Underappreciated Licensed Games

Highlights

• Star Wars: Starfighter offers campy story bits but solid gameplay, switching between characters and ships for variety and fun.
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! may have few levels but offers a surprising mix of challenges and memorable moments.
• Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People is a subtle episodic experience best enjoyed by fans of the webtoon it’s based on.

Consider the licensed video game: a genre that perpetually exists between the realms of ‘surprisingly decent’ to ‘exaggerated YouTube thumbnail fodder’ among its most famous and infamous entries. It makes sense that many would fall on the latter side, given how the goal is often more focused on tying the game into an existing property rather than allowing the developers to craft an engaging experience.

But while there are definitely some genuinely good licensed games out there, like the beloved Batman: Arkham series, a good chunk of them seem doomed to obscurity despite their quality. So here are a few that either get an arguably unfair bad rap or are simply so unknown that you may not have even heard of them.

11 Star Wars Episode 1: Battle For Naboo

• Platform:
  N64, PC
• Developer:
  Lucasarts, Factor 5
• Release Date:
  December 15, 2000

Star Wars Episode 1: Battle for Naboo is a Nintendo 64 game that places you in the cockpit of various land and spaceships in the Star Wars universe. While set during the events of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, it tells an original story with its own characters.

This game is often left in the shadow of its much more well-known cousin Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. But you’d be well-served to check it out if you haven’t, as it offers some engaging gameplay that holds up today, and even includes plenty of unlockable ships for those just itching to drive a 1969 Buick convertible around the streets of Theed (no, that isn’t a joke).

10 Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!

• Platform:
  SNES
• Developer:
  Konami
• Release Date:
  February 1993

They’re tiny, they’re tooney, they’re on the SNES… ooney. Based on the Looney Tunes spinoff series from the ’90s, this Tiny Toon Adventures game boasts a surprising amount of variety that’ll have you platforming through a school, attempting to win a football game, and fighting ‘Duck Vader’ (sorry for the spoiler).

Despite only boasting six levels (and five on the lowest difficulty), this is one that will leave an impression. Just don’t brag too much if you can beat the Hampton minigame in one try.

9 The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

• Platform:
  PC, PS2, GCN, Xbox, OS X
• Developer:
  EA Redwood Shores
• Release Date:
  November 6, 2003

Here’s where things can get into a bit of a gray area, because this is one of two Lord of the Rings games still considered classics among fans. However, it seems that its predecessor, The Two Towers, often dominates the discussion due to its more streamlined and tight experience.

But The Return of the King deserves a pedestal of its own, not just for its satisfying hack and slash gameplay and robust cast of playable characters, but also due to the oddly hilarious behind-the-scenes material with the actual movie actors included right on the disc.

8 Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

• Platform:
  PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, DS
• Developer
  : Beenox
• Release Date:
  September 7, 2010

Your cup may runneth over these days with bountiful supplies of excellent Spider-Man games, but, back in the golden age of Uncharted and endless Guitar Hero clones, pickings were a bit more slim.

However, that doesn’t mean the quality wasn’t there. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions brought together several versions of the webhead from throughout the multiverse before it was cool, offering varying gameplay styles from classic beat-em-up to a Batman: Arkham-inspired stealth mechanic.

7 Star Wars: Starfighter

• Platform:
  PS2, Xbox, PC, PS3
• Developer:
  Lucasarts
• Release Date:
  February 21, 2001

Yep, this is going to be a Star Wars-heavy list. Sorry, it comes with the territory. Star Wars: Starfighter follows in the spirit of Battle for Naboo with both its setting and theming, telling its own original story during the events of The Phantom Menace.

But this time, things are a bit more varied, with three different characters swapping the lead role along with each of their respective signature ships. The story bits are often hilariously campy, but the gameplay is more than serviceable and feels great when you really click with it.

6 Aladdin

• Platform:
  SNES, GBA
• Developer:
  Capcom
• Release Date:
  November 21, 1993

Much like the aforementioned The Lord of the Rings games, this is another one that still enjoys a fair bit of praise. But it’s often tossed aside during discussions in favor of its Sega Genesis counterpart, which brought in actual Disney animators to create its still incredible visuals.

But the SNES version of Aladdin is worth its own discussion. While both iterations boast enjoyable gameplay, this one is arguably tighter and more engaging, with a greater focus on platforming than the sword combat seen on the Genesis.

5 Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing

• Platform:
  Lucas Learning
• Developer:
  PS2
• Release Date:
  April 25, 2001

Oh, did someone order a hot take? You might already be familiar with Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing for occupying a spot in many a list of ‘worst Star Wars games’ throughout the internet. But what do you know about the game itself?

Super Bombad Racing offers some potentially Mario Party-esque levels of chaos among friends. Aside from controlling well enough, it allows for you to really mess with the other racers through tons of shortcuts and often admittedly cheap items. Maybe bring some controllers you don’t mind getting tossed out a window.

4 Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People

• Platform:
  PC, Wii, PS3, OS X
• Developer:
  Telltale Games
• Release Date:
  August 11, 2008

Even back in the days before Telltale Games were the go-to folks for having your heart ripped out, the developers were already the go-to folks for scratching that post-Lucasarts point-and-click game itch. They tackled a number of properties before The Walking Dead, one of which was the mid-2000s internet darling Homestar Runner.

With the involvement of Homestar Runner creators Matt and Mike Chapman, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is as subtle as its title is modest. It basically requires you to be a fan of the webtoon, but hey, maybe the chaos of uncertainty will make this episodic experience that much sweeter.

3 Hook

• Platform:
  SNES
• Developer:
  Ukiyotei
• Release Date:
  1992

Back to the SNES for some more surprisingly decent side-scrolling action. Hook follows the events of the 1991 film of the same name starring Robin Williams as a washed-up Peter Pan.

Thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately, the gameplay begins when Peter is already in Neverland, so you don’t get the chance to experience his domestic troubles and airplane panic attacks. They’d probably be hard to render in 16-bit anyway.

2 The Simpsons Game

• Platform:
  DS, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP
• Developer:
  EA Redwood Shores
• Release Date:
  October 30, 2007

Ask anybody what the best video game based on The Simpsons is and they’ll more than likely tell you it’s The Simpsons: Hit & Run. But as some little green guy once said, there is another.

The Simpsons Game is a multiplatform experience made to tie into The Simpsons Movie when it came out, though it tells its own self-contained (and hilariously self-aware) story. Along with generally smooth gameplay, it also includes a hefty chunk of original Simpsons animation made specifically for the game.

1 Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge Of The Sith

• Platform:
  PS2, Xbox
• Developer:
  The Collective
• Release Date:
  May 5,

Between heavy hitters like Knights of the Old Republic and Episode 1: Racer, Star Wars is no stranger to crafting some true classics in the gaming space. But there’s one more that arguably deserves its own spot in that pantheon.

Revenge of the Sith is what it says on the tin, an adaptation of the movie that shares its namesake. But where it excels is some often sublime lightsaber combat that bleeds into a shockingly fun one-on-one fighting game hidden away in the extras. That’s not to mention an alternate ending where Anakin actually defeats Obi-Wan, cruelly robbing the Star Wars fandom of so many memes.