A Brief History of a Bad Game Hall of Fame
The Bad Game Hall of Fame was established in January of 2016; originally as a Tumblr blog, before moving to a dedicated webzone in early 2017. Our first article covered 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari VCS / 2600 — the title largely credited with bringing about the “Video Game Crash of 1983,” and considered by many to be the worst game of all time. Having seen so many videos and articles purporting misinformation and needlessly-angry reviews regarding the game, author Cassidy’s intent with this article was to take a more informative approach and to evaluate the game more fairly.
Our template is simple: Give a brief history of the era and circumstances of the game in question’s development, review the title itself in depth (covering both the bad and the good), and conclude by measuring the impact and reception of its release. Following this format gives us an opportunity to cover all the necessary angles in figuring out how these games build their bad reputations, and help us determine whether that reputation is necessarily warranted or not.
In addition to covering maligned games, we will occasionally cover failed consoles / peripherals as well, in our attempt to tell the history of gaming through the lenses of its most ridiculed and despised milestones. It is our belief that this history is all worthy of preserving; in the hopes that future developers do not repeat the same mistakes, and so that players can have a fuller understanding of just how challenging a task game development can truly be. Our goal is not to ridicule or demean those involved with the production of these historically panned titles: We only wish to shed a light on the risks and frustrations that come with their profession.
Some Suggested Articles
Virtual Hydlide
In 1984, the first ever ‘Action RPG’ genre debuted across Japanese computers. In 1995, its world of high fantasy was reimagined for the Sega Saturn. But is this 3D take on Fairyland truly the stuff of nightmares?
Urban Yeti!
What do you get when you combine a mock cult, Dolemite, surfboarding, and multiple failed distribution deals? Why, a Game Boy Advance cartridge about cryptids, obviously! The story of what is possibly the GBA library’s oddest entry, and the industry history of the folk responsible.
Death Crimson
In 1996, a perfect storm occurred on the Sega Saturn; given an amateur development studio, limited resources, and an incomprehensible creative vision. We stare down the barrel of Japan’s most infamous light gun shooter, and determine to document its history. All hail the “Emperor of Kusogē.”
Homie Rollerz
In which we explore the Homies toy trend of the early aughts, the controversies it ignited, and the infamous Nintendo DS kart racer spun off from it. There’s more to these little plastic guys than meets the eye.
Spelunker (NES)
In one of the Famicom’s most infamous kusogē, slight falls spell fatality for an unfortunate spelunker. Does “The Weakest Action Hero in the History of Video Games” truly earn his distinction, or have the rumors of his many deaths been an exaggeration?
OUYA (2013-2015)
The life and times of the crowdfunded microconsole that couldn’t. But was there ever any hope that it might’ve, could’ve, maybe? The time has come to put “The People’s Console” on trial.
About the Webmaster
Art by @sproutsnout.
Cassidy has been online / creating all manner of goofy web content since the early aughts — under various names you’ll never know. The first video game they ever played was Doom, thanks to an irresponsible babysitter who left it installed on their mom’s DOS-compatible. It was pretty much all downhill from there.
Their fixation on “bad” games began early, with a compulsion to pen vulgar and sardonic reviews for games that earned their ire (as was the style at the time). Over time though, they began to realize that just parroting popular message board sentiment / acting as a pessimistic contrarian was pretty well played out — that simply shitting on games on a surface level wasn’t really contributing much to the conversation. And so, they one day resolved to approach them differently: To give them fair shakes when few others would, and to investigate the “whys” and “hows” as to how they wound up being what they were. Ultimately, this change in perspective lead to them learning to appreciate many of the games they had written off in their past, and to develop a better understanding of the industry surrounding them.
When they’re not busy writing about interactive media; Cassidy enjoys watching westerns, dabbling in anime, calling their cat a jerk, and creating playlists with intent to inflict musical whiplash. They identify as non-binary — preferring the pronouns “They / Them.” The quickest way to their heart is a Taco Bell® ‘2 Chalupas Supreme®‘ combo (with chicken, if you please). Their dream is to one day find a big bag of money.
