Article: Fifteen Classic Game Console Design Mistakes

[VectorGamer]

Hmmm... I wonder if there is any mention of the 5200 controllers? : ]

 

http://technologizer.com/2009/08/10/fiftee...esign-mistakes/

[Lord Helmet]

There's some factually incorrect data in there, but some stuff I agree with. The GBA screen was crap. I didn't get one until the SP came out. The lack of a headphone jack on the SP was crap too. Most of the other stuff in that article has been done to death.

[16-bit]

Not a bad article. They seem to dump hardcore on all the older classic systems though.

 

Also I was never bothered by the "big bertha" Xbox controllers.

Edited August 11, 2009 by 16-bit

[Tom-Lynx]

I agree with all their assessments, but you know.... hind sight is 20/20 in every case and even the latest consoles would be done differently given a chance. All of those issues raised, in my mind, are part of the industry growing to maturity.

 

For example, they rag on the Virtual Boy. Now there is absolutely no argument that their complaints about the red screen and ergonomics are valid, but who else was willing to experiment in the 3D market, and someday 3D gaming will draw on what failed.

 

And for the GameBoy Advance, you can't say that the non-backlit screen hurt Nintendo's sales, and every kid ALSO got a GameBoy Advance SP when they were launched with the backlit screen later on. Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank on that one.

[Wickeycolumbus]

I can't believe the HyperScan was not mentioned.

[jboypacman]

One controller port on the Turbografx-16/PC Engine could be one that could of been mentioned too.

Edited August 12, 2009 by jboypacman

[mos6507]

I never thought the Jag controller was that bad. When the PSX controller came out it kind of vindicated the banana-shaped controller idea. And we've seen controllers since then that put stuff in the middle like this:

 

 

[tisaperfectdayelise]

I still would like to know what made the "power through the RF," as they described it, on the 5200 a bad thing. People seem to bring this up often, and I still can't figure out why that configuration deserves some sort of demerit. I happen to like the single cord from the system, and it makes up for the controllers' short cords, as it's easier to move the 5200 from the game stand to the couch when there is only one cord to worry about... color me confused...

 

They try to make it seem as though Atari didn't manufacture them separately, which is laughable, since their picture includes a boxed unit.....

Edited August 12, 2009 by tisaperfectdayelise

[VectorGamer]

Game Boy - I can't play the thing because the pad is so darn small. That's where I prefer the Lynx.

 

5200 RF - The one complaint I read was going away from the RF that was released with every other system. Honestly, I don't know why they went through the trouble with this and can't believe it saved them any money.

 

Now, if you had a to decide between the 5200 and ColecoVision, would the RF been a deal maker/breaker? I think not...

[Emehr]

Game Boy - I can't play the thing because the pad is so darn small. That's where I prefer the Lynx.

My thumb cramps up with small D-pads thus my time limit with action games on the Game Boy and DS is extremely limited. Not to mention the small form factor makes half of my hands fall asleep. When I heard the DSi was going to be thinner than the DS Lite I knew it wasn't going to be in the cards for me to buy one. That helped kill it for me. The Lynx is the perfect size handheld for me. If the original GBA had an NES-size D-pad it would have been more usable.

 

I'll add PlayStation D-pads to the list. What is the point of "separating" the directions? It may look exciting and hip but it's a real pain in the butt trying to pull off Street Fighter-like motions with that dead space in the center. Not sure why D-pads had to "evolve" in the first place. NES had it right. SNES had it right. Genesis had it right (on both controller types). From then on it's like it became a contest to see who could come up with the most unusable D-pad.

[Tempest]

I would have added:

 

1. The Studio II being in B&W instead of color (seriously, this was 78 for crying out loud)

2. The Colecovision mushroom stump sticks (I think he mentioned that briefly in the article)

3. All consoles that had those stupid coiled joystick cords (Colecovision, Intellivision, Arcadia 2001, etc.)

4. The ADAM power supply being in the printer

5. The 7800 'Painline' controllers. Holy crap those things hurt to use!

 

I do like how they mentioned the Virtual Boy stand being too small. Seriously, I have not found a way to make this thing comfortable to use. I'm always hunched over and in pain after a few minutes.

 

Tempest

[TwinChargers]

I'm not sure that this is a design mistake, but I'd be curious to see what the sales numbers would have been had they released the Game Boy Light here in the states. That was probably my biggest gripe with the GB line, it had no back light (here in the US) until the GBA SP, 14 years AFTER the original GB was released.

[STICH666]

I never thought the Jag controller was that bad. When the PSX controller came out it kind of vindicated the banana-shaped controller idea. And we've seen controllers since then that put stuff in the middle like this:

 

 

Surprisingly that actually doesn't get in the way as much as you would think.

[godslabrat]

When I saw the title, I was expecting something written by a 19-year-old chock-full of 20/20 hindsight, with comments all variations of "Didn't this suk, lulz!!!21"

 

Actually, this is a really good article, and while it makes its points, it is more than a little forgiving of bad decisions in light of the context of the time. Mistakes are the natural by-product of innovation.

