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7%% Do not add a video game that has terrible reviews and/or reception if it came out very recently. Opinions can change within a matter of months. Please give the game some time first.
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9%% Please do not delete any review links from these pages without either consensus or if the link is dead and there are no alternate links to use.
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11->''"Purple for putrid gameplay; blue for bad musical abominations; green for graphical farts and garlic; yellow for piss-poor lack of loyalty to source material; orange for "orange you a fucking idiot"; red for high-stress, anger-inducing masochism! Put that together, you got all the colors of the Shit Rainbow."''
12-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''', on how the Creator/LJNToys logo symbolises recurring faults.
13
14A handful of game developers, both professional and independent, [[Horrible/VideoGameGenerations often have a hard time making games that are fun]], or even playable. {{Game mod}}s and homebrew creations exist that can put the worst fanfic in perspective. Your internet and cell phone aren't even safe. In some cases, even the ''consoles'' are better off sacrificed to your trash compactor. Or arguably just as bad for some companies, a presentation (most commonly at [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]]) intended to wow audiences instead goes horribly awry, damaging a company's reputation or a certain type of brand in the process.
15
16'''''Important Notes:'''''
17# Merely being offensive in its subject matter is not sufficient. Hard as it is to imagine at times, there is a market for all types of deviancy, no matter how small a niche it is. It has to ''fail to appeal even to that niche'' to qualify as this.
18# A game isn't horrible just because WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]], [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], WebVideo/AngryJoe, WebVideo/JonTron, {{WebVideo/Rerez}} or any other CausticCritic reviewed it. Nor is it horrible just because it was review bombed on Steam, Amazon, and/or Metacritic.[[note]]''VideoGame/Overwatch2'', a perfectly functional game, currently holds the record for the most negatively reviewed game on Steam -- most of the reviews are complaints about the microtransactions and its developer, Creator/BlizzardEntertainment.[[/note]] There needs to be independent evidence, such as reputable, professional reviews, to list it. Though once it is listed, the Caustic Critics can provide the detailed review(s).
19# Also, a game isn't Horrible just because it's a [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames poorly-made licensed tie-in]] or a [[PortingDisaster bad port]]. However, if it's a terrible game on its own or a particularly horrendous port, then it can be listed here.
20# To ensure that the work is judged with a clear mind and the hatred isn't just a knee-jerk reaction, as well as to allow opinions to properly form and give the developers a chance to patch out any glariing issues, '''[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease examples should not be added until at least one month after release]]'''. This includes "sneaking" the entries onto the pages ahead of time by adding them and then just commenting them out.
21
22----
23!Examples:
24
25[[index]]
26* [[Horrible/VideoGameCompaniesAndDevelopers Companies and Developers]]
27* [[Horrible/VideoGameConsolesAndOtherHardware Consoles and other Hardware]]
28* Horrible/VideoGamePresentations
29[[/index]]
30
31[[foldercontrol]]
32
33!!Others
34
35[[folder:Covers]]
36While video game box art [[CoversAlwaysLie isn't always indicative of the game itself]], the truth is that first impressions in marketing ''do'' matter, and if a terrible cover doesn't turn potential players away outright, then it will certainly linger in their minds as they play the game.
37* The ''[[VideoGame/BubbleBobble Bust-A-Move]]'' series (known as ''Puzzle Bobble'' in Japan) has had a long run with AmericanKirbyIsHardcore, right down to the NonIndicativeTitle used for international releases. While the games themselves are untouched, being just as [[{{Kawaiiko}} cutesy]] as the original Japanese games, the cover art was not reflective of the game, with disastrous results:
38** [[https://twitter.com/boxartscrewup/status/784934349732847616 The North American cover art]] for Platform/SegaSaturn and Platform/PlayStation ports of '''''Bust-A-Move 2''''' shows human faces trapped in bubbles yawning widely, with their eyelids propped open using matchsticks. The tagline on the bottom of the cover art reads "So addictive, it should be illegal!" The problem is, the picture in the layout is more suggestive of [[AndIMustScream inhumane torture]] than simple extreme tiredness. The entire image was copied directly from adverts used to hawk this game in magazines, with no further adjustments. As a cover meant to sell the game to children, it failed horribly. Unsurprisingly, Acclaim wised up and used the same cover art for all international releases of ''Bust-A-Move '99'' and ''4'', but would nonetheless repeat this mistake with...
