Nintendo has given us genre-defining classics for decades, but you won't find any of those games here. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the worst games developed or published by Nintendo.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the absolute worst games
00:11that Nintendo has ever released.
00:13Our only rule is that the game must have been developed or published by Nintendo.
00:2220.
00:23Paper Mario Sticker Star
00:32Paper Mario fans are a passionate bunch, but ask any of them about Sticker Star and they'll
00:36condemn it to the depths of the underworld.
00:39The biggest problem was the change in progression.
00:41Since Mario no longer earned XP through combat, there was really no point in fighting enemies.
00:46Instead, you earned more health, power, and different attacks by collecting and using
00:50stickers.
00:51Yeah, not exactly an exciting gameplay loop.
00:54There was also the lack of unique party companions from previous games, making the overall story
00:58and world duller.
00:59While it still had the same visual charm, playing through this one was a slog.
01:0719.
01:09Spirit Camera – The Cursed Memoir
01:18Fatal Frame is one of the most respected survival horror franchises around, that we
01:22hope will one day make a comeback.
01:24So long as it isn't anything like this gimmicky spin-off, Spirit Camera was built around the
01:28use of the 3DS' AR mode.
01:31Using the feature with the franchise's signature camera-obscure mechanic to see ghosts was
01:35a neat spin, however, technical issues held it back and being forced to constantly move
01:39around in order to see anything was awkward.
01:42Plus, the short length of its story, which wasn't all that interesting to begin with,
01:46and the fact that you needed to be in a well-lit environment for the AR to even work made
01:50it far less frightening than it should have been.
01:5618.
01:57Wii Music
02:07If you want to know how bad Wii Music really is, we'd point you all the way back to the
02:11game's debut at E3 2008.
02:13Yeah, this game was about as disastrous as that.
02:16Attempting to capture the same success as Wii Sports, Nintendo tried making Wii Music,
02:21a music simulator, for lack of a better phrase.
02:30All you had to do was imitate the movements of playing a real instrument, and you'll
02:34sound like a real musician in very little time.
02:37Well, that was the idea.
02:39More often than not, you'd wind up sounding like Squidward Tentacles.
02:42With a ludicrous price tag of $50, you may as well buy a real instrument and try to teach
02:47yourself.
02:5617.
02:57Metroid Prime Federation Force
02:592016 marked six years since we last saw Samus, the last game
03:12being 2010's Other M, which is part of what made Federation Force even more infuriating.
03:18Rather than giving us a sequel, or even a remake, Nintendo shelled out this multiplayer
03:22game for the 3DS.
03:24Much like The Legend of Zelda Triforce Heroes, the entire game was designed around multiple
03:28players, making it impossible to play solo.
03:37The kicker here was that you don't even play as Samus, but as generic space marines.
03:42Reception for the game was so bad that it never broke top-selling charts, and failed
03:47to outperform 3DS titles that were released prior.
03:50Might be safe to call Federation Force a total commercial failure.
03:5716.
04:02Hey You, Pikachu
04:11Forgive us.
04:12You'll see Pokemon pop up a few times here since the series has seen more than its fair
04:16share of crummy spinoffs.
04:18One of the earliest was Hey You, Pikachu, a virtual pet game starring the franchise's
04:22mascot.
04:23Even taking into account that it was geared towards younger players, the premise is utterly
04:26boring.
04:27Players would spend time yelling into the microphone, which came packaged with the game,
04:31just to get Pikachu to do the most mundane activities.
04:34That is, if the microphone would even work, because that was a common complaint upon release.
04:39A tedious game with a finicky method of playing?
04:41Yeah, not great.
04:4615.
04:50Mario Kart Tour
04:51Now, if you want to talk about insidious monetization, this is, by far, the worst mobile
05:04game Nintendo has put out.
05:06Mario Kart Tour was supposed to be the pinnacle entry in the series, finally a legitimate
05:10Mario Kart game for our phones so we can race with our friends wherever, whenever.
05:16Only one thing, the game didn't launch with multiplayer.
05:19It does now, but its other problems still persist.
05:22This is gacha, the mobile game, as you'll have to spend rubies in order to shoot pipes,
05:27which is your only way to unlock drivers, cars, and gliders.
05:31On top of that, exclusive content is locked behind exorbitantly priced paywalls.
05:35How greedy can you get?
05:4014.
05:43Pokemon Channel
05:53When we spend our hard-earned money on a video game, we at least want it to actually play
05:57like a video game.
05:59Pokemon Channel seemed to have forgotten what format it was made on and thought we wanted
06:03to spend $50 so we could watch TV with Pikachu.
