Worst NES publisher?

2

Comments

  • Laughing-Joking-Numbnuts and THQ no question.



    What, no poll?  
  • Originally posted by: bimmy_lee

    LJN doesn't have the best games on the system, but they definitely aren't the worst. The games are all very much playable (again, except for X-Men, in my opinion) and a lot of people don't give the company enough credit. They just write them off as a bad publisher because reviewers like AVGN say they are bad.



    I think it also has a lot to do with them doing most of the movie lisenced stuff for NES, which sort of makes it easy to expect a lot from them. Even though the paradox is that games based on famous movies are more often bad than good anyway..  

    I hope people by the way are aware of LJN Defender on youtube? His stuff is worth watching. 
  • Originally posted by: Svankmajer

    Originally posted by: bimmy_lee

    LJN doesn't have the best games on the system, but they definitely aren't the worst. The games are all very much playable (again, except for X-Men, in my opinion) and a lot of people don't give the company enough credit. They just write them off as a bad publisher because reviewers like AVGN say they are bad.



    I think it also has a lot to do with them doing most of the movie lisenced stuff for NES, which sort of makes them easy to expect a lot from them. Even though the paradox is that games based on famous movies are more often bad than good anyway..  

    I hope people by the way are aware of LJN Defender on youtube? His stuff is worth watching. 



    yeah they wouldn't have to try as hard because they have the license carrying them. There's going to be more people buying wolverine than Shatterhand back then. Thing is though, at that time there was no set formula for making a fun game. And at least they tried to do some unique things.
  • Shouldn't this question be about worst NES developer?
  • Originally posted by: Gentlegamer

    Shouldn't this question be about worst NES developer?




    Nah, that would be an entirely different subject, we're talking about who published the worst games
  • Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Svankmajer

     
    Originally posted by: bimmy_lee

    LJN doesn't have the best games on the system, but they definitely aren't the worst. The games are all very much playable (again, except for X-Men, in my opinion) and a lot of people don't give the company enough credit. They just write them off as a bad publisher because reviewers like AVGN say they are bad.



    I think it also has a lot to do with them doing most of the movie lisenced stuff for NES, which sort of makes them easy to expect a lot from them. Even though the paradox is that games based on famous movies are more often bad than good anyway..  

    I hope people by the way are aware of LJN Defender on youtube? His stuff is worth watching. 







    yeah they wouldn't have to try as hard because they have the license carrying them. There's going to be more people buying wolverine than Shatterhand back then. Thing is though, at that time there was no set formula for making a fun game. And at least they tried to do some unique things.

    It's funny to think of how many copies of shitty licensed movie-based NES games sold back in the day. People bought that stuff up. Roger Rabbit, Jaws, etc. Imagine the disappointment of opening that crap on Christmas morning, lol. It probably felt and played great for the time to some extent; the novelty was still fresh and exciting so it overshadowed how shitty those games actually are.



    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.
  • THQ is the worst big one for me. KOEI probably doesn't make bad games so I can't count them as worst, but I have zero motivation to play any of their games. If they didn't exist, the NES library would be just as well off for me  



    What about small guys. Mattel? Panesian? Caltron? Myriad? RacerMate?  
  • Originally posted by: DefaultGen

    What about small guys. Mattel? Panesian? Caltron? Myriad? RacerMate?  

    Mattel's two games were kind of cool in theory, it's just the accessory they were made for wasn't quite up to snuff. Though I think Super Glove Ball does work.



    Panesian, aside from the, ahem, novelty, are just a puzzle game and two casino games. Pop in Vegas Dreams, put an open Playboy next to the TV, and you're good to go.  



    Caltron/Myriad are just a collection of Gluk/Joy Van/whatever games from overseas. All of them are playable (though most are ripoffs.)



    Racermate = Stadium Events/World Class Track Meet on bikes.



     
  • Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

     
    Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Svankmajer

     
    Originally posted by: bimmy_lee

    LJN doesn't have the best games on the system, but they definitely aren't the worst. The games are all very much playable (again, except for X-Men, in my opinion) and a lot of people don't give the company enough credit. They just write them off as a bad publisher because reviewers like AVGN say they are bad.



    I think it also has a lot to do with them doing most of the movie lisenced stuff for NES, which sort of makes them easy to expect a lot from them. Even though the paradox is that games based on famous movies are more often bad than good anyway..  

    I hope people by the way are aware of LJN Defender on youtube? His stuff is worth watching. 







    yeah they wouldn't have to try as hard because they have the license carrying them. There's going to be more people buying wolverine than Shatterhand back then. Thing is though, at that time there was no set formula for making a fun game. And at least they tried to do some unique things.

