed by the ability to break all his limbs]] is up to the player.
* ''VideoGame/EnterTheMatrix'' was a brave but ultimately doomed attempt to make a game that actually tied in with its parent title, in this case ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''. It had footage shot especially for it during the shoot of ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and ''[[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Revolutions]]'', and explained several critical plot points in the former film. Unfortunately, this failed for two reasons -- firstly, the game just wasn't very good. It wasn't ''awful'' by any means, but the imbalanced difficulty and horribly designed game engine made it annoying to play. Secondly, what many viewers felt should have been the big action sequence of ''Reloaded'', namely the power plant takeover, was barely even mentioned in the film because it had been reserved for the game, which pissed off ''quite'' a few people and contributed to the impression that ''Enter the Matrix'' was just an excuse for Creator/TheWachowskis to get even more money out of their fans. The game did at least get some praise for the nifty hacking minigame that was included, but mostly just contributed to the backlash that the franchise was starting to suffer from.
* The PC game ''Torrente'' (based on the Spanish cop movie spoof ''Torrente: The Stupid Arm of the Law'') is a mediocre ThirdPersonShooter whose only unique point is that the protagonist is a fat, bald, dimwitted sluggard.
* For the 2012 ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' movie, they released a tie-in game. You'd expect them to use the classic turn-based format or at least naval combat like the last game to bear the name. Instead, it's a FirstPersonShooter in a transparent attempt to ride the "modern military shooter" bandwagon. This wouldn't be so bad if they at least made the gameplay good, but they couldn't even pull that off. The graphics are terrible, the enemy AI is too dumb to pose a challenge, there's only five weapons available to the player, the levels are repetitive, and the story is nonexistent. There are a few naval combat segments, but those are pulled off rather poorly too. The whole thing can be completed in four hours or less. The Wii/DS/3DS version was closer to the original, being a TurnBasedStrategy strictly focused on naval warfare, and was only slightly better for it.
* ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'' film-based games:
** The adaptation of ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows: Part 1''. Incredibly unimpressive graphics, horrible ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar''-like gameplay, no freedom at all during missions and really poor story-telling. ''Part 2'' pushed it one step further by being both underachieving and awfully short.
** There was a cheap movie cash-in GBA/DS game based on ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. Aside from the three Triwizard challenges, the other levels ranged from plausible to perplexing. For example, the Yule Ball was represented by a rhythm minigame, and one of the longest levels involved chasing the golden egg through the sewer system for no other reason than because Harry couldn't keep a good grip on it. [[note]]The egg-chase level also existed in the console versions, but was better received there.[[/note]] The console version is a lesser case, [[BrokenBase splitting the fans]] regarding the shift from "Hogwarts as an open world" to a more level-based design, plus [[ArtificialStupidity Ron and Hermione being occasionally unhelpful when controlled by the AI]].
** Criticisms were also raised towards the games based on the [[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first]] (mostly the original for Playstation and PC, deemed mediocre and considered only for kids; the one for the [=PS2\GC\Xbox=] had only the issue of basically being a repaint of the well-received ''Chamber of Secrets'' to instead tell the story of the previous movie), [[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth]] (in spite of a meticulously created open world Hogwarts, the gameplay was overtly reliant on {{Fetch Quest}}s where Harry had to do menial tasks for [=NPCs=], plus awkward controls in creating spells by doing wand motions with the analog stick) and [[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince sixth]] (with more time to work as the film got delayed Creator/{{EA}} only at most fixed some of the more criticized aspects of the fifth, like less fetch quests, better magic controls, and a return of the flying segments, but the gameplay was still fairly repetitive).
** ''Harry Potter for Kinect'', a collection of motion controlled video games based on important scenes from the movie saga. Think this one has a fighting chance because it wasn't rushed to come out alongside a movie? Think again, it still sucks.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Eragon}}'' video game felt like a pared down and lame version of the games based on ''Film/{{The Lord of the Rings}}'', full of bugs, repetitive gameplay (even if the game is fairly short, being able to get finished in 6 hours), uncooperative camera angles, and jerky character animation, along with a lack of effort in the presentation, which barely presents the film's story. On a positive note, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOJZCSn5rk soundtrack]] is ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic amazing]]''.
* Awesome as the ''Film/IronMan'' films are, the 7th generation adaptations of them are shockingly bad. [[VideoGame/IronMan1 The first game]] was riddled with poor controls, horrendous graphics, bugs that could force you to restart, bad hit detection, and placed you on maps where there was ''nowhere'' you ''weren't'' under constant fire from respawning enemies, even though DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist. [[VideoGame/IronMan2 The second game]] cleaned things up somewhat and threw in War Machine as second player, but it wasn't much better than mediocre. ''How did they take a game where you fly through the air in an invincible power suit at the speed of sound while blasting terrorists with missiles from ten thousand feet and make it '''bad'''???''
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' film-based games:
** ''VideoGame/SpiderMan3'': Swinging from webs and crawling on walls could cause the camera to shift around at nauseating levels. Graphics were bad for the time, with citizens becoming very obvious 2D sprites with no regard for collision detection if they were more than 20 meters away, and didn't look any better up close. Audio could get unbearable at points, as Spider-Man had many catchphrases but repeated them nonstop, and going into underground areas made everything sound like it was recorded inside a steel drum. Citizens also sometimes switched voices when you interacted with them. The story was broken to little bits and the game was [[FakeLongevity artificially lengthened]] with a billion terrible side-quests and various missions (though the one to "Retrieve the [[Advertising/HostessFruitPies delicious fruit pies]]" ''was'' an amusing CallBack to the Hostess cake ads). If anything, it also owes its mediocrity to {{Sequelitis}}, as the other ''Spider-Man'' games before and after are genuinely good. Also, it features Creator/KariWahlgren as Mary Jane Watson. This should be good right? Wrong. ''SWING HIGHER! SWING HIGHER!''
** ''VideoGame/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' could have been a good game, but is held back by far too many glaring flaws to ignore. The game is plagued with bland visuals for its time, an almost completely empty UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, combat that results in mashing the same button multiple times with no real combos to be found, numerous bugs, a boring story, repetitive side missions, and a [[KarmaMeter Hero/Menace]] system that had potential, but doesn't work ''at all'' like it's supposed to.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' film-games:
** ''[[VideoGame/TransformersTheGameConsole Transformers: The Game]]'' (the one of [[Film/{{Transformers}} the 2007 live-action movie]]) wasn't merely bad (a 15-foot robot could get stuck on a broken tree branch), it was inexorably ''boring''. Most of the game involved driving to your next destination within a time limit with a car that handles like an ice cream van in an Alaskan winter without snow-chains. Oh, and kicking things until they explode. And the graphics were pretty mediocre, too.
** The plot for the game was bad beyond belief as well, as hilariously noted by (who else?) Website/TFWikiDotNet [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_The_Game_%28console%29 in their article here]]:
--->''It can be surmised that the writers for the game had not seen the script for the movie. Or been allowed on the same continent as it.''
