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[Phediuk]

This isn't about bad games, necessarily; just games that make bad use of their license, as if the license was just slapped on to an otherwise unrelated game.

One of the all-time dumbest examples would be Universal Soldier on the Mega Drive. Factor 5 had just finished porting the awesome Turrican 2 to the MD, but was forced at the last minute to slap on the license to the 1992 action movie of the same name, and changed the main character to resemble Jean Claude Van Damme. Despite the change in character from a cyborg to a human (albeit a genetically-enhanced human), none of the Turrican 2 mechanics, like morphing into a spike ball, were justified in any way. Apparently Van Damme can just do that. Even stranger were the changes to the bosses; every boss was altered to look like Dolph Lundgren. So you end up killing about eight wildly different incarnations of Dolph Lundgren throughout the game. Because why the fuck not.

There weren't any other console versions of Turrican 2, either; just this dumb licensed version.

Oh, and they butchered the music too.

Check it out:

Turrican 2 longplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW4CDWyhxLw
Universal Soldier longplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE2AYLPKcNk

Screens below (Turrican 2 left, Universal Soldier right):

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[@MUWANdo]

This is a licensed Skittles game, believe it or not.

 

[Phediuk]

This is a licensed Skittles game, believe it or not.

Yeah, but at least in that case, the devs went out of their way to disguise the license. It's not mentioned anywhere on the box.

 

[potam]

Does Cool Spot fall into this category?

 

[5taquitos]

Die Hard Arcade. I always remember this game being way different than the movie. I think there's some story about how this game was something else before the Die Hard name was slapped on it.

 

[jholmes]

Yo! Noid isn't a bad game at all, but a bizarre reskin of a Famicom game called Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru. Beyond the strange plot about pizza and a pizza mascot, the whole thing has a radical extreme early '90s vibe.

 

[Trago]

This is a licensed Skittles game, believe it or not.

Holy crap I remember that!

 

[Bronetta]

I don't recall the TMNT having such perilous trouble with seaweed in the cartoons or comics.

 

[Delta Assault]

This is a licensed Skittles game, believe it or not.

I would taste her rainbow.

 

[QuixoticNeutral]

I know Shadow of Mordor hasn't been released, but it sure looks like it belongs on this list. For all I know it might turn out to be an excellent game, but just going by appearances it looks like the worst nightmare of everyone who was grumpy about the blockbuster licensing of Tolkien's work a decade and a half ago. I didn't take them seriously at the time but I'm beginning to think they were right.

 

[Tagyhag]

Seven Samurai 20XX is supposed to be Seven Samurai in the future but it's just a bad game with the only thing to compare it to the legendary film were the fact that they were "Samurais" and had to protect a village; they borrowed more from anime Samurai 7 but Seven Samurai was obviously a more marketable brand.

Everything else was just full of anime cliches and bad gameplay.

What I wouldn't give for a real Seven Samurai game, maybe a tactics one like Jagged Alliance. Actually make use of planning and realizing that you're extremely outnumbered so you have to use your superior skills and wit.

 

[Seven Force]

Die Hard Arcade. I always remember this game being way different than the movie. I think there's some story about how this game was something else before the Die Hard name was slapped on it.

Yeah, Die Hard Arcade was pretty much a re-branding of Dynamite Deka/Cop.

Thing is, it's a rare case of a licensed re-branding that actually does fit. Dynamite Cop was pretty much Sega's take on the Die Hard movies, complete with the player character more or less being based off of Bruce Willis. Sega of America actually went the extra mile when localizing it and got the Die Hard license for the US arcade release.

 

[Xenus]

Seven Samurai 20XX is supposed to be Seven Samurai in the future but it's just a bad game with the only thing to compare it to the legendary film were the fact that they were "Samurais" and had to protect a village; they borrowed more from anime Samurai 7 but Seven Samurai was obviously a more marketable brand.

Everything else was just full of anime cliches and bad gameplay.



What I wouldn't give for a real Seven Samurai game, maybe a tactics one like Jagged Alliance. Actually make use of planning and realizing that you're extremely outnumbered so you have to use your superior skills and wit.

