What's the Worst Console You Ever Played?

[BillyHW]

 

Atari 7800 - Designed based on the idea that the thing everyone hated most about the 5200 was the sound chip.

 

 

Bwa-ha-ha!

[Great Hierophant]

 

The 2600 library is as big as the NES library, and also has a crap ton of "shovelware" (hence the videogame crash).

 

I meant to say 7800, not the 2600 there!

 

Actually, the 2600 U.S.'s library is not quite as large as the NES's U.S.'s library once you eliminate label variations and re-releases and the like.

[+thegoldenband]

Am I the only person in the world who liked SMS Double Dragon? It was two player. Me and my cousin had so much fun with that one.

 

Naaah, tons of people like it -- it's pretty much 50/50, in my experience. Personally I don't like it at all; the gameplay feels "off", and the graphics are often garish and flickery, especially in 2P mode. And that's coming from someone who's beaten the arcade game multiple times, and many of the console ports as well (NES, SMS, Genesis, Game Boy, Atari 2600).

 

The NES port may be 1P-only and it takes a lot of liberties, but it's the only one I find genuinely fun and challenging.

 

EDIT: And yeah, great line about the 7800 from Ransom. That's a funny one.

[Torr]

I like SMS Double Dragon as well. Lots of childhood 2 player fun, and still single player fun these days.... racked up a wicked score one time beating everyone with mainly headbutts...

 

The NES version IS a good game, but it's so different in so many ways, it should almost have a subtitle.

 

And WHY did they even implement a 2 Players Taking Turns mode??? That's almost a bad joke... but the 2 Player Simultaneous Fighter Mode was sweet. If only you could pick different characters!

Edited December 24, 2015 by Torr

[Great Hierophant]

I prefer NES Double Dragon to SMS Double Dragon mainly because the NES hit detection feels solid and reliable. I just can't get a solid feel for the SMS Double Dragon when I attack.

 

For the NES, Double Dragon 2 makes up for most of the original NES game's sins. Two player simultaneous play, solid hit detection, adjustable difficulty levels, great graphics and music, cool special moves.

 

Then when it came to 3, they pissed it all away with the unforgiving difficulty. Arcade 3 was not that hot either.

[BillyHW]

I prefer NES Double Dragon to SMS Double Dragon mainly because the NES hit detection feels solid and reliable. I just can't get a solid feel for the SMS Double Dragon when I attack.

 

For the NES, Double Dragon 2 makes up for most of the original NES game's sins. Two player simultaneous play, solid hit detection, adjustable difficulty levels, great graphics and music, cool special moves.

 

Then when it came to 3, they pissed it all away with the unforgiving difficulty. Arcade 3 was not that hot either.

 

Arcade 3 was a disgrace.

[Jess Ragan]

Ooh, let me try!

 

JAGUAR: Atari's last console... thankfully. Demonstrates what happens when you bring a *spoon* to a gun fight.

 

3DO: An unbelievably powerful console... in 1993. Too bad its competitors came out two years later.

 

SATURN: Little known fact! Sega had a chance to claim both the N64 and Playstation hardware as its own. Way to pick a winner there, guys!

 

GIZMONDO: Incredibly unique and exciting! But that only describes the behind the scenes antics of the Swedish scammers who created this thing.

 

PLAYSTATION 2: It can take you to the Matrix! Saddam Hussein wants it to launch nuclear missiles! And any other outrageous lies we can cook up to make you ignore the system with the superior library. There's a sucker born every minute...

 

GAME BOY COLOR: If you love shitty movie-licensed games, welcome to nirvana.

[leods]

Ooh, let me try!

 

SATURN: Little known fact! Sega had a chance to claim both the N64 and Playstation hardware as its own. Way to pick a winner there, guys!

 

PLAYSTATION 2: It can take you to the Matrix! Saddam Hussein wants it to launch nuclear missiles! And any other outrageous lies we can cook up to make you ignore the system with the superior library. There's a sucker born every minute...

