Top Five WORST Consoles in Video Game History

[high voltage]

There are more NES haters here than anywhere else I've seen. Man, jealousy never looked so ugly

 

To the OP. List looks like, but the numbers look a little off to me.

 

Jealous of the NES?, not likely. I agree with The_Lairds NES comment.

 

Trouble with Dittohead is that like his other post (best consoles in his mind), his research is always very flawed (always looks like a Wiki cut and paste job).

N-Gage, for example, I have a COMPLETE collection (yes, complete list of games is known), and the good/bad ratio of games is actually way better when compared to the NES/Famicom, meaning the games on N-Gage are of very good quality indeed. And using the N-Gage as a cell is kinda cool, it makes everyone take notice for sure. Yes, I still use mine nowadays.

Edited June 20, 2010 by high voltage

[CGQuarterly]

George Plimpton. Not Bill Plympton. So I guess you don't like him *THAT* much...

 

Chris

[Cebus Capucinis]

George Plimpton. Not Bill Plympton. So I guess you don't like him *THAT* much...

 

Chris

 

Joke. Over head.

 

<insert thatsthejoke.jpg here>

[CGQuarterly]

Yes sometimes your sophisticated, Dennis Millerian humor sails right over my head. After Googling "Bill Plympton" I now get the joke. I had to pull myself together just to post this.

 

Chris

[Austin]

..[the] research is always very flawed (always looks like a Wiki cut and paste job).

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

If it is possible to objectively create a list like this (Which, to a very light extent I think it is), take a serious effort to spend time with every system out there and play the majority of each library. Come back to me with a list then.

Edited June 20, 2010 by Austin

[malducci]

Jealous of the NES?, not likely. I agree with The_Lairds NES comment.

 

So you guys don't like it because it didn't have direct arcade ports? That's pretty stupid lame reason to hate the NES. Maybe you just don't get the 8bit era. But I suspect it has to do with other reasons

 

 

 

Trouble with Dittohead is that like his other post (best consoles in his mind), his research is always very flawed (always looks like a Wiki cut and paste job).

 

N-Gage, for example, I have a COMPLETE collection (yes, complete list of games is known), and the good/bad ratio of games is actually way better when compared to the NES/Famicom, meaning the games on N-Gage are of very good quality indeed. And using the N-Gage as a cell is kinda cool, it makes everyone take notice for sure. Yes, I still use mine nowadays.

 

Ratio means jack shit to a gamer. The amount of good games are real measure of worth. SGX probably has one of the best ratio of good games to bad for any system (I put it at 60%, but some put it higher). And I doubt anyone has it as their top system of choice N-Gage is pretty much crap from what I've seen.

 

If I had to make a list:

 

CD-I

 

3D0

 

Jaguar

 

N-Gage

 

I can't think of a fifth at the moment.

[high voltage]

Jealous of the NES?, not likely. I agree with The_Lairds NES comment.

 

So you guys don't like it because it didn't have direct arcade ports? That's pretty stupid lame reason to hate the NES. Maybe you just don't get the 8bit era. But I suspect it has to do with other reasons

 

 

 

Trouble with Dittohead is that like his other post (best consoles in his mind), his research is always very flawed (always looks like a Wiki cut and paste job).

 

N-Gage, for example, I have a COMPLETE collection (yes, complete list of games is known), and the good/bad ratio of games is actually way better when compared to the NES/Famicom, meaning the games on N-Gage are of very good quality indeed. And using the N-Gage as a cell is kinda cool, it makes everyone take notice for sure. Yes, I still use mine nowadays.

 

Ratio means jack shit to a gamer. The amount of good games are real measure of worth. SGX probably has one of the best ratio of good games to bad for any system (I put it at 60%, but some put it higher). And I doubt anyone has it as their top system of choice N-Gage is pretty much crap from what I've seen.

 

If I had to make a list:

 

CD-I

 

3D0

 

Jaguar

 

N-Gage

 

I can't think of a fifth at the moment.

 

 

And thats the trouble with you non-gamers:....'from what I've seen'....

