Step aside Zelda, Mario, Elder Scrolls and Elden Ring - it's time for the bad video games to have their time in the video essay spotlight
Today we're going to be diving deep into the wacky history of bad video games - tracing the phenomenon from its crazed 8bit roots, through the console mania of the 90s, out through the motion controls of the 2000s and into the live service hell-scape of the modern day.
It's a journey that's going to take us from Bubsy 3D to Concord, from ET to Superman 64 and from Sonic 06 to the Phillips CD-I - a villains gallery made up of the worst the industry has to offer.
The difference is that we're not going to be looking to tear them down - but genuinely understand them and try to work out once and for all - why do bad video games get made?
It's part video essay, part contrarian think piece, part investigative history - all told by one man who can't stop being sympathetic to terrible video games
And yes - the music at the of the video is indeed from Tetris CD-I
=== Chapters === 00:00:00 – The Wilde World of Bad Games 00:03:04 – HUBRIS and the Video Game Crash 00:11:46 – GREED and the False Seal of Quality 00:23:09 – AMBITION and the Bad Video Game Console 00:38:18 – PRIDE and the Trouble with 3D 00:56:19 – GREED (AGAIN) and the Licensing Nightmare 01:12:47 – a brief interlude about redemption 01:27:28 – JEALOUSY and the Temptation to Waggle 01:40:22 – WRATH and How Critics Shape Everything 01:50:33 – APATHY and the Hollow Monetised Future 02:04:05 – The Gutter and the Stars
