Jump to content
IGNORED

In Your Opinion, What Is The Most Overrated Video Game System?


Recommended Posts

I must defend the N64 here, and this is coming from a former Sony fanboy in my teenage years.

 

Sure, Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time are not that great (Tomb Raider is superior, especially thanks to tank controls, and was released at the same time; and the two previous 2D Zeldas were better than OoT) and the controller is a bit weird, but the system was outsold 3:1 by the PS1 and has many great 4 player games, so I don't think it's that overrated outside of some Nintendo forums or some magazines at the time.

 

In retrospective, its limitations are actually good as they save us from cinematics, terrible voice acting and loading times... In the Nintendo 64, the games were games and didn't try to be movies and that's how it should be.

 

The obvious choices are the generation winners: Atari 2600, NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, Wii and PS4. Which one of these is more overrated? As a lover of retro computer gaming (C64, MS-DOS, Amiga...), I selected the NES and the SNES as the two finalists and finally chose the SNES because, for me, 16 gaming was all about MS-DOS and arcade machines and I believe 16 consoles, while offering a superior multiplayer experience compared to computers, offered a similar experience to 8 bit consoles adding improved graphics, while MS-DOS games were very innovative.

 

By the way, I have created a positive version of this thread. Don't get me wrong, this topic is great! But the new one will definitely be a great complement to it (and have a more hippie vibe). ?

Edited by IntelliMission
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, turboxray said:

That makes no sense. The NES ran circles around the ST when it came to action, scrolling, music, etc. The ST was a low color choppy mess with minimal audio. 

Replace "ST" with the word "Amiga" and it makes better sense.....

 

But I do have to say, I always HATED the NES.  When it was released, I felt like it was mostly geared to younger crowds, and I stopped playing a lot of those types of games when they renamed "Jumpman" to "Mario."  I refused that bandwagon when all my peers were getting into it....I stayed dedicated to my C-64 until the playstation 1 came out.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3DO Interactive Multiplayer get's my vote.  Upon it's release it was touted as the biggest and best, but the high price point (i think it was like 700 bucks if I remember correctly) meant that the spoiled kid down the street was the only kid in the neighborhood that actually had one.  I never really felt that the games released for the system justified buying the console.  I was perfectly happy playing Sega Genesis with the rest of the gang

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, uglyclone said:

3DO Interactive Multiplayer get's my vote.  Upon it's release it was touted as the biggest and best, but the high price point (i think it was like 700 bucks if I remember correctly) meant that the spoiled kid down the street was the only kid in the neighborhood that actually had one.  I never really felt that the games released for the system justified buying the console.  I was perfectly happy playing Sega Genesis with the rest of the gang

That's a good choice.  But was it ever highly rated?  Maybe overhyped at launch, but I never really heard anyone talking about it much even back in the day.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

The obvious choices are the generation winners: Atari 2600, NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, Wii and PS4. Which one of these is more overrated? 

 

 

Yeah, this is how I was thinking about it too.  No real need to go after the Neo Geo, SMS or the N64 when they were clearly generational losers, commercially invisible or failed to achieve any kind of critical status.

 

 . . . While the Wii sure sold a lot of units, I think I would add the X360 as a winner of the last gen.  AND you could probably slide the C64 in there between the 2600 and NES.  Even though it was not a console, it had more impact on home gaming during that time than any competitive option.

 

I also agree with you about the SNES.  Sure there is tons to like about it, but I think some of its competitors offered alternatives that were often overlooked due to the success Nintendo had previously (at least in my market).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really se the logic in saying that generation winners are overrrated.

 

Though I think it would be important first to define "overrated".

 

To me, as I explained with the Neo Geo, overrated mean that the system mentionned about it held in high regard to an exxagerated point. Not that it was more successful despite X or Y, nor that the games weren't as good as the lesser-selling, or anything.

Just that today when you say "console X is not so good" you have a swarm of angry fanboys tellign you wrong. That's overrating.

 

The PS1 isn't overrated because it sold well. In fact it's currently underrated as it had been for the past 10 years with people rambling about how it killed "real/2D gaming" that it had horrible 3D, blah blah blah. Saying that the PS1 had innovative games, an extensive library of good titles and mastered the transition to 3D gaming isn't overrating it.

