In the a long time that video video games have thrived, there are primarily 5 corporations which have really dominated the console panorama: Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft. That’s to not say that NEC or SNK didn’t have bangers, however they weren’t as synonymous with gaming in the identical methods these different giants have been or nonetheless are.
We are at a degree now the place the established order of video gaming is the most recent PlayStation and Xbox duking it out over being essentially the most cutting-edge whereas Nintendo will get by on being a low-powered/high-quality wild card. Then there’s pc gaming, however that’s not what this text is about. Years in the past, there have been loads of consoles and handhelds that attempted to go away a footprint and failed. Certain consoles (just like the 3DO or the Virtual Boy) are well-known even in shame however others merely light into obscurity.
Let’s take a look at among the consoles and handhelds that solely exist as a footnote in gaming historical past.
cnx({
playerId: “106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530”,
}).render(“0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796”);
});
SG-1000 (1983)
Finding out concerning the existence of the SG-1000 is like experiencing a real-life retcon. On the very day that Nintendo launched the Famicom in Japan, Sega was there with their very own counterpart: the SG-1000. In phrases of success, it did higher than Sega anticipated, however it lacked the endurance and ended up getting crushed by the Famicom. It was launched outdoors of Japan, however by no means within the United States.
So what occurred? Well, for one, the {hardware} high quality gave the impression to be someplace between the Atari 2600 and the Famicom/NES. Compared to its Nintendo competitors, the SG-1000 simply couldn’t compete. This was additionally harm by Sega’s paranoia when it got here to working with different builders. Nearly all their video games have been in-house as a result of why would you wish to work with a third-party developer? Guys like Konami made arcade video games. They have been opponents!
Thank God they got here to their senses when it got here to their subsequent few forays.
Atari XEGS (1987)
Despite the Atari 7800 being recent and probably not catching on, Atari went with an attention-grabbing technique of releasing one more console in 1987. This one was extra of a hybrid of a gaming console and a house pc, because it merely took the Atari 65XE pc’s guts and put it in a brand new bundle that was backward suitable with different Atari methods. It additionally supported a light-weight gun, a keyboard, and a disk drive, however these all got here individually.
While it was extremely low cost to provide, it was a flailing and determined try and compete with the NES one final time that merely didn’t take. Funny sufficient, as a result of backward compatibility characteristic, Atari would rerelease outdated titles in new packaging to assert that it was an XEGS sport. Other instances, they’d simply slap a sticker on an present field to allow them to know that it additionally works on the XEGS.
My favourite factor concerning the Atari XEGS is the industrial, that tries so exhausting to persuade mother and father to purchase it over the NES. One of their speaking factors was making an attempt to notice how lame NES was for having a robotic peripheral after they might be enjoying with a keyboard as an alternative. I do know that ROB ended up being a dud, however at the very least it appeared cool within the ads.
Action Max (1987)
I used to be six years outdated when the Action Max got here out and after I noticed the industrial for what was mainly a light-weight gun being pointed at VHS footage, I used to be nonetheless sufficiently old to understand, “Wait, this makes no sense. That’s not how videos work.”
The concept behind Action Max was that you’d put in a VHS tape (5 launched in complete, all roughly 20 minutes) and attempt to shoot at enemy jets, ghosts, criminals, or no matter. The console itself would hold monitor of your accuracy and rating, however as you’ll be able to guess, the video itself was by no means affected. No matter how good or unhealthy your goal was, the enemy jets would nonetheless explode and the one replay worth got here from making an attempt to get a greater rating.
GoldStar GPI-1200 (1994)
The Phillips CD-i is a kind of consoles that ought to be thought-about obscure and forgotten however sticks round in players’ consciousness resulting from these hilarious Mario and Zelda video games. It stays one of many extra attention-grabbing failures of the 90s resulting from its ridiculous asking worth and awkward output of video games.
But what if I informed you that there was a CD-i that you could possibly play on the go? There have been really dozens of CD-i fashions over time and GoldStar was behind a couple of of them. The GPI-1200 appeared like a run-of-the-mill moveable DVD participant and weighed a hefty four-and-a-half kilos. Too unusual to exist, however I suppose there was someone on the market who needed to play Brain Dead 13 behind their mother or father’s station wagon throughout a street journey.
(*15*)Capcom CPS Changer (1994)
SNK was a significant identify within the arcade scene all through the 90s and launched the Neo Geo AES as a console that would fairly actually play arcade video games at dwelling. It was the identical {hardware}, that means every part was arcade-perfect, however it was sadly held again by the astronomical costs for the console and its video games. SNK’s rival Capcom determined to briefly soar on that concept by creating the Capcom CPS Changer.
The system solely got here out in Japan and in very restricted portions. While you could possibly play good variations of such classics as Final Fight, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, and Saturday Night Slam Masters, Capcom had already moved on with their know-how. The CPS Changer might solely play video games constructed on the CPS-1 arcade board and Capcom had began growing and releasing video games for the CPS-2 arcade board.