 

Now, I have a COMPLETE Tiger game.com collection (20 games and that's including the built-in game), 17 out of those 20 titles are horrible, so clearly game.com deserves the number one spot without a doubt, if you gotta judge handhelds.

Not N-Gage, N-Gage has excellent titles, arcade ports and all.

But, and this is a handy tip from me, you gotta play to judge, otherwise, ship out and stay quiet.

Edited June 20, 2010 by high voltage

[DracIsBack]

I first read the original post and thought, wow - a bunch of militant Jaguar fans are gonna be pissed off. Same with any of the others. It's amazing what an "I thought", "I felt", "I didn't like", "IMO" can do to avoid flame wars with people who don't share the same opinion.

 

I liked the NES myself. Regardless of things I thought were warts (flickering graphics, poor construction, lots of dud games), there were soooo many classics on that system that I loved.

 

As for Jaguar:

 

- The launch price wasn't crazy. Remember, the 3DO was $700. The machine launched for what machines typically launched at.

- seriously doubt that the controller hurt the Jaguar 'most of all'. I'd argue it was the size and quality of games library relative to the promises made of '64-bit power' and how Atari had handled past systems that hurt more than the controller. I didn't mind it, myself.

- As for the CPU comment, others have pointed out your technical flaws ... I'm just surprised you haven't had more people blast you.

Edited June 20, 2010 by DracIsBack

[jetset]

Yeah and the 7800 should have definitely topped the list anyway.

 

I felt I thought IMO.

[CGQuarterly]

I am not a fan of the Jag, but I always liked the controller. I thought it was quite comfortable. I would actually like to pick up a Jag again one of these days to give it a second chance. 3DO had some neat games, too.

 

The problem with lists like this is that pretty much all of these systems are fairly cheap to own now. If there are even a few games that are really good on the system then you'll get your money's worth. I just don't like the mentality of "that system sucks so I don't want it". As a classic gamer, I pretty much want all systems, and am limited only by the space that I have to store them.

 

Lists of best/worst or most favorite/least favorite games are fun to discuss, but a discussion about which consoles suck the worst is pretty pointless, in my opinion. This list should have been titled "Worst console failures of all time." That would at least be more accurate.

 

Chris

[DracIsBack]

Yeah and the 7800 should have definitely topped the list anyway.

 

I felt I thought IMO.

 

lol - no accounting for your taste (or lack thereof)!

 

The 7800 will never make the top of any "worst of list" for me as long as I have a Cuttle Cart.

 

I am not a fan of the Jag, but I always liked the controller. I thought it was quite comfortable. I would actually like to pick up a Jag again one of these days to give it a second chance.

 

I didn't mind it either. It felt 'adult sized' to me at the time. All this Jaguar talk has prompted me to re-hook mine up after a year of it sitting unplugged.But I just re-hooked up my XEGS too, so it may have to wait ...

Edited June 20, 2010 by DracIsBack

[Reaperman]

 

Now, I have a COMPLETE Tiger game.com collection (20 games and that's including the built-in game), 17 out of those 20 titles are horrible, so clearly game.com deserves the number one spot without a doubt, if you gotta judge handhelds.

Not N-Gage, N-Gage has excellent titles, arcade ports and all.

But, and this is a handy tip from me, you gotta play to judge, otherwise, ship out and stay quiet.

I'll buy into that. It was so awful I think I must have blocked the system out of my mind. game.com really does need to be on any 'bad game system' list that includes handhelds. Near the top, if not at the top.

Edited June 20, 2010 by Reaperman

[Cebus Capucinis]

The problem with lists like this is that pretty much all of these systems are fairly cheap to own now. If there are even a few games that are really good on the system then you'll get your money's worth. I just don't like the mentality of "that system sucks so I don't want it". As a classic gamer, I pretty much want all systems, and am limited only by the space that I have to store them.

 

+1

 

Agreed! Every system has something that's worth it, and even if you don't like it, it's cool to at least try everything that was out there. Even if it's a really horrible experience like the RCA Studio II, it's still a unique a fun little part of history and you have to admit, just experiencing everything for the first time has that appeal to it. I want to try every system, even if I know it's "bad" in the traditional or technical sense.

