Game.com, oh come on. There were two systems?

[high voltage]

But I have Internet:

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by high voltage

[pacman000]

I kinda get what Tiger was thinking when they designed the Game.Com. They wanted to get into the lucrative console market, so they looked at the market, considered their experience, & tried to provide some features to make their system stand out.

 

- The Game Boy was successful with a monochrome screen. A black & white screen with a would save costs & meet what the most popular system used.

 

- The screen had a low refresh rate, resulting in choppy animation. While not on par with the market leader it was on par with their own, still successful, handhelds.

 

In their own minds they'd achieved parity; all they needed was something to differentiate it. The Internet was new & exciting, so they made a modem for it. Palm computers were useful, but expensive, so they gave it a touch screen & productivity apps. All-in-all, not a bad idea, but still not right for the market.

[Eltigro]

I had the original one. Bought new when they went on clearance at Target. I never got any more games for it though, so after I bored of lights out (which did not take long), I just used it to play solitaire. Then the touch screen quit working and I think I tossed it out. I wouldn't mind having another one, but it would be something I got just to say I had one.

[keepdreamin]

I had the original one. Bought new when they went on clearance at Target. I never got any more games for it though, so after I bored of lights out (which did not take long), I just used it to play solitaire. Then the touch screen quit working and I think I tossed it out. I wouldn't mind having another one, but it would be something I got just to say I had one.

 

There's a stand alone Lights Out handheld with buttons. No need to buy the g-c

[Eltigro]

 

There's a stand alone Lights Out handheld with buttons. No need to buy the g-c

 

I'd rather have the game.com. I didn't like Lights Out.

[Tanooki]

I've got that game, Tiger put it out too. I found it last year for a buck in some bin and my daughter loves messing with it off and on so I keep it in this small kids drawing/toy box in the back seat. Definitely superior to what would be on that old system as it would be far more comfortable and even more easy to see what you're doing.

[keepdreamin]

 

I'd rather have the game.com. I didn't like Lights Out.

 

It's the best game on the system.

[Austin]

It's the best game on the system.

My vote for that title goes to Solitaire.

[keepdreamin]

My vote for that title goes to Solitaire.

 

Tiger made portable Solitaire, too. Either way, you can get the game.com's killer apps without having to actually buy a game.com.

[CatPix]

Poor contrast, slow refresh, common knowledge for 20 years sounds about right to me.

If this is "bad", then... nope. It's not superb by any stretch of the word, but I don't see what's not playable on that GIF.

Oviously, the flaws with those screens are more obvious on a busy screen that with a pixelaated system like the Game Boy, but if this was the only flaw of the system, if would have sold like hot cakes.

Edited May 11, 2018 by CatPix

[godslabrat]

Can't disagree more. I look at that graphic and I see a system trying to be twice the system the Gameboy was and failing to be even half.

[keepdreamin]

If this is "bad", then... nope. It's not superb by any stretch of the word, but I don't see what's not playable on that GIF.

Oviously, the flaws with those screens are more obvious on a busy screen that with a pixelaated system like the Game Boy, but if this was the only flaw of the system, if would have sold like hot cakes.

 

 

I can assure you, having actually owned that mess. A gif can't properly convey the flicker and blurry mess that is the game.com screen.

 

To quote Mark at 1:50 "Indy 500 is one of the worst games I've ever played... and I've played a lot of them"

 

Edited May 12, 2018 by keepdreamin

[Video]

Yeah, none of the games on game.com were great, but some weren't just absolute shit. Indy 500 is NOT one of those. This is late 90's were talking about, and at that time I was a hard core racer fan. This was one of the first games I got for the system and it was imo, one of the worst games on the system.

 

I don't know when Nintendo's game and watch collections came out (most were dmg, but I think at least one was color) but I think a tiger centered game and watch style collection could be really good. It doesn't have to show a moving image ever.

[Eltigro]

I don't know when Nintendo's game and watch collections came out (most were dmg, but I think at least one was color) but I think a tiger centered game and watch style collection could be really good. It doesn't have to show a moving image ever.

 

 

Funny you say that. Watching that video a Tiger LCD game is exactly what it reminded me of. There are so few frames of animation in Indy 500, it might as well be like five pictures of a car: straight forward, far to the left, far to the right, crashed left and crashed right. I know there were issues with lots of blur on the screen and anything resembling smooth animation just turned into a blurry indecipherable mess, but still.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Eltigro

[keepdreamin]

It's easier to think of any game.com game more as a black/white powerpoint presentation, than an actual video game.