Lol I had been looking for that game forever just cause of the goofiness I heard about itt. I haven't been able to find it anywhere till about 2 months ago

 

[KojiKnight]

Every NES license game the thread?

I can only think of a handful of license titles on the NES that actually did fit their game (Duck Tales specifically comes to mind)... Everything else just felt random (see Fester's Quest, Yo Noid, etc)

 

[Dsyndrome]

Alien 3. You went from a movie with little to no weapons at all to flamethrowers and what-not to kill tons of xenomorphs, pretty much just trying to be Aliens rather than the actual movie.

 

[Lijik]

Every NES license game the thread?

You mean to tell me this scene never happened in Star Wars?

 

[Rlan]

Outside of the cutscene where Ronald McDonald transported you into a comic book, and the collection of "M" tokens, this game has nothing to do with McDonalds. You're going through a slime world shooting slime on slime creatures.

 

[KojiKnight]

You mean to tell me this scene never happened in Star Wars?

Lucas came to Namco and told them of his future plans for a special SPECIAL edition to be released in 2020 that would contain the Darth Vader scorpion scene. Disney of course bought it out so we'll never see it in action.

 

[HyperZone<3]

double license. Uses characters from the PS2 game Steambot Chronicles to play the popular (and in no way original to Irem) board game Blokus.

and of course, Crush Hour is a little more obvious in its disuse of its license.

 

[Liferebooted]

Die Hard Arcade. I always remember this game being way different than the movie. I think there's some story about how this game was something else before the Die Hard name was slapped on it.

That game was awesome. >.>

 

[Wiktor]

It was supposed to be Sea Dogs 2, but they slapped PotC license on it. It was a shame, because all this movements and trying to match movie premiere meant that the game didn't ship as complete as it should have.

 

[barneystuta83]

Outside of the cutscene where Ronald McDonald transported you into a comic book, and the collection of "M" tokens, this game has nothing to do with McDonalds. You're going through a slime world shooting slime on slime creatures.

 

[Celine]

.

 

[Chaos17]

The new Shining Force have nothing to do anymore with the previous games.
We've gone from T-rpg to rpg... Nintendo should revive this serie!!

 

[gelf]

Yeah, Die Hard Arcade was pretty much a re-branding of Dynamite Deka/Cop.

Thing is, it's a rare case of a licensed re-branding that actually does fit. Dynamite Cop was pretty much Sega's take on the Die Hard movies, complete with the player character more or less being based off of Bruce Willis. Sega of America actually went the extra mile when localizing it and got the Die Hard license for the US arcade release.

Yeah its more of a "loosely based on" deal rather then a proper tie in. In any case I think it holds up better today then the more strongly tied Die Hard Trilogy does.

 

[NeonZ]

Lucas came to Namco and told them of his future plans for a special SPECIAL edition to be released in 2020 that would contain the Darth Vader scorpion scene. Disney of course bought it out so we'll never see it in action.

Technically,he calls himself Sasori Vader. Completely different character from Darth Vader.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

I know Shadow of Mordor hasn't been released, but it sure looks like it belongs on this list. For all I know it might turn out to be an excellent game, but just going by appearances it looks like the worst nightmare of everyone who was grumpy about the blockbuster licensing of Tolkien's work a decade and a half ago. I didn't take them seriously at the time but I'm beginning to think they were right.

Yar, I actually know nothing about the lore beyond the three books and movies. However, when I watched one of Shadow of Mordor trailers and it uses dubstep, I felt like a line had been crossed.

 

[DirgeExtinction]

Spoiler

Based off the AVGN review >.>

 

[Sebastiano]

Fantasia : Music Evolved, it has the name of the movies, Yen Sid from the first movie and... that's all, the game has nothing in common with the movies from what I saw.

 

[BY2K]

This is a licensed Skittles game, believe it or not.

Did Joe Mad draw this cover?

 

[Son Of D]

Blues Brothers on the SNES.

The story is that Jake and Elwood get trapped inside an evil Jukebox or something and they must try and escape from it. The only connection to the movie is the fact that Jake and Elwood are there. Everything else is just whatever the developers came up with.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Really? Nobody beat me to this?