** The video game based on ''[[VideoGame/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon Dark of the Moon]]'' (which is more or less a [[AllThereInTheManual prequel/sidestory]] of the movie) was developed by the same folks behind the well-received ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'', and yet it got hit with some less than average review scores. The main issue? On the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS 3DS]] at least, it's a ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' game where you '''don't transform.'''
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}''[='s=] game (by Creator/{{Ubisoft}}) is visually amazing, but lacking in many of the final details of the film, likely due to being released before it. Some of these are minor things, while others are...not. It's by no means the very worst as licensed games go, but still has a storyline that both makes no sense and in places openly contradicts canon, suffers from some very bad voice acting and mistakes with the Na'vi language, as well as inexplicably low-quality models and textures for the Na'vi which really stand out against the rest.
* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation [[VideoGame/TheLostWorldJurassicPark adaptation]] of ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' received praise on two fronts: one, pretty cool dinosaur graphics. Two, it featured one of gaming's earliest original orchestral scores. Everything else was slammed: sloppy, repetitive game play, difficult controls, incredible difficulty of certain levels, and most annoyingly, the fact that, despite having 30 levels, ''you couldn't ever save''.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' is far better than most games on here and also had some very innovative and interesting ideas for a LicensedGame, primarily using fear as an element and a great emphasis on stealth, with obvious influence taken from both ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/SplinterCell''. Unfortunately the execution did not quite hit the mark and it is generally seen as [[SoOkayItsAverage an average game.]] The biggest problem is that the game constantly held the player's hand, intentionally leading them on the correct path to sneak by an enemy, use something to scare them, and then beat the startled enemy up. It'd be understandable if it was done just for the tutorial, but that's what the ''entire'' game was like. However, on the upside, the elements from this game did go on to greatly inspire the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames one of the biggest aversions of this trope imaginable.]]
** ''Film/BatmanForever'' for its various consoles is considered to be one of the worst Batman games ever. The game was developed by Probe Software and published by Creator/{{Acclaim}}, a company that was mostly known for releasing games of dubious quality. The game had extremely awkward controls, gadgets that didn't work, terrible level design, and having fiendishly NintendoHard difficulty due to you having only 5 lives (which gets shared between both players in a 2 player game) and being forced to restart at the beginning of the game if you got a game over. Depending on which console you play the game for, the game may end up being nigh-''unplayable''.
** ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' got a video game adaptation for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, which was also published and developed by the same companies as ''Batman Forever''. It managed to be even worse, given how obtuse its objectives are, in which everything boils down to luck on whether certain enemies or bosses spawn or not. It also had undetailed, blurry graphics, and a rather choppy frame rate, particularly when the player is driving the Batmobile. The player also cannot shoot at any civilians or [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment they'll risk losing health as a penalty]], which wouldn't be so bad if the roads weren't so narrow and the Batmobile controlled as if it were on ice. There exists a combat mode and a detective mode, in which the latter leaves the player completely defenseless if there are any criminals around. If the player has to fast travel to the Batcave, they'll be penalized as well. You also have a [[TimedMission limited amount of time]] to stop crimes; if Poison Ivy or Mr. Freeze get away, it's an automatic NonStandardGameOver.
* ''Franchise/JamesBond'':
** For movie-based games, ''VideoGame/TomorrowNeverDies'' inspired a tedious third person shooter and ''VideoGame/QuantumOfSolace'' an average cover-based first-person shooter [[NonindicativeName which was far more of]] a ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' adaptation. ''VideoGame/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' was considered good, on the N64 at least (by way of playing a lot like ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997''), but [[ToughActToFollow had the problem of not reaching that game's brilliance]].
** ''VideoGame/DoubleOhSevenLegends''. Mediocre gameplay, nonsensical story and idiotic enemy AI among other things led to a long list of bad critical reviews, [[CreatorKiller Eurocom going out of business]] after 25 years in game development, and Creator/{{Activision}} [[FranchiseKiller dropping the Bond game license]].
** Creator/{{Gottlieb}}'s ''Pinball/{{James Bond 007|Gottlieb}}'' pinball machine, partially based on ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''. The game ignored almost everything about the films for an unusual timer-based game that required the player to make shots for additional playtime. Players and operators still ''hated'' the game, but at least it wasn't the license's fault.
* The game based on ''Film/SpaceJam'' was a basketball game that had graphics that resembled a game from the 16-bit era (the game was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn), [[ItsEasySoItSucks simplistic gameplay and low difficulty]], unbalanced characters (Michael Jordan is more powerful than the Monstars), and carnival style minigames thrown in which didn't fit the core game. On a side note, the game was developed by Sculptured Software, who, in addition to ''NBA Jam Extreme'' (which the ''Space Jam'' game was built off of), developed ''VideoGame/LooneyTunesBBall'', which was far better received.
** The game based on ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' eschewed the basketball elements and story in favor of a generic beat-'em-up with only three playable characters ([=LeBron=], Bugs and Lola).
* There's an ''[[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]]'' card game. There was something seriously wrong with it, as it was way too easy to win without really doing anything. It doesn't help that the instructions are written the way Ash talks.
* Decipher released a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover CCG called Fight Klub based on one-on-one fights between famous movie characters. [[Franchise/{{Saw}} Jigsaw]] versus Franchise/HannibalLecter, [[Film/ReservoirDogs Mr. Blond]] versus [[Franchise/EvilDead Ash]], [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo]] versus Franchise/RoboCop, [[Film/{{Crank}} Chev Chelios]] versus [[Film/TheDeltaForce Scott McCoy]], Film/TankGirl versus [[Film/{{Species}} Sil]], and more. How could this be anything but awesome? Complicated rules obfuscating simplistic gameplay, online-only distribution, and pyramid-scheme-style enticement bonuses, that's how.