Meanwhile, SNK spent the following decade determining easy methods to construct extra video games across the Neo Geo’s limitations, permitting their console to reside on longer than it ought to have.
Neo Geo CD (1994)
Continuing with the Neo Geo dialogue, SNK ultimately realized that charging tons of of {dollars} for cartridges was not going to earn them any mainstream success. So, they launched the Neo Geo CD. The concept was that every one the present SNK arcade video games can be launched in CD kind and can be far more reasonably priced. On paper, it appeared like an ideal plan and an ideal compromise.
Things didn’t work out fairly like that, although. It seems that the console had some critical loading points. Playing among the smaller video games led to no issues, as there can be minimal load instances throughout all the playthrough. The actual drawback got here with the later video games, particularly these combating video games that have been presupposed to be SNK’s bread and butter. Due to the 3-on-3 nature of the collection, King of Fighters would make you endure loading screens for each spherical as they switched out opponents. If the Neo Geo CD had any potential for achievement, the unhealthy phrase of mouth from the fixed loading killed it for them. The console was discontinued in 1997.
Tiger R-Zone (1995)
Tiger’s handheld electronics from the early 90s are a testomony to how a lot a baby will put up with when a property they love is out there through a rubbish product. Those LCD handheld titles have been…memorable and ultimately culminated with the discharge of the R-Zone: a console with the unholy cultural distinction of, “We have the Virtual Boy at home.”
The concept was to hold a reflective lens over the participant’s eye as they performed titles that have been precisely just like the older Tiger handheld video games. However, the R-Zone allowed you to alter cartridges and it offered these video games in crimson and black. While the R-Zone was extremely reasonably priced, LCD gameplay was already outdated hat by 1995. More importantly, it seems that screwing up your eyesight was not a novelty that was going to drum up curiosity. The R-Zone was discontinued in 1997.
Atari Jaguar CD (1995)
The Atari Jaguar CD is like an unholy union between two failed ideas from the mid-90s. What in the event that they took the Atari Jaguar and gave it its personal Sega CD? Man, if solely there was a way so as to add Virtual Boy know-how to this. It might presumably summon the Antichrist.
Though introduced earlier than the Jaguar’s launch, the Jaguar CD endured a number of delays earlier than it really hit cabinets. By then, it was already too little, too late. The Jaguar was probably not setting the world on fireplace, and this toilet-looking add-on was not going to offer the console a shot within the arm. The Jaguar CD supplied a small handful of video games, although none of them actually stood out. Not that it issues at this level, because the {hardware} was so defective that it’s extremely exhausting to seek out an outdated Jaguar CD that works these days.
Atari supposed to launch the JagDuo, which might be a hybrid of the Jaguar and Jaguar CD, however it by no means escaped the prototype part and Atari left the console world behind.
Game.com (1997)
The Game.com is principally remembered for its industrial the place a Guy Fieri-like spokesman needlessly yells at a bunch of players for being silly assholes. Personally, I ship him with the equally livid Not-Emma-Stone-as-Anna-Williams-from-Tekken girl from the Atari Jaguar industrial.
Anyway, Game.com was Tiger Electronics’ try and compete with the Game Boy, and to its credit score, it featured some formidable concepts like a contact display screen and on-line play. Too unhealthy it was rubbish to play. Its scant library (about 20 video games) featured terrible animation, unhealthy controls, and fixed blurring when stuff did transfer. There was the occasional speech audio (akin to a Duke Nukem one-liner right here and there) that sounded superior, however it seems that voiceovers that sound like Darth Vader working at a McDonald’s drive-thru don’t transfer consoles.
Nintendo 64DD (1999)
Though lots of the entries on this record come from equally obscure producers, the 64DD was a Nintendo product. As everyone knows, Nintendo liked hyping up each little factor they did through their very own publication, Nintendo Power. They even hyped the Nintendo 64 Disc Drive attachment as one thing to look ahead to. At one level, they even famous it will be the one means you could possibly play the ill-fated Earthbound 64. For these with Nintendo Power subscriptions, mentions of the 64DD quietly vanished and light into reminiscence.
The 64DD might have been an enormous boon for Nintendo. It had an web connection, enhanced the capabilities of carts, allowed for DLC, and so forth. Too unhealthy it ended up being delayed into oblivion and solely being launched in Japan in late 1999 only for the sake of getting it on the market. It was solely energetic for simply over a 12 months when Nintendo of America noticed its meager ten video games and lack of public curiosity. Not wanting that stink within the US, Nintendo of America turned off the lights and pretended they weren’t dwelling.
Nokia N-Gage (2003)
The N-Gage was a kind of concepts that was forward of its time, however with out the fitting know-how to make it viable. While enjoying video games in your telephone was one thing that existed in a minor means, we have been nonetheless a number of years from that idea getting a significant shot within the arm with the rise of smartphones. Nokia jumped on the concept early by making a handheld gaming system that was additionally a telephone. Too unhealthy it wanted extra time within the planning and design phases.
