The Grudge List

[NeoZeedeater]

"List threads" have been good for discussion at TNL lately so here's another one. List 10 (or whatever you want) games that you have a negative association with, not including mere disappointment with their quality. We have already had "most disappointing" and "worst" lists, I'm sure. The games in this list can even be excellent but with something that bugs you. So, if you blame a game for the decline of the industry or for giving you an STD, this is the list for it.

Here are some that came to mind for me (not in any order):


StarTropics - Buying it used without the map and with no access to the code to keep playing really sucked because I was enjoying it. I refused to buy Zoda's Revenge when it came out.

The Longest Journey - Now, I'm not superstitious but having two hard drives die on me while playing this makes me scared to reinstall it.

Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf - I rented this back in the day primarily to access the hidden Fantasy Zone game. I followed what the magazine (I forget which one) said but I couldn't get it no matter how many times I tried. It drove me nuts not knowing whether it was my fault or the whole thing was a joke.

Donkey Kong Country - I thought the gameplay was good but I didn't appreciate Rare usurping DK's character designs. It also paved the way for the abominations of DK64 and the DK rap.

Landstalker - I never beat this game because my saves erased themselves near the end twice. Supposedly, it's not uncommon with this game.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Maybe I should blame SotN but CotM was the point where Konami decided they would focus on rehashing Metroidvanias. Most of them are good but I hate seeing any great series diluted with too many similar sequels.

Myst - I don't totally blame Myst (or Grim Fandango's sales) for the decline of the more humourous side of the adventure genre but I do feel it had a negative impact on it.

Summer Games - This was the first disk I tried to make a pirated copy of when I was a kid. I accidentally erased over my neighbour's legit version. Yeah, you could say it served me right but it was a big stress at the time.

Adventure Island - This is the video game equivalent of someone making a great song, and then someone else doing a lower quality cover of it right afterwards and having it become more popular than the original.

Star Wars - This one was just a sad moment. It's one of my favourite arcade games of all time, and I was glad there was an arcade in 1995 that still had it. It died while I was playing it. The next time I went there it was gone and I haven't seen a vector graphics arcade game since. Emulation is cool but it's not quite the same.

[g0zen]

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - This is first thing that comes to mind when I think of sequels that didn't need to be made. I guess I can understand Ubisoft's thinking, trying to rebrand the franchise with a harder edge to bring in that crucial emo teen demo, but compared to the simple beauty in design that was SoT this game was crap on a pointy stick.

[Dyne]

I hate the GTA 3 series for the sheer fact that it brainwashed millions into thinking horrible graphics and shitty aiming make a game good.

I also hate whatever game made the spawning point for these indie devs to create twinstick shooters with neon graphics ad nauseum.

[Frogacuda]

Adventure Island - This is the video game equivalent of someone making a great song, and then someone else doing a lower quality cover of it right afterwards and having it become more popular than the original.

Hah, nice analogy. Hudson is Pat Boone.

[Yoshi]

Wow. This is an interesting one (not that I expect less). I suspect my list will get many edits, but here is the first pass:

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - This was the first entry into a series I care a lot about to make a seemingly permanent move to a portable platform. Secondarily, it also continued what I, at the time, thought was going to be a one off move to an adventure format for the Castlevania series. At the time of its release, I enjoyed CotM, as I could not foresee the future it would bring in ruining what was the best series in gaming for a decade.

Castlevania: Order of Shadows - Want to make portable Castlevania games look like a good idea? Make the alternative Castlevania on a cell phone.

Dino Crisis 3 - Dino Crisis 2 remains one of my favorite PS1 games. Taking that formula to a new generation of consoles seemed like a can't miss. However, making a mediocre sequel with dinosaurs in space on a platform with next to no Japanese following, seems to have doomed the series completely.

Final Fantasy VII - More than any other game, FFVII led to the loss of innocence of the industry. Had the series stayed with Nintendo, Sony may have failed in their attempt to bring big corporations into the gaming hardware business. Had that not happened, perhaps I could be playing the newest release on a Sega console today while bitching about Nintendo.

Madden NFL 2006 - Monopolies suck. Madden 2006 marked the first time the declining series would be unchallenged, removing any need to improve the broken, unrealistic gameplay for which the series has become known.

