how do you classify a "bad" console?

[xDragonWarrior]

Does it have to have more good than bad games,more than 1 good game,variety of games or what.The consoles that lots of people say(even though most of the naysayers never even played them) like the CD-I,Jaguar,7800,Ngage,Virtual boy 3DO,Gizmondo etc, they have some good games(Mario clash/tennis,Gex,Sticky balls,Toy golf,Sonic N,Jack bros etc).the R-zone is a mixed console though.If you like the classic Tiger LCD games then you'll like the R-zone but if you don't you'll loath it.So how do you classify a "bad console".I say if it has a few good games on it then it's good.Even with only one good game,if that game is good enough then i would say it's not that bad.And another point i must bring up.it's not the consoles itself that's bad,it's the shitty games that are made for the system that overshadows the good ones(or in the Game.com's case, the horrid screen.for example, playing and fast paced Game.com game on a Game.com looks horrible but played on a emulator, it's much better(Sonic Jam played on the emulator, you can actually run fast and the fighting games are decent).Opinions?

Edited June 10, 2013 by xDragonWarrior

[pixelated]

Every video game console ever made has bad games. I guess the ratio of bad games to good is a solid measuring stick of a good or a bad console. Of course, hardware has helped sink a console in many's minds, i.e. the Atari 5200's famous controllers make some feel it's a bad console (the wonky hookup, huge size and difficulty in replacing the controllers has added to it). Of course, the 5200 is a great console, but those controllers sometimes get in the way of seeing that.

 

The general lack of a lot of games for a system is a problem; we tend to regard systems like the Atari 2600, NES, Genesis, SNES, etc, as good consoles because of the HUGE library of games those consoles had, many of which were great. Many were terrible, too but there's enough good games to go around with those and others. With a console such as the Philips CD-I, there really aren't that many games for that console, and out of the ones that are there, few are really good.

 

I guess that's a few big yardsticks that classify good and bad consoles for me.

Edited June 11, 2013 by pixelated

[Osgeld]

my idea of a bad console is the 3DO, cost a pile of money, controllers are meh and there is not a single game I would actually want to play on it

[fiddlepaddle]

Game.com (or most anything Tiger), Gamate are "bad".

 

Anything disk-based is not necessarily bad, but not real good.

 

Most all other cartridge systems made for age 8+ are good.

 

Well, I also have lots of crappy low quality multi-game handhelds that I keep for no real reason. And I also have lots of crappy weird stuff I actually like, so I guess the question is subjective based on my personal experience and emotional reaction to each unit. Sometimes I think I even change my mind back and forth about whether I like something.

 

Bottom line: if I like it, it's "good". If not, it's "bad".

[Seob]

There are no bad systems. A lot of people just talk trash about a system because they heard others talking bad about it. You either like the kind of games that came out for a system or you don't. But that doesn't mean a console is bad.

One would be amazed how many games came out for the cd-i, and there are a lot really nice and good games on that system.

If measuring good games vs bad games would be the benchmark, the nintendo wii would be a bad console also, since it has loads of shovel ware.

Like i said. It's a matter of personal tasted if you like a console, but there are no bad consoles for me.

[BassGuitari]

I don't think there are bad consoles, only bad games.

[high voltage]

Every console has bad games, look at the NES out of a library of 2000 carts (Famicom/NES), lots of rubbish titles, same with the Wii, shovelware galore.

So as mentioned there is no bad console, just bad games.

 

BTW, the CDi is not and never was a gaming console:

Edited June 11, 2013 by high voltage

[+Random Terrain]

BTW, the CDi is not and never was a gaming console

 

It's not a gaming console, but you can play GAMES! Did I mention that you can play GAMES? Yes, GAMES! GAMES, GAMES, GAMES! You can play GAMES!

 

youtube.com/watch?v=HAIDB9l1iTk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIDB9l1iTk

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZIbnZuqUuo

[dendawg]

How do I classify a bad console?

 

 

'Nuff said.

[Lentzquest]

Is the Xbox One a game console? It's being marketed remarkably similar to the CD-I.

[Manoau2002]

I think what makes a console bad is that it is faulty or lacks features of other consoles.

[godslabrat]

I used to say that a console was defined by its best games. It's easy to ignore the crap, but if there's nothing awesome then there's no point.

[Hatta]

my idea of a bad console is the 3DO, cost a pile of money, controllers are meh and there is not a single game I would actually want to play on it

 

You don't want to play the best version of Road Rash available? You don't want to play the enhanced port of Wing Commander with updated graphics and voice acting? You don't want to play the greatest spacefaring RPG ever (Star Control II)? You don't want to play one of the only real successors to Ballblazer(Battlesport)? You don't want to play any of the many, many excellent PC/Amiga ports? Alone in the Dark? Syndicate? Lemmings? Cannon Fodder, Out of this World?

 

There's actually a decent number of good games on the 3DO. Many of them are ports from other systems, but they're still good games on the 3DO.

[Seob]

I think what makes a console bad is that it is faulty or lacks features of other consoles.

By that definition the cd-i can't be a bad system.

It had internet, could play audio cd, video cd, used to read enclopedia and audio books and could play games.

[Algus]

IMO the 360 is a bad console. It had terrible heating issues, RROD, E36, and other assorted errors. Very poorly made system.

 

But, you know, it had some amazing games that came out for it so that can be forgiven. If you're going to evaluate a system based on the quality of the hardware, there are definitely some "bad" consoles out there but several of those bad consoles have good libraries.

