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Episode 455: Bad Games We Love (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-09 06:49:32
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

Something a little lighter this week: Rather than explaining the history of a franchise, games, or developer, we instead take a more personal angle and explain which irredeemably bad games we secretly love. Join myself, Jared Petty, Stuart Gipp, and Kat Bailey as we attempt to rationalize our wretched preferences!

04:11 - Rambo (NES): Title Theme

17:22 - Ghostbusters II (NES, Activision): The Statue of Liberty Strikes Back

24:07 - Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (PC, 1992): The Hotel Delphoria

32:32 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (Motion Picture OST): The Map Room: Dawn

41:07 - Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Motion Picture OST): The Battle of Hoth | Innsmouth no Yakata: Opening 2

52:16 - Return to Zork (PC): Inn Room

58:04 - Daikatana (PC): Forgotten Sludge

1:07:48 - Dragon's Lair (SNES): Outside

1:16:42 - Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon: Chapter 4 Dungeon Theme

1:29:55 - Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII: Chocobo Returns

1:41:33 - Paper Mario: Sticker Star: Tower of Murals/Drybake Stadium

1:49:36 - Battle Chess (Amiga CD32): BGM 1

Closing - Rambo (NES): Stage Theme

Files

Comments

Jason Lee

For me, it'd be two of the horrible NES Simpsons games, Bart vs the Space Mutants and Batman Meets Radioactive Man (for some reason I never put in time with Vs the World). Objectively terrible games, but I was oddly drawn to them and spent a lot of time to figure out what makes them tick and beat them.

Rasheen Jordan

Speaking of bad police games, Crime Killer on PS1.

Chris Dobson

A discussion of bad games that we love anyway? Kat Bailey? Are we nearing an event horizon of forcing Jeremy to talk about the dreaded "sports games" on Retronauts?

littleterr0r

I called believe Stuart brought up Police Quest, my hero. But also yes, ACAB.

Andrew O.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star was fun. I think any Paper Mario that isn't an RPG will continue to face the same criticism. The Mario & Luigi series tried to fill that void, but failed. Maybe it was the aesthetic or that they weren't console releases. I like to think if the developer had the chance they could've really turned things around with a Switch entry, but sadly we'll never know.

CitizenMeh

Good call on Lightning Returns! It's a mess but a very enjoyable one.

Steven Babb

That was fantastic, great podcast, thanks!!

Josh Lambert

Such an awesome listen, I wish there was more. Make this is a series! I want to hear part 2!

BlueWeaselBreath

I loved this episode too. I tried to think ahead of time what I’d pick for this, and couldn’t think of one until Kay’s pick: Return to Zork was a perfect pick. I have such affection for it. And same for Battle Chess. I still think it’d be great with a mod to its chess engine and speed.

Michael Castleberry

One of my favorite games is Alpha Protocol and that gets shit on a lot

Vanja

I identify heavily with the "wanting to love Druaga" note, as I too spent a great deal of effort trying to appreciate the experience and ultimately failing. However, I've always thought of it as kin to games like Milon's Secret Castle and Mighty Bomb Jack, two bad games I absolutely adore. They also feature extremely obscure and non-sequitur item spawns and progression. They also both force you to keep track of meters and mechanics that are never disclosed to the player, much like Druaga. However, I think MBJ and MSC are much more approachable with a contemporary eye than Druaga, which might be a little too mean about things. Shadowgate is another favorite of mine though, and that may be one of the meanest games on the NES (Famicom has plenty of more misanthropic experiences). I wouldn't call Shadowgate a bad game though, it seems slightly more sensible in it's design than Sierra's offerings. Also I have to defend FFXIII (just a little bit), in that I think it makes sense as a follow-up to the also hyper-linear FFX. I am not partial to either of those FF entries, but I found the streamlined experience of FFXIII to be exactly the direction I expected following X. I was confused for quite some time as to the hate it received, though the story is certainly a bit weaker. FF games past six have pretty bad story content in general though.

PurpleComet

I guess I'll be the "No Sticker Star is still bad" person. Mostly, I was frustrated that you frequently need one particular sticker to get past an obstacle or boss and there was little to no direction about where to look. I remember spending 20 minutes scouring levels for whichever sticker I needed only to give up in frustration and just look it up. And making normal attacks a consumable was just dumb to me. Nothing worse than walking into a new area and realizing you need to go back to the shop because you need to PAY someone before Mario can jump on enemies again. I don't remember it being particularly funny, but it might just be that I was so annoyed by the roadblocks that any humor fell flat. The assertion that Origami King is "the exact same thing" baffles me. Origami King and Color Splash share a few issues with Sticker Star, but I found them far more engaging and charming.

Ex-Boxhound

An "Edgar Wright adventure game" is an interesting take. Consider Discworld - Simon Pegg would be a perfect Rincewind, and Nick Frost would be great as the Librarian!

Sundaysunking

This was a great subject for an episode and really got me thinking about what enjoying a game can mean. Sometimes all the parts of a game just come together and resonate with you to make a little magic, regardless of how that game stacks up to something that is critically acclaimed. Also want to mention that Jeremys' thoughts on Tower of Druaga really summed up my feelings towards this game- i've had many sessions with it that usually end in frustration, yet it just keeps pulling me back in. TOD and Hydlide inspire so many feelings of adventure, exploration and always spark new ideas for my own projects in terms of how you present a compact epic. Arcade and RPG experiences seem so contrasting but I feel like they could work so well together.