What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

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DevMac10
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What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby DevMac10 » November 26th, 2015, 12:29 pm

Probably the Atari Lynx, it was a 16-bit backlit handheld that had color and could connect up to 16 units.

Shapur
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Shapur » November 26th, 2015, 4:12 pm

Videogame history is littered with consoles that looked great on paper.

Most of the time you can tell where the company made some pretty obvious screw up that killed the system, so the most undeserved failure for me has to be the Dreamcast. It had practically everything going for it.

1)Cheap price. Adjusted for inflation it's one of the cheapest consoles ever upon release only beaten by the Gamecube I think.
2) Great titles. Games make the system and it had plenty of innovative, different and well reviewed games.
3) Big marketing. I thought the ads were a bit vague and stupid but it least the name was out there. People were aware of it.
4) Great features. 4 controller ports, built in modem, screen in your controller, good graphics.
5) Huge launch. How many console have the biggest launch in history and then end up as failures? Answer just one.

As for the Lynx. As a kid of that era, I wasn't really aware that it existed back then. If Atari had marketed it like Nintendo and Sega pushed their systems it might have been a much bigger hit. The battery life would have still been an issue but at least a Game Gear level of success should have been possible. It would have been neat if they made a Lynx home console too. Atari didn't have anything for the in home market by that point, and one system as your portable and TV console has always appealed to me.

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MoarRipter
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby MoarRipter » November 26th, 2015, 5:59 pm

The Gamecube. It should've been a hit upon release. The Gamecube was great, it had a comfortable controller, built-in rumble, better graphics than the PS2, cheap price, durable media, and a much simpler and more efficient hardware architecture than the N64 before it. To me it seemed like they designed it to not only compete on a technical level and make possible games that looked truly next generation instead of relying on a gimmick with outdated hardware as they do now, but also to gain back third party support lost during the N64 days by catering to the desires of devs and making the system easy to program for. Unfortunately many big releases were still omitted from it in favor of its competitors. It suffered from the "family and child-friendly" image Nintendo gained in the 90s and it suffered even worse overall sales than the N64 had. I liked the Gamecube back in the day, I still do. Just like I like the Wii U, it's sad that both have been Nintendo's worst selling consoles and biggest flops next to the Virtual Boy.

Voor
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Voor » November 26th, 2015, 10:58 pm

I wonder if some of the issues with the Gamexube selling is th console design. I know that's super superficial, but the other systems looked like, well, "gaming systems", and the GC looked like it belonged in the kiddie toy section, not the electronics. And the handle on the back...

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Rev
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Rev » November 27th, 2015, 1:33 am

i think the NGC would have sold drastically better if it would have had a built in DVD player. At the time, that was a huge deal and Sony's console was the only one that had the functionality without requiring either an extra purchase (Xbox) or not at all (NGC/DC). Considering how expensive those were at the time, it was a great deal to get 2 in 1 even if the DVD player was mediocre at best. I think in the early years this made a big difference, and despite being a solid console, Nintendo not only was lacking a DVD player but Nintendo had the kiddy image and it was hard to shake. Throw in an unusual controller that made games ported to multiple consoles, harder to play on the NGC and it made it hard for Nintendo to bump up sales. The console made excellent use of its controller, however games that weren't specifically designed for it made controls on the PS2/Xbox a better bet, even if it was more powerful than the PS2.

Wallyworld
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Wallyworld » November 27th, 2015, 6:42 pm

Dreamcast should have been one of the best selling consoles of all time. I bought it on release date 9/9/99 and it was literally a generation ahead of everything else available. To bad everyone bought the ps2 hype and waited a year for it to come out.

Also I think the Sega Nomad should have sold better. Literally a portable Sega Genesis. That's what dreams were made of when I was a kid. I still use my modded one to this day.

Sega blew everyone's trust with the Sega CD/32X/Saturn consoles unfortunately.

Tron
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Tron » November 27th, 2015, 7:54 pm

I agree with the points in the GC & the DC.

I'll add the Vita to the discussion. Sony made a half-assed effort in bringing out games for it, then made no effort at all. The PSP had movies. The PSP had several Arcade Collections. The PSP had the Tactics Ogre remake, I know that's just one game, but for me the PSP was worth buying for that game alone. Not sure of much that interests me on the Vita. It looks like an amazing piece of hardware, but what games would I play?

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Hardcore Sadism » November 27th, 2015, 11:44 pm

If the Microvision had a proper set up it would have uppercut the Game Boy to a small extent, otherwise I am wondering how it didn't die out a lot later than it did. Probably because the screen could get zapped for just looking at it.

Maks
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Maks » November 28th, 2015, 4:08 am

I would agree with both the Lynx and the DC, probably more so with the Lynx. It was ahead of its time, but the battery life was a problem. The technology was amazing, hardware scaling in a portable system at that time was unheard of. Any retro gaming fan should definitely pick up a Lynx, there are plenty of great titles.

I think one of the things that hurt the DC was Sega's rep in the US after the Saturn's failure in addition to not supporting DVDs. It has an excellent library and considering the hardware is almost the same as the Sega Naomi, it truly brought the arcade experience home. People tend to look down on the controller, but I never had any problems with it.

To throw another hat in the ring, I would add the Intellivision. It's the first system I had as a kid, when my parents brought it home I didn't understand what it was. Yeah, the controllers were garbage, but I later realized many of the games were better than what my friends were playing on their 2600s. Though I guess I'm not really "shocked" it didn't catch on.

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Rev
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Re: What game system's lack of sucess shocked you?

Postby Rev » November 28th, 2015, 12:37 pm

The one thing I have to wonder about the DC is if Sega even had the funds to put a DVD player into the DC. After all the failures in a row (SCD, 32x, Saturn), Sega had lost a lot of money. The DC hadn't sold poorly for 2 years but it wasn't enough to keep them afloat.


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