Dead before it started

[ShinobiMan]

So many great consoles out there in the past never got the chance to show what it really could do.

[ventrra]

Too bad that I can't check several of them....I own the Jaguar, Saturn, and T-16. I greatly suspect that there was a LOT more power in all of these than was even close to being exploited in their games.

[buttasuperb]

i think the saturn would have done a lot better if they would have released some of those great imports for the us market.

[Raedon]

The Saturn got shafted for some odd reason.. I just remember hearing that Virtua Fighter sucked and Battle Arena Toshinden on the playstation rocked. after that I didn't hear much about the saturn.

[retrogmr]

I think the Saturn had a couple of things that made it a stillborn baby:

- People were still pissed about the 32X, which with the exception of a few titles, was a half-baked, expensive doorstop. If you'd just spent $150-$200 on the 32X, were you going to turn around and buy a Saturn at $300 so quickly?
- The Playstation was just around the corner, and had the key advantage over the Saturn, which was it's 3-D capabilities. I remember hearing/reading a rumore about one of the Sega exec going down to where the Saturn engineers worked and chewing them out for not anticipating the need for hardware that did 3D so well.

[Arcade Antics]

- People were still pissed about the 32X, which with the exception of a few titles, was a half-baked, expensive doorstop. If you'd just spent $150-$200 on the 32X, were you going to turn around and buy a Saturn at $300 so quickly?

Not to mention the enemies they made in the same way via the CD add-on.

"Mortal Kombat - now on Sega CD!!"

*Kid who already has the MK Genesis cart plunks down $300 for the CD unit, $40 for the MK CD...*

"The hell? It's the same as the Genesis version, but with a commercial, slightly better music, and despicable load times! Bah!"

:D

[CrazyImpmon]

If Sega had managed their money right from the begining, I'm sure Dreamcast would have fared far better. It already has a lot of great games and it still beats PS2 anytime.

[Raccoon Lad]

I'm gonna have to go with the SMS, it's popularity in Europe just shows that with better third party support and more available games, it could have crushed the NES here in the US too.

[6502]

Kind of depressing that two of my favorite systems (the DC and TG-16) are on that list. Anyway, I voted for the Turbografx-16. NEC had a fair amount of success with the PC Engine in Japan, but the Turbo just flopped over here. I think the Genesis really took NEC by surprise. NEC seemed to be focused on competing with the NES, and the Genesis came out of nowhere and stole their thunder.

Reading the various magazines (EGM, Game Players, and VG&CE) before the Turbo and Genesis came out, the Turbografx-16 seemed like a sure bet. The PC Engine was doing very well in Japan and there was much more software available compared to the Mega Drive. Too bad NEC couldn't seem to get a lot of the titles licensed, and their marketing was generally quite bad (though I did like the earliest magazine ads, with the "exploding head"). I bought a Turbo when they were first released and was quite surprised and dismayed when the system didn't do very well. Guess it set a pattern for me as I seem to really get into doomed systems, haha (with the latest example being the DC).

[jaydubnb]

wow, i cant beleieve that the DC is in the lead! The question asked is "Which game system could have made it big, if it had not been dead before it started?" The DC flew out the gate, didnt it?

My vote goes to the Jaguar. At the time Atari was no where near the giant that it once was and I remember seeing no TV spots for it.

[scooterb23]

WHERE'S THE NEO-GEO POCKET?!?!?!?! Ahhh, even with more options, it can still be done :rofl: Actually, I'll vote for the Saturn in this case, wonderful system, and so many great games!

[Ascending Wordsmith]

My vote went to the Turbo Grafx 16. I mainly blame NEC for its demise. All of the better games were kept in Japan. This is a serious oversight on the part of the marketing branch of NEC. With any luck, those who decided to keep the best games in Japan, are in a basement hanging by their testicles over a pit of flesh eating maggots.

[retrogmr]

Don't be so fast to blame NEC for not bringing titles over from Japan; a lot of it had to do with a lot of US companies having licenses for particular titles to be published domestically. These same companies were in bed with Nintendo and Sega here (we're talking 16-bit era), and didn't have any incentive to help the TG-16 succeed.