Their ambitions have been in the fitting place, and Nokia picked up some sturdy sport franchises, however the high quality of the N-Gage {hardware} was nonexistent, and it didn’t make a dent towards the Game Boy Advance. The vertical display screen wasn’t a lot of a assist and made issues just like the King of Fighters port look completely cursed.
I really knew someone who bought his palms on an N-Gage years after they have been discontinued and selected to make it his cellphone for the sake of ironic novelty. While a cute concept, the tedious half was that you could possibly solely use it as a telephone by holding it utterly horizontally.
Gizmondo (2005)
While numerous these entries come off as attention-grabbing anecdotes, the story of the Gizmondo is such a comedy of errors that its existence might justify a film or documentary.
Like the N-Gage, the concept behind the Gizmondo was to combine handheld gaming with fundamental cell phone ideas (on this case, texting, cameras, and GPS). Even the specs have been pretty spectacular and the entire thing might have been successful in the fitting palms.
But wouldn’t you realize it, Tiger Telematics (no relation to Tiger Electronics) flew too near the solar. This is what occurs when “fake it until you make it” goes flawed. They promoted the discharge of the {hardware} with an enormous social gathering that included performances by Sting, Busta Rhymes, Pharrell Williams, and others. There was even a retailer in London established particularly for promoting the Gizmondo console and its only a few video games. Hilariously, additionally they gave you the choice to pay further for a model that didn’t embody ads, however they by no means bought round to introducing ads to the opposite Gizmondo units, so it was an excellent larger waste of cash. Granted, not that many individuals purchased them to start with.
Oh, and one of many guys behind it had mafia ties and bought in a automotive accident that reduce his million-dollar Ferrari in half. Gizmondo was wild, man.
Mattel HyperScan (2006)
Imagine making a sport system utterly revolving round lootboxes. A console the place playable characters, enemies, powers, ranges, places, and so forth have been all depending on proudly owning buying and selling playing cards that you could possibly scan into your machine like low-rent Amiibos. Then make every part else about this console (from the infinite load screens to the nigh-unplayable library) full rubbish. Congratulations, you simply created the HyperScan.
Only 5 video games have been launched for the HyperScan. This included three Marvel titles, a Ben 10 sport, and one thing about intergalactic wrestling. The complete factor was discontinued inside months. That not solely put the kibosh on video games based mostly on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Nick Extreme Sports, however it additionally meant that the cardboard units for the present video games have been by no means absolutely launched. Good factor the X-Men combating sport was so awful as a result of in the event you have been invested in it, you’ll have been cheated out of practically half of the sport’s content material after the very fact.
Zeebo (2009)
The fundamental concept of the Zeebo was sound. Brazil had points with importing video video games, which led to tons of piracy. Zeebo Inc. needed to create a digital-only console that will assist official ports from numerous prime third-party builders. The console would even be launched in Mexico, and there have been plans to ultimately distribute the console to different international locations as nicely.
Unfortunately, the {hardware}’s energy and performance have been on par with a 2009 cellphone. So, these ports have been restricted, to say the least. That lack of energy led to builders canceling numerous high-profile initiatives like Sonic Adventure and Street Fighter Alpha.
Due to its digital-only setup, the one means you’ll be able to play Zeebo video games in the present day is to get your palms on a used Zeebo from the 2 years when it was energetic and be certain that it already has these video games downloaded. It’s a disgrace, because the Zeebo model of Double Dragon is fully distinctive and looks as if numerous enjoyable, however till an emulation breakthrough occurs, it’s practically not possible for anybody to play it.
Incidentally, it was a bizarre transfer for them to call a console after the cigar-smoking clown ghost from Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Ouya (2013)
To stand out within the gaming business, particularly at this late stage, the concept isn’t to satisfy the highest names at their very own sport. The higher transfer is to note a novel avenue and capitalize on it. For occasion, the Ouya was a tiny field that utilized smartphone know-how and was based mostly round an enormous storefront of indie-developed video games that got here with demos. It was a funds console based mostly round celebrating the little man. The Ouya’s conceptual brilliance is confirmed by the unimaginable success of its Kickstarter marketing campaign.
After killing it on Kickstarter, although, these behind the console repeatedly fumbled the ball. The controllers have been inconsistent, their “Free the Games Fund” was buried by scandals, and the few video games of high quality have been buried by the amount of considerably lesser releases. The gross sales have been so dire that Ouya’s hottest sport, Towerfall, offered a mere 7,000 copies. Ouya was ultimately purchased by Razer, Inc., which discontinued the console in 2015 and ended its on-line exercise in 2019.
It’s actually a disgrace. If these in cost had performed their playing cards proper, the Ouya might have theoretically capitalized on the digital nature of recent gaming (particularly in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic). Then once more, Google Stadia didn’t do the identical regardless of having the ball of their courtroom, so possibly not.
The submit 15 Forgotten Video Game Consoles appeared first on .
