Consoles that didn't deserve to flop

Pretty self-explanatory title.

Here is my list:

Number 1 - Sega Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast was just a great gaming system in it's time.

It had everything, from awesome graphics and games to online gameplay and several other visionary things.

I got mine rather late so I didn't experience the "golden days" but it's deff. a shame Sega dropped support for it so soon.

It seems Sega did everything right with this system but the sales weren't good enough for Sega to cover the heavy losses they had.

Easy piracy was another nail in it's coffin.

It was also the last console Sega made before going 3rd party.

Number 2 - Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn was a good console but it got almost completely over-ran by the Sony PlayStation.

Personally, I never actually got to play one myself (I played it's games on other platforms) but several people like it and I too think it wasn't nearly as bad to flop as badly as it did.

It only sold about 2 million units in the US which is laughable compared to Sony's 100+ million sold units.

It did see a considerable success in Japan but that wasn't enough for Sega to be successful.

Number 3 - NEC TurboGrafx-16

The TG-16 was a cool system that had good graphics and sound for it's time and some fine arcade-style games.

For a newcommer system, it fared quite good, but not good enough for NEC to stay in the console biz for very long.

The system was over-shadowed by systems like SNES and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

Regardless, many consider it a good system for it's time with some gems.

Number 4 - Panasonic 3DO

The 3DO was a pretty impressive system for it's time.

It could do advanced 3-D graphics, stereo surround sound and had inter-active multi-media features.

But the problem was that it costed a lot and that it had strong competition if the form of popular 16-bit consoles and emerging 32-bit CD systems like Sega Saturn and PSX.

They were even selling a "3DO Blaster" card for the PC and ported several 3DO games to other systems and had plans to make a successor (the "M2" which you can read about here - there's a lot of leaked prototype footage on YouTube too) but things fell into water.

While expensive, it was also a visionary system for it's time with some good games.

Number 5 - Atari Jaguar

While a lot of people seem to dislike this console, I always had a sort of "soft spot" for it.

While I never actually owned one, it always seemed like a "cool" console to me, with cool games and graphics.

The problem of the system was, imo, heavy competition from 16-bit as well as emerging newer 32-bit CD systems.

It just never got the support it would need to take off.

It's worse 3-D capabilties, CD add-on and controller also weren't exactly praise-worthy, according to critics.

But despite it's poor sales performance, there exists a fan-following for this system that still makes homebrew stuff for it and there were plans for a "Jaguar 2". (those plans later died down, with Atari's last attempt being a DVD-player that would play Atari games)

Number 6 - Commodore Amiga CD32

One of the first 32-bit CD consoles, basically an Amiga 1200 computer in console form.

Newer generations of gamers may not know but Amiga was a respected brand in the computer world so a console based on Amiga didn't seem like a shabby idea.

The issue, however, was that the system was rather poorly made (cheap parts) and also that Commodore went bankrupt in 1994.

The hardware choices were also a bit questionable since the system had pretty poor 3-D performance and generally suffered from a early design.

So support declined pretty quickly but still, this remains the only console system that can play a big part of Amiga's large library of games.

With add-ons, you can even turn it into a "real" Amiga 1200 computer.

Not a bad idea, just not executed that well.

Number 7 - Atari Lynx

The only handheld on the list (2nd, smaller version shown), I mention the Lynx because of it's impressive capabilities for it's time and quite some fun-looking games.

Besides being much more advanced than the Game Boy, it was also quite cheap and had some appealing games.

The issues, however, were that it was too big and drained battery life to quickly.

It also didn't have any really "killer" games like GB did. (i.e. Tetris, Mario, Pokemon, ect.)

Regardless of it's sales perfomance, it goes down in history as the most advanced handheld of it's time. (Nintendo had a comparable system as late as with the Game Boy Color)

So this is about my list.

What about you, which console systems, do you find, didn't deserve to flop?

Discuss.

Omg, nameless, omg omg.... Really? Do you know what fl- i mean, come on nameless really? I'll do your number thing. NUMBER 2: "The Saturn only sold 2 million in the U.S. compared to the PSX's 100+ million" how does that comparison make any sense? Are you saying the PSX sold 100+ million in the U.S.? That's wrong. Are you saying that the Saturn only sold 2 million WW? That is also wrong, so I don't, nameless? Really? Come on nameless. NUMBER 3: "but not good enough for NEC to stay in the console biz for very long." the thing was a success they made another console after it. Son, why you trippin? NUMBER 5: What? you need to provide a link for that bottom sentence. NUMBER 6: "this remains the only console system that can play a big part of Amiga's large library of games." No it;s not. NUMBER 7: This didn't actually flop (though i have no idea what your odd definition of flop is.) But it had issues getting WW mainstream appeal. (half of that was the Jaguars fault. It was cut off in budget and marketing so that they could focus on it.)NationProtector

2 - Saturn's total sales were around 10 million, with most consoles being sold in Japan.

The console was pretty dead by 1998 in the US and Europe as most Saturn fans will gladly (or sadly) explain to you.