39** [[https://www.theraffon.net/~spookcentral/scblog/tcp/2003/07/04/super-bust-a-move-video-game-review The North American cover art]] for '''''Super Bust-A-Move'''''. While not as unintentionally disturbing as the above, it's much more obnoxious, with an ExtremeCloseUp of a baby in sunglasses blowing a bubble and the title of the game scribbled on their head. Even with the more surreal direction of the game's art style, the cover [[CoversAlwaysLie doesn't reflect the nature of the game]], and the only connection to the game it has is through the reflection in the baby's glasses. Both of these covers rank #7 on [[https://web.archive.org/web/20110626053745/http://archive.gamespy.com/top10/january03/covers/index2.shtml Gamespy.com's "Top 10 Worst Covers"]].[[note]]The other covers are closer to SoBadItsGood or NarmCharm.[[/note]]
40* The [[https://cdn.mobygames.com/covers/6213731-chuckie-egg-ii-front-cover.jpg home computer port cover]] of '''''[[VideoGame/ChuckieEgg Chuckie Egg 2]]''''' has gained notoriety in recent years for the ''incredibly'' gross-looking character on it, which can best be described as if VideoGame/{{Dizzy}} took a deep dive into the UnintentionalUncannyValley. The {{Cephalothorax}} egg character has overly-long limbs, strangely-placed facial features that are needlessly organic-looking (especially the lips, hairy eyebrows and stretched, overly-shadowed eyes), and an overly-detailed skin tone (particularly on the limbs/forehead) that makes it look like [[FanDisservice it's jumping around naked]]. Creator/StuartAshen talks about it at length in his Norwich Games Festival [[https://youtu.be/wFF9O73iwko?t=1007 Gallery Of Shame,]] reserving special criticism for its [[CoversAlwaysLie inaccuracy]][[note]]Since you don't actually play as an egg of any sort in this game; you're actually a little hat-clad man named Henhouse Harry, who's gathering the ingredients to make chocolate eggs.[[/note]] and the [[AccidentalNightmareFuel disturbing layout and amount of detail]] on the egg character.
41-->'''Ashens:''' The game's not quite as good as ''Chuckie Egg 1'', but it did '''not''' deserve whatever the hell this is!
42* [[http://stevenpayneuca.blogspot.com/2011/11/environment-inspiration-behind-icos.html The North American cover art]] for '''''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'''''. In contrast to the [[MinimalisticCoverArt Giorgio de Chirico-inspired box art]] of the Japanese and European versions, the North American box art uses a more generic layout: the [[RaceLift race-lifted]] Ico brandishing his wooden sword in the foreground; a faded head shot of Yorda staring off blankly in the intermediate space behind Ico; and the windmill standing inconspicuously in the background, making awkward use of negative space. It failed to incite emotion, reflect the [[ArtGame artistic]], [[{{Minimalism}} minimalistic]] style of the game, or [[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/last-guardian-game-named-for-us-europe-kobayashi give American players a reason to play the game]]. While it was assumed to be [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore a misguided attempt to appeal to the tastes of American audiences]], it was actually the result of a fixed deadline for the North American release, as the cover used for the other versions wasn't available in time for the game's release. Thankfully, the UpdatedRerelease on the Platform/PlayStation3 (bundled with ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'') used the original art across all regions.
43* [[https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--zO5tXm8W--/c_fit,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/18j4h07j5si6njpg.jpg The European cover art for]] '''''[[Film/{{Juon}} Ju-on: The Grudge Haunted House Simulator]]''''', which doesn't show what the game's about, but rather [[ThisLoserIsYou how the player is expected to react]]: a woman crouching behind a chair, with eyes wide in fear. Not only does this scene have no relation to the ''Ju-on'' franchise, but it doesn't convey the game's atmosphere at all, being brightly lit in contrast to the dark, derelict environments within the game. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20191022211511/https://youchew.net/forum/73-hall-of-fame/38611-cornybadunintentionally-hilarious-box-art/15.html One comment]] on the now-defunct [=YouChew=] forums compares this to a ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' installment using "a greasy 12 year old screaming at a TV, surrounded by empty cans of energy drinks" for its cover. As if the cover wasn't bad enough on its own merits to warrant being listed on this page, Creator/JimSterling [[https://www.destructoid.com/ju-on-s-sh-tty-european-box-art-147625.phtml brought up]] another [[FridgeHorror disturbing possibility]]: that parents would have likely bought this for their children expecting DefangedHorrors from the playful cover, when in fact they were going to expose them to ghoulish scares intended for adults.
44* The [[https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/megamanbox.jpg North American cover art]] for '''''VideoGame/MegaMan1''''' is one of the most oft-cited examples of the worst cover art in the history of video games. Here, Mega Man is depicted as a dopey-looking middle-aged man in [[WTHCostumingDepartment an atrocious blue-and-yellow costume]] that only vaguely resembles the character in the games, and he is set against a hilariously bad 80's-tastic backdrop. Even the [[http://ringsandcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Mega-Man-EU-Art.jpg European box art]] is more faithful (if [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore considerably more actionized]]). In the decades since, Capcom would develop a self-depricating sense of humor regarding the box art, creating intentionally cheesy homages to it for the release of ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'' and ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'', as well as including the "Bad Box Art" version of Mega Man as a playable character in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'', where he is depicted as a ButtMonkey[[note]]The timing of Mega Man's inclusion in the game, which followed the simultaneous cancellation of multiple ''Mega Man'' games such as the highly anticipated and demanded ''Mega Man Legends 3'', wound up coming off as an insult to many fans, even though his inclusion was decided well in advance of the cancellations that precipitated the beginning of Capcom's AudienceAlienatingEra[[/note]]. In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'', the "Bad Box Art" version appears again as a line of action figures in a toy store.