[godslabrat]

Well, as I said in the other thread, I fail to see the logic in excluding portables from the discussion. Having said that, I do enjoy the VB, but am on the fence about calling it a "bad" console objectively. Granted, it was not successful or popular, but it did what it did very well, IMO. Red-and-Black graphics weren't that bad compared to the original gameboy, and offered significantly more detail over the Vectrex the VB is so often compared to. Yes, I admit that it was uncomfortable to play, but I also wonder how many people mention that and then are willing to buy special glasses to play the PS3's new 3D games.

 

Maybe I'm just trying too hard to draw a distinction between "bad" and "unpopular". Are they the same thing? Maybe. The N-Gage was a pretty bad console until very late in its life, and it was also unpopular. On the other hand, the Jag and Saturn were unpopular, and yet they're both considered to be holy relics of their respective eras.

[CGQuarterly]

I think you have to make a distinction between something that was a commercial failure and a console that just doesn't have many good games. The Saturn was a commercial failure by any measure, but it has a shit-ton of awesome games. It's one of my favorite consoles and I didn't have one back in its day, so that isn't nostalgia talking.

 

Chris

[malducci]

And thats the trouble with you non-gamers:....'from what I've seen'....

 

I'm a non-gamer now? Hahaha. That's news to me. Should I post my certifications so we can clear up this matter?

 

But, and this is a handy tip from me, you gotta play to judge, otherwise, ship out and stay quiet.

 

Bullshit. First, my opinion is my own and I can stated as is. Second, I don't need to 'play to judge' to know what I like and what I don't. I've never played a CD-I game in my life and I don't need to know the games are shit. I've seen enough 'games' on the N-Gage for me to make an opinion of it. And it's an opinion, nobody said you had to like it I didn't tell you to 'ship out or stay quiet', just because I felt your opinion of the NES was slanted.

Edited June 21, 2010 by malducci

[famicommander]

I have all five consoles you listed and I enjoy them all to one degree or another.

 

Virtual Boy has a small library, but most of its games are actually pretty awesome. In addition, its controller rocks and the stereoscopic 3D actually worked. Further, probably close to 50 friends and relatives have played my Virtual Boy and none complained of head aches. I'm not saying that nobody got head aches from it, but I spent 5 hours playing VB Wario Land the other day and felt fine.

 

N-Gage lacks original software, but it does have a lot of great games. I enjoyed the hell out of Monkey Ball, Rayman, Sonic, KoF, and a dozen others. It has an outstanding library. I will, however, agree that the controls on the original model sucked, and that removing the battery to change games is retarded. Luckily, I have a QD, which rectifies that situation.

 

The 32X was a massive disappointment when it was new, but now the systems are dirt cheap and they have some good titles. The best version of MKII I've ever played, Knuckles' Chaotix, Tempo, Kolibri, Cosmic Carnage, Blackthorne, Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Shadow Squadron... I can understand being pissed if you paid what it cost at launch, but for the ~30 dollars the system costs now it's well worth it.

 

The Jaguar didn't live up to the hype, but it's still a good system. Anything with Rayman, Wolfenstein, Tempest 2000, Doom, Raiden, and Zool 2 is just fine by me. I find the Pro controller quite functional and comfortable, and I don't regret picking up my Jag in the slightest.

 

And the 5200 is the most puzzling inclusion on this list. Sure, it's massive and its controllers are fragile, but the library is incredible and that's all that matters to me.

[kool kitty89]

Those 5200 analog controllers are working pretty slick with that new Sinistar cart I just got...

How are the side buttons?

 

 

So you guys don't like it because it didn't have direct arcade ports? That's pretty stupid lame reason to hate the NES. Maybe you just don't get the 8bit era. But I suspect it has to do with other reasons

You do realize the 8-bit era is pretty much the mid 1970s to early 1990s, right? (for consoles it would be 1976 to 1989 in terms of release date, or the mid 90s at least in terms of lifespan of platforms)

 

 

I first read the original post and thought, wow - a bunch of militant Jaguar fans are gonna be pissed off. Same with any of the others. It's amazing what an "I thought", "I felt", "I didn't like", "IMO" can do to avoid flame wars with people who don't share the same opinion.

