As a child of the 90s, I have seen some of the best basketball players to ever grace the hardwood. By the time I was really into the sport, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were driving the Chicago Bulls to two sets of three-peats against legendary opponents like Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, and the list could go on and on. Then I saw the budding careers of the next generation of legends such as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Lebron James in their entirety. Over the course of my life, the game has definitely changed, but the fun has always remained.

The same could be said for basketball-related video games. There were some real gems that I cannot help but remember fondly. The quality has improved dramatically, both in graphics, presentation, and gameplay. Truly, some of the best games available now are basketball video games. But like most things in life, the terrible ones were unforgettable to point of causing trauma. Yes, there is no post dramatic stress disorder for encountering awful video games, but the mention of those titles often make you cringe, even twenty or thirty years later.

The 90s was a great decade for gaming, but there were so many awful games during this era, especially of the basketball variety. If you don’t know of some of these games, be thankful that you never shelled out $60 of allowance savings to purchase it. Here is a list of some of the worst basketball video games of all time.

15 White Men Can’t Jump

via youtube (TheGameHeroes)

White Men Can’t Jump was a landmark movie that is widely-considered a comedic classic and featured some of the nicest Nike sneakers that I have ever seen. High tops were king. Being a sneaker geek, I have those Billy Hoyles. The film itself gave an interesting perspective on the topics of streetball and racial relationships during this time period. Unfortunately, the video game based on the film had nothing to with the plot of the movie. Not even the main characters are in there. Everything was bad about this game, from unresponsive gameplay down to blocky graphics. In an era of terrible tie-in titles, White Men Can’t Jump not only doesn’t live up to its billing, but it can’t even stand on its own legs without toppling over repeatedly.

14 RapJam Volume 1

via youtube (RETRO OST)

Honestly, I am not sure why rappers would be featured as playable characters in a basketball video game, but this was something that Motown Games thought would sell due to its star power. With the exception of Master P, I can’t think of another rapper who had an incredible balling ability. The graphics were splotchy and plagued with poor lighting. Also, the characters are indistinguishable from each other. Besides playing as Queen Latifah or LL Cool J, there is not much this game could offer as the gameplay was equally as murky. The hilarious thing was that they named this game Volume 1, as if there was going to be a sequel for something this terrible. This is proof that developers during the 90’s cared more about celebrity endorsements than quality gameplay.

13 Michael Jordan Chaos In The Windy City

via youtube (7FoX)

Surely, Michael Jordan was the premier athlete to have endorse your product. Just ask Hanes, Nike, and Gatorade. Even when they asked MJ to step out of his comfort zone to star in Space Jam, the public bought in. One thing that we cannot let Jordan get away with is lending his face to one of the worst 16-bit platformers in the history of gaming. Chaos in the Windy City had a nonsensical plot where you had to rescue your teammates from a mad scientist through the superpower of throwing basketballs to kill zombies and other various beasts. You solved some puzzles to open locked doors and fought off yawn-worthy zombies, birds, and giant spiders. Apparently, there was actually 24 levels in this game, but I gave up after two. For some unexplained reason, there were basketball hoops, where when Jordan dunked on them, basketball-shaped coins would pop out.

12 Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball

via grantland

Bill Laimbeer was part of the Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boys that ran roughshod over the league in the late 80s and early 90s, and also netted the pro team back-to-back titles. He had a reputation for being an unsavory individual that was extremely physical to his opponents. But this was all the reason to have him endorse a full-contact basketball video game. Unfortunately, this came in the form of Bill Laimbeer’s Contact Basketball. Set in the future, armored men play an aggressive version of basketball where you can inflict physical harm in order to get the ball and score, almost like a gaming version of Rollerball. Also, the game is played from an overhead view where it looked like the players are passing around a huge beach ball. It didn’t play like basketball and it got in the way of letting you play as Bill Laimbeer. For shame.

11 Slam City With Scottie Pippen

via youtube (DOS Nostalgia)

There was a time when digitized video was the all the craze in video game development. The good news is that it died a horrible death. The bad news is that it left a lot of collateral damage before the genre finally called it a day. One of the worst of the worst is Slam City with Scottie Pippen on the Sega CD. Though it appeared under the guise of a one-on-one streetball video game, it was actually an interactive video game where it was pretty much a pick-your-adventure type of game that you would find on a modern DVD. This genre popular in the early 90s with infamous titles like Corpse Killer and Night Trap. However, these kinds of full-motion video games had little replay value, as there isn’t much variation to the linear gameplay. Slam City was like watching a cheesy B-movie about basketball loaded with cliché and awful acting. Not even Scottie Pippen spitting rhymes in the intro could save this game.

10 NBA All-Star Challenge

via giantbomb

While it has an NBA license with actual players, NBA All-Star Challenge didn’t offer much in terms of gameplay. Unless you were excited with the prospect of playing one-on-one, H-O-R-S-E, or shooting free throws, this game was a bunch of useless mini-games compiled together in lieu of a full-fledged basketball simulation. No, there is no mode to play an actual all-star game. What you are left with is just a video game that let you practice free-throws by stopping the cursor that darted across the backboard at the correct time. The problem was there wasn’t really a skill to consistently make shots while playing the one-on-one and H-O-R-S-E modes. This led to some interesting moments where you could actual airball a layup, because the controls were so wonky. This mantra came true: If it is made by Beam Software, don’t buy it. Burn it.

