It's Critter Time!

Games that I like that tend to get crap for being "lesser" entries in franchises:
Dark Souls 2
Ys 3
Mega Man X8
Resident Evil: Dead Aim
Castlevania 64

Others I'm pretty into:
Hydlide
Quest 64
Whiplash
Death Crimson (It is very funny)
Basically any first person dungeon crawler, I will enjoy

I'm always surprised whenever the numbered Mega Man X people believe people dislike is neither 6 nor 7. I always only ever hear either of those in the actual 'mainstream' as being the one people believe are bad.
(Personally, I believe 7 is the only one that fits, and that's mostly from a design and apparent programming standpoint. But I think that's forgivable as a result of it being their first foray into trying to make the gameplay 3D- so long as you assume they really didn't want to reuse the Legends formula for some reason.)

Wait, people thought Quest 64 was bad? I just thought most people hadn't heard of or played it at all (and maybe a few people experienced the Game Boy Color game in the same way some experienced Daikatana first that way and were therefore disillusioned by the 3D game not matching it).

These are from the point of view of the average gamer.

Quest 64 got some pretty bad reviews when it came out, and yeah, X6 and X7 are much worse than X8, but those are too bad for me to enjoy.

EpsilDelta wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 6:00 am Games that I like that tend to get crap for being "lesser" entries in franchises:
Dark Souls 2
Ys 3
Mega Man X8
Resident Evil: Dead Aim
Castlevania 64

Others I'm pretty into:
Hydlide
Quest 64
Whiplash
Death Crimson (It is very funny)
Basically any first person dungeon crawler, I will enjoy

Someone enjoying Death Crimson basically ensures i trust them

Me talking about Megaman X normally: Yeah not really into them as much as the original series you know. Just not my preference.

Me when X6 gets insulted: Listen it's perfectly fine you will not survive the winter

It's reputation as a bad game has pretty much faded away at this point, but I will say that the Zelda game I most jive with is Zelda II. Few other games get good weighty feeling like it does. Redux fixes pretty much any issue it had.

ElTipejoLoco wrote: Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:50 pm I'd need to be able to recognize bad games while or after I'm playing them for me to properly participate in this thread, I think. I don't usually check what the majority opinion is about things I've played afterwards.

Giving a simple cursory glance over my Backloggery to try and think about it, maybe Lagoon for the SNES counts? At least, if you consider 'bad' game to be something that looks like it could've had more polish to stand proudly amongst the rest of a game library. I recall simultaneously enjoying it but also being aware that it felt like someone who hadn't heard of invulnerability frames and time alongside being bumped out of enemies' hitboxes designed its entirety, which makes it feel unforgiving if you only played games where all of those things had already been normalized beforehand. It also feels very unpolished when you put it up against A Link to the Past, Soul Blader/Blazer, and other early ARPG hack-and-slash games of the SNES library.

If you're not aware, the reason SNES Lagoon is the way it is is because in the original X68000 version, it used Ys-style bump combat, where not having the things you mentioned was the norm. When they ported it to SNES, they added an attack button... without rebalancing the game to fit that or gamer's expectations of a console action RPG.

While I don't play a lot of "bad games" myself, I watch a lot of streams of people playing old, forgotten, unloved, or maligned games and there's a LOT to love and appreciate about them. Deadly Towers has been mentioned and I think that's a great example. For a 1986 game it's ambitious in its scope, and relies less on the player grinding up numbers to succeed and more on learning and mapping out its world to figure out progress, which can be extremely satisfying.

edit: I guess if we're calling Way of the Samurai a Bad Game series I love that one, even when it got really goofy in 4. If anything the only 'bad' part of 4 to me was the combat system changes.

Mixi Blacksand wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 1:15 pm

ElTipejoLoco wrote: Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:50 pm I'd need to be able to recognize bad games while or after I'm playing them for me to properly participate in this thread, I think. I don't usually check what the majority opinion is about things I've played afterwards.

Giving a simple cursory glance over my Backloggery to try and think about it, maybe Lagoon for the SNES counts? At least, if you consider 'bad' game to be something that looks like it could've had more polish to stand proudly amongst the rest of a game library. I recall simultaneously enjoying it but also being aware that it felt like someone who hadn't heard of invulnerability frames and time alongside being bumped out of enemies' hitboxes designed its entirety, which makes it feel unforgiving if you only played games where all of those things had already been normalized beforehand. It also feels very unpolished when you put it up against A Link to the Past, Soul Blader/Blazer, and other early ARPG hack-and-slash games of the SNES library.

While I don't play a lot of "bad games" myself, I watch a lot of streams of people playing old, forgotten, unloved, or maligned games and there's a LOT to love and appreciate about them. Deadly Towers has been mentioned and I think that's a great example. For a 1986 game it's ambitious in its scope, and relies less on the player grinding up numbers to succeed and more on learning and mapping out its world to figure out progress, which can be extremely satisfying.

Realizing that the sole gameplay designer at Lenar that worked on Deadly Towers pretty much only did work on Tower of Druaga and Return of Ishtar prior to Deadly Towers makes things make a lot more sense on why it was made that way. It's not a game I find myself enjoying while playing, but it's an absolutely fascinating thing to look at and take ideas from.

Convinced to play Deadly Towers now

EdenCoven wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 1:49 pm Convinced to play Deadly Towers now

I think you'll find it fascinating, but be warned, it's a real REAL rough start. Also you might want to get some maps beforehand if you don't have a butt-ton of graph paper.

