3) Daikatana
Infamous. Reviled. A laughing stock. It’s Daiktana of course.
The writing was on the wall early on when Eidos ran an advert declaring: “John Romero’s about to make you his bitch.” A bold claim, and one that would need to be backed up by seriously state-of-the-art experience. But Daikatana was repeatedly delayed, and when it finally arrived, it was a bit of a stinker.
The vision was admirable: a globetrotting adventure that would take in time-travel, magic, robots – you name it. There were AI sidekicks, weapons galore and all manner of sights and sounds. The buzz it created was extraordinary. TIME Magazine even ran Daikatana as its cover story.
But John Romero had bitten off more than he could chew, and by the time Daikatana finally arrived it was laughably behind the times. Occupying a world where Half-Life reigned supreme, this doddering train wreck wasn’t going to cut it.