Bad Covers: Worst video game covers ever

published 21 October 2012

Black Belt

Apparently the 'most life-like karate game ever made', it didn't seem necessary to make much of an effort to make that apparent on the cover. A random kicking foot should do it right?

Platform: SEGA Master System | Release date: 1986

Blood 'N' Guts

Like a Barbarian version of the Olympic games, we loved the idea of wiggling a joystick through tug of war and cat throwing, but were less enamoured by a cover featuring He-Man figurine cast offs.

Platform: Commodore 64 | Release date: 1986

Seaman

A console before his time, the Dreamcast did deliver some unique games including this one, although you wouldn't know it from the cover. Raising a virtual creature from egg to full fledged fish, the game used the onboard mics and featured narration from Leonard Nimoy.

Platform: SEGA Dreamcast | Release date: 1999

Cheggers Party Quiz

Clinging on to that Z-list celebrity status for dear life, this was no more than your run of the mill quiz game interspersed with random babble from Cheggers. We cannot confirm if he keeps his clothes on...

Platform: Nintendo Wii | Release date: 2007

Cliffhanger

A lycra clad Sly should have been enough of a warning sign to steer clear from this movie game tie-in based on the 1993 Hollywood flick. With six poorly presented levels of platformer action featuring Stallone's character Gabe, this was one to definitely give a miss.

Platform: Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega CD, Sega Game Gear | Release date: 1993

Crack Down

The arcade to Mega Drive port featured characters Ben and Andy blowing sh*t up in this top down strategy title. Of course the best thing about Crack Down was that it had a goat, a monkey (hiding in the corner) and two men intensly firing guns into the distance.

Platform: SEGA Mega Drive | Release date: 1991

Trevor McFur in Crescent Galaxy

One of the few Jaguar launch titles, the side-scrolling shooter featured corporal Trevor McFur who you can see here hugging another feline character. This was a game that was as bad as its cover.

Platform: Atari Jaguar | Release date: 1993

Fester's Quest

Uncle Fester has it tough. No one really likes him, and he did nothing to endear himself to anyone by putting his big mug on this awful game based on the TV show from the 60s.

Platform: NES | Release date: 1989

Party Babyz

Three babies. Two with party hats, one with an impeccable side parting all shaking maracas. What more is there to say?

Platform: Nintendo Wii | Release date: 2008

Irritiating Stick

Based on a Japanese game show where the aim of the game is to weave a rod around a maze without getting electrocuted. But you got that from the cover right?

Platform: Sony PlayStation | Release date: 1998/99

Karnaaj Rally

We have no idea who the guy is on the front of the cover with the coloured hair, but Karnaaj Rally the game was actually a decent Micro Machines-style racer for the Advance. You have to wonder how many got put off buying it because of the cover though.

Platform: Game Boy Advance | Release date: 2003

Ninja Golf

It sounds like something Alan Partridge would pull out in a meeting with a BBC commissioner, but we are not sure what is stranger, the ridiculousness of the cover or the premise of a game that we would love to see in the Olympics.

Platform: Atari 7800 | Release date: 1990

Phalanx

What better way to sell a sci-fi shooter than to put a bearded man playing the banjo on the cover? We would have loved to have been in that meeting...

Platform: Super Nintendo | Release date: 1992

Rival Turf

Capcom delivered this great co-op two player beat-em up tas a follow up to Final Fight and decided to employ what look like the US equivalent of PJ and Duncan to make the big cover sell.

Platform: Super Nintendo | Release date: 1992

Russell Grant's Astrology

If seeing his face in the back pages of the tabloids is not enough for you, big Russ brings his astrological powers to the DS. Just look at that adorable face.

Platform: SEGA Master System | Release date:

Snow White and Seven Clever Boys

Heading straight for a lawsuit from Mickey and company, publisher Phoenix games had something of a habit of serving up these forgettable titles with cover art that is also memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Platform: PlayStation 2 | Release date: 2006

Sukeban Shachou Rena

Apparently this became one of the worst selling Wii games ever and never made it out of Japan. Maybe it had something to do with the cover, maybe it was simply a game that was too insane for human consumption.

Platform: Nintendo Wii | Release date: 2009

Super bust-a-move

Look at the adorable baby with sunglasses and Super bust-a-move plastered on his forehead? There was nothing cute about using this on the cover of the addictive puzzler.

Platform: Sony PlayStation 2 | Release date: 2000

Third World War

Here we have Saddam Hussein and former US President Bill Clinton shaking on a deal to never mention that they featured on the cover of a game for the Mega CD.

Platform: SEGA CD | Release date: 1994

Tongue of the Fatman

No one has attempted to re-create this iconic cover of a close-up of a man's face with purple lipstick and marbles stuck up the nose as eyes. Unsurprisingly the beat-em up underneath the box art was equally as bizarre.

Platform: PC | Release date: 1989

Ultimate Duck Hunting

Quickly, throw on a really big picture of a dog, a man in a camouflage jacket and maybe squeeze in a picture of a duck'. Another Wii classic.

Platform: Nintendo Wii | Release date: 2007

Unknown PSP game

We can't seem to find the name of it, but for the fact that it features two teary-eyed muscly men hugging each other and what looks like Thomas the Tank Engine, there was no way we couldn't include it.

Platform: PSP | Release date: Unknown

Winning Post 3

The key to promoting a horse racing simulation game in Japan It seems is to use a school girl with a mask holding the leashes to several dogs. Thankfully this one didn't make it overseas.

Platform: SEGA Saturn | Release date:1998

Babarian Ultimate Warrior

Take one page three model and Gladiators scary man Wolf put them both on the cover and watch the controversy flood in. Complaints came from all corners as teenage boys decided where to put their free poster.

Platform: Commodore 64 | Release date: 1987

Chinese Juggler

Measuring high on the offensive scale, publisher Ocean probably wouldn't have got away with this in 2012 and we are not just talking about the cover…

Platform: Commodore 64 | Release date: 1984

Cowboy Kid

Cowboy and Indian side-by-side all shiny like they were Village People extras, the NES platformer actually offered decent gunslinger action, it's just a shame that the cover didn't really convey it.

Platform: Nintendo NES | Release date:1992

Dudes with Attitudes

If the sun was red, had a face with a moustache and wore an eye patch, it would probably look a lot like this. If you had this fast paced puzzler for the NES, the cover probably gave you nightmares.

Platform: Nitnendo NES | Release date: 1990

Ghost House

Clearly having spent all the money on the riveting 4-bit gameplay, SEGA decided the best way to convey the spooky nature of running around Count Dracula's mansions was to take a picture of the cartridge and plaster it on the front cover.

Platform: SEGA Master System | Release date: 1986

Mega Man

The words 'State of-the-Art' clearly do not apply to a cover that seems to age the star of the side scrolling classic quite considerably as yellow crisps fly a not so young looking Mega Man.

Platform: Nintendo NES | Release date: 1987

Cock'In

What is the best way to depict a game about a cockerel protecting its eggs? Simple. Feature a man and woman who look like they walked out of the 50s holding an egg while a fish nibbles at her elbow.

Platform: Commodore 64 | Release date: 1983

X-Man

A bit of blue for Atari 260 owners, the adult video game involved guiding a naked man through a maze and avoiding crabs and scissors that can cut off your manhood as it is so brilliantly illustrated.

Platform: Atari 2600 | Release date:1983

Michael Sawh studied Journalism and Media Studies at Staffordshire University before joining T3 as a Feature Writer. You can find articles by Michael on the topics of Apple products, Android phones, laptops, bikes, games consoles, smartwatches and much more on T3.com, as well as neat retrospectives on classic tech products, events and game series.