What's the Worst Console You Ever Played?

[empsolo]

I remember my dad using the Advantage with SMB1. He never seemed to get far with it, despite the fact that I could get to world 5 with the joypad. Though he mostly used it for Xevious.

[Lord Mushroom]

I have only played on 9 consoles, and all of them were good at the time. So the worst is the Atari 2600 simply because it was the earliest, and therefore the most basic one.

[Torr]

7 hours ago, tripletopper said:

I noticed the big problem with the Sega Master System joystick is that you're doing a lot of middle finger pumping.

Middle finger?
No no.

Joystick gripped at tit's base with my right hand.

My left hand thumb operating buttons 1 & 2.

Luckily they're close enough together that I can hit then both with one press.

 

EDIT: Part of me wants to fix my post, but too much of me laughs too much at seeing "tit's" and "gripped" so close together...

         It's staying!!!

 

DOUBLE EDIT: That LAST line just seals the deal. Most unintentionally sexy post of the day.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Torr

[Leeroy ST]

7 hours ago, tripletopper said:

It's ridiculous that Acclaim was trying to convince people like me that you actually need to buy something to put your controller on the floor with.

 

Why pay money when the carpet does that for free?

What if you don't have a carpet and don't want scuffs or scratches on the controller to retain it's value 20 years later on Ebay?

 

I guess you could but a piece of carpet but that's an additional cost. ?

 

 

[turboxray]

10 hours ago, Leeroy ST said:

The first problem is you're grasping for straws as it's well known that 3DO games were evenly compared to the PSX/SAT versions of the same games sometimes even in 3DO's favor. Not to mention the 3D regardless of less polygons is "cleaner" than both the PSX/SAT due to lacking the issues commonly associated witht he 3D of both those consoles.

 

However, this quote is nothing but a flat out lie. Outside of the frame rate which is the only truth told, the PSX/SAT ports usually have worse image quality, washed or or lack of detail and less objects in several cases and NFS is a perfect example of that. The PSX version for example runs fast yet had less environment in view, grainy graphics, warping,  has less objects and details throughout. 

 

Then there's the "speed" version of the game which can also run on the 3DO console through burned disc which makes the difference even more against the PSX's favor since it removes the only real advantage. There's even less cars on the road and the 3DO version was going for an exotic simulation racer showing off the cars which explains the FMV's, while the PSX seems to e trying hard to be a budget Ridge Racer to appeal to the Ridge Racer crowd on the PSX.

 

Even then no one is saying the 3DO was the better overall console than the other two but it wasn't a slouch either.

 

 

You just did. Take off your fanboy glasses hahaha. Wow.. I swear Atari age has the most hilarious fanatics. 

[tripletopper]

6 hours ago, Torr said:

Middle finger?
No no.

Joystick gripped at tit's base with my right hand.

My left hand thumb operating buttons 1 & 2.

Luckily they're close enough together that I can hit then both with one press.

 

EDIT: Part of me wants to fix my post, but too much of me laughs too much at seeing "tit's" and "gripped" so close together...

         It's staying!!!

 

DOUBLE EDIT: That LAST line just seals the deal. Most unintentionally sexy post of the day.

You hold it?

 

I put that on the ground.  The 1 button is the one you rapid fire. But if your index finger is above 1, the 2 button "gets a tan".   Ideally the finger you rapid fire pump with is the index finger.  To cover both buttons, the middle finger is on 1.

 

Luckily the Beeshu SMS Superstick had the buttons mirrored, and index over 1.

[Leeroy ST]

10 hours ago, turboxray said:

You just did. Take off your fanboy glasses hahaha. Wow.. I swear Atari age has the most hilarious fanatics. 

I guess reading comprehension is an issue you need to work on.

[Bill Loguidice]

13 hours ago, turboxray said:

You just did. Take off your fanboy glasses hahaha. Wow.. I swear Atari age has the most hilarious fanatics. 

The 3DO versions of multi-platform games were sometimes better in some ways. That's not a controversial statement. Even the much-maligned CD-i had definitive versions of some multi-platform games. It's often hard to judge a system on a port, especially if the original version took advantage of certain features of the original system. There's often also less effort put into ports to take full advantage of the target system.

[Hwlngmad]

The 3DO was a good gaming machine the CD-i was a decent enough machine for what it was designed to do.  I know both get bagged on by lots of people, and in some cases rightfully so.  However, they do deserve some more appreciation, understanding, and respect imo.  No reason for either one to get so much hate.

