One word softens the blow when attempting to play that one: JUGS! :bleh1:

Actually, it looks interesting. It makes sense especially after reading this quote:
It's not a game that was designed to be good and was made awfully bad, but a game that was supposed to be bad from the very beginning :omg:
We must admit that the creator had his mission and he did it great in job good in his own wicked way.
I almost feel like trying to play this game :lol:

PS. Knowing "Takeshi Castle" show also helps to understand the idea. No wonder that creating a game on the basis of THIS show had this result.

Pfft, you guys haven't seen anything yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3nh27bRXYQ

"Intentionally bad" (versus "poorly planned/executed") is hardly a redeeming quality...

The fact that this thing shows you how pointless is grinding in (online)RPGs doesn't mean it's good. By the way, it's not a game, as it has no interaction.

I think both linked game and Takeshi Castle game are hard to be called "bad games" as they are more intentional jokes than real games (especially this Progress Quest)

Nowadays there are many similar creations around, but in most cases they end up being small flash applications to play on-line...
(simulator of pissing into the toilet, priest catching money on a plate, etc.)

Better video of Isle of the Dead is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV7Q8370is
Real jewel among bad games ;)

Reminds me a bit of this one, although the latter is actually more interesting and even captivating for some degree and time, however weird and of low design quality it might be.

Regarding Takeshi no Chousenjou, or however you write it in in romaji, I think the reason why the game turned out like that is bit different. I dont think Takeshi ever hated video games, especially how Takeshi's Castle is a bit like videogame and it even has its own proper videogame adaptation. There's also a third Famicom title under his name, which is a boardgame. Both are humorous, but neither have unreasonable stuff like in Takeshi no Chousenjou.

The fact that Takeshi was drunk during the creative meeting is the real reason why the game turned out like this. Since he's big celebrity (seriously, check out this guys wikipedia page. He's done it all) and Japanese are big on respect, they just wrote down everything he suggested and tried to implement them in the game.

And what its worth, there's a huge cult following for this game and its really unique for its time. In what other 80's Nintendo game you could punch your own boss, get a divorce from your wife and you had to sing karaoke in order to progress?

And finally, Japanese had games more awful than that. Like Bird Week and Bokosuka Wars

If the whole Ming family juggled their jugs, it wouldn't make one toss of a difference I'm afraid.

After watching all 10 YouTube episodes of Let's Play It:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV7Q8370is
(yes, masochist detected) :woot:
I must say that Isle of the Dead is not that bad.

I mean, this game has graphics you can stand, sound that doesn't hurt your ears, even has some plot and humour! It's just encridibly boring and that's all.
Moreover, it's not very buggy - it seems that the game looks more or less exactly the way the designer wanted it.

In summary, I don't think it should be found among "worst games ever" because it seems it's not even in TOP100 of most idiotic games of all times :p

Play it on your own and enjoy the horrible hitbox, repetitive enviorments, useless adventure elements and instadeath fun. :p