The worst game console failures...

[James_F]

http://www.shacknews.com/extras/lncex/lncex7.x

I've owned way too many of these. I still have a 3DO in my attic (if it still works) and a couple games. I think since I paid $700 for the damn thing I should get at least a decade out of it right? :D

[dtcarson]

I didn't/don't have any of the totally ridiculously priced once, but I do still have a 32x in the closet....also attached to the SegaCD [which I actually liked--I think I had more Sega CD games than regular Genesis games]. Then I bought the Saturn, mostly out of brand loyalty, but actually very few of the games really attracted me. And yes, a Dreamcast [which I got used for not full price, so that helped.] Still have the Gen/32x/CD nine-foot-tall monstrosity, and the DC, but am currently playing [when I get a chance] a bunch of PSX RPG's I never finished. Then probably go back and replay Grandia II and Skies of Arcadia on DC [can't afford a new console yet.]
But reading that page makes me think my couple hundred bucks on system so far, that I actually still play, wasn't that bad an investment ; )

[John Corn]

One of the failures? the Dreamcast. Sank like a boat. I have one of those, and if you've ever played any game on it, you'll see why it died.

[James_F]

Best Game ever in my book? NHL 94 on Sega CD. Just as good as the regular version, but with actual organ music.

[angiodan]

Originally posted by John Corn
One of the failures? the Dreamcast. Sank like a boat. I have one of those, and if you've ever played any game on it, you'll see why it died.

I can't say I agree with you on this one John. Soul Caliber, Virtua Tennis just to name a few. This system had some pretty good games. Timing and Playstation 2 killed it, not bad hardware. Unlike the Sega Saturn, which was a complete turd.

I have had every system thats come out in the last 10 years, and I still prefer the DC over PS2 or Gamecube. However, the Xbox is truly the best bang for your buck at this point.

[Dgenx321]

Sega never knew how to market their consoles like Sony and Nintendo have and how Microsoft has recently. Sega seemed to think Sonic could carry their system.

I must admit though that the Game Gear was a personal favorite of mine, it beat the rear end off the old Gameboy..

[James_F]

Originally posted by Dgenx321
...and how Microsoft has recently.

or not....

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/106614_tbrf31.shtml

[John Corn]

Remember the "64 bit" Jaguar by Atari?

It seemed mildly successful when it came out, but I can't remember a single title released for it.

[Dgenx321]

I guess they still can't compete with the PS2, maybe when the rumored price decrease happens that will help them.

I'm hearing the PS2 is going to be coming down to $99 in a few months, I f Microsoft doesn't follow the XBOX will fail..

[djlong]

Coleco Adam.

'nuff said.

(In my own defense, that wasn't the only console I'd ever bought)

[dtcarson]

I kinda agree with Angiodan re: Dreamcast. It really did have some good, unique, fun games, but the timing, the PS2, and the fact that Sega had no idea how to advertise didn't help it any. Also the fiasco with the Saturn release; a lot of retailers were still nursing their wounds over that one, and carried that resentment over to the Dreamcast.
It certainly wasn't a Gameboy success, but it wasn't a Virtual Boy failure, either.

[Chris Blount]

Anyone ever heard of the Amiga CD-32? It was a 32 Bit game console with a CD drive. I had one for a couple of years and loved it. It had the power to be a full fledge Amiga 2000 computer just by adding a couple of peripherals. The CD-32 was a great idea at the time but had no support from any major companies and Amiga folded right after its release.

[marko]

Originally posted by James_F
Best Game ever in my book? NHL 94 on Sega CD. Just as good as the regular version, but with actual organ music.

Ah, I think I still have my sega/cd and that game at my parents. NHL 93/NHL 94 was the funnest hockey game I've ever played ( and funner game period). Ah, the memories.



I would also agree that the dreamcast had some very good games, especially if you liked arcade like games.

Xbox is doing ok. Thing is, 4 million sold in 1 year would normally be excellent numbers for a new console, it's just that the playstion 2 is doing so well. Online play on xbox is really pretty darn cool.

[Jasonbp]

Failed system's? Well let's see:

3DO: It had little 3rd party support (EA is the only one I can think of). Was just to much money. People wouldn't spend $700 on a game system.