 

I liked the NES myself. Regardless of things I thought were warts (flickering graphics, poor construction, lots of dud games), there were soooo many classics on that system that I loved.

Well flickering went had in hand with any limited sprite based platform pushing relatively advanced games. (VCS, 8-bit/5200, CV/MSX, C64, FC/NES, SMS, etc -PCE/MD/SNES much less so but still occasional flicker/drop out) SMS was probably the most extreme simply due to the greater number of advanced/detailed games they pushed, or lesser willingness to cut-down ports. (double dragon has a lot more flicker than the NES, but the NES cuts down the number of enemies allowed on-screen as well as their size on top of the color/detail limits of the NES)

I grew up with the NES, though it's mot my favorite, it's certainly a good platform.

Popular platforms always attract lots of shovelware too, of course.

 

- The launch price wasn't crazy. Remember, the 3DO was $700. The machine launched for what machines typically launched at.

- seriously doubt that the controller hurt the Jaguar 'most of all'. I'd argue it was the size and quality of games library relative to the promises made of '64-bit power' and how Atari had handled past systems that hurt more than the controller. I didn't mind it, myself.

I already had a rather lengthy expression for the Jag in my semi-rant on the end of page 1, but I'd disagree that the 64-bit marketing hurt them: they simply were in a bad position and probably the weakest Atari Corp ever was (pretty much no product to market prior to the Jag's launch and mounting debt -in '84 there was tons of debt, but they had products to market and promising new ones in development). Management was problematic but also tied to the monetary issues, though one could say part of why they failed was a lack of willingness to bet the farm. (in all fairness, the Tramiels most likely did what was wisest for their own well being )

It could have been better ideally, but in the best case there's still Sony roaring in, so Atari would have had to dig a niche fast to survive. (thy kind of missed the chance to dig into Europe -which was probably the region with the most chance of establishing the platform given the much more positive recognition toward the name at that point in time)

And had they bet the farm they'd have risked the whole thing blowing up in their faces. (unless you perhaps go back further in a hypothetical discussion and suggest they changed other things, but that's another topic all together)

 

 

1. The Jaguar dosn't have a CPU. Its a multiprocessor architecture machine where either the GPU, DSP or the 68k which is just the "boot chip" can control the machine. The 68k is a 16-bit chip (not 32-bit) and is too often described as the CPU which is false as its true purpose is to boot the machine and read the joypads. The custom processors and the data bus are 64-bit so this makes the Jag 64-bit. End of story on that.

Well, the Jaguar's design in and of itself is a bit complex, but judging by the lengthy discusions with the Jag tech guys I've had, the 68k indeed could be considered the CPU in the platform as it was conceived in 1990. It's just that it's best not used as such to max out the capabilities. (which would not have been practical for most developers with limited time constraints with the bugs -maybe with better tools, and in some cases, like id, they made their own tools though iirc Doom did a lot on the 68k still too)

The system was designed with a general purpose CPU in mind, just like the preceding Flare 1/Multisystem chipset (Z80 and late 8088).

Kskunk pointed out that the 68k made a good amount of sense from the perspective of the kinds of games around in 1990/91 when the chipset was created. (or even most 3D games up to ~1993) The Z80/8088 in flare 1/slipstream was included to do general tasks like running the game logic/AI with the custom chips handling rendering and audio.

And, of course the chipset supported pretty much any 68k OR x86 architecture CPUs and by extension several others like MIPS (used in CoJag) and probably PowerPC and ARM too. (not intentionally supported, but simply worked due to the provisions made for the x86/68k chips)

 

2. The usual ragging on the Joypads nonsense. There was a poll recently where not one person who actually used the Jag pads described them as uncomfortable or bad in anyway. The Pro controller is actully my favourite console joypad (yes I prefer it to the Saturn one!)