45* While Creator/PhoenixGames are known for their awful movies put in video games and other awful video games of their own accord, no box art of theirs is more infamous than that of '''''[[https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmU1ZGU3YmYtYTcyNS00ODRjLWJjZDgtM2JkZjczOWJlODE5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjc5NzE0MzE@._V1_.jpg Snow White and the Seven Clever Boys]].''''' Instead of using the better-looking models from their "movie" (who, by the way, look nothing like the characters on the cover), Phoenix Games created custom 3D models of Snow White, Queen Grimhilde's witch disguise, and four of the seven dwarfs as they appear in [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the Disney classic]], to [[{{Mockbuster}} trick unknowing consumers]]. What makes it stand out, however, is the fact that the designs for every character suffer from one of the most horrific cases of [[UnintentionalUncannyValley Uncanny Valley]] ever, with most of the characters looking directly at the camera and the models being extremely low quality. The designs combined with the atmosphere of the box art showcases a weird MoodDissonance on display. When WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}} covered this game, he noted that there was so much wrong with the box art that it was more interesting than the game itself. Meanwhile, the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdfFiUM10FU talks about how much of a nightmare this cover really is,]] joking that the game's rating means it needs only three more souls to consume.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Smartphone Games]]
49%% If the app you want to mention isn't a game, please put it in the Horrible/Apps page, not this folder.
50%% Please do not delete any review links from these pages without either consensus or if the link is dead and there are no alternate links to use.
51
52The [=iOS=] App Store and Android's Google Play market are so rife with shovelware that it's difficult for games on either platform to be terrible enough to stand out. That being said, some smartphone games, and not just ones from shovelware developers, cross the threshold for one reason or another.
53----
54* '''''3D Cartoon Land: Safari''''', released in 2012 (and since removed from the App store). Ignoring the fact that this game was blatantly trying to capitalize on [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand another popular and successful game that features a character in a red hat and blue overalls who jumps across platforms and stomps on brown monstrous mushrooms]], the game just wasn't that good. The graphics were elementary-school-level cardboard collages at best with serious draw distance/pop-up problems, there was no sound save for a warbling out-of-place music loop, and the play control was utterly crippled.
55* '''''Bob Bros. Legend of Time''''' starts out as an utterly shameless ripoff of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and goes downhill from there. The game only has one level which consists of a barebones Bob-omb Battlefield with no Cannons, Hazards, Warps, Physics, or [=NPCs=]. Bob (or Bruno, as he's strangely renamed in-game) is pretty barebones himself, being only able to jump and having only two (directly stolen) voice clips. The game's sole enemies are Goomba clones, which seem kind of pointless to include considering it's impossible to take damage or die. On top of all this, it's ridiculously easy to glitch through the walls and floor and fall right out of the level, which (due to the aforementioned inability to die) will result in Bob falling endlessly through an empty void.
56* '''''Castle Master 3D''''' looks like a passable game at first, but a variety of issues elevate it to being on this list. For one, the goal of the game is to conquer all the enemy castles, but the AI is near impossible to beat, as they can upgrade their castles just as fast as you. The AI can also, with no warning whatsoever, launch attacks to retake castles at any time, making any sort of progress outright impossible, and if they retake all the castles, the game will be restarted. But what might be the icing on the cake is the game's RomanceSidequest. The player is offered two choices, and it's completely random which one is right or wrong, meaning the hints the game gives mean nothing. Furthermore, upon reaching the final stage, the game forces the player to pay with premium currency to reach the end, and even if the player perseveres, the weapon they get is impossible to use because of the level required to use it. And the reward if they somehow do win the game? ''The game starts again anyway.'' Fortunately, this app is no longer playable on today's devices, so you'll be spared of any frustration.
57* '''''Chess Puzzles''''' by Natalie London isn't even worth the free download. It's completely useless to learners because it throws you into puzzles without giving you any idea what you're supposed to do. The goal could be anything from "checkmate your opponent" to "pin a pawn" or "set up a stalemate trap", and the hint button just gives you the next move with zero explanation (unless it's one of the puzzles that always give you mid-puzzle hints that make the next move too obvious). There's no attempt to teach you how motifs and mating patterns actually work. Even if you're good enough to figure out the goal on your own, the game is still far from enjoyable due to its numerous other problems: It's extremely short at only 20 puzzles, it bombards you with ads (sometimes ''in the middle of a puzzle''), it doesn't keep track of which puzzles you've solved, you have to click a pointless "Continue" button before you're allowed to respond to your opponent's moves, and the chessboard ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking isn't even square]]''. Thankfully, the app was eventually removed... but the equally bad ''Chess Puzzles. Checkmate. Improved Touch.'' popped up to replace it.
