The following is reprinted
from Uncle
John's Unsinkable Bathroom Reader
If you think about it, Pac-Man is a strange game concerning a tiny, pie-shaped
creature who ate power pills so that he could catch ghosts. That's an
odd premise, but nothing compared to these ... behold, the 14 weirdest
video games in history:
SOCKS THE CAT ROCKS THE HILL (1992)
Socks, the pet cat of President Bill Clinton, must get to the Oval Office
to warn the president about a stolen nuclear bomb. To do that, he must
defeat villains including Russian spies, the press corps, and former presidents
Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush.
CHAOS IN THE WINDY CITY (1994)
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan battles an army of basketball-headed
zombies that has invaded Chicago. To defeat them, he uses an arsenal of
magic basketballs (including fiery-hot basketballs and ice-block basketballs).
TOOBIN' (1988)
Toobin' Atari game (Source: World
of Spectrum)
At the beginning of the game, the player floats down a backwoods river
in an inner-tube race. Things suddenly take a turn for the worse as the
player is chased by dinosaurs, ancient Inca warriors, and angry hillbillies.
BILL LAIMBEER'S COMBAT BASKETBALL (1991)
Basketball is supposed to be a non-contact sport. Not the way Laimbeer
played it. As a Detroit Piston in the 1980s, he was well-known for frequent
flagrant fouls and starting fights on the court. His notoriety led to
this futuristic basketball game in which players punch, kick, push, and
throw bombs at each other.
COOL
SPOT (1993)
In the early 1990s, 7-Up created a mascot - an anthropomorphic dot (with
arms, legs, and sunglasses) based on the red dot in the 7-Up logo.
The Spot was licensed for this game, which was essentially one long 7-Up
ad in which the character wanders around a beach firing soda bubbles at
enemies.
MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOONWALKER (1990)
[YouTube Link]
A drug dealer named Mr. Big has kidnapped some children and takes them
to the Moon, where he plans to use a laser cannon to destroy the Earth.
As Michael Jackson, you have to defeat Mr. Big and his cronies by using
dance moves that shoot "magic rays."
THE TYPING OF THE DEAD (2000)
Screenshot of Typing of the Dead from Just
Games Retro
This semi-educational game is supposed to teach kids to type and spell.
In order to fend off hungry zombies, you have to accurately type words.
Get them right, the zombies leave you alone. Misspell, and the zombies
will eat your b-r-a-i-n.
EXODUS (1991)
After solving some difficult logic puzzle, you have to answer questions
about the Bible. Get those right, and you get to control Moses. The goal
is to spread the word of God by shooting large Ws (for "word of God")
at ancient Israelites.
THE FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF DIZZY (1991)
A
walking egg named Dizzy must save his family from an evil wizard by solving
puzzles. One of the puzzles: Dizzy must pick certain plants and mix them
in a bottle to make medicine for his sick grandpa egg.
DRUM MASTER (2006)
In the game Guitar Hero, you get a plastic guitar and play along with
well-known rock songs. Drum Master is made for the handheld Nintendo DS
- you get to drum along with popular songs with two toothpick-sized sticks.
JOHN DEERE'S HARVEST IN THE HEARTLAND (2007)
IGN has the review
of this unusual game, John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland
Using various John Deere tractors and farm implements, you have to plant
crops, fertilize crops, harvest crops, and milk cows. (And it's one giant
ad for John Deere.)
FACE TRAINING (2007)
[YouTube Link]
Using a small camera that attaches to the TV, you have to copy the facial
expressions the game tells you to make.
PRINCESS TOMATO IN THE SALAD KINGDOM (1991)
On a mission from the dying King Broccoli, the noble knight Sir Cucumber
has to rescue Princess Tomato from her captor, Minister Pumpkin. Sir Cucumber
is assisted by Percy, a baby persimmon.
