When we play games, whether we know it or not, one of the biggest things we’re attracted to is character and story. We play through the plotline, each level bringing us more understanding of our virtual protagonist. We want to know exactly who that character is and where he’s going. And when we’ve beaten our game and the story’s said and done, we want to know: just where does it go from here?

And that’s where our lovable side-plots come in! They’re our glorious spinoff stories which fill us in on the before, after, and middle of the main adventure. So in this article I’m going to detail some of the most interesting sidequests, misadventures, and filler-games. Here’s quick list of the bad, the best, and the superiorly misunderstood:

1. Sonic Spinball- If you’re not familiar with this pinball game featuring everybody’s favorite blue blur (Sonic, of course), you should make yourself acquainted. Not typically well-liked by most Sonic The Hedgehog fans, this particular misadventure, so to speak, scores an average user score of “7.3” by Gamespot. The game itself debuted on the Genesis (later ported to the Game Gear) and features a combination of traditional side-scrolling action with pinball gameplay. Players move Sonic only when transferring from pinball stages and are challenged by the many obstacles which obstruct Sonic’s path. Each level ends with a typical Dr. Robotnik (No, he’s not, and I will never consider him to be, Dr. Eggman) showdown, his defeat yielding the next stage of pinball action. It’s a challenging game and I highly recommend it to any who haven’t taken it for a “spin.”

2. Mario’s Time Machine- What a piece of trash. If you’re a diehard collector like myself, yeah pick it up as it’ll bring you one step closer to Mario cartridge completion. But if you’re looking for Mario adventures similar to that of Mario 3 and Super Mario World, bypass this garbage immediately. Granted a considerably modest “5.3” by users on Gamespot, this game boasts educational gameplay. Yuck. Throughout the game you play as Mario, traveling the space-time continuum via a Jules Vern-ish time machine, meeting various figureheads of world history and helping them with tasks related to significant points in history. This part of the game gives players hope as you are given the opportunity to roam environments in traditional 2D fashion. But hope no more, for expectations are shattered as you’re limited to roaming the exciting streets of 18 century America and Beethoven’s Vienna—ooooh, exciting! As if this wasn’t bad enough, players are made to pay careful attention to these figures’ dialogue, as they help you in completing blank spaces in a textbook. If you’re thinking this can’t be too bad, it truly is. The answers are anything but easy or guessable and completing the puzzles yields absolutely no personal reward. Stay far away from this game or you’ll be wishing you had a time machine of your own to stop Nintendo from producing this tragedy.