Best/Worst System Launches

[Dr. Morbis]

Which systems had the best and worst launch in the US/North America? I know that the NES launched with 17 games, which is a lot. The n64, on the other hand, launched with like two or three games. Then there is the infamous "bagillion dollar" 3DO launch. Does any system have the NES beat in terms of most games?... or the n64 beat in terms of fewest?... or the 3DO in terms of price?... or in terms of good/bad timing? What other sort of launch anomolies were there? (We all know about the ngage's recent crash 'n burn). Thoughts...

[Ed Oscuro]

Then there is the infamous "bagillion dollar" 3DO launch.

Come to think of it, wasn't the 3DO just as expensive as the Neo Geo AES, or very close? I think both were just about $700 at release.

[Ernster]

N64 had the best launch with Mairo Kart 64, Wave Race and Super Mario 64. Its not the amount of games, its the quality of the games that matter.

Worst, I really cant say.

[Half Japanese]

I thought the DC had a pretty good launch with about 16 or so games, among them:

Power Stone
Marvel vs. Capcom
Hydro Thunder
House of the Dead II
Sega Bass Fishing

[GaijinPunch]

How was the NA GC launch? Japanese had a whopping 3 games... all of which ranged from a steaming pile to mediocre.
Japanese DC release wasn't so hot either.

[ClubNinja]

The US Sega Saturn launch was pretty much a giant clusterfuck... unfortunately. Releasing it earlier than anticipated did nothing but hurt the poor little machine. Damn shame.

[Bratwurst]

N64 had the best launch with Mairo Kart 64, Wave Race and Super Mario 64. Its not the amount of games, its the quality of the games that matter.

I remember it being a mess of not enough stock to suit holiday demand.

[Ernster]

Well I do live in Australia so it was probably different.

[Gamereviewgod]

N-Gage? Anyone?

PS2 launched with a ton of stuff, I'm sure it has to have the largest launch library.

[Mr Mort]

Then there is the infamous "bagillion dollar" 3DO launch.

Come to think of it, wasn't the 3DO just as expensive as the Neo Geo AES, or very close? I think both were just about $700 at release.

The biggest difference between the 2 is that Neo-Geo games are still in production, and that the Neo-Geo has a whole slew of games that have a strong following. Unlike the 3DO...

As for the strongest launch, I'd say the DC had a good one, only marred by the fact that a whole bunch of the launch games were pressed incorrectly and wouldn't boot, but there were plenty of good games to be had.

As for the worst, I'd either have to go with the N64 due to the low number of launch titles, or the PS2 due to its lack of any worthy titles at launch. I bought my PS2 on launch day, and I only cared about Silpheed, which ended up not shipping for another 6 months after launch. I honestly had ZERO PS2 games at launch until about 6 months later. Not one of the launch titles iterested me in the least. IMO it took a very LONG time for any good titles to start coming to the PS2...

[GaijinPunch]

PS2 launched with a ton of stuff, I'm sure it has to have the largest launch library.

A ton of crap is more like it. I remember the Japanese launch... there was literally like 2 playable games... and they weren't even that good. Why don't companies realize (points finger to Nintendo) that a launch can make your system. Even Dreamcasts were hard to get for 2-3 months after the initial release. Of course, Sega botched it and didn't make enough, whcih I say was it's first, and maybe worst, low-blow in Japan.

[SoulBlazer]

I've never gotten a sytem until at least six months after the system was launched in the US.

What does THAT tell you about my opinion of launches? LOL

[Darth Sensei]

I've never gotten a sytem until at least six months after the system was launched in the US.

What does THAT tell you about my opinion of launches? LOL

I agree. I always wait until at least the first price drop.

D

[sisko]

N64 had the best launch with Mairo Kart 64, Wave Race and Super Mario 64. Its not the amount of games, its the quality of the games that matter.

Worst, I really cant say.

Mario Kart didn't come out until a great deal later.

Pilot Wings and Wave Race were the only ones available. Mario64 became available about a week or two later.

I would say the best would be the PS2 and GBA launches. They had a few decent titles already, but also had their massive libraries due to backwards compatability.

[jdc]

Yeah, backwards compatibility really helped certain system launches.