58* The very first game that Vinny from WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksueH37_i78 played in his Android Trash series]] was '''''Cup Hand Adventure''''', an endless runner that [[TheMockbuster attempts to cash-in on]] ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' in the laziest way possible. The graphics are completely generic, and the characters are blatant {{Captain Ersatz}}es of Cuphead and Mugman that have a drinking glass and bowl for a head, respectively. The gameplay is no better: you just walk forwards and jump to collect coins and avoid tree stumps (that kill you for some reason). The thing that pushes this game from "boring ripoff" into "horrible" is the presence of airplane powerups. They randomly appear, and touching one makes your character fly over the obstacles for a few seconds, but once it ends there's a good chance it'll drop you off right on top of a tree stump, ending the game instantly with nothing you could have done, effectively meaning any given airplane could be a PoisonMushroom that can't be distinguished from a safe powerup. Your jumps aren't high enough to avoid the airplanes, so not dying is completely a LuckBasedMission. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaSARsQPQSY This video shows off a bit more of the game if you're still curious.]]
59-->'''[[WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} Vinny]]''': This is just fucking blasphemy. Think about all the work that went into ''Cuphead''... think about the years of animation, the years of coloring, drawing, and this is what we get on the Google Play store. [...] What else can I say? Really, what else can I say, this is ''Cup Hand Adventure''. And I already wanna die... I already wanna die.
60* Reimagining a classic PC strategy game such as ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'' for the smartphone generation is a tricky proposition since most of its target audience has never played the original. Unfortunately, Creator/ElectronicArts decided to do so in the worst way possible with '''''Dungeon Keeper Mobile''''', a lame ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'' clone in ''Dungeon Keeper''[='s=] clothing with art assets inexplicably lifted from ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''. Among the game's numerous sins are constantly goading the player into spending money on overpriced in-app purchases to get around the long wait times for performing simple actions as building a single room (clearing a single map square, an action that took only a second or two in the original games, can take up to ''24 hours'' here), throwing mean-spirited insults at fans of the original game (by using the old Bullfrog logo as an indicator of a destroyed room), and deliberately inflating the game's rating on the App Store by making it so that writing a 1-4 star review will redirect you to a service page rather than actually publishing the review. The backlash from players was immediate and fierce. LetsPlay/NerdCubed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpdoBwezFVA makes his disdain for the game clear in this video]], and Pete Davison [[http://www.usgamer.net/articles/dungeon-keeper-a-symptom-of-a-wider-problem wrote a lengthy article on USGamer.net]] sharply criticizing the game. The United Kingdom [[https://kotaku.com/ea-can-no-longer-call-dungeon-keeper-free-in-the-uk-1599021270 even banned EA from calling it a]] “[[AllegedlyFreeGame free]]” game. It also [[CreatorKiller led to the death of Mythic Games]], but the game was maintained by the remnants of employees leftover from the companies EA destroyed until August 2022, when it was finally and quietly shut down.
61* '''''Fantasy Night of [=TouHou=] Project''''' by [=PoQoP=] is described as "based on ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight''", which is an understatement. It's so full of UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}} [[note]](the sprites, music, characters, story, and sound effects are taken from the original and used without permission; on top of that, there's fanart used without permission)[[/note]] that it amounts to an unauthorized port, and it still [[PortingDisaster fails to capture what made the original enjoyable]]. For some reason, it ''does'' change many of the original (good) bullet patterns... for the worse. The new ones tend to be bizarre, not fit the characters using them, [[SchizophrenicDifficulty be much easier or harder than you'd expect from the stage they appear in]], have poor design that leads to cheap deaths, be plain ''boring'', or some combination of the above. To make matters worse, several attacks have the boss moving around a lot for no reason other than to make her difficult to hit, and the playable characters are too weak, which drags out the crappy patterns for longer than necessary - ''especially'' if you're using the weak Border Team, which is the only one that doesn't [[BribingYourWayToVictory cost $1 to unlock]] (and it's a paid app to begin with). On top of this, the game displays ads that are easy to click by accident during gameplay. Other inexcusable flaws include a laggy engine, Engrishy instructions [[note]](when they didn't just copy the text from some other source)[[/note]], the omission of Reimu's and Eirin's battles [[note]](in the original, two of the teams fight Reimu instead of Marisa. In this "port", all of them fight Marisa... ''even the team with Marisa on it''. Eirin is one of the two possible final bosses, which makes one of the original Stage 6 routes unavailable)[[/note]], dialogue bubbles pointing at the wrong characters, Kaguya's battle somehow having the wrong {{leitmotif}}, and [[NoEnding the story losing its ending]] [[note]](if you somehow find the patience to beat the game, your reward is... watching a collection of bland screenshots from the game you just played. Yay.)[[/note]]. Predictably, the creator of ''Touhou'' got the app taken down, to the cheers of ''Touhou'' fans. A completely free version (still with ads, though) was later released on the App Store, but that one ended up disappearing too. Needless to say, it wasn't missed.
