20 Worst Licensed Games on PS1

20 Worst Licensed Games on PS1

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re counting down our picks for the 20 worst licensed games ever released for the original PlayStation.

“South Park” (1999)

South Park has probably one of the worst track records when it comes to video game adaptations and unfortunately, a lot of them landed on the PS1. Alongside the other abysmal offerings like Chef’s Luv Shack and South Park Rally, each horrendous for their own reasons, there was arguably one much worse. For some reason, the game was a first-person shooter in which the player must chuck snowballs at various enemy types before progressing to the next level. Everything about the game is below even the baseline of mediocrity. The graphics are ugly even for the era, the sound design is ear shatteringly bad and really the only impressive quality the game has is the sheer number of enemies that can overrun you at once. Considering the license the game is based on, we’d like to believe this is some meta joke about video game adaptations, but we sincerely doubt that was the case.

“Spice World” (1998)

If something was even remotely popular in the 90s, you could almost guarantee there was some kind of video game adaptation about it coming to a console near you. Some were good, some were bad, some were… questionable. Spice World manages to hit all three of these marks in the same game. Based on the wildly popular pop group of the 90s, Spice World is your basic rhythm music game with some interesting ideas that allows you to remix the group's biggest hits. However, the art direction is seriously the stuff of nightmares. Whoever thought THIS was the best way to represent one of the biggest pop groups of the era needed either an eye exam or psychiatric help. Even if you’re a fan of the group and their catchy music, there’s better ways to enjoy it than subjecting yourself to this abomination.

“Hooter’s Road Trip” (2002)

When porting Free Wheelin’ USA to PlayStation, for whatever reason, the devs decided teaming up with Hooters was the best way to market their game on the home console and so we ended up with Hooter’s Road Trip. After each race, players were now, let’s say, treated to grainy live action FMV cutscenes of Hooters waitresses commenting on your racing skills. This would be somewhat forgivable if the driving mechanics at least made up for this bizarre inclusion but much like Hooter’s “famous” wings, this too was a major letdown. Along with some of the worst graphics for a racing game on the PS1, this was years after Gran Turismo 2 mind you, the driving physics were so unreliable, it was a miracle if you even made it to the end of the race. Just like Hooters, the entire experience just left you feeling empty and full of regret you wasted your money by the end.

“Mary-Kate & Ashley: Crush Course” (2001)

It cannot be understated just how popular the Olsen twins were back in the 90s. After exploding in popularity on Full House, the pair branched out into movies, TV shows, even freaking music albums, and of course, video games. And yes, all of them are, naturally, terrible. There are no shortage of terrible games to choose from, and xref Magical Mystery Mall almost made the list, but somehow there is one even worse than that, Crush Course. In the game, Mary-Kate and Ashely must search the school for the pieces of a missing love letter by completing various minigames, each somehow worse than the last. With everything you’d expect including mini-golf, photography, beach cleanup and rhythm based mini-games, there’s a decent variety, it’s just all of them are painfully boring but somehow still better than the voice acting and CW level narrative. Not even the biggest Olsen fan can justify this game’s existence.

“HBO Boxing” (2000)

Watching HBO boxing was THE premiere pay-per-view spectacle back in the 90s, akin to MMA fights these days, so naturally, the event got a video game adaptation, and the results floated more like a butterfly than they stung like a bee. Every character moves like it’s their first time in a human body, and your character’s punches land with all the impact of a gentle breeze grazing your cheek. However, your opponent doesn’t suffer from the same handicap. The game is wildly unbalanced with opponents able to land hits that you can feel through the screen while yours are a mere annoyance to them. Playing this game is the equivalent of taking a random guy taking crap about his fighting skills and dropping him in the ring with Mike Tyson. The game is ugly, barely functions and sadly the opening training montage is the most exciting part of the game.

“Barbie: Explorer” (2001)

If nothing else, we have to give Barbie: Explorer credit for trying to do something outside of the traditional beauty, dress-up, or horse game, but that doesn’t mean the experiment was a success. An E for Everyone Tomb Raider clone mixed with Crash Bandicoot level traversal, Barbie: Explorer’s only major difference from Lara Croft is the outfit changes between the four generic levels. Somehow despite the Crash gameplay being formulaic by the time Barbie: Explorer released, they still managed to make the traditionally fast paced platforming slow to a crawl and a camera that seems to constantly get distracted looking for a better game to follow. Like a lot of these types of games on the PS1, Barbie: Explorer can be either a good gateway game for first time players or frustrate them so badly they never pick up a controller again.

“Danger Girl” (2000)

The main problem with Danger Girl, based on the comic book of the same name, isn't that it’s a terrible game, it’s just that it’s so mediocre it borders on being frustrating to play. The mechanics themselves work well enough, shooting, moving, and navigating the environments, but it just feels soulless, like the clear cash grab it is. The game’s AI is also insanely unbalanced, switching from completely oblivious to sniping your position from across the map and with the girls themselves having all the dexterity of a wet napkin, it doesn’t take much to see that game over screen again and again. The gadgets and minigames are at least interesting enough to break up the monotony, and Danger Girl even features some surprising cinematic quick time events, but even the most devoted Danger Girl fan would find more entertainment from re-reading the series.

