What 'bad' developer are you fascinated by?

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

My personal pick is Titus because they kept showing flashes of brilliancy and really did have the chops to make it as one of the best developers of their generation, but got done in by their own business model of snatching popular licenses for cheap and outsourcing most the work to third-party companies working on tight budgets to guarantee a good return once those games were finally released at retail price.

They did have some great games in there - like Roadsters, Hercules and Chess 64 -, but most of what they put out were doomed from the start because they were never given the proper tools to shine.

You?

 

[Morgan Katarn]

Nintendo because I can´t fathom how beyond stupid you can be and yet make 100s of millions. It´s prof that you can be evil and people will still love you which makes me wonder what is the breaking point before people quit worshiping them ? Do Nintendo need to commit genocide before it happens ? Which they probably would do if it mean more money and more sale of their games.

 

[BrawlMan]

Eh, not exactly bad, but Tamsoft and/or D3 Publisher have some janky as fuck, but still fun games. Their low budget games do get more polished, but there is some crazy jank somewhere. Especially if we're talking about Oneechanbara or Earth Defense Force. These games have been keeping afloat for decades on end.

 

[Bakuma1997]

LJN, i know the who "TheY ACTuallY LicENSed" thingy, but to know they managed to pick only shit to license is something to behold, granted, they had at least ONE win in Shadow Man, but it was too little too late

 

[BrawlMan]

LJN, i know the who "TheY ACTuallY LicENSed" thingy, but to know they managed to pick only shit to license is something to behold, granted, they had at least ONE win in Shadow Man, but it was too little too late

Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage is pretty decent too, but they more so published this game, and had an actual competent developer come in, and let them take their time.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Spiders, maybe one day they will make something good and will stop being the Temu Bioware, Greedfall is not good, but its better than what they have done before.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage is pretty decent too, but they more so published this game, and had an actual competent developer come in, and let them take their time.

Actually my first SNES game... ^^U!

Lucked out like crazy.

 

[Clippy]

I'm gonna go with Cryo Interactive. Over the years they built up a very uneven portfolio of games. They had a few great titles to their name but most of their output ranged from terrible to meh. To their credit, no matter how bad or janky a game they released, their stuff is incredibly fascinating.

Don't get me wrong, there's good reason they went bust decades ago but still.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

My personal pick is Titus because they kept showing flashes of brilliancy and really did have the chops to make it as one of the best developers of their generation, but got done in by their own business model of snatching popular licenses for cheap and outsourcing most the work to third-party companies working on tight budgets to guarantee a good return once those games were finally released at retail price.

They did have some great games in there - like Roadsters, Hercules and Chess 64 -, but most of what they put out were doomed from the start because they were never given the proper tools to shine.

You?

YAY!!! Titus

For me its...

Who went from this nice small company making classics
like Archon, M.U.L.E., and One on One Dr.J vs Bird, to this..

Money truly is the root of all necessary evil

 

[Vardalis]

Game Freak. If they didn't have the Pokemon IP they'd literally be bankrupt. Each new main entry in the franchise is markedly worse than the last. They refuse Nintendo (and I'd imagine the Pokemon Company itself) bringing anyone else in to help. Every single Pokemon spinoff game seems to be more competently made than anything they touch. Any other games they develop sink like fucking bricks in the ocean.

Yet it's squarely because of that IP they continue to remain afloat despite gross, bumbling incompetency.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

YAY!!! Titus

Peak "The things I do for a paycheck" vibes

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Titus sounds like something that would come out of your ears

Anyway Idea Factory. They can’t do shit without Compile and it shows. No really, name the most popular Idea Factory games that you would consider good. Trick question because they’re all either co developed by Compile, fully developed by Compile, or third party with IF publishing.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Game Freak. If they didn't have the Pokemon IP they'd literally be bankrupt. Each new main entry in the franchise is markedly worse than the last. They refuse Nintendo (and I'd imagine the Pokemon Company itself) bringing anyone else in to help. Every single Pokemon spinoff game seems to be more competently made than anything they touch. Any other games they develop sink like fucking bricks in the ocean.

