There's nothing more marketable than a product with a good celebrity tie-in or cameo. Companies like Old Spice, Bubly, and a multitude of celebrity-owned companies have been capitalizing on recognizable faces and household names forever, so it's no surprise that this tactic made its way into the video game industry.
While some games sensibly featured celebrities in roles that suited their respective careers, others seemed to have missed the memo. Certain tie-ins seem so random that anyone who learns of the game is instantly confused as to why the star is involved in the first place.
10 Shaq-Fu Is An Arcade Fighter Featuring A Basketball Player (SNES)
Shaq-Fu is one of the most infamous video games of all time, and for good reason. An arcade fighting game starring the giant basketball player was completely out of left field, but if the game was good, who could complain? Unfortunately, the controls are unresponsive and jerky at best, combos are nearly impossible to pull off, and other than Shaq, the characters aren't memorable at all. Shaq-Fu's cult status actually got it a beat-em-up sequel, Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn, which was sadly equally terrible.
9 50 Cent: Bulletproof & Blood On The Sand Are Surprisingly Decent (Xbox / Xbox 360 & PS3)
The 2000s carried with it a strange video gaming trend. Famous rap artists from the '80s and '90s started trying to wiggle into the gaming industry, the most notable of which was the artist 50 Cent. Releasing two games in a five-year span, the artist created an action game dubbed 50 Cent: Bulletproof and a third-person shooter called 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. The plots of the two games are both ridiculous, the rapper being called to take on the criminal underground and a terrorist group respectively. What's even crazier is that the games aren't bad at all, there's obvious effort put into each of them, and the charm of the concept makes the games more than bearable.
8 Muhammed Ali: Puzzle King Exploits A Legend (Mobile)
Muhammed Ali had a slew of boxing games that came out for various systems between the early '90s and late 2000s, which makes perfect sense considering his legendary status as a fighter. What makes absolutely no sense whatsoever is Muhammed Ali: Puzzle King for mobile phones.
Coming out in 2016, only three months after Ali's death, the game is a generic matching game akin to Candy Crush. Why they decided to use one of America's all-time greatest athletes instead of a more sensible candidate is beyond understanding.
7 Kiss: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child Does The Band Justice (PC & Dreamcast)
Kiss: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child is a game based on a comic book series, which was in turn based on an album by the English band KISS. A strange crossing of mediums to be sure, the game is a sci-fi first-person shooter with a crazy but unique plot. In another universe, the four members of the band are gods, and each sends a champion into the hellscape known as the Psycho Circus. The cool plot mixed with solid shooter gameplay makes for a better game than many would expect.
6 Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Is Fun But Generic (PC & SEGA Systems)
Released on home computers and the SEGA Master System in the late '80s and early '90s, the Michael Jackson's Moonwalker games were an attempt to cash in on the star's peak in fame. Unfortunately, while the dance attacks Michael can pull off are fun, the rest of the game is pretty generic and boring. Stages have no personality to them, and the majority of the enemies the pop sensation has to face down are simple thugs with no defining features.
5 Russell Grant's Astrology Is Rather Pointless (Nintendo DS)
Russell Grant is a famous British astrologer and proclaimed psychic, a guy to call up if someone is looking for some fairly kooky spiritual council. Someone saw this and seriously said to themselves, let's make a DS game out of this! For the low, low price of forty bucks, anyone can get Russell on their Nintendo handheld to give them a daily horoscope. But then again, why would anyone want to?
The internet and newspaper already have a plethora of horoscopes out there. Also, with no gameplay to speak of, the decision to greenlight such a game for a console marketed towards kids is baffling.
4 Way Of The Dogg Is A Creative Blend Of Rhythm & Fighting Games (PS3)
The trend of 90's rappers having their own licensed games continues with Snoop Dogg's Way of the Dogg, a fighting game that released for the PS3 back in 2013. While it is a pretty absurd concept, in execution, Way of the Dogg does better for itself than one would expect. Instead of a standard button-mashing fiesta, to do well, the player has to time presses with Snoop Dogg's rap flow. In this way it's a rhythm-fighting hybrid, a mix of Parappa The Rappa and Street Fighter. One of the lesser-known celebrity tie-in games out there, PS3 owners might be surprised if they pick this one up.
3 Jerry Rice & Nitus' Dog Football Is Literally Football With Dogs (Wii & PC)
While Jerry Rice may be known for his skills on the field, the decision to put him on the cover of a game about dogs playing football is still dubious. With horrible graphics, cheesy puns, and bottom-of-the-barrel gameplay, Jerry Rice & Nitus' Dog Football is a stark reminder of why dogs aren't allowed on football teams in the first place. If a Nintendo fan wants a good game about pups they can just snag a copy of Nintendogs.
2 Michael Jordan: Chaos In The Windy City Is Pure Chaos (SNES)
An SNES counterpart to NBA jam, Michael Jordan: Chaos In The Windy City often gets lost when celebrity tie-in games are brought up. This is probably due to the fact that this game shouldn't have had anything to do with Jordan to begin with.
It's a generic side-scrolling platformer that has you hitting enemies with basketballs to defeat them. Jordan is depicted too realistically, with his jump feeling a bit low and his hitbox being ungainly and large. At least the promotional card that came with the game is worth a pretty penny, with prices ranging from $400 - $700, while the game it came with sells for $20.
1 Mary Kate & Ashley: Sweet 16 Licensed To Drive Is The First Of Many Low-Effort Cash Grabs (Various)
During the peak of their popularity between 2000-2002, the Olson twins had seven games released with their names on the cover. Outside of sports games, that's a record that still remains to be broken. Unfortunately, the developers of their games put in little to no effort into the titles. Mary Kate & Ashley: Sweet 16 Licensed To Drive is a Mario-Party-style game with bad graphics and worse gameplay. The other games were no better, and while they may have garnered some sales back in the day, these days, nearly all of the Olson twin titles are collecting dust in game store bargain bins.