Worst System of All Time [Archive] - Page 2

The Old School Gamer

03-02-2008, 05:57 PM

In terms of mainstream releases the CD-I for consoles and the Game.com for portables come to mind. The Virtual Boy comes close, but at least that had a handful of decent games. The 32x was a disaster but its more of an add-on then an actual console. I'm sure theres a bunch of garbage consoles I've never played nor heard of though.

Cryomancer

03-02-2008, 06:42 PM

The Laseractive is actually really awesome. Not at retail price, no, but it's a great Genesis and a pretty good LD player too. It can also do turbografx and karaoke? hell yes.

leicamaster

03-02-2008, 07:00 PM

CD-i and game.com, the atari 5200 and virtual boy!!:shameful:

PingvinBlueJeans

03-02-2008, 07:03 PM

What has to be the worst video game console ever?
There's already a thread about this in the Classic Discussions forum...
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11036

Brian Deuel

03-02-2008, 07:03 PM

Emerson Arcadia 2001. Luckily, I was able to trade mine for a Colecovision!

Dangerboy

03-02-2008, 07:06 PM

The Laseractive is a phenominal system that suffered from being waaay too ahead of its time and lacked a development house willing to create something that wasn't a few graphics splattered over FMV or FMV Games. Blue Chicago Blues is still one of greatest game's I've ever played.

To this day it shocks me it never got the Laserdisc games that defined the generation, like Dragon's Lair and crew. That aside, you had a deck that could play over 6 different libraries (Sega, Sega CD, Sega LD, TG16, Duo, TG LD) and was a movie player. In it's original time frame, it was a bloated price golden egg. In its later years, it's a hell of a deal with both expansions.

If there was a system that truly could be considered the "worst", especially attached to historical significance, I would have to say its the Jaguar.

CD-I and the 3DO simply suffered from a lack of identity - am I a training machine? am I a movie machine? do I even have games?

As for the portables, Game.com, easily. And I have the entire set. :)

CosmicMonkey

03-02-2008, 07:24 PM

Amstrad GX 4000

ssjlance

03-02-2008, 08:07 PM

HyperScan

Terrible, terrible system. I don't want to discuss this any further.

k8track

03-02-2008, 08:12 PM

atari 5200 No. No. No. No.

gepeto

03-02-2008, 08:16 PM

debian4life

03-02-2008, 08:28 PM

I would have to say the Sega Gamegear. Not for poor quality games, but for horrible controller on the unit. The d-pad was atrocious for the games, it really needed an analog stick for most games.

Regards,

Brian

norkusa

03-02-2008, 08:38 PM

Pricey, yeah but the Laseractive is far from being the worst console ever. Not many games released for it but the ones that were are pretty solid. And I totally agree with Dangerboy on Blue Chicago Blues. One of my all-time favorite FMV's.

My vote for worst goes to the Jaguar. I've never played a single game I liked on that thing. And I still don't understand why they packed Cybermorph in with it. When you're trying to sell a new console, at least pick a game that doesn't make the system look *that* awful.

I always thought the Virtual Boy got a raw deal. The games were all pretty decent (Space Invaders Virtual Collection is my all-time favorite SI game and even blows the arcade version away). I think most people who never played the VB assume it sucks, so they just parrot all the negative comments made about it in the gaming press, especially the over-exaggerated eye strain thing.

mezrabad

03-02-2008, 09:04 PM

I thought we all agreed on the RCA Studio II as the "Worst.Ever."

So, any system you think you can call the worst, you have to ask yourself. "Was this even worse than the RCA Studio II?" If you can look yourself in the eye (using a mirror) and answer "Yes. This is worse than the RCA Studio II." in your heart of hearts, then, my hat is off to you because I can't find a single system for which I can give that answer.

cyberfluxor

03-02-2008, 09:06 PM

the atari 5200 and virtual boy!!:shameful:

I disagree. These two systems have been bashed but when you really look at the games and controls there was so much potential. 5200 had impatient gamers that hated the controllers design. For the Virtual Boy it was the blinding red on black graphics, which if the unit had more time could have much been better, but it has quite a library of solid titles. Both are generally tossed to the side and called crappy, most just regurgitate what others have said and call it junk. Don't know if you've really spent quality time on them, but as classic gamers these are consoles worth pick-ups.

