Worst selling consoles ever

[A.C. Sativa]

First time, long time...

Anyway, I'm trying to find out what are the worst selling consoles ever. The only thing I can find is the old GamePro list, which is total B.S., just like everything else involved with that crappy rag. The Dreamcast is listed with over 10 million sold, but the Neo-Geo isn't even mentioned, which I know didn't sell anywhere near 1 million. Yeah, GamePro sucks... Any help would be appreciated, I'm guessing the list goes: RDI Halclyon (that might not even count...), Pippin, Jaguar CD (not mentioned in the GamePro article), and after that I'm lost...

[fluid_matrix]

First time, long time...

Anyway, I'm trying to find out what are the worst selling consoles ever. The only thing I can find is the old GamePro list, which is total B.S., just like everything else involved with that crappy rag. The Dreamcast is listed with over 10 million sold, but the Neo-Geo isn't even mentioned, which I know didn't sell anywhere near 1 million. Yeah, GamePro sucks... Any help would be appreciated, I'm guessing the list goes: RDI Halclyon (that might not even count...), Pippin, Jaguar CD (not mentioned in the GamePro article), and after that I'm lost...

Worldwide? or just US?

And would the Jag CD be considered a system or an accessory?

[wiggyx]

Considering that the Sega CD is on the list, I would say that the Jag CD should count. Hell, the TG-16 CD should be on that list as well.

I'm guessing that this is the list (http://web.archive.org/web/20110607060313/http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/111822/the-10-worst-selling-consoles-of-all-time/) that you speak of?

Pretty busted-ass list, no doubt.

[SwimyGreen]

Pretty much search for the worst consoles of all time and you will probably finde them.

Here's a few from the top of my head:

Apple/Bandai PipPin
Game.com
AmigaCD32

There are quite a few under 100k.

[alec006]

Well if your going by numbers, Magnavox Odyssey (330,000) & Fairchild Channel F (250,000) would be on that list. One of the big reasons the Odyssey is so low in sales is well, alot of people thought it would only work on Magnavox branded TV's, and it was the first video game console, people didn't wanna spend $100 for a game. Now is it the worst console of all time, by no means of course not, it has it's flaws, but it will always be the first so it's a piece of history.

Again if your going ONLY by numbers, those would be on the list, but if you take in account marketing, appeal and alot of other factors, it wouldn't be on the list.

And if you count "add ons" like the Sega CD, or 32X, then the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive would be on that list as well at 15000 only being sold in Japan of course.

[wiggyx]

Based on serial numbers, the 64DD community thinks that there may be well over 30K units out there. Still, not a top seller, obviously ;)

[theclaw]

What about that PAL Turbografx? Literally zero game development is known to have occurred for it. Not one line of code in any hucard I'm aware of, hinting PAL software was under serious consideration by any company.

[XYXZYZ]

but the Neo-Geo isn't even mentioned, which I know didn't sell anywhere near 1 million.

SNK knew the Neo Geo was only going to be a niche market thing, and was never expected to sell anywhere near Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. I'd say it sold pretty well considering how long new games were being produced for it. So, I think you have to keep the console's market in mind when considering whether or not it sold well.

[jammajup]

What about the Vectrex,anybody got any sales figures on that machine?

[markusman64ds]

A few more obscure ones...

Gamate
Super A'Can
Romtec Colorvision
Entex Adventure Vision

[SparTonberry]

Based on serial numbers, the 64DD community thinks that there may be well over 30K units out there. Still, not a top seller, obviously ;)

Reportedly 100K were made, but the unsold units were recalled and destroyed.

[icbrkr]

Pretty much search for the worst consoles of all time and you will probably finde them.

Here's a few from the top of my head:

Apple/Bandai PipPin
Game.com
AmigaCD32

There are quite a few under 100k.

Actually, the Amiga CD32 sold over 100,000 in its short lifespan of 9 or 10 months. Unlike the Pippin/Game.com, it wasn't a "commercial failure" but with the parent company going bust, it shortened its life.

