I can't honestly vote for many of these games that I haven't played.. I know Gunboat and Falcon are both notoriously disliked, but I have never cared for genre they are in so I didn't really play them. I can't fault the sports games for being what they are, and I wasn't into sports video games that much so I can't count against them either. China Warrior doesn't seem that horrible to be considered the worst, and it has its outspoken fans, too. I'd also happily let it live in my collection should I run across one one day for cheap enough. Double Dungeons as I said previously was a terribly generic game, and I've played a lot of it as it was one of those games I had as a kid and you know how your options were limited back then. Still, I couldn't say it was the worst. Just dull or basic. King of Casino shouldn't even be on this list. Maybe it's not Vegas Stakes by Hal Labs, but that's another situation where it shouldn't be damned because of genre. I didn't think it was so bad myself.
I voted for Deep Blue, and Yo Bro only. Both games marred by frustrating, clunky gameplay, and I just hated the theme of Yo Bro entirely. You remember the Simpsons episode with Poochie? I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Bear from Yo Bro had some part in inspiring that. Deep Blue is a shame though. That could have been a great underwater themed shooter, and I remember how promising it looked in magazines.. but man, once you play even just the first level and are assaulted with almost impossible to dodge enemies and that horrendous music, you won't want to again.
I think your post was well-written and I followed your logic.
But, as we all know, taste is subjective, so imagine my dismay when I realized that you were throwing Yo, Bro under the goddam bus!
I know the game is flawed (the controls should have been more precise, less sliding on skateboard, more intuitive aiming) but I have long-argued that Yo, Bro is a poor man's Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I think the core formula in both games is close enough to appeal* to fans of ZAMN.
Yes, everyone thinks I'm crazy for promoting Yo, Bro in the same breath as the well-loved ZAMN...I'm setting myself (and others) up for a major disappointment.
I know Yo, Bro is not everyone's cup of tea (it takes a certain tenacity to make it through the later levels, and when I say "tenacity" I mean "masochism"), but before the game gets brutal, there are many early stages that provide some entertainment.
But I am not the biggest fan of the theme, either. I guess that's one of the things that I've grown to love, but not really. I simply don't find it compelling. How can you mess up skateboarding + California? With a little bit more thoughtfulness, I think skateboarding + California could really have been decent in Yo, Bro, but as it stands, it's just a few notches above a totally generic suburb in Anywhere, USA. Even Paperboy had a more compelling suburb. Maybe Yo, Bro was making an artistic statement about the blandness of suburban America? Or the blandness of the Beach Boys?
Remember, the PSG rendition of Beach Boys tunes was pretty bland. I wish the folks doing the music made the songs bubbling full of energy and more dynamic, instead we got flat Muzak.
With all that said, the inclusion of Beach Boys + skateboarding definitely makes the game seem a bit more inspired...ever so slightly. So, I'd rather have bland Beach Boys than grating carnival music (you folks know what I mean). And I definitely WANT a skateboarding mechanic, but Yo, Bro implements it poorly. Still, it's not completely broken (debatable, perhaps!).
*You need an open mind and be willing to give a game more than a few minutes. If the internet represents humanity, only five people on our planet qualify to be in this category.
