Your most disappointing/surprisingly good console?

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ESauce
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Re: Your most disappointing/surprisingly good console?

Postby ESauce » May 21st, 2016, 1:02 am

Most disappointing would be the Saturn. I coveted it when I was a little kid and had a 64 and when I finally got one when I was 15 I was thrilled...for a bit. I loved Panzer Dragoon I and II, I loved Nights, I even loved that crummy little 3d world in Sonic Jam, but there wasn't much else to play. Without paying a large sum of money to either import a new console or buy a cart to play import games, there isn't a huge library of games. There are some gems in there certainly, but I expected it to stand with the N64 and PSX and it fell below expectations.

And the most surprisingly good console to me was the Virtual Boy. Yes I know that it has a small library with only a few great games, the exact thing I criticized the Saturn for, but here's the difference: expectation. I expected the Saturn to be a system on par with the N64 and PSX; I expected the Virtual Boy to be a joke. I thought it would just be a novelty to own one and assumed the games were crap and when I found that it has some really good games I was very pleasantly surprised.

CaptainCruch
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Re: Your most disappointing/surprisingly good console?

Postby CaptainCruch » May 21st, 2016, 4:04 am

Suprisingly good console: Nintendo Wii. I always refused to buy one because I thought 'motion controlled gaming' was stupid and my Xbox 360 was superior. However, no I got a cheap Wii mini, I have to admit I really underestimated the game library for this console... Besides all the classic Nintendo franchises (Mario, Zelda) I also really enjoy the original titles by third party developers like Another Code R, The Conduit, Resident Evil 4 Wii, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Mystery Case Files: Malgrave, Sam & Max Season One & Two, Project Zero 2, Sonic Colors, No More Heroes...

jon
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Re: Your most disappointing/surprisingly good console?

Postby jon » May 21st, 2016, 3:34 pm

For most disappointing I'll go with the N64 because at the time I felt shafted. Most people that love the N64 probably weren't in my position as a teenager in the 90's when games were coming out at a snails pace, with blurry graphics nonetheless. I remember kids at my high school debating which was better, the N64 or the PS1. And I remember thinking, gosh what a bad time for video games what happened. First all my favorite developers got relegated to the sidelines, then 2 terribly flawed, uninspired systems(design wise) are duking it out for video game supremacy. What happened to the promise of the early 90's? And I couldn't believe the much hyped "Ultra 64" would be that big of a letdown. Now there's a big but. The N64 eventually amassed a respectable amount of good games. But living through it was a painful process. I'll go with the Genesis for most surprisingly good. It came out of nowhere with fantastic games.

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scotland
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Re: Your most disappointing/surprisingly good console?

Postby scotland » May 21st, 2016, 4:07 pm

The OP was talking about disappointing / surprisingly good as a retro console, from the vantage of 2016.

That's a very different thing from their reputations they got in their heyday. Its no longer about the competition, or living through it being disappointing or game delays or big titles that failed to live up to the hype. Its now the long view, which is looking at all the hidden gems, how expensive is the console, etc.

I'm not going to argue that either the Sega CD or the N64 were the best gaming investments in their day, but they are worth investigating to a retro gamer, and better than their reputations.

What do you think, from a retro gamer standpoint, are the really disappointing ones though? Maybe the Colecovision? The Amiga?

Breaker
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Re: Your most disappointing/surprisingly good console?

Postby Breaker » May 23rd, 2016, 10:35 pm

Most disappointing through the lense of retro gaming is the PS1. Reliable console, huge catalog of games, reasonably cheap...but nearly all of them are terrible on the eyes! The teenage transition to 3D was an incredibly awkward phase for video games.

Most surprising is easily the Dreamcast. So many great games that look fantastic today. And the games, while getting more expensive, are still pretty reasonable.


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