[wiggyx]

Reportedly 100K were made, but the unsold units were recalled and destroyed.



Yeah, I've heard that too. Makes me a sad, sad gamer :(

[A.C. Sativa]

Considering that the Sega CD is on the list, I would say that the Jag CD should count. Hell, the TG-16 CD should be on that list as well.

I'm guessing that this is the list (http://web.archive.org/web/20110607060313/http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/111822/the-10-worst-selling-consoles-of-all-time/) that you speak of?

Pretty busted-ass list, no doubt.

I'm counting the Jag CD for the reasons you mentioned. Besides, if it has it's own unique games than it's a system as far as I'm concerned, which is why I'm not counting the CDX, X-Eye, Twin Famicom, or anything like that.

And yeah, the TG-CD should be on the list, as should the SuperGraphix. Though I doubt either one sold anywhere near as poorly as the Pippin or Jag CD.

And to answer a couple questions above, I'm looking for worldwide figures, and counting all regions together, so the PAL TG-16 doesn't count with the TG-16 selling something like 10 million in the U.S. and Japan.

[tom]

Sega CD, SNES Super Game Boy, Famicom Disk System, 64DD, Game Cube Game Boy Player, Jaguar CD, PC Engine CD ROM, etc...are all add-ons, eg storage facilities, as they have no OS to start up without the main console.

It's like saying the A8/cart, A8/1050 and A8/1010 are three different systems

[Slipdeath]

If we're talking North American, the Zodiac and especially the Gizmondo should be high on the list.

[wiggyx]

Sega CD, SNES Super Game Boy, Famicom Disk System, 64DD, Game Cube Game Boy Player, Jaguar CD, PC Engine CD ROM, etc...are all add-ons, eg storage facilities, as they have no OS to start up without the main console.

It's like saying the A8/cart, A8/1050 and A8/1010 are three different systems

Come on, you know that add-ons are NOT simply storage facilities. Is the 32X just a way to insert a differently shaped cart into a Genesis?

The bold items don't play original games, and even if that's not a criteria that GP used (can't be bothered to read an entire GP article, so I'm not sure if they did or not), I think a lot of us would agree that such a criteria should be used when considering an add-on or system.

IMO, if an add-on plays unique games not available anywhere else, especially on the system that it's married to, then it should count as its own system. Where it gets tricky is when you have to decide whether or not to include things like the CDX and Wondermega in the total count and for which system(s) they count toward.


As far as pre-NES consoles, I'm guessing that GP didn't even consider them. They didn't exist back then, and I'm sure the sales numbers are harder to track down, not to mention the fact that a LOT of GP readers wouldn't even know what many of those consoles are, which would pretty much make the article no fun for them to read. I'm not trying to justify what they did, just pointing out why they most likely made the choices that they did. IMO, they shouldn't have written the article if they weren't going to be diligent about accuracy, 'cause, you know, video games nerds like us are teh seriously ;)


In the end, I'm sure we can all agree that GP sucks and shouldn't be used as reference for pretty much anything.

[sheath]

For me the issue is the way the add-ons were engineered and then marketed. There was some hype for some, but mostly they were sold as expansion formats for the base console or peripherals. The 32X was stripped down from its original design strictly because Sega of Japan saw it as a peripheral. That is, no different from the Xbox 360 Kinect or Playstation Move.

We might like to think of these add-ons as total system upgrades, but most of them just weren't. If we want to look at it otherwise, we had better start looking at NES and SNES chipped carts as separate systems, along with Saturn and N64 RAM expanded games. It seems silly at that level, but that is actually how silly it is with the Turbo CD and Sega CD as well. Even the 32X is basically just an add-on that overlays graphics and audio over what the Genesis could already do, without the Genesis it would be even more silly than popular nonsense makes it out to be.

[Clownzilla]

The worst selling console would be the "Ancient Indian Cursestation 64".

[wiggyx]

Even the 32X is basically just an add-on that overlays graphics and audio over what the Genesis could already do, without the Genesis it would be even more silly than popular nonsense makes it out to be.

