Some truly bad video games have been released over the past several decades, and we’ve compiled a list of the worst, ranked.
It should go without saying, but developing video games is hard work and sometimes leads to games that are more infamous in their poor quality than enjoyable. Simply put, there are many terrible video games across the entire history of the medium, but even among the games that have garnered a rightfully notorious reputation, there are some games that aren’t quite as bad as the others. No game is created equal, even the bad ones, with some considerably worse than even their fellow maligned counterparts and contemporaries.
Here is a ranking of some of the worst video games ever to get an official release, from bad to the worst of the worst, with some of the absolute dredges that the gaming industry has to offer. This ranking isn’t a form of revisionist history to claim any of the games on this list are, in fact, good; the universal derision surrounding them is well-documented and deserved. This is just to say which of some of the most reviled games in existence deserve their spot at the bottom of the heap.
Related: Ranking Final Fantasy Games
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Nearly Killed Video Games
1982’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is a game so bad and mass-produced that it is often associated with the collapse of the video game industry in 1983 and the complete reversal of fortunes for industry leader Atari. Adapting – in the most generous usage of the word – the classic Steven Spielberg movie of the same name, E.T. endured a rushed production to get the game out in time for the 1982 holiday season. Players control E.T. as he scrambles for a way to contact his alien race to pick him up from Earth, all while eluding federal authorities out to capture him.
Though E.T. is a largely unfun mess, with constant pitfalls and bare-bones screens to progress across, it isn’t the absolute worst game on the Atari 2600. By the end of 1982, the market was effectively flooded with shovelware as third-party developers gained legal permission to produce games for Atari consoles, much of it produced as a cheap cash-in on the video game boom. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial gets perhaps a worse rap than it deserves, but it is Atari’s biggest first-party failure and a literal headache to navigate.
Shaq Fu Was a Cash Grab
At the peak of NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal’s time on the Orlando Magic, before starring in Kazaam or Steel, the famed center headlined the 1994 fighting game Shaq Fu. Released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, with ports for the Game Boy and Game Gear, the game has Shaq visit a dojo in Japan, only to be teleported to the Second World where he confronts the sinister mummy Sett Ra. As Shaq faces increasingly formidable foes to return home, he doesn’t overcome his opponents with his championship basketball skills, but rather, with his fists.
Yes, Shaq Fu has a patently ridiculous premise and protagonist, though somehow no stranger than its contemporary side-scrolling platformer Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, also released in 1994. There are far worse fighting games released around the same time, including 1993’s Dangerous Streets, 1994’s Kasumi Ninja, and 1994’s Way of the Warrior. There are plenty of games trying to cash-in on Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat’s success, and Shaq Fu certainly isn’t at the bottom of this barrel. It just has the most head-scratching novelty anchoring it.
Superman 64 Is Anything But Super
An adaptation of Superman: The Animated Series, featuring several voice actors from the acclaimed show reprising their roles, 1999’s Superman: The New Superman Adventures – better known as Superman 64 – is an unmitigated mess. After kidnapping Superman’s friends, Lex Luthor forces the Man of Steel to complete challenges within a virtual reality version of Metropolis, often entailing the Last Son of Krypton flying through a set of rings with a limited time presented with some of the worst visuals on the Nintendo 64. As Superman progresses, he faces off against his greatest enemies, including Brainiac, Metallo, and Darkseid.
The thing about a lot of the not unfair criticism centered on Superman 64 revolves around the ring-navigation early levels (made all the more morbidly amusing by Luthor’s insistence to refer to them as mazes). There are levels in Superman 64 that do eventually allow players to fight bad guys and use the superhero’s wide array of superpowers, they just have to endure a wave of levels forcing them to complete inane challenges made all the more impossible by truly horrible controls. There are gameplay experiences beyond the rings that are considerably better than the early levels, but not really worth having to go through this poorly delivered opening gauntlet.
Drake of the 99 Dragons Failed to Launch a Franchise
Intended to launch an entire multimedia franchise, 2003’s Drake of the 99 Dragons for the Xbox and PC was an unmitigated failure on all counts. The third-person shooter platformer title has Drake rise from the grave to avenge his clan after they’re wiped out by supernatural rivals in Hong Kong. Armed with matching pistols and the ability to slow time, Drake powers himself with lost souls to achieve his vengeance upon Hong Kong’s criminal underworld and save his murdered master’s soul.
Drake of the 99 Dragons revolves around a gameplay mechanic that has players aim Drake’s two guns individually while leaping through unforgiving levels and absurdly difficult enemies. This clunky control scheme, with a camera system that practically feels like it’s out to sabotage players, and a low-rent presentation with lumpy character and environment designs that felt dated on launch makes for one of the worst games on the Xbox. Aside from a PC re-release in 2018, Drake was never seen again and the world is all the better for it.
Related: All 2D Mario Games, Ranked From Worst to Best
Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust Is Just Offensive
As third-party developers began creating titles for Atari consoles in the ‘80s, this led to a number of games with sexually charged content, including the notorious Custer’s Revenge. One franchise that surprisingly lasted beyond the Atari generations was Leisure Suit Larry, following its eponymous playboy as he looks for hook-ups with beautiful women. While the entire series is misogynist garbage with jokes that were as unfunny as they were overly crude in 1987 when the series started, the low point of the franchise is 2009’s Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The game follows Larry Lovage as he begins working at his uncle’s adult film studio as he tries to further the family business. Dead-on-arrival with clunky controls, an unintentionally laughable open-world environment, uninspired minigames, and the cringiest attempts at humor in the industry — often veering into outright sexism and homophobia — Box Office Bust is a disaster of a game. There is nothing redeemable about Box Office Bust, and while the entire Leisure Suit Larry franchise is already a raging dumpster fire, the 2009 game smolders at the bottom of the dubious heap.