* Creator/TitusSoftware's ''Franchise/RoboCop'' for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, UsefulNotes/GameCube, and PC. The graphics are bland and distracting, the gameplay is repetitive and slow-paced, and the voice-acting is abysmal (with [=RoboCop=] [[CanonDefilement actively taking joy in killing criminals]]). Lack of variety, long levels, [=RoboCop's=] slow movement speed, the ease of dying spontaneously from an errant explosion, weapon sound effects that sound like they were ripped from the internet, and inability to save during a level makes for a painfully boring first-person shooter.
* ''Film/PacificRim'' can be described as 2500 tons of awesome. The game based on the movie instead makes giant robots fighting Kaiju mind-numbingly boring and tedious, given the combat is shallow, the controls are highly uncooperative bordering on random, the characters move as though they're wading through molasses, and much of the game's content (including new characters and Jaeger customization) is locked behind paywalls.
* ''VideoGame/RamboTheVideoGame'': Instead of some WideOpenSandbox game, a third person ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' clone, or even just a generic lazy as hell first person shooter, it is a $40 rail-shooter on PC and console that can be completed in only two hours with lazily implemented QTE in between the rail-shooter sections. The trailer and Steam previews outright lie by either showing [[NeverTrustATrailer trailer scenes that suggested FPS gameplay or made the game seem larger than it really is]]. The soundtrack is boring, cheap and repetitive, the perks are laughably pointless and last of all, the final level has a massive DifficultySpike, probably due to a lack of playtesting, as you will be forced to spend the entire level taking potshots against the enormous storm of lead that's being hurled your way and the "boss" of the level (an [[HellishCopter attack helicopter]]) along with ''everyone else on the screen''. All you're armed with is an [=AK-47=] and whatever perks you happened to pick up. If you sat through the rest of this game you'd most likely quit here.
* While ''VideoGame/PeterJacksonsKingKong'' [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames averts this trope on the consoles]], the DS one does not. It's a first-person shooter where you can almost go through the ''entire game without killing anything''. Top it with bugs that cause Jack to fall out of the level, bad hit detection, graphics that make the characters look hideous, and the game's short length meaning it can be beaten in less than a few hours. Even the parts where you get to play as King Kong (which is the best-looking part of this game), you have very little involvement in, since it just resorts to spamming the same 2 buttons. The PSP version received a mixed reception for a shorter length and cut-down features compared to the consoles, but was not as panned as the DS version.
* ''Film/GodsAndGenerals'' (by Stellar Stone, "developers" of the infamous ''VideoGame/{{Big Rigs|OverTheRoadRacing}}''). It was a Civil War-themed FPS based on the 4½ hour long [[{{Creator/TBS}} Ted Turner]]-financed EpicMovie [[Film/GodsAndGenerals of the same name]], riddled with bugs, sloppy gameplay, horribly outdated graphics for the time, and to top it off, terrible AI and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment more bugs to top it off]].
* ''VideoGame/LandOfTheDeadRoadToFiddlersGreen'' was a low-budget FPS that opened with a promising corn field level where the surrounding zombies could only be located by their groans and the sound of them pushing through the corn, and then follows it with bland levels and buggy gameplay that made killing [[ArtificialStupidity incredibly stupid]] undead people (when the movie is actually about zombies getting smarter!) very unfun.
* The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] game based on ''Film/TopGun'' was quite boring, with complete lack of music during the stages, out-of-place refueling sections, [[NintendoHard landing sequences that are hard to pull off even if you know how to do it]], and inaccurate portrayal of aerial dogfights. However, [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames the sequel averts this trope by fixing all of these problems]].
* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'':
** Somehow, the film ended up being turned into a [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 [=PS2=]]] first-person shooter in 2006. The first warning sign is that the game is ''on a single CD''. Once you start playing the game itself, it quickly becomes apparent how it takes up so little space: For starters, there is no voice-acted dialogue and no music during gameplay. Speaking of gameplay, the first level of the game starts with a forced stealth section where it seems like whether you get seen has nothing to do with being in the line of sight of enemies. Once you get to actual shooting, it doesn't get any better. There are plenty of glitches both with the graphics and programming. To top things off, apparently the developer did not get the rights for Creator/EddieMurphy's likeness or the iconic theme tune, so both are replaced with something that only bears a slight resemblance to the source.
** The release on PC, UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, UsefulNotes/AtariST and UsefulNotes/Commodore64 was bashed for being just a bunch of mediocre minigames hastily thrown together. In the case of the PC version, PortingDisaster was added to the mix, offering terrible EGA graphics and [[SensoryAbuse music sounding like someone strangling an ice cream truck]]. Notably, this release came out in 1990, 6 years after the first movie. By then, [=PCs=] had better music options from add-ons like the [=AdLib=], Creative Game Blaster, or even the original Sound Blaster. Additionally, VGA graphics cards which allowed for much better graphics were starting to catch on.
* The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] ''Film/TimeCop'' game released by Cryo Interactive in 1995 is a sloppy action platformer starring a goofy digitized facsimile of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme through five stages as he struggles with delayed controls, useless moves, cheap hits, slow and stupid-looking enemies, glitches, and poorly-executed [[UnexpectedGameplayChange Unexpected Gameplay Changes]] (the "best" one being a [[UnexpectedShmupLevel shmup sequence]] where you control a large submarine that takes up an eighth of the screen). Its only redeeming qualities are that it's broken and inept [[SoBadItsGood in a funny way]] and features a bizarrely catchy soundtrack by [[Creator/QuanticDream David Cage]].
* ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'' had a game based on the movies for the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem. It was published by [[Creator/LJNToys LJN]] and developed by Rocket Science Games, and it was quite frankly, not very good. The game is an overhead adventure game where it is extremely vague and unclear where you are supposed to go next at times. Some [=NPCs=] will ask Bill or Ted questions. The player has no indication whether it is the right or wrong answer until they choose it. If you choose the wrong choice in those questions, you go to jail and if you run out of keys for jail, it's GameOver. Because of the depth issues on the map, Bill or Ted can't even jump over fences or any objects. The controls aren't much better, and the camera can't catch up to Bill or Ted at times, making the game a bigger chore than it should be. Even better, some items are found by jumping at certain points of the map, with no indication that you can get it by jumping. ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A5B8fXp0aU took a good look into the game]], and commented that it was not only one of the worst NES games that he had ever played, but the single worst game that LJN -- a company whose games he has a legendary disdain for -- ever produced.
* ''Film/{{Zathura}}'' had a video game adaptation for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} that suffered uninspired stage design, slow and sluggish gameplay, and a lot of FakeDifficulty. Of the two versions, the [=PS2=] iteration is the lesser, with very bad frame rate issues that may give you an eye strain. The Xbox version runs at a solid 60 fps that brings the game up from "hardly tolerable" to "mediocre", but still is far from anything one would want to spend money on.
* ''Film/{{Juon}}: Film/TheGrudge - Haunted House Simulator'' on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} is otherwise divorced from the films, starring a new family being terrorized by the vengeful ghosts of Kayako and her son Toshio, and it manages to have some fairly creepy moments, but everything else is just subpar. Your characters walk ''slightly'' faster than a turtle, the gameplay is limited to navigating environments collecting [[LockAndKeyPuzzle keys to open doors]] or [[TenSecondFlashlight flashlight batteries]] to keep pressing on through the [[DarknessEqualsDeath instant-death darkness]], and the game's touted unique two-player mode is only effective on people completely unfamiliar with the game, since the button-press scare effects never change.
* ''Film/{{RIPD}}'', already considered a bad enough movie on its own, got a now-delisted game on UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, UsefulNotes/Xbox360, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} that was merely a generic horde shooter with humdrum gameplay, unremarkable graphics, incompetent AI, and little in the way of plot.
* ''{{Film/Highlander}}'' had the misfortune to have this done purposely. The developers feared that if the game sold well, they’d go bankrupt from the royalties that had to be paid to the owners of the franchise rights. So they intentionally gave the game clunky controls and bad gameplay. The game released with the animated TV series wasn’t well received either and the attempt at a UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 game was cancelled before the game ever launched.
* ''{{Film/Grease}}'' received a game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS that was half MinigameGame and half RhythmGame. It received poor reviews because of bad graphics and poor controls.