LOL! Well yeah, they're meant to boost the performance of an existing platform. If they operated on their own, then they wouldn't be add-ons.

[tom]

pre-NES:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=360200&g2_serialNumber=5
Spectravideo Compumate turns VCS into a fully fledged computer. add-on or system?
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=360530&g2_serialNumber=5
Supercharger, add-on or system?

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/colecoadam2.jpg
Adam turns the Colecovision into a fully fledged computer, add-on or system?

[General Catastrophe]

Since it has not been mentioned yet, the Memorex/Tandy VIS is certainly a contender for the list, to say the least.

Regarding above posts, there should be a distinction made between raw sales numbers and the cost of those sales. For example, the Neo Geo AES did not sell in large numbers, but it was never unprofitable for the company making it, as most units made DID sell. This is contrast to systems like the VIS, which barely sold more than a small percentage of the units produced and ended up costing its makers millions upon millions.

[sloan]

This thread and its add-on debate has gotten silly. Add-ons are not systems.

[retroman]

what about the good ol N-GAGE..

[A.C. Sativa]

Since it has not been mentioned yet, the Memorex/Tandy VIS is certainly a contender for the list, to say the least.

Regarding above posts, there should be a distinction made between raw sales numbers and the cost of those sales. For example, the Neo Geo AES did not sell in large numbers, but it was never unprofitable for the company making it, as most units made DID sell. This is contrast to systems like the VIS, which barely sold more than a small percentage of the units produced and ended up costing its makers millions upon millions.

I don't know how I forgot about this one, it's gotta be up (down?) there. I've seen in person a 3DO, CD-32, CD-I, Jag CD, TG-CD, Neo-Geo CD (I have one, no, it's not for sale, at least not right now), and pretty much every other post-1990 system besides the Pippin and A'Can, I've never seen a VIS, and never even heard of it until about 6 months ago. Also, and I should have said this to begin with, but I'm not including hand-held systems.

As for the add-on debate, do Kinect/PS move games require the add-on to play them, or can they still be played with a 360/PS3 controller? Either way, I don't consider them separate systems. The Sega/TurboGrafix/Jag CD, 32X, and the Famicom/N64DD are all separate pieces of hardware that require physically different software to make them run. As far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong here), Kinect/Move games will still load up rather or not you have the Kinect/Move. To me, that makes them peripherals, not add-ons or separate systems. That would be like saying the NES Zapper is a separate system because you need it to play Duck Hunt.

[tom]

Weird logic of yours, as I mentioned before, than the Atari 800 is three different systems depending of their storage device: cassette, floppy disk or cartridge.

Just because the storage medium is different for said system, that doesn't make it a second system.

I got a PC with a floppy disk add-on, a CD add-on, a tape drive add-on, a USB add-on, a Zip drive add-on, a SD add-on, a DVD add-on.........all different types of media for one SYSTEM

[A.C. Sativa]

Weird logic of yours, as I mentioned before, than the Atari 800 are three different systems depending of their storage device: cassette, floppy disk or cartridge.
Same with Famicom, you can load games from cart, disk or tape.
Just because the storage medium is different for said system, that doesn't make it a second system.

Have to take your word for it on the 800, that's a bit before my time. As for the Famicom, I was under the impression that the regular Famicom and the Famicom DD had separate games, or at least did before the Famicom DD got scrapped and those games got ported to the regular Famicom. Not sure, I'm not Japanese. Either way, this is all irrelevant with respect to the other systems I mentioned.

Also, the Famicom could play games on tape too? Never heard that. Did it work like the Starpath Supercharger?

[tom]

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/NintendoDataRecorderContents.jpg

No excuse. J S Bach was a bit before my time, but I know and love all about his music.

