“We Couldn’t Even Give It Away for Free” — Nintendo Recalls Its Biggest NES Flop

Former Nintendo of America vice president of sales Bruce Lowry, who served from 1981 to 1986, named the NES title he considers the company’s worst ever. He singled out Donkey Kong Jr. Math — a product that, in Lowry’s words, “Nintendo couldn’t even give away for free.”

Donkey Kong Jr. Math launched alongside the NES’s earliest releases and was demonstrated at the Summer CES in 1985. Adapted from the 1983 Famicom edition, it had players solve arithmetic problems while controlling Donkey Kong Jr. The game was intended to start a line of educational titles, but sales were abysmal and production ceased in 1988.

Lowry remembered:

“It was the worst game we ever sold. We assumed it would appeal to kids, but not even free copies were taken.”

Later, Nintendo spokesperson Tom Sarris told the LA Times that the company abandoned educational software after the failure of Donkey Kong Jr. Math. “People simply didn’t want that kind of software,” he said.

Subsequent re-releases did little to rehabilitate its reputation — Nintendo Life rated it 1/10 in 2007, and the Wii U release received 4/10 in 2014.

Source: iXBT.games