TOILET KIDS (1992)
[YouTube Link]
A little kid gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and
is sucked through the toilet into another dimension populated by creatures
who look like bathroom fixtures. The Toilet Kid must then battle with
tough toilet bodyguards and an evil giant urinal.
The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle
John's Unsinkable Bathroom Reader.
The Bathroom Readers' Institute has sailed the seas of science, history,
pop culture, humor, and more to bring you Uncle John's Unsinkable Bathroom
Reader. Our all-new 21st edition is overflowing with over 500 pages of
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Reader Institute.
Seriously though, typing of the dead is pretty much the best game ever made. Aside from the fact that it doesn’t matter if you don’t press shift or spacebar it’s about a thousand times better than mavis beacon.
I owned Bill Lambier’s Combat Basketball in the days before Gamestop and trade-in’s. Even as a little kid I knew within two minutes of firing the game up that I had been swindled.
On the other hand, Cool Spot for the SNES was a pretty bad-ass platformer; despite the fact that it is partially responsible for my soda gut.
Dude Shaq Fu rocked my childhood. But enough of that. The Spot game was a great platformer. And I just fell out of my work chair watching that michael jackson one. It is CREEEEEEPY – and the ending is amazing… simply amazing.
The Angry Video Game Nerd really needs to do an episode with some of these. I think the only ones that he’s done so far are Moonwalker and Exodus (it was part of the second Bible games episode).
If I were putting together this list, I think I would remove the John Deere game (farming games actually aren’t all that unusual) and replace it with an old NES game called Zombie Nation where you control a big flying samurai head.
I used to have the Michael Jordan game, it was horrible. I remember throwing firey basketballs at people.
Cool Spot was fantastic, I rented it once and loved it.
But by far the weirdest game I’ve ever played was an NES title, Monster Party, where you fight things like Fried Giant Shrimp and Eggplant. Wild, wild stuff.
Cool Spot was cool! The game not the character. I liked Toobin too. There was an arcade version of it that was at the bowling alley, skating rink, and various pizza places.
I was totally just thinking about the Noid and how Avoid the Noid should be on this list! Another NES game that nearly caused me to lose my mind over how poorly built it was: Legacy of the Wizard. Man, I couldn’t figure that one out.
wow, the john deere “harvest in the heartland” looks like a ripoff of harvest moon, which is practically the most useless yet addicting game ever. lame!
Bible Adventures were great games! I had way more fun with those than I did with Mario and other marquee NES games. Good to see there are other fans. Remember trying to put all the animals in the ark? Slaying Goliath? Fun stuff.
The John Deere game is HARD!! You basically have to run a farm; and there’s built in failure like tornados that you have no control over. You wouldn’t believe how intense people get about this game — I think it’s like a training game for FFoA!
Seconds Geekazoid. The Katamari games are epic in their weirdness… and fanTAStic.
I used to play Princess Tomato all the time. One of my favorite games in history. Actually it was a present for me last Christmas after discovering my Nintendo and games were “lost” at my father’s house. “Lost” in the “trash” because clearly my childhood wasn’t that “important”.
Clean Asia! is by far the strangest. The eyeballs of all humans leave their bodies, fly to the moon, develop weapons, and attack the human race, taking over several countries.
Um, okay… this article makes no sense whatsoever. For example, why are Cool Spot and Dizzy in here? Because their protagonists are a dot and an egg, respectively? Well, then we might as well include Pacman (a yellow sphere which eats dots), Super Mario Bros (a plumber who has super-jumping powers and fight enemies by jumping on them), or pretty much half of the games ever made.
And Toobin’. It got on this list because it has silly enemies? There are thousands of games which have even more ludicrous enemies.
I’m not sure what was the thought behind this article.
fun fun fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RSS
Socks, the pet cat of President Bill Clinton, must get to the Oval Office
to warn the president about a stolen nuclear bomb. To do that, he must
defeat villains including Russian spies, the press corps, and former presidents
Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush.
