Worst US Systems of All Time

[Push Upstairs]

I can't really name 5 because well, i try not to play crap game systems

However there is one i have yet to gain any kind of apprecation for:

The N64. I have yet to find a single game i truely like on that system.

I didnt care for Mario 64 because i cannot stand 5 minutes of Mario's talking. So i've played like 5 minutes of Mario 64.

Crusin' USA - I thought the days of watered down ports were behind this system? I loved the arcade version (and i thought the arcade was based on the N64?) but i tried the N64 version and noticed missing graphics from the arcade. BOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Doom 64 & Goldeneye are nice games but i cannot play a FPS with a N64 controller.

Perhaps a Zelda game might change my opinion on this system but there is just one thing in my way.. i hate the N64 controller. I hate its design and i really hate having to cramp my hands together to use the analog stick and the buttons.

So N64, i choose YOU as my worst US system.

[Avenger]

your on crack man N64 is my fav system of all time ...

oh well to the topic at hand

N-Gagei see as being the worst thing ever made, i dont even know why they bothered...sure its powerful, but with that stupid screen what the point?

i never even thought to say the GBC...but i read your guyz' posts and you are totally right...all it was was a GB with color, but back then, i love it! so young...so dumb :P....and yea, i have a bag of GBC games which are just worthless apart from making my collection bigger....has anyone even played Austin Powers on GBC???? worst game ever...

[dreamcaster]

What, that it was a Game Boy with stapled on color support? Somehow I doubt that.

JR

No, the fact that it has a shit load of crappy games.

[Ze_ro]

Wow, I can't believe how harsh you guys are being on some of these systems... I mean, the Jaguar wasn't the best system ever, but I'd hardly consider it in the "Worst 5" when there are such awful systems as the R-Zone out there. And for crying out loud, the Halcyon had what? 2 games in total? And the system was built specifically with FMV games in mind (even moreso than the SegaCD)... the N64 isn't even in the same league as the Halcyon!

Some systems like the Arcadia 2001, the APF MP-1000 and others were plagued by "me too" arcade clones, making the systems fairly forgettable... other systems were doomed by poor concepts and marketing like the SuperVision, Gamate and Game.com... and others just plain failed like the Virtual Boy, 32X and Jaguar... but when it comes to truly bad systems, those are lightweights!

I'd have to nominate the Milton Bradley Microvision here. I know it was the first ever handheld, and it broke new ground and all... but sheesh, the device has a 16x16 screen resolution! How can you even create meaningful graphics with that? I'd still consider this as the "best" out of the list I'm about to type though.

My worst 5, in no specific order:

• Halcyon
• Microvision
• Memorex VIS
• R-Zone
• Action Max

--Zero

[sisko]

Honestly, it doesn't make any sense how someone can say N64 and GBC, but NOT the CDI....


The CDI sucked. It was fairly expensive, had mayybe 2 or 3 decent [playable] games.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

After struggling to come up with an answer, and bearing in mind that I haven't played every console there is...generally, I find that there's something to love about each one. Sorry guys, I can't nominate anything for this dubious honor. :P

[chadtower]

My worst system ever:



I mean, DAMN, wtf were they thinking with that controller?

[Darkness X]

Whoa, whats with all the votes for the N64?! It's better then GameCube you know!

*Runs* I better get a head start as I'm about to get shot...

[chadtower]

I would put the N64 in my TOP 5, not my BOTTOM 5.

[rxd]

Since I still haven't played one that works the right way in 20 years I'd have to say the 5200.

(holds ears to drown out chorus of boos)

I don't like to be critical here but you obviously have NO idea what you are talking about....

The Atari 5200 was (and still is) a GREAT system. Only problem is the fragile controllers, which can be totally fixed with the new gold plated flex board and buttons. Stick to criticizing systems you know about...

Sorry but I hear so much anti 5200 shit on this board sometimes it makes my blood boil.

[YoshiM]

Like le geek, I think the GBC doesn't deserve to be rated a "worse" game system. It got decent support, even though it had its share of crap titles. The GB itself is a treasure trove of asstastic nuggets of non-delight, so fingering the GBC as being worse than a GB is almost the pot calling the kettle black.