** Creator/{{Gottlieb}}'s ''Pinball/JamesBond007'' pinball, partially based on ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''. The game ignored almost everything about the films for an unusual timer-based game that required the player to make shots for additional playtime. Players and operators still ''hated'' the game, but at least it wasn't the license's fault.

* ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'' had two different licensed games, one for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]], UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis (not UsefulNotes/SegaCD), and UsefulNotes/GameBoy, the other for DOS and UsefulNotes/SegaCD. The latter one was a FullMotionVideo game with extreme cases of both GameplayRoulette and FakeDifficulty. Also, for no good reason, the limitations of the Genesis color palette (which degraded the quality of the pre-rendered 3D graphics) were present in the DOS version, despite the fact that it used the MCGA video mode (2^24 colors total, 2^8 on screen at once).

* ''VideoGame/DennisTheMenace'' (known simply as ''Dennis'' in UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}) recieved a LicensedGame for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, UsefulNotes/GameBoy, and UsefulNotes/AmigaCD32 by Ocean Software in 1993. The plot of the game is that Switchblade Sam has stolen Mr. Wilson's coin collection and kidnapped Margaret and Joey, so Dennis has to find the missing coins, defeat Sam, and rescue his friends. The objective of each stage is to find four coins, but the stages are very big and the coins are often hidden in obscure places, making it easy to lose track of where you are. The game also has a [[TimedMission time limit]] that doesn't reset when you lose a life, and if time runs out, [[NonStandardGameOver you lose all your lives]]. The [[AutoScrollingLevel auto-scrolling levels]] take five minutes to complete, but can take even longer if you mess up and lose a life (which is very easy to do). In the third Sewer level, the bubbles that you need to jump across to complete the level sometimes don't spawn, requiring you to make blind jumps. As for weapons, the most effective ones are the slingshot and the peashooter, but even then, enemies still take many hits to kill. The most useless weapon, though, is the squirt gun, which can stun enemies, but most of the time, doesn't do anything and it takes a few seconds just to stun an enemy. It doesn't even kill the [[EvilLivingFlames fire enemies]] in the Boiler Room level. ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' has reviewed the SNES version, saying it's one of the worst SNES games he ever played.

* There was a particularly crappy video game adaptation of ''Film/FightClub'', released in 2004. Perhaps worse is that there are people who actually believe [[OlderThanTheyThink the movie was based on the video game]].
** The main difference is that you're meant to win in the game. And the game rewards you for it. The game based on a nihilistic view of the human race and the human success instinct REWARDS YOU FOR WINNING. So, that's MisaimedFandom, ''and'' the game is a blatant attempt at taking commercial advantage from a film that was deeply critical of the consumerist culture.
** Notably, it also includes [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]] as a [[GuestFighter playable character]]. Whether the game is cursed further by his presence or somewhat [[CatharsisFactor redeemed by the ability to break all his limbs]] is up to the player.

** There was a cheap movie cash-in GBA/DS game based on ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. Aside from the three Triwizard challenges, the other levels ranged from plausible to perplexing. For example, the Yule Ball was represented by a rhythm minigame, and one of the longest levels involved chasing the golden egg through the sewer system for no other reason than because Harry couldn't keep a good grip on it. [[note]]The egg-chase level also existed in the console versions, but was better received there.[[/note]]
** The games based on the [[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first]] (mediocre and considered only for kids), [[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth]] ([[BrokenBase divisive]], with many feeling they had dipped after three serviceable games) and [[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince sixth]] (widely considered a disappointment, particularly as with more time to work as the film got delayed Creator/{{EA}} still didn't do anything to spice up the game) are considered examples too.

* The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] ''Film/TimeCop'' game released by Cryo Interactive in 1995 is a sloppy action platformer starring a goofy digitized facsimile of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme through five stages as he struggles with delayed controls, useless moves, cheap hits, slow and stupid-looking enemies, glitches, and poorly-executed UnexpectedGameplayChange (the "best" one being a [[UnexpectedShmupLevel shmup sequence]] where you control a large submarine that takes up an eighth of the screen). Its only redeeming qualities are that it's broken and inept [[SoBadItsGood in a funny way]] and features a bizarrely catchy soundtrack by [[Creator/QuanticDream David Cage]].

* For the 2012 ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' movie, they released a tie-in game. You'd expect them to use the classic turn-based format or at least naval combat like the last game to bear the name. Instead, it's a FirstPersonShooter in a transparent attempt to ride the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' bandwagon. This could'be been forgivable if they made the gameplay good, but they couldn't even pull that off. The graphics are terrible, the enemy AI is too dumb to pose a challenge, there's only five weapons available to the player, the levels are repetitive, and the story is nonexistent. There are a few naval combat segments, but those are pulled off rather poorly too. The whole thing can be completed in four hours or less. The Wii/DS/3DS version was closer to the original, being a TurnBasedStrategy strictly focused on naval warfare, and was only slightly better for it.