As far as crappy launches? I think that it's all in the eye of the beholder. It's a big caveat emptor. You get the guys that either import early or are there on launch day with a pile of cash in hand. If you do that then you're almost setting yourself up. Supply shortages and small libraries are to be expected. I haven't seen a system yet that was worth the fuss and stress that people put themselves through on launch day. Wait a week or two. It'll still be available....with a bigger library.

[vincewy]

N64 had the best launch with Mairo Kart 64, Wave Race and Super Mario 64. Its not the amount of games, its the quality of the games that matter.

Worst, I really cant say.

Mario Kart didn't come out until a great deal later.

Pilot Wings and Wave Race were the only ones available. Mario64 became available about a week or two later.

I would say the best would be the PS2 and GBA launches. They had a few decent titles already, but also had their massive libraries due to backwards compatability.

Actually, I remember N64 only had Super Mario 64 and Pilot Wings 64 available at launch, pretty much the only reason to get N64 at launch was due to Mario 64, Wave Race didn't come out until later into holiday season and the first batch was sold rather quickly. The worst launch to think of is Atari Jaguar, did anyone remember how long it took for Atari to get more games out? I remember a entire year until 2nd holiday season that the system only had 4 games (Trevor, Tempest, Dino Dude and forgot the other one), OK, they got Wolfenstein in Aug and I checked the Babbage release list they kept getting delayed and delayed. At least with N64, Nintendo followed up with some quality titles very shortly.

The best launch, Dreamcast, no doubt, 25 games to be exact, there were enouh good games to make you buy the system at launch, I don't think you can't compare that with any other system launch.

[Captain Wrong]

I have to agree with the DC being the best launch. Still the most games at launch and, most importantly, most games worth playing. However, to be fair, I gotta note the mispressed discs fumble. I don't think this quite ruined things, but it sure put a damper on the proceedings.

If you are generous and consider the N-Gage a game console, I'd have to say it's launch was the worst. I mean they only sold, what, 5000 or so? That's some sad numbers.

Of course, I still think of the Gage as a phone that plays games, so worst launch...hmm...probably the Saturn. The "Oh, by the way, we've launched the console" launch was the shape of things to come for this console that it seemed like Sega US was intent on killing off any chance they could. Despite having a solid piece of hardware, Sega put it off to a rocky start and never recovered.

I can say most dissapointing at least for the PS2. First of all Sony hyped the PS2 up to be a solid Dreamcast killer but the proof just wasn't there. (Some are still debating this point.) The first batch of games, which they were intending to have more than the DC's launch, but didn't, were pretty lackluster. Then there was the hardware snafu which led many preorders unfilled. Sony managed to turn it around, but that was a very clumsy launch.

[dreamcaster]

Thought I'd ressurect this little topic (seeing as I was considering making it anyway, but then saw someone did, and then they got directed to this topic). Anyway.

Best launches:

Sega Dreamcast - from a software point of view, the DC wins for me. Sonic Adventure, Sega Rally 2, Marvel vs. Capcom, Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter 3tb. Amazing that a system actually launched with so many killer apps. However, I'm speaking of this in the context of the North American launch. In Australia, Sega's wonderful distributor, OziSoft (burn in hell) screwed it up big time. No memory cards were available at launch, half the promised launch games didn't make it, some games were duds (faulty manufacturing) and there was zero advertising.

Nintendo 64 - Probably the most hyped console in history, I think the N64's launch went well - even here in Australia. Although we only got three games at launch (Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64 and Pilotwings 64) - all three were revolutionary must-have titles. The price was excellent. At $399 AU, the brand new N64 undercut the year old Saturn and PlayStation by about $100 AU. Advertising was great. Billboards, tv spots and in-store kiosks were abundant. The buzz was electric. People were just coming off the SNES which had been the console of choice for Australians, and the N64 had so much interest and hype, that people were salivating.

Worst launches:

Sony PlayStation 2 - I consider this the worst because, for starters, it's launch software was some of the worst I've ever seen. I can't believe people ignored the Dreamcast, just so they could play games which were miles behind what the DC had to offer. Also, Sony didn't produce enough consoles, leaving many thousands high and dry. And finally - the poor quality of PS2 hardware. It's rare to find a launch model PS2 that's still working.