 

For me the cost of the system and games versus the amount of time I spend enjoying the system would be a major factor in whether or not a system would be a good fit for me. I'm fascinated by gaming hardware though so even trash like the CD-I I'd like to have in my collection just because I love gaming platforms.

[roland p]

If a console doesn't want to play second-hand games, I would classify it as bad

[Pixelboy]

As others have said, there are no "bad" consoles, just consoles with noticeable design problems (some can't stand the disc on the Intellivision controller for example) or unrealized gaming potential (everyone agrees that the ColecoVision still had a lot of potential left in it when Coleco went under). Then of course there are market failures (such as the Virtual Boy) but that doesn't mean that the system itself was bad.

[cimerians]

In terms of hardware failure the Xbox 360 and PS3 were the worst with possibly the 360 having every launch unit red ring at some point.

 

Unless I'm missing some older machine that crapped out that much too.

 

In terms of features it's the Xbox One.

 

Of just being completely useless it may be the RCA Studio II or Gizmondo or something.

[+Gemintronic]

Many consoles had issues that interfered with their purpose (gaming).

It's only the current generation that accumulated enough anti-gamer features to be a deal breaker. Here are mine:

 

Forced firmware updates.

Forced EULA to lessen your consumer rights.

Reduced features over time (I'm looking at you PS3)

Zero backwards compatibility

Over $300 price

Lack of traditional RPGs and/or everything is a first person shooter.

 

UPDATE: Oh, I didn't even mention forced online activation because that's so incredibly heinous it didn't even register. Like buying a car with a giant spike in the drivers seat.

[high voltage]

Yes, a bad console is like it was said above, where things are not right with the hardware.

For example the worst console is the NES it forced Japanese style controllers onto the western public. Right to left alphabet might work for the Eastern part of the world, but in the West it just doesn't cut it. Same goes for the movement, left hand movement sucks...Bad very bad

[xDragonWarrior]

Yeah no console Is bad ,It's the games that make It what It is.For instance,the Game.com had alot of bad games but could have gotten some very impressive games(Metal Gear).The only console that you can say that is truly bad is the R-zone.The games were just interchangeable versions of LCD games so even with current hardware you can't make the games any better than what they were.

[pixelated]

Every console has sins, if you will. Bad controllers, unreliable hardware, crummy design. But in my experience games really do make consoles sink or swim. People forgive the Xbox 360's RROD or the Intellivision's ridiculous controllers because damn there's some really good games to be had.

 

Whereas I've noticed consoles with top-notch build quality do mediocre to bad business because of general lack of "killer apps" (like say Gamecube or here in the US, the Master System), while consoles with questionable build quality (*cough*NES*cough*) have done well because there have been so many damn good games available for the system.

[CatPix]

"questionable build quality (*cough*NES*cough*)"

Lolwut?

Apart from the ZIF connector (that I never saw fail back in the times where the NES was a previous-generation system and not a collectionnable system) what is questionnable in the NES?

 

It's one of the few system of the time to have something else than shitty RF output, awesome and well-build controllers (nothing like the Master System controller with those weak buttons and this directional block that press two directions most of the time, or the Atari 7800 pads of which the rubbers dome get crushed by the buttons), solid shells, solid power and reset buttons, pad plugs that I never ever saw failing (even on the one I found in a dumpster after a rain).

Well, technically wise? It was made in 1983, and at the time, it was a kickass machine. Sure it took 2 years to arrive in the USA, a bit more to get a full scale European release, and I would say that the apex of the machine is more around 1990, but heh, at the time, it was 7 years old.

 

Really, except the ZIF connector that can get cleaned easily, I see no questionnable failure in the NES design.

[pixelated]

"questionable build quality (*cough*NES*cough*)"

Lolwut?

Apart from the ZIF connector (that I never saw fail back in the times where the NES was a previous-generation system and not a collectionnable system) what is questionnable in the NES?

 

It's one of the few system of the time to have something else than shitty RF output, awesome and well-build controllers (nothing like the Master System controller with those weak buttons and this directional block that press two directions most of the time, or the Atari 7800 pads of which the rubbers dome get crushed by the buttons), solid shells, solid power and reset buttons, pad plugs that I never ever saw failing (even on the one I found in a dumpster after a rain).

Well, technically wise? It was made in 1983, and at the time, it was a kickass machine. Sure it took 2 years to arrive in the USA, a bit more to get a full scale European release, and I would say that the apex of the machine is more around 1990, but heh, at the time, it was 7 years old.

 

Really, except the ZIF connector that can get cleaned easily, I see no questionnable failure in the NES design.

 

But I personally feel it would be better if it was a top loader. 'Course, we got that later, and without Composite, but hey. That's all. I like almost everything else about the NES. Maybe questionable build quality is overdoing it. (Yeah, the controller is pretty much perfect.)

Edited June 12, 2013 by pixelated

[Osgeld]

You don't want to play the best version of Road Rash available? You don't want to play the enhanced port of Wing Commander with updated graphics and voice acting? You don't want to play the greatest spacefaring RPG ever (Star Control II)? You don't want to play one of the only real successors to Ballblazer(Battlesport)? You don't want to play any of the many, many excellent PC/Amiga ports? Alone in the Dark? Syndicate? Lemmings? Cannon Fodder, Out of this World?

 

There's actually a decent number of good games on the 3DO. Many of them are ports from other systems, but they're still good games on the 3DO.

 

its funny cause I have or played just about all those games on their original platform

 

You don't want to play the best version of Road Rash available?

Yea I have the same one on PC, much better than any console version (though road rash 3d on PS1 is still pretty fun)