The Worst of SNES
The 16-bit gaming boom took over the early nineties. It gave us classics like Super Mario World, but it also emboldened marketers to dream up spin-offs. In these crossovers, the best parts about pop stars, TV shows, and movies were often abandoned. The result was a string of glitchy maps and questionable plots.
Ren & Stimpy was an interestingly grotesque Nicktunes show that translated into a cluttered mess on Super Nintendo. Just listen to Ren jump around on bookshelves and dining room tables to get a sense of the mind-numbing gameplay.
Wanye’s World relied on the idea that fans would get a kick out of hearing their favorite catch phrases. Again and again. That’s about all that happens in this repetitive maze of speakers, electrical hazards, and angry instruments.
Shaq Fu is my favorite, perhaps because its fun to watch its attempts at plot try and fail. The premise is that Shaquille O’Neal, killing time before a charity game in Tokyo, stumbles into a Kung Fu dojo. The old man inside calls him “big warrior” and says there’s no time to explain, but that Shaq should enter a portal into another dimension. Nice guy that he is, he says sure and winds up fighting random creeps to rescue a boy from a mummy. The lack of variety and slow controls lead many critics to dub it the worst SNES game ever made.
Two things, it was the 16-bit era, not 32, 32 started with the Sony playstation. Second, most videogames based on movies, tv shows and famous people sucked ass. I mean, 90% of them sucked ass but this has been happening since 8 bit era with NES games, where, for instance, games like Terminator were totally bad. Good blog!
Thanks for taking a read! And you’re right, clearly a 16-bit system; the correction was made over at KMUW (where the audio resides), but I forgot to include that update in this posting. Some notable exceptions where pop culture has crossed over into good gaming: Aladdin, The Lion King, … some other exceptions to the rule?
Yes, mostly Disney games were good, because many important companies were involved. The saga Super Star Wars for the SNES were good also, kind of difficult but still good. Some Batman games (not Forever, that one sucked ass) were good, in the same line the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (except the first game, that one was really bad) and many others. There are exceptions of course, but sadly, not many.