All said, it really is too bad; the PC-Engine is a rockin' system.

[kainemaxwell]

Didn't the TG16 have alot of arcade ports though?

I voted for DC. That sysmem really could have been a contender and perhaps even kept the X-Box away for a little longer if it didn't die out. Least now many people are enjoying its titles and thanks to emulation, it's gotten a second life through modding.

[Kid Fenris]

I'm votin' for the Virtual Boy, simply because it was ripped to shreds by nearly every gaming magazine (except Nintendo Power and GameFan) before it was even released. The Saturn, the SMS, and the TurboGrafx-16 may have gotten the short end of the hypin' stick, but none of them were criticized as much as the VB was prior to its debut.

[jaydubnb]

[quote="Kaine23"]Didn't the TG16 have alot of arcade ports though?
quote]

Yup, but it was crap like Altered Beast, Spaltterhouse and Tiger Road. R-Type was probably the best port, but that was hacked into two seperate HuCards *shrugs* I'm actually surprised that Space Harrier slipped through customs...guess its popularity had died by then.

But yeh, TG16 was DOA thanks to the politics of the time and high prices for the CD-ROm and handheld, which were f'n groundbreaking. Man, if only NEC and Hudson would give it a go one more time....

[retrogmr]

Oh my.... someone who hasn't experienced the best Japanese stuff :P

There were a TON of great arcade ports released in Japan:
- Shinobi
- After Burner
- Out Run
- 1943 Kai
- 1941
- Ghouls & Ghosts (arguably the best translation outside of the real thing)
- R-Type Complete
- Dragon Sabre
- Xevious

I could go on, but I think you get the point :P

[jaydubnb]

Retro, if that post was meant for me, yeh, i know there are a lot of good import arcade ports...cuz i own em :) I alomst see the TG16 and the PCE almost as two seperate consoles.

[Daniel Thomas]

My top choice has to be Dreamcast. Thanks to Americans' blind loyalty to the consumer name-brand (why, "Attack of the Clones" must be good -- it says "Star Wars" on the label!), the Playstation 2 was enthroned before it was even released. The Dreamcast failed because no one bothered to notice the damn thing was there. Of course, slowly but surely, gamers are being made aware of what they missed as games resurface on other consoles. Not to say that PS2, GC and XBox don't have their moments, but Dreamcast still has more high-quality, must-see games in its library than those three put together. Soul Calibur, VF3 Team Battle, SF Alpha 3 and Third Strike, Power Stone (either one, your call), Virtua Tennis, Chu Chu Rocket, PSO, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Ferrari 355, Test Drive Le Mans, the brilliant battle mode in SF Rush 2049, Quake 3 online with a cheap 56k phoneline, Tony Hawk 1 and 2, Visual Concepts' NFL/NBA 2K series...am I missing anything? Very probably; that's my whole point.

The Saturn comes out in second, but I have to remind myself that 1) Sega actually had more than a fighting chance to succeed in the 32-bit war, but squandered it in a morass of ineptitude (Sega CD, 32X, Pico, Sega Channel, Saturn's surprise launch in four retail chains, alienating most retailers, developers, and well, everyone); and 2) We're all way too nostalgic about this console. Sega Saturn was like a relationship with a junkie; the highs were incredible and the lows were a living hell. We remember classics like NiGHTS and AM2's arcade titles and the stuff from Treasure, but we forget those wretched disasters like Ghen War and NHL All-Star Hockey and Toshinden Remix and Doom and Daytona CCE and the like, to say nothing of third-parties endless misery with the damned machine.

Hmm...as for the others, I do believe the Turbo-16 was royally screwed out of contention in its day. Thanks to Nintendo's exclusive contracts with third-parties, all those great PC Engine games from Japan could never come here. However, as much as I love Devil's Crush (and who noticed Sega's Pinball of the Dead on GBA?), I have a hard time believing that NEC could have ever beaten the Genesis. When the competition boasts Thunder Force 2, Golden Axe, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star 2, Forgotton Worlds, and Herzog-Freaking-Zwei, you don't have a chance in hell.