[Bill Loguidice]

6 minutes ago, Hwlngmad said:

The 3DO was a good gaming machine the CD-i was a decent enough machine for what it was designed to do.  I know both get bagged on by lots of people, and in some cases rightfully so.  However, they do deserve some more appreciation, understanding, and respect imo.  No reason for either one to get so much hate.

Very few consoles (and computers) were total failures or are only interesting as historical curiosities. I'd say the 3DO, CD-i, and Jaguar are extremely enjoyable if you stick to their best titles, which, depending upon the system in question is a half dozen to a few dozen titles, give or take. The main problem with systems like those is it's easy to bag on the worst of their titles and not bother to really look at the totality of what actually was released and actually took advantage of their particular platform features. Systems like those (and their games) are not as readily accessible to a lot of people either these days either, so that certainly doesn't help overall impressions.

[Hwlngmad]

6 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

Very few consoles (and computers) were total failures or are only interesting as historical curiosities. I'd say the 3DO, CD-i, and Jaguar are extremely enjoyable if you stick to their best titles, which, depending upon the system in question is a half dozen to a few dozen titles, give or take. The main problem with systems like those is it's easy to bag on the worst of their titles and not bother to really look at the totality of what actually was released and actually took advantage of their particular platform features. Systems like those (and their games) are not as readily accessible to a lot of people either these days either, so that certainly doesn't help overall impressions.

Very true Bill.  It can be hard for people to give systems a fair shake if they are not sampling some of the best they have to offer instead of their so-so and/or bad ones. 

[Rogerpoco]

Glanced thru the thread, didn't quite read it all(it's long...).

Since games have been mentioned, tho it's not the thread title, I'll throw Skulljagger out there, for SNES.

Was young, but old enough to have to spend my own hard-earned money on games, and I went to Toys R Us planning to get Mortal Kombat 2(I think. Trilogy. Can't clearly remember).

But the box art, and the included comic book caused me to get Skulljagger.

Man, I hated that game.

To be fair, I've seen it played recently, at another site, and it didn't look as bad to me now as it did then, but I just always thought...

I could have bought friggin Mortal Kombat...

 

I love controllers in general(I play a lot of systems, have to adapt), but I semi agree with a lot of people on the 5200 controller-I DO like it, and for some, most games, it is perfectly fine.

But playing H.E.R.O. or something with it is ridiculously unfair, really.

I also have one of the original Steam controllers, still in the box with the paperwork-all but useless to me, I guess I wasn't smart enough to program the inputs properly. Looks neat, but again, useless to me.

 

System-

This probably doesn't count, and is an "overall" thing, but I've invested a lot in AT Games stuff, and other than the INT Flashback, I just wish I hadn't, tbh.

(Oh, except the Essential Companion Book-that's like Gold)

I got the Coleco and the INT(F/B's)at the same time, new, tried them out and were fine.

I spent a few weeks on the INT to "score", and when I got to plugging the Coleco in again, it just didn't work. Was out of store warranty coverage, etc, so it's just been a blackscreen brick.

The 2600 Flashbacks...

This is a bit pretentious, I already know, but I spent the last few years getting "pixel perfect" on many, many 2600 games, Dragster, Skiing, Barnstorming, etc, etc, and as a result know EXACTLY what response to expect from the controller, on a few select games, and it's just "not there", there's no way you could perform the same "feats" in the same manner and as consistently as a real 2600.

(Being wishy-washy)

Don't get me wrong-I'm GLAD they make them. They are super cheap exposure of the systems, in "dollar stores", that are gonna potentially encourage people who "get it" to explore farther into the hobby(Classic Gaming, I mean), but they really do disappoint me.

 

Ironically-I've started using a flashback controller pretty regularly on real hardware-it takes getting used to, and is pretty fragile, you don't want to plat Dragster with one(trust me...), but it's pretty easy on the hands and perfectly responsive, on real hardware, once you get used to it.

 

I like the INT just fine, but having experience with over a couple dozen different systems from different companies now, spanning a big time period, the INT is just too fragile, they can "go bad" in the blink of an eye, something I haven't really experienced with other systems-I have a "good" one now, but I'm almost too afraid to play it...

 

Thassa bout it. I try to find "good" in about anything, but those are my minor complaints, I guess.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by Rogerpoco

[Tanooki]

No there wasn't, and as far as the beeshu goes it's a personal preference I guess, and you're right Nintendo didn't but it seems like common sense to use the Advantage like a normal arcade stick with the left on the stick, right on the buttons (or if you were one of those types, cross your wrists as it works.)

 

And yes you could re-wire an existing pad I suppose.  You'd need to jump the traces to swap the 4 dpad directions and also swap the other buttons too.  From there you'd either bondo an existing game pad frame or make your own with a 3D printer to set it up so it's backwards for a lefty.