Blitzwing256

03-02-2008, 09:53 PM

Worst system and biggest disapointment for me was the atari jaguar, awfull uncomfortable controller, terrible d-pad and vastly mediocre games made it a painfull experience. only redeeming quality was it had white men can't jump...the game;-) (I spose tempest 2k was play ble but not worth the price of admission for me)

a close runner up was the vritual boy, I coudln't physically play it (poor distance vision made everything a faraway blur) were that not an issue I might have enjoyed it more.

bangtango

03-02-2008, 09:57 PM

Out of the systems I have played, Sega CD is the worst. I'd rank it below the Jaguar and CD-i, both of which I have owned (still own the CD-i but no longer have the Jaguar). That is just my subjective opinion and I am a big fan of the Genesis so it pains me to say Sega CD stinks.

RPG_Fanatic

03-02-2008, 10:05 PM

My vote for worst goes to the Jaguar. I've never played a single game I liked on that thing. And I still don't understand why they packed Cybermorph in with it. When you're trying to sell a new console, at least pick a game that doesn't make the system look *that* awful.

I say the Jag. too, the games just looked like shit and the games controlled just as bad.

Push Upstairs

03-02-2008, 10:10 PM

The expected response from me:

N64.

I refuse to discuss any further.

Ed Oscuro

03-02-2008, 10:19 PM

The N64 is one of the top consoles out there!

The Laseractive is actually really awesome. Not at retail price, no, but it's a great Genesis and a pretty good LD player too. It can also do turbografx and karaoke? hell yes.
And (Japanese only, mainly, I think) laserdisc games!

I'm terrified to think there was something more expensive than the LA out there.

On the other hand, inflation (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/):

What cost $650 (a Neo Geo) in 1989 would cost $793.70 in 1993.

What cost $199 (an Atari 2600) in 1977 would cost $505.87 in 1993.

What cost $970 in 1993 would cost $1416.87 in 2007.

The Old School Gamer

03-02-2008, 10:41 PM

The Jaguar was the most disappointing thats for sure, I remember being so excited with all the hype. Then when it came out none of the launch games looked much better then SNES games, scared me off from buying it. Got a 32X instead, not much better. In the Jag's defense it did get 3 great exclusives in AVP, Tempest, and Iron Soldier.
The CD-I has nothing that I want to play, unless I want to bring out my inner Angry Video Game Nerd. If we are including add-ons The Jag CD should be at the top of the list,thanks to an utter lack of support it makes the Sega CD look like a gift from the gods.

Retsudo

03-02-2008, 11:06 PM

Out of all the systems I've own I say the Intellivision was the worst.

gdement

03-03-2008, 12:07 AM

No matter how many million games it had, I still think the original Game Boy sucked. Specifically, the fuzzy, black&white, non-backlit screen that streaks whenever it scrolls is just a waste of your eyesight. I still have mine but I can't remember the last time I used it - must have been more than 10 years ago.

I do remember noticing that my nephew's game boy color had a much better screen than my machine. But the original white brick is garbage. Mine isn't even white anymore, it managed to turn itself yellow.

I would have been happier with a Lynx, but I wasn't willing to consider it because of the Atari brand name. Just proves that the software library isn't everything - sometimes the hardware can suck so bad that the games don't matter.

I know I'm probably the only person who is so negative on the Game Boy, but I think it's terribly overrated.

