10 Most Baffling Licensed Games

There are far fewer games based on existing brands these days, but generally, the ones we do get are much better than they used to be. I think this is because the developers making these games now are actually fans of the source material – the books, movies, or shows they’re based on. It’s a big change from the past, when almost anything – even popular TV sitcoms – would get a tie-in game, regardless of whether the developers understood it.

It’s common for video games based on existing properties – like movies or TV shows – to struggle when the source material doesn’t lend itself well to gameplay. Developers often have to invent strange storylines or completely ignore the original setting just to create something playable. While not every licensed game is bad, these adaptations often feel forced and leave you wondering how anyone thought they could make a good game out of such limited material.

10. Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!

Tim Allen Grunts Not Included

Home Improvement was a popular sitcom that aired from 1991 to 1999. The show starred Tim Allen as a version of himself, hosting a home improvement television program. The events and challenges of the show often mirrored the everyday life of his character and family. While it was a great series, it didn’t offer much material for a video game adaptation, though someone tried anyway.

Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit is a 1994 Super Nintendo game where Tim ‘The Toolman’ Taylor’s new power tools go missing right before a big reveal. They’ve been hidden across the oversized sets of his TV show, which are strangely filled with dinosaurs, ghosts, and other enemies. Tim’s solution? Run through the sets, wielding power tools to blast his way through everything in his path – it’s the only logical thing to do!

Without the context of the TV show, the game is a fairly typical platformer. However, seeing Tim Allen’s character running through a jungle with a laser chainsaw just doesn’t quite fit the show’s atmosphere. It’s also disappointing that there’s no voice acting – we miss hearing his famous grunts!

9. Wayne’s World (NES, 1993)

Definitely Not Worthy

There have only been two video games made based on the movie Wayne’s World, which is surprisingly few. While the SNES and Genesis versions have a strange but understandable story—Wayne and Garth get pulled inside a video game world—the NES version doesn’t really make any sense. It’s odd that there are even two games based on the movie, let alone that one of them lacks a coherent plot.

The NES game came out much later than the versions for SNES and Genesis, for reasons that aren’t really clear. It tries to follow the story of the movie: Wayne and Garth’s show is in danger from a dishonest producer, Wayne finds a girlfriend named Cassandra, and so on. But here’s where it gets strange: between those story moments, Wayne and Garth run around different places fighting things like living musical instruments, ninjas, and even flying TVs! Wayne fights with karate kicks, and Garth has a special gun that shoots electricity.

The other game with the transported-to-another-world storyline is strange, but it at least attempts to explain itself. This NES game, though, is just bizarre for the sake of being bizarre. There’s no real reason why these instruments are after Wayne and Garth – it just is what it is.

8. Goonies 2

Did I Forget a Sequel Somewhere?

Released in 1985, The Goonies is a classic comedy-adventure about a group of kids searching for pirate treasure to save their homes from foreclosure, all while dodging a family of criminals. The film is highly regarded – so much so that it’s been inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry. Interestingly, a video game based on the movie was originally released only in Japan for the Famicom, and even more surprisingly, it got a sequel that was later released in Western markets.

While the first Goonies game closely followed the movie’s story, Goonies 2 barely resembles it. The Fratellis are back, and they’ve kidnapped all the kids from Goon Docks except for Mikey. He must navigate a huge network of caves to save them. Along the way, Mikey somehow befriended a mermaid named Annie, who also gets captured. The game introduces mermaids into The Goonies universe, so you just have to accept that.

The Goonies 2 is a surprisingly detailed action game. You’ll spend a lot of time jumping between platforms, but you can also explore rooms from a first-person view, where you examine and collect items – it’s similar to the classic game Shadowgate. It feels like a game that could have existed without the Goonies license; it would work just as well with a different title, like ‘Kid Cave Adventures’.

7. The Ring: Terror’s Realm

The Least Scary Ring has Ever Been

The film Ring (and its American remake, The Ring) is a well-known horror story about a vengeful spirit who kills people seven days after they watch a haunted video. The premise has potential for a great game – we’ve seen similar Japanese horror themes in games like Fatal Frame, and the film’s villain even appears in Dead by Daylight. However, the game adaptation released in 2000 for the Dreamcast was called The Ring: Terror’s Realm.

Terror’s Realm centers around Meg, a medical researcher who starts a new job at the CDC shortly after her boyfriend dies under strange circumstances. While exploring, she discovers a computer program called “RING” that unexpectedly transports her to a bizarre world inhabited by strange creatures. However, this world has very little connection to the story of Sadako.

The game tries very weakly to connect to the original Ring story, but mostly tells its own cheap horror story. You’ll spend time exploring both the CDC building and a creepy alternate world that feels like a low-budget version of Resident Evil. It’s frustrating because the game could have been good, using the established Ring universe, but it doesn’t really bother to.

6. Sneak King

A Confluence of Confusing Advertising

Most video games based on existing properties are tied to popular TV shows or movies. But there’s another, less common type: games created by restaurants or food brands as a way to promote their products. Classic examples include Cool Spot and Chex Quest, though 2006’s Sneak King is probably the most famously strange and unpopular of these marketing games.

Back in the mid-2000s, Burger King created a memorable ad campaign featuring their King character – a person in a slightly creepy costume who would unexpectedly appear behind people and offer them a burger. As part of this campaign, they released a game called ‘Sneak King,’ which highlighted the King’s ability to seemingly appear anywhere, anytime.