[Eltigro]

Found an emulator and playing some Game.com games on my laptop. And yeah... even with a better screen, they're still not so hot. I'll give a brief rundown of my thoughts on them in the What Have You Actually Played thread tomorrow.

 

A preview though... worst Sonic game I've ever played... the 3D in Duke Nukem 3D should be in quotation marks... Solitaire still the best game...

 

And yeah, interactive black and white powerpoint presentation is a good description. lol

[keepdreamin]

How about those rockin' tunes in Fighters Megamix?

[CatPix]

Can't disagree more. I look at that graphic and I see a system trying to be twice the system the Gameboy was and failing to be even half.

Well I ONLY talked about the hardware quality of the screen, not what it displays.

It's why I said that the GAme.Com failed for MORE than the terrible screen.

 

 

 

 

I can assure you, having actually owned that mess. A gif can't properly convey the flicker and blurry mess that is the game.com screen.

See? Exactly why I won't trust anything I see on the net regarding screen quality

[Video]

Sonic was a disappointment as well. One of those games that probably shouldn't have been done. It was (barely) playable, but that's about it. Sonic just doesn't work at 12fps. And the erhem "music" just makes your ears bleed.

 

Duke nukem wasn't up to a computer standards, but I didn't expect it to be. I actually had a lot of fun on this one, and while weird, the music wasn't just terrible. It was first person perspective, and you can even shoot in three directions which is a nice touch. I still play this one quiet a bit, and it's fun as there is no other game quiet like it (on any system)

 

Batman and Jurassic park were both good games, closer to what game.com could handle. Both are much slower pace games that Don't show the crapiness of the screen nearly as obviously we some others.

 

Resident evil, this was actually a great game, mostly static images, and slow moving characters made for a decent version of the game. I'd still like to see how it could have turned out on gameboy. Probably slightly smoother animation, and not as much depth as it would only be four shades instead of five, but I bet it would have been on par or even superior. Then they went to 2d and color, then canned it, bummer, guess we'll never know.

 

The puzzles and quizzes are perfect for what the game.com could handle. Minimal moving images.

 

Honestly, many of the games would have turned out ok if they had locked them down to 12 fps so they wouldn't break up while moving. Not a great option, but it would have allowed the games to look better while in motion. I know someone will say that would be crappy, but keep in mind that average anime(which people adore) run at 8-16 fps, so you could make a decent animation at 12fps.

[Flojomojo]

Well I ONLY talked about the hardware quality of the screen, not what it displays.

It's why I said that the GAme.Com failed for MORE than the terrible screen.

 

See? Exactly why I won't trust anything I see on the net regarding screen quality

Did you have game.com in France in the late 1990s?

 

The screen seems to be of reasonably high contrast and resolution, but terribly ghosty and slow.

 

I stand by my GIF as illustrative of how shitty it was, so poop on your head!!

[keepdreamin]

 

Honestly, many of the games would have turned out ok if they had locked them down to 12 fps so they wouldn't break up while moving. Not a great option, but it would have allowed the games to look better while in motion. I know someone will say that would be crappy, but keep in mind that average anime(which people adore) run at 8-16 fps, so you could make a decent animation at 12fps.

 

If we're goin' down the hypothetical road..

 

The games would have turned out ok if they were done by a real developer and on different hardware.

[keepdreamin]

Batman and Jurassic park were both good games,

 

No they weren't. Who are you kidding, man? This is the same sluggish Batman game where if you get hit sounds like he's dropping a deuce after an all night bender of chimichangas and Tecate.

 

 

and the same dump groan is in Lost World as well. I like to think that sound effect was actually of the developer, he recorded himself while trying to play the games on the game.com and decided to put his reaction in numerous titles.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2018 by keepdreamin

[CatPix]

Did you have game.com in France in the late 1990s?

 

The screen seems to be of reasonably high contrast and resolution, but terribly ghosty and slow.

 

I stand by my GIF as illustrative of how shitty it was, so poop on your head!!

I think the Game.com never left North America.

But heh, I have imported an Astrocade and an Odyssey, I could get a Game.com as easily

but as I said, I already own a Supervision, a Gamate, and a Game Master, so that's enough for low-end portable consoles

[high voltage]

The Tiger game.com was officially released in UK, where I lived at the time. Very customer friendly.

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by high voltage

[CatPix]

Interesting. I never heard of that.

Tiger used to be big here too, so I should check if they had a shipping of those as well.