So Bad It's Brilliant

[AmzRigh]

Just to throw in a title I haven't seen brought up yet: my favorite B-game is Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman.

It's essentially a straight-up B-movie in terms of premise -- ninjas have invaded the Old West! And it plays like a sort of proto-Devil May Cry. It has the handicap of having rather poor controls, but I can usually get halfway through it before I get frustrated, which is really all you need to experience the ridiculousness of the game. But really, it's quite short, anyway -- even with repeated dying and failing, with perseverance (and maybe save states), it can be beaten in just a few hours.

If the game actually had good controls, though, I don't think I'd consider it so-bad-it's-good anymore; it would just be good. Cheesy, goofy, not serious at all, but those aren't remotely bad qualities.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Do you mean B(ad) gameplay, B story, B technical features...

Bad story's just standard. Sexism's a big problem. Ultraviolence. Stupid cliche plots. Sewer levels.


Deadpool, in general, fell victim to the same sort of problems. It'd make a joke about sewer levels, usually something like "oh look a sewer level." And then you'd play a sewer level.


Blindly parroting a cliche in a silly voice is not satire. Doing something interesting with the cliche, however, is. Bayonetta's more modestly dressed than most video game heroines, just to use a prementioned example (it's 1am and I have work in the morning).

Dark Souls subverts the Standard Fantasy Prophecy thing at least once, potentially more like 2 or 3 times. Dark is bad, Dark is good, Dark could be bad, and no matter what the flames are fading. I wouldn't call it satire, but just breaking the cliches to that extent works well.

Mass Effect also plays with the Blue Alien Space Babe Who Sleeps With The Commander cliche from Star Trek. How?

Spoiler: Brace Yourselves...

By making an entire species of Attractive Entirely Female Blue Alien Space Babes, a number of which may sleep with or attempt to sleep with the Commander!

Bioware, that's not innovating. Even the archetype isn't innovative. The Asari are pretty much just Space Elves mixed with adolescent pandering.

________________________________________

Of course, a completely awful or incredibly subpar game can still be amusing. I've had a lot of fun complaining about Fable III and the new Tomb Raider with friends, and I've heard bad words about Ride To Hell: Retribution.

 

[Mahoshonen]

I really think it boils down to enjoyment being equated with quality, when that isn't necessarily the case. For example, I have a hella-lot of fun with the Dynasty Warriors games, but from a purely critical standpoint, they're poorly balanced, characterization and story waivers from 'pretty good' to 'atrocious' even in the same game, and almost every game has one mechanic that reeks of grindy bullshit. Despite this, I think DW as a whole is really fun.

 

[Amir Kondori]

God Hand is a good example of this type of game.

 

[SushiJaguar]

Deadly Premonition. So definitely a B-Game, but oh so good.

 

[A'tuin]

Otherwise... Wait, while I'm thinking it. Are there actually people who didn't realize that Lollipop chainsaw was a joke?

It's kind of hard to figure out which Japanese softcore-porn game that oversexualises women is a parody and which one isn't. Come on, that Dead or Alive volleyball game even had "1-hand control mode", not to mention Dragon's Crown's... everything.