The 20 WEIRDEST Licensed Nintendo Games

The 20 Weirdest Licensed Nintendo Games

Welcome to MojoPlays and today we’re showcasing some of the strangest licensed games to ever appear on Nintendo’s platforms. However, to stay Nintendo-centric, we’re prioritizing console exclusives for this list.

“The Bachelor: The Video Game” (2010)

The Wii and DS saw a surprising amount of tie-in games for reality TV shows. But by far the weirdest was a game for ABC’s romantic competition show, “The Bachelor.” You play as one of the contestants seeking love from the titular bachelor, or bachelorette, competing against the computer or other players. Only, this isn’t a dating sim, as you might expect it to be. No, you earn their love by gaining heart points across a series of mini-games. Why test your compatibility when you could instead show how good you are at offroad RC racing, catching feathers before they hit the ground, or tracing over random images as fast as you can? Why was this a game?

“Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!” (1994)

If you’re wondering how a sitcom could be turned into a video game, all it takes is having basically nothing in common with the source material. In the Super Nintendo’s “Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!,” you play as Tim Taylor searching for his missing tools across different sets at the studio where he films his in-universe TV show, “Tool Time.” This leads to him fighting enemies that make absolutely no sense, like dinosaurs and various monsters. It’s incredibly bizarre to look at this, knowing the show was mostly a family comedy. That obviously wouldn’t transition into a video game, so they had to give Tim something to fight. Still, undeniably odd.

“Yo! Noid” (1990)

In 1990, Capcom released the platformer “Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru” in Japan. But in North America, we got a reskinned version called “Yo! Noid,” featuring the obscure mascot of Domino’s Pizza. This was during a time when brand mascots starring in their own games, like Chester Cheetah and 7-Up’s Cool Spot, wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. But this was exclusive to the NES. It follows The Noid out to save the city from an evil doppelganger, rewarded with pizza for doing so…which actually doesn’t make sense, as all of the ‘Avoid the Noid’ ads focused on his hatred of pizza. As far as gameplay goes, it’s your standard platforming fare. But it’s a strange little time capsule of the period.

“Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City” (1994)

The 90s were one of Basketball’s most popular eras. Several players got their own games, not all of them actually focusing on the sport. “Shaq Fu” is undeniably a weird premise for a video game, but it was also on Sega Genesis. “Chaos in the Windy City,” however, was a Super Nintendo exclusive and is just as strange. It follows Michael Jordan trying to rescue his teammates from a mad scientist so that they can play in a charity game. He attacks with basketballs, each of which has different abilities, like the explosive bomb ball. It’s not a terrible game, but clearly a really out-there use of a license.

“Homie Rollerz” (2008)

While it’s far from the first video game to be based on a toy line, “Homie Rollerz” is still one of the weirdest cases we’ve seen. If you don’t remember, “Homies” was a line of collectible figurines you could get in grocery store vending machines. Created by David Gonzales, they were of different Mexican American characters based on people he knew. In 2008, 10 years after their debut, the group got a kart racer on the DS. While “Homies” did get popular, they were never on a level where we’d expect them to get a video game. Sadly, “Homie Rollerz” was a pretty abysmal flop, with many calling it broken or even unfinished.

“Little Nicky” (2000)

It’s always a little odd seeing a comedy movie turned into a game. “Little Nicky” follows the son of Satan trying to stop his brothers from creating Hell on Earth. So, while strange, there are elements that could suit the video game format. What’s weirder is choosing to make it a Game Boy Color exclusive. It feels like this would have been better suited on PlayStation, known for procuring an older audience. Not on a Nintendo handheld alongside Mario, Pokemon, and Kirby. Once again, it’s a standard platformer. Not bad, but still a peculiar license to turn into a game and platform of choice.

“Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure” (2001)

When it comes to this GameCube exclusive, what makes it weird is that it exists at all. It could hardly be considered a game, since it’s more like an interactable advertisement. Set inside the Universal Studios Park in Japan, it tasks you with going on rides based on different movies, like “Back to the Future,” “Jaws,” and “E.T.” There are a few mini-games in between, and if this sounds boring to you, it’s nothing compared to how you earn points in order to actually get on the rides: meeting mascots and picking up trash. In addition to dull gameplay, it was slammed for its dated visuals and framerate, as well as poor navigation. Was this supposed to make us WANT to visit Universal parks?

“Super Back to the Future II” (1993)

The “Back to the Future” series received some infamously bad games on NES. But the second movie also got a 16-bit rendition that was never released outside of Japan. There are a couple of things that make this weird. One, that it never released in North America, where the movies were undoubtedly more popular. Two, that the developers skipped the first movie and went right on to the second. Unsurprisingly for the time, it’s another platformer, with Marty riding and doing tricks with his hoverboard the whole time. It’s also undeniably of higher quality than the NES games, with better gameplay but particularly with its chibi anime-inspired visuals.

“The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road” (2009)

“The Wizard of Oz” is a wealth of lore, interesting creatures, characters, and locations that could suit a video game well. That’s not to say that it isn’t still weird that we got a turn-based RPG that only uses touch controls on the DS. “Beyond the Yellow Brick Road” follows Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion as they set out to defeat four witches at the request of Oz. There are plenty of other enemies to face, with battles taking place in a first-person view similar to “Earthbound.” While it isn’t uncommon to see film adaptations based on the Land of Oz, a turn-based RPG is something else entirely.

“Gotcha! The Sport!” (1987)

The NES’ library has multiple games that you would never know are licensed. “Gotcha! The Sport!” is a combination of paintball and capture the flag, where you shoot enemies using the Zapper, steal their flag, and return it to your base. Surprisingly, this is very loosely based on a 1985 movie, “Gotcha!” It follows a college student who gets unwittingly wrapped up in a spy plot while traveling abroad. And he’s shown to be the reigning champ of his school-wide paintball game, also called “Gotcha!” Why the creators felt they needed to license this instead of just making a paintball game is a mystery. Plus, the movie was a critical and financial flop, making this game, released two years later, even more of an oddity.

“Nacho Libre” (2006)

For anyone who has seen “Nacho Libre,” they know it has a signature, quirky brand of humor. While it is a movie about wrestling, it was still a strange choice to adapt into a video game. You have a variety of wrestlers to play as, not just Nacho. And you face off against others, climbing your way towards being a famous luchador. It features some cutscenes from the actual movie, but also redesigns others using a paper-cutout art style, though still with live-action images. In addition to wrestling matches, you also have some really random mini-games that don’t have anything to do with wrestling. Just a strange amalgamation all around.

“Blues Brothers 2000” (2000)

“Blue Brothers 2000” was released two years after the movie it was based on, itself a sequel to an SNL movie, and which was a critical and box office dud. So, yeah, a very strange choice and path for a licensed game. It follows Elwood breaking out of prison and rescuing his bandmates in order to play for the Battle of the Bands competition. What follows is some pretty bland 3D platforming that pretty much everyone agreed was not worth the time. Understandably an anomaly in the Nintendo 64’s library, a poor game based on a bad movie that no one was really asking for in the first place.

“Rap Jam: Volume One” (1995)

Like we said, there were plenty of basketball games in the 90s. And while this Super Nintendo trainwreck actually was about the sport, it didn’t feature any NBA players. “Rap Jam: Volume One,” as you might expect, featured popular hip hop artists of the time, including LL Cool J, Coolio, Queen Latifah, and Public Enemy. Despite featuring so many rappers, the actual gameplay doesn't feature any music; just some really basic sound design, including a soundbite of a crowd yelling “Yeah!” after every basket that will sound like nails on a chalkboard before long. It also just wasn’t fun to play. Needless to say, there was never a “Volume Two.”