06:10Yes, the entire point of Pokemon Channel is to watch random Pokemon-themed programming
06:16with some occasional gags.
06:18The game was so void of any real content that it felt like you had unknowingly hyperbeamed
06:22your wallet in a blaze of glory.
06:3013.
06:33Everybody 1-2 Switch
06:42It isn't as if the first 1-2 Switch was that great, so Nintendo's decision to release a
06:46sequel several years later is pretty confusing.
06:49The party title is a collection of team-based minigames, but good luck finding a group of
06:53people that actually want to play it with you.
06:55Naturally, there isn't a lot of depth here, but the biggest problem is how dated it is.
07:00This can be seen in the host, a horse-masked MC Horace, which maybe would have been funny
07:05in the early 2010s, and the actual minigames, which were criticized for being unoriginal
07:10even when compared to older titles in Nintendo's library.
07:13It just isn't fun.
07:1812.
07:19Pokemon Battle Revolution
07:28On the surface, Pokemon Battle Revolution seems to be a triumphant return for the Stadium
07:32spinoff series.
07:33My, how we were quickly disproven and utterly disappointed.
07:38Rather than making this a full-blown adventure like the Colosseum games, or replicating the
07:42formulas of Stadium, Battle Revolution acts more like an overpriced spinoff of the Diamond
07:47and Pearl games.
07:55Your options are to either take on one of the 11 Colosseums, or go online and fight
08:00other players.
08:01Thing is, you kind of needed Diamond and Pearl in order to experience most of the game.
08:06If you didn't, you basically dropped 50 bucks for a whole lot of nothing.
08:10So, what was really the point of this?
08:1611.
08:19Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse
08:33Is this the worst video game to star Mickey Mouse?
08:36Probably not.
08:37But is it the worst one published by Nintendo?
08:40You betcha.
08:41Magical Mirror is a point-and-click adventure that follows Mickey trapped by a ghost inside
08:44a strange mansion.
08:46Released by Capcom for the GameCube, that may sound like a winning combination.
08:49Sadly, even the most die-hard Disney fan would grow bored pretty quickly here.
08:54The monotonous puzzles, which should be a heavy focus in an adventure game, drag down
08:58gameplay.
08:59The plot was also incredibly slow, not helped by simplistic cutscenes of Mickey only giving
09:03basic reactions.
09:0810.
09:14Chibi-Robo!
09:15Photo Finder
09:22Life has not been easy for this adorable little robot.
09:25And as the years have gone by, Chibi-Robo! has faded into obscurity.
09:29If there was any entry that signified the death of the franchise, however, it was Chibi-Robo!
09:34Photo Finder for the Nintendo 3DS.
09:42Using the handheld's built-in camera and augmented reality capabilities, players must
09:46find common household objects and snap pictures of them to fit a specific outline.
09:51Sounds neat, until you experience the various technical issues and pickiness of composition.
09:57Please, Nintendo, just give us a port of the first game so we can show what made Chibi-Robo!
10:039.
10:16Pokemon Rumble U
10:25The Pokemon Rumble series isn't exactly filled with stellar games, but the absolute bottom
10:29of the barrel is the one that was released on the Wii U.
10:32Like its predecessors, Rumble U takes the RPG elements of the main series and makes
10:36them more action-oriented.
10:38Your Pokemon face others in arenas, found in much more linear dungeons.
10:42There's much more button mashing involved, with stats and strategy basically ignored,
10:46and that gets boring pretty quickly.
10:48The visuals are also incredibly basic for an HD console, combining with gameplay to
10:53make each fight an ugly mess.
10:55Additionally, the over-reliance on amiibos to get your favorite Pokemon hurt the already
10:59bad experience.
11:068.
11:07Fling Smash
11:16Fling Smash flew pretty under the radar when it was released, and we can't say we're surprised.
11:21Even if you did play it, the game is shallow and simple in everything from its plot to
11:24its controls, making it very easy to forget.
11:27You help Zip the Hero save his island by whacking him with the Wiimote.
11:31It's sort of like a single-player Pong or a side-scrolling Breakout, just released decades
11:35after the novelty of those titles.
11:37Even though it was bundled with the upgraded Wii Motion Plus controller, the inaccurate
11:40control scheme was a frequent point of criticism.
11:42So a boring gameplay hook with frustrating controls?
11:45It's no wonder this game has been forgotten by the masses.
11:517.
11:56Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
12:04The poor quality of Donkey Kong's racer can be attributed to its development.