[Classic Pac]

Had a chance to play both the CDI and the 3DO once they both are equally bad.

[zetastrike]

1 hour ago, Classic Pac said:

Had a chance to play both the CDI and the 3DO once they both are equally bad.

 

Based on a single experience playing both of them?  Define bad.  How many games did you play?  Did you play the games long enough to form an opinion on them or to even learn how to play/enjoy them?  Careful with that take, it's hot enough to cause blistering.

[Leeroy ST]

 

21 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

The main problem with systems like those is it's easy to bag on the worst of their titles and not bother to really look at the totality

You can argue this for any console though. The difference is the internet blog and reviewer fad from the late early to late 2000's had produced so much revisionist history (even for massively popular machines) and ignorance that the bloggers, writers, or video reviewers didn't care about because they wanted views and clicks, that it created a generation of artificial perceptions of many consoles of the time.

 

Look at some of the old garbage from back in those days 

 

"3DO library mostly FMV" when 3DO FMV is like 2% of the library.

 

"2600/5200/Colecovision same generation"

 

"Pre-NES consoles are 2-bit machiens"

 

"Saturn couldn't do 3D games"

 

"Saturn could do 3D games but it wasn't "real 3D" like PSX"

 

"Atari Jaguar Cybermorph wasn't even as good as Star Fox" lol wut?

 

"7800 only was released because NES was selling millions"

 

"Jaguar couldn't do "real" 3D."

 

"CD-i is a gaming console"

 

"Dreamcast was the first console to have full internet experience with webbrower, online gaming, and other"

 

"3DO could only run 16-bit games like SFII"

 

"Turbografx was an upgraded 8-bit machine"

 

"Atari caused the video game crash"

 

"Nintendo 64 couldn't do 2D games"

 

"Rzone was a major stepping stone in VR gaming"

 

"CD-i Zelda games were made without authorization"

 

"Sega master system was Segas first console"

 

blah blah blah.

 

If it was as simple as you say you could create fanboy echo chambers by taking bad games from any consoles and putting them at the forefront to create a fake perception the machines are bad, the difference was that people intentionally and didn't care about these consoles.

 

iirc Just look at that poor Bubsy, sold over 1 million copies to positive reviews, but because of Bubsy 3D any positivity toward that series even if you prove it with historical evidence is washed away. Sure the sequels all weren't really good, though 2nd game had some mixed reviews, but that's an example of a series that is now considered waste in a landfill because of the massive hate campaign against one game.

 

Heck, people say Gex was a failure despite being among the biggest platforming franchises introduced in the 90's with 3 seqeuels because some crazy people conflated the two because they both had wise cracks during gameplay but decided ignore the primary difference being....the gameplay....

[Leeroy ST]

22 hours ago, Hwlngmad said:

The 3DO was a good gaming machine the CD-i was a decent enough machine for what it was designed to do.  I know both get bagged on by lots of people, and in some cases rightfully so.  However, they do deserve some more appreciation, understanding, and respect imo.  No reason for either one to get so much hate.

To be fair to the CD-i it's not really a gaming machine, just a media machine that can play games. While gaming was a part of it's marketing and sales in later years the CD-i being a game system is due to the issues I mentioned in the above post that happened early to the late 2000's and mostly because of 4 Nintendo games that weren't even best sellers on the system iirc.

[Bill Loguidice]

18 minutes ago, Leeroy ST said:

 

You can argue this for any console though.

I would say *almost* any console. There are a few that have some pretty deep issues. I'd say collector or hobbyist appreciation is different than arguing something has worthwhile games to play. Not every platform has worthwhile games to play.

[doctorclu]

So far the Turbo Graphics 16.   Friend gave me one, I fixed it up, replaced the power supply for it, and then... of the stack of games he had with it none grabbed me.  

 

Eventually gave it back to friend.  He was overjoyed to have the system of his childhood back ... working.  So that was cool.

[Bill Loguidice]

13 minutes ago, Leeroy ST said:

To be fair to the CD-i it's not really a gaming machine, just a media machine that can play games. While gaming was a part of it's marketing and sales in later years the CD-i being a game system is due to the issues I mentioned in the above post that happened early to the late 2000's and mostly because of 4 Nintendo games that weren't even best sellers on the system iirc.

And despite that, it still has some great pure games and the best full motion video (with the MPEG add-on) of arguably any system up until the Dreamcast. For all of its marketing and implementation issues, the CD-i still counts very much as a game console by every possible definition and has quite a few good to excellent games to show for it.

