Remember that video game company that had a rainbow logo and three letters and went on to develop some of the worst games ever made? Well that company was bought out and named a new company. Yes, I'm talking about LJN transitioning to Acclaim.
Acclaim is a re-brand of company known for its disastrous games. Even though Acclaim has had some of the best games that were ever put out on the Genesis, it doesn't really mean that they have a treasure trove worthy of gamers in their collection. Let's take a look at five of their worst titles.
BMX XXX
Where to begin? Honestly, the game's title doesn't even make sense. How did Acclaim ever think this game was gonna sell? Long story short, it didn't.
Acclaim thought that nudity, BMX bikes, and humor could go well together to sell a game. That logic obviously bombed. the game was very controversial as well, as it included strippers and full-frontal nudity. Because of this, a lot of retail stores did not put it on their shelves.
Even Dave Mirra, a reknown American BMX rider, disowned the game. If the person you are branding the game for disowns your product, you already know you dun goofed.
NBA Jam Extreme
This game was just terrible.
When the first NBA Jam came out, it was a masterpiece. When this game came out, it was a hot mess.
It tries to be just like Midway's NBA Hangtime and NBA Showtime, which received positive reviews. Obviously, that didn't work out for Acclaim with their production of this game. The loading time, choppy graphics, and animations were laughable. There's not many good things to be said here. No wonder Acclaim's take on the PS1 collection pack was poorly received.
Space Jam
Michael Jordan deserves a better game than this. Space Jam as a movie was pretty great, Space Jam as a game...not so much.
First off, where is the "Space Jam" song in the introduction of the game? It was substituted with a Looney Toons ripoff song. In fact, none of the songs from the soundtrack were in the game.
Second, if you picked the Monstar, team you have to deal with some of the worst basketball skills in the game. It's like the game wants you to pick the Toon Squad. Acclaim couldn't include any other basketball stars in the game along with MJ? This game is surely a miss.
ECW Hardcore Revolution
Using the same game engine for copy and paste job is no way to show that a game is "new and improved". For example: WWF War Zone/Attitude were the first two games Acclaim created using this engine. These went on to be part of PS1's Greatest Hits.
As for ECW, not so much. After the relationship between WWE and Acclaim ended, Acclaim still wanted to be part of the wrestling gaming business. EA had an agreement with WCW. WWE had an agreement with THQ, now with 2K due to bankruptcy. Acclaim turned to ECW to publish their first game.
Same graphics, same concept, plot, and voice overs before the match starts--not to mention the difficult controls. There were new matches introduced in the game, but that didn't spark interests among gamers unless you are ECW fan. This wouldn't be the last time Acclaim published a wrestling game. Which brings me to the last game on the list.
Legends of Wrestling
After ECW went into bankruptcy, Acclaim didn't have another wrestling company to publish games with. So instead, they brought in a new series: Legends of Wrestling.
Legends of Wrestling was a game meant to showcase the biggest names in the wrestling business. From Hulk Hogan to Bret Hart, it included a lot of WWE and WCW wrestlers. The only problem was that they didn't have the license to use the music in the game.
The gameplay itself was no gem, either. Much of it came down to button mashing and watching the grapple meter. Yeah, it was totally great. Honestly, there is no replay value with this game with no story. Its just a bunch of wrestlers without exciting, or even mediocre, gameplay.
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These five titles from Acclaim are definitely cringe worthy. Do you agree with the list? What other games were the worst from Acclaim? Feel free to leave your comments below, and thanks for reading.