 

GAME BOY COLOR: If you love shitty movie-licensed games, welcome to nirvana.

 

Don't really understand. What don't you like about the Saturn and the PS2?

 

I don't think the library of games on the GBC is a Problem either. You don't have to buy 1000 crap licenced games, you can buy the 100 great games...

[CatPix]

PLAYSTATION 2: It can take you to the Matrix! Saddam Hussein wants it to launch nuclear missiles! And any other outrageous lies we can cook up to make you ignore the system with the superior library. There's a sucker born every minute...

A superior library to the PS2? really? Aside from the high quality but vastly lower counting games GameCube, I can't see any console that have more variety and choice than the PS2 in his generation.... Maybe the Xbox with his PC ports?

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2015 by CatPix

[Bill Loguidice]

A superior library to the PS2? really? Aside from the high quality but vastly lower counting games GameCube, I can't see any console that have more variety and choice than the PS2 in his generation.... Maybe the Xbox with his PC ports?

 

 

 

 

 

I believe he was probably referring to the Dreamcast. For a brief period after the PS2's launch, the Dreamcast's library was indeed superior, including generally having better audio-visuals. Of course, that soon changed once the PS2's software was properly optimized. Of course it would also be silly to call the best selling console of all time with almost 4,000 games to its credit bad by any metric, but then we have this thread where ideas like that can fly, so there you go.

[CatPix]

I guessed this was a Sega-fanboy free rant so I poked fun at his post. It's why I ignored the Dreamcast in my list - of course, the DC have a quality library of games, but pretending that the PS2 NOW isn't up to the DC is pure hatred. We aren't in 2001 anymore, grow up a bit dammit (not you, Bill )

[Jess Ragan]

I figured we were just randomly dissing game systems at this point and decided to join in the fun. And yes, I was referencing the Dreamcast in that PS2 slam. The DC had a far superior library in that first year when the two systems were competing, but ultimately the (largely undeserved) excitement over Sony's system won the day. The machine did prove its worth a couple of years after the launch, though, so I guess I can't complain too much.

 

I don't have a problem with the Saturn per se, but the hardware design was a mess and that hurt Sega a lot in the long run. There are reports that Sega could have teamed up with Sony for the Playstation or released the SGI hardware that went into the N64, but they stubbornly stuck with the Saturn, and it ultimately cost them.

[+Cafeman]

Getting back to the OP topic . My dissatisfaction with several consoles were because I read how great they were, then played them years later, and the experience didn't live up to my inflated expectations. I know if I'd have owned them while they were new, I might have a different opinion. Playing Colecovision (real hardware) in the 2000's was a disappointing experience for me. Hate the controller, the scrolling jerkiness of many games ,and just didn't find it as good as I had built it up. I honestly prefer the faster action and smooth gameplay of 5200 titles. I prefer the 5200 controller. I had the opposite experience with my new Intellivision in the 2000's ... it was better than I had expected, even though I hate its controller more.

 

Of the 90's+ systems I still own, 32x is my pick for worst console . Even though I own about 10 games for it, only VR Deluxe and Space Harrier are still worth playing a few rounds. The others pretty much suck. It coulda been much better. I loved it for like 4 months back in 94/95 or whatever that year was. During that time window, it had some worth with Doom / Star Wars Arcade / VR Deluxe / Knuckles Chaotix. But now its only a nostalgic curiosity, I would not recommend it to anybody.

 

I will also mention Jaguar. At first, I was excited to play it, had a couple games. But overall I found its games and performance to be rather poor, and it didn't have anything that I didn't already own with other systems like Saturn or PSX. The only games I liked were games which I already owned elsewhere - Rayman and Tempest 2000. Raiden was a good shooter, but not enough to own a system. I never really liked any Doom-style games, so the oft-beloved Aliens/Predator game didn't appeal to me either. A couple games I tried, I really hated them. Didn't like the controller, didn't find the performance to be good at all (certainly seems weaker than Saturn). So I sold it.

