The 10 worst launch titles

by Blake Snow on Nov 16th 2006 11:00AM

The December issue of EGM profiles the 10 worst launch titles (or next-generation ... of crap) with quick-fix suggestions on how the games could have been better. Hindsight's 20-20. Regardless, here's the summarized list of games for any print-less readers out there:

Night Trap (Sega CD)
Street Fight: The Movie (PSX)
Cybermorph (Jaguar)
Altered Beast (Genesis)
Marky Mark: Make My Video (Sega CD)
Army Men Advance (GBA)
Mortal Kombat Gold (Dreamcast)
Donkey Kong Jr. Math (NES)
Fighting Street (Turbo CD)
Perfect Dark Zero (360)

Some wise commentary from the article reminds us "hype destroys our perspective." So beware of launch poopskies.

Reader Comments (100)

Altered Beast? really?

I haven't played Perfect Dark Zero, but that surprises me too.

How is Perfect Dark Zero up there?

The quality of those other 9 titles is no doubt, crap...but PD0 is a pretty good game....solid multiplayer, fun weapons, nice graphics....I just don't see how it's comparable to any of those.

Blue Stinger for the Dreamcast or Fantavision for the PS2 should be up there....god those games were terrible.

Who doesn't like Altered Beast?

PDZ shouldn't be on that list. It may have been overhyped last year, but it's still a decent game and doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as some of these other stinkers.

I remember Altered Beast was pretty good on the PC.

Damn, I didn't see Altered Beast...

That doesn't deserve to be there either. These guys are gaming journalists, and they couldn't come up with a better list?

How about Mario's Tennis? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario%27s_Tennis

Are you kidding me??? Altered Beast???? That game was awesome!

huh? perfect dark zero ? while i have not played it, It has a 9.0(superb) on gamespot
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/perfectdarkzero/index.html?q=Perfect%20Dark%20Zero

sure it might not be the BEST launch title but it hardly seems like one the worst ever.

No fantasvision? Nothing from the Ps2 launch? Because for that first year, the ps2 had a grand total of zero good games.

Yeah, Altered Beast was one of my favorite Genesis games, I don't follow that.

Where the hell is the fireworks sim from the PS2 launch? Damn these people are lame.

I have this issue. The article was written by Seanbaby, so it's pretty much a crap article with no professionalism whatsoever. People have been complaining about the lack of REAL journalism in Video Games. Seanbaby doesn't help the case.

Altered Beast? ...the hell?

Rise from your grave!

That game is awesome!

PDZ and Altered Beast shouldn't be on that list at all

I quite liked Cybermorph on the Jaguar... no accounting for taste hey... Can think of worse launch titles.... Psion Chequered Flag for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum :)

Night Trap? How can something that is supposedly so horrible bring back such happy memories? I love that game so much. Viva FMV!

I heard mario tennis was one of the better games for V-boy.

I preferred Teleroboxer myself, best boxing game since Punch Out.

Oh yeah, I went there.

#2 on the list should be Street Fighter: The Movie, not Street Fight. That game was pretty popular in my dorm when I got my PSX. Granted, it would have seen much less play time if we didn't need some variety after marathon Battle Arena Toshinden sessions.

Wise from you gwave!

Altered Beast rocked. A friend of mine and I finished it using our toes. It seemed very close to the arcade version, which was impressive for those days.

boo..

"Wise from your gwave!"

Altered Beast was awesome, I didn't have Genesis but my best friend and I played the crap out of that game when he got it for Christmas.

Altered Beast was friggin' schweet.

Heh. A year ago, EGM gave PDZ a 7.8. Now it's one of the 10 worst launch games ever.

PDZ was a good game. Not great, but good. Saying it's one of the 10 worst launch games ever is like some sort of reverse hype. De-hype, I suppose.

Wow, I thought nearly everyone liked Altered Beast. It was a hit in the arcades, and even now people are clamoring for a rerelease (probably on the Wii's Virtual Console).

On the flip side, how could they forget Ping Pals for the DS? Nobody liked that. And you could reasonably say Stack-Up or Gyromite belong on the list, too - while ROB might have helped sell the NES, the games for it are terrible.

Agreed on PDZ and Altered Beast not belonging anywhere near that list. Please substitute in any/all of the PS2 launch lineup, except SSX and DEFINITELY Kessen!

Wow launch games are always great games PDZ got 6.5 8 an 9 on EGM and is 10th worst launch game I can only imagine that the other games must scored. So far in 1up all ps3 games are below the 9 1up gave PDZ so i thinking they will all make the list.

You know what, how about the Worst Top Ten lists? What happened to real journalism? Any shmuck (we Joystiq commenters) can put together a top 10 list. How many people can write for www.escapistmagazine.com?

The fact that "Altered Beasts" and "Night Trap" are on that list is an indicator to me that the list is written by and written for hardcore gamers.

As a casual gamer, the visuals of Altered Beasts were stunning (for its time) and gameplay made it easier for non-gamers to get into it.

Night Trap (at least the 32XCD version) may have been light on button-mashing mayhem, but it was the type of engaging interractive video story that really appealed to all of the leisure gamers that I know (myself included).

I'd LOVE to see an XBox360-enhanced version of Night Trap.