“MTV Celebrity Deathmatch” (2003)

Celebrity Deathmatch was one of the best things to come out of MTV in the early 2000s and was one of the network’s most popular shows with fans tuning in to watch their favorite celebrities throw down in ridiculously violent ways. You’d think this would easily translate into a video game, but you’d be wrong. Naturally, and especially given this was a budget title from the start, the developers couldn’t afford to use the normal big-name celebrities from the show, resulting in the “Celebrity” part of the game’s name being a bit of a misnomer. However, this could be forgiven if the gameplay was still solid and fun, both of which it was not. Not only was the lineup lacking, but the game also ditched the iconic claymation style for big head mode and gameplay that was so shallow, you could win by simply mashing buttons while you watched the superior show on the side.

“Kiss Pinball” (2001)

Pinball adaptations of popular licenses certainly get a lot more love and dedication put into them nowadays than the lazy reskins we used to get back on the PS1. Case in point, xref Austin Powers Pinball is quite literally the exact same game as Kiss Pinball just with some groovy Austin Powers art instead of Kiss. That’s not to say the original pinball game was any good, quite the opposite. Kiss Pinball is without a doubt one of the laziest cash grab games ever released on the PS1. And that’s saying something when the game released at a $10 starting price. With a whopping two tables to choose from, the excitement of launching the ball onto the table with some incredibly low-resolution photos of the band slapped onto it makes it clear most of the game’s budget went into securing the rights to the band’s music.

“Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” (2000)

This one stings particularly for me because Batman Beyond remains one of my favorite versions of the Dark Knight, so seeing his only video game adaptation turn out like this is especially disappointing. The adaptation of the much beloved and critically acclaimed Return of the Joker leaves behind everything that made the movie such an instant classic and instead gives players one of the most basic and phoned-in interpretations of the futuristic Batman. Enemy AI is almost non-existent, the camera is the ultimate villain which is laughable considering all it needs to do is follow the player along a 2D plane, and extreme balancing issues made worse by the fact the game had no save or password system which meant if you died, you had to start the entire game over from the beginning. There’s not a single redeeming quality in this game and it’s clear the developers were expecting the Batman name alone to carry the title.

“WCW Backstage Assault” (2000)

A spin off of WCW Mayhem, Backstage Assault removed the traditional ring, the crowds, and instead focused on the over-the-top brawls that happened backstage. Without the ring and now cartoonishly over animated versions of familiar wrestlers, the gameplay felt like it was missing what made the original WCW game at least worth a playthrough. The game encourages players to use makeshift weapons from the environment, but like everything else in the game, the mechanic just feels a bit off. Hit detection is hit-or-miss, pardon the pun, and the ugly stylized graphics are incredibly off-putting, and the gameplay itself is poorly explained, leading to a lot of frustrations as you try to take down your opponent. Making a game focused solely on the backstage brawls in theory is an interesting concept, in practice however, it’s an incoherent and unplayable mess.

“E.T.: Interplanetary Mission” (2001)

The Atari 2600 game adaptation of E.T. is widely believed to have led to the video game crash of 1983, so why not give the little alien a second chance right? And while Interplanetary Mission is better than the Atari 2600 title, it’s not by much. Taking place after the events of the movie, E.T. is now on a mission to discover new knowledge about plants that could affect the life of his species… somehow. The game utilizes the same powers E.T. used in the film and tasks the little alien with solving puzzles by exploring isometric environments. And that’s it. You encounter some enemies but mostly run away to find more flowers to open more pathways, to find more flowers. The controls are serviceable but inaccurate, and the game is incredibly repetitive, and the drab colors of the worlds will match your mood the longer you play. At least E.T.'s run animation is funny.

“Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22” (2003)

You wouldn’t think adapting one of the most popular anime of all time, especially at its peak during the 90s would be that difficult but here we are. Not only did we get one, but we got two downright near unplayable adaptations of DBZ with xref GT Final Bout and the somehow even worse Ultimate Battle 22. Fighting games live and die by their mechanics and in a game based on the Dragon Ball Z, you not only need the controls to be precise but also incredibly responsive. Well in Ultimate Battle 22, neither of those are present. Alongside some unbelievably bad animations, even for a cash grab game, the controls are incredibly stiff, and response time is unbelievably delayed, leading to fights not only feeling sluggish, but unbalanced and clunky. The only reason this is one of the most expensive games on the PS1 is nostalgia collectors because no one’s buying this game to play it.

“Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi ” (1997)

Of all the ways to adapt the Star Wars license, this has to be one of the worst. And yes, I’m saying even Star Wars Bombad Racing was a better idea. Pitting iconic Star Wars characters in one-on-one battles in arenas based on classic Star Wars locations at least had some kind of potential, until you played it. The combat is painfully slow, and the controls are awkward and cumbersome, leading to every match devolving into nothing more than button mashing till someone wins. Which was usually the AI no matter what you did due to the game being wildly unbalanced. There was no depth to any encounter and the bizarre movements of the characters around the arena felt like playing the game in slow motion, made worse by the completely bland and vacant arenas each battle takes place in. No amount of Force powers are going to save this one.

“Spawn: The Eternal” (1997)

Theoretically, transforming Spawn’s many abilities into video game form shouldn’t be too difficult of a task, but when development on the Spawn game was restarted after a year to take direct inspiration from the Tomb Raider series, clearly someone at the top didn’t understand the Spawn license. The end result is Spawn aimlessly traversing levels until he encounters an enemy and the game switches to a one v one fighting game in which Spawn can easily be decimated by a random goon. The controls are ridiculously cumbersome and navigating the hulking Spawn around the repetitive mazelike levels is needlessly frustrating. The fights are even worse due to a delayed response time in the button presses and even simply looking at the game is nauseating at best. The King of the Dead deserves better than this hellish eternity.

“Fantastic Four” (1997)

Believe me when I say, there is nothing “Fantastic” about this experience. Where to begin with this one. Objectively, it’s nothing more than Final Fight wearing a Fantastic Four costume like a cheap Temu Halloween, and everything about the experience is about a middling as all the film adaptations of Marvel’s first family. Gameplay is basic beat ‘em up like you’d expect, but the animations are so stiff you’d think someone was creating them with a set of action figures rather than a team of developers. Punches land about as hard as turning a page in a comic book and the environments are so bland and uninspired they might as well be non-existent. The repetitive combat would at least be forgivable if the Four made the most out of their abilities but just like the baffling inclusion of a jazz music soundtrack, nothing about this game makes any sense having the Fantastic Four name attached to it.

“The Simpsons Wrestling” (2001)

The Simpsons have had quite the history with video games, but The Simpsons Wrestling is something special. And I mean that in the worst way possible. The only real thing that even resembles wrestling in this game is the fact the fights take place in a ring and the only way to win is by pinning your opponent. Everything about The Simpsons Wrestling feels rushed, from the graphics, the mechanics, or lack thereof, and even the gameplay itself which feels sped up like a toddler on a caffeine rush, The Simpsons Wrestling is a game designed clearly to take advantage of the license and the popularity of wrestling game at the time. Any attempts to add depth to the gameplay with numerous gimmicks fall flat and simply trying to keep up with what’s happening on screen against your very overpowered AI opponent is enough to make any player tap out early.

“The Fifth Element” (1998)

Given how the movie already feels like a video game with its futuristic setting and world ending calamity on the horizon, an adaptation of The Fifth Element should have been an easy win. However, everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. The game itself only barely follows the plot of the film, and the gameplay is incredibly sluggish for what should be a tense third person action shooter experience. Level design also completely hinders the experience further with confusing and obtuse layouts that make it all too easy to get lost and lead to unnecessary backtracking. The controls only further hamper the experience, actively working against the player for every action, which makes the already unnecessarily difficult platforming even more challenging. At least the game’s AI feels empathy for the player and will mindlessly walk into the player’s bullets just to give them a sense of accomplishment.

“Hellboy: Asylum Seeker” (2003)

Hellboy is one of the most interesting IPs in the world of graphic novels, and yet somehow, the developers of Hellboy: Asylum Seeker Cryo Studios, made being the “Right Hand of Doom” incredibly boring. Originally released on PC as Hellboy: Dogs of the Night, to coincide with the release of Guillermo Del Toro’s film, instead of making a new Hellboy game for PS2, we received this abomination of a port from an equally poor PC title. Uninspired combat and enemy design, boring levels, and unbelievably slow and repetitive gameplay loop, and they somehow even managed to make Hellboy look like a toddler learning how to walk. Movement with the game’s tank controls is ridiculously unintuitive, and this is nearly a decade after the original Resident Evil who nailed this style of traversal on basically their first go, making simply exploring the environments and solving the increasingly tired and repetitive puzzles. Send it back to Hell.

“The Crow: City of Angels” (1997)

The Crow never needed a sequel and we certainly didn’t need a video game adaptation of that unnecessary follow-up. Everything about the game makes you wish it had never been resurrected. The controls are arguably the worst part of the entire experience, being both cumbersome and broken at the same time. The soundtrack isn’t any better and feels like nails on a chalkboard scraping across your brain for the first couple of minutes, only to find it repeats. For the entire game. The melee combat is incredibly unresponsive, with bizarre and inconsistent hit boxes on enemies, made worse by the game’s tank controls. Environments are somehow just as bad, with nausea inducing textures that hide the game’s numerous melee weapons used in the abysmal combat. The entire thing is a mess from top to bottom and was understandably developer Gray Matters final game.

What was the worst licensed game you suffered through and which licensed game is your favorite on the PS1? Share your picks in the comments.