The Jaguar? The Atari Jaguar was a sick joke, a one-hit wonder (T2K) designed to sucker anyone with a whiff of nostalgia for the "glory days" of the early '80s. Apparantly it wasn't enough for the Tramiels to run the wonderful Lynx into the ground; apparantly we just weren't getting burned enough.

[madclone]

Thanks to Americans' blind loyalty to the consumer name-brand (why, "Attack of the Clones" must be good -- it says "Star Wars" on the label!), the Playstation 2 was enthroned before it was even released.

I wouldn't really call it blind loyalty. Sega was in the gaming industry well before Sony came into play. Sony was the one that had to really show that they were able to play in this market. And they did that by having a great list of games.

Brand Loyalty? Yes, but its because people knew that if the PS2 was handled anything like the PS1 then it would be a great game system.

Not only that but the mere fact that you could play PS1 games on it. Basically Sony hit the ground running (well we have 30 PS2 titles on the market right now, and we have 8,000 PS1 titles, so you can play all of them) . Not to mention DVD support was also a great plus (I want to buy a DVD player anyways... why not one that lets me play PS1 and PS2 games? ) .


The Saturn comes out in second, but I have to remind myself that 1) Sega actually had more than a fighting chance to succeed in the 32-bit war, but squandered it in a morass of ineptitude (Sega CD, 32X, Pico, Sega Channel, Saturn's surprise launch in four retail chains, alienating most retailers, developers, and well, everyone); and 2) We're all way too nostalgic about this console. Sega Saturn was like a relationship with a junkie; the highs were incredible and the lows were a living hell. We remember classics like NiGHTS and AM2's arcade titles and the stuff from Treasure, but we forget those wretched disasters like Ghen War and NHL All-Star Hockey and Toshinden Remix and Doom and Daytona CCE and the like, to say nothing of third-parties endless misery with the damned machine.

I agree. I think this is a bigger reason why the Dreamcast failed. Starting as a fresh contender (Sony Playstation) is hard, but its even harder to prove yourself as a company if you already have a back track record.


Not to say that PS2, GC and XBox don't have their moments, but Dreamcast still has more high-quality, must-see games in its library than those three put together.

Hrm... I can't 100% agree with that. It sounds more like a die-hard fan then actual fact. *shrug* I don't know, I could be wrong.

Don't get me wrong, DreamCast has allot of great games. I bought my DC for $300 right when it came out and I still don't feel bad about paying that much. I play it every day at work (we have it hooked up to the overhead projector and we have DOA2 lunches :D )

[classicb]

I'm votin' for the Virtual Boy, simply because it was ripped to shreds by nearly every gaming magazine (except Nintendo Power and GameFan) before it was even released. The Saturn, the SMS, and the TurboGrafx-16 may have gotten the short end of the hypin' stick, but none of them were criticized as much as the VB was prior to its debut.

I voted for similar reasons. This system really was dead on arrival. The whole headache thing and the red screen had reviewers ripping this system and I think it has the fewest games released on this list wich should be a good indication.

[Rogmeister]

It's been awhile and I can't even remember who I voted for...I must say, though, that I'm surprised Virtual Boy only got 10% of the vote. I figured that one would win hands down...

[Nez]

Definitly the Saturn thanks to Sonys more powerful cheaper Playstation, Saturn was almost DOA. Plus as we all know the saturn was a 2d system in a 3d era.

Next Dreamcast I for the life of me cant figure out why it died. It kicked ass! Poor poor Sega.

[-hellvin-]

I don't see how the dreamcast could win over the virtual boy as being a system CERTAIN to failure from the start. Was or did the virtual boy have a better venture than the dreamcast?

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[PhoeniX]

Dreamcast was an idea that came before its time. The best system for online, but before gamers really got into online stuff; broadband is kinda necessary for wide-range acceptance, and the BBA came out too late. This system was awesome a great keyboard, mouse, VMU; it really was the "ultimate gaming system" the box says. If it had only had dual analog thumbsticks... beyond that it's the best system.