Nintendo DS - It's hard to pass judgement as of yet, but I think the DS's launch in the US hasn't been going too well.

Super NES - Speaking strictly from the software perspective, I don't think it launched with any games that showed off the SNES's power, and certainly nothing to tempt people away from the Mega Drive/Genesis.

[EnemyZero]

without a doubt DC was the best, then id say....3DO had the worst...but if where talking the more popular stuff...the gamecube had a lackluster game library at launch

[Famidrive-16]

N64 had the best launch with Mairo Kart 64, Wave Race and Super Mario 64. Its not the amount of games, its the quality of the games that matter.

Worst, I really cant say.

Mario Kart didn't come out until a great deal later.

Pilot Wings and Wave Race were the only ones available. Mario64 became available about a week or two later.


no, I'm sure Mario was availible on launch day, at least in the area i lived in at the time, mario released on the first day, pilotwings and some others the next.

[evildead2099]

$ony's PS2, in my opinion, did not have enough decent launch software to make an example of its capabilities. The only launch game that I throughly enjoyed was SSX, although I'm sure that many sports fans would argue that EA's latest installment in the Madden series was noteworthy as well.

The 32X also did poorly when it came to launch titles, but that isn't saying much considering the limited quantity of software that that hardware extension ever saw. Doom was great considering how expensive your other alternatives to owning it were, but other than that, I can't remember any other great launch games.

[Querjek]

How was the NA GC launch? Japanese had a whopping 3 games... all of which ranged from a steaming pile to mediocre.
Japanese DC release wasn't so hot either.
The GCN launch here wasn't too much better.. you guys got Monkey Ball, Luigi's Mansion, and Wave Race, right? I think we got those, Tony Hawk 3, Universal Studios, and Madden. NOt bad, but not great.


And I believe that the lackluster GCN launch can be easily attributed to the fact the Microsoft managed to get the Xbox to consumers 3 days earlier--even that little amount of time can make a difference. It will be interesting to see whether the fact that the DS came out ~6 months before the PSP will affect the PSP's life.

Good launch? PS2, because of sneaky underproduction by Sony and backward compatability. This proves that a system doesn't have to have any good games at launch to be successful.

Worst launch? Sega Saturn, because retailers were losing money, the system's price was high ($300 or $400, I forget), and 2 other newish Sega systems were already saturating the market.

[Raccoon Lad]

Well, I guess you could play SG-1000 games on it at release, but the Sega Mark III launch only had
Hang-On and Teddy Boy

With Great Soccer a week later, and a few more card games in december.
Of course, SG-1000 games were still being released at this time, so I guess it wasn't ALL bad.

[stuffedmonkey]

My all time favorite was the SNES. I can't even remember what else came out with it - but it had Mario World, and I wanted to play that game soooo bad. Still on my top ten list to this day. I would read all the previews in EGM, just hoping for a new screenshot.

Worst??? Hmmm - perhaps the PS2, because no one could get one, and people who got one were just trying to scalp them on ebay. Plus they were too damn expensive for me - it was a long time before I could get one.

[goatdan]

While the Dreamcast ultimately failed, I do think the launch of it was probably the best. 9.9.99. Soul Calibur. Sonic Adventure. NFL 2K. Three KILLER apps immediately. As I've posed the question before though, this could have ultimately hurt the DC, as instead of getting gaming headlines for three straight months (one killer app per month) it got them all at once, and then didn't have too many HUGE deals for a while.

The worst launch I would say was the PS2. Not just did it not have much in the way of software, but the best selling DVD title with the sale of the machine for something like two months was the Matrix. I can't find data to confirm this, but supposedly Bleem!cast for Gran Turismo outsold all released Sony games on the week of launch. But since Bleem!cast wasn't a game, no one noticed. Ironically, Sony did just the opposite and kept having a killer app come out pretty regularly for a while, and lo and behold we have one of the best selling systems ever.

