Codename S.T.E.A.M. never sat right with me.
"Double You Double You Double You"
How do you pronounce this?
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Great games with terrible names
- Thread starter Unknownlight
- Start date
It's literally referring to air, but okay.The reverse of that other thread.
Personally, I have to go with Breath of the Wild. I've never been able to get out of my head the imagery of some wild beast breathing its disgusting breath on you.
I was going to say Demon's Souls or New Super Mario Bros, but this is a much better (worse) one
Full Metal Furies is a great game that absolutely bombed, and the title is likely a significant part of why (in addition to a lack of marketing/hype and a focus on co-op). It's hard to see it and not think "Furries", and even beside that it isn't great. Full Metal Valkyries would have avoided the furry thing, but still would just be too much of a meaningless mouthful. Compare to their previous game, Rogue Legacy, where the title is completely on-the-nose and not creative, but it instantly sold a lot of people on the game. If they had just made Rogue Legacy 2 they would be sleeping on beds of cash right now
Its stupid, but I say "vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh Vee". Its fun to say.
How do you pronounce this?
SMH at people naming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The title fits the over the top nature of the game to a T.
I think these in particular are fine because you don't need to play the originals to get the mechanics or what's going on.
Plus a lot of people think of it as "God of War 4" despite there already being at least 4, I don't think they could go with a number
I adore the trilogy to death but "Mass Effect" is a really weird and confusing title that means nothing out of context and barely means anything in context either.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a mouthful of a title that was clearly only named such to avoid confusion with the Forza Horizon games. At least the term "Zero Dawn" ends up making sense in context.
Life Is Strange is a really generic title, like a placeholder they forgot to come up with a replacement for.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a mouthful of a title that was clearly only named such to avoid confusion with the Forza Horizon games. At least the term "Zero Dawn" ends up making sense in context.
Life Is Strange is a really generic title, like a placeholder they forgot to come up with a replacement for.
I know Shadow of the Colossus was Wander and the Colosuss which is way more boring
How dare these people dislike Metal Gear Rising Revengeance its the perfect name for that amazingly crazy game, I bet everyone remembers that title on first sight.
Actual bad names are names that are so generic you would not remember them if there were not attached to good games like:
-Horizon Zero Dawn
-Warhammer
-Apex legends
-Monster hunter
-God of War
-Gears of War
-Blank of War
-War of Blank
I dont mind the super weird Japanese titles since they atleast use uncommon words in uncommon ways which can be hilarious.
Actual bad names are names that are so generic you would not remember them if there were not attached to good games like:
-Horizon Zero Dawn
-Warhammer
-Apex legends
-Monster hunter
-God of War
-Gears of War
-Blank of War
-War of Blank
I dont mind the super weird Japanese titles since they atleast use uncommon words in uncommon ways which can be hilarious.
Yakuza is kind of a dumb title due to most of your time in the series is spent as an ex-Yakuza member. The Japanese title Ryu Ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon) is wayyyyy better
Nah man, Yakuza is much better for marketing and makes perfect thematic sense for when they chose the title with the first game. Like a dragon sounds like a f2p mobile game or a janky b tier RPG.
I make a buzzing sound, like the jellyfish from SpongeBob.
How do you pronounce this?
Especially since Horizon would have been a really awesome name on its own. Guerilla is terrible at naming in general
The Legend of Heroes.
Most generic name ever, Falcom is basically reducing their potential playerbase A LOT using this stupid name and generic anime artwork (Cold Steel 1 and 2 are not appealing "from the outside" at all). Add to that the ugly 3D graphics and the fact that you need to play 7 games to enjoy the last entries and you have the ingredients to a sales disaster (which is not, as they are releasing more and more games, and I love them).
Most generic name ever, Falcom is basically reducing their potential playerbase A LOT using this stupid name and generic anime artwork (Cold Steel 1 and 2 are not appealing "from the outside" at all). Add to that the ugly 3D graphics and the fact that you need to play 7 games to enjoy the last entries and you have the ingredients to a sales disaster (which is not, as they are releasing more and more games, and I love them).
Stories: The Path of Destinies, This game is fantastic. The way it goes about telling it stories and the different branching lines and multiple endings is very unique and very well written... But it may possibly have the most generic name for a game there has ever been.
