From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Licensed games are hit-or-miss. Usually miss, but there's the
occasional good game in the mix. But it helps if the license itself is interesting to start with. And some of the things licensed don't
deserve a game built around them to start with.

There have been a lot of games like that. "Avoid the Noid" based on
the Pizza Hut mascot, or "McDonalds Treasure Land Adventure" or Burger
King's "Big Bumpin'" come to mind. There's a host of terrible
movie-game licensees; so many it's not even worth singling any out. Or
those terrible games based around rock-bands that came out in the late
90s (e.g., "Queen: The Eye"; great music, awful game). A
licensed/branded game is usually a sign of a /bad/ game.

But I stumbled across one game in my collection that, I think, trumps
them all. Not so much because it's a bad game, but because what it's
based on. "Crazy Frog Arcade Racer" is a 2005 racer based on... a
ring-tone. (Remember ring-tones?). I mean, don't get me wrong. It /is/
a bad game... but bad games are a dime a dozen. But a game based on a ring-tone? That's unique.

Can you think of a licensed game weirder than that?




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 3/30/2026 10:52 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Licensed games are hit-or-miss. Usually miss, but there's the
occasional good game in the mix. But it helps if the license itself is interesting to start with. And some of the things licensed don't
deserve a game built around them to start with.

There have been a lot of games like that. "Avoid the Noid" based on
the Pizza Hut mascot, or "McDonalds Treasure Land Adventure" or Burger
King's "Big Bumpin'" come to mind. There's a host of terrible
movie-game licensees; so many it's not even worth singling any out. Or
those terrible games based around rock-bands that came out in the late
90s (e.g., "Queen: The Eye"; great music, awful game). A
licensed/branded game is usually a sign of a /bad/ game.

But I stumbled across one game in my collection that, I think, trumps
them all. Not so much because it's a bad game, but because what it's
based on. "Crazy Frog Arcade Racer" is a 2005 racer based on... a
ring-tone. (Remember ring-tones?). I mean, don't get me wrong. It /is/
a bad game... but bad games are a dime a dozen. But a game based on a ring-tone? That's unique.

Can you think of a licensed game weirder than that?

There is a game on Steam called "Sex With Hitler"
I am totally serious. Look it up. I love Hitler,
but there's way too much sperm in the game for me.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 3/30/2026 7:52 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Licensed games are hit-or-miss. Usually miss, but there's the
occasional good game in the mix. But it helps if the license itself is interesting to start with. And some of the things licensed don't
deserve a game built around them to start with.

There have been a lot of games like that. "Avoid the Noid" based on
the Pizza Hut mascot, or "McDonalds Treasure Land Adventure" or Burger
King's "Big Bumpin'" come to mind. There's a host of terrible
movie-game licensees; so many it's not even worth singling any out. Or
those terrible games based around rock-bands that came out in the late
90s (e.g., "Queen: The Eye"; great music, awful game). A
licensed/branded game is usually a sign of a /bad/ game.

But I stumbled across one game in my collection that, I think, trumps
them all. Not so much because it's a bad game, but because what it's
based on. "Crazy Frog Arcade Racer" is a 2005 racer based on... a
ring-tone. (Remember ring-tones?). I mean, don't get me wrong. It /is/
a bad game... but bad games are a dime a dozen. But a game based on a ring-tone? That's unique.

What's even weirder is I just watched a video where someone played it,
well even weirder, crazy frog racer 2! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_0Ccnjbs8w
37 minutes in if you don't want to watch the rest. She gets into the
origin of crazy frog which was not just a ringtone to begin with.
Actually it seems less crazy than avoid the noid.

Can you think of a licensed game weirder than that?

Sort of. Apperantly Wendy's (burger chain) made a version of the pen-and-paper D&D game (5e I think,) which apperantly was actually
pretty good, possibly even better than the actual 5e game considering it
was simpler. I tried to get hold of it, but it was selling out too
quick and couldn't. Also the Wendy's near me sucks, run by rude people
who always get the order wrong.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:51:11 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
said this thing:

On 3/30/2026 7:52 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Can you think of a licensed game weirder than that?

Sort of. Apperantly Wendy's (burger chain) made a version of the >pen-and-paper D&D game (5e I think,) which apperantly was actually
pretty good, possibly even better than the actual 5e game considering it
was simpler. I tried to get hold of it, but it was selling out too
quick and couldn't. Also the Wendy's near me sucks, run by rude people
who always get the order wrong.

Hah! "Wendy's Feast of Legends Rise From the Deep Freeze"! It's
definitely not available on archive.org so don't look there!