I think that a lot more importance is placed on a launch than there really is by a lot of people. I think that you can only look at SNES and up launches, and there were some that we would probably call stinkers that worked out (wasn't the PSX originally $600 or something?) and some that we would've called great (Jaguar sold out in test markets in something like 48 hours) but it has always had little to do with the success of the console. The success comes as a mix of software titles, support, features used, and advertising methods.

[retroman]

mario kart 64 wasnt a launch game....just lettn ya know

[MegaDrive20XX]

I thought the DC had a pretty good launch with about 16 or so games, among them:

Power Stone
Marvel vs. Capcom
Hydro Thunder
House of the Dead II
Sega Bass Fishing

Marvel Vs. Capcom was delayed and didn't arrived until the 2nd week of October actually

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Dreamcast launched with the most killer apps and overall amount of games of all time, totalling 19 american releases, with 3 killer apps.

[s1lence]

I remember the dreamcast lauch well as I got married exactly one year later. I thought it had great launch titles, ie Soul Caliber and Sonic Adventure(yes I know it was buggy). The XBOX launch was fairly weak unless you really liked Fusion Frenzy. Is it just me, I dont remember the SNES and Genesis launches being that big of a deal, other then Super Mario World.

[kainemaxwell]

Probably the NES and DC had best launches to me, Saturn had the worst.

[tyranthraxus]

Colecovision with Donkey Kong was brilliant. That pack in allowed them to
come up from nowhere to challenge Atari.

And the NES was also amazing, of course since there was nothing else
really on the market they had quite an edge. But they really made home
video games cool again. I remember that first Christmas and the madness
of parents trying to snap up anything Nintendo.

Both PS1 and PS2 really had pretty crappy launches. The PS2 was really
only selling because of the first console's success, it seemed like it was
a year before they was something really good out on it.

[BigGeorgeJohnson]

I don't know if you guys are just doing stand alone consoles or not, but I remember the 32x launched with no games at all.

[sabre2922]

Best: Dreamcast= SoulCalibur, Sonic Adventure
Worst: probably the completely screwed up Saturn "launch" if u can call it that what was Sega thinking anyway?

[DynastyLawyer]

Good launch? PS2, because of sneaky underproduction by Sony and backward compatability. This proves that a system doesn't have to have any good games at launch to be successful.

If "successful" means "9/10 of all videogamers not being able to touch their system," you are correct, sir. I'm thinking had they delivered the fucking million instead of the 500,000 they did, they would have sold the million.


While the Dreamcast ultimately failed, I do think the launch of it was probably the best. 9.9.99.

You are damned right. But even it was hindered by the: "OMG, PS2 IZ UBAR!!! BBQ!" Syndrome.

We have yet to see the perfect launch.

[Twitami]

Although I bought one, I am surprised no one mentioned the Jaguar. I mean the game everyone wanted, Aliens VS. Predator, was deleyad liek forever, and the few other titles out blew chunks pretty much.

Sega CD and 32X are up there too though. LOL, 32X I remember because I worked part time at a game store, and like 75% of the people that bought them couldn't hook it up correctly. They had those lame metal bracer things that you had to put on (although you didn't, it was just to meet FCC RF guidelines). And, if they had a Sega CD and a 32X, they were REALLY hosed.

Brian

[dreamcaster]

The XBOX launch was fairly weak unless you really liked Fusion Frenzy.

Huh?

You call Halo, Project Gotham Racing and RalliSport Challenge, 'weak'? :/

[Aswald]

The Atari 7800 and Jaguar were pathetic. Yep- release the 7800, with a pitiful library, after the NES dominated the market.

Atari Jaguar. Crummy, bug-ridden games. After the Atari 7800 fiasco, no less.

[FlufflePuff]

Super NES - Speaking strictly from the software perspective, I don't think it launched with any games that showed off the SNES's power, and certainly nothing to tempt people away from the Mega Drive/Genesis.

This is of course completely ignoring the fact that Super Mario World is still one of best games for the SNES, and certainly better than any of the 3 sonic games. F-Zero was also an awesome game. Pilotwings kind of sucked, but SMW and F-Zero were better than anything else out there at the time.

[SirDrexl]

My all time favorite was the SNES. I can't even remember what else came out with it - but it had Mario World, and I wanted to play that game soooo bad. Still on my top ten list to this day. I would read all the previews in EGM, just hoping for a new screenshot.