So, any system you think you can call the worst, you have to ask yourself. "Was this even worse than the RCA Studio II?"
I've never seen the RCA, so I can't really consider it. Game Boy is the worst system I ever owned or used. RCA looks like it could run Game Boy games on a better screen at least. :)

Ed Oscuro

03-03-2008, 12:50 AM

RCA looks like it could run Game Boy games on a better screen at least. :)
No...it can't (http://www.thedoteaters.com/p3_stage1.php). I'm pretty sure it's sub-Chip 8, too (the RCA VIP used that).

Also, Operation C, the Mario games, both Castlevania games, Gradius: Interstellar Assault, and Ninja Gaiden Shadow - all are worthy GB titles.

PapaStu

03-03-2008, 01:55 AM

Merging with the one in Classic Discussion for greater success.

Thanks for the good looking out DigitalSpace!

**By the powers of Mergeskull.... I HAVE TEH POWA!!!!1!**

bacteria

03-03-2008, 03:10 AM

Let's be contriversal - PSone.

If you take all the other consoles, they were either really primative because they were ancient (good excuse) and all the old systems (Atari 2600, SNES, NES, N64, Amstrad GX400, MegaDrive, SMS) had lots of bad games but had lots of quality games which kick the butt of anything out at the moment in terms of gameplay and replay value. I personally really like the SNES and N64. Games are also dirt cheap!!

Why the PSone? It was hyped to death, "everyone had to have one", yet all the games had very short reply value. Who still thinks "oh, I must get the dust off my PSone and I have to play -x-"?

There is no such thing as a good or bad console, it is the games that a console plays which determins if it is good or bad. A console is just a means to play the games, so given that the PSone was heavily supported by games, and they aren't memorable, that to me qualifies as a lousy system.

RetroYoungen

03-03-2008, 03:30 AM

How did I miss this thread the first time through? *slaps forehead*

I'd have to cast my vote for the Game.com as well. No games really worth playing (Lights Out was as close as it came, in my opinion), the unit WOULDN'T SAVE ANYTHING (I spent time putting in my friend's phone numbers and when I turn the unit off - voila! - they're GONE!), the unit was over-the-top clunky-feeling, the "graphics" all over the thing were blurry and shadowed when something moved...

Let me put it this way. This is the ONLY system I've ever had batteries corrhode in, and had it be considered a GOOD thing. It gave me a reason to get rid of the thing.

No joke. *shudder*

gdement

03-03-2008, 09:46 AM

Also, Operation C, the Mario games, both Castlevania games, Gradius: Interstellar Assault, and Ninja Gaiden Shadow - all are worthy GB titles.

Only if you can find something other than an original Game Boy to play them on. :P

Xian042

03-03-2008, 10:04 AM

CD-i and game.com, the atari 5200 and virtual boy!!:shameful:

5200 was a good console, Its just the controllers that sucked.

Zebbe

03-03-2008, 10:46 AM

The Genesis and the SNES are without doubt the two worst consoles ever in the video game history. The best ones are Bacharu Boi and 64DD.

Famidrive-16

03-03-2008, 08:08 PM

Who still thinks "oh, I must get the dust off my PSone and I have to play -x-"?

Well, um, I still play PS1 games every now and then. On a PS2, but it's still pretty close.

EDIT: Hardware wise though, you got a point. My PS1 bascially died three years after I bought it. Thank god I've had no problems with the PS2... yet, anyways.

EDIT 2:

A lot of people are naming Virtual Boy the worst system. Well, it just happens to be my favorite Nintendo system. Of all the systems I own, N64 is my least favorite, but by no means am I saying that it is the worst system out there! Just that other systems (like Odyssey 2, VIC-20, 32X, TI-99 or TRS-80 for example) are better. Way better. :P

Okay, was this guy a troll, or what, cause seriously.

Drakon

03-04-2008, 07:48 PM

virtual boy. It's portable but it blocks your vision and hearing completely. What's the point of it being portable then? Also the all red graphics looks terrible. I'm sure the games for it aren't so bad but the system itself is the biggest pile of turd I've ever seen

tag274

03-11-2008, 07:15 PM

Amstrad GX4000 anyone?
or Commodore CDTV?