King of Fighters: NeoWave - KoF:NW marked the first major SNK arcade release off the Neo Geo in over a decade. While evolution was becoming more and more necessary, it was still sad to see such a fantastic piece of hardware ride off into the sunset.

Nintendogs - Though not alone by any stretch, Nintendogs is likely the best poster child for the expansion of the gaming market to people I want to get the hell out of my hobby. With any luck these little bastards will become rabid and kill the grandmothers, little girls, and casuals that are fucking everything up for the rest of us.

R-Type Final - Admittedly not the best game in the series, R-Type Final still was a decent shooter that sadly marked the end of yet another horizontal shooter series. With no successor to G Darius in sight and Gradius VI seemingly canceled, the better side of the genre seems to have died off in favor of cookie cutter, memorization-heavy bullet hell nonsense.

Resident Evil: Survivor, Dino Stalker, etc. - I am more than a bit obsessive and compulsive about my favorite series. Thus, it drives me crazy when companies make a trash cash run with one of them in a genre where they don't belong. Poster children for this concept are the light gun games made from Capcom's survival horror series. I love survival horror and light gun games, but the union does not work. Leave House of the Dead, Vampire Night, and The Lost World to the experts at Sega.

Star Wars Galaxies' "combat revamp" and "new game enhcancements" - No one will ever convince me that Star Wars Galaxies, in its original form, was not the best MMO ever coded. It had the depth of over 30 professions, the ability to mix and match skills in any way up to the skill point limit, deep crafting where all versions of item A were not created equal, a true player-based economy, badges and rewards to make characters unique, and housing to decorate in incredibly unique ways. Then, the dumb fucks at SOE decided that SWG needed to be WoW. It eventually wound up with less than 10 professions and dumbed down combat. Help us, Bioware MMO. You are our only hope.

[A Robot Bit Me]

Poinie's Poin (PS2) - I made the mistake of playing this game when I had a really bad flu. When I'm running a fever, it's as though a fever gremlin crawls through my ear, sets the volume on my brain from 2 to 11, and flips the Hyper Retentive Mode switch to the "On!" position; I couldn't get this game out of my head. The result was the music and sound from Poinie's Poin becoming so mentally interwoven with the feeling of nausea that looking at the cover art literally makes me sick to my stomach.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

I hold grudges against people, not games.
1. Mr. I can't buy the game unless you have the strategy guide as well
2. Mr. What are some good games and now that you've shown me a ton of games I'll just buy that RTX Red Rock for $3.99
Also, his brother:
3. Mr. What are some good games and by the way I'm a loser who has played about everything in the store, but I'm not going to mention that until you've shown me all the games anyway.
4. Mr. What are some good RPGs and by RPG I mean stuff like Resident Evil, God of War, and Hitman
5. Mr. I bought these games four years ago for $50 a piece, what do you mean they're only worth $5 each now.
Also his brother:
6. Mr. This game cost me $50 brand new and now that I lost the case and instructions and used the CD as a coaster I should still get at least $45 for it.
7. Ms. What are some good games for little johnny so that I can ignore your suggestions and just get him that Grand Theft Auto he's been asking for so much and all the other kids in his nursery school are playing.
8. Mr. What do you mean you never played this game, you work at a game store.
9.Mr. Do you have Ogre Battle for SNES or Bubble Bath Babes for NES or Bust a Groove for PSX? No, well, this store doesn't have anything.
Then there is always his wife:
10. Ms. Do you have Mario for playstation cause I know there is one I played it at a cousins house.

[Yoshi]

lol Well played.

[Tain]

Ikaruga - I like Ikaruga. It's a great game, yet a lot of people seem to think it's the only game in the genre released since, well, Radiant Silvergun. I can't count the number of times I've heard people say cringeworthy, hyperbolic bullshit about it and call it the unquestionable pinnacle of the genre. Kinda like...

Radiant Silvergun - The only difference is that Radiant Silvergun isn't a great game.

Rez - benefits from an XBLA release way less than about two million Sega arcade games. This wouldn't be an issue if Microsoft didn't bottleneck XBLA releases as much as they do.

[Cowutopia]

that's so true ssjn.