So Bad It's Horrible Cleanup

The Virtual Boy isn't allowed under Horrible.Video Games Other because it has a genuine fanbase. However, that doesn't mean I can't add Virtual Boy games to the list, correct?

I'm nominating Virtual Lab. It's infamous for its Obvious Beta status, including poorly programmed menus, spelling errors and lacking a password screen despite the game giving you passwords after every level; but it's been also condemned for being ill-fitting for the system, poor visuals and ear-splitting music, terrible controls (for a puzzle game, mind you), and being a Falling Blocks game where it's possible to create block setups that are impossible to remove.

If a game mod is competent/impressive from a tech standpoint, does it really belong on the page?

How's this for a write-up?

• The Virtual Boy may have its defenders, but even they don't have anything nice to say about Virtual Lab. The game is a Falling Blocks Puzzle Game that's most infamous for its Obvious Beta status, such as poorly programmed menus (the "Mid" speed option is actually the fastest) and lacking a password screen despite the game giving them after every level. Other flaws include poor graphics, ear-splitting music, laggy controls, and the possibility of creating block setups that are impossible to remove, as well as being seen as ill-fitted for the system. The game even misspells Nintendo's name in the box! Nintendo Life pans it here, while Retronauts calls it the low point of the system.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Oct 15th 2021 at 2:16:33 PM

Double-posting, but isn't this sentence in the R Zone's entry too rambly? It goes on for way too long on why the Virtual Boy doesn't count, and the games listed should have their own entry (and I'd argue 3D Tetris might count as well). I'd cut everything after "Virtual Boy".

• Tiger Electronics' R Zone, which manages the impressive feat of being a Shoddy Knockoff Product of the Virtual Boy, which, while infamously flawed, actually has way more good or decent games than bad ones within its small game library (as evident by their game ratings on GameFAQs), with the only truly bad Virtual Boy games being Waterworld, Virtual Lab, and SD Gundam Dimension War, and thus isn't bad enough to qualify as being horrible.

Mind if I expand the entry on Autism Every Day since it’s really short?

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Oct 15th 2021 at 1:49:07 PM

That doesn't explain how the R-Zone is bad and spends more time defending the Virtual Boy.

So it's okay if I chop that bit, then?

After looking into it, I found that it was unilaterally added by P360360P back in July.

The Autism Every Day expansion. When it was added I too thought it was a messy entry, but I didn't dispute it being added because... yeesh.

Autism Every Day is a short film, not an advertisement. Should it be moved to the "Films" folder?

I think so? As far as we know we have yet to list a live action short film, so we need to find a place.

Are you sure I should do it since I have a vehement hatred for the film due to having Autism.

How would you write it up? Put a draft here and we will see based on that.

Also, we already have a Horrible Live Action Short Film - namely Innocence of Muslims. We also have an animated one in See You Later, Gladiator

Edited by magnumtropus on Oct 15th 2021 at 6:46:38 PM

Second draft:

• The Virtual Boy may have its defenders, but even they don't have anything nice to say about Virtual Lab. Rumor goes that, upon hearing of the system's soon-to-be discontinuation, the developers decided to rush the game and release it in its Obvious Beta status. This explains some of the game's most obvious flaws, including placeholder graphics, laggy controls, poorly programmed menus, and a lack of a password screen despite the game giving them after every level. Other issues include ear-splitting music, the possibility of creating block setups that are impossible to remove, and overall being seen as ill-fitted for the system. The game even misspells Nintendo's name in the box! Nintendo Life pans it here, while Retronauts calls it the low point of the system.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Oct 16th 2021 at 11:31:50 AM

Re: The Coke ad:

I thought I'd add that Were Still Relevant Dammit needs a Trope Talk thread followed by a TRS thread if it hasn't already had one, since the previous TRS thread couldn't completely pin down the definition. (This is what ended up happening with Hate Sink.)

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 16th 2021 at 5:23:31 AM

The Trope Talk thread is already up. It's been a while since the last post but it's still there.

Message For: FernandoLemon

In all fairness, Morphin Brony had this say in the post from May 2nd 2020 at 11:42:33 PM:

Tiger Electronics' R Zone, which manages the impressive feat of being a Shoddy Knockoff Product of the Virtual Boy, which was already pretty bad.which, while infamously flawed, had a few decent games and isn't bad enough for this list.

So I thought it needed some specifics so people will know that Morphin Brony isn't lying, but I didn't realize that it was considered a tirade!

Erm, I'm pretty sure the issue is that it makes it to where over half the example is talking about a only partially related product.

I already went ahead a couple of days ago with just cutting that part, but thanks for the context.

Horrible.Video Game Generations Fifth To Sixth has a sub-bullet point under Daikatana that goes in detail about why the Game Boy Color version isn't horrible. Can I trim it and merge it into the actual entry?

Edited by FernandoLemon on Oct 20th 2021 at 3:51:45 PM

Yeah, that should be shortened to a single sentence about how the Game Boy version is better.

It needed a whole lot more work than just that. How's this? Does it still need trimming?

• Daikatana is a cautionary tale on the dangers of uncontrolled hype, to the point that ads published in magazines promised that "John Romero's about to make you his bitch.◊" Unfortunately, a horrendously Troubled Production ensued, resulting in many delays and changes to the game's engine. The result was a mess of ugly graphics on an outdated engine, useless weapons, AI companions with no survival instinct whatsoever whose deaths constituted an automatic Game Over, and an incredibly restrictive save system. The game's failure would wind up sinking Ion Storm. As for its ports, the Nintendo 64 version was met with even worse reviews due its uglier visuals and removing content from the original, while the European-exclusive Game Boy Color version saved itself from such a fate as a fun Action-Adventure title. Matt McMuscles takes an in-depth look at the game's history here, and Civvie 11 offers a very comprehensive breakdown of it.

EDIT: I think we can cut the game's ad from the entry, as its quality is independent on the game's quality. We can't move them to Horrible.Advertising either, due to their Memetic Mutation status.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Oct 21st 2021 at 2:04:56 PM

i think the way the ads set up expectations is important to how Daikatana ultimately failed and its status as a Creator Killer. if it had just been a bad game, even John Romero probably would have been able to recover with a better product. the ads are important to why it's Horrible, and it wouldn't be the only entry to mock how the creators of Horrible works tend to view their products (the entries for Guise Of The Wolf and Day One: Garry's Incident mention their creators' copyright strikes against Total Biscuit).

Memetic status didn’t save Protegent or The Emoji Movie from getting SBIH entries. I think since the memes exist solely to make fun of the ad and the ad is a huge contributor to the game’s reputation, it can stay.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Oct 21st 2021 at 3:52:30 PM

Personally I think Protegent should be SBIG since it's mostly talked about in the context of being playfully mocked. Not as much evidence of it being bad bad as opposed to laughably bad.

Protegent does in fact have an entry on SoBadItsGood.Advertising.

Edited by ChloeJessica on Oct 21st 2021 at 3:10:10 AM