The Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the most important video game consoles in history, as it saved the industry’s home console market and established Nintendo as a key player. The console’s library consisted of over 1,300 games, and if you know anything about the NES, you know it had some killer titles. It also had some of the worst games ever coded. We looked through them all and identified 10 of the absolute worst games released on the NES. They’re presented in no particular order and were chosen based on how terribly they were programmed, how frustrating they were to play, and how much gamers hated them.
1) Friday the 13th
On the surface, a game where you play counselors at Camp Crystal Lake while working to defeat Jason Voorhees sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, in execution, Friday the 13th is a poorly coded mess of a game, so bad that it’s known as one of the worst games of all time. It was published by LJN, a company known for churning out horrible licensed games on retro consoles, and Friday the 13th is no exception. The game is unnecessarily difficult, features terrible controls that make it even harder to play, and is repetitive, frustrating, and torturous.
2) Super Pitfall
The original Pitfall! is one of the greatest platformers of the 2nd console generation, but its sequel, Super Pitfall, is anything but. The game looks a bit too much like a Mario clone than a Pitfall game to be a part of the series, and most players felt that it was inferior to the Atari 2600 OG title. The collision detection was poorly implemented, making it overly difficult and painful to play. The weapon was almost entirely useless because of this, as shots were typically fired over enemies’ heads. The sprites flickered, the music was terrible, and the game was just a mess of bad programming.
3) Where’s Waldo?
Where’s Waldo? books have always been fun regardless of age, so a video game adaptation should have worked well on the NES. Unfortunately, the reality of the game was a mess that didn’t work. Where’s Waldo? is much like the books, as players need to locate Waldo on each of the game’s eight levels. Sounds simple enough, but the graphics were so terrible that finding Waldo was almost impossible. Various images resembled his coloration, and Waldo’s appearance inexplicably changes color in some levels. Finding Waldo shouldn’t drive people to madness, but that’s what happens when folks play Where’s Waldo? on the NES.
4) Ghostbusters
The first Ghostbusters game arrived on the Commodore 64 before being ported to the NES, but you have to wonder why they bothered, because the game is terrible. Most movie tie-in games from the 1980s were awful messes, and Ghostbusters was no exception. The game was rushed through only six weeks of programming, and while it did well on the C64, the NES port was terribly received. The graphics didn’t translate well on the NES, making it look awful on the system. The gameplay was also pretty frustrating and overly difficult, making little sense as you played it, so few who did wound up enjoying the Ghostbusters game.
5) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
One of the all-time worst games on the NES is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is based on the novella of the same name. The game switches between the two characters, altering gameplay depending on who’s in control at any given time. The biggest problem with the game is its difficulty, which is dialed up beyond 11. The controls are terribly sluggish and difficult to use, the gameplay is boring and repetitive, and every aspect of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is broken in ways that should have kept it from being released. Ironically, the game’s notoriety for being awful actually increased people’s interest in playing it … just to see how bad it actually is.
6) Action 52
I wouldn’t typically include unlicensed games on a list like this, but there’s no avoiding Action 52. The multicart was released for the NES in 1992, featuring 52 games across various genres. Some of the games didn’t even play at all, and the ones that did were so badly coded that players preferred they didn’t work. The ones that did play relatively well were still awful attempts at launching franchises, but they all sucked. The most ridiculous aspect of Action 52 is that it initially sold for $199, which is a lot of money for a multicart stuffed with games that crashed the system when you tried to play them.
7) Deadly Towers
Deadly Towers is an interesting game, as it’s one of the first Japanese role-playing games to arrive in the West. It was also a hit, selling well upon its 1987 release, so you might think it would escape scrutiny as one of the worst NES games. You’d be wrong, and despite its importance to video game history, Deadly Towers is nonetheless one of the most frustrating games to play on the NES. The enemy respawn rate is ridiculously unbalanced, the mazes are frustratingly difficult and non-linear, and the hit detection was terribly coded. With all of that going against it, the game is next to impossible to finish without a guide.
8) The Uncanny X-Men
While you might expect a video game based on the X-Men to be an amazing thing to play, the reality of the 1989 NES game is anything but. In actuality, The Uncanny X-Men is one of the worst comic book video games ever made. The game is another LJN release, and it features poorly designed sprites that make everyone look alike, offering little to distinguish one character from another. The color palette on each level is just awful, making it all blend into a seamless nightmare. The combat mechanics are terribly coded, making the game too easy to beat (the opposite of most NES games), which kills any challenge and eliminates any potential fun players might have had.
9) Bible Adventures
Bible Adventures is another unlicensed game, and the only reason I’m including it is that it’s widely regarded as terrible. The cartridge could only be obtained by mail, and it contained three games, all of which were bad rip-offs of more popular titles. These were Noah’s Ark, Baby Moses, and David and Goliath. The games are only loosely similar to their Bible stories, and they’re all sidescrolling clones of Super Mario Bros. 2, which isn’t really well-hidden in any way. Each game was panned by critics for being poorly designed and derivative, with several levels recycled and sloppily implemented.
10) Mighty Bomb Jack
Bomb Jack was a successful arcade game, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see it gain a sequel in Mighty Bomb Jack. The 1986 platformer was released on the NES before being ported to other systems, including the Commodore 64. The game wasn’t released in North America, but it was dropped in other markets where it failed to wow many players. The level design and platforming mechanics were poorly executed, as were the enemy behaviors, making progression challenging. The game was mostly meh, but for some reason, it’s been re-released and ported to multiple consoles over the years, disappointing new generations of players.
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