    It's funny to think of how many copies of shitty licensed movie-based NES games sold back in the day. People bought that stuff up. Roger Rabbit, Jaws, etc. Imagine the disappointment of opening that crap on Christmas morning, lol. It probably felt and played great for the time to some extent; the novelty was still fresh and exciting so it overshadowed how shitty those games actually are.



    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.
  • Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.



    Friday the 13th is great. Jaws is pretty good, a bit simple but it's almost like an Atari game, great for if you have 15 mins to kill
  • Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.







    Friday the 13th is great. Jaws is pretty good, a bit simple but it's almost like an Atari game, great for if you have 15 mins to kill

    Friday the 13th is secretely the best (and only, I think?) horror survival title on the NES. Jaws DOES feel like an Atari title now that you mention it.

     
  • Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.







    Friday the 13th is great. Jaws is pretty good, a bit simple but it's almost like an Atari game, great for if you have 15 mins to kill

    Yeah, I agree with him saying Friday and Nightmare are good games, just adding those 2 that I could think of.  I remember liking LJN as a kid.  Oh yeah! I loved MLB when I was a kid.  I think it's crap now, though.
  • Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

     
    Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.







    Friday the 13th is great. Jaws is pretty good, a bit simple but it's almost like an Atari game, great for if you have 15 mins to kill

    Friday the 13th is secretely the best (and only, I think?) horror survival title on the NES. Jaws DOES feel like an Atari title now that you mention it.

     

    Would you count Sweet Home?  It's an RPG... and Famicom only.  So I wonder if those things exclude it for you.
  • Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th is secretely the best (and only, I think?) horror survival title on the NES. Jaws DOES feel like an Atari title now that you mention it.

     

    Uninvited might be the only other one that comes close.



    Jaws doesn't have enough to do, IMO. Only two ports? Shoot at stingrays and jellyfish most of the time? I get that it was a fairly early game, but I find it too tedious.



     
  • Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th is secretely the best (and only, I think?) horror survival title on the NES. Jaws DOES feel like an Atari title now that you mention it.

     

    Uninvited might be the only other one that comes close.



    Jaws doesn't have enough to do, IMO. Only two ports? Shoot at stingrays and jellyfish most of the time? I get that it was a fairly early game, but I find it too tedious.



     

    It's all about dat grind.  I hate the jellyfish that go at angles.  I usually want to stop playing when that happens, ha.  Especially when you're close to shore.
  • Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.







    Friday the 13th is great. Jaws is pretty good, a bit simple but it's almost like an Atari game, great for if you have 15 mins to kill



    I use to rip up Jaws pretty hard as a kid, I loved just blasting away at stuff under the water and man when Jaws or Baby Jaws came out....You better look the fuck out!
  • NOA  
  • LJN gets a bad rap. They have 4 or 5 games I kind of like. Mindscape is pretty bad outside of Gauntlet II.



    THQ is a dumpster fire.
  • Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

     
    Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th is secretely the best (and only, I think?) horror survival title on the NES. Jaws DOES feel like an Atari title now that you mention it.

     

    Uninvited might be the only other one that comes close.



    Jaws doesn't have enough to do, IMO. Only two ports? Shoot at stingrays and jellyfish most of the time? I get that it was a fairly early game, but I find it too tedious.



     

    It's all about dat grind.  I hate the jellyfish that go at angles.  I usually want to stop playing when that happens, ha.  Especially when you're close to shore.

    I can only ever play Jaws for about 15 minutes, then I can't rationalize spending that much time doing the same shit for such little reward  



    I totally spaced Uninvited, btw! I DO count it...I just like Friday the 13th better!

     
    Originally posted by: ToxieRules

     
    Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch

     
    Originally posted by: Loxx O)))

     
    Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

    Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are solid games at their core, IMHO.

    I actually enjoy Jaws and Back to the Future quite a bit.  Never played Roger Rabbit but it doesn't seem like my kind of game in general.







    Friday the 13th is great. Jaws is pretty good, a bit simple but it's almost like an Atari game, great for if you have 15 mins to kill



    I use to rip up Jaws pretty hard as a kid, I loved just blasting away at stuff under the water and man when Jaws or Baby Jaws came out....You better look the fuck out!

    With an Advantage Controller or NES MAX, maybe  



    They'd leave that thing on demo at the Saugus MA FuncoLand for MONTHS.
  • THQ for sure, although there are some others that are close in the running...
  • Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: DefaultGen

    What about small guys. Mattel? Panesian? Caltron? Myriad? RacerMate?  

    Mattel's two games were kind of cool in theory, it's just the accessory they were made for wasn't quite up to snuff. Though I think Super Glove Ball does work.



