The Sega Genesis is a 16-bit fourth-generation console that launched in Japan in 1988 and in North America the following year. It is fondly remembered for games such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Castlevania: Bloodlines and Streets of Rage 2, and it is often described as one of the best 16-bit consoles. A ranking of its most unplayable games argues that not every title in its library has held up.
The ranking notes that unplayable does not always mean a game is broken or too difficult. A boring game can be just as miserable to play as a broken one. The ten entries share problems such as imprecise controls, sluggish response, repetition and awkward transitions between areas.
X-Perts is a 1996 side-scrolling beat 'em up in which players control three operatives trying to sabotage a terrorist organization. Players can swap between the three characters, while the two they are not controlling are supposed to be working elsewhere in the facility. The ranking says the concept sounds engaging but the game suffers from unresponsive controls and control panels that load the next area or objective, leaving players waiting.
Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt is a 1993 2D side-scrolling platformer that the ranking describes as a blatant Sonic the Hedgehog clone. Its environmentally friendly message has drawn praise, but its voice acting has been criticized as grating. The game's mechanics are inconsistent, with the same input producing different results, and reviewers have complained about its lack of precision.
Rise of the Robots is a cyberpunk fighting game in which futuristic machines battle rather than people. The ranking says its AI feels too precise, leaving the player a step behind, while the controls are sluggish and losing momentum is heavily penalized because there is almost no recovery time. Altered Beast, a 1988 side-scrolling beat 'em up, casts players as an undead warrior trying to save the Greek goddess Athena. It has fans who appreciate its bright level design and combat power-ups, but the ranking calls it clunky, with relentless enemies, little chance to recover from slow control inputs and repetitive action.
Fantasia is a 1991 platformer based on the 1940 animated film. Disney games were popular in the 1990s and 2000s, and while many are remembered as difficult rather than bad, Fantasia is often cited as one of the worst Disney games on a console. The ranking says Mickey Mouse rarely reacts as expected, leading to missed jumps and collisions, and that collision detection is poor enough that enemies can hit Mickey without appearing to touch him. It suggests Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse as a better Mickey-led Genesis game.
Heavy Nova combines a side-scrolling platformer with fighting-game sections. Players move through platforming and beat 'em up combat before facing a stronger enemy in a one-on-one fight. The ranking says every command has such a slow response time that the playable robot, an elite DOLL, feels weighed down. Last Battle is a side-scrolling martial arts beat 'em up that looks clean and has relatively decent controls, but the ranking says it becomes stale because players mostly walk, jump and punch. Long, similar-looking sections make it hard to know whether players are going the right way, and backtracking drains any sense of progress.
Shaq Fu is a 1994 fighting game starring basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. The ranking questions the decision to turn a basketball player into a fighting action hero and says the game suffers from unresponsive controls and overly powerful enemies. It expects players to pull off precise techniques to counter attacks, but the poor controls make that nearly impossible. Sword of Sodan is a 1988 hack-and-slash game whose oversized, detailed characters made it look impressive in the late 1980s, but the ranking says it plays far worse than it looks. Characters are almost always pressed into one another and swing weapons in exaggerated attacks, while unbalanced enemies can defeat the player in a few hits, turning the game into a test of keeping the right distance rather than fighting.
Dark Castle is a 1986 action-platformer that was originally released for the Macintosh and designed for mouse and keyboard. Its Sega Genesis port is cited as an infamous example of a game that does not translate well across platforms. Because the controls were not designed with a controller in mind, the ranking says getting the game to perform as intended is tedious and exhausting, with even moving up and down stairs proving cumbersome.
Sources: Comic Book Resources.