Worst selling consoles ever

[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:

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..._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..._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.