Amstrad GX4000 was very bad and was an 8 bit console in the peak of the 16 bit era. So basically a dead on arrival

Icarus Moonsight

03-13-2008, 06:57 AM

Okay, was this guy a troll, or what, cause seriously.

See the :p ? That sometimes marks posts as sarcasm. It's also used when you rub someone's face in the obvious that they were oblivious to. :p See? Emoticons are both fun and versatile! LOL

TomMage

03-13-2008, 09:06 AM

Wow, I see some of the replies say PS1, Genesis and SNES? If you are talking about reliability the early models of the PS1 (even more so the PS2) had a lot of failure problems. PS1 had cooling underneath so it you didn't provide for airflow it could cause big problems. But Genesis and SNES? SNES pretty much works forever. The original Genesis pretty much the same, Genesis 2 not as well built, could have problems where AC connects to the deck, could come loose. If talking about games for the systems wow, PS1 and SNES had LOADS of wonderful games, I specialize in RPGs and these two systems had TONS of good ones. Genesis also. So if talking about games I think these 3 are GREAT, reliability SNES great, Genesis 1 great, Genesis 2 ok/fair, PS1, depends on your luck and how you use it. For worst system I've experienced personally I'd have to go with Virtual Boy by the way.

Icarus Moonsight

03-13-2008, 12:38 PM

Well, if taken from a certain point of view the PS1 can definitely be in the running for worst system. That perspective would have to ignore it's commercial success and it's large and diverse library with many excellent titles. Purely, as a system, the early PS1's could be described charitably as not very good if not awful. Only thing worse I can think of is the 360. In the same way as the PS1 the 360 could also be in the running for "worst system".

Genny and Snes even mentioned is an outright travesty however... if your serious, I pity your shallowness. If your kidding around then I'll just smile, nod and move along. :p

Steve W

03-14-2008, 01:10 AM

After finding one in a thrift the other day, I have to restate the obvious... the Tiger R-Zone. A head mounted LCD screen with it's image bounced off a blurry reflector in front of your right eye. You couldn't even tell what was going on because the image was muddy and blurry as hell, and since they were just little retarded LCD games, they all sucked. Despite that, they still managed to pull down some decent licenses for it. Star Wars, Virtua Fighter, Panzer Dragoon, Batman & Robin, etc. Still, the games were totally unplayable.

Frankie_Says_Relax

03-14-2008, 04:12 PM

These kinds of discussions/threads are interesting ... but can never truly be drama-free due to the fact that no matter how many technical, critical, or financial failings ANY system has, there will always be a segment of gamers out there that hold it in the highest regards, not only as their "favorite" system, but the "best system ever" ... and they're going to FIND a thread like this and let you know just WHY they think that the Game.Com is superior to the DS, regardless of any logical contrary evidence presented by the majority.

And, inversely, no matter how many AAA titles ANY system has, and no matter how many units have been sold world-wide, there will always be a segment of gamers that will have a list of criticisms deeming it "worst of all time" (in their opinion) despite it's dominance in a majority of typically "judged" categories ... and, again that same segement of gamers are going to find threads like these to take shots at the kings of industry.

This is why, regardless of what I consider to be my personal "favorite" in any category, I don't EVER attempt to pick a best/worst ever based on any criteria.

Famidrive-16

03-14-2008, 06:57 PM

See the :p ? That sometimes marks posts as sarcasm. It's also used when you rub someone's face in the obvious that they were oblivious to. :p See? Emoticons are both fun and versatile! LOL

Well, this *is* DP and all, you just never know.

77punk

03-14-2008, 08:50 PM

im going to have to say R-zone must have been the worst besides game.com. I think the R stood for retarded..

