With so many good to amazing games out there not getting played, players may ask why they should bother with an experience that is labeled as a terrible game. Some games are indeed terrible with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, like Duke Nukem Forever, and then there are games so weird that they must be seen to be believed.
Maybe not everything about these types of games is bad, including the gameplay, story, or maybe even music. Whatever the case may be, these games became infamous for being so bad they’re good. They will be ranked based on their quality and how much of an impact they have had on gaming culture.
Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing
The Great American Dream
Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing can be summed up in this classic GameSpot review, which will give players all they need to know. This game barely functions as advertised, with there being a very limited number of tracks and trucks to race with, not to mention there not being any other racers to race against.
More so than the lack of content, players can drive anywhere, including through buildings, mountains, and they can even sink into the ground, which may sound bad, and it is, but there’s also something hypnotically satisfying about driving a big rig into the sky. It’s incredible, Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing launched in this state in 2003, and even more baffling that it was re-released on Steam in 2025.
Wanted: Dead
Beyond Bizarre
Wanted: Dead is an action game that wants to be Ninja Gaiden so bad. As the protagonist, Lt. Stone, players will go into long and drawn-out shooting matches in levels, but even though they are armed with plenty of artillery, guns barely do any damage. Stone’s katana is the way to go, and her combos are incredibly bloody, but also unsatisfying to pull off.
Worst of all, the checkpoints are barely there as players can even fight mini-bosses, die afterward, and go back to the beginning. It can be frustrating, but the poorly acted characters, especially the wildly stilted performance coming out of Stone, have some awkward charisma that is charming.
Cho Aniki: Kyuukyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyou Otoko
What Am I Even Looking At?
- Developer: Masaya
- Publisher: Nippon Computer Systems
- Platform: PS1
- Release Date: 12/29/95 (Japan)
Cho Aniki: Kyuukyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyou Otoko, roughly translated to Super Big Brother: The Ultimate, Most Powerful Man in the Milky Way, is just beyond bizarre. At its core, this Japanese PS1 game is a horizontal SHMUP, but instead of controlling a spaceship and shooting down aliens or other spacecraft, players are a burly man, shooting down other burly men in various outfits.
All characters are digitized sprites of real humans, giving the game a more uncanny valley edge. It’s not the best SHMUP around as it lacks good controls or consistent power-ups, but the bizarre nature of levels is guaranteed to keep players glued to their screen.
Shadow The Hedgehog
This Hedgehog Has A Gun
Shadow the Hedgehog is one of the wildest spin-offs in the Sonic game catalog, starring the titular Shadow on a revenge quest. Players can be good or evil, with the evil campaign being more fun and fitting, given the chaos players can create.
As the box art teases, Shadow does indeed have a gun and can attack human soldiers along with robots and other alien creatures. That novelty alone makes the game worthwhile to check out, and while it lacks the polish of other 3D Sonic games, from level variety to the controls, it’s also not the worst 3D platformer out there.
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
Zombie Slaying Samurai
The Onechanbara series is infamous, mostly in Japan, for being a low-budget action game starring bikini-clad and schoolgirl heroines slashing zombies with katanas like they were in a B-movie from the 1960s. Very few entries have left Japan, but Onechanbara Z2: Chaos did, and it’s one of the better games to recommend.
For the series, the frame rate and graphics are better than most, but it’s still incredibly repetitive and risqué, which not all players will enjoy. That said, the Onechanbara series knows what it is and proudly displays itself for all to enjoy, so anyone looking to slay hundreds of zombies and cover women in blood, Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is it.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
