Every week the LeftStickRight team will take on a different topic surrounding news or interesting topics about games or the gaming industry and open it up for discussion. Our three editors will give their perspective and you are welcome to give your own. Agree? Disagree?

The topic this week is: Can there ever be a “B-Movie” video game? Are there games that are so bad that you actually enjoy them for a completely different reason than it was intended?

Ian Y’s Take

There are plenty of great games out there with a B-Movie feel (think No More Heroes). But those were done so intentionally. Quite frankly I can’t think of any games that are bad in a way that they’re unintentionally enjoyable. Perhaps because most of the criteria with which I’d use to judge if a game was good or bad involve things like mechanics or controls. Unlike a B-Movies games have objectives and a competitive aspect. So bad games, with bad mechanics just make for a bad experience. The only examples of “so bad it’s good” that come to mind include some one liners from Resident Evil 1. (It’s blood, Chris’ blood!)

Ian H’s Take

For me, even a B-Movie has a singular purpose. A movie that was either designed to be awful or just ends up being of Ed Wood calibur starts in a place that is centered around at least a solid idea executed in the worst possible way. With games, the crux of the experience is centered along the controls, and getting that wrong doesn’t often come across as charming as much as frustrating.

When you play a game, when you press a button you expect it to respond. Whether or not it does what you say in context can be the difference between a positive and negative experience. I find that most of the games people consider to be “B-games” are usually mired in poor controls with a hilariously bad story surrounding it. Most game stories are laughable regardless, so having one slightly moreso doesn’t suddenly make it a good reason to play.

Glitches in games are more akin to the idea of “so bad it is good” in a game. Unintentional errors that cause unique experiences are what would better define a B grade style. Open worlds that allow you to drive a car through a wall and get caught underneath the ground, or physics that cause a ragdolled character to fly 600 feet into the air is what makes me laugh and get my recommendation for “This is so awful! You have to try it!”

Tim’s Take

The “so bad, it’s good” moniker is more difficult to pinpoint than I originally thought. If you want to imply these games are enjoyable in a way which the developers didn’t intend, you need to be sure the developers didn’t intend that very aspect in the first place. “Know what we need?” they could have asked at their roundtable meeting. “Enough schlock to choke a horse.”

“Not schlock,” would’ve come the inevitable reply. “Shaq.”

If the top reason for creating Shaq Fu was not to recreate the horrifying-yet-inescapable attraction people have toward train accidents and Heidi Mantag, there must have been a small rise in developers attending AA meetings not long after its release.

“You must let go of your crutch; break whatever emotional grip bonds you to liquor!”

“I… My company made me make Shaq Fu.”

“You just hold tight to that bottle, son.”

So yes, a fighting game was made starring Shaquille O’Neal in mystical settings trying to save a kid from a mummy. Yes, it was as playable as Shaq’s similarly-titled rap album is listenable. And yes, you still want to try it if you haven’t already because the idea is so cringingly cheesy that it drips awesomeness. And cheese. The only real regret regarding the creation of Shaq Fu is that they never made a game with Charles Barkley, too.