Now saying that the PS1 was better than the N64 and Saturn on every point, that games not on PS1 were inferior, that the design of the console and pad were perfect. Now, THIS is ovverrating it.

 

But that's my own definition; the problem is that unless we agree on a commno one we are probably not talking about the same thing.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, CatPix said:

I don't really se the logic in saying that generation winners are overrrated.

 

Though I think it would be important first to define "overrated".

 

To me, as I explained with the Neo Geo, overrated mean that the system mentionned about it held in high regard to an exxagerated point. Not that it was more successful despite X or Y, nor that the games weren't as good as the lesser-selling, or anything.

Just that today when you say "console X is not so good" you have a swarm of angry fanboys tellign you wrong. That's overrating.

 

The PS1 isn't overrated because it sold well. In fact it's currently underrated as it had been for the past 10 years with people rambling about how it killed "real/2D gaming" that it had horrible 3D, blah blah blah. Saying that the PS1 had innovative games, an extensive library of good titles and mastered the transition to 3D gaming isn't overrating it.

Now saying that the PS1 was better than the N64 and Saturn on every point, that games not on PS1 were inferior, that the design of the console and pad were perfect. Now, THIS is ovverrating it.

 

But that's my own definition; the problem is that unless we agree on a commno one we are probably not talking about the same thing.

 

I think @IntelliMission was saying that one could use the generational winners as the options for choosing the most overrated system.  That's not perfect, but it builds on a point you made (and I agree with) that the N64 isn't very highly rated except among Nintendo fans.  The N64 can't be overrated if only a small subset consider it to be great . . .

 

As for the PS1, I don't think any of the replys on this thread have offered it as overrated.  Did they?  It achieved huge commercial success, critical praise AND almost definitely "won" its generation.  Yet gamers still seem to agree that it is appreciated at the correct level or below.  I certainly don't think that the PS1 is overrated.  In fact if I look at that list of generational winners, I'd probably rank them like this:

 

If the list of generational winners is is Atari 2600, C64, NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, Wii, Xbox 360 and PS4, I'd rank them like this: 

1) SNES

2) PS4

3) NES

4) 2600

5) PS2

6) X360

7) C64

8 ) PS1

 

I would just drop the Wii off the list.  It had a huge explosion of popularity, but has mostly gone unappreciated and overlooked since.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, wongojack said:

As for the PS1, I don't think any of the replys on this thread have offered it as overrated.  Did they?

Well no, and I precisely took it because usually it doesn't get more than the recognition it deserve, and I listed a few reason/examples that would be "overrating" the PS1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/15/2020 at 8:10 AM, eddhell said:

Replace "ST" with the word "Amiga" and it makes better sense.....

 

But I do have to say, I always HATED the NES.  When it was released, I felt like it was mostly geared to younger crowds, and I stopped playing a lot of those types of games when they renamed "Jumpman" to "Mario."  I refused that bandwagon when all my peers were getting into it....I stayed dedicated to my C-64 until the playstation 1 came out.

I wasn't a fan of the NES when it came out either. I loved duck hunt but rage quit smb.  The first few games I bought just did nothing for me. It wasn't until I discovered konami on the NES that I started to really like the machine with Contra, blades of steel and life force. Now I like it because I discovered as a collector that it has a great collection of arcade ports.

 

Which brings me back to the master system. There's nothing wrong with it, it has a lot of arcade ports too, I was just never a big fan of most of the master system arcade games other than rampage or I preferred ports the master system did have on other systems. Alien 3 on the Genesis or bubble bobble on the nes. Even as a teen, I knew one person with a master system but to me and my friends it was just meh and then we'd go play co-op contra

Link to comment
Share on other sites

N64, for me.   That and the PS1 teamed up, it seems, to drive me straight to PC gaming, and I didn't come back until a bit into the following gen.

 

I thought the games looked like ass, played like crap, they all had the same main villain to overcome (the camera) and you could only use half of the controller at a time.

 

Although Ogre Battle 64 was a masterpiece, so there's that...   ?

 

Everyone I knew had so much love for it, but now they use the "it didn't age well" line when talking about the games  ?   They aged fine.  In fact, in all these years, they seem exactly the same as they always were.    Maybe digital media holds the key to the fountain of youth!