This is a sneaky game where you play as the King and try to surprise people with a burger. It’s similar to the game Hitman, but instead of eliminating targets, you avoid being seen by others and try to get close enough to offer a burger without raising suspicion. While the game wasn’t a critical success, it was a promotional item offered with Burger King meals for just four dollars, and it actually made the company a good amount of money.

5. The Simpsons (1991)

I Don’t Think the Devs Ever Watched The Simpsons

The Simpsons is incredibly well-known – it’s the longest-running animated sitcom on TV. Even people who haven’t seen it likely have a general idea of what the characters are like, just from being around popular culture. However, back in 1991, when the Simpsons arcade game came out, that wasn’t necessarily true, which probably explains why the game’s story doesn’t really match the show.

This beloved beat ‘em up game stars the Simpson family on a day out. Things go wrong when a thief accidentally crashes into Homer, causing a large diamond and Maggie to fall. Maggie starts sucking on the diamond like a pacifier, and the thief, instead of grabbing it, decides to kidnap her! This sets off a frantic chase where Homer and the family fight through a series of bizarre enemies, including a wrestler, a bear, a kabuki performer, and many people dressed as Krusty the Clown.

Despite being quite strange, this game is remembered with a lot of affection. It features easy-to-learn combat, and the levels and bosses are bright and memorable. At the very least, it’s definitely not the worst Simpsons game ever made.

4. Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am

In Fairness, What Else Would an ATHF Game Look Like?

As a big fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s weird and dry humor, I’m honestly baffled by the idea of turning it into a game. The show doesn’t really have a plot, or any consistent rules that would work for a video game. It makes sense that their only official game ended up being about golf – it’s certainly an unexpected connection, but somehow fitting for ATHF’s bizarre style.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is a golf game starring the weird food characters from the show. Frylock signed up to play, and Shake insisted on joining him. Basically, it’s a typical golf simulator – you hit the ball from the tee, aim for the hole, and that’s pretty much it, as Frylock explains in the tutorial.

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. After each shot, you have to physically walk to your ball and hit monsters from the show – things like Brownie Monsters and Mooninites – with your club. There are even boss battles and kart racing sections thrown in! It’s pretty chaotic, but unlike many of these games, it feels like this unusual mix of things was a deliberate choice.

3. Yo! Noid

Why Would You Want to Play as This Guy?

Back in the 1980s, Domino’s Pizza used a character called The Noid in their advertising. He was a bothersome character who would intentionally mess up your pizza delivery, and Domino’s commercials promised you could ‘avoid the Noid’ by ordering from them. While he wasn’t exactly hero material, someone decided he could be redesigned as a video game character.

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Noid is a 1990 Nintendo game where The Noid takes on the role of a hero, protecting New York City from the villainous Mr. Green. Mr. Green is essentially a green version of The Noid, which raises some interesting questions about their connection! The game is a classic side-scrolling platformer, with occasional breaks for simple minigames like eating pizza or a whack-a-mole style game.

Interestingly, this game didn’t start out featuring The Noid or even being about pizza! The original Japanese version, called Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru, was a game about a young masked ninja battling villains. However, Capcom received a significant payment from Domino’s when adapting the game for Western audiences, which led to The Noid becoming the central focus.

2. Blues Brothers 2000

A Baffling Game for a Baffling Movie

It looks like this list includes a lot of sketches from Saturday Night Live. But, The Blues Brothers—the 1980 film starring Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi—is a true classic. Unfortunately, the sequel, Blues Brothers 2000, which was made after Belushi’s death, isn’t nearly as good. It’s one thing to adapt a great movie into a game, but to make a game based on a bad movie? That’s just rough.

Blues Brothers 2000 is an action-packed 3D platforming game that came out two years after the movie, though it was delayed. While it’s based on the film’s story, the game takes things to a much more bizarre level. You start as Elwood escaping from prison, not by simply being released, but by fighting guards and navigating an obstacle course to reach the warden. From there, the game gets increasingly strange, taking you from the streets of Chicago to a graveyard overrun with zombies, and ultimately to a spooky swamp.

To be fair, the movie did include some magical elements and spooky settings. However, it wasn’t very good, and honestly, the same could be said for this game – maybe neither of them should have been made.

1. Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead’s Revenge

Less a “Tie-In,” More “Existing Next to It”

Let’s dive into a bit of horror history! Pumpkinhead is a series of popular, but not mainstream, horror films featuring a scary monster – despite what you might think, it doesn’t actually have a pumpkin for a head. In 1995, shortly after the second film came out, a computer game called Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead’s Revenge was released for older PCs. However, calling it a true tie-in to the movies might be a stretch.

Although based on the film, the game tells a largely separate story. You play as someone tasked with helping the troubled spirit of Pumpkinhead find peace. Gameplay involves exploring a maze similar to the classic game Doom, fighting enemies, and collecting crystals from another dimension. These crystals unlock scenes from the movie, which then provide you with useful items and keys to progress.

Aside from the final boss fight with Pumpkinhead, the game doesn’t actually include anything from the movie itself. You mostly just watch cutscenes and try to figure out what you’re supposed to do. The crystal collecting I talked about earlier is explained only in the game manual – the game doesn’t tell you about it, and even having seen the film wouldn’t give you much of a clue.

2026-02-03 23:12