The SNES launched with F-Zero and Pilotwings. I don't think Super Mario World was available separately since it came with all the systems.

The third-party games weren't available until a month or so later. Back then, Nintendo would only allow third parties to make 3 games a year. (This was later increased to 6 as they were losing to Sega in software sales.)

[Emily]

Anyone remember the atari launch? I think sales crawled for a few months till christmas or something.
Vectrex had around 10? games at launch I think....
What about the intellivision? Anyone?

[kaustik]

I bought the Jaguar with all (I think) 4 games that were released. And waited. And waited. It seemed months had passed before a new game was added to the pathetic launch list. Castle Wolfenstein and Raiden do not make a promising system. $450 dollars I really wanted back. That was the first time I really stopped believing the hype.

[briguy578]

The worst launches are probably all from systems people don't remember.

The Halycon laserdisk system, for example - The system was designed just to play dragon's quest at home, and then Coleco bought the rights to the game. Ouch. Launched with 2 games, cost $8,000, and never got any other releases. That really hurts.

Worst launches from more "mainstream" systems? I would have to say PS2. Most systems launch with 1 or 2 really good games, like Halo, or Super Mario World, or Donkey Kong. I think the Genesis, PS2, PS1, Sega Saturn and Nintendo gamecube all had weak launches, due to the lack of a "Killer App".

The PS1, especially, I think only had 2 games at launch. Most good launches, I think, should offer at least 6 games, so there is some variety.

The Best Launches? Colecovision, SNES, N64, Dreamcast and Xbox, I think. I bought the Xbox at launch, and between Halo and Dead or Alive 3 there was a good amount of gaming there. What I remember killing me was the 6 months or so after christmas, things were really dry then.

[briguy578]

edit to above post: I meant Dragon's Lair, Not Dragon's Quest. I got it mixed up with Thayer's Quest, which was, in fact, one of the two games released for the Halcyon [the other was NFL football - LOL]

[Cleatis]

Which systems had the best and worst launch in the US/North America? I know that the NES launched with 17 games, which is a lot. The n64, on the other hand, launched with like two or three games. Then there is the infamous "bagillion dollar" 3DO launch. Does any system have the NES beat in terms of most games?... or the n64 beat in terms of fewest?... or the 3DO in terms of price?... or in terms of good/bad timing? What other sort of launch anomolies were there? (We all know about the ngage's recent crash 'n burn). Thoughts...

God...the vast majority of launches have been horror stories. Neo Geo CD, Game.com, Laseractive, Virtualboy, Tapwave Zodiac, GP-32...

What was that DVD player one? It vanished after the PS2 took charge of the livingroom DVD player/console combo. I think it was going to be a standard rather than be manufacturered by a single company , much like 3DO was.

Does it count if it didnt even make it to launch -----> Phantom.

[Cleatis]

I dont know what the hell happened but my previous post is on the side of the screen...scroll up and look to the right. Ill repost it:

God...the vast majority of launches have been horror stories. Neo Geo CD, Game.com, Laseractive, Virtualboy, Tapwave Zodiac, GP-32...

What was that DVD player one? It vanished after the PS2 took charge of the livingroom DVD player/console combo. I think it was going to be a standard rather than be manufacturered by a single company , much like 3DO was.

Does it count if it didnt even make it to launch -----> Phantom.

[RCM]

I have to agree with the DC being the best launch. Still the most games at launch and, most importantly, most games worth playing.

Couldn't agree more with that statement. Didn't the PS2 have more games at the US launch though? The Dreamcast had an amazing run. So many great games. I love the DC!

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[GamblinMonkey]

Best: DC, hands down. That was probably one of the happiest gaming-days of my life.

Worst: N-Gage. See, the problem was that they chose to release the system on the launch date... heheh...

Seriously, PS2. Yes, I got one on launch day, and played the hell out of SSX. Then I waited for a long time for the "killer app" games... eventually, 4 years later, Katamari Damacy GTA: San Andreas came out. Eh, so I think the PS2 is really overrated.

[GLASSJOE]

N gage I think was the worst.