 

For what it's worth, I still enjoyed some of those crap games.  Was talking about Indiana Jones and Castlevania 64 in another thread on here, and yeah, they're a mess in a lot of regards, but I loved playing through them back then and even now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally love the graphics for every single old console. I love how developers used to push the limitations of the systems.

 

There are many candidates for the "didn't age well" award, but I still see the beauty in them:

 

- Atari 2600 and Intellivision: Blocky and simple graphics, but there are awesome examples such as Hero or Pitfall.

 

- ZX Spectrum: The colors got mixed, but you learn to love them. Games like Saboteur looked incredible.

 

- C64: They doubled the number of colors without adding more memory inverting the hexa values. Palette sucks, but the games rock.

 

- PS1/N64/Saturn: Pixelated or blurry textures all around. Don't get too close to walls and you can be fine. Use your imagination.

 

There are more examples, but as you can see beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder®.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/15/2020 at 1:26 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

PS4. Mine is a Blu-ray player exclusively. Literally everything that I wanted for it except Uncharted (which was good, but not excellent) and Spider-Man (which I have not played yet) got released/is getting released on PC or PS3.

Could not agree more. I got one about a year after it came out in this weird deal I worked (thankfully) and why?  Because I was only into it $200 and sold it for that after fees.  I sold it because what you said, it had nothing of value for me that the PC couldn't do already and nicer.  The exclusives did nothing for me.  I felt the GoW, Uncharted type were downgrades from the PS3 releases which I loved so much, and the exclusive stuff just seemed generic enough it didn't matter especially not to pay $60 for it.  Steam got everything else, in a better look, better stability(30 or 60+fps lock), and for a pittance of the price with all those nutty weekly/monthly/quarterly sales they do.  I ended up using it for more than 1/2 its life as a movie disc/streaming box until I got fed up with it sitting around and using that wonky gamepad for a movie remote.  The XB1 is worse though notably, it has nothing, much of what MS has that they control they stuff on PC anyway, at least Sony has their exclusive stuff staying home, MS rather (probably wisely) make money in either place so they are entirely watered out of relevance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/15/2020 at 6:10 AM, eddhell said:

Replace "ST" with the word "Amiga" and it makes better sense.....

 

But I do have to say, I always HATED the NES.  When it was released, I felt like it was mostly geared to younger crowds, and I stopped playing a lot of those types of games when they renamed "Jumpman" to "Mario."  I refused that bandwagon when all my peers were getting into it....I stayed dedicated to my C-64 until the playstation 1 came out.

Wow.. your loss I guess haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Im curious why you list two winners for the 7th generation? Also technically the 360 came in last for sales (barely) that generation.

I was thinking about the total software sales.  I'd seen this data before that made me think of it as a leader:  http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Software/Global/

 

I mentioned why I would add it a few posts earlier on this page too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, wongojack said:

I was thinking about the total software sales.  I'd seen this data before that made me think of it as a leader:  http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Software/Global/

 

I mentioned why I would add it a few posts earlier on this page too.

vgchartz uses fake numbers for everything, supposedly. I don't know where they get their numbers, just that they are supposedly wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

vgchartz uses fake numbers for everything, supposedly. I don't know where they get their numbers, just that they are supposedly wrong.

Ok - fake news, I get it.

 

Still, the Wii is a bit of an outlier from the last generation (and every generation).  While it completely exploded upon release, its competitors took the market away from it eventually.  One way to verify that would be to examine the total software sales.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, wongojack said:

Ok - fake news, I get it.

 

Still, the Wii is a bit of an outlier from the last generation (and every generation).  While it completely exploded upon release, its competitors took the market away from it eventually.  One way to verify that would be to examine the total software sales.

PS2 is also an outlier, and the biggest of them all. No DVD player = that never would have happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, wongojack said:

I was thinking about the total software sales.  I'd seen this data before that made me think of it as a leader:  http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Software/Global/

 

I mentioned why I would add it a few posts earlier on this page too.

I missed your earlier post. Going by software sales makes sense but Id imagine it would be very hard to get accurate numbers. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...