It actually wasn't that bad... once you get past the 'it's a D&D
module based on a hamburger joint' thing. It reminded me of "Sneak
King", which was a surprisingly enjoyable Burger-King themed
video-game (which played well with Burger King's marketing at the
time, which had their mascot being something of a creepy voyeur.
Marketing is weird).

A lot of the weirdest branding revolves around food, didja ever
notice? Like the aforementioned "Avoid the Noid", or "Animal" for
Peperami, or "Pushover" for Quavers. But I guess when your product is
food, lore and character aren't that important, so game developers are
limited in what they can do with the brand.


I remember liking the chili at Wendy's... although I was always very
suspicious at what it was made from. But I haven't had it in decades;
I've no idea if the product still exists... or if the restaurants do,
for that matter. ;-)








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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 3/30/2026 2:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:51:11 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
said this thing:

On 3/30/2026 7:52 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Can you think of a licensed game weirder than that?

Sort of. Apperantly Wendy's (burger chain) made a version of the
pen-and-paper D&D game (5e I think,) which apperantly was actually
pretty good, possibly even better than the actual 5e game considering it
was simpler. I tried to get hold of it, but it was selling out too
quick and couldn't. Also the Wendy's near me sucks, run by rude people
who always get the order wrong.

Hah! "Wendy's Feast of Legends Rise From the Deep Freeze"! It's
definitely not available on archive.org so don't look there!

It actually wasn't that bad... once you get past the 'it's a D&D
module based on a hamburger joint' thing. It reminded me of "Sneak
King", which was a surprisingly enjoyable Burger-King themed
video-game (which played well with Burger King's marketing at the
time, which had their mascot being something of a creepy voyeur.
Marketing is weird).

A lot of the weirdest branding revolves around food, didja ever
notice? Like the aforementioned "Avoid the Noid", or "Animal" for
Peperami, or "Pushover" for Quavers. But I guess when your product is
food, lore and character aren't that important, so game developers are limited in what they can do with the brand.

Toomgus the mascot from am/pm is pretty disturbing too, I don't know if there's any licensing for other stuff.

I remember liking the chili at Wendy's... although I was always very suspicious at what it was made from. But I haven't had it in decades;
I've no idea if the product still exists... or if the restaurants do,
for that matter. ;-)

Wendy's is still here, at least two of them, though the other one that
doesn't have the rude staff is a bit too far for me, but they still
screw up orders at least half the time.

My wife has a taste for their chili. It's not my favorite, not enough
spices, a bit thin and watery and too much tomatoes. Chili's pretty
easy to make so I do that as often as the family can stand, which isn't
a lot. I ate a lot more chili before getting married.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 17:51 this Monday (GMT):

On 3/30/2026 7:52 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Licensed games are hit-or-miss. Usually miss, but there's the
occasional good game in the mix. But it helps if the license itself is
interesting to start with. And some of the things licensed don't
deserve a game built around them to start with.

There have been a lot of games like that. "Avoid the Noid" based on
the Pizza Hut mascot, or "McDonalds Treasure Land Adventure" or Burger
King's "Big Bumpin'" come to mind. There's a host of terrible
movie-game licensees; so many it's not even worth singling any out. Or
those terrible games based around rock-bands that came out in the late
90s (e.g., "Queen: The Eye"; great music, awful game). A
licensed/branded game is usually a sign of a /bad/ game.

But I stumbled across one game in my collection that, I think, trumps
them all. Not so much because it's a bad game, but because what it's
based on. "Crazy Frog Arcade Racer" is a 2005 racer based on... a
ring-tone. (Remember ring-tones?). I mean, don't get me wrong. It /is/
a bad game... but bad games are a dime a dozen. But a game based on a
ring-tone? That's unique.

What's even weirder is I just watched a video where someone played it,
well even weirder, crazy frog racer 2! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_0Ccnjbs8w
37 minutes in if you don't want to watch the rest. She gets into the
origin of crazy frog which was not just a ringtone to begin with.
Actually it seems less crazy than avoid the noid.

Can you think of a licensed game weirder than that?

Theres a Mario Bros clone called Super Bernie World on Steam, and
thankfully it's free to download. Its a perfectly fine game according to
the reviews.

Sort of. Apperantly Wendy's (burger chain) made a version of the pen-and-paper D&D game (5e I think,) which apperantly was actually
pretty good, possibly even better than the actual 5e game considering it
was simpler. I tried to get hold of it, but it was selling out too
quick and couldn't. Also the Wendy's near me sucks, run by rude people
who always get the order wrong.

At least D&D isn't doing all the crossover spam something like MTG is
pulling rn? Also that sounds really funny and I'm sure you could find a
scan of it online somewhere?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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