Won't anyone think of us old-fogey lamer gamers?! :(

pdz didnt live up to the high hopes but it wasnt horrible!
and altered beast was one of the best early games on the genesis. i didnt understand why they choose that. i remember when it was new that people were comparing it to the arcade version and complaining but for a home game it was great. good characters, multiple transformations. good sound (that was very memorable! so many people say "rise from your grave, and power up!"), great cheats, huge bosses, lots of repayability...

PDZ is an abysmal game and its even crazier how it got 90% reviews instead of 9%

EGM is a bunch of idiots. Perfect Dark wasn't the best game. I bought it hoping that it would blow me away. I was surprised to find that it was good but not great. It was over-hyped but not one of the worst launch games. What a joke!

I too thought altered beast didn't deserve that spot. I remember that many of us loved that game.

Also, perfect dark wasn't great- but it sure wasn't one of the worst games ever. I had a lot of games that were way more pathetic.

universal studios and ping pals should be on there.

PDZ was lame single player, lame deathmatch, but the best co-op console FPS at the time of release.

This is what made it worthwhile.

Dudes, Altered Beast was genius. No doubt about it. The music was excellent.

During the SNES era one of my college friends let me keep his bootleg Famicom system in my room and I, sadly enough, got hooked on Donkey Kong Jr. Math. I thought it was a really fun multiplayer title too.

It would have been released in 85 or 86 so, come on! Cut it some slack! It certainly wasn't that much worse than other simplistic NES titles of the time!

Instead of Perfect Dark Zero,Alterbeast and Mortal Kombat Gold, it should be ALL of the Zelda games for the Phillips CD-i

PDZ and Altered Beast were bad eh? Thats funny.

And suddenly, the adjective 'poopsky' became a noun... :p

From what I remember Night Trap got good reviews when it came out. And although FMV seems like a bad memory now, it was massively innovative when it first came out.

PDZ shouldn't be there. if you were searching for a 360 title to round out the list, then you should have picked one of the titles that was identical to the XBox or PS2 version.

I used to like and trust EGM a whole lot, but not anymore. Their bias is very obvious at times, and they seem to be suckers for pretty graphics moreso than fun games. It's a shame, because their articles tend to be infused with classic humor, and valid points. It's only when they review games or talk about console wars does the magazine show its bias.

Every single one of those games has *some* merit. PDZ, MK Gold, Altered Beast, and Cybermorph don't belong on any "worst of" lists. EGM has officially run out of ideas (and editors-in-chief, it seems).

Altered beast was a good game back then. And Perfect dark launch as a so-so game, but the multiplayer has been really improved. Its actually a really good multiplayer game now.

Perfect Dark Zero kicks a whole lotta' ass! Seriously,I own almost every game on the Xbox 360 from Kameo to Dead Rising,Saint's Row to Condemned,and PDZ is the only game I play online with my friends almost every weekend and i'm still trying to earn all the achievements for it (1000 melee kills? Good grief sir).

For shame, EGM.

PDZ definitely shouldn't be on that list. It's not like Halo or anything, but it's still a good game.

I bet to differ, Altered Beast kicked ass!

Seanbaby haters unite! Altered Beast definitely does not belong on the list. PDZ was not the Halo-killer it was hyped to be, but it also utter crap.

How about Combat for the Atari 2600?!

Altered Beast? What are they basing this on? Sales? Hype versus actual income generated?

Fighting Street for Turbo CD? Are you KIDDING me? This was an arcade perfect translation of the original Capcom Fighting Street, which would eventually lead to the greatest 2D fighting series ever, Street Fighter II.

To my knowledge, this was the ONLY arcade translation of this game. Minus the big punch/kick buttons in the arcade, it has the classic Ken/Ryu/Birdie/Sagat matches. This list sucks.

Truth be told Altered Beast doesn't hold up well these days, but back in 1988/89 it was TEH BOMB. Thus, a great launch title. "Welcome to your doom!"

Night Trap was great cheesy fun!

PDZ I have to agree with, despite my love of the original. They have 5 years and that's the best they could do? Getting ported over 3 systems probably didn't help much.

Where's the Saturn "launch" titles?

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 220 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 153 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 108 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 93 comments

The 10 worst launch titles

Reader Comments (100)

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:10AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:12AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:11AM Keithustus said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:12AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:14AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:12AM Keithustus said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:27AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:26AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:56AM Uberdave said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 6:54PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:23AM orionzdrm said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:15AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:35AM dantebk said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:16AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:17AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:17AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:18AM Crono141 said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:20AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:22AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:28AM Boo Radley said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:22AM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:22AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:21AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:24AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 12:15PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:24AM Keithustus said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 12:01PM sracer said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:28AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:29AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:29AM Maximo said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:43AM Duke said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:31AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:37AM MosquitoControl said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:32AM mvergeldedios said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:34AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:35AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:36AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:38AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:42AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:42AM kcchesnut said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:44AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:49AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 1:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 3:27PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:51AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:52AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:56AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:56AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:57AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 16th 2006 11:59AM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine Kickstarter passes $1 million in under 24 hours, breaking yet another record

Featured Stories

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier brings information warfare to the front

Rhythm Heaven Fever review: Crazy into you

Remedy not done with Alan Wake

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days