If that's the criteria of a "bad" console, I vote the GBA. A screen that requires practically direct sunlight or a high powered beam of light that singes your hair in order to see, a smaller D pad that can make some precision moves difficult, connectivity cables that don't take some light assemblies into consideration (for the GBA-the Floodlight was rated one of the best lights next to the Afterburner but the thing closes over the screen, so you can't use link cables or the SP Reader) and has a large library of the top Nintendo titles...circa 1990's. It's been a re-release diarrea fest since the GBA came out. SMW, SMW 2, SMB 2, SMB 3, F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Zelda: Four Swords (the single player is Link to the Past, I believe), the NES re-releases (SMB, Excitebike, etc.), Double Dragon, Ghouls n' Ghosts, River City Ransom, the list goes on. While these are or may all be good games, it doesn't change the fact that Nintendo and other companies are just regurgitating past licenses. As classic gamers it's kinda cool as a nice graphical update may help us play these titles again but in the gaming world as a whole it puts things at a standstill.

Then there is the SP. ManekiNeko said the GBC was a slap to the face, what about this thing? People buy up the GBA in droves and suffer with its hard to see screen thanks to light kits and the Afterburner mod. Then Nintendo so graciously releases the SP with the front lit screen everyone wanted. While many bought the new SP (even though they HAD a GBA they invested cash in) others probably felt as though Mario himself came up and wahoo-kicked them in the collective sack.

[YoshiM]

Whoa, whats with all the votes for the N64?! It's better then GameCube you know!

*Runs* I better get a head start as I'm about to get shot...

I have to agree: what's up with the N64 hatin'? For those who like modern games ya gotta give the N64 proper for:

-making analog controls standard: the N64 was the trail blazer last generation and we haven't looked back. True the Atari 5200 had analog controls, but not many games utilized it didn't really influence anyone else until we see analog again some 13 to 14 years later.

-rumble control: the only thing on the console market that remotely resembled the rumble controllers we use and love today was the Interact vest that used a woofer to send low signals from the game barreling into your body. The N64 released the Rumble Pack whose intensity and actions were totally programmable by developers. Another standard set.

-console built for multiplayer: the N64 shipped with four controller ports (again sharing an idea that the Atari 5200 had that wasn't touched upon for another 13 to 14 years) on the console. Everyone else forced you to buy a multi-tap and in the next generation of consoles everyone EXCEPT Sony (as they want your money-see also optional but necessary accessory memory cards) had four controller ports.

So don't be dissin' the sixty-fo too much :P

[chadtower]

The Vectrex also has analog controls, though few official games take advantage.

[Push Upstairs]

I have to agree: what's up with the N64 hatin'?

I don't know about other people, but i just never liked the N64. I worked around them when they were new and later in a used game store and i never found them interesting the least bit. I tried games for it but none of them ever "wowed" me.

Maybe i am afraid to bring a N64 home because my NES and Gameboy might take turns beating it up :P


But seriously, i totally agree with your GBA/SP comments though. And while the orginal GB wasnt a perfect system (far, far from it)...at least it had ORGINAL games made for it....even if some were heaps of fecal matter.

[ubersaurus]

What's with the Game Boy Color being on 2 of these lists? I don't care for it, but that's because I don't really like handhelds...anyhow, it really wasn't that bad, definitely better than Original GB and GB Pocket...sure, it's not as good as the Advances, but it was made well before them too...

See, that's my problem with the system. When Project Atlantis was first announced, it sounded like the major step forward for portable game systems that players had demanded for years. When Nintendo actually released the Game Boy Color, however, it quickly became clear that it was just another wimpy 8-bit handheld, essentially just a Game Boy with stapled on color support. The words "crushing disappointment" seem like a grossly inadequate description of how players felt when they finally got their hands on the system.

Sure, there were a handful of good games for the Game Boy Color. At first. It wasn't long, however, before Nintendo realized that they could coast on the Pokemon series and just let third parties release whatever trash they wanted on the system. There was NO quality control, and the result was horrible, horrible games like Men in Black which received some of the worst ratings ever on IGN. Not a day went by in 1999 without someone, somewhere panning a shitastic Game Boy Color game based on a film, a toy, or an earlier Playstation release it couldn't hope to accurately reproduce. The Game Boy Color's software library was nothing short of shameful. It will probably go down in history as having one of the worst quality to quantity ratios of any widely distributed video game system.

