5 Worst Games Based on Cartoons, Ranked

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Many fantastic video games have been made from cartoons, like South Park: The Stick of Truth and The Simpsons: Hit & Run. However, for every success story, there are many games that just didn’t live up to expectations. It’s especially frustrating when a popular cartoon doesn’t translate well into a fun video game, leaving fans disappointed with their purchase. We’ve compiled a list of the very worst of these games, based on reviews from when they were first released and how much they failed to impress.

5) Celebrity Deathmatch

I was a huge fan of Celebrity Deathmatch when it was on MTV – it was such a funny show with all those stop-motion celebrity fights! It ran for six seasons and had 93 episodes, which was awesome. They even made a wrestling game for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC back in 2003, but honestly? It was terrible. I really wanted to love it because the game should have worked – it covered the basic idea of the show – but it’s easily one of the worst games from that era. The controls are just awful, it doesn’t capture the show’s humor at all, and it’s actually painful to play if you’re a fan. Seriously, it’s a letdown.

4) South Park

It wasn’t shocking when South Park got turned into a video game series, but the first game wasn’t very good. Released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, and later on PlayStation and PC in 1999, the PlayStation and PC versions were particularly poor. The N64 version was a little better, but overall, the first South Park game was a letdown. It might be amusing for a few minutes, but quickly becomes boring and repetitive. Luckily, after that initial misstep, subsequent South Park games were much more successful.

3) Superman 64

Despite being a truly terrible game, Superman 64 (originally Superman: The New Superman Adventures) is probably the most famous of the many bad video games based on cartoons. Inspired by Superman: The Animated Series, it’s riddled with bugs, frustratingly difficult, and gets repetitive quickly. Even getting past the first level is a huge challenge, and after that, you’ll find yourself doing the same things over and over. While almost everyone who played it dislikes it, surprisingly, there are actually cartoon-based games that have been rated even lower.

2) Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle 22

Despite having a surprisingly large number of playable characters—27 in total—Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 is often considered one of the worst fighting games ever made based on an anime. Released for the PlayStation in 1995, the game played like many other fighters of the time, but it was widely disliked due to its sluggish pace and the complete absence of a story mode. Critics also panned its graphics, which didn’t live up to PlayStation standards. Ultimately, neither the large roster nor the popular source material could save the game from overwhelmingly negative reviews and poor reception from players.

1) Simpsons Wrestling

Early Simpsons games were generally quite good, particularly the arcade games from the 1990s. However, 2001 brought The Simpsons Wrestling to PlayStation, and it was a major letdown. While the game featured 20 characters voiced by the show’s actors and a wrestling concept that seemed promising, it ended up being a poorly executed game often ranked among the worst of all time. It’s widely considered the worst game based on a cartoon, and aside from the voice acting, it’s not worth playing.

What’s the most disappointing video game based on a cartoon that you’ve ever played? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-03-12 16:13