[tom]

one console (incl CPU, OS etc...one add-on (storage media), nothing more
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=302220&g2_serialNumber=2

[tom]

Here you have 1 system turning into a second system:
ColecoVision and Expansion modules #1 (turns Coleco into Atari VCS):
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/atariconverter-box-2.jpg

Laseractive and add-on modules (turns Laseractive into Genesis or TurboGrafx):
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/Pioneer_LaserActive_CLD-A100.jpg

3DO Blaster add-on turns a PC into a 3DO:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=363470&g2_serialNumber=5

Best of all:
2 systems from start (can be booted independently one or the other):
Sega TeraDrive, an IBM computer and MegaDrive console, both CPUs included):
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/megadrivepc-1.jpg
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/megadrivepc1.jpg

Laseractive and TeraDrive are also worst sellers

[SparTonberry]

Have to take your word for it on the 800, that's a bit before my time. As for the Famicom, I was under the impression that the regular Famicom and the Famicom DD had separate games, or at least did before the Famicom DD got scrapped and those games got ported to the regular Famicom. Not sure, I'm not Japanese. Either way, this is all irrelevant with respect to the other systems I mentioned.

Also, the Famicom could play games on tape too?

The tape unit was only used as a save storage device. It was intended to be used only to store user-made games made with Family BASIC, but the "Programmable Series" games also supported it for storing save data before battery backup became commonplace (Excitebike, Mach Rider and Wrecking Crew).

[Zap!]

The RDI Halcyon takes the cake. I believe sales are in the double digits.

[goatdan]

I swear we had this same conversation on these boards like two months ago. There was a debate over released and test marketed and stuff like that.

I personally believe that the Super A'Can is the winner if you are looking for systems that were actually released and marketed. It's tough though - the distinction between what was actually released and what wasn't can put some games where there was extremely low sales into question too.

As for this whole strange Jaguar CD system versus add on question, there are a couple ways to look at it. Without diving too deep into it, I'll just say that I think it's totally fair to count it as a separate system as the games were marketed as Jaguar CD games, not Jaguar games to play on the CD add-on (same with TGCD and Sega CD games), but I tend to think of the actual system as an add-on.

For instance, you could say you have a complete Genesis collection and I wouldn't assume you had all the CD or 32X titles, but at the same time I don't think you'd have a complete 32X collection and not have a Genesis.

Maybe that just muddied the issue more, but yeah - to me, you can count them as both and they are fair game for this argument completely. But, as someone else said, you'd have to combine Sega CD 1, 2 and CDX sales together to get the true number of Sega CDs sold.

[A.C. Sativa]

The RDI Halcyon takes the cake. I believe sales are in the double digits.

I've heard conflicting reports as to whether the Halcyon was ever released to the public. I know they made a handful to show to the company's investors. Supposedly they had a few on sale in L.A. or San Francisco or something, but I've never been able to confirm this. Even calling the 2 discs that were available for it "video games" might be a stretch, they're more going through the menu on a DVD. Choose option 1 or 2, watch some video, choose option 1 or 2, watch some more video, repeat... Not really interactive.

Either way, it's gotta be the hardest complete system to find nowadays, I think there's only 2 or 3 out there.

[tom]

Worst sellers:

Memorex VIS
Mattel HyperScan

[goatdan]

I've heard conflicting reports as to whether the Halcyon was ever released to the public. I know they made a handful to show to the company's investors. Supposedly they had a few on sale in L.A. or San Francisco or something, but I've never been able to confirm this.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is what was decided about that system. There is no proof it was ever released, and at best the thought is that it may have been test marketed at one or two single locations, in extremely small numbers, for an extremely short time. I'd argue that a system that only makes it to test market isn't really released, and I think that an argument could be made that this wasn't even truly a test marketing campaign, but more of a single store test.

I doubt we'll ever know that story one way or the other though, but I'm inclined to say it the ones that are out there are really prototype hardware.

[Jorpho]

Let's not forget the Nuon! That counts, right?

[A Black Falcon]

Let's not forget the Nuon! That counts, right?

I bet a fair number of the DVD players sold, though. It's the games, controllers, etc. that didn't at all. Most people with Nuons probably didn't even know they had one.