CHAOS IN THE WINDY CITY (1994)
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan battles an army of basketball-headed
zombies that has invaded Chicago. To defeat them, he uses an arsenal of
magic basketballs (including fiery-hot basketballs and ice-block basketballs).
TOOBIN' (1988)
Toobin' Atari game (Source: World
of Spectrum)
At the beginning of the game, the player floats down a backwoods river
in an inner-tube race. Things suddenly take a turn for the worse as the
player is chased by dinosaurs, ancient Inca warriors, and angry hillbillies.
BILL LAIMBEER'S COMBAT BASKETBALL (1991)
Basketball is supposed to be a non-contact sport. Not the way Laimbeer
played it. As a Detroit Piston in the 1980s, he was well-known for frequent
flagrant fouls and starting fights on the court. His notoriety led to
this futuristic basketball game in which players punch, kick, push, and
throw bombs at each other.
COOL
SPOT (1993)
In the early 1990s, 7-Up created a mascot - an anthropomorphic dot (with
arms, legs, and sunglasses) based on the red dot in the 7-Up logo.
The Spot was licensed for this game, which was essentially one long 7-Up
ad in which the character wanders around a beach firing soda bubbles at
enemies.
MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOONWALKER (1990)
[YouTube Link]
A drug dealer named Mr. Big has kidnapped some children and takes them
to the Moon, where he plans to use a laser cannon to destroy the Earth.
As Michael Jackson, you have to defeat Mr. Big and his cronies by using
dance moves that shoot "magic rays."
THE TYPING OF THE DEAD (2000)
Screenshot of Typing of the Dead from Just
Games Retro
This semi-educational game is supposed to teach kids to type and spell.
In order to fend off hungry zombies, you have to accurately type words.
Get them right, the zombies leave you alone. Misspell, and the zombies
will eat your b-r-a-i-n.
EXODUS (1991)
After solving some difficult logic puzzle, you have to answer questions
about the Bible. Get those right, and you get to control Moses. The goal
is to spread the word of God by shooting large Ws (for "word of God")
at ancient Israelites.
THE FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF DIZZY (1991)
A
walking egg named Dizzy must save his family from an evil wizard by solving
puzzles. One of the puzzles: Dizzy must pick certain plants and mix them
in a bottle to make medicine for his sick grandpa egg.
DRUM MASTER (2006)
In the game Guitar Hero, you get a plastic guitar and play along with
well-known rock songs. Drum Master is made for the handheld Nintendo DS
- you get to drum along with popular songs with two toothpick-sized sticks.
JOHN DEERE'S HARVEST IN THE HEARTLAND (2007)
IGN has the review
of this unusual game, John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland
Using various John Deere tractors and farm implements, you have to plant
crops, fertilize crops, harvest crops, and milk cows. (And it's one giant
ad for John Deere.)
FACE TRAINING (2007)
[YouTube Link]
Using a small camera that attaches to the TV, you have to copy the facial
expressions the game tells you to make.
PRINCESS TOMATO IN THE SALAD KINGDOM (1991)
On a mission from the dying King Broccoli, the noble knight Sir Cucumber
has to rescue Princess Tomato from her captor, Minister Pumpkin. Sir Cucumber
is assisted by Percy, a baby persimmon.
TOILET KIDS (1992)
[YouTube Link]
A little kid gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and
is sucked through the toilet into another dimension populated by creatures
who look like bathroom fixtures. The Toilet Kid must then battle with
tough toilet bodyguards and an evil giant urinal.
linty
Charles
Dale
stnmn
Rob
TronStuck
Drea
Have you seen those creepy man-faced fish?
Geekazoid
Gauldar
gtstiggy
Homer J. Simpson
Buttonpusher
Granturista
NatashaLynn
jester
Jen Diggity
runofthelamb
sj
chet
anon
DOJ
Alania
cephalopod
HAHA
Kathy
Jake D.
Dilbert
katzebot
Marcus Pierce
JamesTY
JudgeDeadd
lovin it
Whistler