Idk man. Yakuza sounds really generic to me. It's equivalent to naming your game "GANGSTER". Plus I feel like that adds to the problem where people assume its just Japanese GTA or something. And I am not saying that the exact English title "Like a Dragon" would necessarily be better, but I do think that the Japanese title with that meaning has fits way more thematically with not just the first game, but all of the the sequels as well. Especially the games in which you work toward upgrading the Dragon of Dogma fighting style, because you are aiming to become like a dragon. I feel like in a perfect world, the game would have a an English title that sounds unique and incorporates the "dragon" theme into its title.
Any title for a first game in a series with a subtitle. Horizon: Zero Dawn. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Halo: Combat Evolved. All great games. But all of those should just be the first word and nothing else.
Shadow of the Colossus is a much cooler sounding name than the very matter of fact sounding Wander and the Colossus.
I get your point but in a way it is a Japanese gta, it's a Japanese version of the same sort of idea.
What I mean by that is if I was to imagine how a Japanese developer would adapt GTA into their style in the early to mid 00s it would look like Yakuza. I agree with you on the dragon stuff, it's just very hard to incorporate that in the West without people thinking WRPG. Thematically it would definitely make more sense for the series to incorporate it into the title though.
God, what an upgrade. I could not get the image of peace negotiations breaking down with anthropomorphic animals out of my head.
Horizon: Zero Dawn. It's one of those rare games I'm actually gonna replay 'cuz I liked it so much, but you can rearrange any of those words and it'll sound just as screwy. You ever been in a situation where you eat out with friends, but you can't decide on where to go so you end up eating at a restaurant that no one really cares for all that much? I think that's what happened when they came up with the title.
Lol, yeah. Like, it's, in practical terms for marketing to the West, an excellent title. But you're right.
Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour is a hell of mouthful but also one of the best mascot racing games of its, or any other, era
You have some options:
How do you pronounce this?
- "vvvvvv"
- "v v v v v v"
- "Vee Vee Vee Vee Vee Vee"
- "The Letter V Six times"
How do you pronounce this?
Personally, I go with "Vee Vee Vee Vee Vee Vee" because it's fun to say out loud.
Halo is a good name for a game, but the "Combat Evolved" subtitle of the first game always stuck out as stupid
Yeah, Tomb Raider too.
Prey is a good name but Prey 2017 shouldn't have used it. Partly because of the confusion it creates and the controversy around the cancelled Prey 2, but also because it doesn't really fit the game very welll. Should have been called Psycho Shock instead, fits the game better and communicates the System/BioShock pedigree
Yeah, Tomb Raider too.
Prey is a good name but Prey 2017 shouldn't have used it. Partly because of the confusion it creates and the controversy around the cancelled Prey 2, but also because it doesn't really fit the game very welll. Should have been called Psycho Shock instead, fits the game better and communicates the System/BioShock pedigree
I guess JRPGs are sort of cheating, but Bravely Default and Octopah Traveler are both clunkers. Someone already mentioned Let Us Cling Together, which is real bad, and Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber sounds like someone put a sentence into Google Translate and didn't bother to localize it.
I can't attest to whether the series is "great" or not, but I've always laughed at the title Killzone. I can't believe that's a straight-faced title -- it sounds like the name of a fake video game from Arrested Development.
I can't attest to whether the series is "great" or not, but I've always laughed at the title Killzone. I can't believe that's a straight-faced title -- it sounds like the name of a fake video game from Arrested Development.
Me too. I mean, that's the title of the game. It's not three Ws.
I like it. It's memorable and sounds like the title of an indie flick, which fits the vibe of the game.
Eugen's Wargame series
Wargame: European Escalation
Wargame: AirLand Battle
And the slightly less terrible Wargame: Red Dragon
All are genuinely fantastic and accesible large scale cold war RTS's, but god do the names suck
Wargame: European Escalation
Wargame: AirLand Battle
And the slightly less terrible Wargame: Red Dragon
All are genuinely fantastic and accesible large scale cold war RTS's, but god do the names suck
Need for Speed has managed that three different times within the same series.
The Need For Speed (1994)
Need For Speed (2015)
Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998)
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit II (2002)
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
Strictly speaking only Most Wanted is completely identical, but the others are similar enough to raise alarm bells.
It ticks all the boxes
Lacks a colon in the title, making it look like a nonsensical, unstructured mess
Has all the "cool" words
Sounds like a 15 year old's first fanfiction
Rolls off the tongue terribly
Doesn't even inform anything about the game
It's an embarrassing enough of a title on its own but for a major title like this it's laughable.