EpsilDelta wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 6:00 am Castlevania 64

Castlevania 64 is set in a time period before motorcycles were invented, AND YET there are skeletons on motorcycles, which sends my "headcanon" brain spinning into infinity RE: dracula's castle living outside of time and collecting all the nastiest creatures throughout time like a filter on the sewage drain of the universe. ALSO SKELETONS ON MOTORCYCLES. I love this game.

seriously though that game has huuuuuuuge problems but it's also so so so unique and weird and stupid and, occasionally, fun. i know part of it is nostalgia but i love it deeply.

Of course, nostalgia is a huge factor in how much I love this dumbass game, but it's also got a lot of fascinating concepts; I was a huge Castlevania fan already when it came out, but was young enough to not have much of a critical eye. I enjoyed the hell out of it and continue to, to this day.

i suppose it is not surprising that someone whose name comes from castlevania would be a staunch defender of the unloved castlevania lmao

(my name is Cania because i offhandedly chose the name VastleCania and it turns out i had picked my post transition name by accident)

Hey, Serena! Nice to see ya here.

I used to host a series of streams on twitch with my friend Mutraex called Wheel of Fate. It was an idea we had in mind where we would select games randomly from a list, filled to the brim with weird first installments, strange sequels, lesser known titles, oddball one shots, and notorious stinkers. It was a pretty balanced system that gave us good and 'bad' days for the stream.


The less bloody logo for Time Killers, seen in print ads. The title is written out in big blue letters. Splitting the word 'TIME' and 'KILLERS' is a clock with a skull in the middle, skewered by a red plasma based sword and a katana.

Strata's Time Killers was an easy pick for the list; Anybody who has a surface level knowledge of 'Mortal Kombat Klones' knows about it. After several streams, the game came up on our schedule, prompting giggles and snorts from the both of us.

I had played Time Killers a little bit on my own time (ahem), and while it's a pretty janky experience with less than stellar feedback on your moves, I can't help but admire its contrast of toony visuals and occasional gore. It's done in a way that feels like it's at war with itself and its identity. I will admit that I am more partial to its spiritual successor, Bloodstorm.

Mutraex and I got into it, and their initial response was....not great. Eventually the both of us entered a mirror match, and the dynamic shifted.


Rancid, a punk with a green mohawk, sunglasses, grey tank top, and green sneakers is revving up a chainsaw. He is facing a mirror image of himself with pink hair, and warmer colors for his clothes.

We spent what felt like 20 minutes with this stupid matchup: Rancid v. Rancid. His normals with his chainsaw extend outward like fucking Mr. Fantastic, and he can slide on the ground with it. Something else worth mentioning is the ability to decapitate your opponent with one well placed spin. That added even more spice to the match up.

This was the name of the game when we ran into not-so-great titles. We made our own fun out of it, and I think doing so with these streams made me appreciate 'bad' games a lot more beyond mocking them from a distance.

Wheel of Fate was a great time, and it helped me not only cultivate my friendship with Mutraex, but change my perspective on games that aren't good, in the traditional sense.

So, yeah. Time Killers is one of those games for me.

Time Killers seems extremely my sorta shit and i really gotta pick it up sometime

Wildlife Park 2. It's beyond buggy, some DLCs just don't work, but I absolutely love it. It's my beloved childhood game, and to this day, I really enjoy playing for a few hours while a friend watches so we can giggle a bit, or alone, just building a nice, crusty 3D zoo and relaxing.

EpsilDelta wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 5:48 pm Of course, nostalgia is a huge factor in how much I love this dumbass game, but it's also got a lot of fascinating concepts; I was a huge Castlevania fan already when it came out, but was young enough to not have much of a critical eye. I enjoyed the hell out of it and continue to, to this day.

Don't worry, Ragnar has your back.

Im a firm defender of Castlevania 64 also. I think if you have a tolerance for early 3D jank there is a ton to like there. I've always been especially fond of its very particular vibe

I'm constantly fascinated by questionable games. I love Virtual Hydlide, Shrek(box) (xbox version), Lifeline. Just like an amazingly bad movie, playing that perfect sweet spot of fun and bad can be hard. There are a lot that just end up being middling instead of something that truly triggers my brain.

Loosf wrote: Sat Jul 19, 2025 2:05 am I legit think that dark souls 2 is the best of the dark souls games.

Ur so right tho, like its *very* rough sometimes but it has so much personality and how things came together was very interesting

Burn:Cycle!



First-person FMV point-and-click game for DOS and CD-i, following small-time data thief Sol Cutter in a very loose adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic. Janky/unintuitive puzzles, loads of "death traps", and of course lots of cheesy acting and wonky compositing. But! At the same time it also has some really novel old-school CGI visuals, plus a stellar soundtrack by Simon Boswell of Hackers fame. Of course, that's to say nothing of it's "sequel"...

Survival Arts gets ragged on for obviously cashing in on the Mortal Kombat craze, but I'm personally a big fan of it due to its extremely unhinged vibe and gameplay. The HUGE sprites and huge damage mean that matches often only last a few interactions and that makes it both frantic and extremely pick up and play.

Every single character backstory is nuts also. I really need a proper community to form around this at some point.

Was reminded of AD&D: Heroes of the Lance, a game that we find endlessly amusing even though it sucks. This is a little different from the games we like that are actually good and just not appreciated. There isn't anything in particular to recommend about Heroes of the Lance. It's just a funny object that we found delight in reading up on and learning how to engage with.

Local Hexen 2 shill here

I'm out there liking that one even though so many say it's a very mixed FPS

Legit way better than the mess Hexen 1 can be at points AND it's in the Quake engine, with everything it involves

10/10 rocketjumping crusader time