I think I'd like the Saturn 3D pad more (though concave buttons would be slightly better), but anyway, it is fine: the problem was it only had 3 buttons at a time when 6 buttons were already common in the arcade and the SNES had been out for a good while with Sega's 6-button following soon after (3DO's probably should have gone with 6 face buttons too), though the keypad could have really been useful for some PC ports complementing the buttons. I believe the controller was the same designed for the Panther around '89/90, so it could indeed have used an update. (the Pro Controller would have been awesome)

 

3. The Panther was a 32-Bit machine not 16-Bit.

It really depends on how you define it though and regardless of that the bitness used in marketing had nothing to do with actual power of the system given the vague description.

Anyway, the most common bases for a console/computer is by the CPU, or at least general purpose processor(s) in the system which, by extension, are generally defined by the ALU (regardless of external bus width): hence the 68000/68010 being 16-bit but the 386SX being 32-bit (68k has a 16-bit ALU, 386SX is a normal 386 with half the external data lines disconnected) also why the 8088 (or 68008) is considered a 16-bit CPU, generally speaking.

So in the Jag's case, that would make it a 16-bit, or 32-bit system (68k and custom RISC MPUs), likewise the VCS/5200/NES/7800/SMS/CV/C64/Spectrum/CPC/MSX/appleII/TG-16 etc are all 8-bit systems in spite of several being of different generations and drastically different capabilities. The Dreamcast, GC, Xbox, and Wii would all be 32-bit machines as well, PS2 would be 64-bit as would PS3/360.

 

The N64's CPU is 64-bit internally but 32-bit externally and on top of that, the 64-bit operations are hardly needed and rarely used, but it made for good marketing and there were no all 32-bit alternatives of comparable power. (MIPS R3000 was the last 32-bit CPU in the architecture and it topped out at ~1/3 the speed not taking cycle efficiency into account) Given the development timeline, I'd hazard a guess that some prototypes were based on the earlier R4200 rather than the 4300 ca 1995. (which was similar but cut the 64-bit bus to 32-bits, thus greatly saving on pins -and skimped on some other things as well as using a smaller manufacturing process)

 

Now, if you include graphics processors, you have the object processor and blitter buffered for 64-bit accesses for most things (texture mapping being a notable exception for the blitter iirc) and that's the main goal of using the 64-bit bus: high bandwidth with cheap/slow RAM. (could have done similar with 1/2 or 1/4 the bus width with 2x of 4x as fast RAM -namely EDO or SD RAM, or other things like VRAM but that would have been rather expensive -though at one point it seems that going with 4x speed SDRAM on a 16-bit bus was considered for the Jag 2 but dropped before prototyping it seems)

The N64 actually took the opposite approach and used very fast RDRAM (500 MHz compared to the Jag's ~13.3 MHz or PSX's ~33 MHz) on a 9-bit bus (saving a lot of cost on pins/traces -same would be true for SDRAM on the Jag 2) connecting to the MMU which connected with the 32-bit CPU and RSP data buses. (only the RSP had DMA to main memory iirc, hence some of the latency issues with the CPU)

But if you go that route, it also blurs things to some extent, especialyl if you include operations with buffers for 64-bit accesses, but actual data being smaller 16/32 (maybe 8-bit) chunks, especially pixel data (which was usually 16 bits per pixel). Would a 1993 Pentium system be 64 bit? (64-bit DMA for a 32-bit CPU) Likewise would the GC have a 64-bit CPU, or Xbox 128-bit? (dual channel bus)

And from that perspective, including any processor in the system, the Atari TT030 could be a 64-bit system with the 64-bit SHIFTER II video chip (I think it was connected to main memory, not a dedicated bus, so it fits even better with the Jaguar comparison), or some VGA/SVGA cards with 64-bit memory. (that's not quite as parallel as it's a separate bus, so not as blurred as the Jaguar's shared bus) If the Jaguar had a separate bus for the video chips it would remove some of that blur though, perhaps having so many chips crammed into TOM also skews some things. (you could say TOM is 64-bit, but that's a vague statement as it's an ASIC, so basically one large chip combining 3 separate processors, one of which being a 32-bit RISC processor -the on-chip SRAM is also 32-bit iirc, so the blitter and OPL would be working on 32-bits only in the scratchpad, but at double the clock speed as main RAM -just as faster main memory could in theory -and did on the PSX/Saturn)

That was the argument the TG-16 used too, though in that case they could have simply pointed out the vast range of 8-bit machines and how the CPU architecture's word length really had no direct bearing on the overall system.

