the_wizard_666

That assumes they had production-ready carts available from the get-go, which is highly unlikely. More likely is that the ad ran for a few months and sold a handful of copies, then AGCI came along and did an actual retail launch. Also, nobody's stated what magazine the ad was found in. That would make a HUGE difference in terms of sales. A magazine like GamePro or EGM would've made for more sales than we see...odds are that this ad was in an issue of Road & Track or Fangoria or something. Based on the article @ThePhleo posted, it may have been a comic, although the condition of the page in the image would suggest otherwise...it's just far too nice to be printed on newsprint. Sadly, this will always have the ghost of Etler's list behind it...because it wasn't part of that list, nobody's gonna accept that it could've been a retail release, despite games like Cheetahmen II being on there and never actually being released to the masses.

Please do!

Yeah, it basically gives an idea that it was at the very least a mail order title, rather than a small run of demos.

Biggest question to me is - who is Francis Mao? Was he the artist who did the piece, or was he involved with the program itself? TO GOOGLE! EDIT: Maybe it's this Francis Mao? https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1659915/

Both modes of Shanghai II are knocked off. Perusing the list for more easy shit...

http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/advanced.php Under "Game" select the desired region, and under "Cart/Profile" set the "Cart Size" field to 40. That'll give you every US release of 40 KB. However, there are actually several smaller games, so if you want "40 KB and under" then change the drop down to "Less than or equal to" and voila! 40 KB and under: http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/search.php?region_op=%3D`%40`&region=USA&cartsize_op=<%3D`%40`&cartsize=40&field=2&order=asc&rfa=1+2+11+3+9+20+41+53 Exactly 40 KB: http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/search.php?region_op=%3D`%40`&region=USA&cartsize_op=%3D`%40`&cartsize=40&field=2&order=asc&rfa=1+2+11+3+9+20+41+53 EDIT: Also note that these are almost guaranteed to be NROM (mapper 0) titles, so you could also do a search for games using mapper 0 if that's more what you're after.

Damn, that's a hell of a difference! One of the rare instances where PAL-land didn't get screwed over Although it's looking like the Famicom version is a pretty solid choice too. I don't think it's localization though...it would appear that the US version was released first, in December '90. The Famicom version was released in September '91, followed by the PAL release in January '92. So my guess is that they continued tweaking the game for the Famicom version, with a few more tweaks happening before the Euro release. Kinda weird though IMO.

As a kid, I don't think we ever actually beat a level, so that point was moot. But the biggest problem with the code is that they fucked up and forgot to put part of the code on the label. So even if you knew to check the label, you were fucked because the label was wrong! But that isn't a game-level problem, that's a design flaw. I never had a problem with Waldo, although it got a bit tough near the end for sure. But I had no trouble differentiating him from the surroundings. I agree on the other games you mentioned - they all do what they were designed to do, and in most of those cases they actually did a good job of it. That's the thing, it was designed to emulate the arcade experience, which it does well enough in that it's brutally difficult and requires straight up memorization to proceed. The problem is, there's no save feature, and iirc it has limited continues. If it had either a password/save function or unlimited continues (preferably both), it likely wouldn't have been so bad. It The goal of the arcade version was to drain quarters as quickly as possible, while keeping you engaged enough to keep plugging them in. On the home market, you need to give the player a break. I hear ya. I played a few hours, trying to give it a legitimate chance. It's rare for me to not be able to find a redeeming quality in a game, but this one is on the list. We're absolutely counting unlicensed because they're games. And taken for what they are, most unlicensed games are at least playable. In the case of Action 52, there's a ton wrong with it, but taken for what it is (essentially a homebrew), and considering that most of the games only take minutes (if that) to get through, it's still a fun kitsch game to load up from time to time, even if only to mock how shitty it is. Ghostbusters is a pretty solid game, except the stair sequence. That part is balls. The rest of the game though, I actually kinda dig.

The last sentence is pretty much why neither fit the category. OP is asking for the objectively worst game. None of these games would count due to both not being terrible. Didn't know about the monkey behaviour in the Famicom version, and yeah, it's not an objectively good game, but it's certainly not the objectively worst game, even on the console. As mentioned below, there are FAR worse games for the NES. Bill & Ted isn't great, but again, it's not objectively terrible. The isometric view makes the game pretty janky, but the core game seems to just need refinement as opposed to being objectively bad. X-Men is horrid single-player, but when I was a kid it was a go-to rental when friends were around...can't be bad if a bunch of kids wanna play it right? Where's Waldo does pretty much exactly what it sets out to do - it's actually pretty decent for what it is. It just lacks the staying power to be worth playing repeatedly. As for Dragon's Lair, it's not terrible either. It's just balls hard. It actually kinda captures the feeling of the arcade game on a system that is technically incapable of delivering the same gameplay, which is kind of an impressive feat if you ask me. Can't comment on the PAL version though, as I've never played that one, but the US one is alright if you approach it as a quarter muncher rather than a straight action game. Objectively speaking, I think on the NES I would probably count The Last Starfighter as my bottom pick, but even then I can't say for sure because I haven't played every game to have a fair assessment. I also can't say it's outright terrible either...just not very good.

Then it's a complete matter of opinion and you might as well ask peoples' favourite games.

I don't think ANY of those games had much of a negative reaction to them. Maybe Custer's Revenge, but I doubt it was even covered by the gaming media, nevermind reviled by people who bought it. Pac-Man and ET were both MASSIVE sellers for the 2600...disappointing sure, but not terrible. As for the two NES games, they are more non-intuitive and confusing than actually bad. In fact, I can't think of any NES game that would be universally reviled. I think as defined in the OP, the only game I can really think of that fits the bill is Superman 64, as previously mentioned. I've played a shitton of bad games, but that's literally the only one I can think of offhand that didn't have a redeeming factor to it.

https://thesquad-com-br.translate.goog/yes-we-can-e-a-comunidade-feminina-de-jogos-de-luta/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui For those too lazy to pop over to Google themselves, here's the Translate Web version in English. Awesome work @BeaIank, that definitely takes precedence over a friendly tourney here. Besides, we have @docile tapeworm to keep us updated with his unofficial boards until you have a few minutes

Funny thing, looking at the lists on the leaderboard, Dino Riki should be under shooters, Battle City should be under action, and Galaga should be under arcade. Go figure.

I'm actually looking forward to next week too. Love me some Galaga, even if I'm horrible at it

The remakes make levelling far less of a grind than the original, and it's a pretty damn good game overall, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

You can't find the time to play a few minutes and increase your rank by one to be the undisputed action champion? You are clearly NOT the hyper-competitive Basil I know...

Try doing that. You don't get your name on the high score screen. Thus, no score. Anyway, that's not my style, and after beating the second race (finally), I went on a bit of a run and landed my official participation score: 82 And now I'm off to find something actually fun to play...

Haven't even managed to GET ONTO the high score screen yet...talk about lame.

Where the shit is the high score screen?

Sounds like Basil best get crackin'...

I was unaware this was Holy Diver...

I never would've noticed that

Um...where?

Someone needs a life...you actually counted

Interesting. The game does have potential, it just felt a bit archaic...but with two players, it could be a gem. I'll have to dig it up, try it out, and see if I can repro it