62* '''''Geometry Blast''''', which is such a blatant ripoff of ''VideoGame/GeometryDash'' it's not even funny. For starters, it only has three icons and no way to change your icon's color, and the forms (like the ball) are also stolen. The music is royalty-free, likely torn from a free website, and the only three levels are ''exact copies'' of the first three levels in ''Geometry Dash'', as not even a single spike is placed differently. [[CreatorBacklash Even the creator himself publicly admitted how ashamed he was for making it.]]
63* '''''Gwisal-ui Geom''''', a Korean smartphone game, was critically lambasted both domestically and internationally for blatantly copying the aesthetic and narrative of ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', plus ripping off the mechanics from another Korean smartphone game. Add to that the developer's defensive attitude and vehemently denying charges of [[TheMockbuster mockbustering]] despite obvious evidence otherwise, this game received little to no defense. The game earned an abysmal ''1.5'' rating on App Store, before being pulled ''5 days'' after release. The only redeeming feature this game has is competent artwork.
64* '''''Raise My Perfect Idol''''' is a simulation game in which you raise a child. However, despite being a simulation game, the game rarely allows the player to make their own decisions, making the gameplay quite boring; if the player picks the "wrong" choice, they fail, and have to pick the "right" choice. In many cases, it doesn't even make sense as to ''why'' the choice is wrong. The game also has several UnfortunateImplications, with the level "Dark Skinned Hottie Girlfriend" being the most infamous -- the level makes the player choose the light foundation to make her "pure and refined", and you automatically lose if you choose the dark foundation. Other offensive implications in the game include your son becoming a delinquent if you pick the Japanese school uniform for him instead of the Western one, and the {{Squick}}iness of the player getting to [[ParentalIncest marry their adopted daughter]] in another level. There are also an excessive amount of ads, with one reviewer mentioning getting 14 ads in the span of 4 levels. Despite not having any other features that would require an internet connection, the game requires you to be online for the sole purpose of receiving these ads. An advertisement for the game even states that it has a rating of 4.4/5 on Google Play, [[VeryFalseAdvertising when its actual rating is 1.9/5]]. The only positive part that players can find about the game is that the art style is pleasant, but that isn't enough to save it.
65* '''''VideoGame/RockmanXover''''', released in 2012 following the controversial cancellations of ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends 3'' and ''Mega Man Universe'', was seen as a major "fuck you" to [[Franchise/MegaMan the franchise]]'s fans by Creator/{{Capcom}}, especially considering that it fell around the [[MilestoneCelebration 25th Anniversary]] of the Blue Bomber's [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 first adventure]]. Most levels consisted of running forward automatically while jumping and/or shooting incoming waves of enemies, all of which went down in one hit. Your Buster even charged automatically, eliminating any sense of strategy from what someone might stretch to call "gameplay". Boss battles, often the highlight of ''Mega Man'' games, were no better, and simply boiled down to [[TurnBasedCombat repetitive turn-based battles]] where the player and boss traded shots until one of them (usually the boss) died. To add insult to injury, the graphics and sound all came from the [[PortingDisaster disastrous]] [=iOS=] port of ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'', resulting in a game that not only played horribly but looked and sounded horrible on top of it. Even the most staunch defenders of the franchise had extreme difficulty finding anything good to say about this trainwreck, and for most fans it was proof positive that Capcom had given up on the franchise. The backlash from fans overseas was so intense that [[NoExportForYou Capcom USA abandoned its plans to localize it]] (and for once, nobody minded). The game got multiple updates after release, which added original boss characters that were received well enough on their own that many fans wish [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter they could just see them in a]] '''[[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter real]]''' ''[[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter Mega Man]]'' [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter game]]. Aside from a series of compilations, ''Xover'' was a FranchiseKiller until ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'' in 2018. The game was finally pulled from the market in 2015.
66* '''''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon 4''''' was the supposed mobile follow-up to the popular ''Rollercoaster Tycoon 3'', except it combines the worst aspects of the aforementioned ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper Mobile'' with the worst aspects of free-to-play smartphone games. The game not only used to require money to buy alone, it also runs on a freemium system that's designed to rip off the player with the usual "pay real-life money to speed thing up" and cool features actually requiring real money to buy. To add insult to injury, when Atari tried to pacify the fans by saying there would be a more AAA-like experience on the PC, they ended up botching ''that'' up beyond all belief too, though for [[DevelopmentHell different reasons]].
67* '''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtMZ_YoyzO4 SkullGirls 2: Deadly Airport]]''''' is a shoddy excuse for a FightingGame and the video game equivalent of ''Film/Alien2OnEarth''. [[{{Mockbuster}} Luring in players with a false promise]] of a ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' sequel, the game does little more than allow the player to select a character and display ads. Despite the title, the three characters available [[note]](Hugo, Poison, and Alex)[[/note]] are from ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', and the selection screen misleads the player by showing a lot of fake characters that cannot be selected. Once you've selected your character, another full-screen ad is displayed, and the game crashes and returns to the menu two seconds later, making the game completely unplayable. Even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l0bhFsrYZQ when the game runs for more than 5 seconds]], it barely works.
