5 Video Games From The ’80s That Completely Missed The Mark

While the ’80s saw the video game industry grow by leaps and bounds, not every title released over the course of the decade stuck their respective landing. Sometimes gaming technology just isn’t advanced enough for what the developers envisioned for a particular project. In other cases, bold development choices ultimately don’t live up to gamers’ expectations, leading to a lackluster response. Throughout the history of the medium, there have been gaming projects with plenty of potential that don’t succeed in achieving their ambitious goals.

With that in mind, we’ve gathered ’80s games that squandered their chances at unequivocal greatness despite being set up for success. We’re not necessarily talking about Nintendo games from the ’80s that aged terribly, but titles that saw a lukewarm reception on arrival. In some cases, those games were revised or reevaluated more favorably years later, but still carry a level of pronounced disappointment. These are five video games from the ’80s that completely missed the mark, despite their clear potential.

It’s hard to understate how badly Atari botched its tie-in game on the Atari 2600 based on the hit 1982 film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” Released in time for the subsequent holiday season, the game has E.T. scouring screens for pieces of an interstellar communications device that will let him contact his race. Searching for these pieces steadily consumes energy, with E.T. relying on candy to refuel himself and continue his quest. After assembling the device, E.T. has a limited time to arrive at the incoming spaceship’s landing zone before he is left behind again.

Developing a notorious reputation since its launch, “E.T.” has been considered the worst game in history. With clunky gameplay, unclear directions on how to proceed and beat the game, awkward controls, and visuals that felt dated even in 1982, this tie-in definitely fell short of expectations.

Designer Howard Scott Warshaw reportedly only had five weeks to complete the project in time for the game to be launched in time for the holidays. “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” held its record as the highest-grossing film of all time for a decade but its related game couldn’t get anywhere near that level of commercial or critical success.

The original 1986 “Castlevania” was a relatively straightforward and even somewhat linear action platformer, with early hack-and-slash combat elevated by its horror-themed premise. Konami went in a different direction with its 1987 direct sequel “Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest,” which saw the return of protagonist Simon Belmont. Cursed by his battle against Dracula in the preceding game, Simon explores Transylvania for the fallen vampire’s body parts to resurrect him and kill him again, lifting the curse. This involves following incredibly obscure clues, some of which are made more confusing by the game’s poor North American localization.

The garbled and obtuse clues, along with the lack of proper instructions throughout “Simon’s Quest,” are among the worst crimes committed against “Castlevania.” Even the gameplay feels a bit off, with the combat and platforming noticeably less intuitive than the original game. “Simon’s Quest” has seen its reputation improve over the years, including its innovations for some nonlinear progression and an in-game day-and-night cycle, making it an underrated 1987 game. But unless you know exactly what you’re doing and where to go next, “Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest” can be an all-around frustrating experience.

While “Street Fighter” transformed into a stunning fighting game franchise that brought the genre into the mainstream, its initial 1987 arcade game had an awkward start. The arcade cabinet featured the innovative mechanic of having players hit pressure pads to determine how hard their respective characters’ blows should be. There were corresponding pads for punches and kicks, with three different levels of blow intensity for each. Players control “Street Fighter” franchise mainstay characters Ryu and Ken as they battle martial artists around the world before facing Sagat in Thailand.

While its gameplay is certainly and understandably more unrefined compared to subsequent games, the original “Street Fighter” set the foundation for the entire series. What didn’t survive for future installments was the arcade game’s initial pressure pad inputs, which players found physically exhausting after prolonged play. Capcom released a revised version of the cabinet, moving to the six-button input which became the series standard. The 1987 “Street Fighter” set the stage for greater things to come, but not without sorting out how gamers should play first.

Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo is one of the undisputed action icons of ’80s cinema, starring in an initial movie trilogy released from 1982 to 1988. This was adapted into a number of video games throughout the decade, including a 1987 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, rather than being a standard run-and-game like “Contra” or top-down shooter like “Commando,” the NES title is an awkward side-scrolling action game. Loosely adapting 1985’s “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” the game follows Rambo after he’s sent to Vietnam to recover American prisoners-of-war.

Compared to all the run-and-gun games on the NES, the idea of Rambo starring in a movie tie-in title should have been a slam dunk franchise for the console. Instead, the early parts of the game has Rambo fighting local wildlife instead of enemy soldiers, relying primarily on his knife. Later on, Rambo finally gets a gun and takes on human enemies, but the combat never feels as smooth as it should. For a game that boldly places Stallone firing a machine gun on the cover, the NES “Rambo” is a total disappointment in the face of high-octane expectation.

Superhero games on the NES were admittedly a mixed bag, with Batman getting a great game in 1989 but Superman getting a thoroughly mediocre one on the console in 1987. Another comic book property that received an inferior NES title was 1989’s “The Uncanny X-Men,” published by the infamous studio LJN. Players can choose from Cyclops, Iceman, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler as they battle supervillains from a top-down perspective. The game encourages two-player co-op, with a computer-controlled partner joining solo players to maintain the mechanic.

“The Uncanny X-Men” on the NES is easily the worst X-Men video game of all time. It’s immensely frustrating to play and offers a cheap presentation, even by 1989 standards. Having a second player on-screen actually makes the game tougher to navigate, especially with how poorly designed the levels are. This is exacerbated by the laughable incompetence of the computer-controlled characters, who become liabilities instead of valuable partners. An embarrassing use of the X-Men license, the 1989 NES game is best left in the bargain bin where it belongs.