Does Hudson Need to Stop Making Deca Sports Games?

Does Hudson Need to Stop Making Deca Sports Games?
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A Poor Man’s Wii Sports

If you own a Wii or know someone that owns a Wii, it’s probable that you’ve played a Deca Sports game. And while you may have initially found a bit of enjoyment from one or two of the included sports, chances are you ended up feeling incredibly underwhelmed after playing. The first game in the series has managed to sell over 2 million copies, and this is most likely due to its Wii Sports-inspired look. But while those sales are saying one thing, the majority of people who played the game say another. Deca Sports is not a good game. It does manage to entertain during its initial moments, but it soon grows boring and repetitive. Yet here we are after three installments on Nintendo’s shiny console, and Hudson Soft continues to milk the license.

Milking a Poor Franchise

You would think a Wii game with badminton in it would be more fun, but this is not the case.

It’s clear that the Deca Sports series has run its course—its inane and mediocre course—but Hudson won’t stop publishing follow-ups. Aside from the Wii, Deca Sports has reared its ugly head onto the Nintendo DS, and that title wasn’t anything to write home about either. Even Deca Sports Freedom, which just landed on the newly-launched Kinect, has begun garnering criticism. Considering the amount of negative feedback every single entry in the series has received, it’s hard to imagine what Hudson must be thinking.

The three Deca Sports games on the Wii have all relied on tiresome waggle controls. Every installment features sporting events (since when is log-cutting a sport?) that rely on downward swipes, upward thrusts, and back-and-forth motions with the Wii Remote and at times the Nunchuk. There is absolutely no depth in the gameplay design, and it doesn’t take long before your arm cramps up and frustration takes over.

Terrible Even for a Casual Game

Even the events that offer a bit of entertainment get stale fast.

The Wii has a massive fan base of young children who just eat up shovelware, but at what point does a publisher draw the line? The Deca Sports series not only makes Hudson lose credibility, but it also makes them look like cocky game-creating maniacs that know that kids will still want to play their horrid games regardless of their quality.

Older gamers, however, are much savvier than that. It’s impossible to rule out the fact that a hardcore gamer may have played a Deca Sports game. After all, sometimes people just want to relax with a simple game sometimes. And if Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort proved anything, it’s that minigame collections can be pretty fun if executed properly. But any real gamer who plays Deca Sports is bound to detest it. That franchise represents everything that a game shouldn’t be. And it actually manages to make Hudson’s efforts appear haphazard and uninspired.

The Deca Sports Conundrum

Deca Sports gets less appealing with every entry.

The question has to be asked: Why does Hudson continue to plague consoles (primarily the Wii) with the ludicrous abomination that is Deca Sports? It’s pretty obvious that the franchise is a mediocre brand of “sports” minigame collections. No one is playing the game, and this is most evident in the recently released Deca Sports 3. Hudson heavily promoted that game’s online modes, and even now, less than two months since the game’s launch, it is increasingly difficult to find other people to play the game with online. It’s obvious that no one cares about this franchise; not even fans of the previous games.

Hudson, Have a Little Self-Respect

The scores are in: Deca Sports Freedom for Xbox 360 Kinect is just as bad as any other Deca Sports game.

At this point it’s serious overkill with Deca Sports. Every entry in the series has been critically panned; the shallow gameplay is off-putting to most; and copies of the game can’t be selling well anymore (as indicated by the lack of players online and the overflowing number of Deca Sports games in the bargain bin section at retailers).

Hudson has never been known for delivering consistently impressive games, but they have managed to release the occasional solid title. If the bumblebee logo-wielding company spent less time releasing throwaway shovelware and more time coming up with ideas for actual engaging titles, it’s very possible that we would see another reputable video game publisher. But alas, it doesn’t seem like Hudson will ever learn. The upcoming Deca Sports Extreme for the Nintendo 3DS and Deca Sports 4 are both indicative of that. Get ready to see more minigame collections pile up on store shelves.