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Dragon’s Lair chosen the most overrated video game of all time

If you’re like Web Watch, you’ve likely spent hundreds – if not thousands – of quarters at the local mall arcade playing Pac-Man, Defender, Smash TV, Zaxxon, Spy Hunter, any number of pinball games like the Addams Family machine, iRobot, and many others.

And while you may have your own personal favorite to play because you were good at the game or you liked the storyline, there’s that one machine that everybody seems to love (or at least, think nostalic about) but everyone hated to play.

Except for That One Guy who knew all the right moves at all the right times.

Dragon's Lair / Space Ace / Dragon's Lair 220th Anniversary of Dragon’s Lair
(includes Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair II)

Yup, we’re talking about that laserdisc cartoon game DRAGON’S LAIR.

The beauty of the game is that it was so freakishly difficult to get the control timing down just right, very few people actually were able to play all the way to the end to rescue the princess.  The entire end game was a mystery to many.  Heck, Web Watch didn’t get to see the whole thing until the Dragons Lair DVD edition came out and we were not only able to play the game, but also able to watch the entire game from end-to-end without that annoying play-by-play.

Stupid joystick.

All this and more have led one writer to proclaim that DRAGON’S LAIR IS THE MOST OVERRATED VIDEO GAME, EVER.   We can’t find much fault with listing Dragon’s Lair on this list, although we question the use of the word “overrated” instead of “disappointing”, as the game itself did provide entertainment and humor – the trouble was making it through.

Heck, even the second laserdisc game SPACE ACE suffered from the same control issues, but saved itself by being significantly funnier (and, in a creepy cartoony way, sexier) thanDRAGON’S LAIR was.  You’d think that if the original was overrated, any subsequent game on the same platform would also be singled out for even being released in the first place.

Some of the comments in the article do agree that HALO deserves to be on the list (or not, depending on the point of view).  But other people believe the following should also have been included:

  • Angry Birds
  • Farmville
  • Final Fantasy (the later years)

The best part about this article is that one of the senior review editors for this site jumped into the commenting fray and defended the choices of focusing on slightly newer games for this list rather than looking at the entire plethora of available titles to judge from.

 I’ll throw down against anyone who wants to argue 80s and 90s video gaming anywhere, any time. You pick the time period, system, and genre, and I’ll supply the vitriol. If you’re gonna front, youngster, you better bring it.

Gotta love anyone who recognizes not just that their list is incomplete, but WHY their list is incomplete… and offers a challenge to anyone willing to make a list of their own.

So we can argue about what games are the most overrated, but let’s make it a bit more personal.  You read the reviews, you rushed out and made sure you were the Very First Person Ever to play the latest, greatest game to be released.

So, WHAT VIDEO GAME DISAPPOINTED YOU THE MOST when you actually got to play it?  The game that was so overhyped and promoted that when you finally sat down with your Mountain Dew to play, you ended up throwing the controller across the room and said, “WTF?”.  Leave your comments below and tell us your choice.

We’ll start with some of ours, and while they may be a bit obvious, Web Watch will question why you think that these two gimmees shouldn’t be listed:

  • Atari 2600 ET
  • Atari 2600 Indiana Jones

Your thoughts?