Halloween on the Atari 2600 is another “classic” horror movie license [that was sarcasm, by the way], developed by VSS, Inc. and published by Wizard Video Games in 1983. It is based on John Carpenter‘s classic 1978 film of the same name, and in it you play as a babysitter, trying to save children from the unstoppable murderer, Michael Myers.
Category Archives: Bad Video Games
Games that are not very good.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Atari 2600
Developed by VSS, Inc. (of Texas), and published by Wizard Video Games in 1983, the Atari 2600 version of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* is a travesty of a video game, and a perfect example of the kind of careless rubbish being released to market that triggered the North American video game market crash of the mid-Eighties.
*= The correct title of Tobe Hooper‘s classic 1973 film is “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (note the words “Chain” and “Saw” are separate), and NOT “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre“. Wizard Video Games got the title wrong, so I’m sticking with the correct title for the film, rather than bastardising it incorrectly, like they did.
Choplifter, VIC-20
The 1982 VIC-20 version of Dan Gorlin‘s Choplifter was coded by Tom Griner for Creative Software, and it has to be said that it is by far the worst version of Choplifter out there.
Starglider, Apple II
The Apple II version of Argonaut Software‘s classic cockpit shooter, Starglider, was ported by Solid Image, the same developer who made the flawed C64 version. And – unsurprisingly – it retains all the flaws of the C64 version, and brings a few problems of its own to the party, just for good measure…
Paperboy 2, ZX Spectrum
Developed by Probe Software and published by Mindscape in 1992, the ZX Spectrum version of Paperboy 2 is not quite as bad as the terrible Amstrad version, which was written by the same two people (David Perry and Nick Bruty). That said: it’s not that much better either…
Paperboy 2, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC version of Paperboy 2 was written by David Perry and Nick Bruty for Probe Software, and was published by Mindscape in 1992, and it is by far the worst version of Paperboy 2 available.
Timecop, Super Nintendo
Developed by French company Cryo Interactive and published by JVC for the Super Nintendo in 1995, Timecop is based on the 1994 film, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Peter Hyams. The game is arguably one of the worst titles ever released for the SNES…
Ghosts ‘N Goblins, PC
The 1987 PC MS-DOS version of Ghosts ‘N Goblins, I’m sorry to say, is a bit of a travesty. It looks terrible, and also plays like a lame duck. In fact, unless you can get the game set up properly in DOSBox (which took me some time to do), then it’s pretty much unplayable*.
Marble Madness, Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance conversion of Marble Madness was released as part of a double pack with another classic Atari Games arcade game, Klax, in 2005 by DSI Games. It was developed by Italian Frame Studios Interactive, and the truth be told: they did a utterly dismal job of porting the game to Nintendo‘s capable handheld.
Marble Madness: Deluxe Edition, Amstrad CPC
The ‘Deluxe Edition‘ of Marble Madness was released the same year as ‘The Construction Set‘ edition and it contains a new set of screens to play through, plus the Construction Set editor, and the ten screens from the earlier release. It’s still complete and utter garbage, though…
Continue reading Marble Madness: Deluxe Edition, Amstrad CPC
The King of Grabs 