3 - If you mean SuperGrafx, I don't think that had a big impact on console market.

5 - What do you mean? edit: okay, here's the links: 123

6 - Which console can, then?

Remember you can "transform" it into a "proper" A1200.

7 - 500k sales is not a flop?

Look how much the GB line sold...

[QUOTE="NationProtector"]Omg, nameless, omg omg.... Really? Do you know what fl- i mean, come on nameless really? I'll do your number thing. NUMBER 2: "The Saturn only sold 2 million in the U.S. compared to the PSX's 100+ million" how does that comparison make any sense? Are you saying the PSX sold 100+ million in the U.S.? That's wrong. Are you saying that the Saturn only sold 2 million WW? That is also wrong, so I don't, nameless? Really? Come on nameless. NUMBER 3: "but not good enough for NEC to stay in the console biz for very long." the thing was a success they made another console after it. Son, why you trippin? NUMBER 5: What? you need to provide a link for that bottom sentence. NUMBER 6: "this remains the only console system that can play a big part of Amiga's large library of games." No it;s not. NUMBER 7: This didn't actually flop (though i have no idea what your odd definition of flop is.) But it had issues getting WW mainstream appeal. (half of that was the Jaguars fault. It was cut off in budget and marketing so that they could focus on it.)nameless12345

2 - Saturn's total sales were around 10 million, with most consoles being sold in Japan.

The console was pretty dead by 1998 in the US and Europe as most Saturn fans will gladly (or sadly) explain to you.

3 - If you mean SuperGrafx, I don't think that had a big impact on console market.

5 - What do you mean?

6 - Which console can, then?

Remember you can "transform" it into a "proper" A1200.

7 - 500k sales is not a flop?

Look how much the GB line sold...

I so wish the Dreamcast would've have survived well into the generation. We need another unique console out there. Right now, it's pretty much just Nintendo bringing any personality to consoles, nowadays. Sony and Microsoft are just trying to out-muscle each other in the hardware department, but in the end the small differences don't mean much and they ended up getting very similar game libraries. I still have mine, and still buy games for it. I recently picked up Marvel vs. Capcom, Dead or Alive 2, and Quake 3: Arean on it.

Another mention should be the Sega Game Gear. Great little handheld with a color-screen and a nice library of games (albeit not as big as Game Boy's). And the battery compaint you often hear about it is valid, but then that's why they made an AC adapter. I still have mine, but the speakers are dead (luckily the headphone jack still works), and I don't really buy games much for it anymore (I rarely come across them anymore).

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

[QUOTE="NationProtector"]Omg, nameless, omg omg.... Really? Do you know what fl- i mean, come on nameless really? I'll do your number thing. NUMBER 2: "The Saturn only sold 2 million in the U.S. compared to the PSX's 100+ million" how does that comparison make any sense? Are you saying the PSX sold 100+ million in the U.S.? That's wrong. Are you saying that the Saturn only sold 2 million WW? That is also wrong, so I don't, nameless? Really? Come on nameless. NUMBER 3: "but not good enough for NEC to stay in the console biz for very long." the thing was a success they made another console after it. Son, why you trippin? NUMBER 5: What? you need to provide a link for that bottom sentence. NUMBER 6: "this remains the only console system that can play a big part of Amiga's large library of games." No it;s not. NUMBER 7: This didn't actually flop (though i have no idea what your odd definition of flop is.) But it had issues getting WW mainstream appeal. (half of that was the Jaguars fault. It was cut off in budget and marketing so that they could focus on it.)NationProtector

2 - Saturn's total sales were around 10 million, with most consoles being sold in Japan.

The console was pretty dead by 1998 in the US and Europe as most Saturn fans will gladly (or sadly) explain to you.

3 - If you mean SuperGrafx, I don't think that had a big impact on console market.

5 - What do you mean?

6 - Which console can, then?

Remember you can "transform" it into a "proper" A1200.

7 - 500k sales is not a flop?

Look how much the GB line sold...

3 - I misslooked PC-FX and you are right, it was that system that was un-successful and made NEC abandon consoles.

5 - I added the links in previous post.

6 - okay, another misslooked system. I still find the CD32 pretty cool tho.

7 - I don't know accurate numbers, I'm just quoting what I can see from some sources.

I so wish the Dreamcast would've have survived well into the generation. We need another unique console out there. Right now, it's pretty much just Nintendo bringing any personality to consoles, nowadays. Sony and Microsoft are just trying to out-muscle each other in the hardware department, but in the end the small differences don't mean muc hand they ended up getting very similar game libraries. I still have mine, and still buy games for it. I recently picked up Marvel vs. Capcom, Dead or Alive 2, and Quake 3: Arean on it.

Another mention should be the Sega Game Gear. Great little handheld with a color-screen and a nice library of games (albeit not as big as Game Boy's). And the battery compaint you often hear about it is valid, but then that's why they made an AC adapter. I still have mine, but the speakers are dead (luckily the headphone jack still works), and I don't really buy games much for it anymore (I rarely come across them anymore).

