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Worst Video Games Based on TV Shows

Whoever designed them may not have been crafting the best stories or worlds ever experienced, and for whatever reason they're simply left on the shelves of worst video games based on TV shows.

By George HermanPublished 6 years ago 7 min read
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I'm not too sure who came up with the idea in general, but TV or movie tie-ins are never a good idea and are always viewed with a mixture of scorn and annoyance on release. The best games to play on the couch with friends aren't supposed to be the best in category, or even the greatest video games, but are here for experiences that cannot be enjoyed anywhere but through that particular universe. So, maybe their particular show wasn't all that great, or possibly the developers weren't motivated, they're still among an enormous berth of video games that only amounted to failure. Like it or not, your most cherished game as a child may even make it on this list.

So what, maybe their particular show wasn't all that great, or maybe the game version just didn't cut in graphics, or controls: they're simply the worst video games based on TV shows, in my opinion, because someone had the nerve to decide "Let's make a video game from TV." Why not make a brand new video game worthwhile, fun, and adaptive? Because what would our world be without awe-inspiringly awful TV video games? Dull, I assume, judged by how far we have come in gaming.

Superman 64

Not only is it among the worst video games based on TV shows, it's also sickeningly among the worst superhero video games. Superman 64 gets love from no direction, mainly because it's almost (I stress this almost) as bad as Brian Singer's Superman Returns.

The kindly asks players to buzz around Metropolis as the man of steel, picking up as many gold rings as you possibly could. Oh, no that's pretty much it. I think the game developers initially thought they were on the Sonic the Hedgehog team, then just ran with it in the end. Doing Superman no justice at all, Superman 64 remains a crucial remainder that open world settings are great when there isn't an all-encompassing virtual fog you have to strain to see through and little to no detail at all anywhere.

Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!

Yeah, whoever thought this one up probably never saw the video game industry ever again. The Super Nintendo has its fair share of messy game franchises and utter disaster stories, but none is as boring as Power Tool Pursuit! Unfortunately, even if you were old enough to play this yawn-fest, it got overshadowed by the release of Donkey Kong Country, a soon-to-be legend in the making.

The game sees you as Tim in the search for items that have been misplaced from Binford-Taylor Power Tool Line. The show might be a classic, but this 16-bit iteration is nothing but an endless maze of hopping, chainsawing, and blow torching your way toward absolutely nothing, which is why it's among worst video games based on TV shows.

Fester's Quest

Once again we have another NES failure and, while it may not be one of the worst game ever made, Fester's Quest still equates to a jumble of misuse and characteristic failures in mechanics. It integrated a form of 3D play that was simply unplayable and the gun upgrade system was most of all annoying.

Yes, you get a cool gun that can change projectiles and advance itself through pick-ups, but these can also downgrade the weapon, leading to it firing in zigzags, or not even firing at all. This goes down as one of the worst video games based on TV shows, and for an Adam's Family project, that's saying something.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

Not for nothing, but I knew this was going to be a travesty from the start. Even before the release, Terminal Reality was experiencing major issues with licensing before they eventually were dissolved in 2013. Not before producing one of the worst video games based on TV shows, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct.

While it's a fun game to start, after a while things not only get a bit clunky, as you'd expect from an under-valued game developer, but it also becomes a repetitive nightmare by a half hour into it. Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker even lended their voices to the game, yet it ultimately came out as feeling rushed, boring, and a stain on the television show's history. This is proof why you don't make a Street Fighter movie, or a Walking Dead video game: it ends in literal development team's dissolving.

American Idol: The Game

I'm not exactly sure who in their right mind thought American Idol would be prime for video game integration. Sadly, American Idol: The Game was (and still remains) one of the worst video games based on TV shows.

If it were the infamous Simon Cowell, we'd be here for an hour as he laid in on these guys. I mean, from the outset the game is pretty useless, since there is no available singing component, which last I thought was necessary for American Idol. No, by this game's standards, it's all about dancing. Puts a whole new perspective on a popular show, to say the least about it.

Lost: Via Domus

I wasn't like most people and hopped on the Lost bandwagon immediately, I didn't see the show until far after it had ended, and even two episodes in I knew I wasn't going to like it. Then came Lost: Via Donus, which just made the entire TV series something of a forgotten entity to me.

Aside from being a rendition of a poorly written TV show, Lost: Via Donus also can be among the worst video games based on TV shows. It worked just like the show: it raised a bunch of questions and answered none of them. This may be frustrating, but it's not the last unsettling element behind this one: too much walking, horrible audio, no actual storyline, and much more.

The Simpson's Wrestling

Of all the titles that could possibly show itself amongst the worst video games based on TV shows, and of course the laugh riot from The Simpson's had to be abused by the gaming industry. The best they could do in generating an awesome Simpsons game was develop something like digital sock-em boppers with TV characters. At least there's a Simpson's Skateboarding, too.

No, The Simpson's Wrestling made no one happy, and if there was somebody that found happiness from it, I salute them. The game's attempt at integrating better 3D characteristics ended up making it look like garbage whenever the camera or player moved. Beyond this, it was generally frustrating to maneuver and ended in disuse.

The Sopranos: Road to Respect

I can see why this fan favorite would be turned into an immense video game, but that's what The Godfather is for, making one of the best games based on movies. But The Sopranos: Road to Respect does prove one valuable point in video gaming, and that's never to abide by television's development projects.

Similar to the likes of The Shield, Prison Break: The Conspiracy, and others, this rendition of one of the worst video games based on TV shows simply ruins the mafia genre and only makes the show's end that much more depressing. In the long run, this offer would have been best left refused.

Little Britain: The Video Game

An anarchic TV series starring David Walliams and Matt Lucas, Little Britain fared well on the television front by using sketch-like comedy and British humor to convey stereotypes and subculture. What the game version did was only rank among the worst video games based on TV shows, because it embodies comedy without being funny.

Well, it's humorous that developers actually thought this would be a worthwhile project. Slow to begin with, Little Britain: The Video Game doesn't have one mission, but serves as several smaller missions that don't necessarily tie in, or even make sense. It's also impossibly difficult to actually beat, so if you want I challenge I dare you to beat this video game, because I doubt anyone ever has.

Charlie's Angels: The Game

Sad as it may be to see, there is in fact a Charlie's Angels video game and no, it's not even remotely satisfying. Given that the player is almost always wearing a bikini, or at least more often than not all Angels are in nothing but bikinis, it becomes a little unsettling after a while, which is before it even starts glitching.

Fans of the TV show or movie will only be drawn into disappointment and anger at this addition to the worst video games based on TV shows. Charlie's Angels: The Game goes to show that beating up random people in mansions and warehouses wearing nothing but bikinis isn't the best video game element to expound upon.

South Park

It may be a poor game to start with, but South Park still has a load of laughter and riot to cherish, some of which may disturb you. This is all in South Park fashion of course, all viewed on a 1999 released title that eventually saw itself among the worst video games based on TV shows.

Aside from being nostalgic to me, it's got some pretty horrible audio and graphics are even less enticing. As can be expected, the storyline is something of a mesh in the most insane ideas imaginable: clones, aliens, robots, you name it. That's probably why I like it so much, but then again it's South Park—who can't enjoy this masterpiece?

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About the Creator

George Herman

Call me a nerd, that’s what I am: Star Wars fanatic, Grand Theft Auto champion, comic book connoisseur, and a long-time lyricist. So, call me a nerd, but that’s not all I am!

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