68* '''''Super Monster Bros''''' from Adventure Time Pocket Free (aka Mario Games Casas Team; not to be confused with ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''). The gameplay is an obvious carbon copy of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' (Level 2-1 is a nearly exact copy of ''SMB''[='s=] World 1-1), the playable characters and enemies are ripped off from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'', and the sound effects are stolen from various other games, such as ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros''. The physics are occasionally inconsistent, you have a limited amount of jumps (not good especially for a platforming game) and projectiles are too limited (not helped by the presence of boss enemies - blatant ripoffs of Mewtwo - that ''require'' multiple shots to pass). What makes this game truly monstrous, though, is the microtransactions that it constantly thrusts upon players; most of these purchases are ridiculously expensive, with the very first one a new player could be tricked into buying ("Role NO.1 and Unlock All", a blatant ripoff of Charizard) costing a whopping $99.99, on top of the game itself having a pricetag of $1.99. The game features loads of FakeDifficulty to make the player die as much as possible (which displays an ad and prompts the player to buy powerups). It is even almost identical to the related game ''Super Squirrel Bros.'' Even though the game has since been removed from the App Store, its notoriety remains a warning to parents who didn't supervise their children browsing the App Store, indicated in [[https://www.cnet.com.au/super-monster-bros-is-the-worst-mobile-game-cash-grab-weve-seen-339344090.htm this article]]. Watch gameplay and commentary [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAGf2FRRE5Q here]].
69* The 2014 '''[=iOS=] port of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''''' was one of the most infamous {{Allegedly Free Game}}s on the App Store prior to its removal that same year. What was a pretty good RPG on the SNES and Platform/PlayStation and a less-so-but-still-playable RPG on the Game Boy Advance and PSP was butchered into nothing short of a blatantly cynical cash grab for [=iOS=]. Difficulty settings were cut entirely, locking the players into the [[HarderThanHard hardest difficulty setting]] and item prices in stores are '''doubled''', resulting in a game that was [[BribingYourWayToVictory nigh-unwinnable without the use of microtransactions]]. Worst of all, a constant internet connection was required to play, despite it being a single-player game without any social elements, meaning the game was unplayable after being pulled and all the money anyone spent on it went down the drain.
70* For a short time in 2011, '''a [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct bootleg]] app bearing the name ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''''' shuffled onto the App Store, and it was one of the sleaziest attempts at sapping money off of unaware consumers on record. Website/HardcoreGaming101's [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-ios-bootleg/ "Your Weekly Kusoge" article]] on the game is quick to mention that it had [[NeverTrustATitle absolutely nothing to do with]] ''TMNT'': it was actually a poorly-coded and poorly-drawn ''VideoGame/{{Cabal}}'' clone with a background stolen from the first stage of ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', with two spots very badly filtered over to mask the source material. The screen was filled to the brim with numbers with indecipherable meaning, and the score failed to reset when the player died.
71* ''TIGG'', short for '''''WebVideo/TheIrateGamer Game''''', is a blatant reskin of ''Commander Cool'' which fails on the merits of even that, thanks to horrid controls, unintuitive gameplay (including misleading backgrounds), paucity of individual enemy types, [[CheckpointStarvation absence of checkpoints]], tendency to hemorrhage health powerups, and its story, composed wholly of constant, unfunny references and told exclusively via cutscenes. The only thing it has in its favor is good art direction, and even that can't make it worth the $4. It has completely disappeared from the App Store. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGkAylZ2Ljs 8-Bit Eric's review on this game.]] [[CreatorBacklash Even Chris Bores has admitted that he isn't happy with how the game turned out, and hopes it won't come back]].
72* '''''WAVE!! Naminori Boys''''' was a licensed gacha game based on a [[Anime/WaveLetsGoSurfing surfing-themed anime]], with rhythm-based gameplay, that offered a fully-voiced story... just a shame it was impossible to get any fun out of it. The game was poorly optimised, with even the highest-end phones struggling to move from one UI page to another. During gameplay, it felt unresponsive to your inputs (instant death for a rhythm game), and skill activation animations covered the entire screen... even '''over the on-screen prompts''', rendering them impossible to read. The gacha elements, with low rates and high prices, were downright exploitative. Additionally, if your device's language was set to English, all of the text was replaced by obvious placeholders. Only three days after this [[ObviousBeta Obvious Pre-Alpha]] was shoved out in 2021, it was taken offline - because several voice actors were improperly credited, opening the developers up to actual lawsuits. A three-day maintenance to fix these issues instead lasted a month before developers MAGES decided there was nothing salvageable in this game and announced it was shutting down permanently. This [[https://noisypixel.net/wave-naminori-boys-shutting-down/ news article]] that covered the game's end of service is one of the last indications that it ever existed.