[SirDrexl]

What was that DVD player one? It vanished after the PS2 took charge of the livingroom DVD player/console combo. I think it was going to be a standard rather than be manufacturered by a single company , much like 3DO was.

Are you referring to Nuon, originally known as Project X?

[SirDrexl]

What was that DVD player one? It vanished after the PS2 took charge of the livingroom DVD player/console combo. I think it was going to be a standard rather than be manufacturered by a single company , much like 3DO was.

Are you referring to Nuon, originally known as Project X?

[Xexyz]

Hrm, weakest launch could probably go to the NGPC. It only gained 2% of the market share instead of the projected 10%. It was almost non-existant in NA thanks to the Baroune(sp) family.

Shame too, its an awesome little machine with some killer aps.

[cat-mince]

What was that DVD player one? It vanished after the PS2 took charge of the livingroom DVD player/console combo. I think it was going to be a standard rather than be manufacturered by a single company , much like 3DO was.

Does it count if it didnt even make it to launch -----> Phantom.

Nuon?

[Naouruki]

Saturn had the worst.

No way in hell. SOA screwed the Sautn's launch badly but it was no shit launch, what with Panzer Dragoon, VF and Daytona - especially compared to the worst launch of the modern gaming era, the PS2's.

[Naouruki]

Saturn had the worst.

No way in hell. SOA screwed the Sat''s launch timing badly but it was no shit launch lineup, what with Panzer Dragoon, VF and Daytona - especially compared to the worst launch of the modern gaming era, the PS2's.

[Unagi_the_metriod]

for the worst platform launch i'd have to say dreamcast when it came out it was great but sega kinda died soon after. I'm gona say the dreamcast because sega didn't launch half-life witch they should have done it would've saved them. :duh:

[Naouruki]

for the worst platform launch i'd have to say dreamcast when it came out it was great but sega kinda died soon after. I'm gona say the dreamcast because sega didn't launch half-life witch they should have done it would've saved them. :duh:

Your comment is oxymoronic. Mnay systems have had great launches and failed soon thereafter. A system's launch being great/bad has absolutely NOTHING to do with how its commercial success panned out thereafter.

By that logic the PS2 had a great launch because it now has a great library. Is that true? Hell no. The PS2 had the absolute worst current-gen launch lineup. That has nothing to do with the fact that it now has a decent library.

Further, Half-Life was never a lanuch title nor could have benthat early on. Use some sense when you post and don't forget to put your Crayolas away.

[kirin jensen]

The Odyssey3 natch.

[jslithy]

I love the Dreamcast, but I don't understand why everyone thinks the launch was so great. Many games were clearly rushed. Even Sonic Adventure, which got cleaned up after the Japanese launch, was unpolished. The biggest problems, however, were with the defective GD-Roms. Thousands of people got their new games home and they simply didn't work.

I think the best launch was the North American NES debut, because Nintendo handled it very well considering the fact that nobody wanted to touch home video game systems after the 2600 flooded the market with poor games.

The worst launches ever were for the TG16 and TG16-CD. It seemed like NEC had no interest in pushing the system, and it wasn't until Hudson stepped in that they had much success.

[lurpak]

DOnt know how it got released in US, but the biggest belly flop at launch in my reccolection was the 6cart Atari Jaguar..

I was working in a games shop at the time, the only promo gear we got was some crap posters in black that just said "Jaguar"..

and as for the cosole, it was a year behind its competition (Playstation), 486 PCs, Amiga1200s

[chrisbid]

why are people saying the NES had a good launch? there was no buzz about the product before it came out. The success of the NES started by word of mouth, rather than hype. Among the original NES games, Super Mario Bros is the only real "killer app", that was the game that got people buying the system.

[drwily008]

PS2 Launch was so bad...and not Lucas bad, just crappy. Plus like 3 or 4 weeks later tons of people needed replacements for warrantied PS2's but there was STILL none in the stores. CRAP

[Slate]

Here we go again with this Crazy post thing.. What happened?!

[Dr. Morbis]

Here we go again with this Crazy post thing.. What happened?!
someone posted two dashes followed by a 'greater than' sign. It's supposed to look like an arrow, but it invariably messes up the thread. I'm surprised a mod hasn't fixed it by now.