Atari Jaguar/Jaguar CD: People didn't trust Atari anymore. Sold pretty "well" at first, then just went down the hill.

Sega Saturn: Beat the crap out of PlayStation sales in it's first 18 months. Then it just died over night.

SNK Neo Geo: Price of the system was $400-$600 (depending on the model). Plus the great 7 games the system had were $200 each.

SNES CD aka Play Station/PSX: Nintnedo brings in Sony. Nintendo doesn't like the load times, and fires Sony. Sony keep's working on it and look what happen's.

N64: Yeah it was! Only 30 million sold worldwide. Only 256 games in the US, Saturn had more before it died!! (I have one!!)

Dreamcast: 3rd party didn't trust it. People didn't trust Sega. 10 million sold in 2 years. (I have one!!)

Sega 32X: Just a lame Genesis add-on.

Sega CD: Just a lame Genesis add-on.

There's got to be 15+ system's that have come out or were being planned and just bombed. That's the way it goes.
----------------------

Dgenx321: I have no clue where you heard that but it's wrong. No one is dropping there price anytime soon. If anything were to be said it wouldn't happen till E3 in March.

I don't think that we'll see the Xbox fail. It's #2 in North America, #2 in UK, #2 in Australia. It's #2 worldwide. It has a strong 2003 line-up. Some big titles. I don't think it's going away anytime soon.

[James_F]

3DO: It had little 3rd party support (EA is the only one I can think of). Was just to much money. People wouldn't spend $700 on a game system.
You'd think so, but here I am. :bang

I agree, XBox is here to stay. Microsoft has the will power to keep it alive. Its Nintendo that I would say is vulnerable. I think Microsoft will do to Nintendo what Sony did to Sega. It might take longer, but I think we'll see Nintendo eventually drop hardware (except the Gameboy) and focus on software. Might take 5 years, but it will happen, especially if the Xbox can make some inroads in Japan.

[Jasonbp]

Originally posted by James_F

You'd think so, but here I am. :bang


Okay, okay. Most people wouldn't buy it! My dad did, still has it too. It has about 10 inches of dust on it.

[BearsFan]

3DO....ahhhh, yes, the classes I skipped in college to play NFL Football & some other fighting game w/ a friend of mine who bought the cheaper version of the 3DO...

I thought it was the COOLEST unit ever. That fighting game (fergit the name) was great, it had White Zombie music as the soundtrack. The football game was good, but hard to control.

This same friend had an Amiga too. He used to give me a hard time for my Sega Genesis & its "crappy cartridge" games...but it sure lasted longer than his overpriced 3DO did. Strangely enough, I do miss that system. Was fun while it lasted.

I'm hoping XBox doesn't go under. Bought one for $199, and will probably kick myself if Microsoft drops the price again, but I don't care...that system is totally worth it. It's my hope that software developers will realize the console's potential, and actually program games to specifically take advantage of what the unit has to offer, instead of just "porting" games from system to system.

--BearsFan

[RichW]

The Coleco Vision had great graphics for its time, but the company dropped support. They concentrated on Cabbage Patch dolls instead.

My unit developed a bad memory chip and I couldn't get it fixed. I had almost every game that would run on that machine plus the special controllers like the steering wheel & foot pedals.

This soured me on getting any dedicated game machine for a long time... until I got an X-box for X-mas this year.

I think Coleco went bankrupt.

[Unthinkable]

Originally posted by BearsFan
3DO....ahhhh, yes, the classes I skipped in college to play NFL Football & some other fighting game w/ a friend of mine who bought the cheaper version of the 3DO...

I thought it was the COOLEST unit ever. That fighting game (fergit the name) was great, it had White Zombie music as the soundtrack. The football game was good, but hard to control.
--BearsFan

Way of The Warrior. I had that one and yeah it was a great fighting game. :D
A lot of folks hated that standard controller, but I never had any issues with it.

On a Microsoft related note, I read in the official X-Box magazine many months ago that it was a top priority for them to influence/strong arm broadband providers to reach a $19-25 per month dsl or cable access fee to make X-Box Live even more appealing to the mass consumer. Hope they can do it, but it sure seems like it would be met with zero interest from the big broadband providers.