Emerald_Warrior

Yeah, the Game Gear was pretty cool too, altho it didn't sell that bad.

But it's also true Sega never made a "proper" successor to it. (unless you count the Nomad for it's successor)

I so wish the Dreamcast would've have survived well into the generation. We need another unique console out there. Right now, it's pretty much just Nintendo bringing any personality to consoles, nowadays. Sony and Microsoft are just trying to out-muscle each other in the hardware department, but in the end the small differences don't mean muc hand they ended up getting very similar game libraries. I still have mine, and still buy games for it. I recently picked up Marvel vs. Capcom, Dead or Alive 2, and Quake 3: Arean on it.

Another mention should be the Sega Game Gear. Great little handheld with a color-screen and a nice library of games (albeit not as big as Game Boy's). And the battery compaint you often hear about it is valid, but then that's why they made an AC adapter. I still have mine, but the speakers are dead (luckily the headphone jack still works), and I don't really buy games much for it anymore (I rarely come across them anymore).

Emerald_Warrior

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

I so wish the Dreamcast would've have survived well into the generation. We need another unique console out there. Right now, it's pretty much just Nintendo bringing any personality to consoles, nowadays. Sony and Microsoft are just trying to out-muscle each other in the hardware department, but in the end the small differences don't mean muc hand they ended up getting very similar game libraries. I still have mine, and still buy games for it. I recently picked up Marvel vs. Capcom, Dead or Alive 2, and Quake 3: Arean on it.

Another mention should be the Sega Game Gear. Great little handheld with a color-screen and a nice library of games (albeit not as big as Game Boy's). And the battery compaint you often hear about it is valid, but then that's why they made an AC adapter. I still have mine, but the speakers are dead (luckily the headphone jack still works), and I don't really buy games much for it anymore (I rarely come across them anymore).

nameless12345

Yeah, the Game Gear was pretty cool too, altho it didn't sell that bad.

But it's also true Sega never made a "proper" successor to it. (unless you count the Nomad for it's successor)

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

I so wish the Dreamcast would've have survived well into the generation. We need another unique console out there. Right now, it's pretty much just Nintendo bringing any personality to consoles, nowadays. Sony and Microsoft are just trying to out-muscle each other in the hardware department, but in the end the small differences don't mean muc hand they ended up getting very similar game libraries. I still have mine, and still buy games for it. I recently picked up Marvel vs. Capcom, Dead or Alive 2, and Quake 3: Arean on it.

Another mention should be the Sega Game Gear. Great little handheld with a color-screen and a nice library of games (albeit not as big as Game Boy's). And the battery compaint you often hear about it is valid, but then that's why they made an AC adapter. I still have mine, but the speakers are dead (luckily the headphone jack still works), and I don't really buy games much for it anymore (I rarely come across them anymore).

NationProtector

Yeah, the Game Gear was pretty cool too, altho it didn't sell that bad.

But it's also true Sega never made a "proper" successor to it. (unless you count the Nomad for it's successor)

I think so too.

A handheld needs unique software being designed around it's capabilities rather than just console ports.

[QUOTE="NationProtector"][QUOTE="nameless12345"]

 

Yeah, the Game Gear was pretty cool too, altho it didn't sell that bad.

But it's also true Sega never made a "proper" successor to it. (unless you count the Nomad for it's successor)

nameless12345

I think so too.

A handheld needs unique software being designed around it's capabilities rather than just console ports.

Dreamcast is the only system I can think of. If it succeeded I'm sure we would be speculating on their next console at this very moment.LittleMac19

Dreamcast, unfortunately, was the final straw in a series of bad decisions from Sega. Genesis sold pretty well, but then they plagued the console with ninety unneeded add-ons. Saturn was then too difficult to develop for, which is why developers flocked to Sony. Sega was in really bad shape by the time they were ready to release another console.

Then came the Dreamcast. The problem, as everyone knows by now, is that it simply came out too soon. Sega was pretty desperate at the time, but it would have done them a world of good to hold off another year and launch something that could compete.

I was always a Nintendo kid, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the dear, departed Sega. In retrospect, somebody should have fired whoever was making all those bad business decisions for a decade plus.

[QUOTE="LittleMac19"]Dreamcast is the only system I can think of. If it succeeded I'm sure we would be speculating on their next console at this very moment.IMAHAPYHIPPO

Dreamcast, unfortunately, was the final straw in a series of bad decisions from Sega. Genesis sold pretty well, but then they plagued the console with ninety unneeded add-ons. Saturn was then too difficult to develop for, which is why developers flocked to Sony. Sega was in really bad shape by the time they were ready to release another console.

Then came the Dreamcast. The problem, as everyone knows by now, is that it simply came out too soon. Sega was pretty desperate at the time, but it would have done them a world of good to hold off another year and launch something that could compete.

I was always a Nintendo kid, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the dear, departed Sega. In retrospect, somebody should have fired whoever was making all those bad business decisions for a decade plus.

Dreamcast and more recently the Vita.