10 Worst PS1 Games

Fighting Force 2 is a beat 'em up by Core Design for the PS1 and the Dreamcast. Human cloning has been banned by international treaty, and a mercenary named Hawk Manson is sent in to find out whether the Knackmiche Corporation is doing it anyway. It has more weapons and bigger levels than the first game, but only one playable character, Hawk, and no multiplayer at all. It averages 41 out of 100. After the first game's co-op brawling, going solo feels like a step back.

Most players who bring it up call it a bad game. A few loved it. A brawler lives on friends sharing a couch, so a lone hero is hard to forgive. Play the first one instead.

Special Forces is an action game set before the first Mortal Kombat, and it follows Jax as he hunts the criminal Kano and his gang. Series co-creator John Tobias left Midway before it was finished, and a lot of content went with him, Sonya Blade as a playable character included. Jax brings guns and explosives. He cannot jump. Critics panned the level design and the tedious gameplay, and it is considered one of the worst games of all time. It averages 49 out of 100. The result feels like a game with its middle cut out.

Players count it among the worst games they played on the PS1. It is fun to watch for a few minutes with friends, and miserable to play for an evening.

The Struggle Within is a horror adventure game by Human Entertainment. In Japan it was called Clock Tower: Ghost Head, and it became Clock Tower II in North America because the first game never left Japan. You guide 17-year-old Alyssa Hale, who is sometimes possessed by an alter ego called Mr. Bates, and the way you switch between the two leads to one of 13 endings. Critics found the point-and-click interface slow and dated, and the game too reliant on trial and error. It averages 39 out of 100. It aims for slow dread, but the clunky menus keep getting in the way.

Players barely bring it up. If you want Clock Tower, this is the sequel nobody asks for, and there are better scares on the console.

Batman & Robin is the game of the film, made by Probe Entertainment, and it plays a little like a sandbox game: Gotham has traffic and people, and events happen at set times instead of waiting for you. Mr. Freeze robs the bank at 7 p.m., so plan your evening. Like the film, it failed with critics and in shops, and one big games site liked its graphics but not its controls. It averages 43 out of 100. It was a surprisingly bold idea for a movie tie-in.

Players are split. For some it's the worst thing they played on the console, and others call it underrated and far more ambitious than a film tie-in had to be. Of the bad games here, this is the one with something to say, so it earns its place on the list and its place in your curiosity.

The Simpsons Wrestling was made by Big Ape Productions and has 20 playable characters, all voiced by the show's regular cast. Matches take place in ten spots around Springfield, such as Moe's Tavern and the nuclear plant, and you can win back health by eating food that appears in the ring. Critics panned it and it has been called one of the worst games of all time, though they liked the audio. It averages 38 out of 100. The roster looks great on the box, which makes the rest sting more.

Players remember it as a letdown, and a few admit they had fun with it anyway. Put it on with friends and the jokes write themselves.

Barbie: Explorer is a platformer by Runecraft. Barbie is a reporter who finds an ancient mirror in a museum with four pieces missing, and she travels the world to find them. She has no attack at all, so every level is puzzles and platforming, and it was seen as an attempt to copy Tomb Raider. It averages 43 out of 100. It reaches for the big adventure games of the day, and misses.

The players who remember it say it's better than expected. Not the worst of the ten to sit through, just very odd to play without a single way to fight back.

Shrek Treasure Hunt is a party game by The Code Monkeys, and the only Shrek game released on the PS1. The Three Blind Mice have stolen ten picnic items, and Shrek gets each one back by finishing a mini-game, which only opens once he has collected enough items in that area. It came out in North America on October 18, 2002. It averages 42 out of 100. Nothing about it asks much of the player.

Players who played it call it the worst game on the PS1. Kids might sit through it, but nobody else has a reason to.

The Fifth Element is an action-adventure game by Kalisto, based on the film of the same name. You play Leeloo, who fights unarmed and with grenades, and Korben, whose guns never run out of ammo. When it was shown at E3 in June 1997, Korben wasn't playable yet. One review called the controls cumbersome and the enemies "rather dumb", and the PS1 version scored 32% on one review aggregator. It averages 31 out of 100. It tried to bring a big film to life on a machine that was not ready.

Players name it among the worst games on the PS1. A film this colourful deserved far better than a clumsy camera.

Independence Day is a combat flight sim based on the 1996 film, made by Radical Entertainment and published by Fox Interactive. It has 13 missions with time limits, and running out of time means failing the mission. One review found the flying cramped, boxed in between the mothership and the buildings. It received mixed to negative reviews. It averages 21 out of 100, the lowest score here. Time limits and tight space make it feel like a chore from the first mission.

Players who bought it back then call it terrible and a waste of money. A film tie-in that cannot even make flying over an invasion feel exciting has missed the point.

Bubsy 3D sends the bobcat to the planet Rayon to stop the alien Woolies, and he shoots atoms at his enemies. It was made by Eidetic, the studio best known now for Syphon Filter and Days Gone. Late in development, creator Michael Berlyn saw Super Mario 64 at a trade show and realized his game looked far worse, but Accolade was already committed to releasing it, and it was too late to do anything but make it as good as possible in the time left. Critics hammered the controls and the voice acting, and several publications have ranked it among the worst games ever made. It averages 22 out of 100. It is a lesson in how a game can come out the same year as a masterpiece and still get no mercy.

For players it's the obvious answer to the worst PS1 game, and one sums up the studio's next move: "There should be an award for Most Improved Game Developer." Everyone who has tried it ends up with a story about it, which is the only thing it has going for it.