If you look at most Nintendo games, from NES all the way to Wii-U, you may find this Nintendo Seal of Quality. It's something Nintendo does to prove approve all products for quality of the games and other accessories they release. There were a few NES games that must have slipped through and received this stamp of approval as they're terrible for various reasons. I'd like to challenge on their so-labeled 'quality'.

The Uncanny X-Men

This game had every potential to be one of the greatest games for the NES. The ability to play as your favorite X-Men character, two-player coop mode - it should've been a winner. The main problem lies in three little letters.

L - J - N

LJN had a magic touch to turn almost every licensed game into crap. The Uncanny X-men stands out above the rest. Odd camera angle, clashing colors and odd enemies. Even on single player mode, the computer-controlled second player would often get stuck trying to walk through the wall - unless you selected your second player as Nightcrawler. Avoid this one at all costs.


Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This is one game I've never known exactly what to do. I start walking one direction, turn into the monster and walk the other way. Then, it gives me the 'game over' screen. What the what?! I'll try it again some day but, in the meantime, how Nintendo gave this the Seal of Quality it beyond me.


Captain Planet

Captain Planet. He's our hero. He'll take pollution down to zero. He'll also take sales from his game to near zero on how terrible it was. I have this game in my collection and still have my $1.99 sticker on it. I think I paid too much. Pictures and even some gameplay footage look pretty cool. Don't let it fool you. Do your part and recycle this game to your local game store and trade it for anything else.


Athena

This game doesn't have to be a bad game, it really doesn't! If someone would fix the collision detection, it wouldn't be half bad. Instead, it's all bad and the music doesn't help it, either.


Super Pitfall

Aw, c'mon, Super Pitfall! Why you gotta tease me like that? Take a legendary title like Pitfall, one of my favorite Atari games, slap the world super in front of it and it's supposed to be amazing. Instead, you pump out a game that's barely like the original at all. It's a down-right shame and I feel betrayed to this day. Choppy scrolling and missing animation sprites make this game hard to play. I'll just play Pitfall on my Atari 2600, thanks.


Wayne's World

Wayne's World introduced us to Wayne and Garth. Just a couple of dudes who had a TV show in Wayne's parent's basement. A true visionary we could all relate ourselves with. Wayne's World was the main reason to watch SNL in the early 90s, made two great movies (okay, one great and one pretty good movie), but the NES game pretty much sucked. I'd rather monkeys fly out of my butt than attempt to play this game again.


Where's Waldo

Take one of the funnest book series in the early 90s and turn it into a video game. Great idea, except technology at the time wasn't quite there to differentiate waldo from any other random dude on screen. I'm am, however, able to spot a Nintendo Seal of Quality for some reason. Not sure why as this game is near unplayable.


Barbie

They made a Nintendo game based on Barbie. Enough said.


Deadly Towers

There's just something that people love to hate about Deadly Towers. I'm not sure if they're looking at the graphics, or the difficulty or the fact that when you get hit you slide off the stage. I'm not exactly sure. It should be a great game! Large area to explore, weapon upgrades, the gameplay isn't bad, either. It's just enough of annoyance of everything that makes this a terrible game and shouldn't deserve the Nintendo Seal of Quality.


Bart vs. the Space Mutants

When The Simpsons first exploded into popularity, they had everything from dolls to breakfast cereal. The Simpsons are still going today and, while the newer Simpsons games are pretty fun, they started out on the NES with pile of garbage that makes you want to have a cow. There's one small thing they could've done to make this game a little bit better - have the B button act as the run button. Instead, the A button, which is also jump, acts as your run button. So, if you were to run and jump, you'd have to jump, then, while the button still pressed, run to where you need to be to let go and hit the same button again. I've lost so many lives trying to do that I gave up.


Dragon's Lair

Dragon's Lair revolutionized arcade games for it's time. It was the first time I've ever seen that you could play a cartoon by Don Bluth (think An American Tale) and have fun doing it. Naturally, they couldn't replicate that on the NES so they made a game based on the same characters. It's like when you see a soundtrack 'inspired' by the movie. It means the songs aren't on the movie, but could've been. Dragon's Lair for the NES is inspired by a real NES game because it isn't worth playing.
It does have great animation, I'll give it that.


There are several games that aren't on this list that clearly don't deserve the Nintendo Seal of Quality. Make sure you post your games in the comments below.

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