Console Design Blunders

General and high profile video game topics.
CaptainCruch
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby CaptainCruch » February 11th, 2020, 4:04 am

Some ideas:
* The original Game Boy Advance - for NOT having a backlight screen. The GBA SP is so much brighter...
* The original Sega Genesis controller, not because it's bad, but because it lacks six-buttons...
* The original Xbox 360 for the Red Ring of Death, we almost all had (but I have to say, Microsoft fixed it pretty quickly)
* The Sega 32X for having yet ANOTHER power adapter AND a proprietary cable to connect it to the Sega Genesis.
* The original CD-i, because it originally only came with that horrible and useless remote controller and not with a more useful joypad.

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MSR1701
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby MSR1701 » February 11th, 2020, 11:22 am

CaptainCruch wrote:Some ideas:
* The original Game Boy Advance - for NOT having a backlight screen. The GBA SP is so much brighter...
* The original Sega Genesis controller, not because it's bad, but because it lacks six-buttons...
* The original Xbox 360 for the Red Ring of Death, we almost all had (but I have to say, Microsoft fixed it pretty quickly)
* The Sega 32X for having yet ANOTHER power adapter AND a proprietary cable to connect it to the Sega Genesis.
* The original CD-i, because it originally only came with that horrible and useless remote controller and not with a more useful joypad.

The Original GBA lacking a back-light made sense, as at release rechargable batteries were still unreliable and quick to fail
At release, the Genesis controller had as many buttons as the NES, and only several years later was the need for more buttons felt. A bigger issue was the inconsistant developer choices to map Confirm to C or A (then again, you can make this comment to SNES/Playstation games, due to regional programming)
32X+Genesis+Sega CD = you need your own Nuclear Power Plant. I really wish the conceptual Neptune had launched...

Luigi & Peach
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby Luigi & Peach » February 11th, 2020, 4:56 pm

While Atari 7800 has been brought up I don't think anyone's mentioned it's "pro-line" controllers. Apparently "pro-line" translates to wrist cramping in Japanese.

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noah98
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby noah98 » February 11th, 2020, 7:00 pm

The original Atari 5200 had the power and RF integrated into a single, flimsy switchbox that was prone to fail. I also hate the controllers (unreliable, mushy buttons, analog sticks when most games played better with digital input).

GTS
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby GTS » February 12th, 2020, 6:11 am

The Dreamcast's lack of copy protection. People were burning their own games shortly after the console's release. Who knows how much financial damage this caused.

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C64_Critic
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby C64_Critic » February 12th, 2020, 9:50 pm

Alucard1191 wrote:I am really surprised no one has said this: The wire on the dreamcast controller coming out the front. One of the worst design decisions on a main stream system.

The whole dreamcast controller would be worth mentioning except that the VMU port did allow some genuinely innovative things... but damn that thing is hard on the hands and not well designed.


Oh I gotta disagree with you on this one. While the choice of having the Dreamcast cable come out the front is odd to say the least, I never found that it adversely affected it's use. And aside from that, I think it's otherwise a very good, easy to use, and never caused me any hand discomfort.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby VideoGameCritic » February 13th, 2020, 6:46 am

C64_Critic wrote:
Alucard1191 wrote:I am really surprised no one has said this: The wire on the dreamcast controller coming out the front. One of the worst design decisions on a main stream system.

The whole dreamcast controller would be worth mentioning except that the VMU port did allow some genuinely innovative things... but damn that thing is hard on the hands and not well designed.


Oh I gotta disagree with you on this one. While the choice of having the Dreamcast cable come out the front is odd to say the least, I never found that it adversely affected it's use. And aside from that, I think it's otherwise a very good, easy to use, and never caused me any hand discomfort.


That's because there's a little slot on the back of the controller where you can tuck in the wire to "guide" it towards the back. The fact that they even needed to include something like that tells you Sega had become aware of this design defect late in the process. I'm pretty sure I can remember you mocking it for that!

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » February 13th, 2020, 8:42 am

MSR1701 wrote:The Original GBA lacking a back-light made sense, as at release rechargable batteries were still unreliable and quick to fail
At release, the Genesis controller had as many buttons as the NES, and only several years later was the need for more buttons felt. A bigger issue was the inconsistant developer choices to map Confirm to C or A (then again, you can make this comment to SNES/Playstation games, due to regional programming)


Learning how to adapt to different button mappings is good for your brain. It's not like we're talking about unintuitive fps controls; most of the complaints were that fire and jump aren't universal, and neither were accept/dismiss.

It's nothing, in the long run.

But Circle of the Moon was literally unplayable for many players. And the popularity of Afterburner kits proved that consumers disagreed with Nintendo's call on this one. At the very least, they failed to test their new console in anything other than ideal lighting.

Voor
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby Voor » February 13th, 2020, 3:04 pm

Uh, I’ll gladly burn any NES game with the jump and run/attack buttons reversed from their rightful, non-Mario state.

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MSR1701
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Re: Console Design Blunders

Postby MSR1701 » February 13th, 2020, 3:39 pm

ThePixelatedGenocide wrote:
MSR1701 wrote:The Original GBA lacking a back-light made sense, as at release rechargable batteries were still unreliable and quick to fail
At release, the Genesis controller had as many buttons as the NES, and only several years later was the need for more buttons felt. A bigger issue was the inconsistant developer choices to map Confirm to C or A (then again, you can make this comment to SNES/Playstation games, due to regional programming)


Learning how to adapt to different button mappings is good for your brain. It's not like we're talking about unintuitive fps controls; most of the complaints were that fire and jump aren't universal, and neither were accept/dismiss.

It's nothing, in the long run.

But Circle of the Moon was literally unplayable for many players. And the popularity of Afterburner kits proved that consumers disagreed with Nintendo's call on this one. At the very least, they failed to test their new console in anything other than ideal lighting.


I do agree; unless I was outside playing the GBA in broad daylight (which I did tend to do during lunches in high school at the field) or in my room with the obnoxiously bright overhead, it was difficult to see anything in detail on the first gen GBA. It was a step down from the GBC, but I would still say it was much easier to view than the original brick GB, and without the constant contrast adjustments...


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