The general consensus is that licensed games tend to be among the video game industry's worst offerings. (A sentiment that can be extended beyond video games to movie novelizations, comics, etc as well.) And there are certainly a plethora of infamous, classic examples that absolutely support that generally accepted narrative: Atari's E.T., Superman 64, Shaq Fu, Home Improvement, Home Alone, The Adam's Family: Fester's Quest, Top Gun, AD&D: Heroes of the Lance, X-Men, Silver Surfer, Barbie, Wayne's World, The Terminator, Hudson Hawk, Gilligan's Island, The Three Stooges, Ghostbusters, etc, etc, etc.
However, there are also plenty of exceptions to that rule; there are indeed licensed video games that are actually quite good!
On that score, Star Wars often comes to mind as a film franchise that routinely yields fantastic video game adaptations--and I in fact consider many of the Star Wars video games to be superior to the films themselves! For Nintendo in particular, I would recommend the SNES' Super Star Wars series.
Video games based upon comic book heroes are also pretty hit-and-miss, and there are indeed many terrible games featuring Superman, Spiderman, the X-Men, etc. However, there are notable exceptions here as well. In particular, I consider the modern Arkham series to be among the best video games ever produced--they truly put the player into the role of Batman and feature fantastic, realistic graphics and voice acting. (Ditto for the 2009 Ghostbusters video game, which I consider to be akin to a third Ghostbusters film.) While most Spiderman games are rather poor, the SNES' Maximum Carnage is a great nineties beat em up game. (Maximum Carnage is an exception to the rule that Spiderman games aren't very good and moreover is also an exception to the rule that LJN games aren't very good!) People tend to be split as to whether the NES' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a good game, but most people consider the numerous follow ups to be great arcade style beat em ups--especially Turtles in Time. (I'm still waiting on a decent Superman game though--what is it about that character that doesn't translate into great games? It seems like a no brainer to me!)
Note the genres of the above counter-examples as well. Action packed science fiction and comic book heroics are precisely the sort of franchise genres that could and should easily translate into at-least-decent-if-not-great video games, and on that score it's surprising that so many end up being total clunkers! Conversely, who would ever expect a halfway decent video game adaptation of cheesy sitcoms like Gilligan's Island or Home Improvement, a comedic film like Wayne's World, a mundane doll like Barbie, etc? In those cases, the task of making a halfway decent video game based upon those properties is almost inevitable doomed to failure!
All in all, being a licensed game doesn't preclude a game from being decent-if-not-great--but it is a red flag given the history of licensed video games. Test out such games as rentals, or at a friend's house, etc before buying them.