 

Hell the SNES has an 8-bit main bus (RAM and ROM carts), but its CPU is generally considered to be 16-bit. (for what that's worth)

 

Now, with the Panther, you have a 16-bit CPU and a 32-bit Panther object processor (kind of a more primitive predecessor to the Jag's OPL) and 32 kB of SRAM for the entire system. So it could be considered a 32-bit system in some sense, though would have been a 16-bit computer/machine in the sense that the Atari ST, Amiga, or Mega Drive/Genesis were. (and on top of that it would have been weaker in many respects than contemporary 4th generation platforms with the advantage of the OPL's sprite scaling mitigated by the alien architecture and especially the tiny amount of RAM used -had to be fast SRAM due to the Panther's design, had to be small due to cost issues, so too small for a frame buffer and no character modes supported in hardware -would have needed to be approximated in software- along with general color depth limits and limited RAM in general on a shared bus at that) The last bit doesn't really have much to do with the academic argument over bitness though.

Edited June 21, 2010 by kool kitty89

[high voltage]

I have all five consoles you listed and I enjoy them all to one degree or another.

 

Virtual Boy has a small library, but most of its games are actually pretty awesome. In addition, its controller rocks and the stereoscopic 3D actually worked. Further, probably close to 50 friends and relatives have played my Virtual Boy and none complained of head aches. I'm not saying that nobody got head aches from it, but I spent 5 hours playing VB Wario Land the other day and felt fine.

 

N-Gage lacks original software, but it does have a lot of great games. I enjoyed the hell out of Monkey Ball, Rayman, Sonic, KoF, and a dozen others. It has an outstanding library. I will, however, agree that the controls on the original model sucked, and that removing the battery to change games is retarded. Luckily, I have a QD, which rectifies that situation.

 

The 32X was a massive disappointment when it was new, but now the systems are dirt cheap and they have some good titles. The best version of MKII I've ever played, Knuckles' Chaotix, Tempo, Kolibri, Cosmic Carnage, Blackthorne, Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Shadow Squadron... I can understand being pissed if you paid what it cost at launch, but for the ~30 dollars the system costs now it's well worth it.

 

The Jaguar didn't live up to the hype, but it's still a good system. Anything with Rayman, Wolfenstein, Tempest 2000, Doom, Raiden, and Zool 2 is just fine by me. I find the Pro controller quite functional and comfortable, and I don't regret picking up my Jag in the slightest.

 

And the 5200 is the most puzzling inclusion on this list. Sure, it's massive and its controllers are fragile, but the library is incredible and that's all that matters to me.

 

You're right about the VB, I own the VB and 13 games, and they are of really high playability. When compared to the NES/Famicom, on which I played approx 700 -800 games, the VB really stands out when it comes to quality games, whereas the NES/Famicom doesn't.

[Chris Leach]

Here is my top 100 hated consoles!

 

#100-#5 Microsoft Xbox 360...any version of the system they can pump out goes on this list...(seriously, 360 degrees is a circle. If there were enough people liking the 360, you would probably see a bunch of guys standing in a circle....doing what?)

"Mom...Dad...thank you for buying me a doorstop last christmas, for my birthday can you buy me another?"

#4 RCA Studio 2....sure it's got some cartridges, but are the games really playable?

 

#3 Panasonic 3Do...do you really have any games that are 2 players and when you do have your friend over, do you really want them plugging their controller into your? I mean when they make their guy jump, they jump with the controller yanking yours from your sweaty hands? Annoying....

