10 Most Despised Games Ever Released

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Video games are popular because they’re fun, offering hours of entertainment. This has been true since the beginning of the industry, and over the years, countless fantastic games have been released. Of course, not every game is a hit; many fail to impress players or sell well. However, most bad games are simply ignored. There are exceptions, though – some games are truly rage-inducing due to poor design, frustrating controls, or flawed ideas. Here’s a list of ten of the most hated games ever made, excluding compilations like Action 52.

1) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Anyone familiar with bad ‘80s video games likely expected E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 to be on this list. The game is infamous for its poor quality, and it’s best avoided. I still recall being incredibly disappointed when I received it and couldn’t figure out how to play. Rushed into production in just five weeks to coincide with the movie’s release, despite Howard Scott Warshaw’s efforts, Atari shouldn’t have released it. It sold millions of copies due to the initial hype, but frustrated players largely ended up discarding it. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ultimately became a symbol of the 1983 video game crash.

2) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1988)

The Nintendo Entertainment System had its share of bad games, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a particularly notorious example. While the game’s concept generally follows the story, it’s brutally difficult. Frustrating controls, trouble hitting enemies, and a fragile character make it incredibly challenging. It feels less like a fun game and more like an exercise in retro frustration. If you’re curious just how bad it is, check out The Angry Video Game Nerd’s review of the game.

3) Night Trap (1992)

When CD-ROMs became popular, early game developers tried making interactive movies, but most weren’t very good. One of the worst examples is Night Trap for the Sega CD. It’s a low-budget movie about a sleepover where teenage girls are stalked by vampires. You play by switching between camera angles, trying to overhear clues. While the idea wasn’t terrible, the game just wasn’t fun to play. The game’s violent content even led to a Senate hearing about violence and sexual assault in video games. Despite being widely considered one of the worst games of the 90s, Night Trap has gained a cult following and has been re-released on many consoles.

4) Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties (1993)

Despite many unsuccessful attempts, interactive movies continued to be made, eventually resulting in the widely criticized Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties for the 3DO. This romantic comedy tackles adult themes, focusing on John and Jane as they’re pushed to find partners. The aim is to pair them up, but the experience is a complete disaster. The movie’s production values are poor, the plot is nonsensical beyond a simple starting idea, and the acting feels like an improv exercise for beginners. Though almost universally hated, like Night Trap, it has surprisingly been re-released and is now available on current-generation consoles.

5) Hotel Mario (1994)

One of Nintendo’s biggest mistakes of the 1990s was allowing Philips to create games featuring Mario and The Legend of Zelda for their CD-i system. These games are notoriously bad, taking well-loved characters and ruining them with poor animation and gameplay. The Legend of Zelda titles on the CD-i are considered the absolute worst in the series, though thankfully they aren’t considered official parts of the Zelda story. Hotel Mario is just as awful, and even as a puzzle game, it’s incredibly frustrating to play. Like all CD-i games, it suffers from terrible controls. Having owned a CD-i myself, I can confirm it was a nightmare to play anything on, and Hotel Mario was a particularly bad example.

6) Shaq Fu (1994)

In the 1990s, Shaquille O’Neal was incredibly popular, and his image appeared on all sorts of products. Unfortunately, that included some really bad movies, like Steel, and a fighting game called Shaq Fu. Released on every gaming console at the time, Shaq Fu wasn’t a good game – it wasn’t well-made, even though the graphics were impressive for its era. It’s the kind of game you’d quickly regret buying and try to trade in. Surprisingly, a sequel came out in 2018, but it was just as poorly received as the original.

7) Superman: The New Superman Adventures (1999)

Releasing a terrible game starring a popular superhero is a major mistake, and that’s exactly what happened with Superman 64. While based on Superman: The Animated Series, the game barely resembles the source material. It’s notorious for being frustratingly difficult, incredibly repetitive, and just plain boring. Many gamers consider the very first level to be one of the hardest in video game history – a truly awful experience. For those who suffered through it, Superman 64 is easily one of the worst games ever created.

8) Batman: Dark Tomorrow (2003)

While many Batman games are excellent, Batman: Dark Tomorrow unfortunately doesn’t reach that level. The game started with ambitious plans to be a large, open-world adventure based on the comics, but it ended up being significantly cut back during development. This resulted in frustrating controls, a difficult and disorienting camera, and repetitive, uninspired missions. Although Batman: Dark Tomorrow wasn’t a success, it inadvertently taught developers valuable lessons about how not to make a Batman game, which ultimately helped pave the way for the better titles that followed.

9) Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing (2003)

It’s common for new games to have some glitches that are fixed with updates, but Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing was something else entirely. Instead of a few bugs, the game was released unfinished, leaving many to wonder why. While glitches are one thing, Big Rigs was practically unplayable, and serves as a prime example of how not to develop and launch a video game. It’s frequently mentioned in articles about gaming disasters, notorious for its terrible gameplay, countless bugs, and shockingly low review scores – it only received a 6 out of 100 on Metacritic.

10) Final Fantasy XIV (2010)

While many games have had rough launches, the original Final Fantasy XIV released in 2010 was particularly disastrous. Despite being a highly anticipated entry in a beloved series, it was widely criticized for its clunky interface, unfinished feel, and poor gameplay. The game was so poorly received that Square Enix made the unprecedented decision to take it off the market and rebuild it from the ground up. This revamped version, called A Realm Reborn, was a completely different experience and effectively rendered the 2010 release a do-over for Square Enix.

Okay, gamers, let’s settle this! What game just completely ruined your day? Seriously, which one do you absolutely despise? Head over to the ComicBook Forum and let me know – I wanna see what everyone’s most hated game is!

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2026-02-16 17:13