PlayStation spin-offs have existed since the days of Sony's original console. While some proved worthy of carrying the license's name, others failed to deliver the good. As the worst PlayStation spin-offs released during the 2010s deserve their own list, this will focus on games predating the last decade.
To keep things interesting, each franchise will be limited to one entry. Only one game will be noted to represent each series in the hopes of keeping this list more diverse. Some of these scores we agree with, while others are a little low for our liking. From top to bottom, let’s see what series got it the worst.
10 Crash Twinsanity (64)
While technically a main entry in the series, Crash Twinsanity was released way after Naughty Dog stopped taking care of the franchise and features enough modifications to the Crash Bandicoot formula to qualify for this list. Furthermore, all the games released after Warped tend to be judged separately from the original trilogy.
Initially, pairing Crash with his arch-nemesis Dr. Cortex seemed like a funny idea for a game. The execution was severely lacking though. Not enough interesting ideas were done with the concept and the controls were frustrating. That’s the exact thing developers should try and avoid when making a platformer. Having to redo sections on repeat was traumatic.
9 Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (57)
In celebration of Final Fantasy VII’s upcoming tenth anniversary in 2007, Square Enix announced a plethora of spin-offs, including the film Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus.
Dirge of Cerberus starred Vincent in a Devil May Cry-esque scenario involving remnants of Shinra banning together for one last nasty deed. Other characters like Yuffie and Cait Sith do make appearances, which was nice to see again at the time, but the story is overdramatic and it doesn’t feel as satisfying to play as the games it was trying to clone.
8 Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (54)
This is the PS3 version of the game, but just as a reference, the PS2 edition got a 52. Anyway, we find that critics are unjustly biased against Dynasty Warriors games and its many spin-offs. Yes, they don’t look great and, more often than not, are the same thing year after year, but there is nothing wrong with some mindless fun every now and again.
This is all to say the fan service found in Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is off the charts, which is to say anime fans will eat it up. Just be sure to play with a friend.
7 BMX XXX (54)
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX was not as popular a franchise as Tony Hawk’s skateboarding empire, but it was still a good series of extreme bike games. BMX XXX then was a spin-off to try and fit a Grand Theft Auto-like open-world into the franchise along with trying out the same tone.
The early 2000s were lousy with games trying to be "adult-oriented," with examples including The Guy Game and to a lesser extent Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. In the latter game’s defense, the volleyball portion was fun. BMX XXX is an embarrassment to the industry.
6 Death by Degrees (51)
Death by Degrees kind of fits into that same lewd mold that was trying to market itself to growing teenagers who couldn’t get their hands on a magazine or computer. The game stars Tekken's Nina Williams, who is out on a secret mission.
Death by Degrees is basically a brawler that uses the right stick for all input combos, which was interesting at the time. The lewd part comes from the fact that damage rips Nina's clothes. Even without that questionable feature, it’s just not a solid experience.
5 Pac-Man Fever (47)
No, this is not a music rhythm game as one might think based on the name. The joke there is that “Pac-Man Fever” was a song about being addicted to the arcade game by Buckner and Garcia. Give it a listen.
Anyway, this is a party game in a similar style to Mario Party. The one interesting tidbit about Pac-Man Fever is that it features crossovers with several franchises like Tekken, SoulCalibur, and many others. Too bad the mini-games were not fun to play.
4 Shadow the Hedgehog (45)
Why did Vincent get a game above several other, better, Final Fantasy VII characters? The 2000s were all about celebrating angst-ridden heroes, so he was a natural fit for young boys and budding teenagers.
That is probably the exact reason why Shadow the Hedgehog was made as well. Give a Sonic the Hedgehog character a gun and let it go to town. The shooting elements aren’t even the most problematic feature about the game, but they sure don’t help much either.
3 Resident Evil: Survivor (39)
Resident Evil: Survivor was a late release for the PS1 in 2000, which is a big reason why it failed so hard. Light gun games aren’t inherently bad outside of the arcade scene, but this one was too little too late.
Fans were ready to move on in terms of the story, location, and graphics. There was nothing cool enough about Survivor to hook even the most diehard of fans.
2 Frogger: The Great Quest (32)
Frogger is a classic arcade game and is as synonymous with quality as Pac-Man. Like the yellow orb, this green amphibian had a hard time fitting into the console market.
The Great Quest was Konami’s attempt at a reboot, or spin-off, taking the simple hopping of the original and turning it into a 3D platformer on the scope of Super Mario 64. Unfortunately, it did not live up to that scale and is a dreadful experience from top to bottom.
1 Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (28)
This series actually put out two spin-offs in the brawler genre. They were Special Forces starring Jax and Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, starring, well, look at the title. While both games are bad, the former is an especially atrocious disaster.
At best, Special Forces is an example of what not to do when making a video game. We will give the team credit though for 2005's Shaolin Monks, which actually followed through on the ideas found in Special Forces.