10 Most Embarrassingly Poor Console Launch Games Of All Time

4. Smurf: Rescue At Gargamel's Castle (ColecoVision)

Smurf Those poor, poor Smurfs. When taken outside their comic and TV show origins, they just can't catch a break. Whether they're polluting the screen in the Neil Patrick Harris-fronted film, or taking part in pap like this, they seem to get beaten an awful lot with the critical stick these days as seemingly as the prime example of franchise bloating. Yet to give Smurf: Rescue At Gargamel's Castle its due, the graphics were actually pretty reasonable for a 1982 games, with a realistically-moving Smurf avatar and some decent environments. Yet where the game fell down was simple €“ much like many other games on this list, there was very little to keep the gamer interested. The controls were incredibly poor, the story was more-or-less non-existent (Smurfette gets captured, that's about it), and the constant grinding repetition of avoiding obstacles with run-jump-repeat with very little variation was just incredibly dull. Simply put, this wasn't a game you'd use to sell a console, and heralded the Smurfs' march into edutainment games and tranformation into a byword for a money-grubbing franchise. The only reason anyone bought it was probably for the Easter egg involving a topless Smurfette, and if you really want to know how that one works, I suggest you need help.
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Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.