PsychedelicShaman

03-15-2008, 03:38 AM

As far as consoles go, the hyperscan wins it in my book. The RCA Studio II was really bad as well, but it's old and has a lot of educational software. The hyperscan had so few games, the controllers were horrible, and scanning cards after every fight gets old quick.

StBob

04-24-2008, 06:42 PM

3DO - Smoke n Mirrors. All the games were just movies with horrid sprite overlays and no collision detection.

32X add on - This was a joke but some people actually bought this crap on over a Jagaur.

Icarus Moonsight

04-25-2008, 01:29 AM

Well, this *is* DP and all, you just never know.

Keir is just crazy like that. At least, for as long as I've been sniffing around. It's not trolling so much as it's like the old man on the block who stands on his porch, in his skivvies, shaking his fist in the air and shouting, "Get off my lawn!" LOL

modest9797

05-18-2008, 10:17 PM

Virtual Boy. Hands down.

16bitter

06-11-2008, 11:17 AM

I didn't read through all of the pages in this thread so someone may have mentioned this, but I'd have to say that the Atari Jaguar was the worst system I ever owned. That controller was perhaps the worst thing ever created. I worked at a video game store back then, so I got a chance to try out quite a few games, and never did find anything worthwhile for that system. I really did want to like it though, because Atari was such an underdog in the market at that time.

AB Positive

06-11-2008, 11:50 AM

Wow, re-reading this made me chuckle. Three points after seeing this again:

1) So many VB references... and it's one of my favorite systems. Hell, if anyone hates it that much, send me one! ;)

2) Anthony1 putting "Neo Geo" on there, and later saying he was on crack for doing so. Agreed - moving on...

3) After five years, lots more experience, and a name change... CD-I still bites a certain special brand of ass. DAMN does the CD-I suck.

Srsly.

Joe West

06-12-2008, 12:40 AM

game.com was about the worst, system ever made

Kamisama

06-12-2008, 10:42 AM

the game.com really sucks a lot. Blurry screen that makes it hard to see anything at all, only like 20 Games released and canned very early. Seems to be a big fail :)

PentiumMMX

07-01-2009, 11:55 AM

Probably the game.com

I remember begging to get one for Christmas years ago because I though it was cool, but then I played with the kiosk at Wal-Mart and realised just how bad it was. Thankfully, I got a Game Boy Pocket instead that year.

Zap!

07-02-2009, 04:10 AM

Another vote for the RCA Studio II.

Joe West

07-02-2009, 07:31 AM

Game.com without backlite.......

The 1 2 P

07-04-2009, 09:23 AM

It's a tie between Atari 2600/7800. If only I had been born a few years later I wouldn't have ever had to endure the torture these two systems produced:(

Baloo

07-04-2009, 12:03 PM

R-zone definitely for worst handheld, second would be Game.com, and probably Atari Jaguar for worst home console. Virtual Boy has some really good games, it's red/black design ruined it though. If it wasn't just red and black and had some kind of strap to go around your head, it could've been a really good system.

As for my least favorite console that I've owned though (aside from the R-zone which I did own up until recently)? Definitely the PSX/PSOne. They're so horrible...

Zap!

07-04-2009, 01:15 PM

It's a tie between Atari 2600/7800. If only I had been born a few years later I wouldn't have ever had to endure the torture these two systems produced:(

Come on now, have you ever played the more obscure systems? 2600/7800 is worse than Fairchild Channel F? Worse than RCA Studio II? Worse than Microvision? Worse than Astrocade?

Baloo

07-04-2009, 01:58 PM

Come on now, have you ever played the more obscure systems? 2600/7800 is worse than Fairchild Channel F? Worse than RCA Studio II? Worse than Microvision? Worse than Astrocade?

Well, if a system is obscure, made by an obscure company, then it's going to be brushed off as bad simply because it's obscure most likely. When companies like Atari, Sega, Nintendo put out crap systems, people are more likely to remember them.