“Grease” (2010)

Seeing an old IP dredged up to earn a quick buck is often uncomfortable. And in the case of “Grease” on Wii and DS, it's just plain odd. Based on the beloved 1978 musical, it takes you through the movie’s scenes set to covers of its famous songs. All you have to do is follow the directional inputs and, in the case of the Wii version, movements that pop up on screen. Being that the movie it’s based on was over thirty years old at the time, it was definitely a strange license to bring back. Plus, it all looks and feels pretty low effort. The visuals are cheap and, hilariously, some of the lyrics are censored.

“Defenders of Dynatron City” (1992)

This NES game was almost destined to fall into obscurity. “Defenders of Dynatron City” was released a year after the Super Nintendo was already out. More importantly, it was based on a planned multimedia franchise that no one seemed to care about. In February of 1992, the pilot for an animated show of the same name aired, but wasn’t picked up for a full series. That same month, Marvel began publishing a six-issue comic series, finishing the same month the game was released. Not many were familiar with the likes of Buzzsaw Girl, Ms. Megawatt, and Monkey Kid due to the IP not taking off. And it’s far more obscure today than it was then.

“Super Godzilla” (1993)

Godzilla has gotten a multitude of video games over the years, with the best of them letting you unleash his power on other monsters or the environments he’s stomping through. What makes “Super Godzilla” on Super Nintendo a bit of a strange one is the gameplay style the developers chose. It’s mostly a strategy game. The top screen shows cinematics of Godzilla’s progression. But the bottom screen is actually how you control him, choosing the direction he goes in and what buildings he destroys. It isn’t exactly exciting compared to the prospect of actually rampaging through the city, though you do get to control Godzilla when he does up against the other monsters.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1989)

Certain developers during the NES days looked for any kind of license they could turn into a game, no matter how bizarre the idea was. Enter “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” based on the famous novella from 1886. There isn’t much in the story that would make for good gameplay. And so the team had to make something up. As Dr. Jekyll heads towards a church to marry his betrothed, he must avoid pretty much everything and everyone in his path. Once his anger meter fills, he turns into Mr. Hyde, day turns to night, and you must fire a psycho-wave at monsters to deplete the meter and turn back. It’s infamous these days for being a frustrating, confusing mess, and definitely an unusual license to adapt.

“Darkened Skye” (2002)

While this game was also released on PC, console players could only find it on GameCube. And it’s just too weird not to include. “Darkened Skye” is a fantasy action adventure game following a young, magically gifted woman searching for her mother. She gains access to a variety of spells, all of which are unlocked by collecting Skittles. Yes, the candy. While the game is pretty light-hearted, there’s still a major clash of design and setting with the tie-in product. You’d expect a video game focusing on Skittles would be some silly type of platformer, not using them as the key part in its magic system on a grand adventure.

“Sgt. Saunders’ Combat!” (1995)

This strategy game was based on “Combat!,” an extremely dramatic show about the US military during WWII that aired on ABC from 1962 to 1967. Remember, during the 90s, and for a long time after that, video games were thought of as only for kids. I don’t know what kid wanted a game based on a war drama from the 60s, but you had the option. Or, at least you did if you lived in Japan, because this game was only released for the Super Famicom. So, a game based on something that would be incredibly obscure to the average Japanese kid, only released in Japan? Yeah, we’d say that’s pretty weird.

“Ghost Lion” (1992)

There are a lot of elements that make this NES RPG exceptionally odd. None of it has to do with the game itself, but the movie it’s tied to. It’s based on “Beyond the Pyramids: The Legend of the White Lion,” a TV movie that only aired in Japan. However, while the entire crew was Japanese, it’s an English language film with Japanese subtitles. It gets weirder. While the game was released in Japan the same year as the movie, 1989, it didn’t make it to North America until 1992, a year after the Super Nintendo launched. If any Western gamers did happen to play it, they likely had no idea it was based, albeit extremely loosely, on such an obscure license.

Know of any other bizarre licensed games that released on Nintendo’s consoles? Let us know about them in the comments, and we’ll see you next time!