10 Video Games That Wasted Your Money

1. Where’s Waldo?

star wars knights of the old republic 2
Bethesda

Across its decade-long lifespan, the NES/Famicom released more than a few cartridges based on beloved game shows, board games, and miscellaneous outside properties. For instance, there was Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Monopoly, and Win, Lose or Draw.

That said, perhaps none were more egregious and unfulfilling than 1991’s Where’s Waldo?

An early title from Bethesda Studios – who’d previously brought Home Alone and The Terminator to the same consoles – Where’s Waldo? was a decent concept in theory but an unavoidably awful concept in execution.

Why? Because the illustrations were too limited (in terms of both design and scale) to make the search for Waldo worthwhile. Paradoxically, the settings were much less crowded than those in the books, yet they were also too full to realistically discover Waldo amongst all of the other barely discernable figures and objects.

Consequently, it becomes a chore to engage with the mystery for more than a couple of minutes.

Those who did persevere, however, found that there are only a handful of levels to conquer before Where’s Waldo? is completely beaten. Hence, there’s no replay value for anyone desperate enough to want another go-round.

Watch Next


In this post: 
Video Games
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Hey there! Outside of WhatCulture, I'm a former editor at PopMatters and a contributor to Kerrang!, Consequence, PROG, Metal Injection, Loudwire, and more. I've written books about Jethro Tull, Opeth, and Dream Theater and I run a creative arts journal called The Bookends Review. Oh, and I live in Philadelphia and teach academic/creative writing courses at a few colleges/universities.