    Panesian, aside from the, ahem, novelty, are just a puzzle game and two casino games. Pop in Vegas Dreams, put an open Playboy next to the TV, and you're good to go.  



    Caltron/Myriad are just a collection of Gluk/Joy Van/whatever games from overseas. All of them are playable (though most are ripoffs.)



    Racermate = Stadium Events/World Class Track Meet on bikes.



     



    If we're talking worst publisher though maybe Myriad wins despite all the horrible THQ games. THQ at least made money cranking out garbage. RacerMate made a fancy peripheral which propably took at least some effort to bring to market. Panesian tried to break into new exciting markets! Myriad slapped a sticker on existing old stock and created an all-text box for it. Published!

     
  • Originally posted by: DefaultGen

    Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: DefaultGen

    What about small guys. Mattel? Panesian? Caltron? Myriad? RacerMate?  

    Mattel's two games were kind of cool in theory, it's just the accessory they were made for wasn't quite up to snuff. Though I think Super Glove Ball does work.



    Panesian, aside from the, ahem, novelty, are just a puzzle game and two casino games. Pop in Vegas Dreams, put an open Playboy next to the TV, and you're good to go.  



    Caltron/Myriad are just a collection of Gluk/Joy Van/whatever games from overseas. All of them are playable (though most are ripoffs.)



    Racermate = Stadium Events/World Class Track Meet on bikes.



     



    If we're talking worst publisher though maybe Myriad wins despite all the horrible THQ games. THQ at least made money cranking out garbage. RacerMate made a fancy peripheral which propably took at least some effort to bring to market. Panesian tried to break into new exciting markets! Myriad slapped a sticker on existing old stock and created an all-text box for it. Published!

     



    haha didn't even think of that. Definitely could be considered the laziest publisher.
  • I'd vote THQ as well.
  • Come on guys, the winner is Active Enterprises, nothing else even compares with that shit show. You almost have to exclude it because the bar it sets is so low that everything else looks like fucking gold in comparison. It makes THQ look like fucking Konami in it's prime.
  • Originally posted by: pegboy

    Come on guys, the winner is Active Enterprises, nothing else even compares with that shit show. You almost have to exclude it because the bar it sets is so low that everything else looks like fucking gold in comparison. It makes THQ look like fucking Konami in it's prime.




    At least it doesn't make your ears bleed like rocky and Bullwinkle
  • From my experience with THQ games, it amazes me that they existed so long with their horrid 8 and 16 bit lineup. I do have to say that LJN did publish the Punisher which is their diamond in the sewer.

  • Originally posted by: pegboy



    Come on guys, the winner is Active Enterprises, nothing else even compares with that shit show. You almost have to exclude it because the bar it sets is so low that everything else looks like fucking gold in comparison. It makes THQ look like fucking Konami in it's prime.



    First off they werent an NES publisher, since they werent officially licensed.  Second, wasn't it from a handful of college kids with barely any knowledge that lied about their credencials?  Id say Cheetahmen 2 / Action 52 is more like a shitty indie game.


  • I'm gonna cast another vote for THQ assuming we're sticking with licensed publishers. Just pure doody.
  • Originally posted by: guitarzombie

     
    Originally posted by: pegboy



    Come on guys, the winner is Active Enterprises, nothing else even compares with that shit show. You almost have to exclude it because the bar it sets is so low that everything else looks like fucking gold in comparison. It makes THQ look like fucking Konami in it's prime.



    First off they werent an NES publisher, since they werent officially licensed.  Second, wasn't it from a handful of college kids with barely any knowledge that lied about their credencials?  Id say Cheetahmen 2 / Action 52 is more like a shitty indie game.

     

    I was going to say...wasn't that "company" pretty much a joke to begin with?
  • Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine

     
    Originally posted by: guitarzombie

     
    Originally posted by: pegboy



    Come on guys, the winner is Active Enterprises, nothing else even compares with that shit show. You almost have to exclude it because the bar it sets is so low that everything else looks like fucking gold in comparison. It makes THQ look like fucking Konami in it's prime.



    First off they werent an NES publisher, since they werent officially licensed.  Second, wasn't it from a handful of college kids with barely any knowledge that lied about their credencials?  Id say Cheetahmen 2 / Action 52 is more like a shitty indie game.

     

    I was going to say...wasn't that "company" pretty much a joke to begin with?

    It was two dudes who got investors and hired about three college kids to do the programming. They cut a lot of corners, but honestly, they were at least as legit as Color Dreams, which was about five guys in an office in Corona.



    This was the Color Dreams gang:

    image

    image



     
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