* The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] adaptation of ''Film/Alien3'' comes ''this close'' to averting this trope, and it's by Creator/{{LJN|Toys}} of all companies. It has great music, decent graphics, and is loyal enough to the source material by NES standards that it could have been great... had they not [[DamnYouMuscleMemory swapped the jump and shoot controls (B jumps)]] and given you a ridiculously low time limit to beat each stage. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]]/Mega Drive (which the NES game is a stripped-down version of) releases are examples of SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames.

** ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari2600 is essentially the {{Trope Maker|s}}, or at least the TropeCodifier. It was produced for no other reason than to quickly cash in on the success of [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial the 1982 movie]], and was [[ObviousBeta hurried through production]] in a matter of weeks (the average 2600 game would have a development time of between five and six months) to be on the shelves for the Christmas shopping season. Its gameplay consists entirely of E.T. falling into pits in order to search for pieces of his space telephone. Although it sold very well, Creator/{{Atari}} made the mistake of producing more cartridges than systems in existence hoping it would become a system seller -- as such, it contributed to Atari's profit losses and (although there were lots of games way worse at the time) made such a contribution to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 that it got a reputation as one of the "worst games in history". [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game) More information]], or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm05sIMeRK4 experience the horror yourself.]]

** The UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}-exclusive 1987 ''Star Wars'' game by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] stars Luke Skywalker as a OneHitPointWonder whose in-game sprite [[AdaptationDyeJob has black hair]]. There are levels requiring precise jumping in between [[SpikesOfDoom spikes of instant death]], and the {{Nintendo Hard}}ness is aggravated by Luke's lightsaber having poor hit detection. What does not help things is that the floaty jumping physics are aggravated by precise platform jumping, meaning you'll either miss the intended jump and fall into the many BottomlessPits. This game's real notoriety, however, is not based on difficulty but because it plays fast and loose with the ''Star Wars'' canon. Before leaving Tatooine, there is a BossBattle against Darth Vader... or rather, a decoy who turns into a ''giant scorpion'' after one hit. This sort of thing happens on every level, including several worlds that don't figure in ''Film/ANewHope'', which this game is very loosely based off of. And speaking of worlds, there's also the fact that you'll also have to rescue your allies (who are all on Tatooine when they all meet in the film): Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, Chewbacca (who's on Hoth of all places), and Han Solo (who's already on Yavin IV) of all people - making you realize it's YOU who's flying the Millenium Falcon between worlds!

** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation and PC adaptation of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' is below average. Excellent audio (which is the common strong point of ''Star Wars'' anyway) and fair-looking full 3D graphics aside, the decent level design is doomed by unfitting puzzle/adventure levels tacked on breaking the pace, awkward controls, horrible camera placement, buggy coding, imbalanced weapons, and a seriously-flawed dueling mechanic can totally ruin your experience halfway through.

* Similarly, ''Film/MaryShelleysFrankenstein'' had confusing and at times abusingly hard gameplay in a maze-like level layout, with the Monster himself being slightly bipolar: he limps and lurches and yet is able to perform huge jumps!

** There's also the game made in 2006 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, only released in Europe. On top of its lackluster gameplay, it's also notable for having no connection to the films whatsoever [[InNameOnly aside from the brand name]] -- there's a kid alone at home, and he's trying to fend off burglars, and that's literally it. No Creator/MacaulayCulkin, no Christmas trappings (the game appears to take place during the summer), nothing to suggest anything to do with ''any'' films in the series -- [[{{Sequelitis}} even the dreaded sequels]] -- aside from the movie's logo being used prominently. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, the art style is very mediocre.]] It was, of course, published by Blast! Entertainment.

** ''Film/TerminatorSalvation''. While it has decent graphics, great music, and a decent combat system that feels more than a little [[VideoGame/GearsOfWar familiar]], in general it's pretty lousy. Sure, the combat's decent — it's just a shame that the battles are so damned repetitive and generally feature the same two enemies: [[GoddamnedBats annoying flying]] robots, and [[GiantSpider spider-like]] robots that require flanking to defeat. To flank them effectively, it's best to have your partner keep their attention while you come around back and finish them. Too bad the AI's fairly terrible, and while the game does have a co-op option, it's not online enabled — so if you don't have anybody to play with and don't have Xbox Live, you're pretty much screwed. Oh, and it's very short, but considering how you'll spend those 4-5 hours fighting the same annoying enemies over and over again, that's probably a positive thing. Unsurprisingly, ''Salvation'' was one of the factors behind developer GRIN's shutdown...and it was their '''only''' game that can be considered a definite flop. [[note]]The negative reception of the ''Salvation'' console game led to Raw Thrills delaying their ''Terminator: Salvation'' [[VideoGame/TerminatorSalvationArcade arcade game]] until Spring 2010 so they could get it right. And they did- it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMn-Hm1Qmf8 looks awesome]] and had [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames much better reception]], but it's ''filled'' with countless [[FakeDifficulty cheap shots]].[[/note]]

** ''VideoGame/WaynesWorldGrayMatter'' is possibly one of the most loathed, least playable 16-bit games ever. Bad collision detection, hideous sprites and atrociously digitized voices are just part of the problem with this. Mainly considered only worthwhile to mock. [[http://www.sega-16.com/2004/08/waynes-world/ Read this review for more details.]]

* For the 2012 ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' movie, they of course released a tie-in game. You'd expect them to use the classic turn-based format or at least naval combat like the last game to bear the name. Instead, it's a FirstPersonShooter in a transparent attempt to ride the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' bandwagon. This could'be been forgivable if they made the gameplay good, but they couldn't even pull that off. The graphics are terrible, the enemy AI is too dumb to pose a challenge, there's only five weapons available to the player, the levels are repetitive, and the story is nonexistent. There are a few naval combat segments, but those are pulled off rather poorly too. The whole thing can be completed in four hours or less. The Wii/DS/3DS version was closer to the original, being a TurnBasedStrategy strictly focused on naval warfare, and was only slightly better for it.