 

I'm also a huge fan of the Virtual Boy. Going back 15 years (damn, has it been that long?) I'd love to be the one in charge of that project. It'd be a lot of fun to try and work that product with a radically different marketing strategy. The VB wasn't really as flawed as some would suggest, it was just playing to the wrong crowd.

[n8littlefield]

Nice article - I would have liked "too many addons and hardward revisions" for the Sega Genesis/SegaCD/32X consoles. I would argue that the Saturn/Dreamcast were destined to fail in part due to how bad Sega's reputation got hit from that mess.

 

Another I would have added would be poor battery life. As much as they pick on the GBA screen, it wasn't backlit primarily for battery life reasons, which has always been a complaint on non-Nintendo handhelds (and was the reason I got rid of my Game Gear back in the day).

 

One final addition I would have put on would be "bad console design". As much as I loved the system, the Gamecube immediately suffered from the OLOL Kiddiez syndrome from non-Nintendo fans because the thing looked like a purple lunch box. I know that there were a ton of reasons for the system being the least successful Nintendo console save the Virtual Boy, but to start right out of the gate with that design really didn't bode well for the console.

[JerryTerrifying]

Game Boy - I can't play the thing because the pad is so darn small. That's where I prefer the Lynx.

My thumb cramps up with small D-pads thus my time limit with action games on the Game Boy and DS is extremely limited. Not to mention the small form factor makes half of my hands fall asleep. When I heard the DSi was going to be thinner than the DS Lite I knew it wasn't going to be in the cards for me to buy one. That helped kill it for me. The Lynx is the perfect size handheld for me. If the original GBA had an NES-size D-pad it would have been more usable.

 

I'll add PlayStation D-pads to the list. What is the point of "separating" the directions? It may look exciting and hip but it's a real pain in the butt trying to pull off Street Fighter-like motions with that dead space in the center. Not sure why D-pads had to "evolve" in the first place. NES had it right. SNES had it right. Genesis had it right (on both controller types). From then on it's like it became a contest to see who could come up with the most unusable D-pad.

 

I actually think the Playstation d pad is better for street fighter than the SNES pad. The best D pad I've ever used is the model 1 Saturn D pad. I love that thing. The model 2 Saturn D pad is also great but I just love the way the model 1 rolls.

[pinball22]

I can't believe the HyperScan was not mentioned.

 

The HyperScan is actually listed in another article of Benj's, The 10 Worst Video Game Systems of All Time.

 

If you enjoyed this article, you should read his Vintage Computing and Gaming blog. He's usually got very interesting/entertaining stuff, and the more in-depth articles and interviews he does are really high-quality stuff.

[MCHufnagel]

I never thought the Jag controller was that bad. When the PSX controller came out it kind of vindicated the banana-shaped controller idea. And we've seen controllers since then that put stuff in the middle like this:

 

 

The jagpad wasn't too bad. But shoulder buttons have shown that keypads are inefficient.

 

Also if you could use the Jag pad to communicate online, you would have had a valid comparison.

[carmel_andrews]

Perhaps if they had built in a proper 800 mode into the 5200 and made the other 2 joytick ports atari 2600 compatible I think the 5200 might have been saved

 

perhaps atari could have done a smaller 5200 like they did the 2600

[nester]

I think that they should've included the SMS not having a pause or select button on the controller. It drives me crazy having to walk over to the console every time I want to pause the thing. It's even worse on games with menu screens that require you to hit the pause button over and over again. There are even some games that have to use two controllers to solve this problem. I'd take a Jaguar controller over an SMS one any day.

[Seob]

The xbox360 dpad, is the worst i have experienced. It never goes in the same direction twice, when tapping it.

[Seob]

The xbox360 dpad, is the worst i have experienced. It never goes in the same direction twice, when tapping it.

[jeremysart]

I think they should have included the Action Max.. or at least include it in the top ten worst game consoles. I still dont know why I have one of those POS..

[Video]

I have two problems with that list.

 

1) Jaguar pad? Yeah, only 3 buttons, but can anyone say "stock genesis"? Don't get me started on other available "current gen" consoles also out at the time (many of which had 2 action buttons) True the pro pad should have been out earlier, as it was only redirecting 12346 buttons for XYZLR buttons, so internally, it's the same controller. but eh...the only game that really would hav ebenefited from it IMO was doom anyways.

 

2)Xbox? Huh? WTF?!!? Seriously, don't worry, when you hit puberty, you'll learn why a large pad is cool. Having the option was nice, but I never used more than one S controller, and that's cause one of my friends talked me into getting it, I quickly learned that S stood for shit. Luckily, the controllers are so well built, I probably will be using my day one controller for many years yet, and have half dozen backups when it finely fails....to bad the system won't last long enough for that to happen.