Yet it's squarely because of that IP they continue to remain afloat despite gross, bumbling incompetency.

Facts.

There's a reason why I stopped at Black & White 2 and had already harbored deep doubts since Diamond.

 

[facsimile]

I'm gonna go with Cryo Interactive. Over the years they built up a very uneven portfolio of games. They had a few great titles to their name but most of their output ranged from terrible to meh. To their credit, no matter how bad or janky a game they released, their stuff is incredibly fascinating.

Don't get me wrong, there's good reason they went bust decades ago but still.

Just got to see their Woody game (edit: also just realized I've already gone through the PS2 port lmao), looks so cursed... I love it.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/24451/woody-woodpecker-escape-from-buzz-buzzard-park/screenshots/windows/860614/

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

Fisk UK Ltd.
Just look at their logo.

Excalibur 2555 A.D. is one of the blandest and yet most memorable games I've ever played.

 

[Netra]

Do Nintendo need to commit genocide before it happens ?

We all know three guys that do it and are highly venerated by a lot of people.

 

[Noon]

I

Titus sounds like something that would come out of your ears

Anyway Idea Factory. They can’t do shit without Compile and it shows. No really, name the most popular Idea Factory games that you would consider good. Trick question because they’re all either co developed by Compile, fully developed by Compile, or third party with IF publishing.

I think it’s totally the other way around, Idea Factory did way better before Kuwana started backstabbing them and doing horrendous side projects before he founded compile heart, which if you take Idea Factory away from Compile Heart is nothing but a pervy VN studio.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

We all know three guys that do it and are highly venerated by a lot of people.

True that which is scary.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Fisk UK Ltd.
Just look at their logo.
View attachment 175903
Excalibur 2555 A.D. is one of the blandest and yet most memorable games I've ever played.

Ugh! Kill it! Kill it with fire!

 

[Pantsuhelm]

Not quite bad in the traditional sense, but there is a general consensus that Arrowhead, the developers of Helldivers 2, accidentally made a good game. All of the games base mechanics are fantastic, but they keep messing with the gameplay formulas in ways that constantly pisses off the fanbase creating an us vs them situation. It's sort of a joke in the community that you have to pretend that you hate weapons you like since they're always listening and love nerfing anything anyone enjoys. All of this for a purely co-op PvE game.

 

[DragonMals]

the developer of the legend of dark witch.

don't ask why cause tons of words will pop up.

 

[Sorion]

At some point I was kinda obsessed with an obscure super famicom rpg called "maka-maka" published by Sigma inc. in 1992. The game was a massive failure due to it's very poor quality and bugs to the point it's now considered a Kusoge in Japan. Sigma went out of business shortly after the release of the game. Maka Maka turned out to be a very very weird game , it's like earthbound before earthbound made funny jrpgs right so Maka Maka became quite the curiosity over the years. Funny enough, the Vtuber Inugami Korone streamed this game long ago and someone uploaded some of her highlights to youtube with english subtitles so it's one of the few ways to experience this game in english.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

the developer of the legend of dark witch.

don't ask why cause tons of words will pop up.

Wh--

At some point I was kinda obsessed with an obscure super famicom rpg called "maka-maka" published by Sigma inc. in 1992. The game was a massive failure due to it's very poor quality and bugs to the point it's now considered a Kusoge in Japan. Sigma went out of business shortly after the release of the game. Maka Maka turned out to be a very very weird game , it's like earthbound before earthbound made funny jrpgs right so Maka Maka became quite the curiosity over the years. Funny enough, the Vtuber Inugami Korone streamed this game long ago and someone uploaded some of her highlights to youtube with english subtitles so it's one of the few ways to experience this game in english.

Wicked cool, man! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Frickinfrik]

Data Design Interactive. The fact that they can reskin the same game four times is just terrifying. Their shitty shovelware games are like works of art because of their infamy.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Nobody mentioned Compile Heart yet? I thought almost everyone have a love-hate relationship with it at this point.