Sonicwolf

07-04-2009, 02:00 PM

Well, if a system is obscure, made by an obscure company, then it's going to be brushed off as bad simply because it's obscure most likely. When companies like Atari, Sega, Nintendo put out crap systems, people are more likely to remember them.

Like the 5200 and the Virtual Boy.

Baloo

07-04-2009, 02:18 PM

Like the 5200 and the Virtual Boy.

Exactly. And the Jaguar and Saturn. The CD-i is only remember because it had Mario/Zelda games on it really.

Sonicwolf

07-04-2009, 02:20 PM

Exactly. And the Jaguar and Saturn. The CD-i is only remember because it had Mario/Zelda games on it really.

Yes. The CDi only gained infamy due to it's Zelda and Mario franchise title-fails. If those were not made at all the CDi would recieve little to no attention now.

The 1 2 P

07-04-2009, 11:49 PM

Come on now, have you ever played the more obscure systems? 2600/7800 is worse than Fairchild Channel F? Worse than RCA Studio II? Worse than Microvision? Worse than Astrocade?

I've never played any of those systems and have no interest in them. My playlist for "good" video game consoles starts from the Nes and goes forward. Anything before that is garbage to me.

garagesaleking!!

07-09-2009, 01:27 PM

i personally hate the magnavox odyssey systems.

samsonlonghair

07-14-2009, 02:42 AM

I've never played rca II, but with great games like "addition" and "pattern" built in how bad could it have been?

I have played some truly awful systems in my time: Hyperscan, Pico, Game.com, Odyssey 2000 (it was built like an etch-a scetch), and a hundred chinese bootleg nintendos, but only the virtual boy has literally given me physical pain.

Breetai

07-14-2009, 08:39 PM

The Bandai Playdia is pretty horrible.

Sonicwolf

07-14-2009, 09:30 PM

The Gizmondo. Terrible... Just terrible.

BetaWolf47

07-15-2009, 01:50 AM

I've never played a system I could consider "Worst of all time." Then again, I've only played systems made by Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, and Sony, so...

<EDIT> Like the one guy mentioned before, I'm not too fond of the Genesis controller. That huge 3-button Batarang controller has nearly no advantages over the newer 6-button one. Plus there's no comfortable way to hold it, even with my basketball player sized hands. Easily Sega's worst controller.

Ed Oscuro

07-16-2009, 05:18 AM

Anybody who can enjoy VCS games has my attention on this subject! (Not bashing the VCS; I have a few cartridges myself; nor any particular member.)

The worst I have actually played is probably the CD-i, but it's not nearly as bad as some things I own (but don't have systems for, i.e. the Game.com - which in turn isn't going to be as bad as R-Zone or Studio II or whatever.

Guess the Gizmondo gets a dishonorable mention for being a Ferrari-killing enabler.

Yes. The CDi only gained infamy due to it's Zelda and Mario franchise title-fails. If those were not made at all the CDi would recieve little to no attention now.
And they aren't nearly as bad as people allege. Given how same-y Zelda games have been, split neatly into the categories of "2D" and "3D," these games are almost worth it. Would be worth it more if it weren't for the arghtastic button combos and the lack of popular useful CD-i controllers though. Hotel Mario is quite good, up to the damn ice stage anyway. Apart from that, there's still some worthwhile things on CD-i in my view (you gotta like FMV though).

Sonicwolf

07-16-2009, 05:16 PM

And they aren't nearly as bad as people allege. Given how same-y Zelda games have been, split neatly into the categories of "2D" and "3D," these games are almost worth it. Would be worth it more if it weren't for the arghtastic button combos and the lack of popular useful CD-i controllers though. Hotel Mario is quite good, up to the damn ice stage anyway. Apart from that, there's still some worthwhile things on CD-i in my view (you gotta like FMV though).

I actually do like the CDi and those games but they are still pretty.. creepy. "THIS IS ILLEGAL YOU KNOW!"