The year is 1993 and Whoomp ... there it is! This was the year when Hulk Hogan became Mr. Nanny, the Atari Jaguar roared to store shelves and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers proved that sometimes all you need is some clever editing to make a hit TV show. But we're not here to talk about Rita Repulsa's awesome hair, because today we're counting down Electronic Gaming Monthly's Worst Reviewed Games of 1993. It's morphin' time!
Fatal Fury
#6
The name Takara might not mean much to you, but there was a time when it was synonymous with inexpensive Neo Geo ports on 16-bit consoles. Critics were understandably skeptical that the company responsible for creating the Microman toy line could shrink a 24-bit arcade game down into a 1 meg cartridge. But lo and behold, Takara pulled it off and managed to prove everybody wrong with a solid port of Fatal Fury on the Super NES. In a split second, EGM became believers. And just as fast, this Sega Genesis came and stomped all over that optimism.
"I liked the Super NES version of the game and really expected the Genesis copy to be equally as good," starts Steve. "Unfortunately, the moves were very difficult to do and in this type of game split second timing is very important." Sushi X was even harder on game, complaining that it's nearly impossible to play with a standard Genesis D-pad. Ed was the most generous of the bunch, giving it a 5 and praising the "great backgrounds and good animations," while joining the chorus about the disappointing gameplay. All this negativity ended up averaging out to a disappointing 4 out of 10.
Incredible Crash Dummies
#5
After years of sticking with the tried and true four-person review crew, Electronic Gaming Monthly decided to shake things up starting with their 50th issue. With so many new games coming out, the magazine chose to bring on a fifth critic to cover some of the overflow. This meant that instead of four people talking about the same game, we saw Major Mike tackling the games all by himself. And that was quite a load, as some issues saw him talking about 25 or 30 games in a single month. That's not easy to do, even when all you have to do is write a paragraph.
One of the games he briefly touched on was Incredible Crash Dummies, a Super NES game from the notoriously bad publisher LJN. Mike complained that the concept was never appealing, with this 16-bit version underlining all of the flaws. "This side-scrolling, survive the levels-type game is cute at times, but the poor control and mandatory cheap hits by enemies ruin things." He thought there were some cute ideas in there, but not enough to make it worth recommending. Incredible Crash Dummies managed to score a crushing 4 out of 10. But don't feel too bad, because these dummies know a thing or two about getting crushed.
Rocky & Bullwinkle
#4
After seeing the success Capcom had with games like DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, every publisher needed to snap up a nationally televised cartoon series to sell to the kids. That might explain why Atlus decided to adapt Rocky & Bullwinkle, an influential series that had been off the air for nearly three decades. But even if the moose and squirrel duo had been relevant in 1993, that still wouldn't have made this poorly designed Genesis game any good.
Mike feels my pain: "Double ugh!" He argued that 16-bit port is "an almost carbon-copy of the NES version, with the poor control intact!" He concluded that "the variety of games is nice, but the whole thing looks rushed." Sadly, that's the knock against most cartoon games of that era. Capcom may have struck gold with the Disney Afternoon, but they were the exception to the rule. Holy smokes, Rocky & Bullwinkle scores a 4 out of 10.
Super Widget
#3
You know how Persona 5 is a great game and you're looking forward to all of those just-announced spin-offs? Well, keep those fond memories of Atlus close by, because the company that recently gave us Rock of Ages II is on this list of terrible games for the second time. Atlus still had a few years to go before they really got their act together.
Super Widget is the 16-bit sequel to Widget, an NES game that Electronic Gaming Monthly didn't bother reviewing in 1992. Mike noted that "a small purple critter with a big punching fist that can change into mutated forms may be more geared for the little ones. Besides, what's a Widget anyway?" I agree that the game is bad, but Widget is clearly an alien from another planet. Why didn't you read the instruction manual, Mike? Faux ignorance aside, EGM gave Super Widget a less-than-stellar 4 out of 10.
Risky Woods
#2
When you hear the name Electronic Arts, chances are you immediately think of the never-ending parade of annual sports games, the increasingly chaotic Battlefield games and maybe even The Sims, but there used to be a time when EA was full of new ideas. Those early days gave us Zany Golf, Sword of Sodan, Budokan, StarFlight and King's Bounty, all games that feel a million miles away from where EA is today. Unfortunately, not all of their original IPs are worth remembering, which brings us to Risky Woods, the second worst reviewed game of 1993.
This 1993 adventure game was ported over from the PC, and the EGM editors made sure to let you know. "This is the type of game that one would expect when you port over a computer title onto a system with high standards for action games," explained Martin. Steve echoed those thoughts: "Put some nice computer graphics and swell computer game play in a cart and your Sega can play games like a computer." Instead of getting hung up on the graphics, Sushi-X unloaded on the game, bashing it as "corny" and plagued by "horrendous play control." He concluded that "this is the type of game we saw two years ago!" That may be true, but those games weren't any better in 1991. Risky Woods couldn't see the forest for the trees and averaged a mediocre 4 out of 10.
Swamp Thing
#1
While the rest of the list may be locked in a bloody five-way tie, I think it's safe to say that 1993 had a clear loser. Forget about shoddy Neo Geo ports and generic platformers based on 1960s cartoons, because the worst game of the year was Swamp Thing by THQ. Based on the animated series and built on the same game engine that gave us Bart vs. the Space Mutants, Swamp Thing is everything bad about licensed games wrapped up into one barely playable package.
Martin decided to start his review by referencing Ren & Stimpy: "Choppy! Choppy! Sob! Sob!" He complained that "not even the Swamp Thing can save this poor example of 8-bit technology" and "fans of the movie will be very disappointed as will anybody who buys this cart." Steve noted that "the graphics and animation are substandard, with detail playing a secondary role in the visuals department." "This could have been cool," he concludes, but "this effort definitely looks rushed."
For his part, Sushi-X still seemed a little bitter about the 1992 handheld version: "The game doesn't belong on the Game Boy, let along the NES!" While I agree that Swamp Thing is garbage, the Game Boy was a great little system that was home to a lot of fun games. Don't be a dick, Sush. With nothing but low scores, Swamp Thing managed to average a pitiful 3.75 out of 10. Swampy deserves better.