73* '''''Zanda: Linked Swords''''' (later known as "Zenda"), released by "Top Best Adult Entertainment", was advertised as an adventure game on the [=iTunes=] App Store before it was pulled. Even ignoring its [[SerialNumbersFiledOff visual similarities]] to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, it was even worse than that, having no plot, repetitive stock music, and gameplay that was both barebones and broken (even if the player's health reaches zero, there's no way to die). It also sells itself as an original game when it's actually a hastily edited and unfinished [=GameSalad=] template. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPyiOWzzts Justin Davis from IGN]] took a peek at this game while it was still available.
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Web Games]]
77From the days of MediaNotes/AdobeFlash with child friendly websites like Creator/CartoonNetwork's or Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s (or the days of Platform/{{Newgrounds}}' highs if you were older), to the era of dedicated game websites such as Website/{{Kongregate}}, web games have the goal of fulfilling entertainment under a limited amount of space fitting an entire web page. The best ones manage to hold your attention well and have you playing for a good, long time like any other video game would. However, the worst ones make you wish you never went online for them in the first place, especially if they were in a website dedicated to these games. These games almost make us regret spending our time online with them.
78
79'''''Important Note:''''' With the end of Adobe Flash on December 31, 2020, most of these games are no longer in a playable state with a current mainstream browser. This can be alleviated by using either an older version of a browser (such as a portable build of Chrome version 87 or earlier), an alternative browser specifically meant to view Flash content after the cutoff (such as the Firefox-based Waterfox or the Chromium-based Cent), or an emulator such as the Flashpoint project, Ruffle, or Adobe's standalone projector
80
81* '''''Arise 4''''' is the worst installment of the ''Arise'' series, a collection of bland {{Point and Click Game}}s with bland aesthetics, abrupt and random {{Jump Scare}}s, and {{Moon Logic Puzzle}}s. Most of them are SoBadItsGood, but ''Arise 4'' doesn't rise to even that level. It forces you to navigate a confusing hedge maze with [[CopyAndPasteEnvironments screens that look very similar]], so you don't even know if you're facing the right direction. It's got bizarre design idiosyncrasies like drawers embedded in hedges. Its music is stolen from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil''. The puzzles either pose zero challenge or are infuriatingly cheap {{Pixel Hunt}}s. The final boss is essentially a JumpScare JPEG that's technically weaker than the normal enemies, because those kill you in one hit. But the [[ScrappyMechanic most frustrating gameplay feature]] is a set of intermittently appearing monster faces which, if you don't shoot them fast enough, will send you back to the very start of the game -- requiring you to distinguish them from the regular {{Jump Scare}}s, and switch from normal clicking to the gun (which, given the way the game is designed, itself can cause you to accidentally click out of the game). Watch [[WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}} Slowbeef and Diabetus]] suffer through it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFPCEY_gURs here]].
82-->'''Game Intro:''' I see you are surviving quite well. My next installment will make you want to DIE.\
83'''Slowbeef:''' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck It's about as accurate as it can get]].
84* From the Cartoon Network website:
85** '''''[[WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines Dastardly and Muttley: Catch the Pigeon]]'''''. The only objective is to stay in pursuit of the pigeon for as long as possible, while catching medals strapped to balloons, collecting fuel inside of bridges and barns (while avoiding colliding with their roofs), and dodging the overhanging storm clouds. But you're flying so fast that you outrun the screen, meaning that you're essentially flying blind and have no way of knowing when an obstacle will suddenly pop up. And you [[EndlessGame can't actually catch the pigeon]] (but that's how it goes in the show). As if to drive home the game's overall quality, the Game Over screen displays Dick Dastardly standing beside Muttley -- with what appears to be a vector graphics error where his face is supposed to be, while a voice clip plays of him saying ''[[{{Narm}} "Mutt-ley, it's medal time!!"]]'' A [=YouTuber=] has compiled a compilation of several of Cartoon Network’s old Flash games, and he attempts to play this one [[https://youtu.be/iKmXrfCCmfU here]]- he only lasts about ''45 seconds''.
86** '''''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy in "Kart Attack"'''''. The graphics are rather crudely cobbled together, with various stock images of the characters from the show noticeably [[OffModel out of proportion]] (especially notable in the ending screen, with an incredibly short Jonny among the other kids). The actual gameplay revolves around driving a kart up a road, and your aim is to increase your "street cred" by running ''into'' certain obstacles, while avoiding others such as oil slicks. The problem is that the kart goes so fast that the gameplay is reduced to blindly moving around while constantly bumping into things in hopes that you'll hit enough "good" obstacles to raise your score. The audio just consists of the (otherwise catchy) ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'' theme on repeat, along with [[DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound Sarah yelling, "Get lost!"]] whenever you run into the grass or splash water on bystanders. The game has even been known to crash the browser on older computers. See it in action [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ7h1W_lTzE here]].