[Haoie]

A few more obscure ones...

Gamate
Super A'Can
Romtec Colorvision
Entex Adventure Vision

Wow, I had a Gamate!

I think it was only released in Taiwan?

[tom]

And UK

[bazariah]

what about the commodore 64GS and the amstrad GX4000

[Greg2600]

I wouldn't consider most of what was listed here a console.

[goatdan]

Let's not forget the Nuon! That counts, right?

I don't know if I'd count it. It was a DVD decoding chipset that just so happened to play games too. From what I heard, a LOT of players with the chipset in them sold, but they barely marketed them for their game playing ability. My parents DVD player is a NUON player. I was surprised to find it there.

I believe the chipset was even in some players where they took out the ability to play games.

[Clownzilla]

Here you have 1 system turning into a second system:

3DO Blaster add-on turns a PC into a 3DO:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=363470&g2_serialNumber=5



To this day I still think the concept of the 3DO Blaster was a good idea that needs to be implemented by another game company(the concept, not the actual 3DO game system).

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Here's a list of the best selling consoles, which can be read backward if you want to see the lowest performers. The only catch is that it only contains systems that have sold at least a million units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles

[tom]

Here's a list of the best selling consoles, which can be read backward if you want to see the lowest performers. The only catch is that it only contains systems that have sold at least a million units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles

Haha some idiot put Color TV Game from Nintendo in there....It's a Pong clone.

[Bojay1997]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is what was decided about that system. There is no proof it was ever released, and at best the thought is that it may have been test marketed at one or two single locations, in extremely small numbers, for an extremely short time. I'd argue that a system that only makes it to test market isn't really released, and I think that an argument could be made that this wasn't even truly a test marketing campaign, but more of a single store test.

I doubt we'll ever know that story one way or the other though, but I'm inclined to say it the ones that are out there are really prototype hardware.

I don't think I'd call the RDI Halcyons out there "prototype hardware", although I do have quite a bit of what I would consider to be prototype RDI hardware and software. As far as I am aware, all of the units currently in collector hands have the required labeling and compliance work done and the units that are out there are identical to what would have been released in stores had it gotten a full retail release. System and game manuals, as well as retail boxes were also created for everything, so it really was a case of the system being ready for release, sitting boxed in the Carlsbad, CA warehouse/headquarters and just never quite getting out the door because of the financial situation of RDI and Rick Dyer not being able to get an extension from his creditors in time. I agree with you that it never saw actual retail release though and every unit I am aware of was in the hands of an investor or officer of the company or purchased at the bankruptcy auction as opposed to coming from a member of the general public that bought it at retail or via mail order.

[Bojay1997]

Haha some idiot put Color TV Game from Nintendo in there....It's a Pong clone.

And Pong is arguably an Odyssey rip-off. What's your point?

[tom]

Point is:
If they list Pong, they gotta include ALL Pong clones or just the Atari originals.

Odyssey is different, as it has a numerous variations of games, not just Pong, there's gambling (Roulette), sports (Ski), space (Interplanetary Voyage), warfare (Invasion), education (States), puzzle (W.I.N., Percepts), etc...
Of course, after Odyssey, Magnavox did Pong clones too.

[Bojay1997]

Point is:
If they list Pong, they gotta include ALL Pong clones or just the Atari originals.

Odyssey is different, as it has a numerous variations of games, not just Pong, there's gambling (Roulette), sports (Ski), space (Interplanetary Voyage), warfare (Invasion), education (States), puzzle (W.I.N., Percepts), etc...
Of course, after Odyssey, Magnavox did Pong clones too.

I'm sorry, but your standards are all over the place. Frankly, this whole thread has become sidetracked by your demands that everyone define a "console" as you see fit. I don't think most of us agree with how narrowly you've defined it and frankly, nobody is placing any real reliance on the list you are bitching about, so what's the point of even mentioning it?