[Eyedox]

Remember the old INTELLIVISION and COMMODORE 64? I had one of each of those ... loved those old systems! They actually did pretty well ... especially the C64. The Intellivision never really caught up with ATARI 2600.

[RandyAB]

what about the Sega Master System?

Does the Commodore 64 really count as a game system. Because you could do other things with it as well. I remember writing my first computer code on the 64.

[BearsFan]

Originally posted by The Unthinkable


Way of The Warrior. I had that one and yeah it was a great fighting game. :D
A lot of folks hated that standard controller, but I never had any issues with it.

On a Microsoft related note, I read in the official X-Box magazine many months ago that it was a top priority for them to influence/strong arm broadband providers to reach a $19-25 per month dsl or cable access fee to make X-Box Live even more appealing to the mass consumer. Hope they can do it, but it sure seems like it would be met with zero interest from the big broadband providers.

Now it comes back...yeah, Way of the Warrior...great game.

As far as broadband goes, I really do hope that the price comes down. I suspect it will, eventually...like everything else, just takes time.

I dunno if I'd get XBox Live, but it sure would be nice to get DSL/broadband for $25 or less per month. There ain't no way I'm paying $50 a month for something I hardly use now with dial-up.

--BearsFan

[James_F]

Way of the Warrior was the starting point of something much bigger...

Naughty Dog has gone on to much bigger things (Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter. BTW, the original Way of the Warrior homepage is still on Naughty Dogs website.


http://www.naughtydog.com/legacy/wotw/index.htm

[Loose Cannon]

TI 99/4A with the voice synthesizer

[James_F]

Don't be knocking the TI-99/4A. Munchman and Hunt the Wumpas were both classics. Of course you had to replace the TI controllers with Atari ones, but that was all you needed.

[waydwolf]

*chuckles*

    Does anyone remember the Mattel Aquarius? It even had a thermal printer and disk drive availible and sported Burger Time which nearly gave me carpal tunnel on those insane controls Mattel insisted on.

    I had a Famicom disk drive(Famicom being the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System), Gradius II, and an adapter.

    Dreamcast was very cool and Fur Fighters was up there with any Nintendo run-around-a-cute-3d-world game although House of the Dead 2 was the far away and out front favorite in this house. Nothing like blowing zombies to pieces after wanting to do that to difficult customers. Thankfully, you don't have to kiss the zombies' butts.

    I also had a Sega Master System with the 3d adapter and Space Harrier and their LCD shutter glasses were way ahead of their time but would be cool to adapt to a PC today. Wait, someone's done that since. FOR A WHOLE LOT MORE MONEY.

*chuckle*

 

[Roger]

Random thoughts:

The Atari 2600 was the really cool since it was the first that I can remember. The cool games were Missile Command, River Raid, Mega Mania, Pole Position, and Yar’s Revenge.

Intellivision: It had a cool football game for the time but the pad and most other games for it sucked IMO.

Colecovision: One of my favorite of all time. Way ahead of its time. RBI Baseball ruled with the special controller. Venture was cool along with Zaxxon, Mr. DO, Turbo (with the wheel controller) Burgertime, and Wargames really kicked butt!
I think CBS bought it out and the system went DOA. The crap spewed out by Atari at the end killed the market.

Nintendo came out and revived the market. There were so many good games for that that I can’t even mention them all.
My favorites were Zelda and Kid Icarus (pure ecstasy) along with Bionic Commando and Master Blaster.

TG16: I never owned it but the idea sucked when you had to buy an adapter just to user 2 controllers.

Sega 16 bit was probably the best overall system ever with NHL’93 and ’94, Madden Football, Sega baseball, Mortal Kombat with the blood code, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and many others.

Neo-Geo with the 300-400 dollar cartridges... LOL!

Sega CD and 32X were crap and the beginning of the end for Sega.

Saturn: Never owned.

Dreamcast: The biggest waste of money ever but some people did enjoy the games.

PS2: Yeah, NCAA 2003 rules and that’s the only game I need.

SNES: NBA JAM!