9 Jammit

via youtube (10min Gameplay)

Jammit was a streetball game allowing the selection of three players in one-on-one contests. While the game was straightforward, the gameplay left a lot to be deserved. One of the major problems came from the strange lag of the sprites of the various ballers, where it would look the character would be stuck in one frame while driving to the basket. By the time the player got to the basket, it would change the view to a cutscene that would disorient the gamer leading to the mucking of the shot. It was like a cutscene replay of a made shot, except the gameplay was still going on. To be quite honest, that didn’t really matter, anyways. Shots were impossible to make and personal fouls were to be called by the player. What a stupid concept. It should have been called Dammit.

8 Super Slam Dunk

via youtube (Classic Vgm Soundtracks)

As a game lacked an actual NBA license, all of the teams and players are fictional. That being said, it is still weird that a game that is endorsed by Magic Johnson actually doesn’t allow you to play with him in it. The main problem isn’t the lack of Magic, though. The game had this very odd camera rotation when you hit the half-court line, so you ended disoriented as soon as getting a defensive rebound and advancing down the court only to have the court spin around and you end up heading the wrong way. While the presentation was above average for its time, including vocal commentary and nice graphics, the in-game physics were laughable, and the gameplay was dull and sluggish.

7 Shaq-Fu

via giantbomb

Though it is debatable if Shaq-Fu could be considered a terrible basketball game, as it doesn’t have much to do with the sport other than having one of the greatest basketball players of all time in Shaquille O’Neal. Definitely, it was an awful game worthy of all of the hate directed at it, especially when you got it as your birthday present. This game proved that celebrity endorsements couldn’t save the game from being utter crap. Also, it made us realize that developing a balanced fighting game with great gameplay was an amazing achievement that not every development was capable of achieving. Not only were the controls unresponsive, but the plot didn’t help the game one bit. This game drew so much hate that there was a website dedicated to getting rid of every last copy in existence. While it might not be the worst game ever made, it was not a very fun one, to say the least.

6 Barkley Shut Up And Jam

via lofi-gaming

While Barkley Shut Up and Jam wasn’t the worst basketball videos games in the 16-bit era, compared to its rivals like NBA Jam, the game was terrible value for gamers. The streetball aspect of the game wasn’t too bad, capturing the grittiness and look for playground venues. The problem lied with the lack of responsive controls and in-depth strategy. Because the controls were so stiff and dimwitted at various times, it made playing consistent defense an insurmountable task. Most of the time, games just devolved into dunking contests, because defense was impossible. Compared to some of the other contenders on this list, Sir Charles’s title actually put up a fight, but it was mostly a game you should have left on the shelf.

5 NBA Live 06

via shacknews

With so many great titles in the NBA Live franchise, being the weakest of the herd isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But when you have competitors like the 2K franchise breathing down your neck, every hiccup contributes to your downfall. NBA Live 06, perhaps, was the weakest link, containing clunky controls. Somehow, it just didn’t play as well as its predecessor. As a sporting franchise, subsequent titles are supposed to show improvement over the previous year’s entry. This one took a turn for the opposite direction. While not an entire piece of garbage, it should be considered a devolved version of NBA Live 05 with updated rosters. If you spent $59.99 on opening night to pick this up, it must be extremely frustrating to justify this purchase.

4 Pat Riley Basketball

via youtube (DMG Gameplays)

Other than having Pat Riley’s name attached to it, Pat Riley Basketball had very little strategy to the overall gameplay. First of all, the video game lacked an NBA license. It consisted of eight teams, each with a roster of five fictional players. Like a lot of the Sega Genesis sports titles during the Nintendon’t campaign, they were localized ports Japanese-created games that didn’t have the best of gameplay. The gist of the gameplay was to run in for a dunk, which often played a cutscene when attempted. This would be excellent for an arcade title like NBA Jam. For a basketball simulation, it left a lot to be desired.

3 NBA In The Zone ‘98

via video-games-museum

When I play NBA in the Zone ’98 again, I cannot help but notice that graphics in the game was consistently blurry, but nothing caught my eyes more than just how smudgy and distorted the crowds and the actual court was in this game. It didn’t help that the computer never seemed to miss a shot, while you suffered from a subpar offensive control system. The far baseline was extremely hard to distinguish, so setting up for a corner trey was given the added risk of stepping out of bounds. Given all of its shortcomings, In The Zone still had decent gameplay to offer. It just didn’t have what it took to compete with other NBA series. Thus, Konami bowed out of the NBA licensing game soon after.

2 Jordan Vs Bird: One on One

via youtube (nesguide)

If you thought NBA All-Star Challenge was bad, how about the exact same game where you only had a choice of using only Michael Jordan or Larry Bird? Though made by two different developers, both decided to create two of the worst basketball video games ever conceived. The only surprising fact is that this one was created by Electronic Arts, known for their excellent sports franchises. Like NBA All-Star Challenge, gamers had the choice of playing mini-games rather than an actual basketball simulation. You were allowed to play one-on-one, taking part in a slam dunk contest, and having a three-point shootout. Other than that, there wasn’t much to the gameplay. Just rather boring and pricey way to waste an afternoon.

1 NBA Elite 11

via polygon

NBA Elite 11 was saddled with so many glitches that it almost derailed the entire EA presence in NBA video games. It took nearly two more years before NBA Live series was revived after the Elite debacle. While the console versions of this title were never released to the general public, the playable demo was plagued with glitches and errors that were downright laughable, and sometimes catastrophic. During the final development of the game, EA decided the entire product unsatisfactory and killed the game before it hitting the market, leaving the NBA 2K franchise the sole provider of NBA video games all the way until the Fall of 2013. It didn’t help that NBA 2K11 was a masterpiece of a game. The NBA Live series never quite recovered after this.