* Awesome as the ''Film/IronMan'' films are, the 7th generation adaptations of them are shockingly bad. [[VideoGame/IronMan1 The first game]] was riddled with poor controls, horrendous graphics, bugs that could force you to restart, bad hit detection, and placed you on maps where there was literally nowhere you ''weren't'' under constant fire from respawning enemies, even though DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist. [[VideoGame/IronMan2 The second game]] cleaned things up somewhat and threw in War Machine as second player, but it wasn't much better than mediocre. ''How did they take a game where you fly through the air in an invincible power suit at the speed of sound while blasting terrorists with missiles from ten thousand feet and make it '''bad'''???''

* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' somehow ended up being turned into a [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 [=PS2=]]] first-person shooter in 2006. The first warning sign is that the game is ''on a single CD''. Once you start playing the game itself, it quickly becomes apparent how it takes up so little space: For starters, there is no voice-acted dialogue and no music during gameplay. Speaking of gameplay, the first level of the game starts with a forced stealth section where it seems like whether you get seen has nothing to do with being in the line of sight of enemies. Once you get to actual shooting, it doesn't get any better. There are plenty of glitches both with the graphics and programming. To top things off, apparently the developer did not get the rights for Creator/EddieMurphy's likeness or the iconic theme tune, so both are replaced with something that only bears a slight resemblance to the source.
** And even before that, the release on PC, UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, UsefulNotes/AtariST and UsefulNotes/Commodore64 was already bashed for being just a bunch of mediocre minigames hastily thrown together. In the case of the PC version, PortingDisaster was added to the mix, offering terrible EGA graphics and [[SensoryAbuse music sounding like someone strangling an ice cream truck]]. Notably, this release came out in 1990, 6 years after the first movie. By then, [=PCs=] had better music options from add-ons like the [=AdLib=], Creative Game Blaster, or even the original Sound Blaster. Additionally, VGA graphics cards which allowed for much better graphics were starting to catch on.

* ''{{Film/Grease}},'' of all movies, was given a game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS that was half MinigameGame and half RhythmGame. It received poor reviews because of bad graphics and poor controls.

* ''Film/LastActionHero'' had its video game adaptation released in 1993. [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] version was easily one of the worst versions. Dull, lifeless graphics, irritating music and {{Mooks}} that never stop coming are some of the main problems this game has.

** ''VideoGame/SpiderMan3'': Swinging from webs and crawling on walls could cause the camera to shift around at nauseating levels. Graphics were bad for the time, with citizens becoming very obvious 2D sprites with no regard for collision detection if they were more than 20 meters away, and didn't look any better up close. Audio could get unbearable at points, as Spider-Man had many catchphrases but repeated them nonstop, and going into underground areas made everything sound like it was recorded inside a steel drum. Citizens also sometimes switched voices when you interacted with them. Story was broken to little bits and the game was [[FakeLongevity artificially lengthened]] with a billion terrible side-quests and various missions (though the one to "Retrieve the [[Advertising/HostessFruitPies delicious fruit pies]]" ''was'' an amusing CallBack to the Hostess cake ads). If anything, it also owes its mediocrity to {{Sequelitis}}, as the other ''Spider-Man'' games before and after are genuinely good. Also, it features Creator/KariWahlgren as Mary Jane Watson. This should be good right? Wrong. ''SWING HIGHER! SWING HIGHER!''
** ''VideoGame/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' could have been a good game, but is held back by far too many glaring flaws to ignore. The game is plagued with bland visuals for its time, an almost completely empty UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, combat that results in mashing the same button multiple times with no real combos to be found, numerous bugs, a boring story, repetitive side missions, and a Hero/Menace system that had potential, but doesn't work ''at all'' like it's supposed to.

* For the 2012 ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' movie, they of course released a tie-in game. You'd expect them to use the classic turn-based format or at least naval combat like the last game to bear the name. Instead, it's a FirstPersonShooter in a transparent attempt to ride the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' bandwagon, and a very bad FPS to boot. The graphics are terrible, the enemy AI is too dumb to pose a challenge, there's only five weapons available to the player, the levels are repetitive, and the story is nonexistent. There are a few naval combat segments, but those are pulled off rather poorly too. The whole thing can be completed in four hours or less. The Wii/DS/3DS version was closer to the original, being a TurnBasedStrategy strictly focused on naval warfare, and was only slightly better for it.

* The video game based on ''Film/SpaceJam'' was a basketball game that had graphics that resembled a game from the 16-bit era (the game was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn), [[ItsEasySoItSucks simplistic gameplay and low difficulty]], unbalanced characters (Michael Jordan is more powerful than the Monstars), and carnival style minigames thrown in which didn't fit the core game. On a side note, the game was developed by Sculptured Software, who, in addition to ''NBA Jam Extreme'' (which the ''Space Jam'' game was built off of), developed ''Looney Tunes B-Ball'', which was far better received.
** The video game based on ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' eschewed the basketball elements and story in favor of a generic beat-'em-up with only three playable characters ([=LeBron=], Bugs and Lola).

%%* Both ''Film/HarryPotter'' and ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' got a trading card game when the movies came out.
%%* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' had a [[http://www.ctlsoftware.co.uk/Python/HGCCG/HGCCG_Main.htm Collectible Card Game]], put out by Kenzer and Company.
%%* ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' trading card game
%% * There have been a number of ''Franchise/StarWars'' trading card games, some of which had the usual licensed game problems:
%% ** Before losing their license in 2001, Decipher cashed in and made some lame spinoffs, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Knights_Trading_Card_Game Jedi Knights]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Jedi_Collectible_Card_Game Young Jedi]]. The first one, based on the Original Trilogy, lasted for only three sets and used computer-generated imagery instead of movie stills. The second one was based on ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' and had even more simplistic game mechanics. Both were aimed at the younger audience.
%% ** In 2002 Creator/{{LucasArts}} took the license away from Decipher and gave it to Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast, which created a TCG for Episode II as a RevenueEnhancingDevice. It barely made it to Episode III, but still retains some of its followers today. Probably the second-known ''Franchise/StarWars'' card game.
%% ** Then there was the ''Star Wars'' Pocketmodel Game from WizKids, which utilized both collectible cards and cardboard starship miniatures. It wasn't ''that'' lame, but it never made it into ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' expansions, ending in 2008.
%% ** ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies'' TradingCardGame was an interesting example. Apart from being the first ''Star Wars'' card game online, it was different from its predecessors in using artwork by world-class artists instead of movie stills and being focused almost entirely on Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse material, which previous games only touched at best. Unfortunately, being tied to the ''Star Wars Galaxies'' didn't do it justice: the MMO was already in decline and restricting the game to current and former SWG subscribers limited the potential player base to several hundred people at its best. Nevertheless, the game survived thanks to MMO players buying virtual boosters while hunting rare loot items and spawned 8 sets with thousand of beautiful artworks, until it got shot down along with the MMO that gave birth to it in late 2011.
%% ** ''Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures'' is a casual "''VideoGame/FreeRealms''-style" MMO based on the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' TV series. It added its first CCG, Card Commander, shortly after the launch in 2010 - a game with incredibly simplistic gameplay, aimed at the very young audience. In 2012, it added a second game called Card Assault. Despite still being pretty lame compared to some of the aforementioned games, it is nevertheless a step up, actually including deckbuilding and Strategies, while the Card Commander is mostly luck-based and has no deckbuilding to speak of at all. These two are the only game officially supported by Lucasfilm to date.
%%* ''Film/AustinPowers'' [=CCG=].

