Worst video game consoles ever (consoles with NO redeeming value)?

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

In my opinion, a couple stand out:

Memorex VIS. The VIS tried to compete with the Philips CD-i, and failed miserably. Let's put it this way: the Genesis and SNES put together sold 84.35 million units. The CD-i sold 1 million units. The VIS sold 11,000 units!

The CD-i sold about 1.19% as much as the Genesis and SNES combined; the VIS sold 1.10% of the CD-i! That means the VIS was a bigger flop compared to the CD-i than the CD-i was to the the two main consoles on sale combined when it was released. The VIS had no redeeming value, it was slightly cheaper than the CD-i and that was about it. It also had only about 50 titles available, most of those were garbage-quality "edutainment" titles, few real games. Not to mention it had an Intel 286 processor, which was common in computers in the early-mid 1980s... but this was 1992! At least the CD-i had a few good games like Burn:Cycle, Voyeur, NFL Instant Replay, etc. Those 11,000 units include a number of VISes sold for $99 with 30 titles included in 1994. Keep in mind, the VIS was $699 just two years earlier.

Jaguar CD. Was there any reason to get this thing? The cart Jag didn't have much going for it, but it at least had a handful of good games and exclusive titles, and it was a solidly built system. 13 games, 2 of which came out over a year after the system ceased production (so we're down to 11), 6 of those were ports available on other, much more common systems (all 6 were available on MS-DOS PC's, and most people in 1995 had an MS-DOS PC), we're left with Baldies (which came out for PS1 but eight years later), Battlemorph, Blue Lightning, Highlander, and Hover Strike Unconquered Lands. Battlemorph, Blue Lightning, and Baldies all got decent but not great reviews, Hover Strike UL was okay, and Highlander was TERRIBLE. By the way, Blue Lightning was a graphically enhanced remake of a Lynx game of the same name and Battlemorph and Hover Strike were the sequels to cart Jag games. Not to mention the Jag CD was so unreliable it might as well have been made of paper. Only 20,000 were sold and I fail to see why one would buy one then, unless they were a huge Baldies fan and/or liked the way the Highlander CD looked as a drink coaster.
(If we're being nitpicky, the two games released in '97 after the Jag CD ceased production were sequels as well: one to a cart Jag game (Iron Soldier 2) and one to an Amiga game (World Tour Racing)... today leaving only Highlander as a true "exclusive". Then again, today the Jag CD is collectible based on its crap factor and rarity)

[kupomogli]

Very soon it's going to be the Wii U since nearly everything worth a damn keeps getting ported, or games like Super Mario Maker 2 gives no reason to ever go back to the original. If Super Mario 3D World and Tokyo Mirage Sessions get ported over then there literally is no reason whatsoever to own a Wii U.

[gbpxl]

Very soon it's going to be the Wii U since nearly everything worth a damn keeps getting ported, or games like Super Mario Maker 2 gives no reason to ever go back to the original. If Super Mario 3D World and Tokyo Mirage Sessions get ported over then there literally is no reason whatsoever to own a Wii U.

Paperweight?

[Steve W]

Battlemorph, for me, makes the Jaguar CD totally worth owning. I loved the hell out of that game. I've also played through Highlander and Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands multiple times (by the way, Hover Strike CD isn't a sequel, it's the cartridge game with a heap of new levels). Blue Lightning is crap, though. So is VidGrid.

I have to agree with the Memorex VIS, although it wasn't really a game console. There was only one actual game made for it, The Manhole. Since cheap computers could cost over a thousand bucks back then, they were essentially making a machine that would do a lot of what a computer could do but made it more accessible to the very young or very old by only having to use a crappy RF wireless controller. I have one, and I've never had the interest in plugging it in and trying it out. Bought it in Fort Worth, TX, at a Goodwill within sight of Tandy/Radio Shack headquarters. I've found loads of VIS software around the area.

I'd have to say the RCA Studio II as far as game machines go. The titles on it were extremely basic, the games were programmed in color but the hardware couldn't even output color to the TV, and the only way to control games was a numeric pad built in to the console itself. The only notable thing about the machine was it used the same COSMAC processor that was used in the Voyager space probes.

As a runner-up, I'd have to say the Action Maxx. Only a few games on VHS that were under 20 minutes each. The games never change, so there's no replay value. It's genuinely confusing to me how this thing ever got greenlighted.

[buzz_n64]

Let's see.

The Game Wave was pretty terrible, basically being a DVD player with a very weak processor. It had about 8 or 9 games for it, all trivia or rudimentary selection style games. This system makes the the Nuon look like the Xbox One X.

The Xavix was a 2004 game system that used game cartridges and had a handful of motion control sports games. The system used the same processors as the NES and SNES, with the processors being built into the games.

The Mattel Hyperscan was a CD based game system that required you to scan cards in order to play as certain charecters in the game or unlock items. A very tedious process with terrible games. 5 games in total were released for it.