[BassGuitari]

Ooh, let me try!

 

3DO: An unbelievably powerful console... in 1993. Too bad its competitors came out two years later.

 

PLAYSTATION 2: It can take you to the Matrix! Saddam Hussein wants it to launch nuclear missiles! And any other outrageous lies we can cook up to make you ignore the system with the superior library. There's a sucker born every minute...

 

GAME BOY COLOR: If you love shitty movie-licensed games, welcome to nirvana.

3DO is one of the worst consoles you ever played because better consoles came out later?

 

If you can't find at least a couple dozen PlayStation 2 games that you think are really good, it's because you've simply made up your mind that you don't like the PlayStation 2 and you don't want to. (To be clear, I mean the royal "you" here, not you specifically.)

 

The problem with the Game Boy Color was that its screen was so uselessly dark. I really liked a lot of the DX games Nintendo came out with (Zelda DX is my favorite Zelda game). On the other hand, there was also stuff like NFL Blitz and WWF Attitude, so maybe you have a point. Still, the good GBC titles and colorization of original GB games were pretty sweet.

 

EDIT: totally missed the part about you playing troll.

Edited December 27, 2015 by BassGuitari

[Jess Ragan]

Well, there was a spoonful of truth stirred into that cup of BS. But I'm just having fun with the topic, because as was mentioned before, it's getting harder and harder to take it seriously.

 

Cafeman: I'm with you on the ColecoVision. My early 1980s console of choice was the Atari 5200, even with all its problems. When I bought a ColecoVision at a garage sale in 1992, expecting a near-NES quality experience, boy did it miss that mark. Choppy scrolling, barfy colors, a horrendous controller, conversions that were far from the arcade experience that Coleco promised... it was a profound disappointment. We're discovering what the system can do NOW thanks to ace programmers like Eduardo Mello, but ColecoVision owners weren't getting that kind of quality in the 1980s when the system was still officially supported.

[Tr3vor]

700+ games and maybe 10 that are good. The rest are flickering, terrible shovelware.

 

Nice exaggeration.

 

Brb, gonna try to find a 7800 game that isn't a boring arcade port I can play elsewhere with better quality.

[BassGuitari]

 

Nice exaggeration.

 

Brb, gonna try to find a 7800 game that isn't a boring arcade port I can play elsewhere with better quality.

That's oversimplifying the 7800 library; it also has boring computer ports that can be played elsewhere with better quality.

 

Nah, but seriously, the 7800's a cool system. It was just totally in the wrong place at the wrong time. 25 years later it doesn't matter, but it doesn't take a genius to see why it struggled during its release.

 

That said, the NES's shovelware doesn't make the 7800 a better system. For that matter, saying that any system that has shovelware is bad is dumb. By that logic, the Atari 2600, NES, and PlayStation 2 would be bad consoles. Shovelware is an indicator of a console's popularity, which in turn is often (not always, but often) a barometer for the quality of a system. A console can't help that people make shovelware for it, and you don't have to play shovelware.

[Austin]

I like SMS Double Dragon as well. Lots of childhood 2 player fun, and still single player fun these days.... racked up a wicked score one time beating everyone with mainly headbutts...

 

The NES version IS a good game, but it's so different in so many ways, it should almost have a subtitle.

 

And WHY did they even implement a 2 Players Taking Turns mode??? That's almost a bad joke... but the 2 Player Simultaneous Fighter Mode was sweet. If only you could pick different characters!

My guess is due to hardware limitations at the time. The game has a ton of little bits of flicker and glitches in solo play. Imagine how bad it would have got with two players on screen at once.

 

As it was said though, Double Dragon II made up for it.

[Tr3vor]

That's oversimplifying the 7800 library; it also has boring computer ports that can be played elsewhere with better quality.

 

Nah, but seriously, the 7800's a cool system. It was just totally in the wrong place at the wrong time. 25 years later it doesn't matter, but it doesn't take a genius to see why it struggled during its release.