 

#2 Sega Dreamcast.....there is a limited amount of games for the console, and when I was buying the Sony Playstation, all my friends had the dreamcast. They played one game...Soul Calibur? What is that fighting system thingy doing...? I want to play A-Train!

 

#1 Nintendo Wii...Seriously I hate the hype behind the Nintendo Wii...Give me my 1 game and my Joyboard....I can Play Mogul Maniac all day long....forget Wii sports

 

 

 

systems that need to be mentioned....

 

Neo Geo AES is amazing..you have to experience it and not just hte fighting games....

 

Atari 2600....never get old..theres more games for this system than you can collect in a life time...

 

JVC X-eye....not bad if you are a sega fan...you can play sega genesis and sega cd games...if you have the master system converter you can play maseter system games....

 

NES? Maybe, maybe worth getting if I didn't already own all the games except for the championship cart and that myriad 6 in 1 cart....would liek more homebrews or repros, but my favorite homebrew repro guy dropped out of the race...(shawn sr.) good guy though...

 

Playstation 3..if and only if its a backwards compatible system. Ps1 and Ps2 has enough games to support the compatibility....what maybe 3000 games made between the two consoles..?

[VectorGamer]

Those 5200 analog controllers are working pretty slick with that new Sinistar cart I just got...

How are the side buttons?

 

 

 

The default option is to turn on autofire which helps and most players will do anyway. So, you only need to use the bottom button for Sinibombs which makes it nice.

[BydoEmpire]

Obviously, the 5200 doesn't belong on this list. Yes, all things considered, the controller sucks, but I wouldn't characterize it as "weak". I've never found a broken one. It's unreliable and has extremely poor ergonomics, but the CV and INTV controllers are just as bad, if not worse.

 

"Technologically superior Colecovision"--

 

The RCA Studio II, Channel F, Bally Astrocade, APF, or at least a half a dozen other consoles should be considered for this list before the 5200.

Agreed 100%. The 5200 is an excellent console.

 

The default option is to turn on autofire which helps and most players will do anyway. So, you only need to use the bottom button for Sinibombs which makes it nice.

I played Sinistar all weekend as well and had no problems with the controllers. Wish the game took advantage of the analog sticks, but even without that it played extremely well. Fantastic port all around. Edited June 21, 2010 by BydoEmpire

[Austin]

**Must.. refrain.. self.. from hitting.. name calling.. button.. AAAARGHH!!**

Edited June 21, 2010 by Austin

[mattyg]

There are far worse consoles than those you mentioned - the Apple Pippin , the Casio Loopy (I do have one of these so I can attest to its dismality) , any of the VHS tape systems......and so on.

 

Perhaps you should retitle it "my five worst US released consoles" as opposed to claiming the entire VG history?

 

.................just a thought...........

[jetset]

There are far worse consoles than those you mentioned - the Apple Pippin , the Casio Loopy (I do have one of these so I can attest to its dismality) , any of the VHS tape systems......and so on.

 

Perhaps you should retitle it "my five worst US released consoles" as opposed to claiming the entire VG history?

 

.................just a thought...........

 

I confess I know nothing of 4 of the 5 consoles the op listed. That said, based on his review of the 5200, the thread should be titled "the 5 worst consoles I've never actually played". It's like he went with information he read off the web, and/or speculation, with some outright bs sprinkled in.

"Bigger than the xbox"? Um...yeah, people in 1982 were thinking to themselves "OMG...this thing is larger than a console that won't be on the market for another fifteen years!"

"the technologically superior Colecovsion" HUH? Um...in what way? Graphics? No...Sound? No...scrolling? No...But it was a smaller console. Maybe that's what he meant?

"he joystick did not automatically center itself and was so weak it often broke after only a short time" Ok, I'll give you that, if you are not very good at playing games the self centering issue was a problem. Breaking after a short time? Um....no.

 

My guess is there's a total lack of knowledge with the other four consoles as well. It's like reading a review at videogamecritic.net. "I got bored with this game because I suck at it, therefore I give it an F"