THAT is why I consider the Game Boy Color one of the worst game systems ever made. It was a slap in the face by an arrogant corporation which abused its monopoly in the handheld gaming industry. Even Nintendo came to realize just how badly it mistreated its customers with this pathetic excuse for a system... they dropped the Game Boy Color like a hot rock when the Game Boy Advance was released, and promised to use a game evaluation team (Club Mario) to ensure that their new console wouldn't suffer the same fate as its awful ancestor.

JR

So by your thinking, the PS1, the Atari 2600, and the NES all suck too, because they have a ton of craptacular games compared to their number of good games. It's just not fair to rank the GBC so low on the list, when there's other, more trashy consoles out there.

[TNTPLUST]

Wow...what a brawl.

Some of thsese systems do NOT belong on a 5 worst list. N64, Jaguar or 5200 the worst!?! Common thats ridiculous. Even if you don't have experience with collecting or have never played the worst consoles out there comon sense and historical perspective should lead you to the worst consoles. The questions that need to be asked are. Was the system a hit or a miss in the market, Was it technically advanced or at least current for the time, Was it overpriced? Did it Offer Vaporware or not meet expectations? Was it's game library near non existent? There are systems I don't like for personal reasons but if someone were to put me on a commitee and asked me to reasonably nominate 5 consoles I would use SOME objectivity. Anyway here is my list:

Game.com - Released in 1997 The games were almost unplayable, Monochrome LCD Non Back lit that "smeared" when the action got to hectic. Truly bad...only playable games were the non action games like Monopoly and Lights Out. 69.99 when first released to compete against the Game Boy which had been out since 1984 and had a humongous library.

RCA STUDIO II - Released in 1977 Black and White graphics, Built in numeric controllers, $299 price tag, BIG UGLY GRAPHICS. Was outdated before it EVER came to the market. The 2600 would kill it with color and a $200 price tag less than 12 months later.

Halcyon - $2000 at release. Only two games, 4 demos released. Released in 1984 and gone by 1985. This is a no brainer even if you have never seen it.

Action Max - released 1987. Great a light gun that kept score as you shot at "targets" on your tv. Of course the media was VHS tapes. Once you played any game more than twice it became old.

Atari XE - Ok I had to stretch on this one. In honesty I kinda like the little fellow BUT lets look at this from a historical perspective. The machine is really just a stripped 400/800 computer. Released to compete against the SNES, SMS and the Atari 7800 (wow what a great corporate Idea...go up against the most popular console of all time and then split you audience between two of your own systems!) Small library with nothing in it you hadn't seen already.


Ok that's my five. I actually collect all of the above except the Halcyon. I treaure them as collector items but I would have hanged myself if I had been screwed into buying one of these when they were new.

One last note...The N-Gage may join the above list but I don't think the Fat Lady has finally sung on this one and in my opinion the Jury is still out. I'll wait another year before I judge this system.

[Aussie2B]

I would put the N64 in my TOP 5, not my BOTTOM 5.

I totally agree. :) It's a magnificent system that I still play regularly all the time. It saddens me that others are unable or refuse to get the enjoyment out of it that I do. :(

As for GBC, maybe it was just me, but I was AMAZED when I got one. Definitely not a disappointment for me. I skipped out on the Pocket, so it was a HUGE improvement over my old brick. While there was a massive amount of crap for it, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere is good enough all by itself to outweigh all of the crap. ;P

And for Virtual Boy... well, I like it as a novelty more than anything else, but it DOES have some cool games. I can definitely think of MUCH worse systems.

Now, for what I dislike... it's hard to say because I have no experience with many of the true stinkers. I will say that the US libraries for the Sega CD, 32X, and Saturn didn't have much to offer, but they're not "top 5 worst" material. The N-Gage will perhaps earn a place there soon, though.

[PentiumMMX]

I say that the worst systems are

5) Virtual Boy (Speeks for It's Self)
4) Game Gear (GBC is Better)
3) N-Gage (Holy Taco, Batman!)
2) Sega Master System (AAAAAAAHHHHH!)
1) X-Box (It's Good to fart toghther!)

[sabre2922]

ummm the Gameboy was released in 1989 lol not 1984

[TheScaryOne]

I dont like PS2. The hardware sucks, and the gamecube and xbox feel more"advanced" to me. The only reason I bought it was because of the games.