 

That said, the NES's shovelware doesn't make the 7800 a better system. For that matter, saying that any system that has shovelware is bad is dumb. By that logic, the Atari 2600, NES, and PlayStation 2 would be bad consoles. Shovelware is an indicator of a console's popularity, which in turn is often (not always, but often) a barometer for the quality of a system. A console can't help that people make shovelware for it, and you don't have to play shovelware.

 

HAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, the 7800 is alright. Its just funny to see people come in bashing one while fanboying over another. Sure back in the day or whatever you'd have a reason to compare them, but now its apples and oranges.

[Trebor]

My guess is due to hardware limitations at the time. The game has a ton of little bits of flicker and glitches in solo play. Imagine how bad it would have got with two players on screen at once.

 

As it was said though, Double Dragon II made up for it.

 

Although both DD and DD II are 256K in size, they differ regarding the cartridge add-on MMC chips that were utilized:

 

Double Dragon = MMC1 = Assists with scrolling in multiple directions.

 

Double Dragon II = MMC3 = Adds a IRQ counter (Frees up the CPU) effectively assisting the PPU respecting scrolling part of the screen while the other portion of screen (Status info) remains in place.

 

Nevertheless, DD II is about as perfect as 2-player simultaneous fighting action can be found under any original 8-bit console library. What is really great about the title is the balance of gameplay (DD shined in this regard too on the NES). DD II plays excellently as either a 1 or 2 player game.

[Osgeld]

That's oversimplifying the 7800 library; it also has boring computer ports that can be played elsewhere with better quality.

 

Nah, but seriously, the 7800's a cool system. It was just totally in the wrong place at the wrong time. 25 years later it doesn't matter, but it doesn't take a genius to see why it struggled during its release.

 

That said, the NES's shovelware doesn't make the 7800 a better system. For that matter, saying that any system that has shovelware is bad is dumb. By that logic, the Atari 2600, NES, and PlayStation 2 would be bad consoles. Shovelware is an indicator of a console's popularity, which in turn is often (not always, but often) a barometer for the quality of a system. A console can't help that people make shovelware for it, and you don't have to play shovelware.

To get a better idea you can look at the percentage of shovelware to good games. For instance PSP oh wow there's 80% crap factor right there.

It's not a bad machine but you have a extremely high chance that whatever you buy for it is going to be garbage

 

And that makes it a bad system

[bretthorror]

In 2015 and we're all adults and we all use the internet. If you're still buying shovelware/bad games, you're either a sucker or a complete moron.

[BassGuitari]

In 2015 and we're all adults and we all use the internet. If you're still buying shovelware/bad games, you're either a sucker or a complete moron.

Seconded. Unless it's something I want for my collection regardless of how good or bad it is (rare 2600 games, for example), you can bet I do a little research before shelling out for a new game.

[InnovaX5]

Tiger R-Zone is the worst I've played. I can find redeeming qualities in every other console. Game.Com had a ok solitaire and Lights Out games on it. 3DO had Gex and a couple other pretty good ports of games on it. Virtual Boy had Wario Land and a few other good games. Even the Nokia N-Gage had some okay games on it. There is nothing redeemable about the Tiger R-Zone. Everything on it is awful and every variation of the console is crap.

[Tr3vor]

Tiger R-Zone is the worst I've played. I can find redeeming qualities in every other console. Game.Com had a ok solitaire and Lights Out games on it. 3DO had Gex and a couple other pretty good ports of games on it. Virtual Boy had Wario Land and a few other good games. Even the Nokia N-Gage had some okay games on it. There is nothing redeemable about the Tiger R-Zone. Everything on it is awful and every variation of the console is crap.

 

Oh I forgot about the R-Zone. I had one once when I was a kid. Gave me headaches. That would top my list of worst consoles out there, but really, who calls that abomination a console? Its just a glorified Tiger handheld thing, which are pretty garbage.