[gbpxl]

Tiger R Zone

[mailman187666]

I was trying to think of a system for this, and could not think of any. When reading the replies, I thought to myself, I have never owned or played any of the systems being mentioned except for the Wii U and CD-I. I sold all my Jaguar stuff when I needed money years ago, but I think I am OK with not owning jag stuff unless I find it ultra cheap (yeah right). The CD-I and Jag CD I could find there being some qualities to owning them or even going back to them if just for curiosities sake. The Wii-U, although I have not used mine in a while, Still has some good games to play on it as well as being backwards compatible with wii games. It's especially enticing when you get lucky and find the wii U games for a steal of a price.

[kupomogli]

Paperweight?

Almost, there's still two exclusives worth playing and Super Mario 3D World is the best 3D Mario, infact, I'd likely call it the best 3D platformer of all time. However, as soon as these games are ported over to the Switch which is almost guaranteed to happen, then yeah, there literally is no redeeming value. The Vita is a close second, same as Wii U, nearly everything on the system can be played elsewhere.

However unlike a lot of people here, I'm not so much of a collector that I've purchased any of the lesser known consoles. Pretty much only have owned consoles from Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft. The only stuff not from these that I've ever emulated are the Turbo Grafx consoles. I'd collect for the games I'm interested in for that, but the games I'm interested for that are pretty expensive, so nope.

[Aussie2B]

The Vita is a close second, same as Wii U, nearly everything on the system can be played elsewhere.

Many of my favorite games on Vita are exclusive to it.

[Flojomojo]

I think the Wii U is worth having as an HDMI Wii, and there are a few interesting exclusives on it.

Most pointless game machine of the decade is the upcoming "Atari VCS," assuming it comes out on time. A mini-PC with a 1970s shell for putting under your TV -- did anyone ask for that?

[JackOfOwls]

A couple of years after home editions of Pong came out, there was this little B&W only console that was released with about 3 or 4 casino card games on it. You hooked it up to your TV. One of the games was Blackjack and every time you went over or lost to the AI dealer there was this loud, honking, obnoxious, blaring klaxon that went off. Every time. It was an awful little console. I think it was made by Magnavox. But back then we were completely hard up for ANY kind of video game system. I bought it from my brother because he convinced me it was a sophisticated computer inside. I'd be taking a cat nap in my room and my friend Dave would be playing Blackjack on it and sure enough: "HONK! HONK! HOOOONK!" every few seconds as I winced each time.

[AdamAnt316]

A couple of years after home editions of Pong came out, there was this little B&W only console that was released with about 3 or 4 casino card games on it. You hooked it up to your TV. One of the games was Blackjack and every time you went over or lost to the AI dealer there was this loud, honking, obnoxious, blaring klaxon that went off. Every time. It was an awful little console. I think it was made by Magnavox. But back then we were completely hard up for ANY kind of video game system. I bought it from my brother because he convinced me it was a sophisticated computer inside. I'd be taking a cat nap in my room and my friend Dave would be playing Blackjack on it and sure enough: "HONK! HONK! HOOOONK!" every few seconds as I winced each time.

The only system which comes to mind that gives that effect is the Mattel Intellivision with the pack-in "Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack" game. Not a B&W console, and uses cartridges, but the games make a lovely loud buzzing sound whenever you make an incorrect input on those lovely keypad controllers it used. :rolleyes:

Anyway, most of my choices have already been mentioned, but I will list them anyway:

-RCA Studio II
-Bentley CompuVision
-Mattel Entertainment Computer System
-ActionMax
-Sega Master System II
-Watara Supervision
-Tiger Game.Com

[JackOfOwls]

The only system which comes to mind that gives that effect is the Mattel Intellivision with the pack-in "Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack" game. Not a B&W console, and uses cartridges, but the games make a lovely loud buzzing sound whenever you make an incorrect input on those lovely keypad controllers it used. :rolleyes:

Anyway, most of my choices have already been mentioned, but I will list them anyway:

-RCA Studio II
-Bentley CompuVision
-Mattel Entertainment Computer System
-ActionMax
-Sega Master System II
-Watara Supervision
-Tiger Game.Com

Haha, it was the RCA Studio II. Just looked it up on Wiki and as soon as I saw the pic it rang a bell... or very annoying loud buzzer rather. ;) I had the intellivision too (which I traded my old Atari 2600 to my best friend's little brother for) but I really liked it. Considered it a big upgrade from my Atari and almost couldn't believe my friend's brother offered to trade it for the 2600.

[AdamAnt316]

Haha, it was the RCA Studio II. Just looked it up on Wiki and as soon as I saw the pic it rang a bell... or very annoying loud buzzer rather. ;) I had the intellivision too (which I traded my old Atari 2600 to my best friend's little brother for) but I really liked it. Considered it a big upgrade from my Atari and almost couldn't believe my friend's brother offered to trade it for the 2600.
I have an RCA Studio II, but have yet to get a picture out of it to test the Blackjack cartridge for the sounds you mention. Is in pretty good shape, including boxes for everything, so hopefully it won't be too hard to get working:
http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/temp/rcastudioii/rcastudioii_1.jpg
http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/temp/rcastudioii/rcastudioii_2.jpg
http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/temp/rcastudioii/rcastudioii_6.jpg