Famitsu, the most influential game magazine in Japan, has an official scoring system for video games. Video games are graded in Famitsu by a panel of four video game reviewers. Each reviewer gives a score from one to ten (ten being best). The scores of the four reviewers are then added up with a possible score of forty.
Today, Famitsu has just released next week’s new games scoring. With one of the historicly lowest scores of 12 (3 3 3 3), Pro Golfer Saru(プロゴルファー猿)has become a new member of the Kosuge family(“Kusoge” is the Japanese-style abbr. for Kuso Game, which means “crap games”).
Though for now there is no video available for this new kuso game, we still can take a glance back into the past, to see how terrible a game can be.
1. Death Crimson(the legendary King of Kusoge)
Year: 1996 Platform: Sega Saturn Famitsu Scoring: 13 (3 3 4 3)
(Excerpted from http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn14/deathcrimson.htm)
You may have seen Death Crimson 2 on the Dreamcast and maybe even Death Crimson OX which is actually not too bad, but have you ever seen Death Crimson 1 on the Saturn? If not then think yourself lucky because this is THE WORST looking Saturn game ever. Not only is it the worst looking game but also sounds and plays like shit. So much in fact that in Japan this game received the title of Kusosoft which basically means Shit Game ! But here is the odd thing. Death Crimson became so famous for being so shit that every copy of the original print sold out !! Ecole actually had to make a second print ! These days Death Crimson is a highly regarded cult game for the Saturn with copies selling for over 10’000 yen. Mine only cost 3800 yen though which I can tell you is very lucky. Anyway, bottom line is that this game is pure shit. It’s way too hard for a start. This is mainly due to poor collision detection, indistinguishable sprites and polygons and shear impossible targets. Now I don’t normally do this for games here at Segagaga Domain but just check out a few of the screen shots. I thought this was a joke release first time I saw it.
As you can tell from the title screen, this game is just poor and that CG monster has bugger all to do with the actual game!
2. Shura no Mon
Year: 1998 Platform: Playstation Famitsu Scoring: 12 (3 3 4 2)
This is a 3D fighting game version of the popular manga Shura no Mon. Since it was not released in the US, I can’t find any review in English. Just watch the video below and you’ll understand…
From here on we got some US-made crap games…
3. Big Rigs
Year: 2003 Platform: PC GAMESPOT Scroing: 1.0
(Excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rigs)
Big Rigs received universally negative reviews with the critics considering it to be one of the worst video games, if not the worst, ever.
Thunderbolt Games stated, “I wish I could think of some redeeming factors for the game, but there simply aren’t any” and gave the game a score of 1/10.[2] It was also featured on the X-Play “Games You Should Never Buy” segment. Morgan Webb, one of the hosts, described Big Rigs as “the worst game ever made,” and refused to even rate it as their 1/5 rating system did not feature a zero score.[3] Netjak gave the game its first ever 0.0.[4]
Metacritic gave the game an 8 out of 100, with the only scores higher than 0 being 1, which were given by websites that did not have a 0 score, but would have given it if they could.
Alex Navarro of GameSpot declared that Big Rigs is “as bad as your mind will allow you to comprehend.”[1] Also it said in his review “Please do not play this game. We cannot stress this enough.” In the special Halloween “Frightfully Bad Games” video, Navarro stated, “This game received the lowest score in the history of GameSpot, a 1.0. And by lowest, I mean it can’t go any lower. We don’t hand out zeros, but maybe we should have for Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.” His video review featured Navarro, not speaking a word, becoming increasingly distressed while playing the game, then silently walking out from the building to the street and finally collapsing down on the concrete looking up to the sky. In GameSpot’s “Best and Worst of 2004″ awards, Big Rigs was given the “Flat-out Worst Game” award, despite the fact that the game was actually released in 2003. They said that they would use the “YOU’RE WINNER !” trophy as a symbol for the ‘Flat-Out Worst Game’ award from then on, but by 2005 a more generic logo was used.[5]
4. Action 52
Year: 1991 Platform: NES
(Excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_52)
ACTION 52 is a multicart consisting of 52 individual and original video games, released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System and in 1993 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis consoles by Active Enterprises. It was initially sold for the comparatively high price of $199 USD (or “less than $4 for each game”),[citation needed] and became notorious among gamers for the abysmal quality of its games.[citation needed] Many video game collectors value Action 52 for its notoriety and rarity.