87* '''''Death Trap''''' (no relation to the game on Steam or Atari ST) is a point-and-click horror game gone horribly wrong. Aside from the contrived plot, terrible voice acting, and low-budget scares, the game has tons of rookie mistakes. The audio clips can overlap each other if you're playing the game really quickly. The backgrounds often clash with each other and ruin the atmosphere. It's ''extremely'' linear, not as a design choice but because the navigation buttons were [[DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming programmed to use frame jumping commands]]. This explains not only why there are no exploration or puzzles (effectively kiling the point of the game), but also why it takes forever to load; the Flash file is a lot bigger than it needs to be. ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'' riffs on it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ7_7BfxrFo here]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIJZpgn-Jp0 here]] is a LetsPlay where the author pops up in the video's comments and [[CreatorBacklash apologizes for the game]].
88* '''''Dontrel Dolphin''''' is regarded as possibly the worst, but definitely the ''weirdest''. It's a platformer with all-around terrible level design, an art style that resembles ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]], LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading, and music that's pure NightmareFuel. Undeterred, the creator made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOUHiYo788 a sequel]], which has ''worse'' graphics and music, an intro narration that sounds like it was read from cue cards and on valium, and 3D boss battles which are prone to crashing after a few seconds[[note]]Technically, this isn't the creator's fault; [=GameMaker=] 8 Pro games don't run properly on newer operating systems like Windows 8 and can crash on basic actions like playing sound clips[[/note]]. Then came a third game, which is more bearable to look at and listen to than the first two, but the music cuts in at the most inopportune times, the 3D movement looks really stilted, [[UnintentionalUncannyValley uncanny]], and awkwardly constructed[[note]]The game is played from a first-person perspective, but tries to emulate a third-person perspective by sticking a 2D sprite of Dontrel near the bottom of the screen, which is [[SpecialEffectsFailure not convincing at all]] -- especially since Dontrel is often not even facing the same way as the "camera", collisions are registered with the "camera" and not Dontrel's sprite, and Dontrel often finds himself standing on top of walls[[/note]], and the 2D segments include a particularly cheap attack that makes losing almost impossible. Vinny from ''WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}}'' covers the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoISrqNGEd0 here]] and ''LetsPlay/GamingGarbage'' by Lowtax tears it apart [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsCF-mz6Y6A here]].
89* '''''Literature/JeffTheKiller''''' is a series of {{Jump Scare}}s of Jeff's face, along with a spider for some reason. There is absolutely nothing else that's scary in the game. There's a couple of keys to use on doors, as well as a gun which is used once (on the spider), has terrible aim, and has no place being in a Creepypasta-inspired game. Since you get a weapon, you have to have a health meter, which goes down whenever you look at the monsters, and losing all of your health causes the entire building to take off into space, leaving you behind with Jeff's face. Winning is pretty much AWinnerIsYou, and finding the real ending is hard due to the confusing level design and awful, constantly flashing lighting. And all the music is HellIsThatNoise, just for maximum irritation. Admittedly, Jeff's face is pretty scary, but even that is ruined by its two-dimensional appearance, and that's all the game has going for it, believing that star power is all it really needs.
90* The oddly-named '''''JOSH''''', or "Josh.exe", is a video game teaching about [[CluelessAesop the dangers of video game addiction]]. Beyond the bizarre premise, it's got terrible and {{narm}}y voice acting, awkward and even narmier {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}s, and [[RougeAnglesOfSatin rampant typos]] (''e.g.'' the word "deadication" in the menu). The graphics are terrible, especially given how they overlap when they shouldn't. The gameplay consists almost entirely of bland side-scrolling sequences with no challenge at all, and top-down sequences where the player character is reduced to a bland oval. The only level with anything approaching ''actual'' gameplay is a rather boring and easy maze. All the while, a rambling voiceover talks about how he got addicted to video games... and never mentions how he stopped. Watch Lowtax riff it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2hiIrv8gjQ here]].
91* '''''Kau Korral''''' is notorious for being one of the worst-designed games ever hosted on Website/{{Neopets}} -- a site that hosts hundreds of games and is usually fairly forgiving of weaker titles (as long as they provide decent Neopoints). The premise involves using a Gelert to round up Kau into the barn (given that all the Neopets are sentient, no one knows how that's supposed to work). And it's unforgiving; you have to be right on the mark to get the Kau to move where you want them to go, and they spawn randomly and sometimes halfway off the board, making the game UnintentionallyUnwinnable. Meanwhile, calling the farmer causes you to lose control of the Gelert, which often pushes the Kau off-screen rather than into the barn. The Neopets Team was inundated with so many complaints that they removed it from the site, incorporated it into one of their main plots with the villain [[TakeThat making their victims play it]], and introduced a new game with a similar concept called ''Extreme Herder'', which was ''much'' better received and is one of the site's most popular titles. (But you can still play the old game on the Game Graveyard page.)
92[[/folder]]

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