 

[Laconic]

Mortal Kombat SNES

 

[Eggbok]

It was supposed to be Sea Dogs 2, but they slapped PotC license on it. It was a shame, because all this movements and trying to match movie premiere meant that the game didn't ship as complete as it should have.

I remember getting this game expecting to be like the movie. Man was I wrong, it was fun to sail around though.

 

[Deadpool_X]

Home Improvement on Snes. The game revolves around a storyline of Tim "The Tool-man" Taylor being lost in time and having to collect the Binford tools.

 

[Tizoc]

Charlie's Angels had a PSX and PS2 game released that is really Gunbird in disguise.

 

[Phediuk]

Charlie's Angels had a PSX and PS2 game released that is really Gunbird in disguise.

You're thinking of Mobile Light Force.

 

[Morinaga]

Home Improvement on Snes. The game revolves around a storyline of Tim "The Tool-man" Taylor being lost in time and having to collect the Binford tools.

To be honest I dont think too much would have been expected from that game in the first place.

I think I would have to mention every Alien/Aliens/Predator game ever. Apart from the Capcom CPS game Aliens vs Predator, which was actually ok if you like side scrolling beat em ups.

 

[Shig]

[Adventures of Batman and Robin picture with no further commentary]

Uh, how's that not based on the license? All the bosses are standard Batman villains, the environments are pretty standard Batman settings, and the gameplay consists of Batman punching/throwing batarangs at bad guys.

A case could be made for Batman NES, however. That game definitely feels like it was developed more as Sunsoft's answer to Ninja Gaiden, and then the Batman license was thrown on top at the eleventh hour.

And then on the extremely obvious "this wasn't supposed to be a Batman game" end, there's this:

 

[maxcriden]

Lilo & Stitch.

A 2D run'n'gun on GBA and extraordinarily high quality for a game of its kind, it has a Metacritic average of 80.

 

[DeviantBoi]

Shadowrun on the XBox.

They took an RPG and made it into an FPS.

 

[RoadHazard]

Nobody outside Sweden will even know what this is, I guess, but it's a very popular Swedish comic. The game is just the license slapped onto some crappy platformer. Some changed sprites, a short intro sequence to explain away why nothing in the game seems to have anything to do with the comic (time travel!), and that's pretty much it.

 

[BillGaitas]

Lilo & Stitch.

A 2D run'n'gun on GBA and extraordinarily high quality for a game of its kind, it has a Metacritic average of 80.

I loved playing that as a kid, even today I find it good.

 

[Ocaso]

A case could be made for Batman NES, however. That game definitely feels like it was developed more as Sunsoft's answer to Ninja Gaiden, and then the Batman license was thrown on top at the eleventh hour.

Beat me to it. While it's true that the bosses are based on the comics and the locales are at least partly derived from the movie, this is about as loose of an association as you can get with a film franchise. Spectacular game, however.

 

[Phediuk]

Uh, how's that not based on the license? All the bosses are standard Batman villains, the environments are pretty standard Batman settings, and the gameplay consists of Batman punching/throwing batarangs at bad guys.

What he's getting at it is that a Gunstar Heroes clone isn't what one would expect from a Batman game. Also, the music (while awesome) sounds nothing like the music from the series and, on the whole, the game seems to have been designed as a technical showpiece first and a Batman game second.

 

[antitrop]

Yo! Noid is my favorite, especially the shoehorned pizza eating contest. Great, terrible game.

 

[Jamie OD]

and of course, Crush Hour is a little more obvious in its disuse of its license.

It did predict the WWE Network though.

 

[maxcriden]

I loved playing that as a kid, even today I find it good.

I just picked it up for the first time recently. It's a really good game.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

Beverly Hills Cop for the PS2. Not only does it fail at having anything to do with being about the Eddie Murphy Beverly Hills Cop movie, it fails at even being a game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeYZI-24Fc8

 

[thekonamicode]

Wayne's World on various formats.

Would have been better as a "make my music video" game on Sega CD.