While there are good launch games and bad launch games — and even the occasional great launch game — the vast majority of titles to come out alongside a gaming system end up being just… meh. So many launch games have been forgotten to history over the years, not necessarily because of their quality, but simply because they couldn’t leave a lasting impact for a number of reasons.
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A few rules: US launch games only, one game per system, and no sports games, otherwise this list would be filled with Baseball, Golf, and Tennis for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Some of these games deserve to be forgotten, others should have been given a better chance, but none of them are actively featured in everyday conversations anymore.
10Funky Barn – Wii U
TheWii U’s launch lineupwas a somewhat flaccid affair, with a handful of inconsequential first-party games sitting alongside a selection of ports of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games. And then there’s Funky Barn. This cartoony farm simulator channels the spirit of games like Harvest Moon series and can be surprisingly captivating — if a bit simplistic.
Funky Barn would also see a launch on the Nintendo 3DS, which may have been the more suitable system for this type of game all along. Then again, most games barely stood a chance of finding an audience on the Wii U, leaving a game like Funky Barn to quickly fade into obscurity.
9Pinobee: Wings Of Adventure – Game Boy Advance
Pinobee: Wings of Adventure lets you take the shoes (or rather claws) of a bee named Pinobee as you buzz around various garden-themed levels. Given the game’s honey-loving protagonist, there are a range of unique moves that you don’t see in most platformers. As Pinobee, you can glide, climb walls, and even make your head blow up like a balloon.
With gorgeous pixel art, buttery smooth animations, and some great level design, Pinobee: Wings of Adventure should have soared more than it did when launching alongside the Game Boy Advance.
8Clockwork Knight – Sega Saturn
Clockwork Knight was the victim of two unavoidable tragedies. The first is that it was a Sega Saturn launch title — a system that was infamously rushed into stores by its manufacturer to a rather flat reception. The second is that it was an early 3D polygonal game, ensuring that its aesthetics were destined to age as well as the effects in a ’70s Doctor Who episode.
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Clockwork Knight is far from a bad game, but it neither fully commits to pushing its genre forward, nor does it pay homage to the great platformers that released a generation before. Instead, it gets stuck in this awkward in-between state that has kept it locked out of the memories of many gamers.
7Wild Gunman – Nintendo Entertainment System
Wild Gunman is one of the few games to use the NES Zapper and was promptly overshadowed by its rivallight gun gameDuck Hunt. The Wild West theme is hardly original and the quick-draw shooting is fun the first few times you do it, but quickly loses its novelty.
The NES Wild Gunman is actually based on an old ’70s arcade game that featured live-action cowboy visuals. Maybe if Nintendo had held this port back until there were home consoles that could handle those kinds of graphics, Wild Gunman wouldn’t have felt like a bit of a misfire.
6Super Thunder Blade – Sega Genesis
The first thing you notice when playing Super Thunder Blade is how choppy it feels — and not just because you’re piloting a military helicopter. There are cactus plants that look smoother than Super Thunder Blade’s frame rate, which quickly gets in the way of any enjoyability.
The second thing you notice about this game is how forgettable it is. This was a simple high-score shooter to accompany the launch of the Sega Genesis, but its only ever goes skin deep with its ideas. The difficulty is entirely artificial given the sluggishness, the music is grating, and there’s very little to come back to after you have played Super Thunder Blade for five minutes.
5Cel Damage – Xbox
If you remember anything about Cel Damage, then it’s the game’s striking visuals. Thecel shadingmeans this cartoony vehicle shooter still looks stunning today, and certainly turned heads when it launched on the original Xbox back in 2001.
However, what Cel Damage had in style, it lacked in substance, with its gameplay falling flat of the whimsical heights that its presentation promised. The weaponry felt unbalanced, the difficulty was uneven, and what could have been the start of something beautiful, unfortunately got mostly erased from history.
4Smuggler’s Run – PlayStation 2
When you hear Rockstar Games and the PlayStation 2, your mind immediately goes straight to some of the system’s most iconic titles. Grand Theft Auto 3, Max Payne, Bully… The list goes on and on, which is why it’s so surprising that hardly anyone mentions Smuggler’s Run anymore — the PS2 launch title by Rockstar Games about smuggling cargo across various dangerous locations.
Related:Great Looking PS2 Games That Still Hold Up Today
The game was positively received when it came out, and even sold quite well. However, it was swiftly smuggled away from the minds of many as the PlayStation 2 became home to bigger and better games.
3The Playroom – PlayStation 4
Not to be confused with the outstandingAstro’s Playroom, The Playroom was a PlayStation 4 launch game that came preinstalled on every system. As a collection of AR minigames, The Playroom is entertaining enough for what it is, but it hardly broke any ground back in 2013 and has been largely forgotten in the years since.
If you owned a PS4, chances are you probably messed around with The Playroom on the first or second day you owned the console but are unlikely to have returned at any point. Thankfully, Team Asobi would go on to create far more unforgettable experiences after wrapping up on The Playroom.
2Steel Diver – Nintendo 3DS
Steel Diver is not your typical Nintendo launch game. It doesn’t feature any iconic characters, it’s surprisingly grounded in tone, and it’s also a slow-paced, touchscreen-based, methodical, and atmospheric submarine simulator. Not exactly Tetris.
After receiving a sequel in 2014, Steel Diver stayed hidden under the waves without much hype or fanfare for a revival. At best, it’s a cult classic, but the game is almost too bizarre and alienating for the average Nintendo fan to even claim that label.
1Ryse: Son Of Rome – Xbox One
Ryse: Son of Rome nearly had everything going for it. It was a triple-A launch game for the Xbox One, created by a famous developer and published by Microsoft itself, featuring a visceral combat system and jaw-dropping visuals that showcased all of its glorious next-gen potential.
And yet, Ryse: Son of Rome could never quite get a foothold in the market. The game was met with only a lukewarm reception and struggled to justify the years of revisions and overhauls that marked its development. What should have been the beginning of a successful series ended up falling flat on arrival.
