Obscure, Hardly Known Bad Games/Guilty Pleasures.

[mrthejoshmon]

I've enjoy consuming bad media, films, games ect.

 

I have a bizarre fascination with bad games, I guess I really like to experience train wrecks and enjoy dissecting them, riffing on them, playing in a group ect, in fact one of my favourite things was to watch James Stephanie Sterling play some of the absolute tosh on Steam, this one being a particularly memorable one.

 

One roadblock I hit however is actually finding anything worth it to dive into, especially anything niche or obscure. The problem is that when I look for bad games all I ever find is the same lists, the same games and most disappointingly the same mediocre AAA releases that we all jump on the hate wagon for that particular year (Anthem, Outriders, FIFA, to name a few).

 

I'm genuinely interested in hearing about niche little disasters, one thing that comes to mind is the large retinue of "Euro-Jank" that occasionally produces a "gem" like Kreed, I'm more interested in the games of yesteryear rather than the shovelware hellscape of today.

 

With all that said, what obscure, bizarre and kinda crap guilty little pleasures have you unearthed? I used to upload videos of things I found and I kinda want to do it again.

[knifeworld]

13 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

I've enjoy consuming bad media, films, games ect.

 

I have a bizarre fascination with bad games, I guess I really like to experience train wrecks and enjoy dissecting them, riffing on them, playing in a group ect, in fact one of my favourite things was to watch James Stephanie Sterling play some of the absolute tosh on Steam, this one being a particularly memorable one.

 

One roadblock I hit however is actually finding anything worth it to dive into, especially anything niche or obscure. The problem is that when I look for bad games all I ever find is the same lists, the same games and most disappointingly the same mediocre AAA releases that we all jump on the hate wagon for that particular year (Anthem, Outriders, FIFA, to name a few).

 

I'm genuinely interested in hearing about niche little disasters, one thing that comes to mind is the large retinue of "Euro-Jank" that occasionally produces a "gem" like Kreed, I'm more interested in the games of yesteryear rather than the shovelware hellscape of today.

 

With all that said, what obscure, bizarre and kinda crap guilty little pleasures have you unearthed? I used to upload videos of things I found and I kinda want to do it again.

Here's a Russian Build-Engine FPS that I forgot how or where I even discovered it but it's janked as hell in "so bad it's epic" way.

 

[mrthejoshmon]

9 hours ago, knifeworld said:

Here's a Russian Build-Engine FPS that I forgot how or where I even discovered it but it's janked as hell in "so bad it's epic" way.

 

This is exactly the kinda thing that I am looking for, thank you.

[holaareola]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespasser_(video_game)

 

Tresspasser. They wanted to do advanced AI, a completely dynamically generated animation system and a physics engine on a fucking 1998 Pentium. They bumpmapped the dinosaurs.

 

The control system is mental -- you have control of your gun hand independently of where you are looking which is an innovation no one wanted or can really use properly. But boy does it add to the challenge. You'll have a velociraptor launching towards you and you will die fumbling around to rotate your wet spaghetti string arm so it points the gun at the dino without ever lining up a shot. It's hudless, so you look down at a tattoo on your chest to check your health and talk to yourself about how heavy the gun feels to communicate ammo levels.

 

And speaking of launching dinosaurs, I am not kidding. Play through Trespasser once and you are guaranteed to see the heart-lifting sight of the animation system critically malfunctioning and rocketing a charging dinosaur into the sky. I remember one play session where a T-Rex was moments away from killing me when -- in a fantastic deus ex machina moment -- 'boing' off it goes into the stratosphere.

 

It's an utter disaster borne of the wildest and most unrealistic ambition and that is why I love this game.

[Rudolph]

Never played it myself (learned about its existence from H.Bomberguy), but would Pathologic be a good example?

 

 

[mrthejoshmon]

42 minutes ago, holaareola said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespasser_(video_game)

Trespasser is an absolute classic when it comes to hilarious jank garbage, nothing quite beats fighting off a glitchosaurus by smacking it with a literal stick until it backflips and breaks it's neck.

 

God forbid anyone goes near a fence, I'm unsure if what I saw was due to modern hardware conflicts but the extinction level event that was 2 planks and a post was probably my favourite encounter.

 

37 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Never played it myself (learned about its existence from H.Bomberguy), but would Pathologic be a good example?

I'm not so sure about Pathologic, on the surface it is a nigh near unassailable jank-fest filled with incomprehensible design choices, however deeper down it's a compelling horror game and the issues only further compact the dread.

[Daytime Waitress]

5 hours ago, holaareola said:

Tresspasser. They wanted to do advanced AI, a completely dynamically generated animation system and a physics engine on a fucking 1998 Pentium.