12:08It was originally intended to release for the GameCube using the bongo peripherals used
12:12in several DK titles like Jungle Beat.
12:14However, development switched to the Wii.
12:16That meant visuals were slightly worse, not that the Wii was a graphics powerhouse anyway.
12:21More importantly, instead of using the bongos to race, which could have been a novelty,
12:25you used the Wiimote and Nunchuck.
12:27Shaking them made you go faster, and lifting them up together made you jump over obstacles.
12:32If you think that sounds repetitive and tedious, that's actually being too kind.
12:36Even when the Wii was still fresh and new, this was a poor display of its motion controls.
12:446.
12:47Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival
12:56Over the past decade, Animal Crossing has become about as big as Mario and Zelda, making
13:00it ripe for some spinoff games.
13:03Amiibo Festival looked to be a solid Mario Party-esque title up until we realized just
13:07how critical it was to own amiibos.
13:15In order to play as certain characters, you'll have to buy their amiibo figures.
13:19This design choice is repeated across the other modes as well, meaning you'll have
13:22to spend more than $60 to get the most out of the title.
13:26And to think, they only made this game just to have Animal Crossing amiibo.
13:335.
13:37Pokemon Dash
13:44Fair warning, this isn't the last of the Pokemon titles on this list.
13:48A Pokemon-themed racing game is the type of game we'd sign up for any day.
13:53Pokemon Dash could have been the start of a great spinoff series, and yet it went against
13:57everything that made racing games work.
14:06Controls were wonky, did nothing interesting with the DS's capabilities, and the entire
14:10game was an absolute slog to sit through.
14:13But you know what made the whole experience worse?
14:15Typically, racing games give you a diverse roster of characters to play as.
14:19Here, your only option is Pikachu because Pikachu is love.
14:24Pikachu is life, and no other Pokemon exists in the franchise.
14:314.
14:35Devil's Third
14:47There was a bit of hype surrounding Devil's Third before launch, since it was a third-party
14:51M-rated exclusive when the Wii U desperately needed outside support.
14:55But there was a lot wrong with the game that was unanimously agreed on.
14:58Combat, a hack and slash and shooter mix, grew repetitive.
15:01Visuals were definitely weak, not helped by frame rate drops and other technical issues.
15:06Even its multiplayer, which did earn some praise, was brought down by microtransactions
15:10and leaned heavily towards pay-to-win.
15:13Needless to say, it was not the win the Wii U needed and ended up being one of the worst-reviewed
15:17games of 2015.
15:243.
15:27Tenchu Dark Secret
15:33A lot can go wrong when watering down a mature-rated series, as well as transitioning a series
15:37from console to handheld.
15:39Tenchu Dark Secret is a perfect example as the worst of both worlds.
15:43Released on the DS in 2006 and the only entry to be published by Nintendo, none of the greatness
15:48from previous games was kept intact.
15:50It looked awful and the music was a massive downgrade.
15:53Its lackluster stealth and simplistic enemy AI made playing a pain, and the story was
15:57filled with unlikable characters.
15:59It really was an assault on all your gaming senses.
16:052.
16:09Donkey Kong Jr. Math
16:17If a game is so poorly received that it cancels plans for future releases, you know you've
16:21got something especially terrible.
16:23Donkey Kong Jr. Math is exactly what it sounds like, an edutainment game that blends Donkey
16:27Kong Jr.'s mechanics with math equations.
16:30Not only was math the last thing NES players wanted in their games, but it didn't even
16:34control well.
16:35There was more emphasis placed on solving equations than gameplay, so the whole climbing
16:39aspect was an utter chore.
16:41With its reused assets and educational focus, most felt it was barely a full game.
16:46Unsurprisingly, it was a critical and commercial bomb, stopping Nintendo from creating another
16:50in the series, Donkey Kong's Music Play.
17:161.
17:17Urban Champion
17:24At release, Urban Champion was considered one of the weakest Nintendo-published games
17:28on the NES, and time has not been kind to it.
17:31It's a 1v1 fighter where you attempt to knock your opponents off the sidewalk, or in some
17:35cases, through open manholes in order to progress.
17:39Even by mid-80s standards, it's an extremely simple gameplay loop delivered over and over
17:43again that most players grew tired of after 5 minutes.
17:47Continuing past that is a good way to lull yourself to sleep.
17:50The abysmal reception made Nintendo's decision to re-release it as part of the 3DS' classic
17:54series a completely baffling one.
17:56And trust us, that version wasn't any good either.
18:07What do you think is the worst game Nintendo has ever produced?
18:10Share your thoughts in the comments.