* ''VideoGame/DennisTheMenace'' (known simply as ''Dennis'' in UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}) recieved a LicensedGame for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, UsefulNotes/GameBoy, and UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} [=CD32=] by Ocean Software in 1993. The plot of the game is that Switchblade Sam has stolen Mr. Wilson's coin collection and kidnapped Margaret and Joey, so Dennis has to find the missing coins, defeat Sam, and rescue his friends. The objective of each stage is to find four coins, but the stages are very big and the coins are often hidden in obscure places, making it easy to lose track of where you are. The game also has a [[TimedMission time limit]] that doesn't reset when you lose a life, and if time runs out, [[NonStandardGameOver you lose all your lives]]. The [[AutoScrollingLevel auto-scrolling levels]] take five minutes to complete, but can take even longer if you mess up and lose a life (which is very easy to do). In the third Sewer level, the bubbles that you need to jump across to complete the level sometimes don't spawn, requiring you to make blind jumps. As for weapons, the most effective ones are the slingshot and the peashooter, but even then, enemies still take many hits to kill. The most useless weapon, though, is the squirt gun, which can stun enemies, but most of the time, doesn't do anything and it takes a few seconds just to stun an enemy. It doesn't even kill the [[EvilLivingFlames fire enemies]] in the Boiler Room level. ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' has reviewed the SNES version, saying it's one of the worst SNES games he ever played.

* While ''VideoGame/PeterJacksonsKingKong'' [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames averts this trope on the consoles]], the DS one does not. It's a first-person shooter where you can almost go through the ''entire game without killing anything''. Top it with bugs that cause Jack to fall out of the level, bad hit detection, graphics that make the characters look hideous, and the game's short length meaning it can be beaten in less than a few hours. Even the parts where you get to play as King Kong (which is the best-looking part of this game), you have very little involvement in, since it just resorts to spamming the same 2 buttons.

* ''Film/DemolitionMan'' had a fairly ambitious 3DO game that even featured all-new footage of Creator/SylvesterStallone in the menus. Unfortunadely, at times the objectives were unclear, the first-person segments were troubled by too similar environments, and the boss fights in the style of a fighting game were simply lame.

** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' is far better than most games on here and also had some very innovative and interesting ideas for a LicensedGame, primarily using fear as an element and a great emphasis on stealth, with obvious influence taken from both ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/SplinterCell''. Unfortunately the execution did not quite hit the mark and it is generally seen as [[SoOkayItsAverage an average game.]] The biggest problem is that the game constantly held the player's hand, intentionally leading them on the correct path to sneak by an enemy, use something to scare them, and then beat the startled enemy up. It'd be understandable if it was done just for the tutorial, but that's what the ''entire'' game was like. However, on the up side the elements from this game did go on to greatly inspire the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames one of the biggest aversions of this trope imaginable.]]

** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' is far better than most games on here and also had some very innovative and interesting ideas for a LicensedGame, primarily using fear as an element and a great emphasis on stealth, with obvious influence taken from both ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/SplinterCell''. Unfortunately the execution did not quite hit the mark and it is generally seen as [[SoOkayItsAverage an average game.]] The biggest problem is that that the game constantly held the player's hand, intentionally leading them on the correct path to sneak by an enemy, use something to scare them, and then beat the startled enemy up. It'd be understandable if it was done just for the tutorial, but that's what the ''entire'' game was like. However, on the up side the elements from this game did go on to greatly inspire the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames one of the biggest aversions of this trope imaginable.]]

* The UsefulNotes/{{NES}} adaptation of ''Film/Alien3'' comes ''this close'' to averting this trope, and it's by Creator/{{LJN|Toys}} of all companies. It has great music, decent graphics, and is loyal enough to the source material by NES standards that it could have been great... had they not [[DamnYouMuscleMemory swapped the jump and shoot controls (B jumps)]] and given you a ridiculously low time limit to beat each stage. The UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} and [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]]/Mega Drive (which the NES game is a stripped-down version of) releases are examples of SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames.

** ''Film/GhostbustersII'' on the '''UsefulNotes/{{NES}}''' was slightly an improvement, but not by much. The sprite graphics don't look very good, and most of the levels are traveling from point A to B. There is also no pause button, meaning players will not have any chance to take a break from their progress. Creator/HALLaboratory published different games based on the movie for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy and UsefulNotes/{{NES}} that [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames were quite good]], despite the latter was only released in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} and UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}.

** ''VideoGame/BackToTheFuture1989'' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}} was for most of its stages a VerticalScrollingShooter with Marty as a OneHitPointWonder who races against a time limit down the streets of Hill Valley on foot and a hard-to-control skateboard and collects clocks while avoiding or throwing bowling balls at swarms of bees, hula-hoop girls and people walking back and forth holding invisible [[SheetOfGlass sheets of glass]]. The music in these stages, a practically unrecognizable remix of "The Power of Love", is as repetitious and awful as the gameplay. The three indoor stages don't provide much relief, the first being a disgustingly NintendoHard shooter where Marty must hold Lou's Café against an onslaught of 99 merciless bullies. Perhaps the best thing to be said about this game is that its ExcusePlot follows the movie in ''very'' BroadStrokes.