 

There have been so many video dissertations on this game by the talking head community, and you've just nailed it in one sentence. Thank you.

 

5 hours ago, holaareola said:

The control system is mental -- you have control of your gun hand independently of where you are looking which is an innovation no one wanted or can really use properly.

 

It sounds like one of those things that someone pitches, and folks get behind, but then months later, when it's actually been implemented (because it took so long to implement it), no one stops and goes: "this thing in our video game is not fun." Or they do, but sunk cost fallacy lol.

 

I've never actually played the game, and I can respect the impact it's had and the ambition, but some parts of it are just unbelievable. Like what they were planning to do with the dinosaur AI: having them governed by hunger and thirst and having that determine their likelihood of attacking. Practically any other developer would have looked for shortcuts to give the illusion that the enemies were more complex than they were. It's like... the anti-F.E.A.R.

[DannyMan]

Rotten Prison

[mrthejoshmon]

28 minutes ago, DannyMan said:

Rotten Prison

Now that's a throwback

 

*baby crying*

[Master O]

 

Warning: Flashing Lights

[Endless]

 

There's a dinosaur game that got QUITE the reputation during its early years due to being an absolute shit-fest full of bugs, broken mechanics and insane performance issues. Well, the game got more popular due to the love the devs showed by updating it for years and re-launching it as ORION: Prelude for only $0.99. It sold millions. Then... the main dev and owner of the studio kicked everyone out and ran away into obscurity with all the money.

 

Yeah it's a very weird story.

 

The game is pretty damn fun though, especially with friends.

[IncognitoMode]

 

A side-scrolling beat-em-up where you have to press a button to turn around? What fun!

[Thelokk]

This is one bad artifact I love shilling when it comes to near-outsider art in video games. Not even 100% sure one can lay their hands on it today, or get it to run properly on anything. I got my copy from one of those 'everything at 1000 lire' supermarket bins. Yes, Italy still used lira back then...

 

 

[gwain]

Turok 2008

[Mr. Freeze]

It's not a great game, but it's strangely endearing. I'm still bummed the planned Martian Madness sequel never came around. 

[Azuris]

4 hours ago, Endless said:

 

There's a dinosaur game that got QUITE the reputation during its early years due to being an absolute shit-fest full of bugs, broken mechanics and insane performance issues. Well, the game got more popular due to the love the devs showed by updating it for years and re-launching it as ORION: Prelude for only $0.99. It sold millions. Then... the main dev and owner of the studio kicked everyone out and ran away into obscurity with all the money.

 

Yeah it's a very weird story.

 

The game is pretty damn fun though, especially with friends.

 

Oh i have it, played it about an Hour or so.

But i am just not so much into Multiplayer Titles overall.

 

Being with Dinosaurs, i am playing Trespasser after it was over twenty Years on my Desk and i am further than the first Level (yeah!).

 

Control Scheme is just not very intuitiv and i had to make it in a Way it makes more Sense (shooting to Mouse Click).

So as a Kid it just wasn't Doom or Unreal :P

 

But i have to say, even if i don't have a Eco System of living Dinosaurs with Needs and Feelings (as promised), i have Fun with it.

 

The Big Box sadly got destroyed by Water back then, i miss it.

It was so nice looking and touchy, the Prices on Ebay are insane, so i also can't buy a "new" one.

[The BMFG]

my guilty pleasure is going on idgames and finding low rated wads and playing through the entirety of them, one time i found a wad no joke that was just map10 of doom 2 with gay porn all over the walls and no enemies in sight

[CittyKat112]

Afterfall: InSanity and Deadly Premonition. Didn't like either of them, in fact I hate Deadly Premonition but I liked the plot and janky animations in Afterfall. And while playing through it was a chore and the ending was kinda obvious, I liked it... A very small bit. Deadly Premonition though... I hate it so much it makes me want to call it 'pseudo-intellectual'. But if you're into weird shit and Twin Peaks, you might really be into it (never watched Twin Peaks, but every review mentions how the game has a shitton of references to TP).

[Doomkid]

I was oddly obsessed with collecting "half decent" famicom bootleg cartridges for years and years. I got physical copies of the better half of the Hummer Team library, shown in the video below. Glad I got into these things well before most other westerners did - in the last 5 years, the prices on some of these carts have skyrocketed (the original prints from the 90s that were actually well built, that is - you can get ones made in the last 3 years but they're flimsy and awful).

 

Super Mario World in particular fetches hundreds of dollars now - glad I got it 10 years ago when it was "only" 50 bucks!

