Similar to our list running down the worst Nintendo spinoffs of the decade, that inspired us to look deeper in the well. That is to say, what were the worst spinoff games of all time? Compared to that list surprisingly we didn’t find as many party games although that is because most of them were already covered in that article.
To keep this fresh, we actually pulled from every Nintendo system up to 2009. We didn’t want to repeat anything from that decade piece even if some of those games would have easily made the cut. The list is ordered from the best of the worst to the worst of the worst.
10 Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (65)
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is certainly a mouthful, but par for the course for a Square Enix game. Anyway, this is an on-rails adventure except instead of shooting enemies, players will be slashing at them via the Wii Remote.
Using the controller in this way was huge when the Wii was first starting out. It seemed like a natural fit given the system’s capabilities, but unfortunately, it just didn’t mash up well with Dragon Quest.
9 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (64)
This is not a bad game. As a frame of reference, the DS version got a 75. Why then was this version scored so much lower? The answer is fairly simple. This was just a very poor port up from the DS, which made it look horrendous blown up on a TV.
It was a cool idea to release this on two systems so that handheld and console players could co-op, but this was a lazy execution. We do recommend playing the DS version with friends.
8 Virtua Quest (55)
Crossovers in video games had been done before Kingdom Hearts, but when that released in 2002 it changed everything. Several copycats followed including Virtua Quest. It had a similar concept of a young boy being zapped into a different world complete with action RPG mechanics. Instead of Disney and Square crossovers, as this was before the Enix merger, there were tie-ins to Virtua Fighter: Sega’s long-running fighting franchise. If this had been a complete Sega crossover it might have been cooler, but it still wouldn’t have helped the bad gameplay.
7 Mega Man: Battle Chip Challenge (54)
Speaking of RPG spinoffs, let’s talk about Mega Man: Battle Chip Challenge, which is actually a spinoff of a spinoff. It turned the more action-oriented combat of Mega Man Battle Network and made it into a slower, card-like RPG. That could have worked, but unfortunately, it slowed down battles too much. Not only that, but it felt like a mini-game that should have been in one of the core games. By this point, this sub-series was feeling pretty old anyway thanks to too many sequels too fast.
6 Mario Party Advance (54)
Mario Party is a series that is pretty hit or miss. In terms of longevity, this series has it even if every game feels like a rehash of the other. Anyway, the best part about these games are playing them with friends around the TV. As a Game Boy Advance game it simply didn’t work. Yes, one could still play it with friends, but that meant more copies had to be purchased. It was a rushed, greedy idea reminding us of how the Pokémon franchise operates.
5 Samurai Warriors: Katana (53)
Samurai Warriors: Katana is similar to that Dragon Quest spinoff except with samurai and ninjas. Players will simply whack the Wii Remote around like a crazy person, killing hundreds upon thousands of oncoming troops. If one has played one of the Samurai Warriors, or Dynasty Warriors games then none of this should be shocking news. Without the ability to play with a friend, it became boring fast. It’s unpolished even for one of these games.
4 Castlevania Judgment (49)
By the time Castlevania Judgment came out for the Wii, the series had an established roster of characters that would seemingly fit in nicely with a fighting game. Unfortunately, the gameplay was underdeveloped and the roster was just as bare bones. It felt like a fan game, or more like a prototype for one. It is the worst thing to happen to the series, period. Thankfully Castlevania saw a fighting game redemption via Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
3 Pokemon Dash (46)
There really isn’t much to Pokémon Dash. Players control Pikachu and other Pokémon with the stylus through an assortment of races and or mini-games. It takes advantage of both screens to make the game feel bigger, but this causes some confusion with the camera. It looks like a phone game before those were blowing up in the West and that’s the best compliment we can give it if one could even call it that. Pokémon Dash offers nothing new to the franchise and as of right now it is the worst-rated game in the series.
2 Space Raiders (40)
Technically this could be considered an attempt at a reboot for Space Invaders. Yes, we’re referring to the arcade phenomenon that started in the 70s. Reboot, or spinoff, it doesn’t matter because either way this game blows. First of all it tries to add in a story to the simple concept of aliens invading earth. As if it needed to be said, but it is not good. Instead of ships, players can now play as different characters each blasting away at invaders with various weapons. However, enemies still come at the player who can only move side to side. It is a half-cocked idea.
1 Crash Boom Bang! (37)
And what spinoff list wouldn’t be complete without a party game? Crash Boom Bang is actually the second attempt at aping Mario Party’s gimmick. The first was Crash Bash on PS1 and wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t necessarily good either. This is far worse than that with the game taking incredibly long to get going. Party games are better on big screens anyway, which is another complaint we have for this and other portable attempts at creating a mini-game bonanza.