[Aussie2B]

I'm sure it's not the lowest, but the PC-FX had pretty bad sales for a full-fledged system (not an add-on) that was definitely released commercially in a mainstream way by an established video game hardware company. When NEC announced its discontinuation, they stated that it had sold just under 100,000 units. To put things into perspective, the Virtual Boy sold 770,000 units and wasn't even around for a year.

[Jorpho]

What about the SuperGrafix, then?

[A Black Falcon]

I'm sorry, but your standards are all over the place. Frankly, this whole thread has become sidetracked by your demands that everyone define a "console" as you see fit. I don't think most of us agree with how narrowly you've defined it and frankly, nobody is placing any real reliance on the list you are bitching about, so what's the point of even mentioning it?

Consoles are things with interchangeable cartridges. That is pretty widely accepted. So no, I would not count Pong clones that only allow you to play the games in the box as videogame consoles. They're videogames, but not really consoles.

As for the Odyssey 1, it really is a borderline case. On the one hand, it certainly has multiple games, each with different cards. But, the cards don't have chips on them; they just change the way the circuits in the system are read. So is the Odyssey 1 a console? Um... sort of yes (it has interchangeable, different games), sort of no (they're not actually cartridges or something like that).


Anyway, for another presumably very poor-selling console, what about the Coleco Telstar Arcade? All of Coleco's other '70s Pong clones are your usual built-in-games-only things, but the Telstar Arcade actually has cartridges. But given that there are only four carts available for the system (one of which came with it), it has to have done pretty badly... which is understandable, given that it seems to have come out after consoles like the Fairchild Channel F and in the same year as the Atari 2600, but really was a Pong clone with interchangeable cartridges. I have no idea how it sold though.

[tom]

C64 GS that's a console
XEGS another console

[Bojay1997]

Says who? I'm not aware of any definition of a console that requires that it uses cartridges. My understanding is that a console is any video game playing unit that outputs to a television. In fact, under your definition, handhelds would also be consoles and I don't think anyone believes that or there wouldn't be a separate word "handheld" for it. Similarly, the Playstation series and every other disc based system does not use cartridges. Are those not consoles? If not, what are they then? Perhaps it would be easier if we just shifted the definition to "platform" and that way it would encompass consoles, handhelds, add-ons that have their own separate software, etc...


Consoles are things with interchangeable cartridges. That is pretty widely accepted. So no, I would not count Pong clones that only allow you to play the games in the box as videogame consoles. They're videogames, but not really consoles.

As for the Odyssey 1, it really is a borderline case. On the one hand, it certainly has multiple games, each with different cards. But, the cards don't have chips on them; they just change the way the circuits in the system are read. So is the Odyssey 1 a console? Um... sort of yes (it has interchangeable, different games), sort of no (they're not actually cartridges or something like that).


Anyway, for another presumably very poor-selling console, what about the Coleco Telstar Arcade? All of Coleco's other '70s Pong clones are your usual built-in-games-only things, but the Telstar Arcade actually has cartridges. But given that there are only four carts available for the system (one of which came with it), it has to have done pretty badly... which is understandable, given that it seems to have come out after consoles like the Fairchild Channel F and in the same year as the Atari 2600, but really was a Pong clone with interchangeable cartridges. I have no idea how it sold though.

[Aussie2B]

What about the SuperGrafix, then?

I wouldn't consider it a full-fledged standalone system like the PC-FX, more like a souped-up PC Engine, but, yeah, I imagine the sales were even worse than with the PC-FX. Although I say that mostly on the basis of how it was barely supported when it comes to SuperGrafx exclusives, but it's a tricky thing to call based on that, considering my Virtual Boy example (considered a huge flop, around for a much shorter span than the PC-FX, has a library roughly 1/3 the size of the PC-FX, yet it still sold over seven times more units). In the end, we're just left guessing since I don't think NEC ever released sales figures on the SuperGrafx as they did the PC-FX.

[gameplayerspecial]

what about the good ol N-GAGE..

I think the N-Gage QD was the worst seller, was lauched when the original N-Gage was already with sales down.