* A variety of games based on ''Film/BramStokersDracula'' were released for various platforms. None of these were particularly good, but the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}[=/=]UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis version stands out as a disappointment: it's an action platformer with annoying combat mechanics, boring level design, a laughable attempt at presenting a story, and the inexplicable requirement in some levels of contacting an old guy who imagines weapons in thought bubbles. It's remembered more fondly at Creator/TravellersTales, since it was the first game they developed that sold well; some of their later {{Licensed Game}}s would set a higher standard.

* The ''Film/HomeAlone'' video game series that Creator/{{THQ}} published in 1991 and 1992. The first one on the UsefulNotes/{{NES}} is completely awful, thanks to unresponsive controls, and your reward for beating the game in the twenty minutes? [[AWinnerIsYou The same bad ending you get for losing]]. Even worse is its sequel, ''Lost in New York'', which ranges from irredeemably terrible (UsefulNotes/GameBoy and NES) to SoBadItsGood (UsefulNotes/SuperNES). The NES and Game Boy versions feature terrible play control, below average graphics, FakeDifficulty, and also its weird assortment of enemies, including a vacuum out to kill Kevin.

* ''Film/LastActionHero'' had its video game adaptation released in 1993. The UsefulNotes/{{NES}} version was easily one of the worst versions. Dull, lifeless graphics, irritating music and {{Mooks}} that never stop coming are some of the main problems this game has.
* ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'' had two different licensed games, one for the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}, UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis (not UsefulNotes/SegaCD), and UsefulNotes/GameBoy, the other for DOS and UsefulNotes/SegaCD. The latter one was a FullMotionVideo game with extreme cases of both GameplayRoulette and FakeDifficulty. Also, for no good reason, the limitations of the Genesis color palette (which degraded the quality of the pre-rendered 3D graphics) were present in the DOS version, despite the fact that it used the MCGA video mode (2^24 colors total, 2^8 on screen at once).

** The UsefulNotes/{{NES}} game based on ''Film/TheTerminator'' has awful sound, stiff controls, and ugly graphics. The first level is the ONLY level you have a gun and grenades (Unlike, well, EVERY other version.), as soon as you get to the past you have nothing but your fists (you can kick too, but what's the point?).
** The UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} ''Terminator'' game could use some mention too. The levels are brutally long (the 2nd level is INSANE), sound effects tend to drown out all two of the music tracks in the game, and it was just [[NintendoHard cruelly difficult]].

* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', published by Creator/{{Acclaim}} and developed by Creator/{{Interplay}} for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}, frustrated many players early into the game with a movie theater showing the game's credits and {{Inescapable Ambush}}es in alleys by midgets wearing purple jumpsuits. The rest of the game bears more relation to the movie (it includes the X-ray scanner and the subway shootout), but it's mostly a mediocre BeatEmUp with bad hit detection and a lot of cheap hits.
* ''Film/{{Toys}}: [[http://www.somethingawful.com/rom-pit/rom-pit-playset/ Let The Toy Wars Begin]]'', made for the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} and UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis by Creator/AbsoluteEntertainment in 1993 as a tie-in to the Creator/RobinWilliams film of the same name from the previous year. It's not like the makers of the game had to do much to improve the plot - the film was a goofy story about a toy designer fighting to get back his father's ailing company from the hands of a military general who plans to weaponize children's toys, and it flopped critically and commercially at the box office. The resulting game was a dismal top-down shooter with a whopping ''four'' stages, wherein [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the player commanded a limited amount of toys against an unlimited stream of AI enemies from the opposing general's side]]. The game was mercilessly panned - [=GamePro=] and several other publications blasted the game for many missed opportunities, the lack of a two-player mode, terrible visuals (even by SNES standards) and one of the least-relevant adaptations of a film ever made.
* One game that many people don't realize was intended to be a licensed game was Creator/{{Acclaim}}'s ''Film/{{Warlock|1989}}'', created for the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} and UsefulNotes/{{Sega|Genesis}} two years after the second movie of the same title was released. It included gems like bad collision detection, enemies that would spawn with no warning and had little to no pattern to them, [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou a mechanic that kills you if you fall from a height that's anywhere higher than the height of the playable character]], wonky player movements (like the protagonist ''crouching automatically when firing forward''), and having only a single life to get through the game unless you die with a ''specific item in your inventory'' (although there ''was'' a password system, thankfully) meant the game was particularly putrid. Its only saving grace was an [[GoodBadBugs item use exploit]] that effectively made you invincible and harmful to the touch during the item's effect. One SNES magazine writer said that he was worried about his ability to give an objective review of the game, as star Julian Sands was his cousin. Then he started playing the game, and was relieved to find that it was ''so bad'' he could tear into it mercilessly.

** Its UsefulNotes/{{NES}} counterpart, ''VideoGame/WaynesWorldRadicalEntertainment'', fared no better. It was developed by the oft-mentioned Creator/RadicalEntertainment, who also developed the first ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' video games for the NES a year before. Released in November of 1993, it even uses the same engine as both games. You play as either Wayne or Garth (depending on what level you're on). Depending on who you're playing as, your only attacks are either a laser gun (Garth) or a clunky, unreliable kick (Wayne). The game suffers from repetitive music, bland graphics and repetitive backgrounds and unimaginative enemies. Like both games, your only reward is AWinnerIsYou screen. Excellent!

* The UsefulNotes/{{NES}} game based on ''Film/TopGun'' was quite boring, with complete lack of music during the stages, out-of-place refueling sections, [[NintendoHard landing sequences that are hard to pull off even if you know how to do it]], and inaccurate portrayal of aerial dogfights. However, [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames the sequel averts this trope by fixing all of these problems]].

* The UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} ''Film/TimeCop'' game released by Cryo Interactive in 1995 is a sloppy action platformer starring a goofy digitized facsimile of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme through five stages as he struggles with delayed controls, useless moves, cheap hits, slow and stupid-looking enemies, glitches, and poorly-executed UnexpectedGameplayChange (the "best" one being a [[UnexpectedShmupLevel shmup sequence]] where you control a large submarine that takes up an eighth of the screen). Its only redeeming qualities are that it's broken and inept [[SoBadItsGood in a funny way]] and features a bizarrely catchy soundtrack by [[Creator/QuanticDream David Cage]].

** ''VideoGame/WaynesWorldGrayMatter'' is possibly one of the most loathed, least playable 16-bit games ever. Bad collision detection, hideous sprites and atrociously digitized voices (especially in the version) are just part of the problem with this. Mainly considered only worthwhile to mock. [[http://www.sega-16.com/2004/08/waynes-world/ Read this review for more details.]]