 

 

[mrthejoshmon]

14 hours ago, Endless said:

ORION: Prelude

I heard about that back in the day, it was often described as "knockoff Halo" due to the (at the time, not sure how it later developed) energy shields and vehicles as well as the suspiciously similar weapon designs.

 

12 hours ago, Thelokk said:

This is one bad artifact I love shilling ...

That's a real deep cut that one, I've never even heard of it before and man does it look delightfully terrible, when watching the gameplay I could physically feel the stiffness. Gotta see if that's available somewhere.

 

11 hours ago, gwain said:

Turok 2008

I hate this game, the "Water Beast" fight (I think that's the name?) really solidified this hatred, no idea how that fight even works and I don't want to know.

 

11 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

It's not a great game, but it's strangely endearing...

My only exposure to this title was a middling review in Official Xbox Magazine (I think?), I forgot about it existing until now, would you say it's worth a go?

 

9 hours ago, CittyKat112 said:

Afterfall: InSanity and Deadly Premonition. 

Afterfall Insanity is a great watch due to the story, I can only describe it as a drunken slav narrative that tries too hard to be deeper than it should be whilst the main character phones it in with the acting skills of an unenthusiastic handjob.

 

I couldn't get into Deadly Premonition, despite being very up my alley the moment I got into the car it was all over, no thanks.

 

38 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I was oddly obsessed with collecting "half decent" famicom bootleg cartridges for years and years.

Bootlegs are always a laugh, Jar Jar Binks in that one DDR ripoff on NES (Street Dance?) lives rent free in my head. I'm gonna have to sit down and watch that video tonight.

[DannyMan]

I also remember "Zombiestan for iPad", an interesting Wolfenstein 3D clone.

[Grimosaur]

I have loads of nostalgia for Taxi Racer London 2. I think it came with this bootleg racing game collection my parents got me which also had an old F1 game, some kind of hovercraft racing game and Re-Volt (but mislabeled as Micro Machines).

 

Honestly had a lot of fun with it for as bad as it looks. I always played the free-roam mode which let you drive around without a timer. There were lots of interesting spots you could find, like the underground where you could drive around in the tunnels or these train tracks which you had to slowly inch your way up to because the ramp was so narrow. There's also a row of parking meters which I remember played a super satisfying sound effect when you ran them over, sounded kind of like picking up a mini-kit in lego star wars. There was also a spot with a boost power up where you could boost over one of the red barriers and fall off the world. I remember being so proud of myself for discovering a "glitch" like that, as if the whole game wasn't a glitch already.

 

 

[gwain]

13 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

I hate this game, the "Water Beast" fight (I think that's the name?) really solidified this hatred, no idea how that fight even works and I don't want to know.

lol I get it. I mostly like it because it's graphics they kind of look

like something out of Id Tech 4 (doom 3 and prey 2006) and some far cry mixed in

 

turok

Spoiler

 

prey 2006

Spoiler

 

[Alex S.]

Painkiller: Redemption

 

Sorry.

[dybbuk81]

Dudes With Attitude - NES

 

The very first game I owned where you could make your own levels

 

Made in Amurica!

[PsychEyeball]

On 7/6/2022 at 12:32 PM, mrthejoshmon said:

Afterfall Insanity is a great watch due to the story, I can only describe it as a drunken slav narrative that tries too hard to be deeper than it should be whilst the main character phones it in with the acting skills of an unenthusiastic handjob.

"I have not commited any crimes!" says the shelter's psychiatrist after using a fire axe to behead several guards in his daydream during a consult. 

 

"A LIFESIZE FAWKING MODEL!"

 

20 hours ago, Alex S. said:

Painkiller: Redemption

 

Sorry.

You should try Painkiller Resurrection. Painkiller Redemption almost looks competent in comparison to this. It'll be a miracle if you can even get to the end of the game due to how buggy it is.

 

22 hours ago, gwain said:

prey 2006

You must not have played that many bad games if Prey 2006 is considered bad. Not that it's a bad thing!

 

Anyhow I'll drop in the bad games hat Sharpshooter 3D. It's a bad, yet oddly endearing drunken Doom clone taking place in Russia. It's incredibly stupid but I feel like this is a game people who play shooters should play, somehow. 

[Kityn]

Psychotoxic

 

I've beaten this game multiple times. 💩

[Bingo Johnson]

 

[gwain]

45 minutes ago, PsychEyeball said:

You must not have played that many bad games if Prey 2006 is considered bad. Not that it's a bad thing!

no lol it was for comparison's sake

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Sonic Adventure is pretty terrible but that will not stop me from playing it from A to Z.