Top 10 Worst SNES Games

Top 10 Worst SNES Games

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Some of the best video games in history were released on the Super Nintendo, and then there are these games. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be counting down the Top 10 Worst SNES Games. For this list, we’re looking at the saddest, most unplayable, unenjoyable, pathetic excuses for licensed video games to ever disgrace the SNES. Any unlicensed games, like “Hong Kong 97”, don’t count, which considering its music is a goooooood thing. As a courtesy, we’re also excluding educational games that specifically targeted younger audiences and may have been overly simple or repetitive in order to achieve their educational goals. So… your “Time Machine” gets a pass this time Mario.

“Ballz 3D” had some interesting graphics. That’s pretty much it for good qualities. This might be the most laughably bad title for a video game ever. Sure, they used the foolproof 90s marketing technique of replacing the letter “s” with “z” to achieve a cool, edgy effect, but they simply proved that the word “balls” can’t be saved. The pornographic moaning in soundtrack doesn’t help either. Unnecessarily complicated controls coupled with a lack of varied moves made it a failure of a fighting game. Annoying music, bad physics, uninspired characters and an imbalance between health and attack strength: there’s no other way to say it – This game was balls.

#9: “Space Ace” (1994)

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To be fair, “Space Ace” was incredibly well received as a laserdisc arcade game in 1984, praised for its unparalleled animation, thanks to the game designer and ex-Disney director Don Bluth. Then it was ported to SNES. Enter pixelated graphics, ruining the fluid, movie-like animation and dynamic scenarios. The truly unique form of level design from the original is reduced to side scrolling wierdness. Of course, in an effort to maintain some resemblance to the game that spawned it, Space Ace SNES did certainly feature 1 hit deaths. It was unforgivingly difficult and deeply frustrating.

#8: “The Wizard of Oz” (1993)

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Some games fall victim to a fatal design flaw. Other times, a fully functional, playable game is simply so painfully boring and uninspired that we’d rather stare at a blank screen. Divided into 4 worlds, each with a few levels apiece, the game is essentially one level repeated with minor redesigns. Dorothy has a magic wand (yeah remember that from the film?) and the ability to kick stuff. Why bother kicking? Impossible to say. Exceedingly difficult yet ultimately unrewarding platforming is mixed with laughably weak enemies as you slowly trudge through this criminally bad adaptation of one of the most whimsical and cherished films in history.

#7: “Rise of the Robots” (1994)

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Promising title, right? There’s no way this game’s gonna be as bad as “Ballz 3D”! Wrong! We dream of a crossover fighting game in the style of Marvel vs. Capcom between this and “Ballz 3D” titled “Bad vs Worse”. Terrible controls set the bar incredibly low only to be surpassed by awkward camera angles, laughable hit detection, and an extremely limited set of moves at your disposal. Love button mashing? Perfect, your attacks are essentially limited to kick and punch. Just don’t do it too fast as the game is known to have a significant delay. Also, single player mode has only 1 character that you can play as– how’s that for variety?

#6: “Bébé's Kids” (1994)

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Comedian Robin Harris had a popular recurring bit about Bébé's Kids, three horrible children that his girlfriend would always inexplicably agree to babysit and bring along on their dates. It inspired an animated film, which was poorly received, so naturally they adapted that into an infinitely worse video game. “Bébé's Kids” took the same sidescrolling beat ‘em up style of such classic games as “Turtles in Time” or “Battletoads & Double Dragon”, and proceeded to suck all the joy out of punching stuff. The characters move at a brutally slow pace, the hit detection is non-existent and the gameplay is beyond repetitive.

It’s one of the loosest video game adaptations of a film ever made. It’s so badly designed it’s almost unplayable. It’s “Timecop”! And it’ll leave you bored, blind and frustrated. The game starts by throwing the film plot out the window, but plot matters so little in this game, who cares? Regardless of time period, you fight the exact same henchmen.The digitized characters are very detailed, yet out of focus, giving a blurry vision effect to the whole game. When you and an enemy attack simultaneously, the game tends to freeze as it figures out what to do. It’s also a good contender for “ugliest ending ever”.

This is the unholy spawn of a popular public figure in the 90s, and the attempt to cash in on that popularity with a video. In the game, Shaq gets sent to an alternate dimension to save a young boy. Why is Shaq the right man for the job? Well, he was the first one to walk into the dojo, and he’s like, super tall, so you know. With subpar graphics, boring combat, and a horrible input delay, Shaq Fu was bad enough to make you want to burn your Laker’s jersey. Still not convinced? There’s actually website out there dedicated to collecting and destroying copies of this game.

#3: “Pit-Fighter” (1991)

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This is another one of those “ports from hell” releases. Initially reasonably well received as an arcade game, it was one of the many games of the era to use digitized footage of real actors for the animations. As is often the case with ports to SNES, key features were lost in translation. The biggest losses included an interactive audience that pushed players back into the ring, weapons and three characters. Backstory? You fight for money in a pit. The digitized characters were reduced to blocky smudges, their animation was a joke, and the controls vary from clunky to broken depending on who you ask.

#2: “Rap Jam: Volume One” (1995)

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Honest question, when you hear the title “Rap Jam: Volume One” do you immediately think that this is … a basketball game? Bad title aside, ho doesn’t want to take to the court as Coolio, Flavor Flav or…Queen Latifa? Considering how terrible this game is, the decision to actually include “Volume One” in the title verges on delusional. The graphics are horrible enough to make every character indistinguishable from the next, and switching between players is not an option. The only winners in this game are the rappers who said “no” to signing up. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. “Batman Forever” (1995) “Wayne’s World” (1993) “Ultraman” (1991) “Casper” (1996) “Captain Novolin” (1992) “Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!” (1994)

#1: “Race Drivin” (1992)

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First off in terms of graphical quality, “Race Drivin’ is not good. They probably blew the whole budget designing the driver’s admittedly beautifully rendered hands, an didn’t save enough for an actually…you know, game. The jerky controls and poor handling alone make the game unplayable, but combine them with the single digit framerate, and “Race Drivin’” becomes utterly nauseating. You also randomly crash. Often. For no apparent reason. If you were ever wondering how important the Super FX chip included in games like Star Fox was to game quality, just remember, Race Drivin’ didn’t have one. I rest my case. Do you agree with our list? What’re some of the worst SNES games you’ve suffered through? For more highly critical top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.