At the same time, I don't think it's reasonable to expect the average person or even average gamer to bother doing enough research or to even care in the slightest about a particular platform's charms. It's more "fun" to be negative and run with the tired classics like "ET is the worst game ever and caused the Crash," and every variation thereof. It's kind of like the memes of gaming. They're easy and "fun" and will never die.

[Hwlngmad]

21 minutes ago, Leeroy ST said:

To be fair to the CD-i it's not really a gaming machine, just a media machine that can play games. While gaming was a part of it's marketing and sales in later years the CD-i being a game system is due to the issues I mentioned in the above post that happened early to the late 2000's and mostly because of 4 Nintendo games that weren't even best sellers on the system iirc.

Correct, the CD-i was a mult-media machine that had gaming capabilities.  However, that is a major reason it gets dissed on by lots of people for its games when that wasn't the point of the system and people miss that for the most part.  Hence, why it is a (mostly) misunderstood machine.

[Hwlngmad]

From what I have seen and read, I would classify the CD-i as a "multi-media game console".  Fair enough?

[Leeroy ST]

3 minutes ago, Hwlngmad said:

Correct, the CD-i was a mult-media machine that had gaming capabilities.  However, that is a major reason it gets dissed on by lots of people for its games when that wasn't the point of the system and people miss that for the most part.  Hence, why it is a (mostly) misunderstood machine.

No, you can look at perspective of the time and years after its discontinuation and see a stark difference, the internet just used CD-I as a trash vehicle like the Jaguar extending off the SNES CD deal which is why the Nintendo games were the majority of the focus when the CD-I was becoming an internet punching back. The people in magazines and videos had no interest in the history of the device. There would always be things misunderstood about a system that didn't sell millions but that's not what happened it was an ignorant click and view campaign. 

 

7 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

At the same time, I don't think it's reasonable to expect the average person or even average gamer to bother doing enough research or to even care in the slightest about a particular platform's charms. It's more "fun" to be negative and run with the tired classics like "ET is the worst game ever and caused the Crash," and every variation thereof. It's kind of like the memes of gaming. They're easy and "fun" and will never die.

I would draw a line between something being easier and fun to attack, and deliberately distorting gaming history due to laziness and lack of care because you want views and clicks. 

 

9 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

And despite that, it still has some great pure games and the best full motion video (with the MPEG add-on) of arguably any system up until the Dreamcast. For all of its marketing and implementation issues, the CD-i still counts very much as a game console by every possible definition and has quite a few good to excellent games to show for it.

I heard PCFX was king of FMV but I suppose it's hard to compare anime cartoons to live actors in that regard. Cartoons will always look "better" on old video technology so unless the PCFX has a live game to compare it'll be hard to determine a winner, because a lot of people give that system A+ on FMV.

[Bill Loguidice]

1 minute ago, Hwlngmad said:

From what I have seen and read, I would classify the CD-i as a "multi-media game console".  Fair enough?

Most CD-based consoles could be argued to be that, though. At minimum you could play audio CDs and often CD-Gs, and some, you could play Video CDs. Over time, that evolved to DVDs, HD-DVDs, Blu-Rays, 3D Blu-Rays, and Ultra HD Blu-Rays. As such, I'd argue it was just a natural evolution of the game console.

Of course, both CD-i and 3DO pushed their systems as multimedia platforms to more or less of a degree, as did Commodore with the CDTV and Tandy/Memorex with the VIS, and others, and pushed games either as a primary or secondary function, but again, I'd say by pretty much any definition, they're game consoles. It only arguably gets really difficult to properly classify something as a game console when it's something like a Roku, Apple TV, or Android TV. I personally wouldn't call those game consoles, but they can certainly play games, some quite proficiently. But then another argument can be made that past systems like the CD-i, 3DO, CDTV, VIS, etc., were designed with games in mind, either as a primary or secondary function, so they really are game consoles. Something like a Roku, Apple TV, or Android TV, were not expressly designed with games in mind, but can certainly play games - and again, sometimes high-level stuff - because their hardware is so powerful (it of course gets fuzzier when you have something like an Nvidia Shield TV).

[Bill Loguidice]

4 minutes ago, Leeroy ST said:

I heard PCFX was king of FMV but I suppose it's hard to compare anime cartoons to live actors in that regard. Cartoons will always look "better" on old video technology so unless the PCFX has a live game to compare it'll be hard to determine a winner, because a lot of people give that system A+ on FMV.

I owned a PC-FX at one time as part of my collection. The FMV was good, but I still feel like the MPEG-equipped CD-i had better video. There was a slight softness and jagginess to the FMV on the PC-FX. But yeah, that library probably had among the highest percentage of FMV-based versus raster-based stuff.