20 embarrassments

Most game covers are forgettable and generic, but a select few transcend into levels of such awfulness that they stick with us all year long, like a never-ending scab. From cheap shovelware to incredibly awkward sports photos, a bad game cover can come from any publisher. It takes a particularly lazy and clueless one to land on this list though.

Count the number of THQ titles below and come to your own conclusions. THQ, thanks for raising the bar on terrible box art.

Paws & Claws Pampered Pets Resort 3D [Nintendo 3DS]

Before we mourn the golden years of THQ, let's remember all the shovelware with awful covers it put out.

Football Manager 2013 (PC)

Porn Site Pop-up Ad: The Videogame

Let's Ride Best in Breed 3D (Nintendo 3DS)

I can't decide what's more disturbing: CG horse or the girl's Photoshop'd hair.

007 Legends (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Someone probably went to college to learn how to make covers like this and here you are, reading this article. That must make you angry, huh?

Batman: Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

This would be on our list even if Destructoid was featured on the front, and we are shameless people.

Ghost Whisperer (PC)

One day your Jennifer Love Hewitt deviantART page may also grace the cover of a Legacy Games classic.

Capcom Digital Collection (Xbox 360)

I feel pretty confident in saying that the bootleg boxes in Taiwan are probably more imaginative and appealing than this piece of crap.

FIFA Soccer 13 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, Wii U, Vita, 3DS, PSP)

Billy: "They have corndogs in the stands! YAAAAY COOOORN DOOOGGGGGIIES!!"

FIFA Manager 13 (PC)

Coach Jimmy: "GODAMMIT, BILLY! Get your sweet little retard ass back on the field before I put my corndog in your dillhole!"

Kinect Nat Geo TV (Xbox 360)

Once you imagine him without pants, you can't unsee it. A 2-way TV experience, indeed.

The Hip Hop Dance Experience (Wii, Xbox 360)

It's rather unfortunate that its target audience of beat-loving meth addicts doesn't know how to read.

Reality Fighters (PlayStation Vita)

You have to appreciate the honesty on display: "You will look like a complete jackass while playing this game."

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dream (PC, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade)

This cover reminds me that The Banger Sisters and Hot Topic exist. Need I say more?

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir (3DS)

On the list for false advertising. (It is not a groper simulator.)

ProCycling Manager Season 2012 (PC)

"No, wait! That's my thermos filled to the brim with boiling hot coffee!"

Imagine Babyz (3DS)

[Insert your joke about touching babies in 3D here.]

Purrpals Purrfection (3DS)

The "This game will make you believe in God!" quote on the back seems a little strong.

NBA 2K13 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, Wii U, Vita, 3DS, PSP)

I'm all up in your cyberspace, doing cyber-dunks.

Lucius (PC)

After five weeks of refusing to buy Lucius a Nintendo 3DS Red Flame bundle, he will now stare angrily at you until you feel compelled to look away.

Heroes of Ruin (3DS)

Even a mere glance at this cover instills such a pang of nihilism and apathy, that I have to wonder what dark wizards made such a wonder of mediocrity possible.