New Contender for WORST OF ALL TIME: Uchusen (Evercade)

[Jonpachi]

Today I got the latest Evercade release: INDIE HEROES COLLECTION 1. On the cart you'll find a collection that consists mainly of 2D platformers and RPGs, with one shmuppy exception: Uchusen: Ultimate Ploid Battle.

Take a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3odNQep13o

As stated by the developer in the instruction manual for the game, "Uchusen is a horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up that brings the Ploid saga to a close. You'll take control of the devastating, high-tech war machine Kairos as you attempt to beat back the deadly Uchusen invaders and take the battle to them. Can you break through to the enemy base and win the intergalactic war once and for all? The ultimate Ploid battle is about to begin!"

I don't care that the graphics and sound are rudimentary, and I expect there to be a bit of input lag and/or bugginess. I also don't expect innovation. The games on these collections are largely made as love letters to specific moments in time, or even to specific classic titles, and that's FINE. I want to support the creative efforts of these developers, and all I'm focused on are the creative decisions made there-in. So here we go...

- Your ship cannot move diagonally. Up, Down, Left and Right... that's it. If you hit a diagonal, you simply don't move at all.
- Your ship has inertia. BAD, Sonic 1 style inertia. Go from sluggishly crawling left and right to careening into the wall in seconds.
- There's a health-bar, but NO LIVES - If you die you go back to the title screen. No lives, no continues, no mercy.
- Pathetic Power-Ups - The main power-up is used only to extend the length of your shot, which goes about 1/4 of the screen by default. You'll max out in seconds, rendering all incoming power-ups useless.

I can't recall a more miserable shmup experience. To top it off, this is a revised, exclusive "Evercade Edition." This game feels like someone read the thread defining Euroshmups and said, "Nice list. Lemme get back to you." The experience is so bad that it becomes fascinating to play. I was trying to imagine the developer showing a build off to a friend, saying, "Hey, give this a go!" and then watching as they awkwardly floated about, silent, numb, sad, and thought, "I've nailed it!"

Has anyone else experienced this hell? Come at me if you have a worse game that can possibly dethrone this mess!

[Marc]

Ouch. I've only picked up four carts as of yet, even at the low price point I don't think I'll be bothering with this one. There's a Metro Cross rip that looks kind of neat, other than that......

[Jonpachi]

Ouch. I've only picked up four carts as of yet, even at the low price point I don't think I'll be bothering with this one. There's a Metro Cross rip that looks kind of neat, other than that......

That one is also quite bad. Love the inspiration, but it's designed to look and feel like a Gen 1 Gameboy game.

[BrianC]

As far as I know, Chain Break actually is a game boy game. There are some actual NES and Genesis games in the collection too.

yup

Uchusen is an actual NES game and the original version is oddly toted as a Metroidvania. I agree it looks bad.